Almost a year!

It's almost a year since we adopted Paddy!
We've seen him grow in confidence daily, as well as becoming a very people friendly dog.
On his daily walks, we know he's enjoyed himself if he's had at least three fusses!

To celebrate this milestone, here are some Paddy pictures...

I hope you've enjoyed seeing the photos of our darling boy.
Many thanks to Battersea Dogs and Cats home, for allowing us to adopt him.

Two Jack Russell Terriers, a tea party and a very special Home.

We had a tea party yesterday!

Food, fun and laughter shared with many friends.

You saw the little flags, yes? That logo gives you the clue why we held this tea party.

Both my darling Missy

and the delightful Paddy

 came from a very special Home. That home is Battersea Dogs and Cats Home.

They took great care of both of our dogs, taking them both in after their owners had passed away and the relatives couldn't cope.
In Missy's case, they kept her safe for two years, until we came along to adopt her.
In Paddy's case, he was there for two months, before he came home with us.

Without Battersea's love of dogs, we would never have known and loved the darling Missy - nor have the opportunity to know and love the darling Paddy.

So this tea party was a thank you, a fundraising thank you - and the £470 raised on the day will help Battersea to care for more dogs, with as much love as they showed my two.

If you'd like to read about Battersea Dogs - and Cats - Home, please click HERE

Creative wood, a tea party and the handsome Paddy

A little while ago, I showed you some bowls that hubby had made in wood.

This weekend he made some more wooden items... a couple of yin-yang candle holders and another foot roller.

These are going to be sold off at a tea party we are going to host, in order to raise funds for Battersea Dogs and Cats Home.

Battersea Dogs home is where we adopted our darling Missy from, and after she passed, we returned to adopt the handsome Paddy.

So, because of their great care for dogs, we decided to partake in the Ruff'n'Ready Tea Party, to raise some much needed funds. They are currently building new state-of-the-art kennel blocks, for the dogs' comfort.

Have you been to an afternoon tea party recently?
I wish that you were all close by, so you could come to ours! 

My birthday book launch party

We had a lovely time at my birthday book launch party.

We had afternoon tea - and cake. Lots of cake!
Thanks to Tracy for my book cover cake, and thanks to Debra for the Victoria Sponge (cookie shaped!) and the lemon drizzle cake. They were all delicious! 

Thanks also to Sparkling Jewellery, who gave us some gorgeous goody bags to celebrate the event. You're a star and I'm proud to call you friend.

We had about 50 people turn up, staggered through the hours of 12 until 4pm.
Many had already bought my novel 'All in the Leaves' and some downloaded it on the day. If you would like to buy it, the links are HERE

I was so busy socialising and making tea, that I totally forgot to take pictures during the party, and so did my second delegate. In one way, I'm pleased, because it means we were all enjoying ourselves. I'm sorry for the fact there are no pictorial memories of the people here, which I could have included in a scrapbook.

However, I have some fabulous presents to remind myself of the wonderful people who were here!

These lovely flowers - and vase - were sent  from Scotland, by my good friends the McLagans - who couldn't make it on the day, but sent their best wishes.

My darling Missy was present throughout the party - and she was fussed by many. For the love of Battersea Dogs Home, who kept her safe for two years, while she waited for us -- we had a little raffle/loose change donation .....

and that made enough to sponsor a kennel in Battersea for the whole year - and to buy three Christmas dinners too.

Thanks to everyone who came,  to everyone who made this party such a wonderful event. I love you all -and I hope you enjoy my book - All in the Leaves.

Missy ... seventh celebration

Today is the anniversary of the day we adopted Missy!

Seven years ago today, she came into our lives and home.

She was loved when we adopted her, but that love has grown in depth in the ensuing years.
She's fifteen years old now, and as precious as can be.

Today, we'll do all the things she loves, just as we do every day. Walks, good food, a massage and some play. There'll be an occasional nap too, I'm sure.
Happy anniversary, darling Missy.
Thank you Battersea, for letting us adopt this little beauty!

Spotty, Missy and Battersea Dogs &Cats Home

I love dogs.
No question of it.
Spotty started it all. Darling, darling Spotty. The most wonderful jack russell ever.
She started her life in an old neighbour's house - we've since moved.
There she was subject to physical violence. One day, her previous owners smacked her across the head with a roofing tile. Her head was split open and they wouldn't take her to the vet, because it meant paying.
So I took her and paid for her treatment.
She slept with me overnight, because the vet thought she only had a 50:50 chance of living.  She lived. She was my dog from that day on.
Her loyalty was amazing. Her intelligence was also amazing. The love she gave was boundless.
She lived, safe in our love, from 18 months old to 18 years old.

When she passed, we were bereft.
Hubs persuaded me to go to Battersea Dogs and Cats Home, where we could look at the dogs. I wasn't sure, thinking it disloyal to Spot, but he said another dog might need us and may not have time to wait for my grieving to pass.
Off to Battersea we went.
We had an interview; we showed them pictures of Spotty, pictures of our house and garden and all the local parks.

Battersea's rehomer gave us a choice of jacks to look at.
We decided we'd like to see Missy, because she'd been in the home for two years.

Two years! I can't praise Battersea enough for never giving up on her.
Wonderful organisation that I am proud to support. 

It didn't matter to us she was older, Spotty had lived to 18 - so 8 wasn't really old, more middle aged.
We fell for Missy on the first meeting, but we weren't allowed to take her home immediately. We had a second visit, saw how she behaved around other dogs, took her for a walk in the gorgeous Battersea Park and asked the Home to please let us give her a home. To our everlasting delight, they said we could rehome her. A date was fixed to pick her up, but it had to be put on hold when she developed a tummy bug. Battersea wouldn't let her go until she was healthy. The third visit we had, we took our new darling girl home.

In March she'll have been with us seven years.
Its been a wonderful time, with our love for her growing daily.
She's great fun, enjoys agility, loves to walk around the farm investigating all the smells, adores people and children and greets every patient of mine with a great big wag! Which is incredibly special now, because just on Monday we were told that the cataracts she developed have made her almost blind. You'd never know it if you came to visit. She is so pleased when people arrive, play with her, or feed her a treat. What a special dog!

If you'd like to see the Battersea dogs in need of a home, please go HERE

If you'd like to see the cats too, go here