Dizzojay's Dean Dreams

 So, unless you've been living on Neptune for the last few weeks, you'll know that there's a little celebration going on in the UK this week with the Queen's platinum jubilee.  We've got a two day public holiday coming up at the back end of this week and towns and villages all over the place are organising street parties, festiivals and all manner of other celebrations.

Almost of the people I know are generally in a bit of a party mood this week and, hell, with all the abject shit that's going on in the world right now, do we ever deserve a bloody party or what?

I decided to kick things off by getting my jubilee nails done this weekend:







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 Last August, a heron visited us, and decimated our little pond.

Not only did the feathery bastard eat all our poor fish (who had been part of our life for eight years), but to add insult to injury, he also punctured the pond lining. 😡  We just didn't have the heart to do anything with it then, so we just left it empty and derelict over the winter.

Last weekend, when I got back from Crossroads con, I got a fabulous surprise because Mr D had been busy over the weekend and, without telling me he was going to do this,  he's completely rebuilt and renovated our little pond again! 😍

We're just letting the water settle for a few weeks, then we'll be introducing a new generation of little wet scaly buddies again!! 🐟🐟

And some far more heavy-duty heron proofing!  If I could, I'd put 10,000 volts through the lanky sod!



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 I started this as a craft project to keep me occupied over the Christmas break, and in the end it took me four months to finish it!

So here,finally, is cross-stitch puffin!

 So, back in February, I mentioned that I was doing a picture of my God-daughter, Amy, competing on her horse, Enzo.

This picture has dragged on so long, mainly due to everything else that's been going on in my life, both from a practical point of view with me travelling here there and everywhere, but also from a mental point of view, because more often than not, my art inspiration switch has been well and truly set at the 'off' position for most of the last few weeks now.  And that's the main part of the reason it's taken so long, I've been dipping in and out of it when the muse has been awake, rather than trying to force it and produce something sub-standard.

But, I've finally finished it.  Amy is aware of the situation and has been just awesome, bearing with me, even though I missed her birthday (which was four days ago). 

This will be going in the post to New Zealand next week.  I hope I've done Amy and Enzo justice :)

Tomorrow is going to be a special day in our household, because tomorrow, these two little ratbags will see their first birthday!

They have brought so much joy and amusement into our household, and of course, one human year old is about mid-teenage years for rabbits, so we've got plenty of 'tude to look forward to - just without the acne!



We'll give them their birthday treat tomorrow:
It's a forage bowl full of dried grasses, leaves, twigs, flower heads and apple slices and it even comes in an edible bowl!  It's a total birthday cake for bunnies! :)

We'll forego the candles though!

At last! 

For the first time since 2019, it looks like I'm going to have a birthday - one that's not spent stuck in full lockdown!

That being the case I've decided I want to make the most of it, and so as my birthday will conveniently fall on a Friday this year,  Mr D and I are going to head on up to Stratford upon Avon to stay in a nice hotel for the weekend. Even better, the Royal Shakespeare Company are performing Henry VI on my birthday, at the RSC in Stratford upon Avon.

Guess who's got tickets for her birthday night...      :D

So after missing our annual Christmas meet up last year - for obvious reasons.  But this year, we were determined it should go ahead!

In the end ten of us; theymp and his lovely daughter, Lily, heavenli24, andiivalo, edina_clouds128, Chris and Natalie, a Mum and Daughter we have come to know from various conventions, and Sam and Brenda, jj1564's son and sister, met up at a nice restaurant in London for lunch.  We did a secret santa, had Spn-themed Christmas crackers and just generally had a wonderful catch up - a very long overdue one!

Here's a few pics of the day!




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Every now and again, I and some of the ladies I work with, like to arrange a day out to just to have a few drinks and lots of laughs.  We had a trip planned for the 21st March last year, and of course, that ended up being cancelled because ... covid.  :(

Anyway, today, we finally managed our long overdue get togther in London.

We started off with cocktails at a very swanky modern cocktail bar in Clapham, and then, as a complete contrast, we carried on to Charing Cross where we had lunch and wine at Gordons, the oldest wine bar in London.

So, a day of good times with good people!




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I mentioned a few days ago that I had a cuple of days in Paris last weekend.  This should have been a convention, but that was postponed at fairly short notice as the organiser was having difficulty getting some of the guests over from the USA, and will now take place in March 2022.  However, as the hotel was already booked and the Eurostar was already booked, I and my friend Wendy (JIB roomie) decied to go anyway and just spend the weekend sightseeing.

I havent been sightseeing to Paris for probably 20 years or more, and after the restrictions of lockown preventing any travel for near enough two years, it was fabulous beyond belief to just be in another country at last.  The weather was a bit naff, but we didnt care!

Over the couse of three days, my Fitbit showed that I walked 25.5 miles, so we definitely made the most of our time, and we visited loads of famous Parisien landmarks including the Arc de Triomphe, Eiffel Tower, Sacre Coeur, Monmartre, Notre Dame, Place de la Concorde, Champs Elysees, Centre Pompidou, Pantheon and Moulin Rouge.

So, of course - here are a few mugshots



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It's been a funny old morning.

After swearing, after my 5k in 2019, that I would never run again, I was talked into doing my very first (and probably only) 10k. It was in a place called Bournemouth which is on the south coast, so the event had a lovely view of the sea all the way along.

I'm not going to say this was a run, because I just don't run. I've made my peace with the fact that I'm no good at running and because I dislike it so intensely, I have no inclination to do more of it in an attempt to improve!! This was very much an on and off light jog/power walk, and a group of us from my workplace did it in aid of MacMillan Cancer Support. I ran with a lovely lady called Vicki who has a similar level of fitness to me, and we crossed the finish line together hand in hand!

I finished toward the back of the field in 1 hour 36 minutes, but I finished! ( Read more... )

Legs have really stiffened up now.  Just waiting to put the buns to bed, then hot bath and glass of wine awaits!