Creatures great and small...

...well, mostly small :)

Both my little mother and my GKB are napping at the moment, it's that sort of day, so I thought I'd take the opportunity to put up a few photos I took during the week. 

My eldest granddaughter came over to visit her great grandmother and brought her little dog, Mack, with her. Mack sulked throughout the visit because my GKB didn't pay him due attention when he first arrived. When my GKB was ready for him Mack turned his back and refused to have anything to do with him. Doesn't he look just a little sulky to you?

Then a day or so later youngest granddaughter arrived with her new puppy, which she was not supposed to get and is now in the throes of winning her father over and showing him she is a responsible owner. Meet Sass, isn't she a cutie, 8 weeks old and exhausted from playing with the big dog at another friend's house so she slept the visit away.

Today I went to a friends home or a flying visit and one of the local duck families came to the back door to visit. Mum and five ducklings. It had been raining so they were poking around in the grass looking for worms I guess.

That's Mum standing to attention and watching me closely.

Mum and some of her babies, they're about half grown and stay with the mother for about 20 weeks.

This wee one is the runt and considerably smaller than his brothers and sisters. More scruffy looking too.

And guess who this is? This is dad, heading in the opposite direction to his brood at a very fast pace :)

This is one of two families of ducklings in this little village, there were 11 babies in the other family but I believe some of them went missing in various ways. I haven't seen that family for a while.

Have a great week

Diana

No room on the knee

We have had an enforced week or so at home because of colds so decided today it was time for a foray into the outside world.

After lunch we went for a visit with eldest daughter and were  greeted at the gate by grand daughter's dog guarding the property.

This is Mack. He is staying with our daughter while

 his folk are away for a few days in Auckland.

Mack decided the best place to sit on a cool winter's day

 was my lap. Not to be left out Sooty also decided

 the best place to sit on a cool winter's day was my lap. 

Sooty has never sat on my lap in all the years

 I have known him, about seven!

There's a first time for everything I guess :)

Mack also usually sits on my GKB's knee, a privilege

 for my GKB as Mack has a bit of an aversion to men.

So don't ask me what was different today. 

I don't know. Jealousy perhaps?

It meant I couldn't move until it was time to go.

 Well I could have but I didn't.

And this was Mack as we left, all wrapped up in

 a blanket because his paws and ears were cold.

Have a good week,

Diana

Catching up

Finally - the jigsaw is finished!

I almost gave up about halfway through 

when none of the pieces fitted together :)

But I decided that a few bits of coloured cardboard

 weren't going to beat me, so I kept at it.

In all it took six weeks!

I said I thought it would take all winter, 

well it took half the winter.

There is one piece missing but my daughter, 

who owns it, didn't think that was too bad 

as she bought it about thirty years ago.

Claude helping

One day this old fella decided to give me a hand.

I was worried he would leap off and take it with him, 

but no, he just sat and inspected it, then 

 slowly stepped onto the couch and went to sleep.

Mack having cuddles

Do you remember Mack, my grand daughter's wee Chihuahua?

He is finally out of his cage and walking again.

It was a long three months for him and everyone looking after him.

He still has to be careful, try telling that to a dog 

who has been locked up for so long. I'm pleased all is well.

Monica and Ben

Now this same grand daughter has just become engaged :)

Her and her beau make a really nice couple 

and we are thrilled for them. So I need to go shopping 

for a nice engagement present for them.

Not easy as they have been living together for 

a couple of years now, but I will find something.

Eldest daughter is moving house, she going into a smaller place because it will just be her at home before too long.

What has a crocodile got to do with that you may well ask?

Well I don't know whether there is any lawn at

 the new place and she loves this piece of garden art.

But knowing her she will find a home for it,  

she's much more creative than I am.

 I haven't joined Martha at Tea Cup Tuesday 

for a while so I wanted to today.

The tea pot is made in Japan and was a gift.

The tea cup is Queen Anne bone china, 

quite a pretty cup with the dainty blue daisy pattern.

It once belonged to my middle sister who left it 

with me when she moved across the ditch to Aussie.

I have one or two others she left as well 

and I will show you them another time.

Joining Martha at:

Tea Cup Tuesday

and Stephanie at:

roses of inspiration

That's it for today.

Have a lovely week 

and I'll see you again soon.

Diana

Winter is a'coming...

Autumn is here and in the last week 

the temps have dropped considerably.

There has been a lot of this happening today,

in fact this was when it had begun to clear a bit towards evening.

I'm hoping that it will be nice at the weekend when we commemorate ANZAC Day,

and 100 years since the Anzac troops landed at Gallipolli

with such awful loss of life on both sides.

I'm hoping to go into the city for the Dawn Service

and I think it will be pretty crowded.

Granddad and Granma 

I love these photos of my grandparents 

and this is hanging up in my lounge all the time.

They were so young. Grandad came back from the war 

 and they lived to a good age, 

bringing up six kids as well as having various grandkids 

living in their home over the years.

My youngest brother looks very much like my grandfather.

Mack

My granddaughter's wee dog, Mack. 

He is a sweetie and a real little guard dog..

but at the moment he is not well.

He has lost control of his back legs and also his bowel and bladder.

After having x-rays it seems he has a slipped disk 

which has calcified and now it is pinching the nerves to that part of his body.

He's had a couple of nights at the vet and is now home in a little cage,

on bed rest. He has to have a harness on when he comes

 out to do his business and needs help standing as well. 

Currently he is at my daughters home 

because there is someone home with him there all the time.

They hope to know this week whether he will improve or not.

I hope so for granddaughters' sake.

Winter time means jigsaw time to a lot of people, me included.

I have suggested that we start a jigsaw library at church this winter

and up above is the pile Mum gave me to sort out, name and mend to go in it.

So that is what I have been doing this evening 

- it didn't take long though, most of the boxs are in pretty good nick.

Mine are already down at the church and one other lady is putting some in as well.

I think we'll have about 50 to start us off. 

Just to finish off here is a teacup I gave my mother in law for Christmas one year.

When she died it came back to me and is in the china cabinet with my other teacups.

It is a Regency English Bone China trio.

I thought it was very pretty when I bought it and I haven't changed my mind.

joining with:

Martha's favorites

Roses of Inspiration

That's it for this week,

see you next time. keep well,

Diana

A long haul flight

Number one son and his wife are arriving from Japan tomorrow, so I've been busy making the spare room nice for them ... 

... and putting one or two of his things around. 

They will be in the air now on route to Hong Kong then tonight will head to Auckland and then down to us in the south. A long haul, they arrive here late tomorrow afternoon. It'll be good to see them both, it's a couple of years since they were both here. The family are all getting excited.  :))

**********************

And here's a snap of a little visitor we had yesterday afternoon.

Eldest granddaughters' wee dog, Mack.

Have a good week,

see you back here sometime soon.

Diana