very dark, rainy and windy...

.... so, no golfing today.  Hahahha.... whew, finally a day off to do some housecleaning, laundry and stuff around here.  As you know, I lost two whole months to those damn injured ribs and now...  well, around these parts, there are only two months left of golfing season.  Arrrgghhhhh!!!  What a royal ripoff this year... missed most of it.  Next year I must. be. more. careful.  I want a whole season out there to see if I can improve my game and get more confident.  At the moment (for you golfers) ...my driver is working pretty good... but, my short game has let me down a bit.  Usually I am a pretty darn great putter and my chipping is good too..but, the long rough near the greens has taken its toll with chipping...and for some reason...I am having trouble reading the speed of the greens.  Oh, well...we know the answer.....practice, practice, practice.......

No time to bother with much blogging... it'll hafta wait til October at this rate.  Then, I'll have months to do that and other things that have been neglected.  Golf season is so short.. ... and must be utilized if at all possible.

In between golfing and yard work...I've managed to find a buyer for my motorcycle.... through a burly Harley guy that helped me unload the bike from the van when I had to take it to the dealership to have a throttle cable replace.  Sold our bike ramp too... to the guy that helped unload the bike.  He admired it and we said...it's for sale.  Sold!  ....and now ...we have helmets and other gear to sell and we will have finished with that chapter in our lives.  It was a fun ride....and Greg had fun racing....  til his accident.... but, moving on now that I know I have full blown osteoporosis and could break everything if I get hit or fall off......  my sister is happy that I will be safer on the golf course, I know..... although, with balls flying over trees from some of the long hitters...not always.....as a matter of fact..I might save my helmet and wear it while I'm out whacking balls.

Found this one morning while out watering before I left for a game....

Glistening like so many diamonds in the early morning sun......

I also found this......

..... I don't know exactly what happened here.  I knew the mommy robin was building a great nest...but, really I thought it was too close to the outside edge of the lilac bush.  Then, I didn't see her around for a few days and put my camera up at arms length to take picture inside the nest.  Only one lonely egg..... and now...nothing.  She hasn't come back.  I don't know if they just abandoned it after a particularly bad windstorm...or what.... nature is pretty cruel......

Buttercup arrived..

... and, it took almost no time at all.  She is Canadian.... didn't have too far to come... and Shelly sent her Express... wow!.... it's always such fun to see things so soon after admiring them on a site.  Check out Gingermelon ....for a bunch of cute little bears, dolls and elephants too.

I used to have an elephant when I was just a tiny kid..... but, haven't had one since.... it's time.
And I promise I won't carry her around in such an unladylike position!

Here is my new little bear buddy, Buttercup.
She is softest pale yellow with yellow and pink tiny flowered fabric ears and body.  She has a little pink felty rose in her "hair" ..

Her little feet are velvety soft and one sports a miniature heart of the same fabric as her ears.  Around her neck... a silver charm... a heart in an envelope.  Every part of her is carefully thought out and I love her.

The TBs (table bears) engaged her in conversation the moment they saw her.  Scooter rode past regularly waving and trying to get her attention....

Oh, hai.....I'm over here...yooohoooo... on the scooter?.... maybe I should try my no feet manoeuvre  to get some attention.. but, then again...maybe not....

She's got a few inches on this bunch at 5 inches seated ...but, they said they will introduce her to the CBs (that would be the 'curio bears') tomorrow..... just for the heck of it....

Thanks so much for little Buttercup Shelly!

Born to be wild....

.... and to ride.....

no, not me... this guy...

He's been months in the making. Just bits and pieces lying about.

For me? ....ooooh.... thanks Maggi......

Hope I can figure it out.

Oh, this is easier than I thought.

Wheeeee ..... ...

Hey..... look Mom ....no hands....!!  .. steering with my feet! ...

Stop it...you'll hurt yourself!

Ow............

Beverly in the morning light..

I love how the different light conditions affect colours.............. click to biggify and see her close up.......

                                                                            






A few other plants and flowers have appeared now as well.... even though I seem to have almost ignored the garden during all the wet days...and weeks.....

love the drooping bleeding hearts.....

lilacs are 16 feet tall and tower above the patio wall ... beautiful against the blue morning sky....

The diva ...

Finally, ... she makes her appearance.  All the others have bloomed and gone... she's been waiting them out I'm sure.  I thought the buds looked a bit strange and almost thought they were going to rot on the stem... so much rain here and not enough sun.  Nothing was happening ...and the outer covering just seemed to be getting brown... but, out they burst today... well, only one so far, ...  there are 3 other buds .... and, ohhhh...man...  was she worth the wait!

Please meet Beverly Sills... named for the famous coloratura soprano.  She really is an amazon next to any of the other iris in my garden.   She's beautiful, pink, and frilly......  I had seen and heard about this iris, but hadn't seen one in person.  It took me two years to find one.  It was late in the year...she had no flowers when I planted her... ... I was just going by the little picture on the identification tag and hoping for the best.  She is just as lovely as depicted and very near the colour even though I know one should never rely on an artist rendition...but, I was hoping... .... and it didn't disappoint.

....... on the golf course..

Finally!  I'm able to get a full swing and went out on Ladies Night to play 18 holes.  Here is the "island" hole.  It was beautiful, green and the water was so still..... but, the mosquitoes! YIKES !

This display is right beside the tee box on the 16th hole.... it's from last year.... didn't get to take a photo yesterday...

Me hurt today.  ow.... but,...a good hurt really, because it is just muscles being used.  Even my butt hurts from sprinting around dragging and pushing the cart full of "tools".  Those night time ladies like to have plenty of time to hang out in the clubhouse with a cold one and some grub.  That's a good thing.  Especially this time of year. OMG!!  the mosquitoes!  It was 'orrible!

If you got off the fairway they were so bad it was a rush to get the ball out of the long grass...so usually my ball striking was not the best.  But..also..I haven't been able to hit a ball for 5 weeks...so that has a lot to do with it. I hardly got to practice before I did myself in and then...just been waiting it out for the ribs to heal.

I do feel them a bit more today....but, Ibuprofen and in about 20 minutes...I will be better.  I hope.

Today ..no whacking golf balls.  Two days in a row right now is enough.  I'll do some more tomorrow.

I have other chores to get through today... like ordering a new throttle cable for my motorcycle.  Somehow a split appeared during the winter.... how it got there I have no idea. This bike is in pristine condition..is stored inside all the time...and there is nothing that can touch it in that spot. Look...pristine. So it seems weird to me.

I love this bike..but, I need to get it on the market...I'm selling it.  It would be foolish to ride when I know I have full blown osteoporosis.  If I get knocked off ... well, it would be more than just a few ribs that would be broken, and ohhh...man....that would not be a good thing.  So... best sell it.  Before I jump on and ride it and change my mind.

I'll be safer on the golf course, or in the kitchen..or making bears or something....
...

or ....we could go back to Portugal and  do some fishing.....

See more amazing history and architecture ...

Eat more of that amazing food!  Look at the size of those skewers!  Swords.  That's more like it.... with waaaay more meat skewered than we could eat.... oohhhh but it was tasty....

..oh, boy......now......where was I?.....

Oh, yeh...... I remember.  I was right in the middle of holidaying in Portugal.  Well, not literally...we were home, but, I was reliving it through my photos..... for me and for you..... but real life got in the way.  I wrecked myself.  Injured my ribs leaning into a woodbox and that was it.  That will be 4 weeks ago on Saturday.  Lost a month of summer already and we only have 5 months of summer around here.  Haven't been able to do much .... and time just slid past.

Finally, yesterday, it didn't hurt anymore to sneeze and cough.... woohooo ...so.... things are looking up.  Meanwhile, no golf of course, and my summer is dwindling already, so I'm still a bit grumpy.  Hope poor Mister BV doesn't think I'm a "lot" grumpy... which I probably am.  Okay.  I am.

We drove to the Okanagan over the weekend...which was not all that comfortable in a small sporty car.  I was wishing I had a corset or at the very least a towel to wrap and tie around me. But... we got there and I enjoyed petting horses and cats...and spent time outside at least.  The weather was great....

My sister and I always joke about it being "Vikki's Fat Farm" ... We don't diet, but we usually work hard enough that we can lose a few pounds.  Not this time...she is still recuperating from a broken wrist...and my ribs are wrecked...so we didn't do as much physical stuff.... (well, she did... she always does and is pretty darn tough in spite of a poorly healing wrist.)

It was still busy enough with a lot of non farm related stuff... almost too busy.  But... I did manage to get in my fun times with the furry guys.

oh..hahha..... sorry...couldn't resist.  This definitely lets you know farm cats live around here.  Didn't see many with hats on this visit though....

Mr. Thompson says hi... howarya? c'mon in....my food dish is right over here.

Okay..if you're not gonna find those scrumblies for me ...then I'll just have a little lie down while I wait...

Aaaaa, yes... a chance to rest my weary toesies..... seeing as I am a pretty big dude...and they get tired and the pebbles hurt them when I walk on the driveway....

Oh, boy....says Cleo........ guys.  Come in and pet me instead...  I can wait for my grub til later....

I better stay out here says Kira.....I'm not allowed in the house because I do the same thing to the furniture..... scraaaaatch!  But... come back outside as soon as you drop your suitcase and visit me too.....

Aaaah.....sun and scratching and petting ...nothing better is there?  Nope...not for me.  Not even food.  I'll just eat something later.   Oh, and ...say, come over here and see my horses.

Remember Mickey?   looks as good as ever doesn't he?  'Specially for a guy diagnosed with emphysema some years back and given no chance.  Vikki washes his hay so he gets no dust in his food.  He is pretty coddled.... and doing fine as are all her pets.  And.... that Suzi..... the cheeky little 34 year old Arab....just look at her!

Some neighbours up the road had goats.... they charged right over to the fence to see us.....not the neighbours...their goats.  I bet they thought we had some goodies for them too.  That fencing probably was not the best for goats.  They stuck theirs heads straight through the spaces....

Nubians

a dreary day with a fun parcel!!

Today it's rainy, blustery and only +9C.... plus, I'm damn cranky because I wrecked myself on Saturday night and am suffering.  Reached into a woodbox for a few sticks of wood to toss onto the fire we were sitting around at the neighbour's and ouch!! wrecked my ribs somehow.  A searing jolt of pain on the right side.  Not to be put off..I repositioned my body and leaned in again on the other side ...ouch! ...what an idiot!  Now..both  sides are in pain.  The doctor doesn't think I'm fractured or broken and didn't think we needed to bother with x-rays and unnecessary radiation ... but, with osteoporosis... one does wonder.... and, so, we just wait... all you can do with ribs.  But...the waiting is not fun, nor is it painfree.  She did give me some anti-inflammatories..with some pain killer in them ...but... it hardly touches the pain..especially if I have to cough, sneeze or hiccup.  Oh, man...last night I choked a bit on a pepper flake...and yiked and youched all around the kitchen while coughing really hard. So, today it's worse than it was ... *&^%$#!

So.... I'm just hanging out with my ice packs...my cuppa tea and I did manage to get some bars granola  together..but, finally just gave up on anything else..when all of a sudden the doorbell was dinging and it was the postman.
Couldn't figure it out...because I wasn't expecting anything.....but, don'tcha love snail mail?? ...or even better...snail parcels?  They still haven't figured out a way to send those via the cyberwaves. And thank goodness.  Because I love parcels.  And, I especially loved getting THIS parcel!

A needle felted bear from a new needle felting friend in Poland.  Isn't he great?  What a sweet little worried expression he has on his face.

Frikkles was the first to get over to the chair and welcome him.....Frikkles is the largest guy I have felted and still looks a bit small compared to the new guy ...who is only 4 inches (3 seated) ...  .....

Posie may be small, but she is very brave and pretty cheeky too....she went straight over to say hi.... she thinks he's pretty cute, I can tell, because that's her "coy" look she is giving him.........

"He-who-has-no-name-yet" was also on the welcome committee .... and they all tried to reassure the new guy.  But...he still looks a tad worried.
I'm sure he'll be fine once he settles into the curio cabinet and gets used to all of the regulars who hang out in there.

Thank you agaFil.... my new needle felting buddy... I wish you lived closer so we could visit and do some wool stabbing together......

Check out her Flickr site to see her other little creations.....

oh, look..... I checked back an hour later to see how my new little man was settling and lo and behold...there he was telling them all the story of how he flew here from so many miles away.... awww..... perfect...and from this angle he doesn't look too worried anymore...

Batalha, Portugal

Stepped inside and ...WOW...more amazement!
The colour....and the light..... so much light in such a huge area from such small windows....well.... small in the scope of the size of the whole structure.  And...tall...well....they were sooooo tall......  I just gawked around in every single direction and kept snapping shots of all of it..... don't get dizzy.....
In the first shot you can see a few people...for perspective....but, any of the rest of the photos... if anybody was around...they were way down below the bottom of the photos.  This place is gargantuan...

Wiki says some of the oldest of the windows date back as far as the 1400... and done by German artisans... much of the other is from 1500's..and done by Portuguese craftsmen.  They talk about Batalha being the first work shop for stained glass windows...

Entry to the Founder's Chapel.... built between 1426 and 1434
on orders of King Joao... he and his wife are buried there... and this is the first sighting of his tomb.  The statues of Joao and his wife Philippa of Lancaster are on the top of the tomb holding hands.  Very elaborate and intricately carved headresses above their heads.... which are on pillows.

The dome directly over their heads...

The play of light through the stained glass....so beautiful....

The reflections from the sunlight through the glass was so lovely....

I'm really glad it was a brilliantly sunny day so that we got to see such beauty inside.  The walls were perfect for picking up the colours...