Hamsters , Hyacinth and a bit of heartache

Yesterday my daughter went for a vacation to Bali, Indonesia.

She asked me to take care of her little hamster: Benicio, so since Saturday I have a tiny guest.

Sunday she called me and said she misses the little guy already so I decided to make her a little hamster to take with her to Bali.

Last Monday I gave it to her wrapped and in a nice gift box and told her not to open it until she arrives.

Last night my neighbour asked me if I want to help collecting fallen apples from a city-garden behind my house and I told her I'm sorry but I want to stay with the phone in case my daughter calls.

This neighbour woman is the spitting image of Hyacinth, U.K. readers must know her from a show called "keeping up appearances", if she walks trough he neighbourhood you hear people shut their doors and close the curtains.

Well, she asked me why I want to stay with the phone and so I told her, my daughter is going to the other side of the world and we were both a bit nervous.( I thought of it's perfectly normal to feel that)

"Aaaah," she said " why is that? I raised my daughter to be self-confident and secure and she backpacked through the United States without me feeling a bit worried, you have to let your children go" and off she went sticking her nose in the air.

Don't get me wrong, I can get along with her just fine and she often makes me laugh but when she took off I felt a sudden sadness.

I raise(d) my children to feel secure and with self-confidence, so  why did I feel like an over-protecting Mom?

I never was like that, when my daughter left the nest and moved into her own apartment I was happy for her to start her own independent life.

I realized it was since my husband died suddenly 6 years ago, the world collapsed , no security, no certainty everything can change in a minute.

Since then there is always a tiny little voice in the back of my head lurking ; you never think of such a thing to happen to you, other people die but not your husband who appeared to be healthy and who was just 45.

That little voice isn't there all the time and I go through life rather jolly and positive.

But sometimes this ice-cold hand grabs my heart and if someone points you to , what seemed to my neighbours opinion, irrational behaviour, it all gets to the surface.

Well, I had a good night of sleep and thought of how often people are judgemental but also accepting my sometimes irrational fear , I know where it comes from and I can look at it in a rational way.

I'm sure my daughter has a wonderful time in Bali and when she sees the little hamster she goes wild!

Mr. Badger ( well, he is still a boy)

Last weekend we drove to Germany again, on our way there we drive through Belgium and there I saw a dead badger by the side of the highway.

I never saw a badger in real or alive for that matter.

I think they are beautiful animals , animals we should protect before it's too late.

Well it inspired me to make a cub and the more photo's I saw on the internet the more I love them  and the more I was shocked to see how they are persecuted.

I'll put a link here so if you want you can read about the efforts some groups make to protect this beautiful creature.

http://www.badgertrust.org.uk/content/about.asp

I'm thinking of making a Mrs. Fox ( well she would still be a little girl)


P.s. To the people who live at the East coast in the States: You will be in my thoughts this weekend

Hello you little guy!

Frightening discovery part 2

Arthur was intrigued by the Uldra and followed him everywhere but the Uldra was a second out of Arthur's sight and the creature got his hands on a poor bird!

Uncle Ukki took the bird easily out of the Uldra's hands and set the bird free

All right little ones, that's it !

I have this plan. . . . . .  did you see Spoon this morning?

He agreed to help me and I need your help too little ones.

As I told you, the Uldra won't leave the house but his greed will lure him outside.

He loves grapes more then anything so if you will go outside and hold the grapes and call him, Spoon will get into action.

The little ones called and called and yes! There he was!

Before anyone noticed what happened :

 Bravo Spoon ! Take him as far as you can !!!

Okay children, I suspect we will hear more of him but for now ; Lets drink a nice cup of tea !

Little sillyness

Blogger didn't work all day so I didn't post the next story about the Uldra.

It will be here tomorrow !

I took a day off from sewing, poking and vacuum cleaning and took pics of my dog Pinky.

She was sleeping on the couch all day and that was what I wanted ! 

I posted her photo on Facebook and someone said : this isn't felt is it ?

That reminded me of my felt Pinky, I started a needle felted Pinky more then a year ago but I hurt my elbow when I was building a garden shed and I couldn't needle felt for quite some time.

My elbow is better and I needle felt for a while now but poor needle felted Pinky was still waiting for legs.

So I took her out of her hiding place and hopefully I will finish her soon

Well, that is what I did today :-)

Frightening discovery !!!!!

One morning, Ginny, Arthur and Higgins were up very early and decided to watch the geese flying over.

But My Oh My what is this !!!

It looks like a Stork baby!

Higgins speaks the bird-language, but no response from the bird.

They quickly ran inside to get Uncle Ukki.

Uncle Ukki stumbled out of bed ( forgot to put on his slippers) and ran with the children outside

They managed to get him inside and on the kitchen table,

Well Uncle Ukki's  vision wasn't good but there was nothing wrong with his nose ! SUDDENLY !!!!

 The bird changed into something horrible! Uncle Ukki fell over and the little ones screamed !!!

Oh my oh my what was this! Arthur ran to get some dates!

Little ones, this is an Uldra!
I know now what happened with my glasses, he did something with it.
He knows that a gnome recognize an Uldra in disguise immediately and you little ones have no experience with them.
He disguises himself to get into the house, at night he will check the house of innocent people and if he likes it he wants to be invited in.
Of course no one lets him in as soon as they see it's an Uldra and that is why he disguises himself.
When he is invited in, he won't leave.
When he is not invited in he can't stay in the house ( there are other creatures who have these rules)


An Uldra is a creature who originally lives way up North but these days you find them more and more all over the world.
They have one light coloured eye and one dark coloured eye, so they can see during the day and at night.
You see the leash on his neck? When Uldra's are born the mother gives them a leash right away!
They are not too bright and they will forget who their mother is so they are kept on a leash.
The mother of course is also not so bright and she will forget which child is hers if it's not on a leash.
The creatures are quite harmless but because they are a bit ( very ) stupid, they see no harm in harming animals or humans.
They just doesn't understand hurt ( unless it's themselves who's hurt)
Well I will come up of a way to get rid of him and in the meanwhile we keep him busy with fruit, he is a vegetarian and loves dates and prunes!


To be continued. . . . . .

Some weekend !!!!

About 4 weeks ago, me and Erik went to Germany to see a house.

We wanted to buy a house in Germany since we were there on a holiday 4 years ago.

Our dream location  : I quote Wiki :

The Palatinate Forest (German: Pfälzerwald) is a low-mountain region in southwestern Germany, located in Palatinate in the state of Rhineland-Palatinate. The forest is a designated nature park (German: Naturpark Pfälzerwald), equivalent Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty), covering 1,771 km² 

The house was magical, the area is unbelievable beautiful and it is a 4 1/2 hour drive from our home here in Holland.

The first couple of years we will use it as a vacation home and when my son is on his own 2 feet we will move to Germany.

The house is from about 1777 and build of red sandstone with timber frame and in a really good condition !

There is another house attached that needs a lot of TLC ( the toilet is outside ! )

It is surrounded by woods and low mountains and a little stream runs through the garden.

The water in the house comes from a mountain well !!!! I can't wait to drink that, water is my favourite drink ( and coffee) !

When we were there 4 weeks ago this lovely man ;-) Marcus showed us the garden and pointed out the Wild Boar tracks.

Well, that is why I made the litter of little piggies ! 

We made an offer, they accepted and last weekend we talked about the final details.

If all goes well we will be the official owners in a few weeks !

And now the pics :

Erik and I are still in a slightly state of shock, we  can hardly believe we will spend our free time in such a magical place and my goodness what inspiration this is : Can you imagine the animals and gnomes being created here ?

The entire litter !

The one on the left is very anxious to go to Hittyville !

The second one ( standing) is also adopted and will go to Utrecht, Holland.

The piggie laying down loves Pinky and imitates Pinky's favourite pastime.

The little sitting piggie is very affectionate and attach herself easily.

And there is the one with his nose on the ground, not sure what he is looking for, maybe truffles or little mice . . . . . . 

Pyjama !

Good morning little ones! What are you doing?

Good morning Uncle Ukki ! 

We  are knitting a pyjama for the little piggie, we heard Helen say he needs a pyjama.

But Ginny, where did you learn to knit?

Well Uncle Ukki, I guess we didn't tell you but Arthur and I lived in Scotland for a while, as a matter of fact, on the Fair Isle, a tiny island that is part of the Shetland Islands.

They make beautiful knit-work and we learned it from a very nice man.

Higgins can not knit but we are teaching him and he is trying very hard. ( see his tongue hanging out :-)

We let him knit the leg part of the pyjama so he only needs one colour .

Well children it looks very good !

Thank you Uncle Ukki! Can you move a bit you're blocking our example!

So, I'll have to take measures and see how the colour is matching

Giving birth to a litter ?!?!!

When a sow is giving birth to a litter it takes about 2-3 hours ( it took me 20 hours for each kid) 

.

These little piggies came after a week! and still working on the 5th. but I had to show you.

I can't stop, I want a big litter, I'm in love.

This little baby doesn't wear his pyjama yet ( that is how it is officially called) 

And this one have to stay next to my bed at night. . .

Pinky did some modeling . . . . . .( don't tell her, she doesn't like to be called little piggie)

P.s. They are life size 3 week old piglets