oh the excitement!

No - not the fun of guessing the 108's due date... (though that was entertaining).

There has been a police helicopter circling overhead for about 20 minutes. The word on the street (genuinely!) is that they're looking for a stripy top-wearing man. Wonder what he's done.

How I Started Blogging

Cats on Tuesdays is underneath this one today.

This meme's Annelisa's... forgot to add that sentence yesterday so I unduly got credit today......!

How/ why did you get sucked into the blogging whirlpool?
How long ago did you start?
Who introduced you?
Who was your very first visitor, and do you both still visit each other?
How has your blog changed from your first posts, and did you envisage it developing the way it has?
Have you any other blogs and, if so, what is their purpose?

The rules:

Answer the questions
Tag if you want, or leave it open for people to choose to do it or not ...however you feel comfortable.
Leave a comment on this post when you've done the meme
Link back to this post, so people can see when and why it started.

1. How I started blogging.

(My first post). My little brother had to start a blog as part of his course. He has a friend called Ryan, who has a link on my brother's blog. One day Ryan posted a cryptic message about a funny (drunk) story but didn't give full details. The blog did not allow anonymous comments. For this reason, and this reason alone, I signed up to Blogger.

Of course, having signed up I thought I should give it a try. I had heard about a national blogging day set up by the British Library, so joined in. You had to blog about your day (all on the same day). The idea was to set up a record of normal life.

2. How long ago did you start?

My counter will give you the precise time, but I think it's just over 7 months ago. Around the same time as Annelisa I noticed.

3. Who introduced you?

My wee brother.

4. Who was your first visitor and do you still visit each other?

J-F Le Fahler was my first visitor - responding to a comment I left admiring his photos. This blog was not updated much after I found it so I don't visit any more.

My second (and very important) visitor was: ANNELISA. I found Annelisa's blogs when browsing Cancer Research. She was raising money by shaving off all her hair. I realised straight off that she was a total nutter with a very big heart. And yes, I still visit her blog. Often. I would recommend that everyone read it, though I know many already do.

After a month or so I stumbled across the Soul Patrol and their multitude of blogs: Turnbaby, Trav, Anndi, Bond, Coco, Dixie, Maryfly, Pia, most recently! Julie(Listed the people I've visited rather than the WHOLE patrol). That was when I got really hooked!

5. How has your blog changed from your first posts, and did you envisage it developing the way it has?

I don't think my blog has changed all that much. I like having it though as reading my archived posts is great fun. I'm forgetful, and this should help me keep a record of what's been going on, and what has been important to me. I treat it as an online diary but with the knowledge that my parents read it!


6. Have you any other blogs and, if so, what is their purpose?

No! I don't think I'd have the time - and I don't write any fiction or poetry, and have nothing more I'd like to share really. I've considered music blogging, but I'm happy just to post clips on this blog. I don't tell anyone about this blog. I've shown a couple of friends but haven't passed on the address. To my knowledge the only real life people I know who read it (occasionally) are three friends and my family.

I know this is a topic that quite a few people have touched on before in posts, but I have found it interesting. I would love to know more about why people blog but the bit that interests me more is the who introduced you to blogging, and the who was your first commenter and are you still in touch bits. Pls leave me a link in comments if you have a relevant post (new or old) as I'd love to have a read.

(p.s. Just read Turnbaby's post...gonna nick the idea of linking up the first post you made.)

CATS ON TUESDAYS

I think Dixie has settled in!

This is his usual snoozing place... Dixie snoozes a LOT. When I am in during the day it seems his routine is:

Get up with humans... in the hope of getting fed.

Head back into the bedroom for a bit more kip.

Keep an ear peeled for any more trips to the kitchen.... in the hope of getting fed.

Get up again to have a look and see what the humans are doing if after a while there has been no kitchen trip.

Lie on the human if they are sitting down. Lie on the floor (in the sun spot) if they are not sitting.

Doze off again.

Keep an ear peeled for any trips to the kitchen..... etc.

It's a hard life!

Just got back from working here. Tough being a trumpet player!

It looks like..... ?!

Burekaboy - I think my Brownies would LOVE this... however as I couldn't be bothered to wash up a suitable container I decided to shape my fudge mixture into sausages, which would make rounds. It looked a bit like poo.

The next step is to chill it.

Here is the result.

I tried melting the fudge on top of some fresh cupcakes.... now THIS is delicious!

Relationships....

Last night my boyfriend drove me to Brownies as he was at a loose end. After arriving at Brownies one of the girls reminded me that I had told her we would do cooking this week. I had looked up Burekaboy's no cook fudge recipe but had decided against doing it, as I didn't have time to prepare properly.

I felt guilty when I got there, so phoned home and asked my boyfriend if he would be able to get ingredients and bring them up asap. He kindly agreed.

We got on with our Safety in the Home activities (worksheet with puzzles, and a game)... It took plenty of time and I assumed after a while that my boyfriend hadn't managed to get to the shop, or that something else had gone wrong (ie we haven't enough money in our bank account).

We filled the last 15 minutes playing running around games, and singing songs. At the end of the meeting I found I had 13 missed calls on my mobile.

When I left, my boyfriend was waiting in the car park. I asked him what had happened. He said that he had brought ingredients in and left them for me. When I asked 'WHERE!?' (having cleared the hall before leaving) he explained that he had hidden them under a table near the main entrance to the church. As he had been to the church - right into our hall - last week, I was MYSTIFIED as to why he would not have brought them to me. He'd obviously tried to call, but with 18 kids running round I had not heard the phone. Surely in these circumstances the only answer would be to WALK DOWN THE CORRIDOR AND BRING THEM IN HIMSELF???!?!?!

I don't get it. It's really really annoying, but I'm not allowed to be mad as he tried at least. So whilst not being angry - I must remain mystified.

I'm also going to have to use the ingredients myself. What a shame... when it's made, I'll show you a picture.

grump grumpety grump

It's 1.34 am and I have JUST managed to balance the Brownie accounts (and to find that I have £100ish in cash to pay into the bank... whoops).

yuck

I have a hangover... again.

Met a friend last night who I don't see so often and drank far too much wine.

Gattina tagged me to tell you 7 things about me... I'll do my best.

1. I drink too much sometimes!
2. As I get older my hangovers get worse (ie. never used to have a hangover... now my head is sore).
3. My favourite hangover food is tuna pasta bake.
4. This food choice is the result of living with a nutty girl who introduced me to the practice of hangover=tunabake day.
5. I NEVER have the sauce mix for tuna pasta bake in the house because my boyfriend doesn't like tuna.
6. This makes no sense as I always have tuna in the house, despite his dislike of it.
7. I haven't used tuna since my cat died, as a tin is a bit much for me by myself... however I have a cat friend to share it with again now so perhaps it's time to crack one open.

I am not tagging. Again. The reason for this is that I have tagged about 50million people lately and I can't think of anyone who wouldn't want to slap me if I hit them with another tag.

MEME DAY...

A PRIZE FOR ANYONE WHO CAN SPOT THE NUMBER OF THE DAY.....

(ok so there's no prize really... did I fool you?)

Bond tagged me with a food meme. As I'm a sucker for a tag, I'm playing straight away. I also love food (as you can prob tell from pictures!)

Food Meme - My top 5 Restaurants in Glasgow

Don't think I quite understood the point of this when I posted it before... Having read Nicole & Velverse's posts it makes more sense. And these are definitely five places I would like to show you if you were to visit me!

Rules:


1. Add a direct link to your post below the name of the person who tagged you.
Include the city/state and country you’re in.


Nicole (Sydney, Australia)
velverse (Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia)
LB (San Giovanni in Marignano, Italy)
Selba (Jakarta, Indonesia)
Olivia (London, England)
ML (Utah, United States)
Lotus (Toronto, Canada)
tanabata (Saitama, Japan)
Andi (Dallas [ish], Texas, United States)
Lulu (Chicago, Illinois, United States)
Chris (Boyne City, Michigan, United States)
AB (Cave Creek, Arizona, United States)
Johnny Yen (Chicago, Illinois, United States)
Bubs (Mt Prospect, Illinois, United States)
Mob (Midland, Texas United States)
Yas (Ahwatukee, Arizona USA)
Alicia(Idaho Falls, Idaho, USA)
Tug (Hell, Colorado, USA)
Bond (Memphis, TN, USA)
TopChamp (Glasgow, UK)

2. List out your top 5 favorite places to eat at your location.

3. Tag 5 other people (preferably from other countries/states) and let them know they’ve been tagged.

I hate the tagging bit so I'll tag folk when I can think who might play....

Glasgow Places to Eat

• Antipasti (Italian... did you guess) - it's fairly cheap.. well reasonable but REALLY good.
• They do a mean Chicken and Caramelised Onion pizza.
  
  
• Thai Siam (Thai) - really not cheap... but really good again.
• My favourite are the crab cakes and the mixed starter plate - which reminded me so much of our holiday to Bangkok.



• Shish Mahal(Indian) - normally priced Indian food with great flavour - all the diff dishes taste DIFFERENT which I like.
• Hard to pick a favourite here as everything is delicious and everyone has their own favourite curry dish, right?



• The Sisters (Scottish) - amazing food but only for a special occasion.
• How about the most Scottish options? Peat smoked haddock in a chive cream with a poached egg on a homemade crumpet followed by Braised Scotch lamb steak on thyme mash & pearl barley broth with a redcurrant glaze.



• Pulcinella (Italian) - cheap and cheerful. My favourite.
• SPAGHETTI WITH PRAWNS: King Prawns served in White wine with Chilli & Herbs.

Tag - Gattina as I'd love to know how eclectic her taste in food is with her wild exploratory ways.

Dunc - as I don't believe they even have 5 places to eat in Falmouth...?

Kailani - but she's about to embark on an exciting holiday so I'm not sure if she'll appreciate it!

Yey! Queenie says she'll play too.

Anyone else - please feel free to volunteer??!?

I also want to play Bond's other meme...

"Five songs with great lead guitar solo's - meme from meloncutter"

As a trumpet player I would rather do: Five songs with great trumpet solos... and here they are!

1. The Beatles - Penny Lane. Give it a chance to load as it's really irritating when it stops every 2 or 3 seconds.


2. Super Furry Animals - Northern Lites


3. Robbie Williams - Let Me Entertain You (right at the end - about 3.5 mins in

4. Manic Street Preachers - Kevin Carter


5. Alfie - Indoor League... Ok so this isn't really a favourite as in long-standing old faves... it's on an advert on Channel 4 at the moment but always makes me sing along as it has a cool trumpet bit at the beginning! I can't find a link to the whole song but i've found you the advert at least.


I tag... I don't think I can tag folk as I've changed the remit and am clearly not playing properly. Escaped again.

Cats on Tuesdays

Despite the beautiful sunshine Dixie is currently snoozing on our bed, as he tends to prefer being in the same room as the people in the house and our desktop PC is in our bedroom. Think I've put up enough cat stories for this week already, so I'll leave it at this and crack on with the meme tag from Bond.

Drama at the Cat House

This weekend we had a barbecue... our first this year. It was a cold blustery evening but we tried our best. We lit the fire in the bbq, lit the fire in our new chiminea (in a desperate plea for HEAT) and braced ourselves against the heavy winds.

Then disaster happened. The cat escaped. I had shut him in a bedroom but he is heavier than our last cat (who could be contained in this fashion) so opened the door and ran away. He disappeared and despite calling, trailing the neighbourhood and getting a mob of local kids on the case we couldn't find him.

Unsure what to do we cooked some meat between half-hourly sessions of calling 'DIXIE!' around the garden.

Just as we were really becoming concerned, he nonchalantly sauntered out of the redcurrant bush directly behind us. As if he had never been away!

Cheeky boy. I think we're gonna have fun with this young man!!

More Photos...

Dixie licking his lips... after cleaning? More likely after eating AGAIN! He's a BIG boy.

Dixie from my knee. This was difficult to get as he was pretty close to my face and there wasn't much room for my phone.

I might as well make the most of the snapping when I get a chance as he doesn't seem to like it much.

Sunset from TC's house... well from round the corner

Thursday Thirteen # 19?

HOPEFULLY we can collect the cat today so I'll do you a feline related TT later....

If not I'll have to come up with something else. Will mull over it today.

I actually find the remit quite difficult as the meme is intended to let people know a bit more about me (or whoever is writing).. and I reckon I must have told you everything that is not gonna get me in trouble already!

Anyway - see ya later.

Update: Not doing a TT as I'd rather make friends with our new family member...... Isn't he LOVELY?! (apologies for the catfood covered floor!)

yawn

This one - I was trying to show you how cool the clouds looked on the Campsie hills - the shadows were moving and throwing some great shapes onto the side of the mountains. But the pictures really don't show it very well.

We've been out for a walk today before having lunch. I accidentally drank a pint of lager with my lunch and now feel like yawning continually... I can never cope with daytime drinks (unless they continue into evening drinks!).

cat day!

The inspection is due today at 5pm.... aaagh!

Birthday Meme

Meme (courtesy of Travis).

Go to wikipedia and look up your birthDAY (ie. not year) then list the following.

3 events that happened on that day in history (30 June):

1882
Charles Guiteau hanged in Washington, DC for the shooting death of President James Garfield.

1905
Albert Einstein publishes the article "On the Electrodynamics of Moving Bodies", where he introduces special relativity.
1997
The first book in the award winning Harry Potter series by J. K. Rowling is published.

2 important birthdays:

1899
Harry Shields, American jazz clarinetist (d. 1971)

1966
Mike Tyson, American boxer

1 death:

350
Nepotianus, Roman usurper

Thursday Thirteen #17

Thursday Thirteen - Thirteen random things because it's a Thursday but I really want to post general musings.

1. I am at home in Buckinghamshire with my Mum and Dad this weekend.

2. They are at work today so I can sit and blog all morning and practise trumpet all afternoon.

3. Last night when I got home it was after 10pm. Mum had salad etc ready for me which was very much appreciated!

4. Today is Ma's birthday. We celebrated her birthday at midnight with some wine... prior to this we had been drinking wine too... She got a pretty good haul of gifts but is working til 9pm tonight. I was hoping for birthday inspiration but I really can't think of anything nice to do when she'll be tired & she's on a diet so doesn't want nice dinner. I'll keep thinking.

5. I was goaded into playing Vivaldi double tpt concerto (1 part only) around midnight yesterday along with a Maurice Andre CD... The things you do after a drink! Ok: The things I do after a drink!

6. I'm listening to some really bad music. My brother has left his computer here and he has an amazing array of shocking tunes. At the moment it's 'Could it be Magic'.

7. Whilst listening to bad music I am looking out of the window at the birds nest in the ivy right outside. There are blackbirds nesting in it and it's very exciting seeing them coming in and out.

8. Mum is on a diet on which you can eat as much as you want as long as it's really tasteless boring food... which means there is nothing nice to eat in the house. I know it'll do me good, but it's still slightly disappointing as if she were on a normal calorie counting diet at least there might still be some nice food in small quantities.

9. Quite a lot of this music is bad enough to make me stop typing to skip track. It's now 'Don't give up on us baby'.

10. OH MY GOD! He has his media player set on random selection... and the next track to come up is a sort of techno-remix of 'I'VE GOT A BRAND NEW COMBINE HARVESTER!!!' This is taking the piss.

11. I think the healthy food situation is making me more hungry than I would have been if I hadn't looked to see what was here... It's quite early and breakfast cereal is good normally.

12. The plan for this weekend is to try to take a bit of a break, as I've been stressed out lately. I love playing but sometimes it's hard to weigh up how much work you take on against how much money you will make from it against how good it will be for you to do it against how much you do or don't want to do it.

13. So - if you have any fun games for me to play that are non-music-related please let me know! Actually I think I have some questions to write for that interview meme... perhaps I should get onto that now.

Get the Thursday Thirteen Code here

The purpose of the meme is to get to know everyone who participates a little bit better every Thursday. Visiting fellow Thirteeners is encouraged! If you participate, leave the link to your Thirteen in others comments. It’s easy, and fun! Be sure to update your Thirteen with links that are left for you, as well! I will link to everyone who participates and leaves a link to their 13 things. Trackbacks, pings, comment links accepted!

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Monteverdi Weekend

This weekend was Monteverdi Vespers weekend. I got back last night around 5pm. I stayed the night as I have a friend who lives there. At the end of the concert I went to meet her and her parents only to find MY DAD there. (I'll find a map to post so you can see how far it is) - which was very cool!

So to celebrate this exciting event we went out for a few wines (decide for yourself if I mean glasses or bottles....) then Dad went to his hotel and I stayed with my friend. In the morning I met Dad again for a spot of shopping (wore the earrings last night, Pa) intended to be for Mum's birthday present, but really just to kill some time. We then had lunch - which was a bargain at £5 each for delicious soup and a sandwich before getting busses in opposite directions!

On the bus journey home I received a phone call asking me to do a gig last night in Motherwell - Carousel. I did it - but am glad it was just for the one night as it's not my favourite show.


Also: Today (once the gas man has been to do the boiler check for 2007) we are going to the Cats Protection League to see if they have any cats who need rehoming... And it will be nice to be able to play Cats on Tuesdays with Gattina again so I hope that it works out.

Cats Protection League have the following procedure (just phoned to check!):

Go and see if any of the cats they have would suit you
Wait for a HOME VISIT! (last week we spent several hours cleaning and tidying in case of this)
Go back and collect the cat - usually a week or so later.

The home visit bit frightens me. My mum thinks it is very funny that we'll be vetted to see if we're suitable for a cat... Cruel lady.

Update: We found a cat... actually I wanted ALL the cats but my boyfriend narrowed it down to an enormous ginger tom cat called Dixie (odd name for a boy!). Fingers crossed now for a successful home visit so we can take him home in a week or so.