I seriously believe that this slogan needs our attention! I wholeheartedly endorse this sentiment but this Christmas Eve I was amazed to witness a strange and new twist to its message.
Our neighbours (Jill and Merv), always make their villa very festive by putting pretty red bows on the olive tree on the pavement at the front of their villa. This year was no exception and even the blow-up Santa made a dashing appearance, tied to the rock under the tree (this rock is a story in itself but will have to wait for another day).
Christmas Eve we made our way up the hill for a pre- Gala Dinner drinky poo. Well the real Santa was obviously much impressed with his looky likey tied beneath the tree, because he had left our dear friends two very unexpected presents. One was a scruffy, growling, shaggy mutt of a thing and the other was a slobbery, bouncy, Boxer dog who seemed hell bent on licking the life out of us. The animals were not tied but had obviously been trained to 'STAY' because that was exactly what they intended to do.
These dogs had been abandoned in such a way that it was meant to pull the heart strings of others to take on a responsibility that they would never intentionally undertake.
If only those dogs could have talked and told us where their real owner was.

Well I'm all prepared. I have a copy of Iyanla Vanzant's book Acts of Faith and Geri Halliwell's Body Yoga! So I am ready for those New Year's Resolutions.

I experimented with this photograph. What do you think?

Gosh have you stopped eating and drinking yet?
That daschunds tummy is scraping the floor. We went to a Christmas Eve Gala Dinner, Christmas lunch at The Annabelles and yesterday a wonderful meal at Singapore Jill and Merv's villa.
This little fella admired the Pavlova's at Jill's lovely Christmas table yesterday.



...And look what I discovered when I walked around their garden:

Not everyone knows that we have booked our first proper holiday in February for seven years. We are really looking forward to it, having booked First Class, Royal Jordanian, all the way and staying at the Sheraton Grand Laguna Beach, five star, luxury hotel.
And then 23, 000 dead later!
If the hotel in Phuket gets back to functioning even in the most basic, fundamental way, we will be going. Those five stars will not matter. It is the only way that we can think of to help the people of Thailand who rely on tourism to survive.

Three concerts last week and all of the Christmas HOOHAA this week, so I am exhausted. Got down on the floor to play 'pass the parcel' this afternoon and needed Postman Pat to haul me up; tired and getting older by the minute.
Tomorrow we are off to Amman and then to Cyprus on Thursday; can you feel the relief coming from this page?
So sorry everyone, I feel jaded and in need of a battery recharge. Hopefully I will have time for myself when I get home.

Sorry, but here is another obscure reference to that poem. I cannot believe that no one recognised that Dick and his nail had anything to do with..."THE BARD"...Yes, Will Shakespeare himself.
WHEN icicles hang by the wall,
And Dick the shepherd blows his nail,
And Tom bears logs into the hall,
And milk comes frozen home in pail,
When blood is nipp'd, and ways be foul,
Then nightly sings the staring owl,
To-whit!
To-who!—a merry note,
While greasy Joan doth keel the pot.
When all aloud the wind doe blow,
And coughing drowns the parson's saw,
And birds sit brooding in the snow,
And Marian's nose looks red and raw,
When roasted crabs hiss in the bowl,
Then nightly sings the staring owl,
To-whit!
To-who!—a merry note,
While greasy Joan doth keel the pot.

Phew, Greasy Joan?

If you have anything to do with teaching you will know that painting flesh colour is more than sloshing white into a container of red. You see you need a good dollop of yellow which not many people know.
Three years ago Kyleigh was in my class and we were painting portraits of ourselves. After the initial instructions the children became involved in their tasks. Kyleigh came to me.
"Please Mrs Scates, this isn't very good. It isn't me."
"What do you mean? It's lovely Kyleigh. I think you have done a lovely job."
"But look, it isn't me!"
I looked and she was right. I hadn't seen that Kyleigh was in actual fact black.