Jenny McIntyre's articles

I was looking out my bedroom window this morning and I saw a small flash of pale colouring and so I took a few pictures so I could see what it was. Imagine my surprise when I enlarged the pictures - Spring has started to tease us - they were the first primroses of 2020!!! I've never seen primroses in my garden while we were still in January of any year. This is a sort of close up of what I saw in the garden this morning. As you can see the leaves of the mombretia are already standing tall -…

I just wanted to thank you all who wished me a happy birthday. I had a lovely day, both of my neighbours popped in with cards and pressies, my daughter rang from Turkey and both she and her hubby wished me happy birthday. Then my son and his kids sang a lovely birthday song on Skype. He couldn't come up as his wife has just had an operation and she's in bed convalescing, so he can't leave her alone for another week. The day was gorgeous - sunny and just a slight breeze, however yesterday it s…

Emily contacted me yesterday to say that her daughter, Ruby, was in love with her octofloops. I'd made the big one for her Christmas present, but because I'd already cut the other one out, I gave it to her as well. Emily sent me this picture of the main octofloop after having been unwrapped ..... I was pleased by how it came out..... I think they look rather cute together - and apparently Ruby thought so too. I was very touched that she was so happy with them, because I know she's…

Just wanted to drop in and say a very happy Christmas..... See I even came down the chimney for you. There's no snow this year - but my wishes are the same to you all - happy Christmas folks. I do love you all, and just want to thank you for all your uplifting comments and friendship. Please enjoy this season and may I wish you all a very prosperous, healthy and happy New Year.

I feel very cold a lot of the time, and yet 4C isn't as cold as it's been before. I have not only the radiator on all day, but also the halogen fire. I suppose that's what getting old does for you!!!! I remembered when it was really cold here, and I'd taken photographs, so just to cheer myself up and to stop me from moaning - I found them. Now these were taken 9 years ago, almost to the day. Thank heavens it hasn't been this cold so far this year. Apparently we've been threatened with snow…

Emily has been a trouper today - she not only went up the 16 stairs to get the tree, but she had to carry it down complete. I'd left the lights attached to the tree, so it couldn't be separated to make it easier to carry!!!! Oooops - sorry Emily!!! Then she had to go back upstairs again to bring the two large tubs full of baubles etc. When I said I wanted the tree to just have baubles on, she said that she thought it would be nice. So she proceeded to put the different coloured balls and bau…

Yep - me!!!!! Both Mandi and I have been scouring the airline sites for a direct flight from the UK to Turkey (well her part of Turkey anyway). There are flights going from the UK direct to Izmir - a city about 75 miles away from her, but the UK airport is over 250 miles from my home!!!!! The only one that we kept finding, was a flight from Stansted Airport, which is the other side of the country - I'd have to travel there by coach from my home town, but I would have to change coaches twice,…

Well I managed to go a few days without making another octofloop, but I couldn't resist. So I found some spare material and started to make this cuddly octofloop. Apparently the daughter of Emily calls it an "offalop" but I couldn't remember the name so I call it an octofloop instead!!!! Anyway, it didn't take much time for me to cut the various shapes and I went and found another bag full of stuffing - so I set off to make it..... This is the deflated body with 8 stuffed round legs. Min…

Emily, my helper, had asked me if I could make a soft toy for her daughter for Christmas. Well you know me and soft toys - I didn't need asking twice!!!!! Apparently her daughter had drawn her favourite little animal - an octofloop!!!! That is what she called it, and this is as close to it as I could do. So she brought me the drawing and asked if I could make it just like that. Well I've never made a soft toy without a pattern, but it looked reasonably easy to make. So I got down to it!!!!…

Well my daughter had her operation today and the surgeon sounds a lovely person. She went to Mandi, before the anaesthetic, and chatted to her (as much as her "not too good English" would allow), and said that she would take great care of her and for her not to worry. When it was all over, she was told that they'd taken 3 lumps out!!! Two were very big and rock hard, while a smaller one was hiding between them. So she got rid of them all, but unfortunately that meant a larger cut, as the lumps…

Hiya folks, all I can do is apologise to you all for not writing much lately. Things have been all "6's and 7's" here (that's English for all over the place!!!!). I've been making a soft toy for my helper, Emily - an octopus can you believe? It'll be finished tomorrow, thankfully, although I must say I have enjoyed making it. It's so straightforward, I've not had a pattern to follow, I just went by a picture she gave me. I'll take some pics of it when it's finished. Mainly I've been very…

I have been trying to get my passport renewed for the last month or so. As we can do it on-line it seemed easy to do so. So Emily kindly took a photo of me (in fact she took loads of them) but the computer said that it wouldn't accept it, as there wasn't much of a difference between me and the background!!! I was standing infront of a pale yellow wall. So the next week, Emily took even more pictures of me, this time with me wearing a darker jumper and a dark blue background (I hadn't noticed tha…

Hiya folks, well not a lot has happened here, hence no blogs - then I thought that I could still write a blog but of older photos!!! Just to show you some of the pictures that I love, maybe because of when they were taken or else why they were taken. If I remember rightly I took this picture when I was in Tunisia - I just loved the various shadows that showed up against the fading sky. This was taken looking out to sea from Instow. The setting sun is reflected on…

I've never had this happen to me before - but yesterday the second bird to fly into the window occurred. I was sitting doing some sewing, when I heard this awful "clump" against my window and I looked up and there were feathers galore floating down the window as this little bird slowly slid down out of sight. I got up and opened the window to see if he was okay - but he had a little bit of blood coming out of his mouth. I picked him up and could see his neck was broken. He breathed his last…

If you remember, I had said that I was making a soft toy for the grandchild of Yvonne, my neighbour. Well it was going to be a rabbit, but Mandi said that it looked closer to Piglet from "Winnie the Pooh"!!!! So rather than send the young baby with a less than beautiful outcome, I decided to make little Teddie a miniature of the one I sent Mickey. This is the rabbit, and can you see why I'm not too keen on it. All I had was the pattern, no instructions, so maybe that's why it's not tu…

Emily offered to take me to the surgery this afternoon, so I could have my free flu jab. It was a drop-in clinic, so we thought it would be a good idea to arrive early, so we wouldn't have to wait too long. When we arrived there were a few already sitting in the waiting room, but not too many to get worried about a long wait. I'd been given a ticket with a number on it, 424, which when the nurse eventually came out to start the clinic and called 418, I was quite happy, knowing I only had 6 peop…

I was mentioning me making soft toys to our Mickey the other week, and he said - "Oooh I'd love a horse or pony!!". To say this surprised me is an understatement. Still I've really appreciated his friendship over these last 12 years or so, and the fact that we still talk to each other every night for an hour, shows just how precious our friendship is. Needless to say, I decided immediately to make him a horse. It started with a donkey, but the instructions were quite awkward and so I changed…

I wrote to John the other day, asking him if he was okay as I hadn't seen him on here for a while. I was getting quite concerned as he'd said his pacemaker was due for renewal. Anyway I got a quick message this afternoon, from his son Brian, who told me that John was rushed into hospital because he wasn't feeling too good. Brian has said that he'll let me know how John is when he gets more information. So I'm sure there are people out there who will join me in wishing John a speedy recovery a…