Happy Hallow'een

The last day of October and still beautiful weather, a true Indian Summer.

This is without a doubt my best Jack O'Lantern to date - very scary!

It's all about the dream!

Why do I keep on and on trying for that ultimate show dog, why do I put myself through the highs and usually the lows of bringing up, training and showing a dog that may just may become that once in a lifetime dog? Well maybe this little poem by the famous African-American poet Langston Hughes sums it all up.

'Hold fast to your dream,
For if dreams die,
Life is a broken-winged bird,
That cannot fly'



I suspect his dream was for black and white equality in the US - mine is just a little bit smaller - to make up a Gordon Setter into a champion, but we all need dreams, however small or large!

Four Months on and still no sign of a job!

I am writing this blog so that hopefully one day I can look back and wonder why I ever worried.

Things that worry me:

1) Am I losing all my skills - forgetting how to do what I did
2) Am I losing what little confidence I had
3) Am I getting too used to and too comfortable doing nothing
4) How am I going to be able to manage being morbidly tired again when I've got used to feeling human again?
5) Maybe no-one will ever want me, do I actually have any skills?
6) When do you call it a day and go to Tesco to ask if they need any shelf stackers!!!

I am hoping that I can look back on this blog one day and laugh - at the moment it doesnt look too funny!

Gutted! Both Los Angeles teams are out of the finals!

It's going to be a Yankees/Phillies final - gutted! After postponing Saturdays game due to bad weather the Angels play their final game with the Yankees in New York, the Angels lose - I blame the bad weather. Why on earth play a summer game in a freezing cold, autumnal city!!

Well done Angels they can be truly proud of this seasons play - and of course well done to the Dodgers on reaching the final four - just a great shame it couldnt have been an all LA final!

Remembering Nick Adenhart - Killed so tragically at the age of 23 after making his MLB debut.

22nd October - a very poignant day for me!

For some reason todays date has a lot of poignancy to it.

My first setter, an Irish called Pippa was born 30 years ago today and Annie, my first Gordon Setter was born 20 years ago......and the rest as they say is history. The longest love affair that I've ever had :)

It's also the day I started BOC - 13 years ago as well as the birthday of my one and only mother-in-law or should I saw ex-mother-in-law, although I do still keep in touch with her.

I was waiting today for the phone to ring with that dream job but sadly that didnt happen!

The Angels are through to the playoffs.....

........ meet the Yankees on Friday - oh how I'd love to be there!

Book read: Mister Pip by Lloyd Jones

This was a very different book from my usual remit and all thanks to the Richard and Judy book club.

About a tiny Island that is being taken over by rebels and civil war. An unlikely hero is the only white man on the island married to a native woman who becomes the local teacher. His teachings of Dickens' Great Expectations keeps the children as well as the parents thoughts diverted from the obvious danger of war. A violent yet engaging tale of hope over adversity.

Book Read: Ghost Heart by R J Ellory

This author is fast becoming one of my favourites. A Quiet Belief in Angels was a rompingly good tale as was Ghost Heart. A tale of a sad lonely woman looking for love and finding instead the history of her family. A great twist at the end that I didnt even see coming.

The Experience of a LIfetime!

Everyone who's ever been to London will tell you that they've seen Big Ben - but I've not only seen Big Ben, I've stood right next to it as it chimed and climbed the 334 steps for the privilege because of course Big Ben is the the 14 ton bell that blasts out the hour from the Westminster Clock Tower although of course the tower is usually referred to as Big Ben.

This was an incredible experience, to be behind the clock face, to be beside the bells when they chime 3 o'clock - New Years Eve is never going to feel the same again.

Along with the Clock Tower tour was a tour of the Houses of Parliament which was also awesome - what an amazing heritage we have in England and the UK. We stood in the House of Commons and House of Lords, stood next to the Speakers Chair (Order!!), stood in the Queens Chamber where she gets ready to open parliament - amazing, I feel truly privileged to have toured this wealth of history.

This trip was all thanks to Alan's counsin Mike who found out that you have all this for FREE (yes free) if you wrote to your Member of Parliament and asked for an invitation - that's got to be one of the best freebie's I've ever had!

Three months on and still absolutely no sign of a job!

I have now been unemployed for three months and not a sign of a job. I've had no interview, no important phone call -nothing! I despair at the angencies! I dont know how they can keep afloat!

On the plus side my time at home has meant that I have a very well behaved, well balanced, well socialised Gordon Setter puppy but there is a limit to the kind of conversations you can have with a pack of Gordons!!!