June's Book Done and Dusted

Well it's had a lot of hype and press surrounding it so what's a girl to do but read it?  Tagged as 'Mommy Porn', "Fifty Shades of Grey" by E. L. James is described as a romance/suspense/erotica novel. Well yes, it's all that. Not the most cerebral read in the world, certainly explicit in terms of its sexual content, but to be honest, all that bedroom/ red-room-of-pain stuff gets rather passe after a few chapters.

The writing is bland and the plot is thin. The characters are pretty one dimensional with repetitively annoying behaviours (all that lip biting and eye rolling). Despite other friends rollicking through the whole series in under two weeks, it has taken me almost a month to get through the first book. Those who know what's happening in my own life currently may say there's an explanation for that, but I did expect it to be more engaging than it was. 

So am I going to bother with the next two. Of course I am!

I had been warned that the ending of book one was designed to make you want to start book two immediately. Well mine's packed away for a long plane trip, so I will just have to wait till I get seated to find out what happens next... and actually, I can wait. 

Perfect Timing

On the day of our Tiki C.K.C.S Club Winter Championship Show, Mr Stirling's Championship title became official on a number of levels:

The obligatory bottle of bubbles was shared with the folk who have encouraged and supported me. Within my circle of cavalier exhibitors, this is a tradition when a dog gets 'made up'.

Stirling and I received his Championship plaque on behalf of the club, and lead the Parade of New Champions at the conclusion of the show.

When I arrived home, the official Championship certificate had arrived in the mail from the NZ Kennel club. 

So, we didn't win any major placings at the show today, but I think all of that makes for a successful day nonetheless :).

Broken Wings

As I have previously posted, I was obsessed with nurturing my monarch flock over summer, with mixed success because of the invasive wasp population. But when the weather cooled the wasps left, the caterpillars sprang into action. At one stage I counted up to 35 chrysalises on and around my swan plant.
But alas, as my mother predicted, because they metamorphasized (morphed?) in the cooler weather, the chance of survival is slim for the butterflies. It's just too cold for them to hatch most of the time, and when they do, many are turning out munted.
Today being a milder day, I returned home to find five newly hatched butterflies floundering around under the bush. To protect them from the dogs, I transferred them to a nearby plant. Three looked OK, but two had trouble staying on, due to damaged or malformed wings. The prognosis for them is probably not good... but all five together provided the opportunity to take some sweet pics!

 












PS There were those I had previously rescued and brought inside, such as this chrysalis that fell on the ground and was then sellotaped to the bookshelf ... then hatched under my wondrous gaze... only to have a particular dog who shall not be named use it as a plaything when my back was turned...

Before .........................and after!

Clip of the Year

Maybe it's because I am in a romantic frame of mind - not quite to this extent however - that this clip which turned up on my FB page has struck such a chord with me. What an amazing group of people to do this for this woman (Amy) and her beau... I have had to watch it several times because there's so much you miss the first time. I especially like watching the bride-to-be's reactions in the top LH corner... What a lucky lady!

Click on the top pic to link through. So worth it!