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Simon & Chrys

Christmas Tree, Cookies, Yule & Cats

By Friends & Family, Happiness & Joy, Life, Pets, TV, Online Streaming & FilmsNo Comments

The festive period was a busy one, but a good one this year. It started with the preparation I bought The Vicar of Dibley – The Ultimate Collection [DVD], Miracle on 34th Street [DVD] & The Grinch [DVD] to get me in the festive mood and watched them while I wrapped presents and dressed Norbert the Norwegian (not really a Norwegian but it sounds better):

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Norbert waiting to be taken home. Norbert fully dressed.

Then Sye dressed me up as an African Woman against my Will (honestly!) and we made cinnamon & whole nut cookies:

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Me as an African Woman. Cookies Up Close.
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The completed cookie batches.

The idea Sye & I came up with was to make these cookies to give as homemade gifts to family & friends for Christmas. I don’t know about Sye’s family & friends but all mine that received them said they were delicious.

Yule kicked off the festive period with a relaxed gathering at Chrys’, with tasty food, wonderful company and making of festive wreaths. Unfortunately I wasn’t feeling well as I’d caught a bug before finishing work for the festive period, so by the time it came to making wreaths in the evening I was shattered. In true Yuletide spirit the group banded together and made me a wreath which was so kind of them to do.

Christmas day soon came around and I cooked Christmas dinner for Steve. I was so impressed with myself, but only thought after dinner that I should have took a photo. Dylan & Russell my cats enjoyed the day. I bought them a Crinkle Bag. They love the sound of it along with the cat nip bag sown on a string inside:

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Oh a crinkle bag! OMG there’s catnip inside!

They discovered some wrapping I’d left out and decided to put it on their head and walk around bumping into the walls. After a while they sussed out that if they put their paw in front on them to feel for walls they wouldn’t bang their head. They spent the rest of the evening taking it in turns to play “blind cat;” so should have got a video but at least I got a few photos:

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I will not put my head in the wrapping…. Ah I can’t see!

I also got a number of wonderful presents including various DVD’s, smellies, gift vouchers and a beautiful Yankee Candle.

Boxing day concluded my festive celebrations with a visit to mum & Ian’s with Steve. Albeit brief it was good to see everyone and know that they had a good festive period to.

Blog soon,

Antony

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Sunday 6 January 2013

Christmas Card Letter: 2012

By Books & Authors, Friends & Family, Happiness & Joy, TechnologyNo Comments


Contact Me

Monday 19th November 2012

Dear Reader,

Another year passes us by, time flies by so quickly doesn’t it? For me this year has been a mix of passive times with periods of immense activity. In January I bought myself an iMac (see iMac Part 1 & iMac Part 2), promising myself to write creatively more often. In April I went to watch Steps to relive my youth with mum, Ian & Jodie.


(Above left to right: Ian, Mum & Jodie. Steps Logo on MEN screen. Jodie & Mum.)

In May I had two weeks of annual leave and celebrated my birthday at Alton Towers. If you’ve never been to Alton Towers…you must go; it’s a brilliant day out. During my time off I also visited Chester Zoo for Steve’s Birthday and visited Steve’s family in Hastings.


(Above left to right: Steve in Giant Turtle Shells. Two Cheetahs sunbathing. Me, Steve’s Friend & Steve in Masks at the gift shop.)

My Degree in Nursing results were released in June and I got a Upper Second (2:1) Honours. I felt a sense of achievement and a sense of relief that it was finally over after I previously had to put the final module back a year.

Sye came to stay in July for the Summer. With his arrival I felt a renewed level of motivation to get things done. He returned to Uni. in Salford in the Autumn, it was good having him to stay but I am glad that he’s back where he wants to be.

I had a day trip to Liverpool in August with my good friends Chrys & Simon. Chrys being a proper scouser (minus the accent) showed us round the beautiful city and for the first time I understood why people love the city: the architecture, the culture (music) and the seemingly relaxed nature of the people.

Just before the day trip to Liverpool I started experiencing some severe back pain. After seeing my GP I had an x-ray, was given some painkillers and was referred to Physio. My back’s still causes me some grief now, but the combination of co-codamol and physio exercises have massively reduced the amount of pain I experience.

Having continued to blog throughout the year including several book reviews, I was surprised in September when I had caught the eye of a Publicist (who works for several publishers). This Publicist, from Publishers Group UK asked me if I would review one of their books. I had a bit of a confidence crisis, as I had absolutely no confidence in my writing but Sye encouraged me to go for it. So I did…

The Publicist was that pleased with my review that he sent me another five books to read and at one point stated “a career as a book reviewer beckons!” This was a huge complement and has given me a little more confidence around my writing.

About a week or so ago, I was approached by a Publicist Manager for Headline publishers who have asked me to review a copy of Fuse the second book in a trilogy.

Among my plans for next year is to develop my writing further. But for now I’m focusing on Yule and Christmas. Things are changing this Christmas; for the first time ever Mum is working on Christmas Day, I am off work for the whole Christmas period and I am going to attempt (with Steve) to make Christmas Dinner. Ha ha should be fun at the very least.

Have a joyful festive period,

Antony, Dylan & Russell (the cats)

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Sunday 9 December 2012

A Special Robe

By Friends & Family, Paganism, Thinking2 Comments

Sometime after the death of my young brother Alex (see My Darling Baby Brother), all of his siblings got a small amount of money from his estate to buy something to remember him. I thought about what to buy for months, months and months. I thought about a tattoo, he liked tattoos but it isn’t really my sort of thing. I thought about a nice ring, but then I don’t really wear jewellery.

With Samhain (see Pagan Festivals to learn more about Samhain) a few months away, I pulled out my ritual robe to air it out. Simon & Chrys created it for me in what was once a stunning white, but ritual after ritual had left it covered in oil stains and looking rather drap. So I decided to have a look and see how much it would cost to buy a new one.

The more I thought about Alex and what to do with his remembrance money, I realised that since his death I only thought of him on that hospital trolly cold and blue. That’s not who Alex was; he was a live wire – full of life. So I thought to myself: When do I feel full of energy and life?

The answer instantly popped into my head like a lightbulb being switched on, when I do ritual. There’s something about feeling the energy of the group swirling around in a vortex (before it’s released into the Universe) and feeling interconnected to everyone and everything that makes me feel energised and so alive. So I decided to use the remembrance money to buy a new ritual robe. I found The Pointy Hat a pagan woman in the US who creates stunning robes. Here’s the new robe:



Navy mid-weight cotton ritual robe, hung up.
(Click on the photo for full size image.)



A closer look: The hemming around the lined hood and clasp.
(Click on the photo for full size image.)



Me in the ritual robe, cord tucked into a hidden side seam pocket to stop the cats from thinking it’s a toy.
(Click on the photo for full size image.)

It’s beautiful, comfy and warm. Now every time that I do ritual and feel truly alive, I think of Alex my younger brother who left us far too soon.

Take care,

Antony

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Thursday 15 November 2012

Levitation

By Friends & Family, Happiness & Joy, PaganismNo Comments

On a cold, dark Friday night in October a few weeks ago, Simon and I headed to Chrys’ for a psychic party. From the outside the glow of the house looked warm and inviting, as it always does. Chrys put on a spread and guests were already chatting with one another as we entered, greeted by a massive hug and kiss from the lovely lady herself.

The psychic who was suppose to be giving a few people readings had to cancel last minute due to a family emergency; but with three pagans in the room we did a few activities amongst the socialising, story telling and the general relaxing. Activities included Numerology, Dowsing Rods and Levitation.

I’ve never done Levitation before but we got our victim…ahem…volunteer to sit in an armless chair and began. Four of us took positions two at each side of the volunteer.

We started with each of us joining our own hands together with the two index fingers sticking out and trying to lift the volunteer. The two nearest the back of the chair trying to lift under the armpits and the two nearest the volunteers legs lifting under the bend. Unsurprisingly, even attempting to lift the volunteer with our coordinated efforts was unsuccessful. That was just to prove we couldn’t lift the volunteer.

Then the four of us put our left hand over the volunteers head; hovering the hands slightly so that we weren’t touching the volunteers head or others hands. One each us had put their left hand into position, we did the same with the right. We closed our eyes and visualised what we were about to do and then took a few deep breaths.

We quickly removed our hands in the order we’d put them above the volunteers head and put them (joined together index fingers sticking out) back under the armpits and the bend under the leg; lightly touching the volunteer before she rose up and levitated for a few seconds. Then her body seemed to regain weight and her bum came crashing down on to the chair.

It was an amazing sight to see and I bet we could have levitated the volunteer for much longer if we had wanted too. So that’s how I learned to levitate. Thank you Chrys for the fantastic evening (as always) and for teaching me something new.

Write soon,

Antony



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Thursday 1 November 2012
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