GRIMBLES VIEWS ON COLLECTING

I think that there's a smidgen of OCD in our family somewhere! We are all into collecting or arranging things, some of us into both! Mind you a lot of it is governed by great sentimentality too.I have collections (not the same thing as collecting) of things that children and family members have given me or made for me. I didn't choose to 'collect' them, but how can I discard a gift of love? On more than one occasion I have shown one of my children something that they made for me 35 years or more ago' I carefully lift it down, blow the dust off and say. 'Would you like this now?' Expecting them with a tear in their eye, to gently take it from my hands, kiss me gently and say 'Thank you Mother, I shall continue to treasure it' But NO! All I get is 'What do you want this junk for, I'd bin it if I were you' With a tear in my eye, it goes back from whence it came!

I must own up to a measure of collecting though. Sindie was quite right, her and I do have a lot in common. Boxes are beautiful objects whether empty or full. I have lots in my craft room. My most recent 'good buy' was a quantity of semi-opaque plastic boxes to hold peel-offs. They are the same size as say, a sheet of peel off butterflies. By the way, not only do I collect peel off butterflies, which go in the semi-opaque plastic box, which is labelled with the help of a Brothers labelling machine...But they are sorted into silver, gold, coloured, glazed, 3D etc butterflies!!! Oh what fun. I digress. All these lovely boxes are labelled with the name of whichever type of peel-off is inside. If I want a letter, or a leaf, or a frog, or some choice words. I know exactly where to go for them. I call that being organised !

Sandie mentioned her unmentionable handbag. We once compared them and weight for weight (and they were weighty) they were about the same. A family member once played the " I bet you haven't got a ... in your bag" game. They gave up in the end in hysterics! I won every call of, a screwdriver, scissors, tool kit, extendable tape measure, stain remover, elastoplast, loo seat cover, toilet wipes, antibacterial hand liquid, spare tablets, comb, brush, toothpicks, magnifying glass, sewing kit. I could go on forever. I know if I haven't used any of these things for a year I should remove them, thus easing the pain in my arthritic knees when I carry my bag around! But having carried these things for years, it must be time soon for them to be needed.

Don't laugh at poor Livvie. She is held in the grip of genes from her mad OCD family members. Even Mo, who is not genetically connected to our mad mob, used to collect (and probably still yearns for) dozens of plastic plants and flowers. It took great courage on her part to break this hideous habit, but she succeeded, and is now a very repectable non-collector. I was thinking we should all try to be like Mo, but I have recently discovered she has replaced platic plants for audio cassettes of her own voice! I rest my case.

ALL DONE BUT NOT QUITE DUSTED

We now have Willum back home in the bosom of his family. Thank you very much Len for bringing us back from the vet, and on your birthday too! He looks just a trifle woozy, but otherwise purred very loudly when I gave him a cuddle (Willum not Len!)

He has quite a long scar on his neck with, the nurse says, about 5 or six stiches, though I can't see that many. They removed a 'nasty' tooth and cleaned and scaled the rest at the same time. I have to keep in him tonight while he's still under the influence and feed him only soft wet food. Apart from that it all looks plain sailing. I do have to give him antibiotics twice a day, which might not be such plain sailing, we'll see. Now all we have to do is sit back and wait for all the get well cards and boxes of diabetic chocolates from his family of cat friends!

Stitches out in 10 days and a check up on 2nd Aug.

WILLUM'S BIG DAY

What a performance! We couldn't feed Willum later than 7pm last night, and couldn't let him out either (in case he got hungry and ate the odd mouse or three). I can't lock the cat flap because it needs looking at and doesn't work properly. Since it's at floor level, that rules out any repairing by me! We found a plastic crate thing that if stood on end, blocked off the cat flap very nicely. Since Willum is not stupid when it comes to escaping, we couldn't rely solely on that to keep him in. Lynne and John came last night, so we got him nicely settled on John's lap and shut all communicating doors! It wasn't too bad until it came to bedtime, then he was determined to escape from Alcatraz! Of course he couldn't and I felt so sorry for him because he must have wanted to go to the loo before bed, as he always does. In the ten years that we've had him I've never , ever, seen him go to the toilet at all. I assume he does, as he hasn't exploded yet! Emma was determined to get me up this morning and kept head butting me from 7am till 7.30, when I could stand it no longer. I bought her downstairs where all three of them immediately wanted breakfast! I really did feel sorry for Willum then. He must have been busting to go out, and since he hadn't had his bedtime snack he must have been so hungry. I let him out into the hall and he rushed up to flomp out in bed with Arthur. Emma and Boomer had a good breakfast and went out in to the sunshine for a spell. Having got up earlier than intended I managed to do some washing, have two cups of tea, and clean and refill the water cooler. It was then that I saw where Willum had attempted and failed the big escape. A large stretch of my kitchen window sill had been cleared into the sink, including my African violet and my large china pot that I keep all my cooking utensils in. He had obviously seen the daylight, and thought he could tunnel out through the window! He must have been frantic. Ah! We managed to get him into the vets on time and he is now in Barnsley, being, or waiting to be, operated on. We have to pick him up (all being well) at 4 o/c. Oh dear! more taxi troubles. Will let you know how he is when we bring him home.

My picture is in complete contrast to the one I posted previously. Not me this time, but Mummy on board the liner, on her way home from the States.