PC-ness strikes again, the latest MUST HAVE pet and just a bit of this and that.

It seems the world is still going mad with Political Correctness, especially in the world of childhood. As if it wasn't bad enough that someone decided conkers had to be banned because of health and safety, now they're mucking around with nursery rhymes. Humpty Dumpty, poor old soul wasn't he? Remember how all the King's horses and so on couldn't fix him? Well, it has been decided that is too downbeat and negative, so now they can and the ending has been altered to say they could make him happy again! Well, that's nice for old Humpty of course, but whatever next? Jack and Jill will no longer be able to go up the hill together, who knows what they might get up to? Little Jack Horner can't go sticking his digits in his food, health reasons obviously. Little Bo Peep will now employ a well-trained collie to round up those lost sheep. The old woman in the shoe would have been reported to social services for whipping her children. The rock a bye baby rhyme would be banned as being too depressing and sad, or perhaps for putting ideas into jealous elder siblings' heads. And Contrary Mary, in the reasons of equal sex rights and all that, will have to have pretty maids and men all in a row!
Coming up to Christmas and pretty soon the ads will start trying to dissuade parents from giving in to their children who want a puppy for Christmas. The usual 'A dog is for life, not just Christmas' signs will appear, and rightly so. However, this may soon have to be changed to either 'A pig is for life...' or 'A hedgehog is for life...' Yes, I really did say 'pig' and 'hedgehog'. Local news items in the last week have featured mini versions of these animals, which are, if the news is to be believed, THE pet to have, big business... especially for the breeders of course. At £750 for a mini pig, which grows no bigger than an average, adult cat, and looks ever so cute (especially the mini Gloucester Old Spot with it's little pink nose) you can see why it's big business! Not many chops for that outlay I can tell you! As for the hedgehogs, well they are special African pygmy hedgehogs, and they have the advantage over our wild native version of not having fleas. Now that really must be a plus sign, because one of these little fellows, who can sit inside a mug when fully grown, will set you back £150. For something that can get into the smallest of spaces your house would need to be as secure as Alcatraz to make sure it didn't escape, or get behind the fridge, under the cushions on the sofa... the list of possibilities is endless.
Had a bit of a day out last week, visiting a favourite small, independent booksellers in the lovely town of Holt. We normally visit at Christmastime, my birthday treat, but decided it would be Himself's treat instead. I normally buy my books online, shopping around for the best bargains, but needless to say they are nearly always found on Amazon. But the one thing you don't get is the discovery of little gems that you can't resist, so whilst Himself bought a couple of the latest offerings from two of his favourite authors, I came home with reprints of old novels. Not shown here is IN A SUMMER SEASON by Elizabeth Taylor, and that's not the Cleopatra Liz Taylor, but the Elizabeth Taylor, authoress, born 1912, and whose works are now being reprinted by Virago. I haven't read any of hers, but have had them recommended by several friends, so I am looking forward to reading this, once I have worked my way through the library-ordered books that is!

But I couldn't resist these two paperbacks either, the title of the one on the right especially caught my eye, and they just looked so 'take me home-able'. I have this thing at the moment about women writers from the late 1800s to around the mid-1900s and that era... Rachel Ferguson, who wrote the wonderfully titled THE BRONTES WENT TO WOOLWORTHS, was born in 1893, and Joyce Dennys, who wrote HENRIETTA'S WAR in 1883. Both books have been reproduced from the originals by Bloomsbury, and are part of a set of five. I also got THE IVINGTON DIARIES, the latest by Monty Don, but bought on line as it is an expensive book. But gorgeous, so readable, lovely photos of the garden, and already after only a couple of days, I am in July.

Needless to say there has to be some crafty bit in here, and this is a parcel of fabric received from Barbara in France, who responded to my 'Books for Fabric' swap posting on the PC forum. I want to make a quilt, six inch squares, which will go on a simple wooden bench seat in the summerhouse, next year. It will be quilted, though I am not yet sure if I shall quilt each square, or just tie the layers together with fancy little bows using contrasting coloured embroidery silk. I shall take photos, but don't hold your breath! There is, as usual, a long list of things to make and do, but isn't that the way it should be?

Enjoy your week ladies and gent(s), and thanks for popping by.