I spy with my little eye: a Chat Noir upon a Mer de Bleu!

Did you ‘get’ it?  Did you?  eh?  If you didn’t then it’s probably because you don’t remember the school  lessons in basic French.  Don’t worry, you’re not alone,  … I don’t remember that much about those lessons either.  Although I do remember:  ‘La plume de ma tante est dans le jardin’.  What a useless bit of French was that?  How on earth was I going to use that in every day talking?  My aunt would never have left her pen in the garden, because if she had, one of her three children would have squirreled it away and produced it in a quiet moment when she wasn’t looking, and the hall walls were ready for a hand drawn masterpiece on them.

I’m really honoured, very flattered, and, I admit, a little bit embarrassed, about receiving 3 awards in 3 weeks.  And I’m so sorry if I’m boring everyone to pieces with little snippets of ‘me’ all over the place, but I promise that this is the final of the three awards, – so after this you’ll be so full of ‘Cobs’ you won’t want to hear from me for weeks-on-end until you’ve finally filtered all the ‘Cobs’ through your system, past your kidneys and … well  you know how your internal system works,  so we’ll leave it right there shall we?  [nod & a wink].

A blogger who I just adore,  The Chicken Grandma  nominated me for the Black Cat Blue Sea award.  I apparently one of the people who, she said (and I quote)  “made me think, they have made me laugh out loud, they have inspired me but most of all they have made me wish I could meet them in person”  …  Now I have to say that she might have been suffering a moment of ‘delusion’ when it came to nominating me, but she can’t take it away now ’cause I have it in writing!  [nods firmly as if to seal the deal].  Thank you Chicken for honouring me in this way.  Bless your beautiful heart.

Anyhoo .. the rules are as follows:

Ok .. that seems simple enough, even for a person of little brain and bad headache like me.  We’ll begin with the questions that The Chicken Grandma asked me to answer:

1. How do you find your inspiration for a blog post?

Well, the obvious answer is my crafting.  Whatever I make will inspire the blog post.  However … I don’t just blog about crafts, so, in truth, it’s my life which gives me the inspiration.  Things happen, good and not so good, and when they happen I tend to try to look for the either the silver lining, or the humour in the situation, and from that comes the inspiration.  I love fun.  Not to the exclusion of anything else you understand.  But I love the fun which lightens the days.  Fun which is harmless to anyone else.  You’ll never find me having fun at someone elses expense for example.  If there is to be someone who is the brunt of my fun then it’s me.  But I’m in my element when I can share the fun with someone else.  I have a little handful of bloggers (yes YOU know who YOU are) who have that same little streak of naughtiness running through them.  A kind of gentle rascal naughtiness.  Something like two girls giggling in the corner of the playground, and no one really knows what they’re giggling about, but everyone DOES know that it’s totally harmless, not offensive or rude and just simply two minds going on a carnival ride together.

2. What do you enjoy most about where you call home?

Oh, well that ones easy! ...  Mr Cobs, my dog, my cats, my rabbit, and my chickens are all there.  Oh … and my craft room is in the garden.  umm…  Did I mention my craft room?   Or as my friend calls it:  The ‘executive art annexe’.  (Posh friend with just a hint of crazy and an extremely large dash of fun. lol).

3. What is your favourite thing to do?

Oh heck … I have lots of things I love to do .. but I have to tie it down to one … lemme think for a moment …..  hmm..  It seems to be the simple pleasures that I enjoy the most – so I’ll choose ….. Visiting the sea.  The sea is just a few minutes away from our home, and I love to visit just to sit and look and watch it.  To feel it’s power and yet it’s gentleness.  The sound of the sea is a music like no other.

Sitting with the sea cleanses my mind and my soul and seems to slow down my pulse and heart rate.  It allows me to stop thinking and instead, let another power take control.

Right – that’s the questions answered,  …. now I need to name 7 blogs I want to pass this award onto, and set them three questions of my own … here goes…

Gail at Truly Jewellery and Crafts

Sarah at The Handmade Card Blog

My Paper Rose Garden

Paintbox Mum

Imagine Blog

Puddle Side Musings

Linda Simpson Crafty Piece of Heaven

And my  3  questions for these people to answer are as follows:

1. If you won a prize for a crafty item or craft related ‘goody’ … what would you really want that prize to be … and why?
2. If you were asked to demonstrate how you made a particular thing … for one of the main Craft channels on TV … would you say yes? and .. what item would you demonstrate that you’ve already made?  (Give us all a link to that too, so that we can share the enjoyment).
3. You’re going to be stranded on an island all by yourself, for one week.  What 5   (only FIVE)  crafty items would you take with you?  Or ... would you take none and just enjoy the total peace and quiet?

And that, as they say, is all there is to it.  BUT … if any of the people I’ve named for nomination of this award choose not to accept the award then that’s absolutely fine and groovy.  No one is under any obligation to accept the award or to answer the questions.

Thank you again to my fabulous Chicken Grandma for nominating me for this award. I’m honoured, and so blessed to know her.  Please go and check out her blog (see the link towards the head of this post), and get to know her.  She’s an absolute delight and makes me smile so very much.  Her blog posts are such an enjoyment to read.  Go check her out.

Well today is Monday… So let’s get this week off to a great start, shall we?  Could you, do you think, do just one act of random kindness today?  Could you perhaps buy a little bunch of flowers and give them to a neighbour, just to make them smile?  Perhaps give a sweet card to someone to bring cheer into their life?  How about making a cake for someone?  Or even buying a pack of biscuits?  One of my most favourite things to do where I used to live was something I called  ‘Get your neighbour fat day’ … while out shopping I’d buy a couple of cakes from the bakery department and have them packed singularly so that I could take one to one of my lady neighbours, and the other cake to another.  I’d sometimes stand on their doorstep singing:  “A very happy UnBirthday to you . . . “ (from Alice in Wonderland).  Which made them hoot.

Go on, give it a go.  Do a random act of kindness for someone.  You don’t have to spend any money if you can’t…  you could pray for the next person who passes you in the street.  Or you could simply share a smile.  Sometimes it takes the smallest act of kindness to change a persons day,  or even their whole life.

You really are the greatest bunch of folks, y’know, and if I could give you one thing in life it would be to see yourself through my eyes.  Only then would you know how incredibly special you are to me.

So .. come on Team!   Let’s do it to them before they do it to us!  (a kindness that is).

Sending you a wish for a truly magnificent Monday.

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