Stood in the kitchen, a few weeks ago, I saw a movement outside the kitchen window. Mr.Cobs was out there and up to something. Hmmm. [thinks to self:] I thought I just saw him . . . or did I? Was that a . . . ? Did I see him just . . .?
When he came into the house I asked him:
“Did you, by any chance, just throw a long bit of wood into the bin?”
“Yes” came the reply, “the broom pole (handle) has broken, so I was throwing it away. Why?”“
“Nooooooo!”I said (wide-eyed). “Oh, please don’t throw it away. Can you get it back out again?”.
“Well yes, course I can, but why? What the heck do you want it for?”.
“Well, … I don’t actually know right at this moment …. but I will know. At some point. There’s something inside my brain cell which is trying to send me a message. I know I can use that broken broom pole. Please save it for me? In the shed perhaps? Can you? Pleeeease??“ (I said in my sweetest voice).
So, bless his beautiful heart, he went and rescued the broken broom pole (for folks outside the UK – we here in the United Kingdom tend to refer to the handle of a broom as a broom pole), and put it in his shed. Last week I finally received the message from HQ (aka: my one remaining brain cell), and the message was …. Make Bird Houses!
I showed Mr.C a drawing and gave him a rough measurement, with the instructions:“They don’t have to be perfect, in fact not perfect would be perfect – but can you just cut 3 bits off the broom pole to *this* size, and once they’re cut, if you can give them to me I’ll draw where I want them cut again so that it will make the slope for the roof. Thank Yooooou!” [said in a singy songy way with a sweet, smiling face]. And, God bless his wonderful heart, he cut the wood bits for me, gave them to me and . . . I could tell by the look on his face that he thought (not for the first time) that I was bonkers.
However … he now loves what I did with those three bits of chopped up broom pole.
Let me share them with you, one by one…
Broom Pole Bird Houses. Showing you the wood stained miniature bird house, with the Red Hot Pokers growing at the base. This bird house measures just 8.8cm – or 3.5inches. It’s just stopped raining – and you can see the puddles of rain on the stepping-stones at the base, and rain drops on the roof of the bird house.
Each bird house stands on a ‘slice’ of dried wood, which I then decorated to give it that ‘garden’ feel.
Broom Pole Bird Houses. A side view of the little Blue stained Bird House. This Bird House stands 9.8cm tall (or 3.85″ inches). It has Ivy growing up around the pole which the Bird House stands on, and the Ivy then winds its way around the black tiled roof.
Each slice of wood, which the bird houses stand on, is of a slightly different size, so that there was nothing matching about any of them, other than they were tiny bird houses, a little wonky perhaps, but all of them were stood in a charmed, magical garden, … somewhere.
Broom Pole Bird Houses. A slightly angled view of all three bird houses so that you can see some of the details of the ‘ground’ on which they stand.
As I look at each of the bird houses I try to decide which one is my favourite, and I’m finding it quite difficult. Mr.Cobs, however, says his favourite is the wood stained one, with the Red Hot Pokers growing around the base. Right at this moment, I think my favourite is the Copper Roofed bird house – simply because I love that copper roof.
Broom Pole Bird Houses. The Copper Roof Bird House – stands 12.2cm tall. (which is just 4.80″inches). This bird house stands right at the edge of a small pond in which three golden coloured fish swim happily.
The Copper Roof Bird House has its own Box Tree in the shape of a ball, stood in a teeny tiny (but real) terracotta pot. There’s a waterfall – which aerates the water for the fish, and a rock sited within the pond which is for any passing frog to sit on and spend a little time there. The pond is surrounded by slate stones.
I REALLY enjoyed making these delight filled little Bird Houses. They were so much fun and yet again …. they’re in my favourite size to work with … LITTLE! Hope you like them too!
So … that’s the crafty bit over and done with so now it’s time for coffee . . .
… and … time for me to make you smile:
These are the jokes folks:
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Surely every car is a people carrier?
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What’s the difference between a hippo and a Zippo? One is really heavy, the other is a little lighter.
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When Clowns divorce – is there a custardy battle?
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I usually meet my daughter at 12:59, because I like that one-to-one time.
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My cat is recovering from a massive stroke. (think about it for a moment …. the penny will drop!)
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I have a friend whose name is Fin. Which means it’s very hard for her to end emails without sounding pretentious.
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Smilin’ now? 😀
Well that’s me done and dusted.But what about you? What have you been getting up to this week? Had a birthday? Planning a trip? Started Christmas shopping? Crafted something? Feeling poorly? Cooked something new and exciting? Or … has someone been really lovely and/or displayed some kind of kindness towards you?
Do share with me, and tell me what’s going on in your corner of the world.
In the meantime … I send you my love and very best wishes. I hope that life is treating you kindly, and that you know that everyone here cares about you very much.
Have a truly blessed rest of your day. Much love from me ~
Thank you all so much for joining in the fun of the GIVEAWAY for the Home Under the Dome, which I shared with you in the last blog post
I closed the Giveaway today, and then collected all the names. Each name was allocated a number based upon the order in which they entered their name into the GIVEAWAY.
These are the names, along with their allocated numbers:(where possible, I’ve added each name as a link to their own blog, so that you can go and visit them and perhaps make a new friend!)
I then asked Mr.Google for it’s Random Number Generator, which it duly gave me, and I asked the RNG to pick the winning number from and including No.1 – up to and including No. 11. I clicked the ‘Generate‘ button, and it chose . . .
NUMBER 1 (ONE)!
So the WINNER OF OUR Home Under the Dome is [drumroll]. . .
~ Watching the Daisies ~
Daisies, I’m thrilled to be posting the Home Under the Dome to you. All I now need is your snail mail address so that I can post it.
I think you and I have emailed each other once before, so I’ll have a search through my emails to see if I can find your email address, and once found, I’ll drop you a note so that you can send me your snail mail address.
Many, many thanks to everyone for joining in. Giveaways make life just a bit more fun, and shines a bright spot in days.
There will be another Giveaway very soon …. but I won’t tell you when, or what for, or why. So keep watching … you really won’t have to wait too long. 😉
And tomorrow …. there is a blog post heading your way – (if I can get the darn photographs taken), – which I think will not only make you smile, but possibly even make you laugh out loud, and maybe even squirm and squiggle just a little. 😀 *Cobs – tsk tsk, that’s enough. Don’t give it all away!!*
But, for today, this glorious Sunday which has been gifted to us all . . . May your day be peace filled, touched with joy, and sprinkled with happy. May you leave any troubles outside the door until tomorrow, and may love fill your home and heart.
And … stay as awesome as I think of you as being. Because you truly, really are.
Much love and many squidges, from me in my corner to you in yours.
Those of you who have known me for some time, know that I love working in ‘little’. I love the quirkiness of making little things, and I’ve made things in tins before and posted them on the blog here, but not very often. However, just as the world turns, I’m kind of coming back to tins again. I first began making things in tins about 25 years ago, (obviously I was only … ooo… erm ... two and a half at the time – cough-fibber-cough), and I remember the Master Craftsman – who was teaching me to sculpt in clay – commenting many times that … “… It’s all in the details with you, Cobs, isn’t it!”. He noticed something that had never occurred to me – but once he said it, I could see that indeed, it really was!
Will you open the box …. or will you take the money?!!!
But anyhoo…. Mr.Cobs has a friend who lives back where we used to live – (someone Cobs Snr. used to work with) – who comes and visits every now and again, and both of them go out and make a day of having jolly fun together, eating, visiting places of interest, and generally doing what lads like to do. Well, Mr.Cobs Friend is coming in a few weeks for a visit, and I got to thinking that here I was, making things for __________ (fill in blank space), but I’d never made anything for him. So I set about thinking of what I could make him which would be a memory of Dorset (where we now live).
I know that when he comes to visit this time, Mr.Cobs and he have made a plan to get on a boat and go over to Brownsea Island. Now … I will freely admit that since we’ve lived in Dorset, I’ve had absolutely no inclination to visit the island. I will sometimes sit in the harbour on the mainland, with a coffee, and get the binoculars out to have a bit of a nose at what’s going on around the island – but have never wanted to go.
Brownsea Island – circled to make it easier to spot.
When I found out the chaps planned to go there, I thought I could make something relating to Brownsea Island, as a surprise for Mr.Cobs Friend, which he could take home. BUT . . . after doing some research I was stumped about what on earth I could fit into a little tin Diorama, which would be interesting, but also decorative, if he and his wife wanted to display the gift. which related to Brownsea Island. Nothing. My brain gave me either a red squirrel or a tree. No. Those wouldn’t do at all!
So I had to think about other places which might be on the agenda for another time, and Portland Bill Lighthouse popped into my head. The more I thought about it the more solid it became – so …. I made it. Well … I made an artist’s impression of just the actual lighthouse. It does have a cottage building attached to it – but I chose not to include that as it would have made the tin too crowded – so just made the lighthouse itself, from lightweight clay (so that the tin remained light in weight) – adding the windows, door, the ‘foghorn’ sounder on the side … and the railing around the walkway which runs around the big lamp at the top.
I set the lighthouse atop of some ‘Portland rock’ – well, an artistic impression of it anyway.
Portland Stone is a limestone which has been used for centuries and can be seen in many buildings such as St. Paul’s Cathedral and Buckingham Palace. (you can read more about this on Wikipedia by clickingHERE)
Behind the lighthouse you can see a section of map which shows the position of Portland Bill Lighthouse, and on the inside of the lid [of the tin] is a little bit of information relating to Portland Bill Lighthouse.
For anyone interested in reading more about Portland Bill – I offer two clickable links:
Trinity House – a website which gives information about a lot of the Lighthouses here in the UK – but this link will take you directly to the Portland Bill page.
You can just about see the flag waving in the breeze, on top of the Lighthouse – it’s the British Red Ensign, which is the flag used by civilian vessels.
The tin is roughly the size of an Altoids Tin – at (approx) 95mm x 60mm x 20mm (ish). And … the lighthouse isn’t flat backed (which it seems to look in the photos). When I created it, I made it completely round from base to top. So when you look at it, you can turn the tin a little, and see around to the back.
Ohh…. and yes, those really are teeny tiny, real sea shells in front of the tin! So delicate and so pretty.
Well, that’s what I’ve been up to in the last few days, in my newly painted craft room. I’m still in a bit of a fiddle with the organisation – but my fingers were itching to make and create, so I left everything as it was, and instead sat and made something. I could stand it no longer! (A gals gotta do what a gals gotta do!).
Thank you so much for coming for a visit. I love to see you here. Do let me know that you’ve been and shared a coffee moment with me. I love to know who I’m talking to – so just say ‘hello’ in a comment if you can’t think of anything to say, and I promise I’ll say hello right back!
Wishing you a truly blessed Monday and a happy week ahead. Everything here in Great Britain is gearing up for the Royal Wedding in a week and a bit’s time. Flags and bunting are coming out all over the land. It’s all looking very jolly! Anything going on where you live?
I received an email telling me that another of my cards,which I’d made and sent to the USA, had arrived! I cannot begin to tell you how filled with gratitude I am when I hear that something has arrived. I think maybe it’s more of a joy to me when I’ve actually made something and put all my love into making that item for a special person.
This card was made for my most favourite of Rabbits. Rabbit of Rabbit Patch Diaries. She’s a wonderful writer and has this magical way of picking me up and carrying me along with her as I read her posts. Aww, I love her to pieces.
I wanted to make her a card for Christmas and send it to her, so I asked if I could, and she said yes! I went to work and this is the card I made especially for my fabulous Rabbit blogging friend….
The hearts, reading Joy, Love and Peace, are hearts I made myself, from a very lightweight, white clay. Once they were dry (I always leave it for 24 hours), I coloured up the hearts using ‘Buff It’ (made by Pinflair). The ‘Joy’ heart was done in Gold Buff It. The middle (Love) heart was coloured using Red Buff It, and the ‘Peace’ heart was coloured using Pearl Buff It.
The Poinsettia flowers are handmade, with yellow glass beads at their centres, and they were kissed by the snow. (Or rather: stuff I used as pretend snow).
Behind the flowers and leaves is a little muslin, some loofah strands, green moss, and some twigs – which are from my garden. I was helped in the collection of said twigs, by Little Cobs. He wasn’t quite as selective with the size of the twigs as he was with the collection of “tiny pine cones”, which I told you about a couple of days ago. I was getting what could only be described as branches. Large branches. The type you’d make a fire with, but not the type you’d glue to a card. Bless him.
There are pine cones fixed to the card, and you can just about see them in the photographs. These pine cones were collected by Little Cobs, in his tin bucket, from the garden.
Finally … I added a string of creamy pearls in different sizes. Just to add a touch of ladylike glamour to the card. What can I say…. I’m a twin set and pearls sort of gal. And then I ended the card making session with ‘snow’. (The same ‘snow’ which kissed the poinsettia flowers earlier on).
And that’s all there was to it! 😀
The card was my way of saying ‘Thank You’ to Rabbit for all the enjoyment I get from reading her posts. So .. Thank You Rabbit.
The joy I receive from your blog posts is beyond measure. Each post is book ended with love, and, when I get to the end of each post, it leaves me both filled with peace, and not wanting it to end. Almost like a book that one is enjoying so much, that one doesn’t want the books final page to arrive.
Thank you Rabbit, for the wonderful reads, and ….oh, for so, so much more. May God Bless and keep you, my friend.
And … Thank You my lovely reader, so much for coming and sharing some time with me. It’s especially lovely to see you here I think because it’s Christmas. It’s always so lovely to see friends at any time, but to see them at Christmas time is like a gift. Youand your time, are as a gift to me. So thank you, from my heart, for coming and spending some of your time with me.
I’m going to begin this post by saying sorry for being missing in the crafty action way. I’ve been making some special Christmas cards, but unfortunately the people they’re intended for sometimes pop along and read my blog, so of course that means that I can’t share pictures of the cards until they’ve been received by the lovely folks they’re meant for. But I will blog about some of the other cards I’ve made, as soon as I get a rootin’ tootin’ minute to load the photos off my phone. Promise. 🤗
Right ho ... let’s get into the Edumacation Department, shall we? Line up at the door … and file in one by one. Grab a seat and get your pens out and glasses on.
On this Day in History
1831 – In Great Britain,Michael Faraday read his first series of papers at the Royal Societyin London on ‘Experimental Research into Electricity’. 1859 – Charles Darwin published his controversial and groundbreaking scientific work‘The Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection’.
1917 – Nine police officers and one civilian are killedwhen a bomb explodes at the Milwaukee, Wisconsin police headquarters building.
1932 – In Washington, D.C.,the FBI Scientific Crime Detection Laboratory (better known as the FBI Crime Lab) officially opens. 1939 – Imperial Airways and British Airways merged to become BOAC(British Overseas Airways Corporation), which later merged with British European Airways and returned to one of the previous names, British Airways.
1947 – Red Scare:After the so-called Hollywood 10 refuse to co-operatewith the House Un-American Activities Committee concerning allegations of Communist influence in the movie industry, the United States House of Representatives votes 346 to 17 to approve citations of contempt of Congress against them.
The Hollywood blacklist—more precisely the entertainment industry blacklist, into which it expanded—was the mid-twentieth-century list of screenwriters, actors, directors, musicians, and other U.S. entertainment professionals who were denied employment in the field because of their political beliefs or associations, real or suspected. Artists were barred from work on the basis of their alleged membership in or sympathy toward the American Communist Party, involvement in liberal or humanitarian political causes that enforcers of the blacklist associated with communism, and/or refusal to assist federal investigations into Communist Party activities; some were blacklisted merely because their names came up at the wrong place and time. Even during the period of its strictest enforcement, the late 1940s through the late 1950s, the blacklist was rarely made explicit and verifiable, but it caused direct damage to the careers of scores of American artists, often made betrayal of friendship (not to mention principle) the price for a livelihood, and promoted ideological censorship across the entire industry.
The first systematic Hollywood blacklist was instituted on November 25, 1947, the day after ten writers and directors were cited for contempt of Congress for refusing to give testimony to the House Committee on Un-American Activities. A group of studio executives, acting under the aegis of the Motion Picture Association of America, announced the firing of the artists—the so-called Hollywood Ten—in what has become known as the Waldorf Statement. On June 22, 1950, a pamphlet called Red Channels appeared, naming 151 entertainment industry professionals in the context of “Red Fascists and their sympathizers”; soon most of those named, along with a host of other artists, were barred from employment in much of the entertainment field. The blacklist was effectively broken in 1960 when Dalton Trumbo, an unrepentant member of the Hollywood Ten, was publicly acknowledged as the screenwriter of the films Spartacus and Exodus. A number of those blacklisted, however, were still barred from work in their professions for years afterward.
1962 – ‘ That Was the Week That Was‘ went out live from the BBC, introduced by a new presenter, David Frost, and with some material written by an equally unknown John Cleese.
1963 – Lee Harvey Oswald is assassinated by Jack Rubyin the basement of Dallas police department headquarters on live television. (There are two links for you to click on, one to take you to the BBC News on that day, and the other one will take you to the front page of The New York Times. Both links will open in a new tab for you). BBC News The New York Times 1963 – Vietnam War:Newly sworn-in US President Lyndon B. Johnson confirms that the United States intends to continue supporting South Vietnam both militarily and economically.
1965 – Joseph Désiré Mobutu seizes power in the Congo and becomes President; he goes on to rule the country (which he renames Zaire in 1971) for over 30 years, until being overthrown by rebels in 1997.
Joseph Désiré Mobutu
Mobutu Sese Seko Nkuku Ngbendu wa Za Banga (October 14, 1930 – September 7, 1997), commonly known as Mobutu, or Mobutu Sese Seko, born Joseph-Désiré Mobutu, was the President of Zaire (now the Democratic Republic of the Congo) for 32 years (1965–1997) after deposing Joseph Kasavubu.
He formed a totalitarian regime in Zaire which attempted to purge the country of all colonial cultural influence and entered wars to challenge the rise of communism in other African countries.
His mismanagementof his country’s economy, and personal enrichment from its financial and natural resources, makes his name synonymous with kleptocracy in Africa. (A kleptocracy (sometimes ‘cleptocracy’, occasionally ‘kleptarchy’) (root: klepto+kratein = rule by thieves) – is a term applied to a government that extends the personal wealth and political power of government officials and the ruling class (collectively, kleptocrats) at the expense of the population.)
1966 – New York Cityexperiences the smoggiest dayin the city’s history. 1969 – Apollo program: The Apollo 12 command module splashes down safely in the Pacific Ocean, ending the second manned mission to the Moon.
1971 – During a severe thunderstorm over Washington state, a hijacker calling himself Dan Cooper (AKA D.B. Cooper) parachutes from a Northwest Orient Airlines plane with $200,000 in ransom money – neither he nor the money have ever been found.
A 1972 FBI composite drawing of D. B. Cooper
D. B. Cooper is the name attributed to a man who hijacked a Boeing 727 aircraft in the United States on November 24, 1971, received US$200,000 in ransom, and parachuted from the plane. He was not apprehended. The name he used to board the plane was Dan Cooper, but through a later press miscommunication, he became known as “D. B. Cooper”. Despite hundreds of leads through the years, no conclusive evidence has surfaced regarding Cooper’s true identity or whereabouts, and the bulk of the money has never been recovered. Several theories offer competing explanations of what happened after his famed jump, which the FBI believes he did not survive.
The nature of Cooper’s escape and the uncertainty of his fate continue to intrigue people. The Cooper case (code-named “Norjak” by the FBI) remains an unsolved mystery, and along with Malaysia Airlines Flight 653 is one of the world’s few unsolved cases of aircraft hijacking.
FBI wanted poster of D. B. Cooper
The Cooper case has baffled government and private investigators for decades, with countless leads turning into dead ends. As late as March 2008, the FBI thought it might have had a breakthrough when children unearthed a parachute within the bounds of Cooper’s probable jump site near the town of Amboy, Washington. Experts later determined that it did not belong to the hijacker.
Despite the case’s enduring lack of evidence, a few significant clues have arisen. In late 1978 a placard containing instructions on how to lower the aft stairs of a 727, later confirmed to be from the rear stairway of the plane from which Cooper jumped, was found just a few flying minutes north of Cooper’s projected drop zone. In February 1980, eight-year-old Brian Ingram found $5,880 in decaying $20 bills on the banks of the Columbia River.
In October 2007, the FBI claimed that it had obtained a partial DNA profile of Cooper from the tie he left on the hijacked plane. On December 31, 2007, the FBI revived the unclosed case by publishing never-before-seen composite sketches and fact sheets online in an attempt to trigger memories that could possibly identify Cooper. In a press release, the FBI reiterated that it does not believe Cooper survived the jump, but expressed an interest in obtaining his identity.
On Wednesday November 24th 1971, Thanksgiving Eve, a man walked up to the flight counter of Northwest Orient Airlines in Portland Oregon, and bought a ticket for the 30 minute, Flight 305 to Seattle – a 30 minute hop.
He was later described as wearing a dark raincoat, dark suit with skinny black tie, and carrying an attaché case. He had perky ears, thin lips, a wide forehead, receding hair. He sat in the last row of the plane, 18-C, lit a cigarette, and ordered a bourbon and soda. He had given his name as Dan Cooper.
Shortly after the flight set off with 36 passengers and six crew members, he passed Florence Schaffner cute 23 year old stewardess a note. Printed in felt tip pen, in capital letters, it read .. “I have a bomb in my briefcase. I want you to sit beside me,” it read. She did as he requested, then asked to see the bomb. She saw a tangle of wires, a battery, and six red sticks.
He told her what he wanted – $200,000 by 5:00 p.m. In cash. in a knapsack. Two back parachutes and two front parachutes. On landing, a fuel truck ready to refuel. No funny stuff or he added menacingly …”I’ll do the job.” She passed these instructions to the captain when she got back, the man was wearing dark sunglasses.
The plane landed at Seattle – Tacoma, re-fuelled and the passengers were disembarked as Dan Cooper had demanded.
Taking off, he informed the captain to head for “Mexico City,” with more specific flight instructions: Keep the plane under 10,000 feet, with wing flaps at fifteen degrees, which would put the plane’s speed under 200 knots. He strapped the loads of cash to himself and slipped on two chutes—one in front.
Four United States Air Force F-106 jet fighters tracked the airliner.
Retreating to the rear of the plane he lowered the flight steps and stepped out into the roar of the engines, the night and our over the Cascades.
In late 1978, a placard, which contained instructions on how to lower the aft stairs of a 727, believed to be from the rear stairway of the plane from which Cooper jumped, was found just a few flying minutes north of Cooper’s projected drop zone.
Aside from that placard and the later discovery in February 1980 by 14-year-old Brian Ingram, of US$5,800 by the Columbia River in Vancouver nothing concrete has been discovered about Dan Cooper (The jumper became known as D.B. Cooper after authorities questioned and then released a man named Daniel B. Cooper. That man was cleared, but the name stuck).
FBI sketches of Cooper, with age progression
There have been books, TV shows, documentaries, and death-bed confessions even a film in 1981 The Pursuit of D.B. Cooper. Boeing also introduced a “Cooper” vane at the insistence of the FBI to prevent the rear steps being deployed in flight after several copycat attempts which all failed.
Nothing significant has surfaced.
On July 8, 2016,the FBI announced that it was suspending active investigation of the Cooper case, citing a need to focus its investigative resources and manpower on issues of higher and more urgent priority. Local field offices will continue to accept any legitimate physical evidence—related specifically to the parachutes or the ransom money—that may emerge in the future. The 60-volume case file compiled over the 45-year course of the investigation will be preserved for historical purposes at FBI headquarters in Washington, D.C.
1972 – One of only eight 1933 pennies minted in Great Britain, was auctioned at Sotheby’s for £7,000. (no it wasn’t mine, but I live in hope!)
1974 – Donald Johanson and Tom Gray discover the 40% complete Australopithecus afarensis skeleton, nicknamed “Lucy” after The Beatles song “Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds,” in the Awash Valley of Ethiopia’s Afar Depression.
Australopithecus afarensis Lucy
Australopithecus afarensis is an extinct hominid which lived between 3.9 and 2.9 million years ago. In common with the younger Australopithecus africanus, A. afarensis was slenderly built. From analysis it has been thought that A. afarensis was ancestral to both the genus Australopithecus and the genus Homo, which includes the modern human species, Homo sapiens.
1993 – In Liverpool, England,11-year-olds Robert Thompson and Jon Venables are convicted of the murder of 2-year-old James Bulger.
2-year-old – James Bulger
James Patrick Bulger(16 March 1990 – 12 February 1993) was the victim of abduction and murder. His killers were two 10-year-old boys, Jon Venables and Robert Thompson. The murder took place in Merseyside, England.
The murder of a child by two other children caused public shock, outrage and grief, and particularly so around Merseyside.
James disappeared from the New Strand Shopping Centre, where he had been with his mother Denise, on 12 February 1993 and his mutilated body was found on a railway line at Bootle on 14 February. Robert Thompson and Jon Venables, then 10, were charged with James’s murder on 22 February 1993 and remanded in custody.
Jon Venables (L) and Robert Thompson (R)
On 24 November 1993, the two boys, by then 11, were found guilty of murder at Preston Crown Court. The trial judge sentenced them to be detained at Her Majesty’s Pleasure, with a recommendation that they should be kept in custody for “very, very many years to come”. Shortly after the trial, Lord Taylor of Gosforth, the Lord Chief Justice, ordered that the two boys should serve a minimum of ten years, which would have made them eligible for release in February 2003 (they had been charged with James’s murder on 22 February 1993), when they would be 20.
The popular press felt the sentence was too lenient, and the editors of The Sun newspaper handed a petition bearing 300,000 signatures to Home Secretary Michael Howard, in a bid to increase the time spent by both boys in custody. This campaign was successful, and in 1995 Howard announced that the boys would be kept in custody for a minimum of 15 years, meaning that they would not be considered for release until February 2008, by which time they would be 25.
In 1997, the Court of Appeal ruled that Howard’s decision to set a 15-year tariff was unlawful, and the Home Secretary lost his power to set minimum terms for life-sentence prisoners under 18. The High Court and European Court of Human Rights have ruled that politicians can no longer decide how long a life sentence prisoner can remain behind bars.
Thompson and Venables were released on a life licence in June 2001, after serving eight years, when a parole hearing concluded that public safety would not be threatened by their rehabilitation. An injunction was imposed after the trial preventing the publication of details about the boys, for fear of reprisals. The injunction remained in force following their release, so their new identities and locations could not be published.
On 2 March 2010, the Ministry of Justice revealed that Jon Venables had been returned to prison for an unspecified violation of the terms of his licence of release. The Justice Secretary Jack Straw stated that Venables had been returned to prison because of “extremely serious allegations”, and stated that he was “unable to give further details of the reasons for Jon Venables’s return to custody, because it was not in the public interest to do so.” On 7 March, Venables was returned to prison on suspected child pornography charges.
On 23 November 2017, (yesterday) it was reported that Venables had again been recalled to prison for possession of child abuse imagery. The Ministry of Justice has declined to comment on the reports.
Born on this Day
1815 – Grace Darling, – an English lighthouse keeper’s daughter from the Longstone Lighthouse, who rowed out to rescue survivors of the Forfarshire off and became a national heroine. She died of consumption, aged 26. The Grace Darling memorial is within St. Aidan’s churchyard, Bamburgh, Northumberland.
1868 – Scott Joplin, Ragtime Composer (d. 1917)
1888 – Dale Carnegie, the author of “How to Win Friends and Influence People”
1941 – Donald “Duck” Dunn, American musician (Booker T. and the M.G.’s)
1942 – Billy Connolly, Scottish comedian
1946 – Ted Bundy, American serial killer (d. 1989)
1955 – Ian Botham, England test cricketer
1957 – Denise Crosby, American actress – perhaps best known for her portrayal of Security Chief Tasha Yar on the first season of Star Trek: The Next Generation.
1962 – John Squire, British guitarist (The Stone Roses)
1978 – Katherine Heigl, American actress – best known for her roles in Roswell, Grey’s Anatomy, Knocked Up and 27 Dresses. Died on this Day and Remembered here
1991 – Eric Carr, American drummer (KISS) (b. 1950)
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Thought for the Day
One SONG can spark a moment; One FLOWER can wake the dream; One TREE can start a forest; One Bird can herald spring.
One SMILE begins a friendship; One HANDCLASP lifts the soul; One STAR can guide a ship at sea; One WORD can frame the goal.
One VOTE can change a nation; One SUNBEAM lights a room; One CANDLE wipes out darkness; One LAUGH will conquer gloom.
One STEP must start each journey; One WORD must start a prayer; One HOPE will raise our spirits; One TOUCH can show you care.
One VOICE can speak with wisdom; One HEART can know what is true; One LIFE can make a difference; And all these things are YOU.
🍒 🍒 🍒
And there we are. We’ve come to the end of another lessons in the history of Edumacation. I hope that some of the information stays there in your brain, and isn’t filtered out before you’ve come to the end of the sentence. Well? No … thought not.
May today bring you everything you may be hoping for, and may your weekend bring you joy, peace and love.
Another painting for InkTober, but this one is more simple in its design. However, it’s ALL done in drawing inks. Even the colours are drawing inks.
You can buy drawing inks from various places and from cheap as chips to a years salary. The inks I have are on the cheap as chips scale but, as you can see, if you know how to make them work for you then they’ll work for you. And, since I was, for the first time, joining in with Inktober, and wasn’t sure that I would take this form of art up as part of my crafty loves, I didn’t want to invest in expensive equipment.
The drawing inks in the above photo are the coloured inks I bought to try, and which I used for this inking. I bought this whole set of glass bottles of coloured drawing inks, 6 bottles of Black, Brown, Green, Blue, Yellow and Red, all of them in screw top bottles with an ‘eye dropper’ set into the lids, so that you can lift as much or as little ink out as you need. The whole set cost me just £6.00, and (so long as you’re in the UK) you can buy them from The Works<–Link to these inks, opens up in a new window for you.
It’s quite a thick looking ink and not the thin runny stuff you might be used to. It’s not the sort of stuff you can use in an ink pen. But you can, to some extent, manipulate it and dilute it with water a little. I would strongly suggest that if you buy some, you play with it first on some scraps of watercolour paper so that you get accustomed to how it likes you to play.
I also have some Rose Gold, Copper and Light Silver Drawing Ink, made by Ocaldo. Again, I found these as a set of three for £6.00 at The Works <– link opens in a new window for you. The link takes you to the set of three inks, but they are available as individual inks for £2.50 each. (in the search bar at The Works simply type ‘Drawing Ink’, and it should give you the various selections it has).
I used the silver for the central rod of the umbrella, and tiny touches of it for the silver bits inside the umbrella which make it hold its shape when it’s open. (I have no idea what those silvery bits are – possibly, maybe the ‘frame’ – perhaps?).
#Inktober2017 – Taken with the flash on to make the silver ink show up – but the flash has dampened down the red of the umbrella. It looks more like the first photo at the head of this post
The blue of the raindrops was made using the blue from the Crawford and Black set of inks, and the pinky red of the umbrella was created using the Red from the same set.
And that’s about all there is to it. A simple little ink drawing. It was about all I could come up with as ‘inspiration’ has apparently taken a sick day.
For those who are singing the song … (and for those who like a little movie nostagia now and again) … the song and clip from the movie ….
I hope your Tuesday is or has been a truly lovely one. May the rest of your day be blessed.
I still have the Christmas Crafting Box out next to me on the floor where I’m sitting at my desk… and since I was still in the ‘Christmas’ frame of mind from the last card I made, I began this card (above) on Friday afternoon, . . . but then Little Cobs (Grandson) came on Saturday, and, just like any fabulous grandchild does, he shares with me all the germs he’s caught during the week at school (he’s 5), and this week he shared the germs which gave him an ear infection – however they changed somewhere in the passing and gave me a temperature and made me feel like a wilted weed! I woke up at 3am gasping for breath and absolutely drenched. I have no idea what my temperature was but I’m pretty sure someone could have fried an egg on me had they tried!
Thankfully things are getting back to normal again, but I really think we should build a sheep dip at the front door so that we can dip him in antiseptic before he crosses the threshold in an attempt to remove all the germs he’s bringing with him!
Anyhoo … I’m supposed to be talking about this card so I’ll get on with it.
Made on a 7″x7″ white card, using some Red Corrugated card as a layer to bring the Christmas colour into the card.
I bought a pack of decorative papers last year, with Christmas images on them and hadn’t used them. There were 2 of each design in the pack. And it was this little girl, in her new blue bonnet which was so sweet that I chose her to theme this card around. I used both sheets of this design, layering one sheet onto the Christmas Red corrugated card, and then cutting into the second sheet in order to pick out some details and over-lay them using foam tabs, so giving depth to the card.
The large snowflakes are wooden ones, which I painted white, and while the paint was dry I gently sprinkled a little fine glitter over them so that they would have that more ‘frosty’ look. The Red/pink four petal flowers around the left side of the card, I actually picked up in a charity shop about a year ago. It looked as if someone was clearing some of their stash from their craft room and I found these flowers. Didn’t know what I was going to do with them, but at 75p for a large cellophane bag full of them, I decided to buy them because I knew I’d use them at some point. And … look! I am!
I added the blue ‘crystal’ centres to the flowers, in a nod to the colour of the bonnet which the little girl is wearing. I wanted a ‘conversation’ to be going on between the colours.
The little wooden frame is one from a selection by Docrafts, and the sequins are from my stash. To finish the card off, I added the little silver metal Christmas Stocking Charm (right top corner) with a Christmas Red Ribbon tied to it and … that, as they say, is all there was to it.
If I’ve missed anything or you want to know about something, please just ask away in a comment. I promise I’ll reply.
Well Halloween came and went, and I was rather happy when the day had drawn to a close, because we had out busiest Halloween night, EVER, and I only had three bags of sweets left, and had begun to panic.
I went through my whole supply of cellophane C5 size bags and had none left! I’d begun by making about 12 cellophane bags, each filled with either a sucking lolly or a (drumstick) chewy lolly, plus a pack of parma violets; a Roses chocolate; a humbug; a chocolate eclair; 2 chocolate Ghost; 2 chocolate eyeballs; and two chocolate coins. We thought, judging on previous years, that those 12 bags filled with assorted sweets would very likely be enough. Oh how wrong were we!
After just ten minutes I had to throw more bags together as fast as I could, but before I’d managed to finish the doorbell wrang again and I had to leave Mr. Cobs to seal the bags up, while I kept the little ones and their mummies and daddies talking at the door (admiring their costumes and having a conversation about how wonderful the Princess’s were, and how scary the ghosts and ghouls were), while Mr.Cobs quickly sealed the bags and scrambled out to the door to bring me more supplies. And that happened again, and again.
Sometimes there was just one little darling with a daddy or mummy, and sometimes there were five. On one visit, there were five little ones, three girls and two boys, and as I was talking to the little ghostly bride she was doing a familiar jiggle. I bent over and whispered in a stage whisper (so that mummy could hear what I was saying) … “Oh Beautiful Ghostly Bride … do you by any chance need a wee?”. “No, no I don’t.” …. “You don’t? Are you sure poppet?” … “Yes I’m sure….. Uhm . . . Actually …. I do!“ The jiggle had got ever-so more jiggly. Mummy stepped forward and said … “Oh dear, I think she does, yes”. So … not only did I have ghosts and ghouls at the front door on Halloween …. I even had a spook in my bathroom! And I noticed that the jiggle had gone by the time she collected her bag of sweets from me on the way out of the front door. lol. Bless her heart.
They were all so, so lovely and so very sweet. I couldn’t pick a favourite out of them all if I tried to. I just wanted to scoop them all up and squidge them … which I think was because I was missing Little Cobs – who was still suffering with his virus so sadly couldn’t go out Trick or Treating. Ah well … there’s always next year.
Aww anyhoo … HAPPY WEDNESDAY all! May your day bring with it some smiles, and a sense of peace with it. May any mail you receive from the postman/lady be of the happy type, and may you find a parking space, sat waiting just for you, if you happen to go out in your car today.
The Art of Cobwebs 