Hestia's 2013

Me, Sonshine and the inimitable Legend!

My 2013 kicked off by finding a neat pile of fluff and ended with my memories of my own school dance horrors and trying to encourage Sonshine to be kind to Those With Unfortunate Frocks and Bad Hair.

February saw the commencement - after years of *cough* preparation - to work on the stained glass windows for the front door.  It's only taken the best part of three years, but 2013 saw the completion of BOTH windows.  There are lots of posts on the Windows Update (the only Windows' update that won't turn your computer screen blue.  Only my language) but here's the first post and the last post (should I toot a bugle when I say that?).



I'm quietly swollen with pride about those two windows, it must be said.

March was quite quiet with only the delight of Sonshine's Mother's Day gift to really brighten the gloom as I work my head around 2013 being the year that I turn 50.

April saw me heading off to Glasgow School of Art again - this time to do some figure drawing with my friend, known as My Day Carer (because she makes sure that I'm safe to go out in public.  Which sometimes isn't the case, believe me)

May saw Juno breaking her hip and my being press-ganged into the Care Package when she came out of hospital.  She's doing very well now - a bit disappointed that she seems to have ended up with a dropped foot which means her lovely collection of high heels has been given away as she believes that she will Never Wear A Skirt Again.  But I'm working on that :-D

June saw me self-diagnosing via the internet and making ginger fudge.  One of which resulted in a hideous fatal diagnosis and the other making my pancreas whine in fear and beg for mercy.  I thoroughly recommend the fudge.  And forget about the self-diagnosing.

July saw a new arrival in our household - a big black greyhound dug called.....Nero!  He's a lazy lump who is nervous of bikes, boys on bikes, footballs, shouting, umbrellas and even jumped over a wall when my welly skidded on an icy pavement.  I walk him around 2 miles a day.  He's already had fleas and trouble with his ears, necessitating some sweaty (and largely unproductive) attempts to put eardrops in.  I adore him beyond reason.  And in August he won 3rd prize in the Agricultural Show Sporting Dogs class.

I also turned 50 in August.  But have singularly failed to blog about this landmark situation during my birthday month.  I didn't do much in the way of celebration really.  Tartarus was at sea.  I got myself a request on Ken Bruce, but was out walking the dog when he played it, so have no idea what the toon was that he put on for me.

I also took Sonshine to a gaming festival in Telford at the end of August  -which was actually a lot more fun than it sounds.  Here's a link to part 1 which is mainly about a drunk girl who lost her shoe.  Part 2 is mainly about me falling of a chair.  Oh yes, I know how to LIVE.  I also forgot to post these in August and made them 'live' in December.  Yes, my brain is getting addled and I've only been 50 for a very short while *feels worried face*

Sonshine and I did the Passion Test - in which I realised that World Peace ranked somewhere below having a desk-top fridge for his cans of coke.

October saw me in London, speaking at the UK Tarot Conference (which I loved doing!) and having a little break with Tartarus and Sonshine.  I also met up with Legend from Vashon, one of my earliest blogging pals and we all had lunch together.  I think that he realised that Tartarus was REALLY quite a nice bloke, despite what I say about him.  And Wally was LOVELY!!!

While I am still basking in the glow of successful stained glass, I  am LESS proud of my knitting and crafting skills which netted this: a snood for my greyhound that blows off in the wind.  I knitted it for National Sweater Knitting Month.  It's not a sweater, I can see that.  But it's an Attempt At Knitting. And there will be more of it in 2014.  Also Nero hates it.

So that's us - a whole year of not doing very much of anything.  I am now heading off to the bowels of the blog to find out why I never posted anything about my 50th birthday - because I deffo remember writing stuff.  This is 50.  You write, but you can't remember where you wrote it or what you did with it.

I hope that you all had a great 2013 and that 2014 is filled with marvellousness that we cannot even imagine right at this moment!!