Friday 9 September 2011

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It's been pet pandemonium at J and P Towers this week.  One of our guinea pigs squeaked her last on Monday and her little sister is in a deep decline - she's stopped eating and we're all on hand feeding duty.  Meanwhile, I'm secretly fearing for our ageing hamster - he's not long for this world - poor ickle thing.  Blimey, readers, I didn't realise pet care could be so exhausting.

Our holidays seem an age ago now.  I can't believe that a week ago we were in the Lake District visiting Grandpappy J and P and the week before that we were in sunny (and extremely hot) Slovenia.

Yes, dear readers, this is the bit where I bore you senseless about our holidays.  Hurrah!

In Ljubljana, the capital of Slovenia, we spent a lot of time taking pics of grafitti art:



and relaxing in the "library under the treetops" - yes an outdoor library in the park, under the shade of some trees (did I mention that it was darn hot) reading English mags - bliss!



 In the north west of the country, we spent a lot of time jumping into lakes and rivers to keep cool.






We even did some white water rafting!  While Mr J and P was praised by the instructor for his "strength" and Little Miss for her "very good back paddling", little old moi had to make a fool of myself when we were deliberately capsized.  I got caught in quite a strong current and in my panic forgot what you're supposed to do.  What you are supposed to do is let the current take you to where it ends, then swim at an angle from where you came.  NEVER swim against the current for you will never win.  I, like a fool, tried swimming against the current and was quickly getting nowhere.  Strangely, my feeble cries for help were roundly ignored by Mr J and P, and another fellow rafter hauled me to safety with his paddle.  What a drama!


Talking of fools, when  we left Ljubljana to go up north in the hire car, Mr J and P was very busy extolling the virtues of the spacious car boot, only to arrive at our destination some hours later to discover that little wonder the boot was so capacious, the silly twit had left my bag back in the hotel in Ljubljana!  While Little Miss and I relaxed by a lake, poor Mr J and P spent the rest of the day driving the capaciously booted car to Ljubljana and back in order to reclaim my stuff.   Awww, bless.......

Our trip to the Lakes to visit Grandpappy was wonderful as always.  The highlight, for me was visiting the Ennerdale Agricultural Show.  Now I do like a good agricultural show.  My favourite event had to be the Cumberland wrestling:



It was brilliant and they even had a team from Brittany (France) participating.

My second favourite thing was the Horticultural and Produce Marquee.  Mr J and P and myself did enjoy looking at the vegetables.  Our very favourite category was entitled "Monsters made from Vegetables and Cocktail Sticks".  Oh no, I fear a new obsession coming on.......



This won first prize a penguin made from an aubergine atop a bed of purple sprouting broccoli.  Genius.

Personally, I think Mr J and P should have won a prize - brace yourselves, dear readers, and feast your peepers on his unfeasibly large beetroot:

Crikey, it's almost as big as his head!

And on that note dear readers, I must go as it's my turn for guinea pig hand feeding duties.  Bye bye. xx

23 comments:

  1. Blimey, his beetroot is a stonker! What did he feed it with? Miracle Grow Premuin Plus Extra?!!

    I read your hamster comment with dismay, as Monkeychild is determined to have one. We've weighed up the pros and cons, especially the short lifespan, but it hasn't put her off; even telling her that she has to use her pocket money to buy food and bedding still hasn't deterred her.

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  2. Ooh sounds like a loovely holiday! That eggplant thingy is quite something, some people have such creativity,,,including those who dreamed up the competition!

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  3. Wow! You had a great summer. I got married in Slovenia, in the little church on Lake Bled. Happy, happy memories. We married in May and it was hot then, so it must have been sweltering in the height of summer.

    What a whopper of a beetroot that is! What you done with it?

    Madison xxx

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  4. Oh dear, I've never had any luck with Guinea Pigs, I hope with a bit of TLC yours makes a recovery and pulls through.
    It's nice to see you back again Loo, loved the holiday pics and stories, great monster vegies (like the duck best). Welcome back to the real world...when's the next little jaunt?

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  5. That is the largest beetroot I've ever clapped my eyes on - I say the prize should DEFNITEYL have gone to him!!

    Sarahx

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  6. Oh poor guinea pigs, that's why hubby wont let me have pets, because eventually they pass away, and I just wouldn't handle it too well.

    I can't believe your hubby left your bag, well I can, I think its a guy thing, my hubby packed a bag for me once but didn't bother with any underwear at all!

    Your holidays look fun, love the monsters made out of veggies, who knew an aubergine could look so cute! This might be the way forward to get my boys to eat their veg!

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  7. What fun you all had.LOL at your water escapad sound like something that Id do.
    Hope Guinea will be ok.grandKids has been hassling me for ages for some but its the cage getting thats the problem.

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  8. Sorry to hear of your pet troubles, it's hard isn't it as it's easy to forget when you get them they don't live as long as us :(

    Love the vegetables - the Penguin is fab, definitely my favourite! :) x

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  9. Oh your posts always have me in fits of giggles at my desk - i love the penguin. You MUST have a go at making some animals from cocktail-sticks and veggies. And let's face it, they'd be less stressful pets..?

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  10. Poor little piggy, broken-hearted no doubt.
    Those vegetable creations don't look monster-like at all, and I think there's room to out-do the penguin.
    The holiday looks, and sounds idyllic, jealous.

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  11. Your holiday looks gorgeous but that near drowning experience sounds awful, hope you're well recovered now.
    Loving the novelty vegetables, the penguin is a beauty.
    Sorry about the Guinea pigs. x

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  12. Give the pets a cuddle from me and congratulate Mr J and P on his big one!
    Love from Mum
    xx

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  13. Haha - this has made me smile (not the guinea pigs part - hope sister pig pulls through!). The Cumberland wrestling looks tons of fun - I'd give that a whirl!! Lol

    Jem xXx

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  14. awww i'm sorry to hear about ur guinea pigs, i do hope they get better soon! loving the holiday pics, gorgeous view of the mountain and the lake! i too easily panicked but then again i cant swim so would be doom and gloom for me if i tried rafting and capsized (not sure if the life jacket would keep me afloat?) hehe...loving all those cute animals from veggies! so glad that you had a great holiday! x susan

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  15. Love the photo with the mountain in the background, it looks like you had a great holiday.
    Mr J and P's massive one is certainly something to be admired! He looks awfully proud of it and so he should be.
    Hope the pets pull through, Mrs.
    x

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  16. A library outdoors, sounds heavenly! Your holidays look gorgeous and congrats on the giant beetroot!

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  17. I now want to start making monster veggies! That penguin is amazing. Hope guinea pig gets better. Scarlett x

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  18. omg i love this veggieanimals haha so adorable i haven´t seen anything else that cute ;)
    love and kiss,mary

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  19. Amor,
    Your vacations always look like so much fun.
    neurotic wall fotos is so cute.monster animals is the best part, love the penguin too.giant beetroot how awesome. congrats to your hubby looks so please with himself.

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  20. Goodness me what a corker!
    Scenery looks stunning in Slovenia.
    Hope all is ok with your pets.
    Lisa x

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  21. Those vegetable monsters are fab Hehe. I do love Miranda and her 'fruit friends' :) xx

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  22. Eeeek ! Poor ickly guinea pigs. Nevermind - you look like you had such a fab time on holiday. Great photos!

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  23. Ahh, wonderful pics- Slovenia looks so lovely. Is it just me od do the Cumberland wrestlers just like they're having a right good cuddle? Hopeing to see your veggie efforts in your next post, and sorry to hear about your guinea pig :( xx

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