brogan (Samantha Mills)
I remember looking after a neighbours bedlington when I was a growing up, we walked him and used to look after him in the holidays. Its a breed I have always liked and though I have had two dogs in my life time ( a lurcher and a Jack Russell) it is the breed I have always yearned for.
A curly haired dog, sometimes said to look like a lamb, and certainly, as terriers, go a wolf in lambs clothing, for though mostly kept as pets and for show these are hardy dogs, intelligent ( often used for this and their coats in breeding out to lurchers) who can make good family pets and are very loyal. It is likely they were originally bred as ratters and they are brave and though placid can be very fierce and excitable.
Perhaps originally called the Rothbury or Rodbury terrrier after the area they were first bred into they have been around since the 18th century but not really shown or regsitered until the end of the 19th beginning of the 20th.
Our family has decided to have a dog and this is the one we have decided on, we wanted a good family pet but also one that we could exercise and would exercise us.
If you have pups or planning on having pups ready for late may or June we would be interested as we want to wait as we go on holiday at the beginning of June and feel it would be unfair to take a pup and then disappear for a week.
Please contact me via the site. I have borrowed a picture of Samantha Mills dog Brogan who looks a lovely character.
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Religion has convinced people that there’s an invisible man…living in the sky, who watches everything you do every minute of every day. And the invisible man has a list of ten specific things he doesn’t want you to do. And if you do any of these things, he will send you to a special place, of burning and fire and smoke and torture and anguish for you to live forever, and suffer and burn and scream until the end of time. But he loves you. He loves you and he needs money. – George Carlin
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What have we done to our children, that they no longer are allowed to be children? Cossetted, protected, given everything, encouraged to gow up and mature so quickly. Yet their innocence rather than being in the majority taken by predators is corrupted in the home if not by abusive adults then by the abuses of disallowing their childhood by subtle means. The Tv, Gaming and networking we allow them is a presentation of a pseudo adult world that belittles any childish existence and robs it of its validity.
This is not surprising as childish behaviour in adults is seen perhaps as the lowest form of humor, or as a weakness or something to belittle. We do not respect the child in our selves so how can we truly respect our children and their childhood. Oh yes we throw up legal protection and talk about safeguarding children, but his is not from a love of childhood but a fear of ourselves.
We appear to save the children, and on the other hand present them with opportunities to abandon their child hood as quickly as they can. That cant be so I hear you cry, but if the top games on the X box are: Grand Theft Auto, Halo and various Star Wars battle adventures, then these are not childish play but presentations of cold unfeeling violence, theft, hatred, and any other vice you care to name. It is as subtle a brainwashing as the way “problems” in maths were presented in early twentieth century text books that belittled people of non european racial backgrounds or others in the lower socio economic order.
Its bothe girls and boys who are presented with early sexualisation , a drive for personal gratification and the subtleties of the pursuit of violence. My 13 year old son would deny all this and says it doesn’t effect him. Not consciously but what of the unconscious.
What of my daughters, whose mothers and grandmothers struggled to create a more equitable place in the world for them and where by the age of 13 that place is being offered in a totally remolded form.
We need to re respect children and childhood, , we need to know it and understand it in ourselves, my worry is for many of us it was so traumatic we are trying to remove it everywhere we find it. There is so much more to say on this subject.
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Today we took the train to eastbourne from Lewes in East Sussex, which for those that don’t know is in the South east of England. As you leave the town the country opens out, to one side is the foot of Mount Caburn, probably one of the most excavated sites in Britain. The summit of Mount Caburn contains an iron age Hill Fort that now is thought to have contained a site of ritual and spiritual significance, rather than a defensive site. On the other smooth flat pasture that is part of the flood plane of the river Ouse.
Ona sunny day as it was today, and without site of Pylon or machine it appears as a Rural Idyll, the flat grazing land covered in sheep and the steep escarpment rising to an ancient topping. As the train moves on the land flattens out further and i guess we were looking across the sussex weald. I doubt little has changed on this landscape for hundreds of years and something of its ancient feel where the sunlight glazed it and the sheep and horses grazed it seeped through the windows of the smooth air conditioned electric train.
The train sped on and we lost this rural retreat as we met the shabby sprawl that has become eastbourne and walked tot eh Towner art Gallery. A Gallery that has lost much of its charm, as it somehow seems both out of place and unfinished, unclear and undirected, with its tiny shop (compare it to the one in Brighton Library, never mind the one in Brighton Museum and Gallery) and wanting us to pay to go to an exhibition that it was hard to know might be worthwhile to see. This is not the Towner I remember. It has somehow lost its soul.
There art of the General collection is good and as a start for children it is worth the trip, but there was more art in those first flat fields of sheep as we left Lewes, but then perhaps there always is and Mount Caburn could never lost its soul.
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In these more frugal times, holidays can often go by the way side, money has to go on other things. But there is a growing area of the holiday market, house swapping, people do it across the world, but it can be complicated, swapping homes, insurances, cars and all sorts of others things (ouch my head hurts!) However I noticed a new site Simply House Swap , which is UK based and helps make house swap holidays really simple.
Exchange is the new way forward, its a way of sharing, learning and getting what you need without being sucked further toward a financial problem, you might be surprised how many people borrow to go on holiday.
Simply House Swap changes all that, allowing you to safely and securely swap houses for a UK holiday. To keep it simple its just in the UK and its also a specialist site aimed at the slightly more established surfer who is going to have a beautiful house. But for those who love walking, nature, The National Trust and might want a few days to a few weeks break I think it looks to be a good idea. Imagine swapping your home in Hampshire for a Yorksire Moors cottage or that Hebridean Croft for a swish London Appartment. I suggest registering your own place and seeing what comes your way. Take the high road!
“Life swap: The essential guide to downshifting” (Jo Hampson, Georgina Perkins)
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We are all one, but it is also important to understand that we all different and that difference is OK. Very often we criticise others because they are different, or they reflect a difference in ourselves that we dont like.
Sometimes we seek out others like us, who think like us, work like us and see the world like us. Its natural and we call them clubs, societies, gangs, friends and so on. At the same time its easy to start into attacking or opposing those that aren’t like us, or dont want to do it like us.
The world would be so tedious if we all thought and did the same.
Its through this negativity that conflict and hatred is allowed to flourish. If you cannot think that maybe you might be wrong then you’re probably creating a difficult path for yourself.
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Christmas Cake (jonathans recipe)
This recipe makes a 4Ib cake (approximately 1.8 Kg) great with marzipan
THE INGREDIENTS
10 oz plain wholemeal flour
1tsp salt
2 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp grated nutmeg
1/2 tsp ground cloves
4 large eggs
8oz brown sugar
8oz unsalted butter
2 tbs of honey
8oz raisins
8oz currants
4oz chopped nuts (almonds, pecans, walnuts are best)
4oz glace cherries (cut in half)
4oz glace fruit
2oz chopped candied peel
1 tbs of grated orange zest (its dificult to do so buy a zester to help)
1 gill (1/4 of pint) of brandy or whisky
THE METHOD
Using a large kenwood mixer or similar is very helpful with this recipe
Butter a 8ins cake tinand line it with greaseproof paper
mix together the flour, salt, and all the spices and sift using a sieve and put it to one side in a bowl
Cream the butter beating until fluffy and then add the sugar until a light fluffy mixture is obtained
In a different bowl mix the eggs with the honey and whisk, then beat this into the butter mixture
At the end of this mixture add a spoon of flour to help stop the mixture from curdling
OK now in ANOTHER bowl mix all the fruit and nuts, a couple of spoons of flour and the zest of the orange and mix well
Now fold the remaining flour into the butter cream mixture and then fold in the fruit and nuts and add the brandy
Mix all this VERY thoroughly to ensure an even spread of fruit and nuts
Now turn/pour the mixture into your prepared tin, you may want to make a small depression in the centre of the cake to ensure when it rises that a flat top is ensured.
Bake in a preheated cool oven, 150 deg Centigrade/300 degrees F /gas mark 2 for 1.5 hours before reducing the heat to 140 C/275 F/gas mark 1 for another 2 hours or until putting a skewer or a thin knife into the cake comes out clean.
If the cake browns too quickly on the top then cover it with foil, keep an eye on it the whole time of cooking
When the cake is done remove from the oven and place on a cool try still in the tin, do not turn out of the tin until completely cool, then store in an airtight container preferably a metal cake tin…avoid plastic like the plague.
if you use my recipe and it works for you please either use the comment button underneath the article or the forum button at the top of the page to tell me how you got on.
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- Jonathan Spencer’s Recipe for flapjack and Crunch
- Jonathan Spencer’s Recipe for Christmas Pudding
- Buckwheat pancake recipe
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Just as an update to a previous post here. I think I created a market for this thing, the latest one on ebay is at a starting point of £24. Luckily I did get one on ebay recently ( somewhat cheaper), thanks for all your comments and well wishes and I have blended the new in with the old and we now have two that are both well loved and swapped over.
I have to say I felt a bit cruel/guilty when I first swapped them over, but it saves on the fears and tears and keeps a little girl very happy.
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If you are searching for something, feel a spiritual need; there is a way that can speak to your conditon. It is simple, honest, holistic and with a liberal outlook. It doesn’t have to take you off to a new age movement but it can help usher in that new age, it doesn’t have to point you in the direction of the east but it will help you meet that direction. In the quiet of a Quaker Meeting you can find true meaning.
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- “THINK IT POSSIBLE THAT YOU MAY BE MISTAKEN.” ….MORE ON THIS QUAKER STATEMENT
- Your Destiny or Your Destination?
- Quaker Week – Discover the Quaker way
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A business I worked for up until August has gone into administration. The downturn seemed to hit them hard and cashflow became a problem. Credit streams were harder to access and the tax man came knocking; and from a highly visible and successful company with a multi million pound turnover to administration in a few months.
Although they had already begun to make redundancies the process of administration, as the administrators try to sell the business, will leave many more unemployed.
I heard the striking post workers comapred to the miners the other day, and a postal worker talking of how his job has been downgraded and if the Royal Mail management get their way there will be more part time workers and the wage will not support a family. The Royal mail is to me symtomatic of much of our problems here in the UK. We dont have enough business managers who can think outside the box, are well tained and qualified, have imagination and can see ahead and be proactive. Why on earth didn’t the Royal mail invest in modern technology, in email systems and othe modern communications, why didn’t it diversify? Yes they have attempted to modernise their industry but its liek modernising a horse when everyone is using those new fangled auto mobiles (motor cars).
So the many of the people who worked at my old company are looking for work, the worry, the anxiety, the fear is what this crisis is all about. No political Party can promise us more than Blood Toil and Sweat, I will be voting for the one that best allays the fears and the tears.
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