Things that make you smile

It's grey and dreary and cold . . . and about to get very wet from the look of things, but  to brighten the day here are 3 things that made me smile -
1. An unexpected phone call from a dear friend (Thanks Duck!)

2. Some of you may remember that I sponsor a little girl  - J  - in an orphanage in Central African Republic throuhg SOS Children's Villages.   Two years  ago when the sponsorship started, I was sent a photo of her  - a wide-eyed, rather nervous looking little 7 year old. I just received this year's photo  of a much taller, healthy, smiling 9 year old, proudly wearing her new pink flowered dress - lovely to see how she's grown  and that smile  . . .

3. As I've mentioned, we have  builders here with work on the extension going on in the garden -  after days of gouging out earth  plus a great big hole in the ground ready for foundations there is now  one huge skip filled to the brim with unearthed  soil  – all soft and crumbly - just perfect for  one Charlie  Cat,  to scrape a nice neat hole  - well, making his own contribution to things,

Then jumping down with a ‘Man that’s SOME litter tray!’ look on his face!

 

Happy weekend everyone!

They Grow Up So Fast . . .

Two years ago, just after Christmas, I brought home this small
<- furry creature who came to live with us, entranced everyone who met her, turned into a real Floozie and now looks like

this --->

Thirty years before that, just after Christmas I brought home

<--- this little person who has now grown up to a 6 ft 2" perfect Presents style hero, a son to be proud of who is celebrating his birthday today.

Happy Birthday Offspring! And here's hoping the snow doesn't prevent our clebration meal tonight.

One other small person I'm looking forward to watching grow up is my brand-new sponsor child. My sponsor 'daughter'. The one my readers all enabled me to help because you buy my books and I can use your 'Christmas Card' money to do this.

Because of the need to protect this little girl's privacy, unfortunately I can't share her details and her photo with you but J is 6 years old, living in an SOS Children's Village in Central African republic where SOS care for other orphaned children besides her. I'm told this little girl is a chatterbox who loves helping in the kitchen, drawing colourful pictures and participating at school.

Thank you all again for helping me help her.

Happy Christmas

I want to wish you all a truly Happy Christmas with all the joys and delights of the season.

I hope you and your family and loved ones have a very special time creating wonderful, warm memories to look back on in the future.

And of course I couldn't miss out the furry gang who also want to join me in sending holiday wishes to everyone reading my blog. So - Happy Christmas from

SID

From DYLAN

And of course from FLORA

ie Princess Flora Flooziebelle

I would love to be able to send a card to all my readers and friends to thank you personally for being there all through 2009, for buying and reading my books, for all the lovely emails and letters and cards I've had from so many of you letting me know that you've enjoyed them. But of course that's hardly practical.

So, as always, lovely Heather from We Write Romance has put up a special Christmas card graphic on my web site to send my greetings to you all.

As regular readers of this blog will know, in past years I have donated the cost of sending out a huge number of cards to charity run a vote to see how you would like me to use this. But this year I've made the decision . When I learned that the cost of cards, stamps etc would just about exactly match what it would cost to help a child for a whole year, then there really wasn't a choice to make.

So through my Christmas 'card' to you, I am sponsoring a child through SOS Children's Villages. These children are all orphans and need so much help and care. I don;t yet know exactly ' who 'my' child will be - I simply asked that the money be used where there was most need. But as soon as I know any more about this, I will let you know.

After all, it's your readership, the fact that you've bought my books that has meant that I can do this. And as Christmas is so much a time for children and remembering the story of one particular child then I thought this was one of the most appropriate ways to say

Thank you and have a very very Happy Christmas