Spiffy

What makes a spiffy dresser? I suppose it's in the eye of the beholder but to me, men can be spiffy, not women. Ladies are elegant, chic, tarty, whatever, but never spiffy.
Men in Speedos are not spiffy but a gentleman in a tuxedo, well, Sigh.
Today I saw a spiffy man, or perhaps his outfit was just plain Sharp. He was clearly someone with next to no income and yet, he carried off the ankle length (fake) fur coat to perfection, striding through the shopping centre like the emperor in his new clothes.
There's a beautiful young man I see at another centre, he wears skinny jeans, stilettos and usually a slim fitting blouse. His long dark hair in a ponytail he defies anyone to disapprove.
Liberace was not spiffy, nor was Sir Elton.
I do believe it's an inborn trait, you either have it or you don't. I remember years ago a short, fat, plain faced American politician who apparently could charm the pants off any lady he met yet, he looked like the kid the school bully would pick on.
I believe it's inner confidence and perhaps this.
Women rarely judge a man by his looks alone. For some, it's the eyes, the sense of humour, mannerisms, we
all have different tastes so, perhaps deep down, a man knows that he can more than get by even if he looks like the back end of a barn, as long as he's spiffy.

Where is the Love?

In Japan apparently. Timothy pointed out that since the earthquake and tsunami we've heard no reports of looting, rioting, attacks on the innocent. Just stories of people helping one another, accepting that life goes on and getting on with it. Men going in to repair a nuclear reactor, for heavens sake, knowing they may not come out alive. Heroes!!
I listened to a lady in the US lamenting the fact that General Motors spares may start to run out??? BECAUSE A LOT OF THEM ARE MADE IN JAPAN.
 Honda spares, understandable but GM??
Why is it that so many western countries have allowed local industry to fail? Surely there's at least a small sense of achievement to be had in knowing that you've produced an item your country can be proud of. Even, your area. I called to ask about a repair to my (once again) broken dish washer and was patched through to a call center in Johannesburg. It may as well have been Russia for all the knowledge the guy had about my area, only 3 kilometres from the repair shop I might add. Why? Why must a local workforce be sidestepped? Needless to say I found a local man to repair my dishwasher.
Please, wherever you may be, love your local music, local radio station. Support your community, neigbours and local workforce.
Who knows, one day we may be in the same situation as Japan, I'd like to think we can handle it in just such an adult fashion.

Gently does it

When I get home from work there are various tasks to be carried out, most of them guaranteed to make me feel relaxed.
Walking the dog. Daisy and I go once around the block, exactly 500metres, just fine for a couple of old ladies after a busy day. (in her case busy doing nothing). That fills my lungs with fresh air and loosens the muscles that've been squashed up on an office chair all day.
Other boring housework related stuff, cleaning, ironing, laundry, etc. - very BORING.
Watering the garden - so soothing, I may have mentioned before that it's like a gentle meditation, just me and nature. Aah!
Then it's time to cook. I really enjoy that part of the evening.
Last night we were having fish fingers and chips. Nothing pretentious in our house. It turned out I only had baby potatoes and although they do indeed make fine chips I wasn't in the mood to peel those tiny things.
I set the potatoes to cooking and prepared my veg. Carrots cut into chubby matchsticks and green beans, topped and tailed and cut to the same size. Popped four baby onions into the water with the potatoes, just to soften up and when ready, left everything to drain. Into a roasting pan with some olive oil and garlic, I squished the potatoes gently so that they broke open and just for  good measure popped in a couple of knobs of butter.
In to the small oven and later, the fish fingers were added to the same dish to cook. Cooked the carrots and beans on top of the stove and let them steam themselves to keep warm. It was a very simple but delicious meal and I so enjoyed the preparation. That's why I don't buy those packs of ready prepared veg, I would miss out on the relaxation and frozen veg just don't do it for me.
After dinner I watched a Jamie Oliver programme, he was in Italy and at one point made Minestroni Soup. It was outstanding. He strolled through a veg. garden and collected onions, garlic, carrots, peas, kale, lettuce, celery, courgettes and the flowers, just think of it and it was most probably in there. He took the left over end of a piece of pancetta, put that into the pot and threw in some tiny noodles. (Thinks "I'll have to see if I can get the tail end of something at Giovanni's this weekend"). As the soup simmered gently for abour 20 minutes he made a quick basil pesto and dolloped it on top of his bowl of soup. Yummy.
It's really all about chilling at the end of the day. I often wished that I enjoyed red wine so that I could sip it as I cooked and chatted wittily with my partner. Well, perhaps red wine's overrated but my partner isn't.
So, try to find your chill factor, after all, there's more to life than work, work, work.

and you call yourself a reporter!

Qualifications being so important today I'm pretty certain some sort of degree is required if you want to be a journalist. So where did these three study?
"He also assaulted a second officer who arrived on the scene and fled, but was found later in the bushes near his abandoned car."
"If  xyz  is not wrapped over the knuckles now ........."
"A political analyst has cautioned that such wreckless statements may just .........."

And they want to lower standards in the schools.

Amber Theodore Stanton

Amber strolled into our lives one day almost ten years ago. A big fluffy orange cat. We tried to check the rear end, it seemed somewhat rude but after a brief peek we decided Amber was indeed a girl. An intensive search was carried out for the owners, the usual door to door, notices at the vet etc. We eventually decided that some despicable person had dumped this adorable cat because she was no longer wanted. Scoundrels!!
Judging her age to be about 6 or 7 she fitted in well with our other cats and she and Daisy became close friends as they were the "newbies" in the house.
Amber would wake Rowland every morning with gentle nudges and purrs, tender bites and, if he was sleeping too well, harder ones.
She was my Reiki companion. Many an unsuspecting soul would be lying, eyes closed on the Reiki bed only to have a cat land on their stomach, she wanted some of the action. Amber sat in on Reiki classes when I was sharing my knowledge with others, the perfect model when I was demonstrating her chakra points. This was the one who sat on my lap while I meditated and followed ma around the house at weekends.
What a treasure and we were blessed to have her share her life with us.
Last week Amber was unwell, Saturday she was at the vet and Sunday she was put to sleep.
During our visit we discovered that she was in fact a he, adding credence to my friends communication with him. She was told that this cat had lived in (probably) Constantia and his name was Theodore.
Those mean owners just don't know what they gave up.
I've cried a million tears and no doubt will cry a million more, but, I know that Amber Theodore is happy and well with the cats who've gone before - Tabatha, Tony, Tao, Tai-Lu, Emily, Muffin, Gunner, Rosina and our two sweet dogs, Snoopy and Miz Emmy. This will be the first time, since we moved into our house in 1972, that our home is without a cat. Not good enough I say so we'll wait for the next house guest to come our way.
Love you Amber :)