Latest Tattoo

I totally forgot to post up a photo of my latest tattoo! It's a gramophone turning into a flower (a morning glory, one of my favourite flowers as a child) with swallows flying out of it, symbolising how carefree music makes me feel. I love what Joe did with my idea :)

On the way up to Spilled Ink I stopped at Blazing Salads to get us some vegan cookies. Never again. They were so bloomin' dry they tasted like chalk in my mouth! Imagine a flapjack with no moisture that sucks all the saliva out of your mouth... I think I'll have to stick to making my own in future.

I am going to go back to Joe in the New Year and get some leaves added around the base of the gramophone and some light blue and white clouds behind the birds. As well as a few small bits added to my chestpiece. Maybe I could bring in some homemade flapjacks to make up for the bad cookies! I've been wanting a Mexican archaeological inspired tattoo for a while now but I think I'll have to wait maybe until my birthday until I get that... or until I get a new job!

I still haven't had much luck on the job front. I did get an interview though, which went extremely well, but the competition is so fierce here for work that it unfortunately amounted to nothing. Hopefully I'll find something next year, and in the meantime I'm going to try get a few qualifications under my belt thanks to the free training that FAS provides.

This Christmas I'm heading back to Wales for a few days to spend some time with my father and catch up with old friends. Gerry still has a fractured paw and is on house arrest so my boyfriend is staying in Dublin with his folks this Christmas so he can look after him. I'm really looking forward to going back to Wales, I'll try take some photos and blog about the food I had over the festive period when I return. In the meantime... I hope everyone has a lovely Yuletide! :)

Festive Fun!

Our December Sighthound Stroll was a great success... 43 hounds registered for the walk - the biggest turn out yet! Gerry is still injured and on house arrest for another two or three weeks so it was a shame that he couldn't join in the festive fun... he'd have looked so cute in his fair isle Christmas jumper and elf booties! Here are a few pics from the day. It took place in Marlay Park, a large park over the south side of Dublin which also has a food market in the courtyard of the house every Sunday. I've blogged about it before, they do some really nice broccoli soup on one of the stands, and Blazing Salads often have a bakery stall there too.

This is Sam, formerly known as Sahara, who has just been rehomed in time for Christmas!

























Pickles is in foster care now and is still looking for a Forever Sofa to settle into...

























This beautiful little lady is Frida. My friend adopted her from Orchard Greyhound Sanctuary. She had a rough start in life, bless her, and was kept in a coal bin. You wouldn't believe the state of her a few months ago...

























This is Stig, one of Gerry's girlfriends. Although I reckon Frida could be a rival in future as she's just as bouncy and mad as he is!  How cute is Stig in her jimjams?!! Gerry thinks her sister, Panda, is just as awesome... why only have one girlfriend when you can have TWO?

























This is Sammy Sambo! He's a great friend of Gerry's who looked after him when I went to Connemara for a week in the Summer. Sam is an ex-racer and is far more sensible than Gerry. While he was at Sam's house, Gerry managed to find - and scoff - a whole bottle of cod liver oil capsules and was sick all over Sammy's mammy's bed. Lovely!

And finally, a few walking pics. I can't wait for the next meet-up!

Boyfriend's Ink

Joe tattooed my boyfriend today. It was my Christmas present to him... that's to my boyfriend, not to Joe!!!! Joe got vegan jellies instead ;) The lyrics are by Music Machine. No explanation needed :)

Bóthar Disgraced

The Irish charity, Bóthar, raises money in order to send pigs, cows, goats, sheep and hens out to developing countries to provide poverty stricken families with the means to solve their problems. The animals will provide milk and eggs to these people, and even though I disagree with any kind of animal farming, this, I think, is the most applaudable type, where an animal is sent to someone who will really look after it and value it and it will be given a longer, happier life than the average farm animal.

However.............................. read on.

Bóthar have always insisted that animal welfare is a great concern of theirs and that vets check their animals when they arrive to the families and that they are checked regularly to ensure that they are being looked after properly...

So, how shocked are we to discover that Bóthar is planning to raise money at the expense of cruelty to other animals? Yes, believe it or not, they are holding a FUNDRAISER at the GREYHOUND STADIUM in Cork!! How unbelieveable is it, that an organisation that has assured concerned vegans that animal welfare is a prime consideration of theirs, is raising money at the expense of exploiting innocent animals?

Are they not aware that thousands of greyhounds are put to sleep each year because they don't make the grade to be able to race? Even if they do make it to the race track they are often kept in squalid conditions as their owners don't care about their welfare. And when they retire from racing they are usually surrendered to pounds or found dead with mutilated ears to disguise their ID.

Join their facebook page and leave a comment about how you disagree with what they are doing! I can't even explain how disgusted I am. And I know a lot of people who supported Bóthar who will now have nothing to do with them. Really, I hope they will back-track and issue a public apology, as this cannot be tolerated.

Injured Pup!

I'm not sure if any of you know, but Gerry hurt his paw about a week ago and has been bandaged up and not allowed to exercise since. He is currently spending the night at the vet's and will be x-rayed tomorrow to see what the problem is. My boyfriend was out walking him and he ran down to the trees by the river and came back limping. The weird thing is that he wasn't crying at all - he's hurt his paw temporarily before and has uttered screams I've never wanted to witness again for the rest of my life, yet has been fine 2 minutes later after a cuddle and a treat! This time however, there was no indication of the cause of the problem. Tomorrow we will find out what exactly has gone wrong. He's been putting a bit more weight on it lately, but it's still swollen and sore. Not a great time for it to occur really, as soon as I've been made redundant! Luckily the insurance will cover most of it so I'll get my money back.

I've been treating him a lot since he has been poorly. I feel sorry for him being on house arrest. The only time he's been let outside in the last week is to do his business. He's been exceptionally good though, minimal complaining. It's as if he knows he's injured. When we've had falafels I've made him his own little portion. And when we had stewed spiced nutty apples he had his own doggie version without spices or sugar. He's also had a few puff pastry treats! The vegan kibble seems to be going down really well - no upset stomachs, no excessive pooing, very healthy coat... and he really looks forward to meal times! I have to monitor what he eats at the moment because he's getting no exercise. He seems to be adapting well though and it helps that I'm around for him most of the time.

I'll update soon regarding the status of his injury. I think it's either a dislocation or a fracture... fingers and paws crossed it's not broken! Here he is with his funny squeaky-fries toy! Apparently his two girlfriends (YES TWO!) have bought him a present, so next week he will have his first visitors he's had in a while and I'm sure he will be delighted! :)

Puff Pastry Yumminess

We made puff pastry pasties for dinner tonight - they were really good! I filled mine with cauliflower and cheezly, and my boyfriend had vegan sausage, cheezly and onion with a bit of mustard. We used Jus-Rol pastry, spread a little oil on top to garnish and seasoned with salt, pepper and dried parsley. YUM!