Mallet Finger?

On Saturday evening, as I was rushing to go out to a Burns Supper, I was hurriedly taking my socks off, when I accidently bent by finger under my foot. I know, sounds stupid doesn't it. I felt a twang, and before I looked at my hand, knew what I'd see. A bent middle finger tip that although I could straighten by pushing it up, bent straight back down again. Bit like this.

Was a bit sore,  not really hurting, but felt really weird. A Mallet Finger! And the reason I knew what one was - I did it to my other middle finger a few years ago when I trapped it in a drawer.
It's an injury to the extensor tendon, which normally keeps the finger straight. The tendon tears, and sometimes takes some bone with it.

I also knew what the treatment was. Off to minor injuries unit, where they were all really amused that I can done it taking a sock off. X ray showed that only a small amount of bone had come off with the tendon, so I had my splint taped on, and was given strict instructions not to take it off for 6 weeks, only to clean it and then I mustn't be tempted to bend the end to see if its fixed.  Put paid to my knitting for a bit.

Anyway, made it to the Burns Supper, and it was an excellent one too, you can just see the first whisky in the corner....

Flying owls, cocktails and pool

Wednesday was my birthday, so woke up to a coffee and glass of bucks fizz in bed. Very nice!  Opened my presents which included perfume, a gothic mirror for the garden, a candle holder made out of a silver ladle, and a whole day's falconry experience!  Fab.

Got up to find bacon sandwiches had been cooked, so we washed those down with more Bucks Fizz, and then I set off to my falconry hour as a birthday treat. Love flying falcons, owls and hawks. Flew a brown owl, a harris hawk:

 

A buzzard and a young kestrel who was spooked by the snow and flew into nearby trees for about 20 minutes. My favourite was a Great Grey Owl. He was lovely.

Looks like I'm holding a glove puppet doesn't it? He was only a baby, about 4 months old, and he let me stroke his head which was really soft.

Owls have very bad eyesight close up, and rely on movement to catch prey, so when he flew to my glove he couldn't find the food on it, and had to feel around with his beak till he got it. Birds of prey live up to 30 years, so build up a real bond with their handlers, but one of them was not in a good mood - the last couple of times I've done this I've flown Shadow, the Golden Eagle, but this time she was in a bad mood, and Darren didn't want any of us to hold her because he didn't want any of us to end up in hospital! But we did get to see her close up and take pictures.

Really enjoyed it, and looking forward to my whole day. Then it was back to the villa for tea, coffee, hot chocolate and cake. Some of the hot chocolate might have had additives in!

More pool was played, then some of us set off to the spa, whilst the others headed for the sauna and hot tub. The spa is great - about 11 different steam/sauna rooms, as well as a heated outdoor pool, foot spas, a zen garden and an outdoor balcony where sat wrapped in blankets looking over the snowy forest. We even had a lie down on the water beds which was a weird experience, don't know how people sleep on them! Very relaxed, we walked back for champagne and nibbles before going out to eat:

Then back to the villa for the funniest hour of the holiday. One of our party was having a bit of a moan about playing games on Christmas Eve with his wife and her family when he'd rather be in the pub, and describing the worst game of all - Winkles Wedding. His wife then produced it, and we played it.

It was absolutely hilarious. Not particularly the game, but everyone's reaction to it. Annie was in stiches reading the story, and Pete was really keen to play it!

Basically, someone reads a story, written I think around 1920, and there are blanks in it, which the players have to fill in by reading what it says on the first card they turn over. Some examples are a pickled onion, and a giddy kipper. What a good time was had by all!
More late night pool and a very late night in the hot tub, and some of us were a little delicate in the morning, so we went for another walk, this time round the lake, but finishing at the bird hide again.
This time we were rewarded with a woodpecker.

We were directed to another hide which we didn't know about, and saw a nuthatch

and a beautiful Bullfinch which looked so bright against the snow

Slow wander back, coffee in the village coffee shop, back to the villa for a rest, and them some of us went into the Dome. Very warm, we swam outside,  tried some of the flumes, then sat in the hot  tub and the tropical atmosphere chatting.

Back for another home cooked meal, more pool, more cocktails, more hot tub, more games.

Next morning we had to be out by 10, so up earlier than we had been before, skipping breakfast, but calling at Cafe Rouge later for eggs benedict, which was lovely. Then another walk round the lake, which was still frozen

More wildlife spotting

Coffee in the Country Club which had been closed all week for maintenance but was now open, and a last look at the bird hide, where there was a flock of long tailed tits

And then home. A great week with friends - lovely company and a great way to spend a birthday.

Center Parcs in the snow

Time for another Center Parcs trip - being going here for about 25 years, usually in January for two reasons, mainly because there's a lot of family birthdays, and also because its cheap!  Booked a villa with a hottub, steam and sauna suite and a games room, and set off on Monday to meet our 6 friends who were joining us. arrived early and had lunch in Strada, then went off to find the villa. There was a lot of snow!

Whilst the men sorted the cars out, me and Jane went to hire a couple of bikes. The bikes were a bit buried:

Luckily there were some undercover so we didn't have to dig them out. we were told to keep only to cleared paths, and bring the bikes into the villa to thaw the brakes out before using them. The view from the villa was stunning

and we didn't go out for the rest of the day, just unpacked - we hadn't coordinated bringing drinks, and I think we all brought enough for all of us! Good job the games room had a long shelf.

Had a great afternoon and evening playing pool, drinking Prosecco  in the Hot Tub, and having a lovely home made meal.

Woke up on Tuesday to bright sunshine, there had been no wind, so the snow was still on the tees. this was the view from our bedroom window, taken whilst having a lovely coffee in bed.

Our garden had been visited in the night by a largish animal, the paw prints were too big for a fox, so we thought it might be a badger. We decided to go for a walk, round the edge of the forest, everywhere we went we saw beautiful frozen ponds and trees.

Eventually we reached the bird hide

Sat for a while watching the birds feeding, and I loved the trees which are full of little patches of different colours

We showed one of the rangers a photo of the pawprints we'd seen in the morning, and she confirmed that they were from a badger, and that there was a set near our villa. Then we walked back through the forest, which was beautiful.

Had coffee and lunch at The Pancake House overlooking the completely frozen lake, then back to Villa, and straight back into the hot tub!

Then we went bowling, the the bright, neon lit bowling alley. It's fair to say some were better than others, but we had a fun time anyway!

Back to the villa for another home cooked meal, beginning with champagne and canapes. Then we made our own entertainment - lots of pool was played. Stuart mixed cocktails - mainly banana daquiris and white russians. We played games, including doing a couple of pub quizzes and some board games. The hot tub got some more use, and two of us stayed in it till the early hours, hoping to catch sight of the badger, for whom we'd left food out. Needless to say, we didn't see him!

Latest project

I thought I'd try something different now the dolls house is nearly finished. Saw this on eBay:

and thought, how sweet. It said that it was all self assembly, but that didn't worry me. Until it arrived. Everything has to made from scratch. Unpacked the box today and had a look:

Even the chairs have to be assembled and upholstered, all the material cut out, even the crockery has to be made by hand. Oh well, I took a deep breath, opened the instruction booklet and thought I'd start:

And yes, I know it's upside down, but I can assure you it makes no difference at all. I think I may just have bitten off more than I can chew.....

Dolls House Christmas

I had a great time decorating the Dolls House for Christmas. I started with some trees - plain green ones bought from various places. I used small beads, glitter, sequins and tinsel to decorate them. In total I did 5 of various sizes - here's three of them almost finished.

I bought an assortment of mini decorations, and also made a lot, then set to work on the house. i've always wanted a big hallway with a tall tree with lots of presents under it, so that was first:

The kitchen had a small tree, and some mincepies and a Christmas cake on the table

The living room had lots of decorations, as well as an array things to eat on the coffee table, including the Christmas bowl of nuts, and a couple of g and ts

On the next floor, the hallway had a bright ponsettia, holly and door wreaths, as well as fibreoptic tree which had red lights - one of my bargains from Poundland!

I decided to do the music room blue and silver, and it became my favourite room. The silver tree was also fibre optic and glowed blue.

The dining room was decorated in green and gold with a big swag on the fireplace with gold roses, which I made using the roses I'd decorated candles with at our wedding 10 years ago. I knew they would come in handy again....

There was also a feast set out with a boars head, a turkey, crackers, Christmas cake and even a bowl of brussel sprouts!

The hall on the third floor had some simple white and silver decorations

and the nursery had some old fashioned paper lanterns and some small decorations - had run out of ideas by the time I got up here - will try harder next year.

The games room in the basement had a tree and a Christmas table with sweets, cakes, wine and fruit.

The two clusters on the back wall are a pair of my Christmas earrings!
Phew. All taken down and packed away now for next year.

SCCRAG

Meeting of SCCRAG tonight - Sheffield City Centre Residents Action Group. Ever since we moved into the City Centre 16 years ago I've been involved in various forums about living here, but SCCRAG is the first properly constituted action group. Formed early last year we've done a lot. We've got a committee and officers, a website, Facebook and Twitter accounts and funding from Sheffield NHS and Sheffield City Council. Currently we're working with Sheffield Hallam University on a survey of Sheffield City Centre accommodation - we want to know who lives where, and how do we make contact with them. There's somewhere between 18,000 and 20,000 people living in the CC, compared with several hundred when I first moved in, and 4,000 10 years ago.

We've engaged with the licensing committee, including participating in a review of licensing, and also discussed changes to health services in the CC, air quality, and plans to green more of the CC. Some of us met the Chief Executive of SCC to discuss our concerns over the lack of progress with the Sevenstone Development, and the condition of part of The Moor. At each of our meetings we discuss priorities for PACT (Partners and Communities Together), where the local police and safer neighbourhood teams agree with us what local priorities are going to be. For example, recent ones have included inconsiderate behaviour by taxis, noise, street drinkers, litter, and more recently policing of the Christmas and new year period.

Planning applications and licensing applications are often looked at and we have raised a number of objections, particularly where the quality of life of CC residents is likely to be affected. A recent proposal to allow opening of bars located under a residential block into the early hours of the morning was successfully opposed. We have to make sure we don't come across as NIMBYs :-)  All of live in the City Centre because of its vibrancy, proximity to entertainment and shops, and we all expect to have more noise etc. But, if SCC is serious in promoting CC living, then a balance has to be struck between the needs of residents, and the preservation of the CC atmosphere and local businesses. Hopefully the CC Masterplan which is currently being reviewed will address some of these issues.

Devonshire House update

Can't believe how long it is since the last dolls house update! Have been quite busy over the last few months and not had quite as much time to spend on it, but still a lot has been done.

Just after the last update I went to Miniatura, a miniature exhibition at the NEC. I was like a child in a sweet shop! Hundreds of stalls selling all manner of small things. I had intended not to buy much, but came back with quite a stash!

One of the things I thought I'd try was making furniture myself from plywood kits - this bathroom table was my first attempt, and I also made everything on it

I've also done some work on the games room, putting a billiard (snooker, pool not sure which!) table in, and I made the settle at the back from a kit which I stained and distressed!

Unfortunately, I had a bit of help with this room, when my cat Ruby found she could get in it, and started playing with the accessories!

I decided I wanted to change the attic, and put a door in the dividing wall, which I did, and also wallpapered the wall - much easier to do when it's not attached to anything!

I chose some paper for the nursery which had fake wood paneling on, but when I got it, found that it didn't fit as the attic rooms are lower than normal ones, so I had to do some creative cutting and rejoining to make it look OK.

The house looked a bit sad for a while as I had to take the roof off as I wanted dormer windows in the attic. I made the dormer windows myself from a kit, but didn't trust myself to cut the holes in the roof for them, so a friend did that for me. Then I had to work out how to get the roofs of the dormers to look the same as the tiles on the main roof. So, I took a picture of the tiles, and experimented with printing them until I got them the right size, then stuck them on. Genius!  I'd like to say it was my idea, but another friend suggested it to me.  I think the result is pretty good. The dormer roofs look a different colour on the photo, I think that's how the light is reflecting as they look fine on the house. The house looks so much better now, and you can see light coming from the attic rooms, as well as seeing into them.

While the rook was off I decorated the attic. One room became a bedroom - for a teenage girl I think. Haven't quite decided who lives in the house yet.  Someone asked me recently how much I had to do to each room. Well, here's "before", without the dividing wall, but you can see my pencil marks of where it's going:

Well, not quite before as I've painted the ceiling and the edges. The tape on the floor is covering the wire coming up from the light in the room below. This is after:

The nursery on the other side is also almost finished, and you can see all of the attic here:

So, every room is now decorated, but the beauty of dolls houses is in the detail, so lots more things to add. Of course, I decorated it for Halloween:

And for Christmas, but that will have to be another post!