The Portchester Piss Artists

Visiting relatives is not usually top of my list of favourite things to do, that is unless of course it's my Dad's cousin Ron and his wife Pat.  Dad and Ron grew up almost as brothers and so when we do have a chance to catch up it means I get to hear all the shenanigans the pair got up to back in the day involving various tales of petty theft and the day they almost shot a farmer after mistaking him for a fox.  Also stories of my Grandad, as he died when I was very young, such as his time in Egypt during WWII and his surviving being on board 6 bombed ships during the retreat from Dunkirk.

Yep, Ron is a larger than life character in every sense of the word

And a little adverse weather will not interrupt the pair and their beer.

Axis of Awesome

These guys had me chuckling muchly, I always knew there was a conspiracy in the music industry

Fluffy Friday

Here's some fluffy cuteness from a Friday afternoon, brought to you by Oscar 'n' Archie

Two handsome kitties (L Oscar, R Archie)

When they first arrived at my sisters flat the pair decided the safest place to be in the new surroundings was under the couch...takes some coaching to get the little buggers out from under there too.

Archie will fall asleep anywhere.

And Oscar goes for total relaxation.

They may look like butter wouldn't melt....

Oscar finds gouging a chunk out of my leg is hard work.

Archie falls asleep halfway through the YMCA

And here's some uber cute and fun live action kittens

Tales of Portchester

Ack, I appear to have post kitten sitting blues.  Yeah I know that they did drive me slightly crazy, ignored my every command and left my legs in a dismal shape from all the scratching...though I could always make up a slightly cooler version of events to explain the scars 'The scar? Oh I just got that from a fighting off wild boar while trekking in the rain forests of Australia'.  Anyhoo, those balls of fluff are just so cute and I kinda miss having the mischievous little critters about.

While I was staying in Portchester, and before the weather turned to total kack, I did venture around the local area and to the nearby remains of the 3rd Century Castle.  Not much is left, the outer wall, the keep and the church are the main attractions, but it's right on the waterfront and the view from the top of the keep, up a ridiculously tight and twisty spiral staircase, is certainly worth a visit.  The ruins themselves also enable some playtime with my camera to create some atmospheric/ arty farty piccies:

The Castle is a leisurely 1 mile from my sisters flat and is popular with families and pinickers.

The surrounding moat a popular place for local kids to have a go at catching crabs (get your mind out of the gutter...sheesh)

The arty farty portion of my post.

Various folk have left their mark around the site over the years...found these two older scribbles towards the top of the keep.

The view from the top looking towards the ancient church and across the water to Portsmouth.

Down over the site of the ruins

Looking north toward Portsdown Hill and the South Downs

Chloe searches for treasure down the well...apparently all that was sighted was a few coppers, a dime and a chewing gum wrapper.

The local village, the oldest part of Portchester, is full of some wonderful rustic cottages and a pretty good pub.

Unlucky for Some

August has seemed to have taken on it's usual rubbishness in terms of weather, the distinct lack of H2O falling on our region is well and truly over...as is the summer in general it appears.  And today is Friday the 13th, so I was expecting a rather pants day...especially when the doorbell rang at stupid o'clock in the morning.  I had to drag my arse out of bed in my PJ's, sporting an ever-so-stylish bed-head hairdo and pillow crease on my cheek, mumbling some derogatory comments about parents never telling me of possible deliveries in the tone of yawny and opened the door to find an abandoned box on the doorstep....addressed to yours truly!

Oh yes...My awesome Bloddie from across the pond....aka FireflyMom...aka Carri-Ann very kindly sent me a box of edible and non-edible goodies:

A-MA-ZING!

And all this rich stuff came expertly packed in a titchy box...when I go on holiday I'm sending Carri-Ann my suitcase to pack ;-)