Matt at Everyclick was extremely helpful and we managed to link up the Shuttleton Blog and my fredsannie twitter account ... yippee!
So far no luck on the profile photo :(  
Still Matt is fairly sure he can help with this too ... Thank you Matt ... really good to have a real person at the end of the line (instead of a 'help' list) which in some cases is no help at all.  
Well Done Everyclick!

Oh dear Oh dear Oh dear - trying to link my blog to my Everyclick Fundraising Page ... not nearly as easy as it should be  (in my opinion) - well let's keep trying .....

First weekend in September 2011 - a happy and sad time

Though we enjoyed a great weekend (the annual Bridwell Ball for the young people - all dressed up - girls in beautiful ball dresses, men in dinner jackets and black tie - Colin and I on chauffeur duty - me wishing I was dancing at 1.00 am since we arrived to collect a whole hour early!).  

Then the TVH Hunter Trial yesterday - scoring!  Great Fun but then in the afternoon I received sad news from home ....

Great sadness ...  although not unexpected .....

Yesterday Lettuce died .... (tiny minitiature Yorkshire Terrier bought for Lulu in 1995 aged 6 weeks old).  

Lettuce was born on 1st November 1995 and she died on 4th September 2011 - aged almost 16 years.  We buried her with some ceremony last evening in the garden in the pet cemetary corner, in the rain with a glass of prosecco to wish her on her way to doggy heaven.

She was a great doggy but it is so sad to bury a much loved dog even when they have had such a long life.  Maybe it is worse when you have looked after the dog for so long.  She used to go to all the horsey events with us and we used to joke that she jumped the ditches much better than the horses!

She hasn't been well for some time but she wasn't in any pain at all and we nursed her at home until she passed away peacefully yesterday.

Lettuce belonged to Lulabelle (her Christmas present in 1995 (Lulu aged 8 years).  

She accompanied Lulu to the market every Saturday when we sold eggs and Lulu sold her cakes - she was such a favourite with the customers!  All the dog lovers used to visit the egg stall and say "Have you got Lettuce with you today?"  She was a right nuisance because she wouldn't let Lulu go anywhere without her - she would bark if Lulu went away shopping and insist on being held in someones arms - not easy when you have a queue of customers waiting for their eggs!

Lulu used to keep her in her handbag and often took her to events like point-to-points in her bag.  She would even take her in supermarkets in her bag in the trolley!  She only once got told off for that!  Mostly people didn't notice there was a dog in the bag!!!

Being so tiny, Lulu worried that she might be cold and she had the full quota of tiny pink doggy coats for every occasion ...  so many stories to remember about Lettuce but that is all for now.

Well I hope she is okay wherever she has gone.  We loved her and she had a good long life.

She will be sadly missed.

December 10: Wisdom. What was the wisest decision you made this year, and how did it play out?

Oh here we go, this is another prompt that reminds me of all the bad decisions I made in 2010 and I am going to struggle to find a wise decision - do I make any of those?  I don't think so!  Every decision a duff one.  Okay well at least I am going to give it some thought ,,,,
Well one quite recent reasonable decision was to buy into the Sainsbury Diet Website - as unlikely as it sounds this has been a good decision for me because I make use of the Food Diary section to record everything I eat every day and lo and behold I have lost a few pounds!  Whoop Whoop (as Gok Wan would say).  And before you say anything, I know I could have got a free app  for my iPhone to do exactly the same thing but look, things are much better when we pay for them - we all know that!

December 16 – Friendship. How has a friend changed you or your perspective on the world this year? Was this change gradual, or a sudden burst?

I guess this year I discovered a friend in my cousin Jan.  Previously, when Jan's mum Isobel was alive I saw Jan occasionally and we exchanged Christmas Cards.  Jan and her husband Colm were very hospitable hosts at their lovely home in Glasgow.  But since Isobel died a couple of years ago we have become real friends and I am so happy about that.  We were all shocked to lose Isobel because she was the life and soul of every gathering, a great wit and fantastic company.  She tended to attract all the attention around her but Jan has her mother's great sense of humour and I really enjoy her company.  I hope our friendship will deepen and I will see more of her in 2011 and beyond.

Prompt: 11 Things. What are 11 things your life doesn't need in 2011? How will you go about eliminating them? How will getting rid of these 11 things change your life?

Well I will have a go but 11??  That is quite a lot of things not to need.  I mean obviously I have cupboards full like everyone else of stuff I don't need like kitchen gadgets and ornaments I don't like and don't use and crockery I don't like and do use!
I like the saying "Get rid of everything that isn't useful, beautiful or joyful" and I do try to exercise that rule but with a houseful of 'stuff' to start with it's not always easy.
On a grander scale I could/should get rid of some of two sows because they are surplus to requirements and would bring in some much needed revenue (as I don't want to eat them - urgh!) , same for the two sheep which will go into the freezer nicely and we do want to eat those because they should taste wonderful.  Then there is the three heifers which need to go because of a lack of winter fodder for them and two steers for the freezer (again much anticipated beautiful Highland meat).  So in total that would be animals = 7.  Four items to go ...

Well I don't want to get rid of my blog since I have just started that.  I don't want to get rid of 750 words per day because it's brilliant and helps me get stuff off my mind and onto paper and may lead to something creative.

December 31 – Core Story What central story is at the core of you, and how do you share it with the world? (Bonus: Consider your reflections from this month. Look through them to discover a thread you may not have noticed until today.)

The core is always the farm.  The land - it is the only thing that matters (from Gone with the Wind quoted by Scarlett O'Hara's father).  So the core, the central story is the land and the farm and of-course the animals which inhabit the land.  Oh and the winter feed that we make from the land.