Olympic Torch Relay

What a very special time, Myself and Keith were so lucky to have witnessed the torch coming through our town of Aylesbury.
The crowds where we stood near Stoke Mandeville Hospital were amazing, so many had turned out, and all in great humour.
Well done to all the torch carriers including
Jessica Gibb nos.77 and to Neil Heslop nos.81 and his helper.
A very special thanks to everyone who has organised this and to all the police involved, a job really well done.
Bring on the Olympics now.

Smile

Hi, I have just added my latest creation on to my website, she is called, Smile, I hope you like her.
Bearst wishes, Maureen

back from break, wonderful old bridge

Whilst we had a short break in Newmarket, we came across this medieval bridge, which was to help pack horses across a ford when it was flooded.

After all the rain we have had recently we were surprised to find that there was no need to use the bridge.

Myself and Keith were up and out by 6am every day so that we could watch the race horses on the gallops, we spoke to many of the top trainers, who were all so friendly, and saw a few famous horses preparing for Royal Ascot, we even saw the Queens horse Carlton House, pictured above with Jamie Moore the top jockey, trained by Sir Micheal Stoute, who was himself in fine form, although slightly out of tune with his singing, LOL, the Queen was busy so she missed the early morning start.

We did miss Black Caviar, an Australian wonder horse, she came out at 430 in the morning, to early for us.

Sea, Seals, Horses plus, our April break

Myself and Keith have just returned from a short break, we visited my sister in Sutton on Sea, and also visited Newmarket, a major horse training venue.

Whilst we were at my sisters we went to the Mablethorpe Seal Sanctuary. What a fabulous place to visit, not only rescued seals but many other animals including many birds of prey and also the owls that are in the photo above, should you be in the area it is really worth a visit.

The sea was very rough and not a day to sun bathe on the long sandy beach.

Whilst at Newmarket we got up early and saw the horses working on the gallops, the photo above shows one naughty horse that managed to get loose, happy to say he was soon caught and not injured. What a sight, race horses everywhere.

We also did a tour of The National Stud, very interesting, especially because there were plenty of foals to admire.

Now it is back to work, so new creations will be on the website soon.
If you want to see more photos, yes, as usual Keith took a lot of them, the link is below.

http://photobucket.com/aprilbreak2012

War Horse - New London Theatre

Just returned from London after see the stage version of this amazing production.
The puppetry is 1st class, so much so that you only take in what the horses are doing and don't really see the people being so clever that move the horses.
A very thought provoking show, in a very small and friendly theatre.
A wonderful night out.

spring flowers and Phantom

At last some wonderful colours and plants are appearing in the garden, the white daffodil above is glorious.
If you saw the Phantom of the Opera 25th anniversary concert at the Royal Albert Hall recently on the TV here in the UK, wasn't it great.
I had a surprise when Keith brought me the DVD , so now we can watch it without all the adverts.
It is my favourite musical and this production is just magical.

Not much work being done, LOL

With spring coming, Keith has found some great wildlife live webcam, we have been watching a great tit making her nest in a nesting box, and also watching Peregrine falcons, absolutely fascinating, but not good for getting jobs done.
The link below is for the bird boxes

https://www.wildlifewhisperer.tv/live-cams/1234

This link below is for Peregrines

http://www.ntu.ac.uk/ecoweb/biodiversity/falcons/index.html?campaignid=falcons#

Spring is here

At last, we feel as if the winter has gone, and spring has sprung, and Yipppppeeee, flowers in the garden.

Ive let Keith go into the garden

Here is a sneek preview of what Keith looks like when he is doing the gardening, LOL

Only joking, Keith does not have a beard.

I have always wanted a gnome for my garden and luckily we won Gnomeo in a prize draw.

He is looking for his Juliet, but she is proving hard to find.

Bearst wishes

Maureen

could spring be here

The first flowers of the new year have made an appearance in the garden, I hope it is the sign of things to come, such a wonderful time of the year.

I cant wait to get back into the garden.

Happy 30th wedding anniversary

Wishing my sister and her husband a very happy 30th wedding anniversary, congrats.

in choccy heaven, LOL

I promise not to mention my birthday anymore, but just had to show you what has just arrived, a large box of wonderful chocolates, yummy, and blow the diet, LOL.
Thanks Keith, Martin, Leona and my little man Jake.
Its now back to work after a great 4 day birthday party.

Thank you

A really big thank you to everyone who sent me birthday wishes, I really do appreciate them, Thank you, does not really put it in words, but they all mean so much to me.
I have really been set up by Keith and my sister Elizabeth, what with the newspaper announcement, then to my great surprise, Elizabeth turned up at my front door to come and stay for a couple of days. She has taken me shopping and tonight the 3 of us will be having a nice meal.
I had some wonderful presents, and have been told that the postman is bringing some more later on in the week, can't wait.
The bad news is that I can't get my bus pass for a couple of years yet, what a cheek, changing the rules when you get older.
Thank you all so much.
Bearst wishes
Maureen

me and Maureens sister are in trouble, LOL

Keith here, I do not know how this appeared in our local paper, LOL.

You wouldn't believe this was Maureen when she was much younger, hehe.

Thanks to Elizabeth for the photo, hopefully that gets me out of some of the trouble, or else no tea for me today, LOL

Happy Birthday

my favourite Vegas place to close

I have just seen that the MGM Grand is to close the wonderful Lions Habitat at the end of January 2012.
I have had many an hour watching these beautiful animals

albeit in a false surroundings, however this was the only way I could get a real close up of them.

Wishing any staff that may lose their jobs all the best.

back from a break

We are now back from our break, Las Vegas called again

In the photo above just how many heads does this lit up lady have.

She is part of the new Winter in Venice at the Venetian, really wonderful.

We managed to see some shows including the outstanding Andrea Boceli with the amazing Heather Headley, Cirque's Michael Jacksons Immortal world tour, and of course Phantom again. We love the rodeo and all the cowboys were so friendly, their xmas fair was excellent.

Had a great time although for some reason both of us were never feeling the best of health.

However we managed to get up very early to see the eclipse of the moon, we were practally the only people walking the strip at the early hour.

It is back to work again now, and Keith is trying to get on top of the emails we had whilst we were away, please bear with him.

last gardening question of this year, promise

I promise this is the last , what is it, from the garden this year. LOL
We have had this fern like plant with a thick reddish main stem, it now appears to have flower buds appearing.
We think it must have come out of a packet of annuals that were sown early this year, there was no list of contents on the packet, so we are again having problems saying which plant it is.

Bearst wishes

Maureen and Keith

new view of back garden, tree gone

Hi

Here is the new vista of our back garden, the tree that has been causing damage to our property has now been removed.

The great news is that the birds are still coming into the garden for their food.

Balmy temperatures

Firstly thank you to everyone who email and solved our flower problem, we now know what it is.

We are currently having very unseasonal temperatures, on the 1st Oct it was 29C, and we are supposed to be in autumn.

As the photo shows even the goldfinches are getting confused, thinking a house is a tree and attaching themselves to the wall.

I have had to suspend making creations until the weather gets cooler, it is impossible to handle fabric with very sweaty hands, thankfully this very hot spell is due to end in a couple of days.

do you know what this flower is.

We brought some annual seeds, shaked and raked, and this lovley flower came up,
Keith has tried to find out what it is, without any luck.

If you know what it is please email me, we will be really grateful.

I have just added a new creation to the web site, hope you like her

Hugglets, London 11th Sept 2011

Thank you to everyone who came and adopted my creations and said hello at Hugglets yesterday.

Your very kind words and gestures really made my day, and are very much appreciated.

Keith has just put some new creations onto the website, I hope you like them.

Thank you again
Bearst wishes

Maureen

a great day out

As a break from getting ready for Hugglets I had a great day out at the Bucks County Show, the fine beast above really was trying his best to get all the focus on him.
I love this show and well done to eveyone who showed their great animals.
Keith said I should have won Best in Show, not sure if that is a compliment or not, LOL.

busy getting ready for Hugglets

Hi

I am very busy at the moment getting some new creations ready for Hugglets show in Kensington, London on Sunday Sept.11th

Keith has put a new page on the webiste with a few more photos.
Thank you for all your lovely emails with such kind comments about the Hugglets creations.

We have put this frame around the photos because our garden has become a haven for ladybirds, bees and many other insects that seem to be attracted to some flowers we planted from seed this year.

What a bargain they were, £1 a box, loads of my favourites, poppies, which I have been trying to grow for many years, and a flower called malope.
The flowers have been a great distraction, whilst we still wait for answers regarding the tree roots.
Thanks for your patience on the webiste as I work on the show creations, it is really appreciated.
Bearst wishes

Maureen and the old boy, Keith

tree roots - what a weekend

What a weekend, we just had intentions of a relaxing time, both Keith and myself instead found out we had a major problem with tree roots in our beloved garden, and as the photos show we spent some time digging them up and trying to contact the relevant people to try and get this sorted.
By the way the tree causing us problems is in the lower photo, a silver birch.
Now we have to wait and see if anyone we have contacted is willing to help us, and hopefully then we will be able to get our garden back the way it should look, without any roots coming close to our house.
If you want to see some more photos there is a web page on
www.mawspaws.com/rootsjuly11/

Bearst wishes
Maureen

Hampton Court Flower Show

Alice in Wonderland was one of the themes for our first visit to the Hampton Court Flower Show. We were in wonderland, quite overpowering, all the fantastic flowers in one place, too much to take in just one visit, however we have come home with some new ideas for our little garden. It was interesting to see and compare the gardens and stands with what they looked like on TV, they certainly look bigger on TV.

The first rose we saw was called Silver Wedding, how apt, myself and Keith have just celebrated our Silver Wedding Anniversary, it is a wonderful white rose, and not the photo above.

Our one big regret was not being able to meet up with friends for a cup of tea and a chat, so sorry to the Greene's.

All in all, a very interesting few hours, planty to think about and now in the process of working out what we can order for next year.

Plenty of photos to sort out today

Thriller Live - what a show

Hi

Last night myself and Keith had the great pleasure of seeing Thriller live, at our local theatre.

2hours 20 minutes of Micheal Jacksons music performed by a variety of some excellent singers and performers.

A clever concept where different singers take a number of songs each and join up to perform some of the Jackson Five and Micheal Jacksons great music.

The young boy who represented Micheal in his youth stole the show.

A really great night, and they even managed to get Keith standing up and bopping, well done to all the cast and the musicians.

Bearst wishes

Maureen

my cards now on website

Hi

I have just put onto my website a selection of my handmade cards that I make when it is to dark to work on my mawspaws creations.

Hope you like them.

Bearst wishes

Maureen

busy times

Hi
What a couple of weeks I have had, although I am not that green fingered, I love my garden.
Everything seems so early this year, so myself and Keith have been trying to get our garden sorted out, we also help our elderly neighbour by doing her garden, so it has been sore backs and standing, looking and admiring our handy work.
It is wonderful when you see the rewards of the hard work.
We also had some not so good news, Horace our friendly hedgehog has passed away, but there is some good news, the next day we had a new hedgehog has taken to visiting us at night, and eating up the food we leave out for him, or her, very hard to tell, LOL
We have heard that a couple of our collectors are not very well, myself and Keith are passing on our prayers and very bearst wishes.

100,000 thank yous

Myself and Keith wish to say a very big , no, 100,000 thank yous. We cant believe we have just hit this magic number of hits on the website, something we really could not see this happening when we started out so many years ago I have changed the front of the web site with a litle fun page, hope you like it. Thank you again, we really appreciate your friendship and support. bearst wishes Keith and Maureen http://www.mawspaws.com

back with you

We are so pleased to be able to say that we are now back online, can you believe the big black box that it took to mend just a small wire, LOL

Sorry for any delays with emails , but Keith has now managed to update the web site.

Have a great weekend.

Bearst wishes

Maureen

Please bear with us

Please bear with us whilst we wait for our telephone and broadband line to be reconnected.The white wires in the picture are supposed be be joined, that was until our builder decided to cut through it. Being fair to him, the wire was not very deep under the path.
So sorry for any delay in either answering emails or updating the web site.
Bearst wishes from a very quiet house.

Maureen and very unhappy Keith

underneath the arches

Hi
Here is what we have been up to this weekend, replacing a single rose arch with 2 new ones, watched by Sid the squirrel, who wa smore interested in being able to get to the peanuts put out for the birds. I can't wait until our new climbing roses start to grow and then flower, fingers crossed because neither Keith or I have green fingers.

Bearst wishes
Maureen

busy weekend

what a busy weekend, I have just put my latest creation, pictured above, onto my web site, been shopping for most of Saturday, I need some retail therapy for a break from bear making, that is my excuse, not sure Keith understands, LOL.

Also been counting the birds in our back garden for a survey by the RSPB, had the pleasure of seeing many waxwings last week, it appears they were travelling through Aylesbury on their way to warmer climates, a very pretty and sensible bird.

Now I am cheering on my football team, West Ham, in the FA Cup.

Bearst wishes

Bearst wishes for 2011

Back from holidays

Hi, we have just returned from a great break in Las Vegas.
The photo above is from the Bellagio Conservatory, an amazing free attraction, although, yes, you guessed that Keith says it looks like me.
No doubt Keith will be putting some more photos onto the web site later.
We saw Diana Ross, Terry Fator, Phantom of the Opera twice, and Rod Stewart, sorry to say that Barry Manilow cancelled his show.
All in all a really great time.
It is hard to come back to the UK with such cold temperatures and to recover from jet lag.
Thanks for your patience, all your emails will be answered as soon as we can.
Bearst wishes
Maureen

Evita at new Aylesbury theatre

HI
Myself, Keith and a couple of friends have just been to the first night of the touring Evita at the new theatre in Aylesbury, our home town.
What a wonderful production, 1st class, congrats to all the cast and crew involved.
We all loved it, although the seats in the theatre are not that comfortable.
But it saved us travelling up to london to se the show.
Well done every one.

my little Cupcake

This photo is of Cupcake with a special card I have made.

Cupcake - breast cancer charity panda

Cupcake is now on eBay, all the profits will go to the Breast Cancer Charity.

Full details and the link to eBay is on my website.

http://www.mawspaws.com.

Please note, there is no postage/shipping to add to the final bid, as I will be pleased to take care of that.

Thanks for your support.

Bearst wishes

Maureen

Teddies 2010

Hi
Well what a wonderful day at Teddies 2010 yesterday.
The drive into London was straight forward and we did not get lost, that was a nice change.
Then after setting up the show began, and it was great, we met so many of our collectors and some new ones now.
I was so pleased with all the positive comments I was given, it really is appreciated and keeps me going.
I know I have said that before, but I really mean it.
So a very big thank you to everyone we had a chance to speak to and especially those of you that adopted one or more of my creations.
Thank you.

The photos Keith took have come out with a red mist over them, but if possible I will add one to the blog later.

Now we are looking forward to our holiday and have seen that other friends have had the experience of a chocolate pizza, we cant wait to try it out.

Thanks to all of you that sent birthday wishes to our grandson, he had a great day, and my how the years past, he was 2 years old on Saturday.
Bearst wishes
Maureen