New Start!

I've been very bad about posting here in the last while. Life is quite boring so I think I've nothing much to share! So what is new with us?
I still have Me and so am ill a lot of the time. the children however are growing like mad and doing very well.
Last summer Alex my oldest son went to Uganda for 6 weeks to stay with my brother in Bwindi Forest and travel round in Uganda. He was 16 when he went so it was very brave travelling alone. He did and saw loads. He managed to see Elephants, which is very rare even for the workers there, the gorillas again usually people don't see them only researchers or tourists who pay a fortune. He also saw things like lions and hippos.
He also managed a bit of travel and even went white water rafting on the Nile! It was a level 6 I believe which if Id known in advance I might have worried about..anyway he was fine!
Now he is busy with 6th form and wanting to get into Medical school.
He's also volunteering in an old peoples home, working in Pizza Hut, swimming weekly and running in a 10 km soon.
Jordan and his band tried out for Britain's Got Talent this year but they weren't even watched. Seeing the show on TV now I'm convinced they only pick the best and worst to go in front of the judges and bands hardly ever get through to that.
He has been in Grease in a school production, and did a Dance course...He has such talent!
Ramsey my youngest is also doing well. Recently he had a pile of teeth out in hospital so I was there holding his hand, but he has recovered very fast.He won a certificate in school this week for an English piece which for him is fantastic achievement. He has also just learned to swim!
Currently Im with my parents again and its raining....LOL
Oh yes enjoyed the Royal wedding last week very much! We were glued to the set!
Wish them all the happiness in the world!!


Now for some photos from Uganda and Alex's trip last summer.

Funny caterpillar

Dancing

Short Wet Summers, more angst and a 50th anniversary

Hello all! I'm so sorry I haven't blogged for so long! I keep meaning to but I'm still so new fangled with it all I need to know I have a good time to work out how to do everything all over again! So finally here I am!
Well its been a very busy time since I last posted.

We had our Summer holidays in Ireland as usual. I was slightly delayed in July as my youngest was struck down with the dreaded swine flu! Typical! He was put on Tamiflu which worked wonders and we were able to go the following week. However our happiness was short lived as my mother ended up in hospital the night after our arrival with gall bladder problems! So my Father and I spent a night with her in A&E before she was admitted and kept for over a week.
As I write now she has just been into hospital again this time to have the Gall bladder out. This time she was only in a couple of days and had it removed by keyhole surgery. She is now making a great recovery at home.

Recently too my parents celebrated their 50th anniversary. I wanted something special to happen for this occasion. Sadly my brother who works in Uganda in the Forest there..(see other posts) couldn't get home and neither could his partner, but i decided to go ahead and planned a surprise party for them.
I booked our local pub here in Ashford in County Wicklow, The Chester Beatty, and arranged a fixed price meal. Vegetable soup or melon, followed by carvery, followed by Chefs tasting plate and tea and coffee. This all for 19.99 Euros. We also had a nice kids menu.
I knew I couldn't pay for it all, so I sent out an invite to the people I knew in Mums address book inviting them and asking them along for a lunchtime in October.
I then concentrated on supplying the extras to make it fun!
I made a huge cake and iced it. Recipe is here

http://www.fionasplace.net/Christmas/christmascake.html

Bought in really nice sparkling wine, got table centres of balloons, got gold foil covered heart chocolates and small bottles of bubbles for the tables!
I arranged the lunch for my kids half term so they could come over from England for it.
We spent the day after they arrived doing all the last minute preparations.
The balloons were ordered from Arklow in the shopping centre there, but I was very upset with them. They tied my lovely gold and cream balloons with black ribbons and to bright orange weights! (Halloween) I spent ages having to buy and re-tie them all so they didn't spoil the day! So don't go there anyone who is reading this!
We had friends travelling in for the "do". A cousin and her husband came from South France, and other friends came down from Northern Ireland.
It went so well! What a wonderful day! We had loads of special friends there. Also two high court Judges and a Senator from Dublin! Over 50 guests.
I was so glad I arranged it all!

The week before I had also had a wonderful day visiting the Dail in Dublin. For those of you who do not know that is the Government in the Republic of Ireland. We were invited to lunch by a friend who is a Senator. We also had the tour and saw the main Assembly room where the Government sits. They were debating NAMA the current fuss about the banks and so on. Also saw the Senate and saw our Senator talk there. Lunch in the dining room was also a great experience. I was sorry I'm not more familiar with all the Politicians here as then I would have been able to people spot! However it was totally fascinating anyway. I'm lucky enough to have been a few times before but I never cease to enjoy it as the feeling of history is incredible and there is so much art to see, historical photos such as those when Presidents Kennedy and Clinton visited and so on.

Recently went to see Michael Jacksons film "This is it" I thought it ws fantastic! Particularly if you consider it was never meant to be a feature film that we all got to see. It showed the man in all his talent with no mushy overvoicing. His talent spoke for itself and we, my whole family and I thought it was wonderful!

I will be heading back to England next week to prepare for Christmas when we will yet again be Ireland bound.
My brother is still out in Uganda working in the Impenetrable forest looking after the forest and its animals. He spent about a month back in Indonesia, where he was for the previous job for 10 years. He has a new book out soon.

Tropical Rainforest Ecology, Diversity and Conservation. By Ghazoul and Douglas Sheil (my brother)
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Tropical-Forest-Ecology-Diversity-Conservation/dp/019928587X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1257903246&sr=8-1

It will also be in paperback. I think it will hopefully be used as an educational book as they have developed a lot of new ways of managing rainforest's.

I also twitter now a lot, find me as Fionap19. I also post references to my brothers blog too and his great photographs!!

Sugar flowers adorn the cake made by me. The tin was a foot square! The hearts are cu from sugar paste and marzipan and are dusted with gold

Mum and Dad

The dratted balloons

Mum and Dad at the party

Alexander and I are tired at the end of the party!

Great Gorillas and Annoying cars!

Hello everyone!

Well its been a busy time the last couple of weeks. Also annoying! Our car is in the garage being fixed yet again and supposedly getting its second new engine in 6 months. However the garage whose engine it was first said they would stand over it, but they have been doing next to nothing with it for nearly 5 weeks now! Ruins all our plans! They have lent us a tiny car but the exhaust is shot and we a family of 5 don't fit in it properly so not for long journeys!

My eldest son was at T4 on the Beach in Weston Super Mare this weekend past. They had a lot of rain but he was only about 10 from the stage so he was delighted! got burned to a crisp too! Bit hard on the feet. I prefer the version I have on TV although he said they had edited out a lot.

Jordan was at a theme park with school yesterday in the rain but seemed to have a good time. Alexander is off to Alton Towers tomorrow! The weather forecast seems better for that. Fingers crossed. They both finish school on Thursday although Ramsey doesn't finish junior school till Friday.

The elder boys then have a whole new uniform for next year to be name taped! They are merging the school with another to become one of these academies. I hate the new uniform. They had nice sports shirts and sweatshirts, which washed so easily and now they are moving to white shirts, ties and blazers! even the trousers are changing from grey to black! Madness!

On a totally different and more interesting topic I thought I would tell you about my Brother Douglass Blog. He is a Tropical Forester. He is currently Director of the Impenetrable forest in Uganda where the Mountain Gorillas are located. They are run by an American organisation ITFC but desperately need funding. I would urge you to have a look as it makes fascinating reading all about the conservation of rainforest and the wildlife there not just the gorillas. They also need help with funding, you can donate small amounts, or if you know anyone who would like to help please contact him via the site.

See the blog here http://bwindiresearchers.wildlifedirect.org/wp-content/themes/default/images/banner.gif. There are pictures of him there too. Miriam his partner also lives and work with him here. He travels a lot to meetings round the world, writes papers, books and is pretty well known in his field. Before Uganda now he worked in Indonesia and round there for 10 years

In his past he has rediscovered the African violet flower thought to be extinct in the wild and found other new animals, such as a new bush baby! What an exciting life...and no I haven't had the chance to go out there! There are ways you can visit though again see the web site if you are interested!

Well its late late late so I'm off to beddy byes!

night all!

Latest Paintings done in Ireland

Hello,

Watching a little tennis on the telly. Wasn't Murray fantastic in his recent matches? Semi finals next!

I thought I would post some photos of my latest paintings. These were done when Iw as in Ireland recently. Not the best pictures because I decided to take at the last moment when I realised I was leaving for airport with no record of them! But anyway here they are!

This one of Sunflowers is the largest canvass I have ever painted I think! Its about 4ft by 3!

Rose much smaller square

Waterlily. again sorry for the background of the pictures! Messy room!

I painted my middle sons bedroom with huge dragons, so decided I ought to paint some on canvass! people like dragons don't they?

My Middle son is doing a gig tonight! He is 12. Sadly our car is not working so I'm going to miss it...again! Very sad!!

Hello!

Hello Everyone,

Welcome to my new blog!

I'm a total beginner at this so I hope you will forgive any mistakes I make as I find me feet!

The first thing I want to do is to thank Pammie for this fantastic bog and layout! Its wonderful isn't it? If you fancy a lovely layout for your blog or you are starting an online shop I can heartily recommend Pammie. She has many layouts off the peg but also offers a totally tailored package when she designs what you want as this is! I have no ideas about blogs either and she has managed to teach me so shes a very clever girl! Links to her site are on this page.

Thanks Pammie I love it!!!

I have had the page a couple of days actually but I, , like many others have been so shocked by the death of Michael Jackson. I was a huge fan. When I worked years ago in the USA I saw him and the Jackson 5 in the Orange Bowl in Miami. At the time it was the largest rock concert in the world and it was memorable and fantastic! I saw Michael moonwalk. Unforgettable!

Rest in Peace Michael. You will be sorely missed.

Even my kids are shocked as like us all they grew up with his music

I'm not liking some of the stories and people talking about him though. The court case proved nothing he was guilty of nothing and had there been anything they tried so so hard they would have found it so I wish people would leave memories of him alone! I think he was a very misunderstood kidult (kid-adult) very kind caring and generous who maybe didn't get the rules about personal space quite right but that doesn't make him a bad person by any means.

What else do I want to say in my first blog? Well what am I going to write about? I think a bit of everything really. I paint and write, I like to travel and do all kinds of things so it will be partial diary blog but maybe with a few freebies thrown in when and if I make things in Paint Shop Pro so do check in here again!

Well watching Wimbledon now so I'm going to buzz off and see if I can publish this!

Don't forget to checkout Pammie's Site!!

Terms of Use

My Terms of Use

Unless specified otherwise, posted artwork is copyright Fiona Pinsker. No one is allowed to use, edit, claim or redistribute in any way.

If you have any questions, please feel free to contact me.

Contact Me

If you have any questions or concerns, please contact me via my email address: FionaP19@aol.com.

Thank you,