Online Auction for Charity

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Online-Auction-for-the-Paul-Curran-Trust/347658848608244

Sorry, but I still have to figure out how you get a link to print on here so that you can actually just click on it and not have to copy it out...

I'm a bit preoccupied at the moment as I am trying to organise this auction on facebook...it's all for such a good cause.
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''Paul Curran is 40 years of age. He is married to Karen and they have three daughters, Sara (17), Clodagh (13) and Caoimhe (11). They live in his native Valentia Island.

Paul has had an outstanding career in Gaelic football. He played all underage levels for Valentia. He started playing for the Valentia Senior Football Team at 17. He represented Kerry at Minor, Under 21, Junior and senior level. He has two Kerry Co. U-21 titles (1991 and 1992) which he won while playing for the divisional side, South Kerry. He received the man of the match award for his display in the ‘91 final against West Kerry. Paul was on the Kerry U-21 panel in 1991for the All Ireland semi final and played for Kerry in the 1992 All Ireland U-21 Final, on both occasions Kerry were beaten by Tyrone
He moved to Dublin in 1993 and while he lived there he was a very prominent team member who helped Ballyboden/St. Enda’s to win their first ever Dublin County Title in 1995. He also played with St. Olaf’s in Dundrum for three years. Paul and family returned to live in Kerry in 2000 and he continued to play with Valentia until 2009. He has six South Kerry senior championship medals.
Paul is also a member of the Valentia Pipe Band

In 2010 Paul was diagnosed with bowel and liver cancer. He underwent surgery at Kerry General Hospital in March 2010 but he needs further life saving surgery as soon as possible. He can only get this specific surgery in the Royal Marsden Hospital in London. It is currently scheduled for April 2012.
The cost of this surgery and associated costs may be as high as €80, 000.

The Paul Curran Trust Fund committee has been set up and various fundraising events will take place around Kerry in the coming months. We would be very grateful for your support.''

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it's all a bit crazy but is coming together really well - it all started off with me thinking about auctioning off a crochet rainbow-coloured cowl on my Selkie facebook page...then that seemed to be going quite well so I thought ''why not try and do this on a bigger scale?'' and now we already have about 15 lots and the running total of the current bids is about €200, which isn't bad at all.

The total amount needed for Paul's operation is approx €80,000 (I just can't get my head around that much money) so this auction will only raise a tiny drop in that ocean, but I keep telling myself that it's better than nothing.

In the meantime I'm afraid my own Etsy shop has kind of gone off the boil, but I've racked up over 90 listings there now, which isn't too bad. I'm still making items for it, though I don't have as much spare time as I used to have as I seem to be perpetually sending emails and facebook messages! Besides, my etsy shop will still be there, it isn't going anywhere and will be waiting for me when life gets more back to normal :D

A very important guest

Simon the traveling gecko's visit to us was a bit fraught at times I'm afraid...it all got off to a bad start when, quite soon after his visit, he offered to help with the vacuuming (having previously been helping at Purls of Colours house, he thought he was an expert)

Sadly this is what happens when a teeny tiny gecko 'helps' -- yes, dear readers, he was no match for the suction of the mighty DYSON 'ANIMAL': we had to dismantle the machine to rescue him!


Luckily he survived the experience and was just a bit battered and bruised and had a bad case of dented pride!

Just as he was recovering from the trauma of this with a nice cup of tea, he had an encounter with a native of Waterville -- as you can see the natives are EXTREMELY friendly and welcoming. Sometimes a bit too much, but Simon didn't like to complain.



After all this, we thought Simon deserved a day out and we thought he might like to trace his ancestors with a trip to the tetrapod track in Valentia Island.

Oh how excited Simon was at the thought of this! There were so many photo opportunities along the way -- there's quite a family resemblance, don't you think?!




Simon's little heart was beating very fast as he was lucky enough to literally walk in his ancestor's footprints! How many geckos are lucky enough to do that?!!



Of course, while we were there, Simon just had to do a bit of posing for the camera - he isn't camera-shy in the slightest and loves the lime-light!




Finally, to keep Simon entertained on a rainy day (it is SUCH hard work to entertain a bored gecko!) I showed him some of my holiday photos from Barcelona - oh how Simon enjoyed this; seems like there are geckos and their relatives all over the place!

Simon is desperately hoping to go there one day himself :)

Another Update

Heh, I'm really in the swing of this blogging thing now - two posts this month and we aren't even half way through the month!

Things are going brilliantly - both on Etsy and in real life too. Peter and I have known each other for 21 years now (imagine that!) and things are still wonderful :)

In crochet related news, I've got some lovely new yarns


The lovely Jana brought me all of these back from Germany this month - wool is so much cheaper over there compared to here (or the UK) so it was great to have a big stash like this arrive :) I love it all and have already made four pairs of wrist warmers from it, with another pair on the go. It's a range of different fibres and thicknesses, which is great - I like a bit of variety and change!

I really LOVE this one - it's acrylic but looks and feels like a cotton rather than acrylic. She brought me back this yarn in several different colour-ways but this is my favourite (of course because of the turquoise and purple!)

And then she brought me three different colours of cotton for scrubbies! This one's my favourite but there's a gorgeous purple and a teal as well.



I forgot to say in my last post that I'd been to the wool shop in town and she was open! YAY!! Usually when I'm in town she's on her lunch break or is closed so I was really delighted that she was open. I'd only gone in there on the off chance that she would have some cotton (for scrubbies) but of course came out with a load of yarns that I hadn't intended to buy...

I think this is my favourite - it's a Dutch yarn and is aran weight and a bit thick and thin...I absolutely ADORE the colours in this blue. The colours remind me quite a bit of Tivoli Ocean (which is now discontinued) and it's something I would buy again.


Since my last post here I've actually listed my first ever crochet pattern!! Yes, dear reader, you too can now make your very own pair of shell edged wrist warmers!!! I can't believe it but I've sold the pattern seven times already!!!

Oh I don't think I've mentioned this before but this is my winter project while I'm not working in my day-job (my job on the ferry runs from March/April to October) - it was a bit of an ambitious undertaking but I've started to clear some of the graves in the local Church of Ireland graveyard. So many of the graves are very neglected and uncared for so I got permission from the church to go in and make a start on tidying it up. It's very hard work but I love it. It will take YEARS to work my way around the whole graveyard but never mind.

First Day of Spring!

Today's the first of February, which makes it the first proper day of Spring! YAY!! January always seems like the longest, darkest month of the whole year so I'm glad to be able to put it behind me :D

So how about a quick bit of an update on my life?

First of all, this is the new addition to the 'family' -- meet Oscar! He's been with us for over three weeks now already and is just adorable. He's desperate for the other cats to have a play but they aren't so keen yet. He actually snuck up behind Dinah for a sneaky cuddle while she was asleep (in the photo) - she wasn't very happy when she woke up and realised who she was cuddled up with!

Meanwhile, over on Etsy, I had my 200th sale last month!! Who would have ever thought I would have reached such a milestone?! I still have to pinch myself sometimes to really believe it all.

In the last few weeks I've started making some new items for my shop -- I think change is good and I guess you have a better chance of getting more customers if you have a bit more variety in your range.

So I have started making cotton bath mitts - for exfoliation and body polishing etc. So far I've only sold one but hopefully they will sell - though they might sell better when I go to craft fairs, perhaps? I've only got three listed in my shop but must make a few more, just to have them 'in stock'.



Another new item, and one that I'm quite excited about, are my beach pebbles! It's a bit of a novel idea and I'm not too sure how well they will sell either - but nothing ventured, nothing gained (this should be my motto!). I'm thinking these might sell very well coming up to Christmas - something small and Irish, that is a bit of a quirky gift, but also quite pretty and unusual...
best of all is that it gives me an excuse to get out and go beach combing - like I need an excuse, ha ha!!

Finally, I've 'evolved' my wrist warmer pattern so that the ones made from double-knitting or finer yarns now have a half-thumb! I am really happy with this change - also it gives a bit more variety (again!) in my shop.

another cat-related post!

I'm not a religious person, or especially spiritual but I do think that things happen for a reason, at least some of the time, even if you never know why it happens to you.

At the moment it feels like we've had a beautiful gift harshly snatched away too soon (Mr. Evie and his too short length of time with us) but then today Peter phoned me from work to say that someone had come in to his work and told him how they were desperately looking for a home for a little kitten...so it's like being given another chance perhaps to make a difference for a stray kittie.

We'll be getting him later this evening - I'm so excited, all I know so far is that he's ginger and is about 8 weeks old. He was found, trying to keep warm under the bonnet of a car. They took him to the vet and he got a clear bill of health so we will be able to bring him in to the house and not have to overly worry about him giving our Boris an infection. (Boris is FIV positive and has a very poor immune system because of that)

I don't think I'll quite believe it til he's actually here...

Sad Sad News

Poor little Evie died yesterday.

I'd taken him to the vets in Killarney the day before - they specialise in small animals so it really was the best place for him to be.

They took blood tests and amazingly he was negative for both FIV and feline leukemia and the vet thought he'd be fine to get his dental work done as he'd put weight on (through the syringe feeding) and it was something that needed to be done urgently.

While I was at the vets with him, I was able to see properly inside his mouth and it was truly awful, I don't know how he could have tolerated so much pain every day and still been so friendly and affectionate. As well as the rotten teeth and sore gums, his mouth was covered in nasty ulcers, it must have hurt him so very much.

So I left him with the vets and came home; they were operating on him yesterday morning and phoned to say that it had all gone REALLY well - he needed to have every single tooth taken out but that was all ok. The vet said that he'd phone back later to let us know when we could set off and collect him - and all seemed very positive and hopeful.

A bit later on I got another call from the vet and was so excited because I knew it meant that Evie was awake and we could come and get him -- but the vet said that he was very sorry but it wasn't good news.

I thought he meant that there were complications and we'd have to collect him the next day, but it was the worst news - the poor little mite had died. He'd been fine all through the operation and was in the recovery area and had woken up, was sitting up and happy but then when the nurse went back to check up on him he was lying curled up and was dead.

It was an awful shock, I had been soooo full of plans and hopes for his future life with us - he reminded me so much of our Boris, who also just turned up as a very loving but neglected stray cat, he has been with us for nearly seven years now and I'd hoped that we could give Evie the same good life as we had done for Boris and all our other cats...but it wasn't meant to be, and it felt like someone had cruelly pulled the rug out from under my feet and all my hopes came crashing down.

Anyway we went to Killarney to bring him home, which was so hard - I tried so hard not to cry while we were in with the vet -- it must be the hardest part of their job, having this happen, and it must be even worse then when the owner is in floods of tears.

It was dark by the time we got home so we settled him in the shed for one last night and then buried him in the garden this morning. I chose a nice spot in the hens' run - seeing as how we found him in the hen house it seemed 'right' for him to have that as his final resting place.

I am really struggling with the fact that it was me who took him to the vet and my decision to get his teeth sorted now - it's hard not to blame myself for his death, even though I KNOW that by taking him in and nursing him I gave him nearly two weeks extra of his life and in that time I know that he felt real love and comfort probably for the first time in his whole life.

The vet said that it might have been a problem with his liver - that it couldn't break down the anesthetic properly and that's why he died, but we don't know for sure. There are so many questions and 'what ifs' and no answers and I find that hard to deal with.

He was such a tiny thing, the smallest cat - I thought he was a kitten but he was fully grown - he was just so loving and has really touched my life - I think the fact that he was with me for such a short time has made this all the more poignant and hard to deal with. It seems so cruel that he was only with us for such a brief time; surely he deserved more love than that???

I am telling myself that I was there to try and make a difference in his life at the end of it at least, and as friends and family have said he had a much better death than he would have done. He was inside, in the warmth of a heat lamp (which I bet he loved!) and on a fluffy lamby blanket and he wouldn't have felt any pain. I just wish that he didn't have to go.

People have been so sweet and have put the most lovely messages up on my facebook page, in texts, on the Etsy forums and on the phone and I am trying so hard to take their kindness on board and not blame myself for his death but to try and see it that I DID make a difference and I gave him some extra time that he wouldn't have had otherwise - I'm sure that he had gone in to our hen house to die and would have died if we hadn't taken him in.

I got this message from a truly lovely lady on Etsy and I have put it on my facebook page and now on here because I know it is true.

''Rosemary:

DON'T BE DEVASTATED!!!

Mr. Evie died quickly, happy, and loved! YOU were responsible for all of those - it was not a lingering, slow, painful, lonely passing in a dirty hen house or worse - he died knowing he was loved and happy as - more so than he'd likely been in his whole life.

All we have is the present, today, and he was the same. He was HAPPY. Likely for the first time in his life! Rejoice that he KNEW that he was loved and passed so fast he likely didn't know what happened. We should all be so lucky!

You were glorious! You gave your heart to him! He knew it. It was not tragic. For Mr. Evie, it was a happy ending. You know better than anyone what it COULD have been like for him. It is tragic for you because you are left behind and you loved him - and wanted more for him.

All we get is what we get. Be happy! You changed the course of a little life, you gave him love when he likely never had it before, you gave him security and the best care he could have possibly have had. You cannot control when a spirit escapes its earthly bounds; you controlled HOW it left, and it left happy and loved.

I wish I could be there for you, I hope you are getting lots of hugs and kisses this evening. You've earned them! SMILE - you now have a little guardian cat looking out for you!

Lots of love right back at you - This is your PRESENT and it's all you have for sure. Honor Mr. Evie by living it happily and fully.''

update on Evie

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8T-Y0Zn22gI&feature=youtu.be

I can't get the video to play in post but I just HAD to post this here...what amazing progress!

I'm still syringe feeding him for the time being but he's properly trying to eat and drink on his own again - it's made my day!

The left-hand side of his mouth is incredibly painful, even to touch his ear on that side makes him cry out (which is hard when I'm doing his ear drops) - I think he might have to have all the teeth out on that side, definitely the front lower canine, which looks rotten and black at the base :(

But if we can keep him eating ok then he'll put on enough weight and condition so that the vet can knock him out to get his teeth removed/treated -- I SO want to get his teeth sorted, it'll make such a difference to his quality of life.