drive safe with baby British Army hare

well, some really exciting news!

here is my first litter of leverets ~ born in British Army dpm cams!

and a few of them are now in the mail on their way to their forever homes!

em, I mean forever vehicles!

because they are 'drive safe' hares after all 

(opinionated little back seat drivers that dangle from your rear-view-mirror, keeping you right on the roads)

(these ones have a Scottish accent ofcourse :)

I think they are really, really very pretty!

the cams are ever so flattering eh?

and aren't they all so adorable standing to attention on parade? 

ingrained discipline because they came from real service cams that have seen time

and like the stray dogs that they help to raise funds for thru the charity Nowzad,

these little beasties also have scars and nicks and many imperfections

ofcourse that doesn't bother any of them in the slightest

they are just happy to find a loving home and a loving heart

with someone who will accept them exactly as they are

without requiring any changes

or imposing any conditions on them

okay, let's be serious here -

if this tiny lagomorph could breathe and eat 

then in reality 

you would find your curtains shredded to bits (as far up as their hind legs will let them stretch ~ and yes, my curtains are still in tatters from Wesley and Arabella), 

you would find your telephone cable snipped in two (yes, it will happen every single time you leave even 5mm of it exposed), 

your carpets will be 'dug' into and torn up... (yes, sigh, such is the lagomorph burrower), 

you would have your digestives stolen off your side plate in a nick and 

your shoelaces will be nibbled to bits, even the parts between the eyelets.. (yes, true, I have had to replace so many laces I considered wearing slip-ons (uh okay, just joking there..) )

so maybe you have room in your life for a non-breathing, non-eating leveret perhaps?

though non-eating and non-breathing does not mean non-alive,

cause seriously - get a look at that sparkly little blue eye, so full of personality and resolve and determination and...

and for every hare sold I donate approx 25% to Nowzad, around £4 / $6

to help homeless stray little fluffy things like those above

~ yeah ~ puppies!!

and for those stray puppies that have outgrown their fluffyness

but are still adorable none the less

my donations still help the stray dogs that the soldiers take in and 'adopt'

and the strays that 'adopt' themselves to a soldier, because that happens often too

and sometimes the soldiers take in those cute little bundles of pocket-sized fluffyness when they are out on patrol

it's a win-win situation 

and Nowzad reunite the strays, who have been adopted by the soldiers whilst on deployment, thru official means

and you have beautiful, loving outcomes for all involved

glad to be helping!

uh -oh! dissention in the ranks.....

an Arrow to my Heart

my mum saw a neat ad on the TV the other night (I don't have a TV), so I youtubed it, 

and yeah, 

it's pretty neat!

a real gorgeous Eros

shootin' arrows to my heart

*sigh*

which reminded me of one of my most fav movies ever

The House of Flying Daggers

where the handsome hero is pretty darn nifty with those sharp messengers of love 

and daggers  

and sexy hot looks

and....

it's also one of the most cinematographically beautiful movies ever, and I really appreciate sublime beautiful movies that transport you to a different world

the Chinese are real good at that

and some of the most beautiful movies ever are Chinese

ethereal, romantic, breathtaking 

so here is that Eastern version of Eros again..

I had googled 'arrow to my heart' 

and you know what? a cowboy turned up!

it's a pic from a book review, Shine Not Burn, and that sentence was in there somewhere, buried under all that, eh, prairie and muscle...

(note to self: put that book on my read list, looks like just the thing for these dark winter nights)

whew! it's the middle of winter and it's feelin' pretty hot right now, someone must have turned the heat up :)

yeah, lots of nice things to appreciate

here's some Norwegian/Swedish fun with modern day professional cowboys

(got this from Twitter)

Twitter is totally fascinating actually. The stuff you read on there, the stuff you come across, real entertaining. A small world all in itself.    #totallyloveitshashtagstoo    #somuchfun    #youcantmakeahashofahashtagsogoannoworryeh

...(rmy#s2long?)    #whogivesaF!*%

I don't post much on twitter, just my occasional blog update, and pics I adore and want on my front page. Always nice to scroll down to look at them. 

And I use my favourites to heart all those pics that I really love. That is a good facility on twitter for sure. Kinda like the Hearting on etsy. And Pinterest, only it's on twitter.

Hearting is good. 

anyway, enough cheeping on,

here is another modern day cowboy with a modern day bow and arrow

alrighty then, - a professional Norwegian soldier in Afghanistan

these troops work hard out there that's for sure

this is real action

taken by British Army photographer Rupert Frere 

okay back to the God of Love and the arrows of love 

here is Eros today - all snow-globed up at Piccadilly! 

apparently the statue has been the centre of (unwanted) attention over the decades and this is the time of year when he needs protection most (who knew?!)
yeah, they always go for the arrow!

so now his arrows will have to break thru the glass first before reaching your heart

small price to pay for some love eh?

at least he will be keeping warm this winter. Maybe he'd like a copy of Shine not Burn?

gettin' out the big guns!

it was Armed Forces Day the other day, and I went on down to Princes Street gardens, below Edinburgh Castle, to celebrate and appreciate the amazing work our Armed Forces do for our country, our freedom and our way of life.

In particular I zoomed right in on the Army ~ cos I luuuvs the Army big time.

I spotted some big guns at the 3 Rifles stand and could hardly contain my excitement! and all my old memories of being a soldier flooded back!

and a very handsome soldier kindly jogged my rusty memory about the GPMG M60, the 7.62mm general purpose machine gun, which every platoon has. It's a very impressive piece of kit!

Ofcourse I had already drooled over the L115A3 long range rifle for like forever! (never had that in my platoon!) and would have loved to have spent more time there, but I was hogging the limelight and there were 100 little impressionable kids all wanting to touch the guns :) 

(em, just sos you know, they're not really guns, they are rifles :)

yup still drooling over the M60 *sigh*

over the years I've always supported the Army and the soldiers with my art - last year my watercolour triptych of Edinburgh Castle and the Scots Greys raised £220 for the Australian Engineers RAE Foundation. 

I hope to donate another painting to them again this year. The Engineers play one of the most valuable roles in the Army, as they clear the ground for safe passage. The Military Working Dogs are out there, at the front, on the front line, their wet noses doing the hard work sniffing out the IEDs. 

When I was serving with the Engineers in Sydney, my kelpie/heeler cross Max, became a bomb dog.

and very soon I hope to have an exciting announcement to announce(!) 

with these purdy lil' Drive Safe Hares and raising funds for the doggies and soldiers 

hares being born and soon to be Drive Safe with Baby Army Hares.... (ofcourse leverets are born with their eyes open and ready to run)

when I came back to Scotland I gave my small run-around a nice new coat ....

looking rather handsome all cammed up :)

only took me an afternoon 

as I was chatting to the soldiers I couldn't remember if I had bought their wristband - as I buy one for every deployment - but when I got home and checked, I had indeed

yeah, course you bought one Annette! you spend more money on wristbands than you do on treats for me, and chew and chew as I might, these buggers never seem to taste any nicer  *yeuch*

ha ha! thanks for reminding me Wes! (*off to get a chunk of oatcake for you now*)

You can support the excellent work these lads do by purchasing a wristband from them  and by donating and fundraising for them.

They have paid a high price to serve this country and have already lost 30 soldiers on tour, and many more have lost limbs and suffered severe injuries. 

Soldiers serve because they love their job, their way of life, their mates and their country. They have a great sense of comradeship and a great sense of humour - check out this postcard from 3 Rifles - this is Army humour at it's best!

thank you for the Army and the Armed Forces, and Thank You all at 3 Rifles for your service, so appreciated! ~ stay safe always xx ♥

Forward Scout

....so a few weeks ago I got out my watercolours and splashed out a doggie

'Forward Scout'

in memory of Max

it's a painting of my kelpie/heeler dog Max from when I was a sapper in the Army and attached to Engineers in Sydney, Australia.

Max became a bomb dog, or more specifically a MWD - Military Working Dog.

MWDs are dogs that are trained to detect explosive materials and most of the International peace keeping forces engaged in Afghanistan use their own MWDs to clear routes of IEDs and detect caches of weapons. These dogs are invaluable with their work, and save many, many lives.

I used my old photos to get Max's markings.

He was a very handsome, muscular, energetic dog.

And because Max came from Aussie working dog stock, he was not lazy in the slightest, unlike the alsatians that the Engineers were currently using. They were impressed with him and I heard that he was a very good worker.

The other month I was catching up with some news and I came across the RAE Foundation that helps soldiers, specifically Engineers, and they were having an art auction to raise funds, so I thought I would offer a couple pieces, hence my painting of Max.

It's rather like an illustration, with an inked Royal Australian Engineers Corps badge in the top left, and a very simple scene of Max detecting something under the rubble.

If you'd like to see the pic in more detail, just click on the images above.

and I've put this small pic in as well.

It's of the Scots Greys statue that stands on Princess Street, Edinburgh, and behind is the imposing breath taking Edinburgh Castle!

Every time I go to town, 10 minutes up the road from here, I see this beautiful sight.

The Royal Scots Greys was the regiment that charged at Waterloo

I thought I would put in the 2 rough sketches also, and it could perhaps be displayed as a triptych?

Sometimes evidence of the process is as interesting as the finished piece.

Max was just a tiny fat ball of a puppy when I got him, way, way back in 1990!!

He grew up side by side with my new baby house rabbit Burns. One day he was sick in the car, and I had to clean up a stomach full of chewed grass and carrot!!

Burns was smaller, but she was the leader!

As you can see in the photos above - Max is fawning over Burns as she jumps up onto the couch to see what he is doing (one could not participate in something without the other racing over to see what was going on... siblings.... :)

and outside in my 'garden' (heh heh that's a fancy term eh? I really meant to say 'backyard') you can see Burns about to chase Max across the mud! (I would have said grass, but you would have known I was lying).

Burns ruled the house and Max deferred to her all the time.

when I was visiting the RAE Foundation I came across this photo, and all I could think about was Max! and my heart melted!

and then I thought maybe they may like one of my paintings perhaps, to help the soldiers and the doggies?

It will be nice to send my paintings to Australia, so I am hoping that someone at the auction likes them.

This little kelpie/heeler cross has just come back from a tour of duty, probably Afghanistan?

good grief, dog this.... dog that... yap yap yap!!!

how 'bout getting me more greens and carrots here then? I'm nearly out...

and I ain't coming in your car nowhere so your seats are safe (some dogs eh? wasteful!)