Web Designers Start Here

According to my extensive research on the T-Mobile website, these are the rules for web design:

• Do not under any circumstances provide obvious links
• Any coloured text must NOT be a link
• Pictures must NOT be used as links
• Hide all links in menus that only appear when clicked
• Make menus as unobtrusive as possible (bonus points if no users at all are able to find them)
• Insist that your users contact your help service for any and all details rather than allowing them to browse for themselves online
• Make it pretty

Any rules that you would want to add?

Dressing Up?

You go Eddie!

I can so relate to this because when I was a girl trousers were really meant for men. I wore ski pants and had short hair and so I got called "son" occasionally. Girls were really meant to wear dresses and have long hair, which I quite liked some of the time but dresses are rubbish for climbing trees.

And now women can wear trousers but men are not supposed to wear skirts. Unless they're kilts. The logic of this is, well actually there is no logic in it.

The article where I found this talks about "non-cisgendered men" wearing dresses but I don't see why anyone has to be labelled according to the clothes they sometimes like to wear. When I was a girl I didn't want to wear trousers because I wanted to be a man, I wore trousers (and still do) because I like trousers. In the same way, why on earth can't men wear skirts and dresses and sparklies without being labelled? Maybe they just like them. Sometimes I like wearing them too.

A Guide to Devon Dialect Terms for Cyclists

My Beloved and I went to Devon last weekend and took our bikes; we were aiming to cycle parts of the Tarka Trail and we also cycled along by Woolacombe Bay. It's absolutely beautiful there but if you're on a bike you need to watch out for the local dialect when asking advice on where to cycle.

It's flat. Translation: various ups and downs but nothing a novice cyclist can't manage with a bit of effort.
There's a slight incline but nothing to worry about. Translation: it's a hill. Demanding cycling but you won't need to get off and push. Probably.
It's not far, just up the hill. Translation: get your pitons out. Mountain goats would be proud to manage this ascent.

Oh, and the phrase "a country mile"? We reckon that comes from Devon too.

Sunstruck

Polenth has published a book that I really enjoyed. It's a paranormal story, a cop buddy story, and a mystery story all rolled into one but somehow she's made it more than any of those. She's taken the legend of Bigfoot (which I would never have guessed could be interesting) and created a culture for them that that I found intriguing and convincing. It read to me like good science fiction where we see ourselves through the eyes (and in this case nose) of an alien, although in this case it's a terrestrial alien.

I liked the really quirky characters a lot and I enjoyed the exchanges between Ari (the Bigfoot) and her OCD human partner Ben. There is a plot but for me this was the least important aspect of the book. I just thoroughly enjoyed stepping into Ari and Ben's world and I can't wait for the next book to come out so I can join them there again. I think you might like it too.

Hey, that's mine!

 

This newly finished shawl was just set out to dry after a wash to soften it up when Rufus decided to come and groom himself on it. After all, the ground was wet and muddy out and he needed somewhere clean where he could get the dirt off his paws.

Did I say it was a shawl? That was what Sarah, who wrote the pattern, called it but she was wrong. Clearly it's a cat blanket. Rufus has decreed it!

Now We Are 60

I started the day with a bran tub* from my sister. Anyone else remember bran tubs? It smelt heavenly as I dived into it.

This is how we started the party. I'd decided to go for the subtle look.

Sadly, Neil didn't get the chance to play during the party.  The guitars were authentic decor though - I seem to remember a guitar in every student bedroom when I was young!

Here is my lovely friend Alex. You can see she got my memo about being subtle.

The music started and we were off! I haven't had so much fun dancing in years.

My sons. The best-looking young men in the world. No, I'm not at all biased. I'm surprised you'd even ask!

I don't know why I was looking at his feet.

Some dear friends with my daughter-in-law

And here are both lovely daughters-in-law, with a friend and my older son.

Some mad friends who write a novel every November. Yes, I do too. No, I don't know why.

The end of the party and still fresh as a daisy. Ish.


If you want to hear some of the music we danced to there's a playlist on YouTube.


*(In Britain) a tub containing bran** in which small wrapped gifts are hidden, used at parties, fairs, etc.
** except that the "bran" was always sawdust.