Polly's Critter Friendly...

Don't ask me how, but last night I got very involved in a conversation which lasted until the small wee hours! I nearly died when I saw the time and my other half wasn't too impressed when I woke him up to come to bed. He knows me all too well! The mere fact that I was awake enough to awaken him meant that I'd been

"... on that flaming computer all this time...!"

Anyway, the long and short of it is that I was persuaded to find time out of my busy schedule to enter this little guy into the PaperPlay Challenges blog this week! To be honest it didn't take that much persuasion, as it was late, I was tired and it's a great prize...




For the chance to win some lovely blog candy this
week head on over to Paper Play and see what it's all about. Kerry Colson of An Siopa Bui is this weeks sponsor and has generously offered five Copic Markers (!) of the winner's choice.There are some lovely design team projects and a great selection of what other crafters out there have done too, suffice to say it involves critters!

Speaking of which my choice for this challenge is a hedgehog. The hedgehog is one of my all time great favourites, I just love 'em. Often times I've chastised the many dogs that I've owned over the years for trying to play catch with sleepy winter hedgies and marvelled at how their spines don't seem to bother the dogs mouths that much at all.

The next picture is of a huge hedgehog who frightened the life out of yours truly on Bastille Day 2006. Camping alongside the river Seine, in the centre of Paris with nothing more than a chain link fence between the tow path and us; God only knows what the source of the noise could have been!

Add to this the fact that we'd spent the evening admiring the sights and the traditional firework displays at midnight from the famous the Bateaux-Mouches, we'd been treated to what felt like a half a pint of champagne by our tour guide and were generally slightly worse for wear!

Is it any wonder that I was startled to realise that in the dead of night we had unexpected company; half of Paris was on the prowl!? Gingerly, after a panicked discussion on how best to handle the situation I shone a torch in the direction the noise was coming from and was relieved to discover this little guy.


When he'd finished his midnight snack, I took some other shots of him; standing on his hind legs - just like the one in the card! The poor thing was trying to find his way around our windbreak; which we'd inconsiderately blocked his way. One day I will get around to scrapping that particular experience and breathe a sigh of relief that our visitor that night was friendly...

Great memories or what?!

Polly Pierce
Vinca Cards

Polly'ternative

Just every now and again, I take it into my head to do a post relating to the condition Fibromyalgia. This is something which I am all too familiar with, but am at once grateful for the opportunities it has presented me with and resentful of the problems it has caused.

During my travels, whilst investigating this annoying medical condition I encountered Alternative Anna or Silverleaf as she is known on Twitter. Either way, she has been a useful contact for someone approaching a complete change in their lifestyle and career pathways. Checking in every now and again to catch up on what she's been up to has reassured me that this unfortunate condition is indeed not a figment of my imagination rather something real!

On the days when I have no energy and my interest levels have zeroed out Anna is always a source of inspiration. Perhaps this is because like me she just gets on with it as well as she can, and when she can't, she can't! This has been well documented and like I said it has often reassured me that the feelings and the pain I endure is not psychosomatic, imaginary, or anything else but real!

Recently Anna started to put her polymer clay jewellery up for sale on her ETSY shop. This is lovely, and I would probably buy some if I hadn't started doing much the same thing myself. She is also selling the most delightful little knitted hedgehogs, the proceeds of which she is donating to hedgehog rescue charities.

My first sight of these adorable little creatures was on her blog. She had posted a tutorial, which to be honest at first sight didn't impress me terribly. This is probably why I don't knit much; apparently I lack the imagination to envisage the finished product - anyway, I continued to scroll down and found this!

Isn't it just gorgeous? Well it is if you love hedgehogs, so there! This of course could have something to do with the fact that I have a thing about hedgehogs as my photo of the Paris campsite in 2006 will show!

This little guy was our only visitor on Bastille Day and he only called in to complain that we had blocked his run with our windbreak. Thankfully we were able to appease him as he helped himself to our left-overs which had been waiting for me to tidy them up following our rushed evening meal. Sadly our guided tour around Paris and fireworks display from the Seinne took precedence over the washing up...

At this stage in the post you're probably wondering what this has to do with Fibromyalgia. Apart from the fact that our trip to France was taken before my medications had been sorted out, the fact that I was constantly in a lot of pain, suffering with chronic insomnia and surviving on five hours sleep with the aid of a table absolutely nothing!

I am thankful that this routine has since changed for the better. If I take all my medications on time and go to bed at a reasonable hour I now dream and have restorative sleep which allows me to wake at a reasonable hour feeling refreshed.

Sadly, this is not naturally induced and I often find myself in a position whereby it's not possible to stick to this routine and then suffer the consequences, which is where people like Anna come in. They remind me that I'm not okay. Anna makes me realise that I am not alone and that it is okay for someone who looks okay, like I do, to feel crappy the way I do so much of the time.

I sit and look around my home at the end of what used to be my working day and wonder what the hell I've done with my time, but reading Anna's blog reminds me that I'm not okay and it is okay for me to feel like this. Thank You!

Polly Pierce