Organic-Ally

  For those of you old enough to have watched the old TV comedy series Drop the Dead Donkey you might remember a character (the news presenter) who talked often of how she was abused by her grandmother. Image by wayhomestudio on Freepik I cannot understand how grandmothers could be evil, but then there are mothers who are evil, too. I was on the bus home from the university and feeling tired. As usual I whipped out my phone to read another instalment of the book on my phone. But there was a voice shouting, "Me want Mummy! Me want sit wif Mummy!" Where was "Mummy"? After faffing about for several minutes while the bus was stopped, she had proceeded to the back of the bus, sitting just behind me, facing towards the back of the bus. As "Me want Mummy" got louder and more persistent I looked up to observe that a girl, quite a big girl, about three years of age, was strapped to a push-chair at the front of the bus, in the care of her grandmother. Behind me set ...

I had some time on my hands. Looking at the pile of Christmas cards I was hoarding, I thought I should put my plan into action and made these.  They are not difficult to make and would keep some young ones occupied for a little while, if you do not mind cleaning up glue-y fingers. The materials required are: Old Christmas cards Ribbon which I had salvaged from Christmas crackers, some glue, a pencil, scissors and something to draw the circles with. I used a cake cutter. Then it is just a question of deciding which parts of a card or cards you wish to use. You will need at least three circles to make a 3-D bauble. I used up to five circles. Four circles seem the best compromise. When you have cut out the circles, fold them into half. When you have a good half circle, use this as a template to make it easier to fold the other circles into half. Then decide on which way you wish to glue them. I wanted one that included the names of the people who sent the card, but I made a mistake an...