Hens, chicks and blokes.....!

It's been a while since I was on a Hen Night - and of course that was in my home country, so I really didnt know what to expect when we decided to send Tiff off in style. My first challenge was remembering that this was a 'Bachelorette' Party - no Hens involved over this side of the pond! All was going swimmingly well with this challenge....until we managed to adopt 2 nice young English chaps who would gladly have followed us home, to the wedding and who knows whatever else! Anyway - needless to say - it was all Hens, pints, bloody hells, cor blimeys, tomarrrtoes and snogs from then on (OK - I may have exaggerated with the snogs part - although I may have to seek clarification from Mandy Mae!)
We started the evening at Chopstix - a dueling piano bar in Everett. We greased the palm of the pianists and made sure they embarrassed Tiffany big style. I will never be able to hear 'She'll be coming round the mountain' in the same light again!
On to McCabes - which was surprisingly quiet (although that might have had something to do with the fact it was 1am). Tiff got her two-step with Brad Paisley (well he looked a bit like him), she and I cobbled our way through a cha-cha (feeling a mixture of sadness for the state of our country dancing skills and nostalgia for the Little Red Hen), and two sisters got to wow the bar with their very cute dancing!
We finally managed to drag ourselved away once the bar closed, just about managed to lose the Limey Limpets and set off to pick up the sleeping pregnant lady and head out to Patti's cabin in the wildnerness.
3am was a little too late for S'mores, we decided - and that was even before Heidi had realized she'd forgotten the key and treated us to her very best Spiderman impression. At least we managed to talk Tiff out of scaling the roof - although I was thinking a chocolate/green leg cast would have made for an interesting bridal accessory.
Instead we opted to seal ourselves into our sleeping bag cocoons in the loft and sleep for as long as our bladders would allow.
Heidi had done a grand job of arranging the whole event which was topped off by a sumptuous breakfast of fresh fruit, muffins, hairs on your chest coffee and chit chat.
I don't even think there was a hangover in sight - and we managed at least 6 hours longer than the boys - and we had Megan and her baby bump in our group! So way to go girls - we rock!

Homage to a grand old hound...

Peps has moved on. Without a doubt he is in doggy heaven. He did not have a mean bone in his body and was the kind of dog who would have kicked himself for those few times he was naughty!
He spent his glorious 15 years worshiping sticks. Ironic really as the only times he had any close shaves with death, they were as a direct result of his stick addiction; once when his Dad accidentally threw his stick into the path of an oncoming canal barge and once (or was it twice) when his stick retrieval was so enthusiastic that he impaled himself and had to have the shards removed from his throat.
Peps was a people dog. He couldn't have cared less about his canine peers - but loved human company. Consequently he was a great giver and receiver of love - and he banked lots in his long life - and from a plethora of fans!
My lasting memories of him are the quirks of his character; his love for cheese, his tree-climbing, his obsession with water, his hatred of cats (until Oliver came to live in his orbit), his stubborn determination to decide which direction we were walking on any particular day, and his ability to twirl his long feathery tail in a circular motion.
I regret terribly not being able to be with him at the end - but know he was probably in much better hands than mine - and will always admire and love Mark for being his support when he needed it most.
Peps' legacy lives on; in the 42 year old stuffed bear with one ear and one arm, in his striking resemblance (in character and appearance) to Fergus, and in the memories those people lucky enough to have known him, share regularly.
Rest in Peace, Peps - I hope he was watching from up there and had a basket full of sticks waiting for you!