Hello, this is my first time here.

poshpaws

I'm 68, still very much in love with my late husband, who died of Covid in May 2020; I have a wonderful adult son who's SO good to me; and my life revolves, as it always has, around my animals.

My interests are mainly Animal Welfare, reading, photography, entering free competitions ( I'm an addict!) plus collecting a few types of things and exploring the internet for interesting/fun things.

I love good modern Country Music, classical music and an eclectic mix of other artists. I love going to the cinema when it's safe to do so; eating out; first class train travel (which I can seldom afford) to visit my son who's several hundred miles away from me.

My bucket list, which is totally unlikely to ever be fulfilled unless I win the lottery, includes a week on the Orient Express; a River Cruise; the trans Canadian train trip and being able to visit the Soi Dog sanctuary in Thailand and escort some dogs and cats to their new homes in the UK. 

My favourite charities are the Fistula Clinic in Ethiopia; Medicines Sans Frontieres (whom my son used to work for); Scotland's Charity Air Ambulance; Amnesty International; Age UK; The New Ark in Ellon, not so far from me; Spana; Soi Dog Foundation; RNLI; Dogs Trust; Cats Protection; The Wildcat Haven and a few other smaller ones.

I have bi-polar disorder; Long Covid; Burning Mouth Syndrome; M.E., Chronic Regional Pain Syndrome and IBS. (Which clearly makes me an over-achiever!)

Sandy_123

Hi @poshpaws welcome to forum. Sorry that you lost your husband. Its good that you have animals to look after. What animals do you have?
You have a very good range of interest s, some of the topics on here you may find intresting to join in with. Start with the coffee lounge in categories.

poshpaws

@Sandy_123 thank you!  I'll explore the coffee lounge tomorrow - off to bed shortly tonight.  I still have 4 dogs, 5 cats and an Arab horse plus her companion - a very nervy Irish Sports Horse - who has very kindly been lent to me by a neighbour to keep my mare company since the last of my erstwhile herd died.  My husband & I used to run an all-species rescue for over 30 years as well as him working full time, and we kept the hard to home people as family, so for many years, we had 31 cats, 17 dogs and 11 horses and ponies, plus pot bellied pigs, pet sheep, goats and dozens of ducks and poultry plus a seagull who couldn't survive in the wild, in addition to the fosters who moved on to their own loving homes. It's very quiet here now!

Sandy_123

Oh wow, well done you and your husband for helping all these animals. I think it's fabulous, altho hard work.

Ross_Alumni

Welcome to the community @poshpaws, I hope you are well this morning and are finding it manageable getting used to the community. If you ever have any questions then feel free to ask.

We have numerous categories that you are more than welcome to get involved with, you can browse the full list here, and the virtual coffee lounge is one I would recommend because we have plenty of general chit chat going on there.

I'm sorry to hear of your loss, but happy to see that you appear to be coping okay and have plenty of interests and ambitions. Have you ever had any success with entering those free competitions? Perhaps any winnings from those could pay for the bucket list items  

Thanks for telling us a bit about your music taste, do you have any artists in particular that you would consider to be a favourite?

poshpaws

@Ross_Scope - thanks for your reply. Yep, over the years I've had a lot of super prizes from the free competitions. Some, like my first ever internet win back in 2000 are small, but I treasure that one; it's a large Woolly Mammoth puppet, and I love it.

I've had chocolates; wines; a nightie; a cold frame for my garden; money; vouchers; clothes and shoes; a breadmaker; techie stuff; feed for my dogs, cats and horses; perfume; books, software etc. But my biggest and best was won in 2007 - a fully inclusive Hotel Barge trip on the Canal du Midi in the South of France for my husband an I.

It was the first - and only - time I've been abroad as it's hard to holiday with so many animals needing taken care of in your absence and it was marvellous. 8 guests and 4 crew, one of those being a cordon bleu chef, and the Captain gave a lecture on the different wines served with each course.  There was even a jacuzzi in the bow, which we made use of, and while the other guests went on wine tasting trips, George & I went horse riding - all paid for by the company. 

Tori_Scope

Wow @poshpaws! That sounds like the holiday of a lifetime. And lovely photo