All going well!
All going well! Life is good, well certainly improving. Still rushing
around with not enough hours in a day but I can see light at the end of the
tunnel at last. I have a steady trickle of orders, I would like an avalanche of
orders but that clearly isn’t going to happen and so I have been concentrating
on my Ginny’s Jungle parties and experiences. This week, I did my first
presentation to a group of adults and was delighted that it went down so well,
everyone seemed to enjoy it, there were lots of questions and a handling
session afterwards (see Ginny’s Jungle Facebook page for photos). It was a 50+
group run by a lovely lady who wrote an article about me earlier in the year
for a local glossy magazine. She asked if I had received many enquiries after
the article appeared and this got me thinking, the honest answer was “no” and
then I realised that all the Ginny’s Jungle events that I have carried out so
far have been via word of mouth from people I actually know. The recent
children’s party was for the grandson of a neighbour, the Beaver’s group was
from a lady who works in the greengrocers and helps out at Cubs, the ‘Bug
Keepers Experience’ that I am running next week is for a friend’s grandchildren
who are visiting for half term. Clearly, I need to get myself out there and be
seen! I have lots of ideas in the pipeline.
The weather has certainly turned cooler in the last couple of weeks, no
hesitation now, all my orders are going out with a heat pack. I’ve had no
reported losses so that’s great and it has been ages since I had a Special
Delivery parcel delayed so that’s got to be good too.
The weekend before last my daughter and I went on a spa weekend to
Stratford-upon-Avon (a competition win of course J).
When I mentioned going there to my friend at the AES exhibition the weekend
before, Clive, who still owns the Stratford Butterfly Farm gave us a free pass.
The thing I didn’t realise was that the butterfly farm was literally across the
road from the hotel that we stayed at. It was obviously meant to be so Georgie
and I spent a very pleasant Sunday morning strolling around the butterfly
house. I took lots of photos, it was a real trip down memory lane. I loved my
time working at the London Butterfly House but it was a very long time ago. The
place was really well kept, clean, tidy, with plenty of butterflies to see and
an excellent selection of other bugs and reptiles on display. I was most
impressed and the Leaf Cutter ant display was especially good. I would
thoroughly recommend a visit there (I should do a trip advisor review – when I
get time).
It is now only four weeks until we are off to Costa Rica! I can’t wait,
it is sure to be out of this world amazing! I can only imagine the animals we
will get to see out there, I will of course have my camera at the ready at all
times. I still need to cut down on my stock, it is going ok but I can’t leave
my poor daughter to look after all the stick insects that I have at the moment.
They are eating a lot of bramble each week and it is dark so early, I really can’t
expect her to be collecting leaves in the woods after work in the pitch black!
I do have a local reptile shop that may take some but sadly the guy who used to
take all my surplus stock when I went away is no longer in this area. I would
love to sell some stick insects in bulk but they would need to be collected
from me as posting a large number is just too difficult and expensive. Since
all our local sweet shops have stopped selling sweets in jars I no longer have
a ready supply to use for posting, they were perfect. I could buy new jars but
they are far too dear. I will have to teach my daughter which are alternative
plants to bramble that she can use. I am probably panicking about nothing,
there is plenty of ivy in the woods opposite and we do have an evergreen Oak
tree in the garden.
Anyway, I must get on, Teddi is waiting for her walk. I would say
“waiting patiently” but she is actually pacing up and down J