DOC BARBARA AND THE ANONYMOUS SNOWMAN

   This snowman had no name and suffered in silence until our heroine came to his rescue.  Doc Barbara has both a theoretical and practical side to her complex nature and believes that snowmen should, during their brief lives, have the reassurance of a nomenclature. Donning two old tennis raquets as snow shoes she set off with the intrepid intention of  attaching tags to neighbouring constructs and finally found one worthy of her devoted intentions. Someone suggested that she should call him Cecil instead of Parson Brown but she replied: "Oh no! Every Tom, Dick or Harry is called Cecil."

DOC BARBARA ATTEMPTS PILATES

   Doc Barbara's many followers are all anxious to hear what New Year resolution she may have made. We are happy to be able to satisfy their curiosity by announcing that, devoted as always to self-improvement, she has vowed to practise Pilates. Apart from tangling up her limbs at the back of a class at the local Scout Hall, she performs at home from DVD's, although she is not yet as skilled as the young lady in this photo. 

   At first she was horrified by the appeals to personal vanity on the discs but quickly resolved this problem. Dressed in cosy fleece pyjamas in a vibrant pink with brown spots, she avoids any exercise which promises aesthetic amelioration and ideals of the Perfect Shape.  "I do not need Long Lean Legs," she told our cub reporter. "My legs may be stubby and short but they are sturdy and reach the ground in a perfectly satisfactory fashion. And, as for glutes - we never had them in my day and I have no intention of growing them at this time of life."

IMG_4074b, a photo by toniwbusch on Flickr.