2paw

I Don't Care If You Are Called The Rare Miss Frigidaire.

'Cause you're sensational. Yesterday I defrosted the freezer. I don't like this job, and I put it off. The freezer was mainly filled with a bag of ice and things in ziplock bags. I don't know what some of them were or how long they had been there. I saved the raspberries for a cake I made today. Other than that everything else went.

Peri and Gilly thought the bag of ice ice-cubes was the best thing since sliced bread. It kept them amused for ages. PicMonkey has added a collage tool. I haven't quite mastered it yet, but I am feeling very happy to have a selection of collage options again.

On Friday MrsValley and I went to the Greek Restaurant further up the river. The day was reasonably OK when we started out. We had Arni Yarni Lamb pot pie, Pumpkin and Feta tart and then semolina custard tart with lemon syrup. We spent almost three hours catching up and having a good chat. The pictures are poor, I think the lens was fogged up. Everything was absolutely delicious.

The weather was not. It started raining as we left and there was a huge downpour that lasted for more than a day. There were roadworks and gravel and it was all a little scary. I drove at 60kph but there were people who wanted to do the 100kph speed limit. The council hasn't cleared the drains of Autumn leaves around our suburb, so there were deep puddles across the roads. There were minor floods: a hospital, roads near MrsDrWho's school and in the south of the city. It stopped raining last night and we have some sunshine today.

MrsValley bought The Labradors a lovely treat. Blackmores have a pet division now and she chose some special kangaroo treats. They are perfect for Peri and Gilly: low in fat, easy to break into small pieces and according to them, the Best Treats Ever!! Picture from the Blackmores' site, and we have the Labrador packet of course!!!

I sewed a goanna bag and I am working on my next felt project. Semi-secretly.

I've also been wearing my beret, trying it out to see if I like it around the house before it debuts in public!!

All my Library book Christmases came at once and I sat on the couch reading while the rain poured down endlessly. I couldn't read all of I am David because of the sad part at the almost end. I read either side of the sad part. Rose Levy's book has some wonderful and unusual cakes and I want to bake quite a few. It's hard to find a new series of books to read. I listened to Radio National when they had their broadcast from the Sydney Writers Festival and jotted down a few names. I always scan the book section of Saturday's paper. I use the 'recently added' button (well, you organise by most recent date) on The Library site and keep an eye on authors I already follow. I long to find authors I haven't read who have a long book list for me to enjoy!!

I have new dog walking shoes. The shop says they were $60, but they were on super sale for $10. I think the khaki and pink colour scheme may have put some people off. I'm deciding which shoe laces work best.

My aqua shoes with a velcro closure stopped staying closed. They weren't cheap shoes and I was a bit cross. The lady at the shop where I bought them told me that the shoe repair man could replace the velcro. He did, it's black not white, but you can't see it and it only cost $18. An excellent price and I have a 'new' pair of Winter shoes now!!

Zoe and her family are on The Mainland now and Zoe will be having her bone marrow transplant tomorrow. There's a long hard road ahead for them all. Lucy has not been well, her health is deteriorating. I keep them in my thoughts.  One of Uncle and Auntie Dutch's dog died last week. Tommy was a lovely boy, a boy's boy, and he could be a bit of a grump too. He was fourteen which is a good age.  Poppy, the other dog, seems to be coping by herself.

Later on this week I am going to The Hospital to participate in a session with the doctors in training. I'm going to talk to them about my illness, let them do some observations and then answer any questions they have. I'm not sure how it will go, but they are sending me taxi vouchers so I don't have to worry about looking for a parking space. I'm very happy about that!!

By George, I Think I've Got It!!!

And by it I mean a dress that pretty much fits and looks nice when I wear it!! I saw Michelle from Buttontree Lane sew the Simplicity Amazing Fit 2247 dress and I thought I might give it a go too: patterns were half price, and the material only cost $14. I like the material because it looks, to me, a little WWII and suits the pattern.

I overestimated my size again, though I think the instructions are misleading. I think you should cut for your high and not full bust size. Still, I did sew the dress up first with the seams on the outside so I could more easily adjust and fit them myself.

There are still a few things I'd like to fix: the puffy sleeves (though MrsDrWho likes them, is she just messing with me??), the front bodice needs to be taken up about 2cm at the shoulders. I always have forward shoulder seams and as I am definitely going to be sewing this dress again I want to add 2 or 3 cm to the front shoulder seam and take it away from the back seam.

I inserted a zip by hand again, but really this dress doesn't need one, I can easily get it on and off without one. I enjoy hand picking the zip, and it is much easier than using the zipper foot on my machine, which isn't terribly helpful.

On the whole, I am very pleased: I had my nice beaded sandals to match and my new Short Scene cardigan matched perfectly too. And off I went to Afternoon Tea with my knitting friends!!!

I did have not-a-very-good go at cleaning the mirror, and of course my lovely Labrador assistants assisted me!!!

I've been lucky enough to win two prizes of late. MrsDrWho and I went to a Trivia Night with some of her colleagues and we won!! It's a nice bottle of wine and some Lindt chocolate. I already have several nice bottles of wine I received as Christmas presents that haven't been opened and I can't eat the chocolate so MrsDrWho has two prizes!!!

I didn't know I had entered Cyndi's competition, but I left a comment won a prize!! She sent me some really interesting Kanzashi flower makers. Reading the back of the packet I know it is a traditional Japanese fabric folding art, but I think of them as a kind of flowery Suffolk Puff makers. I am looking forward to be-flowering quite a few things!! She also sent some beautiful fabric, and every piece of the set has green in it, and some cuter than cute tiny 2 1/2 inch charm square packs!!

Noah the dog and Wilson the cat sent Peri and Gilly some dog biscuits. They were so very kind as to send vegetable biscuits so that they can have one almost every day and not worry about F A T.

Peri has been eating her breakfast and dinner at a higher level than Gilly. She's very clever to balance and eat quickly at the same time!!

Lorelai Gilmore has rediscovered an old toy and so there has been a big gumboot clomping about inside, and out!! She is experiencing gumboot bliss!!!

And after giving in and finally fixing the cuff of my mittens, I found the rest of the ball I had carefully put away, and so I unravelled the cuff for a third time and now it is finished. Except the mittens are so grubby after our walk. I can't believe how grubby they are!! It's been dull and rainy today so no chance for washing and drying them before tomorrow. I'll wash them tomorrow and they will have until Thursday to dry.

I am hoping nothing very much happens this week because MrsValley and I are driving of the city a little for lunch on Friday. I want to rest up and prepare. In saying that, I've had series 2 of Sherlock here since before MrsDrWho went away to Singapore. We think we'll rest Due South and watch some Sherlock one night this week. Maybe I'll sew some more cute hexagons for April's Craftsy blocks and maybe we'll sew May's blocks before June!!!

A Tail Of A Fateful Trip

Lorelia Gilmore was back at the vet yesterday with the same symptoms as before, and we saw Dr Marion. She decided there should be x-rays today and so there were. 

Peri sat in the car and Gilly went not-very-happily round the corner into the corridor, and we drove away.

Peri and I went for a walk,

cooked some lemon and blueberry syrup cakes, watched some TV, did some washing, ate some carrots

and an apple and then I went to the vet to collect Gilly.

I saw Dr Rob and he showed me her x-rays. She has some small deformations of the ball joint of her hip and slightly bowed tibia, but what she mainly has is the first tail bone almost at right angles with her spine. It should be level with her spine. She has a very mild case of Lumbosacral disease. On a scale of 1 to 10, she's most likely a 1.

The symptoms described fit perfectly:

"Symptoms include progressive sharp lower back pain, hind leg weakness, difficulty urinating or defecating, a shuffling gait, and vocal expressions of pain ranging from whimpers to cries and howls. A dog suffering from this disease may be reluctant to rise and jump. In an attempt to alleviate the pain, the dog sometimes chews at his tail or back legs." (1)

As she gets older the disease will need to be managed closely with pain relief and anti-inflammatory drugs, however she has lots of positives on her side: she is very fit, thin, very healthy in every other respect, thin, athletic, thin and brave. She is quite stoic and is able to deal with quite a lot of pain before it affects her, which is typical of the Labradors at our house. They'd given her some pain relief after the general anaesthetic, and Dr Rob said she should have been drowsy and slow, but she was jumping about and happy and full of joy to see me.

He said she should go for walks on her lead as she really should exercise and use up some energy. Although I had a little cry at the vet yesterday and I was worried today, I think I am coping well under the circumstances: there hasn't been any sign of a Georgette Heyer or a Florence Nightingale decline.

I asked if I had done anything , or if Peri jumping on Gilly could have caused it and Dr Rob emphatically said no, that it was something she was born with. It isn't hereditary either, so I can still have a new puppy from the same breeder. It is just bad luck. Poor Gilly, Poor Harki, Poor Tori:  lots of Labrador bad luck. Peri's pancreatitis is held at bay by her awfully strict diet and lots of exercise!!

I think that I am lucky to have such wonderful Labradors and I am glad to look after them in any way necessary, because they are so lovely, and now I am having a little cry because I feel lucky to share their lives.

I'll stop now.

I'm really glad I know what's wrong and that it can be managed successfully. And Gilly won't need to be in pain or sad. She's having a nice sleep now after dinner.

Ages ago I won a fabric softie panel from Saffron Craig. Here, at last, is the cute pink puppy which I have had for ages and finally gave to Toddler Lucy on Saturday: sooooo cute!!

(1) Canine-lumbosacral-disease

A Bunny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum

I saw some Bunnies and the kind blogger at JustAnotherhangUp emailed me the pattern, she will if you ask her too!! I made the Bunnies for Lucy and Zoe. In some rather good news, a bone marrow match has been found so Zoe and her family will be off to The Mainland later in the month for a transplant. We cannot thank the people who donate blood, bone marrow or their organs, enough. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

Peri Naughty and Lorelai Gilmore have still not quite come to terms with the demise of Daylight Saving this year. Round about 6pm they have now decided to play rough and rowdy rebel games, play biting each others ears and legs and then jumping on the bed!! I had to shut the hall door and be cross. Well, I cannot be too cross because they are so cute when they play.

At the dam the hut that was vandalised is being rebuilt and now they have reinforcing struts. They may or may not be reinforcing struts, as I know less than nothing about building, but it sounds reasonable, doesn't it??

A few days go I spied some inordinately cute biscuits on Toni's blog. I was inspired to have a go at making some myself. I used a double batch of Nigella's Cut-Out Biscuit dough and then just tried to bunnify the 43 oval biscuits. The dough needs to rest for an hour or so in the fridge, so I think that anyone pushed for time could use Milk Arrowroot biscuits as they are the perfect shape. I had a go at outlining with icing and then flooding with a runnier mix and I bought a pen that writes edibly on icing. I feel very cake decoratory!!!

 

Bunnified Biscuits  makes about  24

• 90g softened butter
• 100g caster sugar ( I swapped a little for brown sugar)
• 1/2 tspn vanilla extract
• 1 large egg
• 200g plain flour
• 1/2 tspn baking powder
• pinch of salt

For the decorating:

• 500g ish of icing sugar mixture (it has cornflour added to help it set)
• lemon juice
• water
• pink food colouring
• mini pink marshmallows, halved horizontally
• edible ink writing-on-icing pen

Cream the butter, sugar and vanilla until it is pale and the sugar is dissolved, add the eggs one at a time, mixing very well.

Sift the flour, baking powder and salt and then add the creamed mixture. I folded it in at first with a spoon, but then it was just easier to use my hands.

When it comes together as a nice smooth dough, put it into a ziplock bag and refrigerate for about an hour.

When the hour is up, preheat the oven to 180*C and grease and line some trays.

Roll the dough between two sheets of baking paper until it is about 5mm thick. Cut out egg shapes, my cutter is about 5cm long and leave space between them as they do spread a little.

Bake for 12 minutes or so, turning the trays and swapping shelves half way through. The biscuits are ready when they are golden brown around the edges. Cool on a rack.

Make a small amount of icing with about 100g of sifted icing sugar mixture and a little lemon juice. I made it reasonably stiff, used a ziplock bag with the corner snipped off and piped an oval outline around the edge of the biscuits.

Then there is the waiting. There is quite a lot of waiting, for the icing to dry hard.

Make some more icing with about 200-250g of sifted icing sugar and lemon juice and pipe it sparingly into the biscuits, the little edge of icing acts as a dam. The spread the icing out to the edges very gently with a flat knife. Pop a tail onto the 'tail' end of the biscuit, I put the cut end of the marshmallow into the icing.

The there is more waiting. If you try to pipe ears on now they will sink into the white icing. Ask me how I know.....

I took the leftover white icing, added more icing sugar and one drop of pink food colouring and not knowing what I was really doing, piped 'ears' onto the bunnies.

Then I waited . At last I could draw on two little eyes.

They are not a patch on the gorgeous tiny bunnies,  but I think they are cute and sweet!!!

You Can't Teach An Old Dog New Treks

The Star Trek Felt Book has boldly gone where no Felt Book has gone before: on an aeroplane to Singapore.

The WeeBoy officially loves it, as does his sister and I believe his mum had thoughts of keeping it for herself.

Thank you, MrsDrWho, for transporting it!! All I have done since yesterday is sleep, sleep, sleep and play around with the iPad MrsDrWho lent me.  We don't have The Wifi at our house and so I am just playing games, saving Babylon mainly!!

So, here in all it's glory is the Star Trek Felt Book:

The Cover. I am a poor hot glue gunner and it wasn't till nearly at the end when I had burned all my fingers that I thought to push a pin through each small piece of felt and squirt the glue onto it. Damn.

The Star Trek Motto.

Meet the Crew, where they are in the lift,

and then they are out of the lift, on the Bridge I expect. I made a Deanna Troi. There is no pattern but the lady who sells the Star Trek Book pattern has a Deanna on her shop and so I looked and was informed.

Meet Deanna Troi, Jean-Luc Picard, Worf, Geordi La Forge, Riker and Data.

The Vulcan Salute. It's Spock's favourite, so Live Long and Prosper.

Train with Worf and his Bat'leth. It spins around.

Help Geordie see. He is blind and so wears a VISOR which is said to stand for Visual Instrument and Sensory Organ Replacement.

Detaching the saucer section means that unlike the first Enterprise, the families of the crew are safe and the small Bridge section can go into battle.

Set phasers to stun, which I preferred to 'Set phasers to kill'. When you pick up the phaser you can see where it has been fired.

Pilot the shuttle through space, around the stars and the planet. It is attached by Happy Birthday ribbon to the 'shuttle bay'!!!

And finally Make Picard Human, or Borg. This one made The WeeBoy's mum laugh a lot apparently. Picard was assimilated by The Borg and turned into a cyborg. Luckily he was saved and made human again. Note the red velcro undies!!!

I am particularly chuffed with the binding as I had to sew through twenty-two sheets of felt. The instructions say to use eyelets, but they are my natural enemy. Instead I used buttons and six strands of embroidery thread. I made a template and marked three spots on the side of each page and sewed up through the dot, then a button and back down slightly to the side of the dot and then tied the thread off with another button at the back. It worked like a charm!!

Thank you for indulging me with all my felt bookiness.

I have been a Star Trek fan since I was about nine and saw it on the TV right here in The Northern Capital. Back in the olden days the North and South, where I lived, had different TV stations playing totally different programmes. One look at Mr Spock and I was hooked. I also hold the same sense of fan-ishment(??) for Star Wars and that will be my next Felt Book.

While I was out delivering the book, Peri and Gilly had a nice time with a kilo of plain flour in the lounge room.

I have no idea where the flour is from, as I usually buy two kilo bags. Maybe they had it stashed somewhere?? Maybe it was in a bag on a chair in the dining room I had forgotten about?? I don't know.

Luckily it was mostly on the quilt Peri has commandeered but I knew something was going on because this met me at the gate: a walrussy Gilly.

And then both of them, content in their flouriness. Peri still manages to look angelic,

and Gilly looks as if flour wouldn't melt in her mouth!!

It was easy to shake off outside and vacuum up. Thank goodness.

And now, a cup of tea and perhaps some more saving Babylon on the iPad.

The Cows And The Chickens, We Went To Hear About Dickens

I loved listening to Miriam Margolyes much more than a bushel and a peck!! MrsDrWho and I sat this far away from her in the front row in the foyer, as she entranced us with tales of her life and career for an hour. Afterwards MrsDrWho said I should go up to speak to her and so I did. I said how much I enjoyed her TV show Dickens in America. She said something back, but I was so in awe I forgot to remember what it was!!!

The aqua intrusion into the photo is me!!

A posh local restaurant was, foolishly, snooty towards Miriam and she gave them what for on the radio!! We all applauded as we think said restaurant is snooty too!!

This afternoon I went to visit Toddler Lucy and Baby Zoe. Zoe slept through almost my whole visit, but I had a lovely time with Lucy and her family. I took The Dutches part of their Christmas present!! I am always late. It's a small reindeer, about 25cm tall, and not a cushion as described in the pattern at all. Still, it is inordinately cute!!

When I came home I found that a branch had broken after all the rain and fallen into the garden. Both Labradors were fine. My stomach turn over and I felt horrible for a minute or two. Last year when I was feeling depressed and anxious I would have had to go straight to bed and have a cry. Instead, I checked the fence was OK and I will worry about it later.

Peri and Gilly met Sandy and Jetty on their walk, and Peri had a lovely swim. Peri and Gilly love to run, just for the fun of it. They are so happy, their ears fly in the wind and they go like the blazes.  Peri has a great big smile, but I think Gilly is just checking there isn't going to be a lane change.....

I have completed the Starship Enterprise, detachable saucer section and all,

and I am one phaser into the five needed.

Just the shuttle and Jean-Luc to go and then an awful lot of hot glue gunning and some press studs. I think I my meet my deadline.

Thou Speakest Visor Than Thou Art Ware Of.

Here, As You Like It or not, are three more Star Trek felt book pages, almost complete. There's Geordi with his visor to help him see, a glove to help you Live Long and Prosper and Worf and his Bat'leth. I am very pleased, and about to start the Enterprise with the saucer section that detaches. I have made a hole in my right middle finger pad from pushing the needle through layers of felt. I am not a very nimble stitcher with a middle finger thimble though. All my life, apart from appointments and pre-determined outings, is about The Star Trek felt book.

Peri and Gilly have had some lovely play times with Sandy. At first, Peri and Sandy were both running after Gilly, but she is quick and agile and soon turned the table on them!!!

MrsHouseOf came to visit for her birthday and I gave her the skirt,

and a black top as a present and she really liked them. I'm glad she liked them!! MrsDrWho, Mrs HouseOf and I ate out. It was all very delicious. I didn't have any dessert, though I did have the Endless Cup of Green Tea.

I have some new wool. I have 10 balls of Damasco for Heirloom. It is Merino and acrylic, and I am in love with it. I am not sure which pattern to knit: I am thinking of either this, or this. I want a longer length cardigan, surprise, surprise. Twenty-three years ago when I came here to live I knitted a long sea green/teal mohair cardigan with a v-neck, pockets and a cable down each front beside the button bands. I don't plan to start right away ( Star Trek felt book anyone??) so any thoughts would be greatly appreciated.

Then there's a skein of Ella Rae Lace Merino 4ply. I am in love with it, it is soft and has a beautiful twist. I am thinking of a scarf or a longer narrow shawl type affair.

MrsDrWho and I have caught up on February's Craftsy BOM blocks:

March's blocks use left over strips from all the fabrics and so we have decided we will be able to whip them up after blocks 19 and 20. Bear in mind it took us 2 1/2 hours to make Block 4. We are very optimistic!!

I am feeling very tired. This morning I walked with Peri and Gilly, went to the Hospital for blood tests, came home, fed The Labradors, went to Leukaemia Support Group came home, went back to The Library as my DVD was overdue, and then came home again. I had to sleep for three hours and it was 27*C.  I have to go back to see my specialist at the Holman Clinic tomorrow. I am always nervous and worried about what my results will be. It will also be 28*C.

And then (lots of elbows of excitement) in the evening MrsDrWho and I are off to the local ABC Radio station to be the audience when Miriam Margoyles is interviewed live, right there!! Somehow we both managed to NOT book tickets to see her show on Dicken's Women so this is a sop to our hopelessness!!

Is it wrong to be looking forward to a big rest next week?? I think not.

I went out the front door to get the letters and there was a parcel on the table. My mum does the That's Life competitions and every Monday when we talk I help her out with the ones she doesn't know. She put my name on the entry form and she won a prize!!!  I think she already has good outdoor lighting and I could really use these to light the path down all the steps from the car to the back door!! Mum has been on a holiday for few days on the East Coast with one of the ladies from Probus. The weather is wonderful so they will be doing lots of touristy things. It's a poor photo. Again. The new energy saving light bulbs just don't produce enough light for a proper picture when it is dark, even with a flash.

Now I need to cut out all the parts of The Star Ship Enterprise before I go to bed.

Trek or Treat??

It is MrsDrWho's Nephew's birthday anon: WeeZombie. He will be five and he likes Star Trek and so I am making him a Star Trek Book. The pressure of a birthday made me open the PDF I bought in October last year and make a start yesterday. I have completed Pages 2 and 3. Page 1 was left in its ziplock bag at Sewing last night. Page 2 has the iconic Star Trek TNG line: To boldly go where no one has gone before... though my photography is at its usual low standard and you can't really see it at all.

Page 3 is not what you think. It's a lift and inside are finger puppets: there will be Jean-Luc, Riker, Geordi, Worf, Data and I'll make a Deanna Troi as well.

I have to have all ten pages completed by Friday 16th, next Friday, so MrsDrWho can pack it in her suitcase and take it will her on her LSL.

I have been making some things for the Auction for Toddler Lucy and Baby Zoe. I don't participate in The Facebook, but Miss Delish has uploaded photos for me!!!

I obviously didn't make the souvenirs, MrsDrWho very kindly donated them!!

I would link to The Ravelry for the hat, but I can't access it this afternoon. My connection times out. I cleared my Cookies and now The FireFox says Ravelry is an Untrusted Connection. Not sure what is going on there. Right, through circuitous means I found myself on The Ravelry's Twitter page, that was a bit scary, and Ravelry is down for everyone, I didn't break it myself!! Thank goodness.

And it's back in the room.

This morning the new Water Meter was installed. It is high tech and the meter readers just drive past now and read it electronically. Peri and Gilly, especially Gilly, were very helpful. The Water Meter Reader and The Water Meter Photographer (yes, before and after photos!!) have a Chocolate Labrador so they were happy to be inundated with Labradors!!

The mornings have had an Autumn chill and Peri is especially enjoying the crisp start to the day. She's been running like the wind and jumping over fallen trees!! Peri runs full pelt and then leaps majestically over the jump, ears flying in the wind.

I have no Library books. I took back four books last Saturday and now I am without a book to read. I just checked and I have four books about to arrive: a biography of Catherine of Aragon, growing vegetables in small spaces, River Cottage Everyday cooking and 50/60/70 iconic Australian house architecture.  Catherine's biography is actually at The Library now, but I went out at lunch time and I am too tired to go out again. I haven't been to the letter box at the front since Monday either. I must walk down and up all the stairs tomorrow. That could be my goal for the day!!

I am off to visit The GardyGardeners tomorrow. We have afternoon tea about every two months at their house. Last week their lovely Corgi Ben died. He was fifteen. We have been sad for them and when it is the right time we'll take them a lovely rose for their garden. I am going to bake an apricot version of the Plum Tray Bake, I think that the apricots will work very well.

Oh and it is Friday Food tomorrow. Where does the time go?? I am going to cook something for MrsHouseOf as it has been her birthday too, and MrsRenos!! I have sewed MrsHouse of a new skirt. It is the same material as my Chartreuse dress!! I just need to thread the elastic through the waist and it is finished.

The BSODL(tm) had electric ball of wool winders on sale for $20. I am sure one you wind by hand is better, but I couldn't pass it up at such a bargain price. I have wound some wool. I have discovered I am not a good winder. I may yet be.

Peri and Gilly have just circled back for their second lot of Dinner reminder head butts and tail wags. I must fed them or they will grow weak from hunger!!

The Lovely Bones Marrow

Since it has been on the news, and you can see the video here, I feel I can talk about the awful thing that I mentioned a little while ago, which has happened to my dearest and closest friends. It is so very sad and we are all devastated. I can't donate bone marrow because mine is compromised. I wish I could.

My heart breaks regularly. I think of them every day, and send them my love.

Today was the Turning of the First Sod of our new Northern Cancer Support Centre. It cheers me no end to think that there will be much happiness for people who are able to use the centre when it is finished.

Peri and Gilly have been engaging in circus worthy activities. They are up very high. It must be the cool weather, which is so lovely, urging them to such heights.

MrsDrWho and I finished one of February's Craftsy blocks on the Cup day holiday. It was an easy block and hers looks fabulous.

Remember this material??

I dyed it chartreuse and it's almost a dress.

And now I am off to a Vietnamese restaurant for tea with my knitting friends. I''m taking the scarf and I hope to have it finished soon. It's so Autumnal I think I can pull out my cardigan in a few weeks and finish it off.

Sick: Happy Nights To Happy Days*

With the not-going-back-to-school occupying me I had quite forgotten that at this time last year I was in Emergency and being awfully ill. I have had reason, great reason, this week to count my blessings. To be grateful. To be happy with my lot. Life can be really, really horrid and unfair for some people, and it is being that way at the moment. There's nothing I can do, except think of them and be brave and supportive. It certainly puts things in perspective when people you love face a difficult journey.

The weather is warm again, though we have had a short, loud downpour last night. I had to rush out at 11pm and bring the washing in. I went to Leukaemia Support Group today and then I had air-conditioned lunch with TinkingBell. We catch up on a highly irregular basis and chat non-stop whilst drinking cups of tea and/or coffee and looking at new craft books. We always have a lovely time. I sewed a Cyberman drawstring bag for her. The pattern has a square base and a clever drawstring construction. I put some extra interfacing in the base and doubled the lining fabric too. I sewed the tube for the bag before I sewed it to the base, but other than that I followed the instructions and it worked really well. The fabric is from The Spoonflower and I love the red Cybus logo and used red ribbon and red sewing thread, though the lining is green!! It's Tink's red Poppy sock: serendipity!!

MrsDrWho and I had our first and only brunch for the entire school holidays on Saturday. We also went shopping and I bought The Labradors some new toys: a half price TeddyPiggy and TeddyCow. Peri likes to run about madly with the TeddyPiggy when it is time to go for a walk. She likes to tease Gilly. But Gilly loves TeddyPiggy and spends quite a lot of time lugging it about and generally having a bit of a chew.

Peri has so enjoyed the cooler weather and is very happy to be running about and rolling in invisible smelly things: all smell, no evidence.

The grassy area is very yellow and dry. Still, there is greenery to explore under the big trees.

And in the Why Oh Why??? section of my blog: A person, or persons, unknown has dug up and stolen Harki's roses from the front garden. Both of them. They didn't take Vundy or Tori's roses, as they are older and larger. Poor Harki-Parki-Parker-Posey, it is some little comfort that the roses won't survive the enforced transplantation and will die.

I am rather beihind in my Comment Answering. I like answering my Comments and it is not a chore or an onerous task. The heat is just, well, hot and bothersome but I will get there eventually..

*It is St Valentine's Day. Of late it has gained in commercial popularity, but I don't ever remember it being mentioned other that as a martyr's day at school. Still, here's a quote from Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet!! It's the very last line of Act I Scene III.