Miss Molly

Miss Molly has kennel cough.  That she hasn’t been anywhere near a kennel is irrelevant as it is highly contagious and apparently she could have picked it up from a dog she met on a walk.  On Wednesday morning she began coughing and “womitin” white foam so  I did a little bit of googling and concluded that it was kennel cough.  The vet confirmed the diagnosis that evening and she’s now on antibiotics.  Her coughing has more or less stopped now but she’s been less keen to run ahead on her walks so it’s obviously taken its toll on her

Parade's End

There’s something compelling Benedict Cumberbatch, especially in a costume drama.  I found myself strangely moved at the sight of him nursing his screen-son in the recent showing of Parade’s End.  He portrayed the role of decent, honourable Christopher Tietjens in such a sympathetic and moving way that I think most women, not only Valentine Wannop, must have fallen a little in love with him!. On a related note, when I asked Nerea if she thought I would have been a Suffragette, she turned with such a look of incredulity and said “It goes without saying”, I was enormously flattered!

Fire!

Let the pyrotechnics begin.  Our log stove is now in place and we’re thrilled with the  fabulous job Crown Stoves have done over the last 3 days.  Our ceremonial lighting went like clockwork  (although we had to have the backdoor and living room window wide open) with a quick burn and some great flame patterns from only a couple of logs hewn from our former fire surround.  I truly love a “real” fire and have really missed not having one in this house.  In a perverse way, I’m actually looking forward to the winter evenings.  Now where’s the toasting fork?

Keep the Home Fires Burning

Such excitement!!  At last, our new log burning stove is going to be fitted on Wednesday.  For  one with pyro-maniacal tendencies, it wasn’t hard  to reach a decision that our living room needed more than background central heating to feel truly cosy.  Mr and Miss Glis were easily persuaded too, as they have a shared, secret love of fire browned toast and marmite. Yes, there’ll be more dust but who cannot fail to be enchanted by dancing, mesmerising flames?  And as the stove is Defra eco-approved, we can also feel very smug as we watch, captivated, during the winter evenings

Time to draw breath...

Olympic fever well and truly gripped our house for the duration of the games so it’s as well that there’s an intermission before the Paralympics. We’ve been on such a roller coaster of sporting emotion that we’re left feeling as if we need to recharge our batteries in order to cope with the next round!  As one who would never describe myself as a “sports fan”, I’ve surprised myself at how much I’ve enjoyed the spectacle. London did a great job hosting the games and that TEAM GB brought home some stunning medal performances was the icing on the cake

Catholic taste?

Despite having a Kindle with a light for reading in the “wee, small hours”, I can’t seem to forgo the tactile comfort that a “book at bedtime” brings. But, I have a shameful habit of reading in bed and then leaving the book on the bedside cabinet rather than replacing it neatly on the bookshelf. With library book “return or renew” date looming, I decided to tidy up and was horrified at the scale of the collection (and dust) that had built up over the past few months.  At best, I think I can be described as having catholic taste!

Those were the days...

On another nostalgic note, I’ve been ratching in the photo box. (I must endeavour to fulfil my good intentions to scrap book them). Reflecting on my pudding bowl hair style of the 70s, I really can’t believe that my mother positively encouraged such a hideous, Cromwellian look. Maybe it’s the resultant emotional scarring that’s enabled me to relax and allow Miss Glis to develop her own (moderately) glamorous style.  I’ve had great fun this afternoon selecting some of the most horrific specimens for scanning into the computer. They’ve certainly given my friends and me something to snork over on Facebook.