Another wobbly-head day for Lily. Poor lady.

1. It’s the WordPress theme that keeps on giving. After years (and more recently, this morning) of struggling with ones that don’t quite do what I want, this one works exactly as it should. I keep finding different – highly desirable! – included features that means my “fix in stylesheet” list gets shorter and shorter. Something I thought would be a month of work will now take less than a week. Marvellous.

2. I see Tilda approaching along the wood path with something in her mouth. When she finally reaches the cat flap, I see it’s a small dead rodent. I hold the flap closed until she drops it, then I let her inside for the tickles I know she wants.

2b. Later, Tilda is sat on the sofa, again waiting for tickles. In a shocking turn of events, there isn’t a blanket for her to sit on. I remedy that.

3. At twilight, the sky is a wonderfully bright violet-blue.

4. As wobbly as Lily is – she can hardly walk and her eyes are spinning, she still wants to play her Bonio game. I “hide” it in pretty much plain sight tucked half under a cushion on the floor. Her tail wags, sending her off balance, when she finds it.

4b. Also as wobbly as she is, she still has to sniff Kaufman when he comes in from outside. He smells of THINGS.

1. I notice that the grey in the hearts on her collar matches her fur. I don’t think this is a coincidence.

2. A fox runs down the path before us and then ducks into the trees. A few months ago, it would have been camouflaged by the russet leaves on the ground but today it stands out starkly against the dark mud and the green.

3. Dinner is an absolute bodge – I get about halfway into it before realising we’re missing an absolutely key ingredient (the tortillas in enchiladas). I end up making a crazy Mexican-flavoured risotto-type thing instead: it’s not brilliant but it could have been a lot worse.

1. The neighbours’ little dog and silky kitty come to visit for an hour and a half while prospective buyers look around their house. We keep them separate from our animals but it’s still a chaotic 90 minutes – cute too though. M-dog sits on my knee, facing away from me, as I scratch her back and R-kitten rolls around on my office chair when I show him my secret stash of cat nip in my desk drawer. Meanwhile Strange stands on her hind legs to peer through the window in the office door at the guests/interlopers.

2. Little domes of moss – green with silvers fronds – reminds me of the type of furry hats once worn by rich women.

3. Saltiness within the sweet.

1. Pink streams from planes.

2. Lily is the oldest dog in the world on her way out for a walk but a little puppy when she gets back. She bounces about with excitement over her post-walk treat, and chases the bone that I throw for her.

3. I’ve been looking at these paths all week but suddenly, at the last minute, I realise how I can make them more efficient and effective.

1. A parcel filled with good quality socks in pretty colours.

2. I notice the sunset turning the mud pond to gold, then realise the stream feeding the pond is the same way too.

3. I start work on a new crochet project: a fox shaped scarf. I’m not too keen on the crochet patterns out there for it – they seem a bit blocky compared to the knitted versions – so I try to devise a pattern myself. It takes a few tries to get the slope of the tail right, then I have to start again when I realise I’ve made the pale tip too long – but the do-over works up quickly, as is a good way to test my pattern. I even get to work the rippled colour join (while still increasing the length of the rounds) before bedtime.

3b. For various reasons, we’ve mentioned the film Clueless a few times recently and since he’s had a strong beer, John readily agrees when I suggest watching it. It’s always funnier than I think it’ll be but this time we also noticed the fun direction too.