So what DO you do with cabbage?

Wok it... with a dash of soy....




"Wok" is one of those modern verbs, like "oven" or "microwave". Or was that a gerund?

Oh mattress it!

Surrendering to the inevitable....

1. Halo 3 and the XBOX-360 have arrived. It may be a month before I get to talk to the hubby type again.

2. We're getting old and stiff, the new matress has arrived and I'm in 7th heaven.

3. Canon is not likely to be back before I go away so I'm just going to bite the bullet and by a backup Canon EOS 400D. (yikes).

I've also planted out the autumn onion sets and garlic today, and gathered more fruit and veg from the garden.



I WAS going to bake a caraway seed cake but I found that I have
a) no caraway seeds
b) no butter.

Oh well.

It's not looking good

After 5 weeks, the camera shops says they cannot fix my camera, and they are sending it off to Canon. Which will take a minimum of 10 days.

I'm assuming they're talking working days, which leaves a sum total of 3 days between the minumum time I may (or may not) get my camera back, or am told its unfixable, and I fly to the Falklands. Eek.

Help.

Correlation?

Could there be any relationship, any correlation at all between the stolen and entirely consumed bumper bag of Salt & Pepper Kettle Crisps and the fact that KuBrin drank every dog water bowl in the house dry yesterday?

And then started on the bucket in the garden.



Or am I jumping to conclusions?

Things that made me laugh

In the last 24 hours there have been three things I've laughed at that stuck in my mind (I laughed a great deal more that three times, I hasten to add....)

1) Driving to work yesterday on the motorway there was a flat-bed van with a stuffed toy gorilla wedged just behind the cab at the top, the wind was making him wave frantically. I laughed so hard I nearly crashed the car.

2) This morning we were discussing the merits of lighting a fire as the evenings were getting chilly. I commented that I'd not had the chimney swept this year yet and "I'll arrange to do it during the two weeks you are at home on holiday cos there will be someone at home"
"Who?" he said.
(He was joking... I think).

3) Reading a country kitchen magazine I found this ditty...
"I eat peas with honey
I've done it all my life
It makes the peas taste funny
But it keeps them on the knife"

And very cool it was too.

Not ONLY was yesterday Meg's 16th birthday , not ONLY did my Dad (General Jackson's dad too) try to fly to India and found he had a major visa muck up, but ALSO, nm, (Ernesto the Basset's mum), stopped by to visit on her way to Greece from Seattle to smooch dogs.

She brought the most divine chocolates:

and some Alaskan smoked salmon that made Brian swoon when he got home.

It was great to see her, we sat and nattered and talked and ate etc.


I let KuBrin take her for a little walk:


I think she liked the dogs, though I'm not certain she was prepared for either the size of the wolfie, or his farts.

Happy Birthday Meg.

Megan, our deerhound, is 16 today. She's lying on the sofa in the "snug" next to me as I type. Sixteen? A deerhound? Blimey.

Strange to think that when we adopted her nearly 5 years ago we did not think she'd last a year.

Boy - did she see us coming!


Happy birthday Meg, we think you are FAB.

Screaming

So just imagine us, saturday AM, in our dressing gowns, watching the dogs eat breakfast, chatting about what we would do with the day.

I looked up at Brian and let out a blood curdling scream as the MOST enormous spider crawled up his right shoulder (it's a visceral reaction, I can't help myself. 5 years of living in an oldish house have taught me to deal with most of them, but those big buggers get me every time).

He looked at me with a frozen look of astonishment for about 2 seconds, then did that "shake your body all over to get rid of the creepy crawly" dance, shouting "what? WHAT??" then shed his dressing gown pronto.

A few moments later he spotted the offending beastie on the ground and nearly fainted.

We spent the next three hours giggling like hysterical kids.

Apparently before he met me he did not mind spiders.

Taking a blog break

Back later.

Red Arrows

Well that was exciting. There I was minding my own business and eating my sushi...



And then I get a personal 10 minute Red Arrow display over the house.

We get a lot of low flying aircraft round here, so initially I ignored the sounds of military jets, then thought... hang on - that's a bit low so went out to the garden. For the next 5 minutes I stood there with my mouth open. On one flyby they were so low I could see the pilots.

DOH - rushed in to grab the pocket camera, cursing the fact that the canon is still on the repair shop and failed to get any decent photos.

But just to prove I'm not fibbing:

All four over the garden...


A single one breaking away with a vapour trail....


And just to prove it's our house... there's the roof.



KuBrin went "WOOF"

Brian will be soo jealous.

Fall

I looked out the landing window this morning and it was misty. Given the blurriness of my vision in the morning I took a photo to verify what I saw.



Yup, it's misty.

So it must be autumn already, or as our friends across the puddle call it, Fall. Lovely word "Fall". Provided there are no uncomfortable landings obviously.

Hang on, fall? What happened to the summer? Did we miss it? Did we blink? Did we aestivate?

Bugger that - what happened to january?

I must be a TOG.

Lurcher lost in Southampton

Anyone in Southampton or know anyone there?



Spread the word please :-)

Megan Deerhound

This is Megan, the 16 year old (in two weeks) matriarch of our canine clan.



I love Megan, I love the way she wanders up looking for a fuss, thrusts her head into your lap, begs for neck and ear rubs, then groans appreciatively when you oblige. Then turns her head the other way so you can administer to the other ear.

It's very sweet.

I just wish she would not do it while I am on the loo.

Vets & Bassets

This morning I had to take Maddie cat to the vets for her annual boosters. This is an exciting process involving subterfuge and incarceration. (Or was that incateration?). Then there is the sheer bloody mindedness required to force one very cross cat into a cat box with a small opening and replace the door without loosing the cat.

Tricky.

Anyway - I managed it, and as I pulled up there was a landy with the last three letters of the registration spelling "DOG". Cool I thought. Bet they get out with a posey dog... you know... something sleek and flashy.

How wrong could I be, they got out of the car with a lovely Basset girl, whom I dutifully smooched. I got chatting to the couple in the waiting room, and it turns out they have FOUR RESCUE BASSETS. Doubly cool.

Here she is, the lovely Madge: