I will keep this brief as I'm up to my eyeballs in busy-ness! From one moment to the next things haven't stopped, and this is the first time online for what seems like ages (a day and a half, I think). I was under the weather last week, probably from the local bug doing the rounds, and some stress from work didn't help in the slightest - but now that's 'dealt' with I can get on with things and am feeling better.

The Dog, who is usually cantankerous but always well, was unwell last Sunday. We don't know what did it, but she woke up from a sleep, stumbled into the living room, wet herself in front of us and then collapsed, more than once, before vomiting. Include a frantic phonecall to the vet and £198 later - well, you get the picture! Blood tests, palpations of the stomach and another slightly less frantic ride home, in which I had to stop myself from getting worked up, and she seems much better. They gave her some medication which seems to have helped, although we don't know what the exact problem(s) were. I am keeping my fingers crossed that it was a one-off and she'll be fine from now on!

I have the most wonderful husband, who showed me just how much he adores me, by painting the dining room a most wonderful green. It's only above the picture-rail, so it's not too green, but it looks so much nicer than the royal blue it was before (I know, the previous owners must've been colourblind - you should see the turquoise bannisters!).

My vigour has renewed when it comes to getting this house into some sort of shape - so much so that I spent a merry few hours in our yard-area with nothing but a bowl of hot, soapy water and a stout scrubbing brush. It's algae time, the yard was green, and now it's back to the colour it should be. I, however, appear to have collected most of the algae on myself... Ho hum. I do still have another half to do, but it's raining, so I'm not going to be silly and get myself even wetter! Talk about a work-out, the cardio-impact I was achieving out-did any run, hike, walk or cycle. So, ya know, if anyone wants to do some exercise, my yard is always game for a clean ;-)

On the coldest nights we've been having recently I've taken photos of the stars. My extra-wonderful new camera can do such things! We caught the milky-way on one photo, arching right over our kitchen roof. You might think taking photos of the stars is strange, but I rather have an astronomical obsession, and seeing those little things brought out when I adjust the gamma curve borders on the silly. But there you go! This photo is just a time lapse of some sky...



We also saw plenty of these.





Old English tradition. Effigy, Guy Fawkes, burning, gunpowder treason plot etc. Usually just means that fireworks are let off by little yobs who throw them at each other in daring attempts to lose limbs. I knew someone who had a lit rocket put in his... pocket. Lost a leg. But we didn't have many this time, mostly they came from our neighbours' garden, where they had an enormous display. It included a rocket so large that two persons were needed to carry it. The dog was enthralled and loved the show they put on. She loves fireworks.

I will get around to commenting, I really will at some point. But until then, arrivederci!