Happiness is

… chocolate overload.  A vegan treat from the excellent new cupcakery in town.

 

… stumbling across a (far from shy, far too busy eating) hedgehog during an evening walk round the neighbourhood with Boo.

… a new book at bedtime from the charity shop.   This is the second outing for Galbraith's/Rowling's private detective, Cormoran Strike.  An enjoyable and easy read, if a tad long winded.

… handing over the baking baton (should that be rolling pin?).  The Boy is really getting into the swing, what with forays into fancy loaves, brioches, croissants, lemon chiffon creations and the like.  The latest was a batch of jammie dodger cupcakes.  Raspberry jam in the middle and on top, with a final flourish of butter biscuit crumbs.  Definitely not vegan. 

… a big bowl of green with a bit of red.  To counteract all the chocolate.  Broccoli tabbouleh topped with goji berries, walnuts, seeds, mint and a squirt of lime.  Just a bit of chopping, no cooking and one of my favourites.  Unfortunately, the other two here much prefer dinner to be en croute.

… a whiff of hawthorn blossom.  I know it's one of the Marmite scents of the natural world, and some people cannot bear its pong, but I just can't stop sniffing it. 

… seeing a chap in braces.  Seems the littlest made an extra effort for a posh lunch date with his parents.  Just nine months old and already eating Michelin starred food.  Clearly, the bar has been raised.  Now please excuse me whilst I go hone my croquembouche making skills.

 

 

The butterfly effect

After a disturbed night for us all, caused by a far from sleepy black and white cat (who seems to have lost control of his patch, is consequently staying indoors sleeping all day* and full of beans when we're all trying to catch some ZZZs), I've spent most of the morning quietly on butterfly watch in the garden (and, yes, I know I should have been cleaning the house).

We have two buddleias, both white (a mistake, one was supposed to be purple), which I must admit I don't find particularly attractive.  Unless, that is, they're covered in butterflies.

 

There was another watcher.

Hopeful, I suspect, of a velvety winged playmate or two.

 

* Busy, Busy

It's 8 a.m. and time to rest

It's 10 a.m. and time to relax

It's noon and time for repose

It's 3 p.m. and time for shut-eye

It's 6 p.m. and time for siesta

It's 9 p.m. and time to slumber

It's midnight and time to snooze

It's 4 a.m. and time to hang upside down

from your bedroom ceiling, screaming

 

From 'I Could Pee on This and Other Poems by Cats', Francesco Marciuliano

New arrivals

Look what appeared in a field near our house.   

                      

                         

How cute are they?  I am NOT going to think about what the future might hold for them. What with badgers, an elderly dog and tigers, I’ve enough to worry about.

 

                  

Love those tigers

Tigers are my favourite creatures in the whole world and I’m really enjoying the current BBC programme "Tiger:  Spy in the jungle"  which is tracking a female tiger and her four cubs over several years in Pench national park in India.   Notoriously difficult to get up close to (for obvious reasons), the tigers are being filmed using ingenious spy cameras carried by elephants and using "boulder cam" and "log cam".  We had a holiday in India a couple of years ago and spent some time in Ranthambore national park.  On our last morning we were lucky enough to see a tiger (a female, walking at the side of the jeep we were in) but were so taken aback and awestruck that the one and only photograph just shows a stripey blur amongst the trees.  These are stills from the progamme and show these magnificent animals, whose numbers are still dwindling through poaching, in all their glory.

                        

                      

                                                   

                      

                                                              

What a good boy!

My dog is amazing.  He’s almost 13 and has difficulty walking these days on his very wobbly legs but, believe it or not, he likes nothing better than to play Scrabble.   He’s always joined in, even as a boisterous pup when it was the only thing that seemed to calm him down.  Obviously, he can’t manage to place the tiles on the board himself but he points to them with his nose and we place them for him. He’ll happily sit for hours, taking his turn, and we stick to a canine theme to keep him interested.  I haven’t heard of any other dog that does this.  He’s such a good boy.

                                                  

                                                                     (Posted 1st April)

Sighting Brock

I glimpsed my first real badger today.  Sadly, it wasn’t like the ones in the photograph but laid dead on a dual carriageway, another four legged victim of  a road traffic accident (I assume).  I hadn’t realised there were badgers in this area but it was instantly recognisable.   It always upsets me to see the remains of what seem to be previously healthy animals at the side of roads and, unless it’s my imagination, I seem to be seeing more and more.  Foxes, rabbits, squirrels, birds, hedgehogs, a deer and, of course, pet dogs and cats who have strayed have all been bumped off on local roads.  And  I don’t even live in a rural area – far from it.  I don’t know what the solution is.  There probably isn’t one.