me, me, me

I haven't blogged for a while - moving onto Instagram and Twitter, being as how they're more immediate. Plus I can't type properly and get so fed up having to go back and correct it all the time! However I'm composing an ode - to the cold - so blogging is better suited.

I'm never ill - ask anyone. I breenge along, full of rude health and energy, when all around me are catching things left, right and centre. I attribute this to a normal 70's upbringing, leading to a very healthy immune system, plus a relatively upbeat attitude to life. And lots of exercise and outdoor air, not in a city (thank you dogs).

Every now and again though, something hits. In the same way that my lack of experience being ill leads me to have little sympathy with those who are (I may have got that from my mother, but I do try, honest!), it also leads me to being a bad patient - and if I get a cold, it's the manflu! None of this struggling along uncomplaining for me - if I'm sick, everyone's going to know about it!

 I've had horrendous coughs before but they usually go away after a couple of weeks. I've had the odd flu-like episode (and running a 10k with no training whatsoever beforehand a couple of years ago knackered my body enough to give me a stomach-flu) but these pass after a couple of days.

This year, I've broken all records. As of tomorrow I've had the cold for 6 weeks! I've been through all rehearsals and the performance of the Christmas Carol Service complete with tissues and cough mixture (NB - even when I can't hit the notes just above middle C, I can still get the high ones beautifully - clearly the cold doesn't affect those parts of the vocal chords). I've annoyed my colleagues at work by coughing all over their telephone calls for this period. I've gone through three bottles of cough mixture and four boxes of tissues (thankfully balsam-impregnated), my nose is permanently raw but could've been a lot worse - thank you Kleenex! I've passed the cold on to at least two people, who are now over it. Hmph!

I'm definitely getting there - although to be fair I thought that a week or so ago, at which point I went on our work's Christmas lunch and we were kicked out the pub at 1am when they closed. Twelve hours of talking (and/or drinking) just gave me a new/worse cold all over again!

However I've been more careful since and although I've been up to at least midnight most nights trying to get al the usual stuff done - baking, christmas cards, Facebook, Twitter etc I do feel I'm finally getting on top of it.

I'm back swimming (had to stop for a month after I got a tattoo) and I think that helps. Exercise is the key! As long as you have the energy and can breathe properly.

So six weeks and counting, but I can see the end of the tunnel now. Just in time for a prolonged period of Christmas stay-up-late nights and festive drinking...! Watch this space (or just listen for me coming)

Oh and PS - Maddie ate the bread we bought for breadcrumbs and was so anti-giving-it-back this morning I've got a sore finger now too!

How many days?

I'm going to set up a sign like they have in factories - so many days since the list accident - only in this case it will be so many days since the last incident! So far it's two days since Maddie ate my breakfast (a meal bar which I'd left down with only one bite out of it).

How many days til the next? We look forward to it!

Murphy up to his own tricks

Just to prove Maddie's not the only one who can get into trouble, I got a call from Laura at lunchtime in a total panic - Murphy had run off and she'd been looking for him for half an hour to no avail. Various people had apparently seen him but she couldn't locate him. Think she had everyone in the woods looking for him, she was in a real panic and was there anyone at home who could help her look?

I decided to go home to help and Sally offered to run me home as I had the bike. Half way home I got a call from Alex (Emily's boyf) - he'd been skating at the track and Murphy had come bouncing up to say hello. He'd walked round with him for about 20 minutes but no sign of Maddie or Laura so he'd taken him home and put him in the house - but still no sign of Maddie. Did I have Laura's number?

Good man, Alex! I let Laura know and thanked him. Murphy rescue mission aborted and we went back to work. At least there were no deer legs involved this time!

Now I'm wondering - did Murphy run off after a deer (as I assumed) or did he realise Alex was there and go to say hello?

Who knows. All's well that ends well but I suspect some use of the extending lead will be brought into play for the near future.

Welcome home

We were so looking forward to getting home and seeing the doggos and catto. Apparently Murphy didn't seem to miss us much - just lay around "doin' his thang" but Maddie did go around looking for us - awww.

More of a shock was the state of the house when we got back - bear in mind we were away for a week and there were (on and off) up to 5 people, none under the age of 22, in the house. well -

- there was no cat food left
- not an iota of toilet paper in the house!
- bags of wet towels lying around (which had clearly been there for a couple of days)
- food literally rotting in the vegetable basket and the fridge
- the bins hadn't been put out
- all the towels out the cupboard and tossed over the banisters (used once)

And these people are looking to set up in their own places?!!

Oh yeah - and PS

Got home from Guides and while humouring Maddie (standing freezing in the garden while she sniffed her way around it) saw a flash of something red by her bush.

Behold - an empty digestive biscuit packet! Well well - no surprises there. However it turns out she'd been even sneakier than normal - Richard had had the packet on the table at his elbow, so she must have nicked it LITERALLY from under his nose!

You gotta admire her cheek!

(PS there were apparently only five left so it could be worse)

Everything in the garden is NOT rosy!

Poor Gizzy! Now Emily's back Gizzy's lost one of her snoozing locations (on Emily's bed)

As you can see, she's not happy - looks like she's manning a one-cat picket line at the door.

Not even posed!

Murphy is such a Daddy's boy! Here they are having a serious discussion about Richard's golf swing.

The wanderer returns

Emily is Maddie's favourite person in the whole wide world. Murphy is also keen on her, but he's a Daddy's boy at heart. I was keen to see how they reacted to her arriving home after a year and nine months away.

After we picked her up from the airport she ran into the house. Murphy was doing his usuall barking trick and ran out into the hall (as he always does). When he saw Emily he was very excited and ran straight to her, whining. Maddie, on the other hand, didn't recognise Emily at first and her run into the hall ended with an abrupt halt and immediate backing-off: you could almost hear her "whoooooa, who's this?!" She panicked and started baying.

Luckily after a couple of seconds she worked who it was and it changed to "IT'S YOU!!!!!!" and she was all over her.

Later when all the excitement had died down, she came and sat on Emily on the sofa, looking very pleased. (This from a dog who never stays on the sofa for longer than about a minute if there's anyone else on it)

The next morning as we left for work, she was sitting outside Emily's room, looking expectant. Awwwww.... Puppy love!

Missing - Maddie in Action

Well, pictures of Maddie in action anyway. A friend's wee girl has apparently got a project on at school about pets and have to write about pets they have or know. Needless to say, Poppy wrote about Maddie and my friend phoned there to apologise and say she basically needs a picture of Maddie up to mischief.

Well, I've searched through the photos on my camera, those on FB and those on here and while I have several (many!) showing the evidence or aftermath of her "mischievousness" I seem to have almost none of her actually in action. Clearly I'm missing a trick here!

Maddie channels Murphy?

Or "Maddie versus the swan"

Video to follow

 except I can never upload videos to this thing, unfortunately. It was a wee video I took of Maddie's first encounter with a swan up close - she was suitably scared and barked and growled and ran away for quite some time - most amusing. At least until she refused to move along and when the swan got in the water to swim away she followed it, getting right up to it and barking at it. 

If that swan had had any young, it would have killed her. I know that, everyone knows that except Maddie. As it was it beat its wings over her head as she swam round it, battering her head and pushing her underwater. Eventually she came away (pursued by the now irate swan who continued to batter her with its wings) and so far from being affected by it, showed distinct signs of repeating the performance with another swan in another park the next morning!!! (I got her away pronto and put her firmly on the lead that time)

Apart from that (and it only affected me - see my only available jeans and the resultant wear for church they necessitated - borrowed skirt and several safety pins from my mother) she was pretty much the perfect guest at my folks at the weekend. 

Oh yes, apart from her tracking down and nicking half an Easter Egg from Mum's wardrobe (no doubt hidden there with the gin in case of emergencies) - oops!

Easter Sunday

We joined the many others who decided to go up the Mither Tap today - and it was a good decision! Even met Scott & Veronica with Poppy & Zoe at the top! Maddie was dissuaded from searching everyone who looked to have food on their person and we all had a lovely time!

Easter Disaster - national shortage of Cadburys Buttons Easter eggs!

Noooooo! I'm kinda pissed off at her now - couldn't find any Cadbury's Buttons eggs. Had to get a wee Creme Egg one but it's not really what I wanted.

Oh well. (sigh)

Happy Easter Maddie!

Maddie is reversing her usual trend (sugar first then a healthy backlash) - Thursday night she got into the vegetable basket again and made off with the carrots - again. This time she didn't eat them, though - she just took them out under her bush in the garden for a good old chew. (Richard wouldn't let me use them after that!)

Last night Richard got me an Easter egg (Cadbury's Buttons, my fave!) but left it on the table. Of course Maddie wants to join in the Easter fun - so this morning -

I'm off to the shops to buy myself another one!

Little Miss Perfect

Maddie came along with me on my trip to Glasgow yesterday and today and I'd just like to congratulate her on being the perfect guest! We had a couple of ball-throwing interludes  in the park (she loves chasing tennis balls) during which she ignored all other dogs and even dropped her ball when Sophie (young and boisterous chocolate lab) came bounding up - who then nabbed it and ran off with it (the owner brought it back). We went for a long walk round the streets this morning (well, to Susan & Ian's, there was a purpose to it) during which she didn't pull too badly on the lead and managed to be let off for a couple of rummages round open green areas and burns without finding a car to run in front of.

We left her on Saturday evening while we went to church and dinner and the house was intact when we returned. I left her this morning to go catch up with a friend and Dad's comment was "she didn't cry for four hours" - see Murphy? It is possible!

Overnight I kept her in my room in case she went a-wandering and she did get terribly excited and wake me up a few times by coming to the bed and pawing at my face (probably to make sure I was still there and in case I'd missed any daylight) but I managed to roll over and ignore her so she went off to lie down again (although what daylight there was at 3.30am who knows!) - however she remained quiet.

And finally we went to visit Elizabeth on the way home. Maddie headed off out the door into the garden, did a wee on the grass like a good girl then stood patiently at entirely the wrong door for a while until we noticed and invited her back in the right door! After which she drank some water in a most ladylike way and went to sleep on Elizabeth's feet.

Awwww!

I've discovered a new method

- of travelling! Cycling along at pace yesterday morning, with my handbag as usual, attached to the handlebars. Now because I swim every morning before work, I wear my costume and take my underwear with me - in said handbag.

Yesterday as I came off the railway line I happened to look down at my bag and lo and behold! - the shaking has shoogled the zip open and there was my bra - flapping way for all the world to see!

Eek! Emergency stop in the middle of the road and a quick fumble with the zip!

Somebody at work pointed out that depending on the size of the bra I could have gone paragliding - hmmm, there's a thought.

Aberdeen's best cat burglar strikes again!

Richard made meatballs on Saturday. He made the full recipe - twenty four meatballs - and stuck twelve in the freezer. Unfortunately he then headed off into the living room to put the TV on for the Grand National, leaving the twelve remaining meatballs unprotected....

Now, he swears he was only gone a minute, but when he got back he found....? Three meatballs! Three! Oh yes, and Maddie looking very pleased with herself. Oops!

So it was back to the freezer to take those other twelve back out again. Lesson? Don't wander off and leave that sort of thing at the edge of the counter - surely he should have known? you ask yourself. Well yes, I ask myself that too! Some things are fairly predictable!

the funniest thing...

Sitting in the living room, Murphy on the sofa next to Richard. He's been eating crap, as usual (Murphy, not Richard and literally crap - of dogs). Of course his digestive system is not what it once was and we all suffer the consequences - although not Murphy - noticeably. Until tonight!

It was hilarious - his nether regions let out a prolonged fart - quite high-pitched, if you want the details. He was snoozing and raised his head, ears pricked, looking at Richard in surprise. You could just hear him - 'What did you do that for, Daddy?"

Then he did it again and our hero turns his head and looks at his own nether regions in even greater surprise!

Priceless!

Good visitors?

We went to visit Fiona and Robert today for a dog walk and lunch - a very pleasant day altogether! No sheep in the vicinity, it's pretty much all Forestry Commission so we could let the dogs off.

However, as well as Baxter, the bearded collie, they also have Eric, the cat. From a distance he looks like a lovely, soft cat with a white face and grey colouring. I say from a distance, as he was 30 feet up in a tree when we saw him and he didn't look like he was coming down any time soon! Unfortunately Maddie had spotted him earlier and while I don't think she chased him up the tree, she was certainly doing her best to make sure he stayed there!

Oops. Sorry Eric!

Puppy pilates

We were talking about this at Pilates yesterday - I've been going for almost 10 years. I know this because I have vivid memories of trying to do pilates exercises on a Saturday morning when Murphy was a puppy. He didn't like being excluded from anything so, since he barked to be let into the living room as soon as he saw me (and I didn't want to wake the whole house), I had to let him in.

We also had Eddie the cat at that point (the whole reason Murphy is called Murphy - geddit? - it was Andy's idea, pretty cool I thought). So there I was, lying on the floor doing leg-lifts - or trying to. Pilates is hard enough without having to do it with a roly-poly puppy sitting on your chest and a cat hanging off one ankle as you try to lift it in a controlled manner!!

Memories of a roly poly Murphy!

The day we got Murphy, aged 8 weeks. Can't believe it was ten years ago.

a special day

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MURPHY!

ten today - and looking good on it, babes. He had steak for dinner, I've never seen anything disappear so fast, he practically inhaled it! Lucky I took the candle out first.

Of course, Maddie had to have some too but she was fractionally more ladylike in her consumption - practising for her own birthday in a few years time?

And Murphy got lots of birthday wishes from his pals on FB, he's a lucky boy - couldn't happen to a nicer dog!

Sunday walk

It was such a beautiful day on Sunday - sun shining, blue skies, warm weather (not just mild, actually warm!) that we took the dogs down by the river. There's a spot right at the beginning of the walk where we usually throw sticks into the river for them. Of course they know this, so as we walked down towards the river, our keen water hounds tore on ahead, straight through a (very surprised) wee family group and down to the water's edge. There they stood expectantly, awaiting the sticks. I'm surprised Maddie didn't start barking impatiently!

Would have been OK, except that the family was clearly trying to take some nice photos of the toddler with them, with the river in the background. I'm not sure they really wanted a large, wet, hairy, orange beast in the background - thank you Murphy! At least I managed to entice him further along the path before he shook himself!

Settling in again

Murphy is still a bit hoarse and still thin, but getting there. Maddie is her usual ebullient self and Gizzy continues to be very friendly - particularly when we're eating fish! Maddie decided she was a cat this morning on our walk and climbed a tree to get at a bird - or to try to, anyway. I'll post a photo shortly.

We're all getting back into a routine, and I for one am deeply grateful - I like getting back into our routine, into the swing of things and getting organised. Still haven't downloaded all the photos from New Zealand but fully intend to do so!

It's Murphy's birthday tomorrow. He's going to be ten. TEN! Can't believe it! He's slowing down a bit and likes his snoozes, but still likes his exercise and runs around with Maddie. Bless him!

Well, here we are again

I'm tired today. Gizzy woke me up about 4 times through the night. Think she wanted fed but I wasn't getting up to find out!

Recovered from the holiday although Murphy hasn't yet - he's still hoarse from 3 weeks' barking! And very thin, although I've been feeding him the cat's leftovers so hopefully he'll gradually put on a little weight.

Other than that, all is well. Maddie is being very affectionate, as usual particularly when we haven't got the TV blaring. he really doesn't like it but we spent the weekend watching sport and she doesn't mind that, quite happy to hang about and ask for bosies.

Sartorial update

For those of you concerned about such things (and I know you all are) and thus worried about my over-enthusiastic adoption of "mix and match"(not) styling, I can reassure you. Having donned the whole outfit (well, added the shoes) the consensus was that it didn't go. So it was a last-minute change of dress to the long black one. Black is best!

Hong Kong - the vertical city

We were in Wan Chai when we came through on the way to NZ; this time we're in Kowloon - Tsim Sha Tsui. It's just along the railway line from Mong Kok - about a mile along Nathan Road. Not really thinking about what the most densely populated area in the world would be like on a Saturday afternoon when it was out shopping, we headed over there yesterday.

Boy, it was busy! Think of Regent Street on the Saturday before Christmas and that about sums it up. It was pretty difficult to get anywhere, you have to duck and dive and go round people, pause and dodge and take your chance. Not easy when there's two of you - I'm better at it than Richard so I was always having to pause and wait for him - or else he for me. There are some junctions just too busy for both people and traffic so there are walkways over and along the streets as well, you get up to them by stairs from pavements.

I can see why you need areas of green and oases of calm when you live in that environment. It's very tiring!

We went out for dinner last night - and (not mentioning the idiocy of my husband in refusing a 45 minute wait at one place when it took another 45 minutes to get a place anywhere else!) ended up at a Shanghai-ese place. On the way back to the hotel after it struck me. We'd gone up in a lift but it was only the 6th floor so we took the escalators down. Some of the restaurants in the building were on the 25-31st floors.

So off we went - down three floors on one escalator, over and down another two on another one, then a final one to the street level. All busy, with people going up and down and lots of folk milling around. That's when it struck me - we would never have that sort of business (public-oriented) up that high, but it's taken for granted here. That's only one tower in a city full of them - it really is a vertical way of living!

Travel broadens the mind

.. or at least the willingness to experiment with your wardrobe! We've spent the last three weeks travel, travel, travelling. To London, Hong Kong and all round New Zealand. A new day, a new destination. So I tried to travel light and bring things with multiple uses.

Different countries have different clothes, even in this international day and age. We all know America wears jeans, and if you want to get some, that is definitely the place to go - cheap and a myriad of different styles, uses and stores.

UK? Depends on where you go - there's nothing I like better than sitting on the Underground in London and watching what everyone wears, as there's such a lot of fashion styles and agendas and they all influence each other in different ways. Places like Aberdeen, people tend to wear whatever is in fashion - so whatever the shops have in - and they all wear it at the same time! So it's pretty boring from a style point of view (of course you do get the odd person who is more original in their clothes choices but not many). Personally, I mix and match for work (I like to think I have my own style but am not a fashion victim), but out of work I wear jeans all the time - it's easier given the weather and my dog-walking duties.

New Zealand? It turns out they don't wear jeans vey much at all. It's such an outdoors culture and they have the right weather too - so it's all leggings, sports-related and outdoors gear.

Here in Hong Kong they're very fashion-conscious and are pretty much built to wear what they like (small and petite) - so it's still leggings but layering as well, with some jeans. And as it's still winter as far as they're concerned (cool summer temperatures as far as I'm concerned!) they're rocking puffer jackets and layering up leggings and skirts etc.

Naturally I'm open to influences, plus I'm running out of stuff to wear! So today, given that I'm balancing the preference for an outfit to hold my head up in downtown Hong Kong (did I tell you we're in Kowloon, 3 stops from Mong Kok - the most densely-populated area in the WORLD) with the wish to be comfortable during our eleven-hour flight to London tonight and the need to be warm when we get to Aberdeen tomorrow, I'm wearing leggings and a long sleeve top with a stretchy leopardskin dress over and a sweatshirt over that. (Holding in the background my turquoise running shoes and matching fleece hoody to top it all off - not sure about that last set but it's all I got!)

World, here I come! One question - socks or no?

New day - new mission

Oh-oh. Richard got a bit carried away when he ordered some dog treats online and got an industrial-sized box of them! 

Of course Maddie's tracked them down now, despite my attempt to hide them under the teatowel basket...

St Valentine's Day

Posted by Murfs and Mads - "Daddy says he knows the way to Mummy's heart - well he's covering all the bases at least!"

nothin' goin' on

Just checking in to say that nothing's happening. Nobody's stolen any food, Maddie is simply nicking the obligatory shoe of an evening, ready for her bedtime delighted tussle.

She's actually hurt her leg, we think - she won't jump up on the bed or the sofa and whimpered when I grabbed her by the front legs and turned her over to lie in my lap yesterday. Poor wee thing - she throws herself around so much it's hardly surprising she pulls a muscle or bruises a paw every now and then.
:(

Cause and effect

Gizzy's back to joining us in the living room of an evening - 

... which has the direct effect of shifting poor Murphy off his favourite couch onto the floor - 

- as he couldn't possibly share the couch with the cat!

Maddie, all is forgiven!

I have to say, Maddie might seem bad, but clearly she's on the light side of annoying - at least she doesn't do stuff like this!

Mammy's girl Pt 2

Bless her wee paws, she's off again. Terrible ruckus going on upstairs this evening, lots of Maddie- barking. 

Richard goes up to investigate and returns to say that she clearly doesn't like my "purple shoes" and is barking at them. My what?!!!

Had the shoe fairy been? Investigations revealed alas, not. My darling pupster was apparently fascinated by my burgundy ankle boots.

I couldn't quite believe it - I mean she's got good taste an' all but they were just sitting quietly in their box!

Richard'd moved them away so I put them back into their box where they're happiest. However she tracked them down again and 5 minutes later she's back, sniffing round the box and barking at it. 

By the time I got back with my phone, she'd got the lid off the box - I caught her in the act of removing one!

She was going to try them on and parade in front of the mirror - it's obvious! What a shame I had to take them away - suede really doesn't become her.

Meanwhile, in Gizzy-land...

I forgot to mention as well, (it's been a busy blog-day) that I had to shut the kitchen door out into the garden last night, after getting up twice to shoosh Maddie, who had discovered Gizzy on top of the garden shed and was shouting her delight to the neighbourhood, to prevent our pup-miscreant from continuing her cat-harassment.

First result - a peaceful night.
Second result - Gizzy had to spend the night in the utility room.
             
Now obviously she's done that before and usually finds a comfy place to sleep - see Sometimes I just despair - but I wasn't sure there were any reachable clothes baskets around last night.

However, as usual, I needn't have worried. I have a tiny wee sock-basket (about 5" x 10") on the counter which as (Gizzy's) luck would have it was full of clean tights and socks. And cat, by the end of the night! She'd pulled off the top few pairs to make it easier to fit into and had spent the night snoozing on the remaining hosiery. She fitted well, by tucking her paws under her and looking inscrutable. And once I'd administered the sticky roller to remover the fur, the socks are as good as new.

Trust a cat.

Here's what's missing

Denver official guilty dog video

Check this out - it's hilarious! It also illustrates what seems (so far) to be lacking in our Maddie - a guilty conscience.

Perhaps we're not being strict enough in telling her off, but I subscribe to the theory that there's no point in giving dogs into trouble if you don't catch them in the act, as they don't relate your telling-off to their actions.

However if I do then I will endeavour to follow the correct line of questioning!

Balanced Diet

Maddie likes to keep a balanced diet, as I've noted before. 

In a nod to her attack on the carrots after her "Pudsey Bear" nibbles last year, last night she clearly decided to hit the herbs after flirting with the baking. Literally.

This is the remains of the parsley.

The hard way or the easy way?

There's a change to the blog - can you see it?

It's only a wee change so it might not be too obvious. Ok, you got it - I've added the social media "share" buttons to the posts. Not really cos I'm looking to take over the social media world, but really to save me work and repetition (the original reason I set up the blog so no surprises there) - it's a bit repetitive and boring to be sharing the same story on Twitter, Facebook and the blog (in various forms of detail). rather than concentrating on one or the other, I decided to see if I could somehow link blog posts to Facebook.

So I googled it at work today and spent a confusing 15 minutes reading all the advice and trying to make sense of the instructions - javascript, code instructions, etc. Well, there's a reason I was a lawyer and not an IT person! In the middle of trying to work out which wee button to press on the "edit" page of the blog to add the appropriate (I hope) javascript, I found a completely unrelated "share" box to tick and tried that.

Lo and behold - suddenly all the posts had the Twitter, FB, Pinterest etc buttons on the bottom! No requirement for code of any kind - what a relief!

So I'm in the 21st century at last. Not asking anyone else to share any posts, just going to link to them on FB - I hope.

She's really just a Mammy's girl!

Been trying to use up about 4 pounds of butter which I bought before Christmas in an excess of baking enthusiasm and never used before said enthusiasm wore off (or time ran out). The "use by" date is 1st Feb so not much time!

All in all I've made two lots of tiffin, 4 batches of fruit scones, a victoria sponge, 2 batches of petticoat tails, a double batch of crumble mix and a double batch of butter icing. Now the freezer's crammed to the gills, poor Sam at work is working his way through the shortbread (and loving it!) and the Guides tomorrow and Friday are in for a treat! Richard insisted on the sponge being sandwiched with jam and cream and we started on it tonight (not bad, I must say).

Note to self - don't get carried away in the butter aisle for quite some time!

Anyway, I went home for lunch today and made 3 batches of fruit scones (the quickest thing to cook), tidied and cleaned up and shot back to work, all within almost the allotted hour. Buuuut - half way back I suddenly had a thought - I couldn't remember putting the butter back in the fridge! (the fresh scones were balanced on top but did I leave the butter out?!!!)

No way could I take that chance, so I had to head back. Phew - the butter was safe, but Maddie? Well -  she'd caught the baking bug. She had the baking parchment circles off the table and was scrunching her way through them. I'm looking forward to the day she moves on to something a little more sophisticated, and presents us with a freshly-made chocolate sponge!

Maddie's found God!

As anyone on FB or Twitter will know, Maddie had a revelation this weekend. I'm sure it has something to do with the readings at church on Sunday, which (I wasn't listening to the readings per se but I was listening to the sermon) were something to do with Paul's revelation on the road to Damascus.

Now I'm not saying our fearless pup has started preaching or praising God, but give her time - if it was easy it wouldn't be a miracle!

What happened was that I had a quick lookover of the psalm on Saturday night (being the organised person I am, with many calls on my time and much TV to watch, this was last thing before I went to bed) and left the book out in an obvious place where I would remember to take it. So next morning, there I am - I've got the bulletins, I've got my hymn book [and I've just this minute realised I've left my hymn book at church, sigh] and my missal. Where's my psalm book?

Cue a frantic, ten minute search of all the obvious places several times over, with no result.

The mystery was solved that afternoon and guess where I found the psalm book (slightly scruffy and chewed)? You can see where this is going - in Maddie's crate!

Bless her little (scruffy) cotton socks - she's obviously decided to praise the Lord and seek forgiveness for all her past misdeeds!

Gizzy gets her own back!

I took away the duvet from the spare room (Emily's room) last week - after our last visitors left they stripped the bed and folded the duvet down across the end of the bed. Now it's a very soft, comfy duvet so trust a cat to find that that out quickly!

I realised before Christmas she'd taken up residence there so i left it til last week then went and de-haired it (took 20 minutes and a whole roll of that fluff-remover sticky stuff!), then took it into the cleaners. She watched me the whole time, not impressed.

Of course then I made the mistake of trying to anti-flea her as well - an already grumpy cat got really pissed off! The cuts and scratches are healing...

I moved a couple of pillows down to replace the duvet and covered the bed with a throw - you can see my thinking - Gizzy can have her comfy spot but I can wash the throw so it's all good!

Of course not. After a week of her sleeping on the throw on the pillows she decided to get her revenge and I was met yesterday morning (been at a Guide sleepover) with the news that she had spent the night UNDER the throw! Why? How? I have no idea. C'est la vie d'un chat.

A rude awakening

Poor Richard! He was in the spare room last night since he was working til 5.30am (wells care not for day or night) so I was tiptoeing round this morning to let him sleep in. Maddie has no such qualms. She shot upstairs when I was taking the recycling out - luckily she expected Richard to be in the usual place so that flummoxed her and she came away for her walk instead.

But she was luckier after breakfast. This time when she didn't find him, she went looking. I header the paw at the door and by the time I got upstairs there she was - standing on top of Richard (who was hiding under the duvet) with his slipper in her mouth - hitting him on the head with it in her effort to gain his attention!

I'll give her her due that she didn't mean to, she was just trying to say good morning, but it was a very funny sight!

And the Christmas ends...

The dogs say goodbye to the Christmas tree…

I used the last of the mincemeat to make a final batch of mince pies yesterday. Finally I've got it sussed! the right size, a decent pastry etc. I'll probably have forgotten it all by next Christmas but never mind. I rather scunnered myself this Christmas, rushing round making and decorating Christmas cakes, baking for church events and for work colleagues, getting the cards done, presents etc - trying to do too much really, so I said next time I wasn't going to do Christmas at all. Would anybody notice? Doubtful! Well, we'll see.

I do still like Christmas decorations, though. And I've still got the rest of the Christmas cake to eat, yum!

2014!

We were going to go and see the fireworks at Hogmanay but in the end couldn't be bothered. So we dressed up, sat in and played games and watched TV instead.

Happy New Year!

Christmas & New Year

Been meaning to do this for about 2 weeks, so here we are. How was Christmas in Glasgow with the dogs? One easy answer - WET! It rained all day, every day! That's the abiding memory. And we spent a lot of time stopping the dogs from bounding into the apartment and leaving trails of mud all through it. Thank God I took all the dog towels and there was a washer-dryer there!

The trails through the estate were (given the weeks of west coast weather) very muddy and not very long (not a good thing given our propensity for walks and the dogs' propensity for chasing 4 legged things that run away) so luckily we found walkways along the side of the Clyde Estuary and took them there every day for their long walk. I think we did see the beautiful views once, when the clouds lifted one day!

Look how happy we look! The dogs were happy, I have to say - there's no such thing as bad weather. I've only once seen them rush to the door, screech to a halt and back away, deciding to just cross their legs instead. That was when it was pouring down one night in Devon.

We found a lovely place to eat just along the road (The Wheelhouse, Langbank if anyone wants a recommendation) - friendly staff, good service and food, really cosy feel to it, though it's quite big.

The apartment was wee but nice and cosy and once I'd put up some decorations and dug out the wee tree we took, it looked Christmassy too.

Only drawback with the apartment was the height of the bed, which was low enough to allow Maddie not to have to jump up on it to say hello, but instead allowed her to sit at the sides and paw at us to see if we were awake yet. Just a shame she did this every hour from about 6am til we got up!

It was lovely to see everyone though, I don't get down to Glasgow often enough or see my friends and family enough.

I did enjoy it just being us in our cosy wee flat for the (almost) whole week, though. Maybe next year we could do New Year instead?