Snowy bonhomie and keeping cozy

I spent the next two days trying to sort out small gifts for friends and neighbours, and wrapping them. The weather being colder we cooked warm soups for lunch, and baked things in the evenings.


On the way to the post office I saw Maheena and Glen, and we were joking with each other. It had snowed again overnight, and I walked very carefully to the post office as there was black ice on the roads. I met another neighbour, and we chatted and joked. Complete strangers were telling each other to be careful and not to slip, and there was a lot of bonhomie about. While washing up, from the kitchen window I saw one neighbour in his 90s walking up the road to take his younger friend the newspaper.


On Saturday it was still snowing on and off. I noticed that we had paw prints of various sizes all over our garden, and bird prints. These were also over most neighbouring shed roofs, but our vandal neighbour's garden was pristine, no living thing had entered his space at all; it is as if the area has an invisible barrier around it.


In the evening we watched 'Merlin,' Colin Morgan plays Merlin, and he did a great job of acting when he found out that he was a dragon lord. We also saw another excellent Wallander, but the snowy wintry scenery seemed a bit too real and familiar.


On Sunday morning Poppy called round to say she was going to the shops and would we like her to get us some shopping too, we did not need anything, but thought it so kind of her to ask us. Lilu the dog has got a chest infection, and Poppy thought she may have got too cold with snow on her fur, and she ate lots of it too.


I have been listening to lots of music on Bing.com, especially crisantemi (Chrysanthemum) by Puccini, and all the spaghetti western music by Ennio Morreconi. The weather is very cold so we are keeping ourselves cosy during the evenings.

In the swim with chickens

Mas and I went swimming in the afternoon; it did not seem very tempting as the weather was dreary and grey. There were not many people in the pool, but Mas got talking to a man who was trying to learn how to swim. After showering and dressing we felt more lively than we had when we going into the pool.
I called Pete to see how he was, and while we were chatting his cat Calliope was meowing pitifully as she was trying unsuccessfully to bite Pete while he was talking.
There have been heavy rainfalls in some places, and in one area in Cumbria they had 12" in 24 hours which is the heaviest rainfall in the UK since they started keeping records.

Today Mas worked on his computer, and I raked and collected leaves from the garden, admiring the colours on the leaves of the cherry blossom tree. One of the neighbours from down the road stopped to talk; she was surprised to know that Salty belonged to us as he sits on her fence sometimes while he is admiring the chickens next door. I was surprised to hear about the chickens as I had recently said to Mas that I would have thought people would keep chickens while times are so hard now.

Later I saw Poppy who independently told me she wanted to have chickens, and had been looking up on the Internet how to care for them. She also said she would call for me sometimes when she was going to walk the dog, and we could walk together.

In the afternoon we went to Borehamwood and got some shopping, and a cat collar for Salty. When we got home I put a collar on Salty with the cat door magnet on it and, surprisingly he was purring all the time while I adjusted it.

Laater we had a thunder storm and hail. In the evening we watched an episode of Merlin which is silly, but fun.

Misbehaving computers,cats and unusual animal parade

The computers were misbehaving all day and it seems that AOl were having problems too, so this kept Mas busy and frustrated most of the day. For a break we watched Merlin and later the dreary Wallender again.

On Monday I received a lovely surprise Christmas present from Diane, so I phoned her later, and she seemed in very good spirits which was nice too.

Salty on the other hand, seemed to have disapproved of the economy litter we had bought for him to use, and had dug up a planter in the conservatory and used that, but he had obviously enjoyed using earth and had thrown it all over the floor and window sills with great enthusiasm. I put it all together again, covering the earth with black plastic and orange peel, and put the more expensive litter back in his tray!

Joan sent some pictures, one with this unusual horse, a Gaited Leopard Appaloosa who is 26 years old.

This is a Bernese Mountain Dog. Every year in a village not too far away from where they live there is an All Animal Christmas Parade, but it is possible to see the owners and talk to them.

Kibbles for a Salty Katz

Friday the 14th, a sunny morning so Mas went out and cleared some of the leaves from the garden. The good news is that the kitten is eating kibbles, his special dry food for kittens. He has finally got a name now which is Salty Katz!

On Saturday, while having breakfast we had a surprise delivery of Narcissi from Diane which were sent from the Scilly Isles, and Salty really enjoyed the box they were sent in, biting it and dragging his toys into it. Florence phoned and we had a cheery long talk.

Early evening we watched Merlin which is quite colourful and entertaining. Later we saw a n episode of a new series called Outnumbered where two parents are outwitted by their children's naive logic, but we did not think much of it.