1. The cans cut cleanly with the giant shearers.
2. I ask John his opinion on whether or not a joke is appropriate. When I tell him it, he howls with laughter which makes me realise it’s probably not appropriate but worth saying anyway.
3. The guitar has cunningly stolen Lily’s bone and she growls and growls until together we work out a way for her to get it back.
1. We happen upon a sunny clearing in the middle of the wood but quickly retreat back into the leafy shade.
2. We worried how Carla – once the most scaredy of scaredy cats – would handle the move to the new house, after the death of her brother, after the arrival of Lily – but stroking her as she stretches out in the morning sun, I realise she’s possibly the happiest, most content cat I know. (She’s actually dancing over me as I type this twelve hours later – grabbing my hand from the keyboard for tickles and purring so loudly it’s drowning out the noise of the YouTube video John’s frowning over.)
3. Our next-door-but-one neighbours bring over their brand new, six week old springer spaniel puppy. With his markings, he’s a miniature version of Lily and we’re instantly smitten. We offer/beg to babysit.
1. She started but didn’t finish embroidering the linen table cloth. For 50p, I take on the challenge.
2. After giving Katherine hell for a week, poorly Joe is all smiles as I push him around the supermarket. It’s the exciting boingy hair and buy one get one free offers that get his interest.
3. While John watches Star Trek in the living room, I spend the evening on the sofa in the dining room reading, with a cat on my belly and a dog by my side. A wonderfully relaxing end to a mostly wonderfully relaxed week.
1. The trees met high above the road and we’re grateful for their shade. We come across two men, topless, sunbathing on the roadside during their lunchbreak. Around them, there are ropes and tools, and we realise they’re the source of the occasional chainsaw noise we’d been hearing throughout the day.
2. When we fed the neighbours’ cats at Christmas, we had to wrap up warm for the short snowy journey – coats and wellington boots. Today I pad next-door-but-one barefoot. The west-facing Yorkshire flagstone are smooth and warm.
3. I realise as I’m going to bed that even though it’s felt like Monday (because it’s been the first day of work after a long-long-long weekend), tomorrow is Friday.
1. The purple dye transforms all the items but each ends up a different colour depending on its fabric composition and soak time. The colours range from dusky pink to mottled heather and glossy aubergine. The wool yarn, the point of the dyeing session, is a muted grape – I like muted colours so it’s perfect.
2. We drink tea and chatter. The animals pad around us before stretching out in the sun.
3. I mis-read “violent seas” as “violet seas” and when I notice the error, prefer my interpretation of the line.
© 2024 Louisa Parry