1. I procrastinate unbelievably during the morning but when I look back, I realise some of my distractions have actually been useful, and I can tick off some chores from my mental list.

1b. A fun coincidence – I pick something from a long list for its meaning, and it turns out to have a connection to my childhood best friend.

2. A butterfly rests on the purple wall in the dining room. It looks fake but isn’t.

3. For some reason, Lily is super excited about going on a walk. She bounces around the dining room like a .. well, not a puppy, that’s going a little far, but like a … let’s say a nine year old dog.

4. The prawn and crab cakes are a little crumbly but the steak that follows is absolutely delicious.

4b. We keep seeing members of staff walking across the car park and – since we’re not paying close enough attention – not coming back. We concoct strange stories about what is going on down there and when we ask the next waiter about it, he says he wishes our theories were true: he would love it to be a secret staff lounging lair. (It’s just the bins, and the staff car park.)

1. I alternate very careful, precise brushwork with spattering and making a right old mess. It’s pleasing to continue building up the layers of texture and colour.

1b. Wiping each foot makes the bowl ring out in a different way.

1c. The bus pulls up while I’m waiting to pay in the shop. I will the queue to move faster and the bus to wait longer – and both happens.

2. Lily, wearing her hairy trousers (though we think hairy hotpants would be more appropriate in this weather), minkles through the woods. Her tail wags cheerfully – not a frantic overexcited beat but a calm back and forth.

3. Enchiladas for dinner – stuffed with beans, peppers and chicken (though I forgot to add any chilli, ssh don’t tell John).

3b. Explaining the fajita/burrito/enchilada/chimmichanga (and quesadilla, though they’re a bit different) sequence to John.

4. I enjoy Google’s venn diagram doodle but am aware it does not have a box around it. When I was in year 8, my best friend at the time scored 99% on a maths exam – the missing mark was for not enclosing her venn diagram in a neat rectangle. I always remember this when drawing venn diagram.

1. A quick buzz over with the angle grinder and a wipe around with a cloth, and already the wheel looks so much better. I suspect, once it’s had its fresh coat of Hammerite, it’ll look very fancy indeed.

2. The weird cat sits on the flat stone next to the front gate, curls up and falls asleep. A few minutes later, a beagle woofs at him.

3. We meander through the streets rather than the woods, so I can check on the allotment on the way. It is the wrong time of day – and our bellies are at the wrong stage of fullness – for a walk that passes two curry restaurants, a Chinese takeaway, a fish’n’chip shop and lots of houses filled with good cooks. Every road has its own gorgeous smell and we’re drooling by the time we get home.

1. The woods are humid and for the first half of the walk, I’m sticky. Then the wind starts blowing in the birch leaves far above me and the rain begins. I’m absolutely drenched – and feel totally refreshed – by the time I get home.

2. The big lilac flowers on the clematis.

2b. He meows as soon as I enter the house and drools on my jeans as soon as I give him the chance.

3. We lie across the bed, surrounding the dog, a tangle of limbs and tails. It’s at times like these that I imagine how much if it would confuse future archaeologists if a Pompeii-style volcano exploded over us.

1. There is nothing obvious for lunch until we realise there are bagels in the freezer and both brie & bacon that need eating.

2. Lily sniffs at the bottle. She initially reacts in horror – it’s perhaps stronger and more complex than she’d expected – but then leans in and licks at the drops in the neck. John holds out his empty tumbler, and a long tongue stretches further than we’ve ever seen to lick the slick from the sides and bottom.

3. We watch The Descendants, but being us, we undermine every single touching moment with inappropriate jokes and comments about Clooney. I also try to do Cleveland-sans-moustache’s voice for the first time and don’t do a bad job of it.

1. I stand on the balcony to make my phone call; Strange is curled up on the patio chair below. Her little pink mouth opens and closes in meows of “what’s happening up there?”. By the time my call has finished, she’s relocated to the chair on the balcony instead.

2. I like living in a world where you can get both a potters wheel and your dinner delivered to your door. (The two things happened in quick succession this evening.)

2b. It’s a lazy dinner but just what I want.

3. She wheezes in her excitement at seeing her dad again – he had, after all, abandoned her for HOURS.