1. John brings us tea and we read in bed for an hour.

2. A pigeon had flown into the feed store. We imagine it must think it’s hit the jackpot: all those bags of seed!

2b. Lily is delighted to be in her second favourite woods. The trees open out to reveal the stream below: she looks back at us, eyes shiny with anticipation.

2c. The green slope across the valley: where we were just a few minutes before.

3. I gasp and laugh at the audacity of the narrator – it would be completely unbelievable if it wasn’t true.

4. The drips of lassi are heavy and viscous.

1. Sunbathing chickens – lying flat, legs akimbo, wings spread, in odd places around the garden – look like they’re cartoon birds that have been dropped from a very great height.

1b. Everything is growing. I marvel at the little buds on all the fruit bushes.

1c. Kaufman stands on the nest box with his catch (a baby rat) in his mouth. Later, Strange stands equally triumphant, leaning against the fence, though I suspect she just found Kaufman’s old catch rather than making her own.

1d. I’m amazed how much my gardening experience has improved now that I have a good supply of potting compost.

2. The flags around the barbeque are warm but the grass is still painfully cold.

2b. The heat haze reshapes the garden beyond. The corn pieces are a touch too “chargrilled” but delicious and sweet; the chicken is, surprisingly, perfect.

3. Lily races to the door when S arrives, her tail wagging at top speed.

1. Laughing at jokes I’ve heard dozens of times before: I always “heh” at the second one but the ridiculousness of the first one strikes me as especially hilarious today. I laugh and laugh.

2. Tracing patterns onto fabric transforms my doodles into something grander. (Especially when I’ve been a good girl and ironed & hemmed my fabric first.)

2b. A new batch of threads arrives and, as always happens, I get overexcited about the colours. This time I lay them out on my pattern and rearrange them until I get the perfect combination. (I perhaps dither for longer than necessary just because it’s so much fun.)

2c. Funny, a stitch that suits one waterway looks completely wrong on another and vice versa.

3. Strange is already on her back, white belly on show and floppy rabbit paws dangling in the air, when John notices the tip of her tongue is poking out. I jokingly urge her to try to be cuter – I don’t think it’s possible but she reaches out and bats a thread. She wins.

3b. Tilda is transfixed by the peculiar creature at the cat flap. The entity – which closely resembles a foot in a sock – dances back and forth almost as if it wants her to attack.

1. I take in yesterday’s washing (left on the line overnight to finish drying in the early morning sun) and hang out another load – the sheets will be dry within the hour, and the last of my winter laundry backlog will be cleared.

2. My (clay) coils are much more even than they were just a few weeks ago.

3. The woods are no longer filled with mud. Both Lily and I arrive home with clean feet.

3b. The remains of flour marks are scattered around the woods.

4. Attention to detail (and a little extravagance) in the packaging makes the kit all the more special.

1. It’s beautifully sunny – it’s gone from t-shirt weather to flip-flop season in just a week. I hang the washing on the line.

2. I decide to organise all my embroidery threads and tapestry yarns – they’ve typically stayed gathered by project even after the piece is long finished, and that makes it hard to know what I’ve got. I sort them into colour families then into groups by hue after that. It’s all very pleasing.

3. I do like Laughing Cow cheese.

1. For the first time in a long time, I wake up with my alarm feeling alert and light.

2. Watching, from the kitchen window, various cats playing in the sun. The overgrown slope between the road and the woodland seems to be a popular spot at the moment. Our cats are regularly joined by others from the neighbourhood.

2b. From the sunny balcony, I watch Lily, Strange and Tilda pad around the garden together. They’re so sweet that I don’t even mind the big dog paws squishing my strawberry plants.

3. “She’s got some wear and tear but for a springer her age, she’s in good shape.”