1. The chicken pulls apart the deep red flesh of the strawberry.

2. We play mirrors until Lily realises what I’m doing.

3. The cold of the lolly radiating on my lips.

1. The combination of a particular flavour of croissant and light French butter that never fails to transport me back to childhood holidays in Cornwall.

2. All the different types of grass seed on my walk.

3. It’s the first time I’ve seen him in a year but Daisy, our neighbour’s big but shy boy cat, seems to remember me: he’s all hugs even before I break out the ham. His size and temperament reminds me of Carbon and makes me miss my chap terribly.

3. The spaghetti sauce is worth the wait.

1. A new pair of jeans that fit perfectly, and thanks to eBay came at a fraction of the new-from-the-shop price.

2. Lily’s lolling tongue.

3. Our first homegrown courgette of the year – shockingly late and scarce this year (thanks slugs, thugs) – scattered with toasted cumin seeds and garlic. (And then buried under a pile of other veg, beans and cheese.)

4. A job that is not at all on my to-do list but it is surprisingly fun and straight-forward too. It inspires me to pick up some other long-shelved jobs too. (In related news: oooh, new website design ;) )

5. Boron’s tail is haunted, flicking and hovering by itself as Boron sleeps. We think he’s dreaming of his younger days when he was the alpha male, when he could fight, attract the young kitties and do solid poos.

1. The sun-warmed stone underneath my bare feet as I water the jungle of tomato plants.

(My tomato plants have shot up in the last week – an amazing amount of growth. I hope it’s not too little, too late.)

2. The roar and swirl in my head as I settle from a powerful sneeze.

3. The long dogs watch us with the same eyes and expressions even though superficially they look as different as can be (one is grey and amusingly fuzzy – a perpetual cute-bad hair day – while the other is mottled browns and super smooth). They sniff at our hands and welcome our strokes and attention while their owner tells us of their illnesses and costliness.

4. John sneaks into the house (from an evening out) while Lily is in the back garden having a wee. When she comes in, she knows something has changed so heads straight to the front door but somehow doesn’t see John sat on the sofa on the way. I call her back into the living room and she cautious sticks her head around the doorframe. Her eyes widen as she figures out that her John is back then she bounds at him. The tail bangs doublespeed against the cushion.

1. I spot cats sunbathing and dogs trying to play on tyre swings. I still colourful pots in the gardens and a row of bean plants in lieu of a net curtain in an upstairs window. Even going through one of the worst parts of the estate – the bit which looks like every picture of a sink estate and used to illustrate political points on both sides of the spectrum – I look up and see a tractor painted a perfect shade of blue maneouvering cows around the sloping green fields beyond the woods.

2. We coincidentally arrive home at the same time, animated by our adventures.

3. Lily lets out a long low howl in her sleep. She seems dazed when she wakes up, presumably wondering why we’re both looking at her with silly grins on our faces. We pat the sofa and she jumps up between us. The next time I look around, she’s asleep again, using John’s foot for a pillow.

(Three very short ones by coincidence rather than design ;) )

1. A platter of flavours and textures for lunch.

2. To pick up eggs and strawberries on the walk up the garden.

3. An expensive cake reduced to clear.