1. Little M-dog has discovered that if her living room door is open onto the balcony, she can nip between the Lily-stopping divider to investigate our house. John comes downstairs from making tea followed by two dogs with tails wagging. Her visits are very cute.

1b. The pet food delivery arrives with (free) new toys for both the dog and the cats. Lily takes to her present instantly but it takes Strange a moment to catch the scent of the cat-nip in theirs. Later, when Kaufman gets it, we see his hunting behaviour in person: he takes the treasure away to savour it away from pesky humans (who have a habit of taking away his catches).

2. I listen to < href="https://soundcloud.com/inquiringminds/93-alvin-roth-the-new-economics-of-who-gets-whatand-why">a podcast about how markets work when money isn’t (or shouldn’t) be involved (using the examples of kidney donation, admission into medical training courses, and briefly at the end, congested markets like internet dating sites). It sounds like it’ll be a dry subject but I find it fascinating: it really tweaks the part of my brain that, when I was little, organised my toys into classes and designed working school timetables for them all.

3. R pops by and we decided there should be a postgraduate “Masters of None” qualification for generalists like us.

3b. The moor is busier than we thought it would be – everyone else had the same idea as us. But away from the car park, we find flat spot, throw down a blanket and some cushions, and watch fireballs (occasionally) blaze across the sky. The “ooohs” when we see one are involuntary.

1. Sometimes my French practise flies, other days it is falters. Today is a good day.

2. The firmness of a good head of lettuce.

3. The colours of the bedding in the blue light of evening. The weight of the dog as she leans into me.

1. Lily’s face when she wants to alert us to something (in this case, me sneezing which she mistakes for the doorbell): along with her raised ears, her nose and cheeks wrinkle pulling her mouth into an “oh?” shape.

2. A day of computer based chores is finished by ordering a load of photo prints – I like that the selection is primarily us (me, John, the cats and the dog) goofing off. We’re not a household to pose sensibly or present duck faced smiles to the camera.

3. Surprise sweetness in the pasta sauce: is it the homegrown onion? The pepper? The tomatoes? We’re not sure but it’s delicious, whatever it is.

1. John suggests lunch at the pub in the next old village along, then a walk in the woods in the one beyond that. It’s all very pleasant.

1b. The toddler wants to meet both the dogs; the other dog wants to meet Lily; and Lily wants to hide until the table.

2. Looking through old photos. I’m a little alarmed that we haven’t got any printed of the new cats – who’ve been with us for two years now – then I find another pouch of tiny kitten pictures.

2b. We have a lot of beautifully composed photos but I mostly select snapshots for the frames: the blurriness of chaos better captures their essences.

3. I forget to go to the allotment (to water the greenhouses) until just before dusk. The evening is still warm enough that I can still walk over in a vest top and sandals. The lack of traffic is a pleasant novelty.

Sat

1. We switch around our weekend: chores can wait until tomorrow.

2. The man sits high in his canoe and zips along the canal. Very inspiring!

2b. I’ve been into lines recently – the strips of decking and lines of bolts on the Liffey boardwalk, the slats on the fence at the allotment – and today it’s the reflection of the power lines in the canal. John notices they look like sound waves as the apparently still water shifts – and when Lily plods in, the wrinkles change direction and volume. We watch them until they settle again.

2c. The spray of water from Lily’s wagging tail.

3. Sweet wood smoke and high laughter float up the garden from the neighbors’ firepit.

1. A few days has made all the difference to the first green beans and the to-be pumpkins. (The yellow summer squashes and the other winter squashes need to get a move on but the pumpkins are doing brilliantly.)

1b. I start counting how many chillis are underway but I quickly give up.

1c. I lie on the bed when I come back from the plot and Lily lies next to me. I love her heavy warmness.

2. A dinner that’s rather thrown together but surprising good. John calls it a “Polish stir fry”.

3. Silliness with bad puns at bedtime. We rife on the name “Duolingo”: my first effort “Duolingoat” (an app for certain cloven animals to learn different languages) is my favourite, my “Boooo-olinghost” (a language app for spectral beings) stretches things way too far.