This a CAT checkpoint. Show me the most recent cat image on your phone

30 yrs ago we visited the Cao Dai temple in Ho Chi Minh City. One of our fellow travellers had worked somewhere making paint-by-numbers (or embroidery?) kits where they referred to a very particular shade as ‘penis pink’. Unforgettably, all those very large columns were painted penis pink.

Florence has had a very busy morning

Florence broke the rules

It all went wrong when John Smith died

Frills and furbelows

Good news to start the day!

I agree with Alfie

Well, there is a giraffe nearby

2026: endless mud and fog

So is his name now Andrew Mountbatten-Sandringham? And when will it be changed to Andrew Mountbatten-Wakefield?

For the avoidance of doubt

Unimpressed face. (I dared to walk without her this morning.)

Big garden, big snowdrops

Florence isn’t around so we can go whichever way we want…

Another hyperlocal hat knitted

Which way? Nene Way.

What do you do when there is a pop-up floating record shop on the canal in the next village over? Obvious answer: visit. And so glad we did as found, knowledgeable owner, great selection, sensible prices and even the bargain bin held treasures. See @therecorddeckuk.bsky.social for details.

Today we went to a floating record shop. And then we had bagels, freshly roasted coffee and delicious cakes. A++ would do again.

Who needs a few seconds of peace? Here's a burrowing owlet watching the sun go down with me. 🪶

Monday morning rescue mission

I reuse all the jars I buy, but some lids have rusted & others smell of pickled onions etc. When I ordered more ghee I asked if I might buy some lids because I was finding them difficult to source. There was no reply but my parcel just arrived & included a gift bag of lids. Reader, I cried 🥹

😆😆😆

Art crawl!

Bought a new toaster last week. It has a bagel function, so this week we’ve had to start eating bagels 🙄🤷🏼

Found the map, but not the territory

Tiniest joy

Working on my tracking skills

Not actually Spring

It sounds like India

The fields are smoking

Not a whale, but a field

The Fusspots have remembered their plaything

Don’t look, it’s a naked tree!

It wasn’t like this today

Never not looking for orange

Oh no, I forgot the giraffe!

Getting my making mojo back. Pretended yesterday really was a snow day and knitted a hat, from the wool of sheep that live just a couple of miles down the road.

Today’s TL is wall-to-wall walls

Alien fog ate my village

Love this record sleeve so much

I see dead Christmas trees all the time

We were there when the tree fell

I’m calling it: 2026 is The Year of Altering Trousers. (I’ve done three pairs already, have an experimental pair of jeans in progress, and there’s at least two pairs in the ‘ooops’ pile.) This is what self-care looks like when 2025 was The Rotten Year of Looking After Other People.

No creaking swans today

It’s a perfect morning!

Dark cherry

No loitering

Welcome, 2026. May you be kind to us all.

In bed by 20:11 with books, cats, and fizz. Quiet, deep pleasures. Setting precedents for the New Year. May you, too, find peace and contentment 🥂