Then yesterday we had an exhausting morning shopping in Southampton for lots of things (towels, bedding, underwear - replacing lots of things with holes in), so afterwards we treated ourselves to a trip to Cafe Thrive for burgers followed by cake.

We found ourselves in the Bear Bag on Tuesday. We had a train journey to London, where we had an early dinner (pizza with vegan pepperoni and vegan chicken pieces, followed by Biscoff Cheesecake) then we went to see Cabaret at the Kit Kat Club. It was fab!

You are now forced to have the same job as the main character in the last book you read. What is your job? Freelance witch seconded as occult adviser to an international military intelligence organisation… Either creator of puzzles/amateur detective, or village healer.

Sebastian: #HappyValentinesDay everyone! This morning I gave Emma a bunch of red roses, and she gave me a set of chocolate bars from Montezumas

Duffy Bear: Shhh! I'm still wearing my Santa hat and Christmas jumper. Hoom is too busy to notice.

It's snowing!

We had a little snow overnight.

Merry Christmas to all our friends here on BlueSky. We hope you had a lovely day yesterday.

Thank you so much, @bertsbooks.bsky.social . Despite not knowing anything about the books I already have or the books I enjoy reading, you managed to find a book I don't have that I most definitely want to read. #SecretSanta

Oh. My. Paws! Just been to the theatre to see 2:22 A Ghost Story. Written by Danny Robins, who does the Uncanny podcast on R4/BBC Sounds. Terrifying and thrilling, with a proper plot twist ending!!!

*sad ears* RIP Prunella Scales www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio...

New bear to follow. This is Theobald, who came with us to the Isle Of Wight earlier this month. He’s our hoom’s husband’s bear.

Another one gone. *Sad ears* RIP Diane Keaton www.theguardian.com/film/2025/oc...

Mr Cupcake: Guess where we are!

Anna is very happy with the way this holiday has started. Delicious!

Some of hoom’s pupils have given her some lovely end-of-term presents this week. The ice cream is made of felt and was hand stitched by the boy who gave it to her. The mug has the opening of Beethoven’s Pathetique Piano Sonata printed on it.

We wondered if it was a sensible idea, leaving the chocolate brownies to cool in front of Hugo!

Friends who post the same thing on more than one social media platform - how do you do this, please? Do you use something that automatically publishes one post on several platforms/accounts at the same time? Does it do alt text for you? Thank you.

Mary was not impressed with the early start yesterday morning (up at 6am on a Bank Holiday Monday, train at 7:31am!) nor with breakfast on the train, but at least the journey went smoothly.

On Sunday we celebrated #TowelDay

Another photo catchup. Earlier this month we made a Chocolate Oreo Torte. It was very rich, creamy & chocolatey. Absolutely delicious!

More photos, this time from the iPad instead of the phone. We also have a new hug member. He joined us a week ago. He’s hand knitted, and was sold at a concert the hooms went to in aid of the Winchester Hospice. His name is Coco , and we welcomed him with a homemade chocolate cake.

Right, photo catch-up time. We've been busy and taken photos, but not had time to share them until now.

Happy birthday, Wolfie! @topsie.bsky.social

Martha: the hooms and I went to parkrun this morning, and then went to a nearby cafe for a cooked breakfast. It was delicious!

Happy birthday to Her! @hattieotter.bsky.social

A parcel arrived yesterday! Very exciting. What could be inside? "Ooh," said Emma, "It says Steiff on the box. I'm a Steiff bear. Is this one of my cousins?"

A reminder of this exciting event.

Apparently it’s #SuperbOwl Sunday

Time for a slice of Salted Caramel Millionaires Shortbread and a bottle of Fentiman's Cherry Cola.

Out for a cheeky Nandos this lunchtime. Celebrating hoom's sister's birthday.

RIP Marianne Faithfull www.theguardian.com/culture/2025...

We’ve got an exciting event coming up!

Looks like we had snow last night.

We started the New Year off in style with a meal out at Zizzi - Vegan Rainbow Lasagna, Apple & Rhubarb drink, and Zillionaire's Fudge Cake.

Baby B went for a Boxing Day walk with the hooms and found this little nature trail.

If you care about the future of the NHS & you see this on Boxing Day, please could you share this? If we want privatisation to be removed from the NHS, NHS campaigners like me have a *lot* of work to do next year and…I’d just like to see if people care enough about this for our campaigning to work…

Hoom saw some pretty lights on the way home from work yesterday. Both trees were really colourful, but unfortunately this seems to have got a bit lost. You probably need a better camera, not the one on the phone.

Hoom usually visits her pupils, rather than them coming to her. The family she visits on a Thursday currently have this painting standing on the floor of the room she teaches in. We thought it looked rather like @thisbear.bsky.social

We went to Cafe Thrive (vegan cafe in Southampton) to celebrate hoom's birthday (birthday is tomorrow). We had a Chrimbo Burger and chips (chips were shared with male hoom), followed by a Mince Pie Crumble Slice.

Community breakfast in church today before Café Church. Five mins before the service and someone said, on realising the time, "Less talking, more sausage!"

We're trying to remember to post here as well as X. Here we are with a couple of books, one we've finished (Sherlock Holmes) and one we're currently reading.

The Christmas puddings are currently steaming in the kitchen, and the house smells lovely!

We’ve just realised we haven’t shown you our new outfits yet! They arrived last Friday, from StuffieStuff.

@neilhimself.neilgaiman.com we’ve just finished watching Good Omens 2 and absolutely loved it! Thank you. We particularly loved the little details: the Highlands covered in tartan as Aziraphale arrived in Scotland; the sign on the shop door saying “Very closed”.

Wow! We’ve suddenly got 60 followers on here. Hello, new pals. *Sebastian and Emma wave to all their followers*

We had a lovely meal out on Saturday night. Here we are with a vegan "Chicken" Combo (seitan in batter, with chips & coleslaw) and a red velvet cupcake with a chocolate skull on the top.