til i have an 18 inch chest and tummy. i had to put up with a lot of being tickled and having my feet played with while we measured.

bum. mum and dad are not coming to visit tomorrow after all. and yet sam is still talking about making sure they get their baking!

erm. has anyone seen a sam? or a flopsy? they are nowhere in the flat and i thought she was off work this week.

apparently we are getting two types of swirly bun this week! the cardamom ones are puffing up before they go in the oven today, and sam says we will get cinnamon ones on friday.

excellent news for small dogs.

I've got the

yes

we are all in shock.

LOOKIT THE TINY VAMPIRE KITTY!

This is delightful.

now you know what tog looks like when they have a snack

one of our friends from home has a small cow called moo who looks quite like this. i should get in touch to see how they are doing.

CAYK TUNNEL! CAYK TUNNEL! extra sticky spicy gooey gingerbread available now!

ok, who inspired sam to put on BIG NOISY MUSIC?

when we go back to fishbourne, with tog for the twangdibulator and spare sunnies for me just in case, i would like to meet huxley and ask if he can reenact this obvious-important-archaeological-research look.

"why is it easier to book trains to amsterdam than it is to book them to go home after xmas?" sam grumbles. ok. from this i am guessing (a) we are going to ams for her birthday this year (b) she has her xmas rota (c) we are preparing for "remember your pants this time" texts from mum and dad. again.

i think this is the bed our niblings set up for me last time we visited. it was very comfy.

yes. we know the type.

also known as sam

TERRIBLE NEWS from up the hill. the place that sells donuts as big as my head has closed! "i went to get us one to have with our cuppa and the note on the door says they have gone TO WEST SUSSEX," sam said in horror.

The biggest pink and the smaller pink have been out being responsible adults at #Bristol Aquarium… *hard bear stare* #Jaws #shark

we are back home and all awake in daylight and it is getting close to halloween and bonfire night, so sam says that as well as swirly buns there will be gingerbread being made today or this week. there are advantages to grey damp inside all day weather.

"cake for breakfast!" croaks sam as she wanders through with a big mug of tea and some almond slices we did not know about. nightshifts are not great but she makes the jetlag on each side of them quite enjoyable.

i knew there was something sam was not telling me about her day there. bet the columns in the forum were made of cadburys fingers.

we thought she was trolling us when she sent this on her way back.

come on sam, finish "washing the day off" so we can have tiramisu!

"someone appears to have a side hustle," says sam. "and yet you complain when i donot bring you any back."

please tell us in advance when it next comes around. i can bring a polar bear for you to test.

apparently it has been world octopus day. please have this picture of the only octopus that really bothers sam ("because i do not know whether to find it cute or terrifying")

"oh no," says sam. "we have all these swirly buns to eat before friday."

i am tired just watching

we bought an a4 print for a present and it is ace. if we had not run out of room on the walls here we would have kept it.

i hope there is at least ten minutes about @hatchthedog.bsky.social.

til some ducks are not evil. in fact, some ducks are really kind and clever.

does anyone else with xennial hooms remember this game? sam has just found it for 50p on steam. she is cackling away before she has even started trying to herd them.

bookmarking this to show sam she is not the only one.

sam is going into nightshifts by replicating her early shift rush out of the house for late afternoon appointments. any divergence from her routine messes everything up. so we have afternoon morning tea.

i was there. can confirm.

there is supposed to be baking happening. why is there no baking happening yet?

and yet we were not allowed one more espresso before the flight.

off its head on vaporub and sinus medication. sam got 100% in one of her first ou assignments on that combo. she says if she had not been so congested she would probably have able to smell time

"i really meant to bring some back for you, but then it turned out to be so big i could not help seeing it as a challenge and so i ate it all." - sam explaining why there was no pizza with her when she got back

would rescue the one on the right from mars. would happily leave the one on the left there.

"right," she says, "i am off. no terrorising the locals." look, flopsy did that ONCE and they are much more used to steely eyed hagglers here.

naples seems nice. we are just around the corner from a place that is famous for its bakage, and sam found a me-size moped on her way back from a mini-adventure underground.

sigh. more people who are dead to us. sam says actually this kind of thing helps. "there is too much to read and watch, but if i filter out things with racists and terfs and hetcis middle class white men, it makes it a bit more manageable."

sometimes when sam has been out she will come and drop something on the sofa all casual when she gets back.

sophie is absolutely sizing nora up for a future attack. be careful wee pup

it is good to see they are not born entirely zen, just mostly. also we are bookmarking this video for when sam says getting into your food does not mean like that

sam is on late shifts. none of us like this. i am not saying she should wake up specially to make sure those of us with more regular hours have tea when we wake up but