Good news or bad news?

"Ambrosia" apple. Highly recommended for flavour and crunch. This looks a wee bit more yellow than it looked in its last moments before consumption. Delicious.

Birthday present from Cam, Mandy and Lucy- thanks so much- yay!!!! Also highly recommended- Ghana Peppermint chocolate- no headache - probably because it is so rich that even I pace myself when enjoying it.

Gorgeous yak's wool wrap in the birthday parcel - so warm and snuggly, which has been good because of the bad news. I'm wearing it as I type.

Now for the bad news - I've got another sodding cold. This one is a hellish head cold with neck and shoulder stiffness and general grim feelings. Plus my students have been little b____s so I couldn't take time off and leave them to a reliever to mess them up after getting them back in line.

And this critter has been worrying me hugely because his bowel is clogged again and it is not long since the last big clean out. He has had two Microlax enema's today, with no results. Alarming stuff because without a bowel that works, a cat cannot survive. He is looking fine, as you can see, but despite our best efforts, I cannot get him to poo. To put this in perspective- the Microlax are human ones and are pretty much guaranteed to have your average homo sapien running for the loo within 15 minutes.

Back to the good news. I stirred myself from the couch to make a batch of my favourite minestrone soup. My personal tonic for all ills. I've got gardening plans for tomorrow, or at least sewing ones, so I need to get better fast.

Please poo Mr.Cat.

By the way, Johnny spent some time spraying the fence new denim blue today and the parts he has done look amazing. Photos tomorrow if the weather and germs allow. XXX