b a c k

Hello. We're back from our dose of warmth and restoration in Arizona. We did very little beyond relaxing, swimming, and enjoying the sunshine. Just lovely being together, not having a list of things to do, and meeting up with old friends.

Unfortunately, towards the end of our trip my mother became very ill back home and has had to have a life-changing operation. So I've been down in Cardiff with her for the last week. Just back with doglet and co-carer now, and Mum is recovering slowly but surely. Turns out that 2013 isn't going to be quite as good as hoped, disappointments and challenges still presenting themselves just when we were really hoping that our luck had changed.

As has become a mini tradition, day one of our Arizona prescription is a trip to Whitfill's nursery to see the healthful plants, and enjoy the gentle ordered pace of gardeners and gardening. The plants are luminous, and the chat under the shade of the trees gentle and comforting. Here are some dying roses, looking so beautiful in their last phase.

Looking forward to some warmth and light here in Scotland too, now that the days are so long. And keeping positive and thankful -- how can anything seem bad when the doglet's jowls are always there to see?

t a k e o f f

I've just come in from a short sharp reminder of the strength of doglet's will. Jaws clamped, with a force that could challenge gravity on Jupiter, around a football that is not her's, or mine. Running very fast. In the only 5 minutes of gale-force wind and pelting rain in an otherwise glorious day.

Looking after her on my own while trying to finish everything at work and get me and the house ready for a 2-week trip away has been uniquely exhausting. This is what it must feel like to be a single mum, for whom I have enormous respect. Every day is a feat of military planning, and squeezing things in. But we're almost there now. Everything is packed, the house is almost ready to be repainted while we are away, and I have managed to sew up two skirts, one in this crazy dog-patterned fabric.

And I've indulged in a new lens for the camera, a fast one to allow me to do close ups with a narrow depth of field, and to take pictures in low light. This is forcing me to start bothering to read camera instructions and trying to understand ISOs. I'm hoping that this trip away will give me a chance to get to know my camera properly, after only 2.5 years. This motley collection of photos is a selection of my experiments with the pancake so far -- untouched, and a bit random.

This time tomorrow night, I'll be in the desert. Wow.

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*I took this photo exactly 2 years ago tomorrow.

P r e p a r a t i o n

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I've been a slow blogger. We've been very busy, celebrating birthdays and finishing term and doing tonnes of marking. And now doglet and I are home alone as co-carer has gone away until I join him in just over a week. This is by far the longest we've been apart in nearly three years, so that's quite strange. And it's very busy taking care of doglet on my own.

But also lovely; she's such a nice companion. Yesterday we had to do an awful job of filling inaccessible holes behind the kitchen cupboards with wire wool and expanding foam to prevent those damn mice. Doglet sat next to me very quietly throughout so she could give me a tiny lick of encouragement after each stage. She's the best.

Before I go away I want to get some summer sewing done. We've been watching the GB sewing bee, which is quite good but no where near the Bake Off yet. The judges don't have the wit and the process is a bit slow for tV. I think we need more practical tips too.

To get off the starting blocks, I've made myself a tailor's ham and sausage so that I can get the pressing just right. They weren't easy -- stuffing them with sawdust was one of the messiest jobs ever, especially if you're worried about mice.

1. Peruvian mouse after a wash, from National Geographic.

p o s e s

doglet was out today, enjoying the welcome sunshine by the river. Look at those jowls.