Monday

It was a lovely morning this morning - and it continues to get lighter earlier - so much so that the sun is well up now when I leave the house. Mind you, I am leaving the house just a little later as I am using the walking machine first thing in the morning.

The birdlife around Latimers is amazing at the moment. We have heard noises coming from the swallow nest and M has even seen a little head popping up. We don't know how many are in there - and hopefully there aren't too many because they are going to be awfully cramped in there. Beasley continues to sit out there just waiting ... waiting ... waiting.

There's also a nest of plovers in Hermes' paddock - and M says we will need to be careful when mowing in there. I thought it would be fairly easily to pick the nest - wouldn't it be where they are, I asked - but apparently not. They don't hang around just near the nest so you have to watch out for a hole in the ground, with eggs in it.

M and Pearl took the rubbish and recycling up to the road this afternoon. It was a bit of a jump for Pearl into the back of the 4-wheel-drive but she managed to do it, and she looked very excited to be going off for a drive.

When she came back, M told us that the moon was amazing. It is full moon (now or tomorrow) and it is the September moon - of the Moon Festival. You could see it from the top of the drive, but not from Latimers. By the time you could see it from Latimers - the clouds had moved across. They had predicted rain for this evening so it looks like there is a good chance they are right about that.

It's not as cold this evening so the cats may not come in as early as they have been. Certainly Maggie will come in though because she will have heard that M is cooking dinner tonight - and that means that there will be green vegetables in everyone's future - specifically zucchinis, of the stuffed variety. And they were very yummy indeed - even though you just know they were loaded with hidden vegetable goodness - and accompanied by mixed linguini! It's nice for S to have a break from cooking - and she really enjoyed it. And I especially enjoyed it because M didn't follow the usual rule - the person who cooks doesn't clean up - and she cleaned up as she went - and then finished cleaning up afterwards.

It was nice watching Pearl watch M cook too - just lying on the floor, perhaps waiting for something tasty to fall in her direction. But she is a faithful companion - staying all through the cooking, and all through the eating as well. She was rewarded with a little bit of the leftovers - just a bit because she didn't need any more (said M).