Happy Birthday Lucy!

Today is Lucy, Reg and Ricci's first birthday and we all celebrated with cake!
Tunacake for Lucy and Pippa as above, we blew out the candle for her, but she kept a close eye as you can see.

Very good at standing on her hind legs is our Lucy! She can just reach the edge of the dining tabl e and kitchen worktops... Also still very keen on ''visiting'' us on a Sunday morning when still in bed. And also continues to be nervous of going back down by herself, still.

Birthday kisses mwah mwah mwah.

Oh stretchy mirrors. ''OK , then I'm halfway down, now what? It's too steep those last 3 steps....?''

Calico dachshunds seen on Regent st on Thursday 25 February.

SEE? I thought they were cute, except the tail is a bit on the short side?

Yes OK there were other dogs also, but the dachsies were the cutest!

A few recent photos of Lucy to celebrate how MUCH she's grown since the post here and here.

How she LOVES the snow!

Once there was one and now there are two: Lucy's head is larger than her mum Pippa's.

Muddy river water is always yummier than fresh tap water at home.

'' Hi there, aren't I cute? What do you mean I'm supposed to be on the LOWER cushions of the sofa? Preferable the OTHER- doggy special- sofa???? Mummy's doing it too- oo.''


CHEERS LUCY THANKS FOR A FABULOUS YEAR and here's a toast to very many MORE of the same.

You are energetic and fun and cheerful and charming, friendly to all dogs and humans and outstandingly loyal, faithful and sociable. You have the waggiest tail/ bottom and the longest wettest, roughest tongue. You always come find us when we are sad to comfort and cheer us and you ask to play just when we need a break the most.

We don't really mind the chewed seatbelts, the wiring or the very many cushions ( >10)you have now chewed the corners off and have disembowelled, the ankle chasing or the handbag- any bag!- searching and nibbling, the stolen bread or the raiding of the log basket...

JJ luckily was not too fond of the wool tartan picnic rug which is now a lacy structure with a pile of perfect frayed wool squares right besdie it...

You have the best nose for food or drink for you come running when we open a cupboard and your brown eyes and pleading expression are so hard to resist!

I simply adore it when I talk to you and you tilt your head to one side as in concentration of my possible meaning?

And you KNOW simply KNOW the meaning of many words but one learned in just a day is: TUNACAKE!

Thank you also for being the first of our Sluijter family dachshunds to have perfect RECALL.

I call and you come FLYING along from wherever you are and gladden my heart at such devoted obedience. Ears a- flapping and long body stretched with front and back paws kicked out at full power : you get to my side as fast as you can: good girl!!!!

We all adore you totally: man's best friend and all we could ever wish for:

HAPPY BIRTHDAY LUCY!!!!

Ps and this comes at a very very difficult time for us when the comfort of Lucy has been very needed and extremely welcome to both JJ and myself. ( as well as the girls).

Sorting Out Day...

Aaaah, what do you think? A gloriously sunny day dawns ans I thought these leaves looked just like celebratory BUNTING!!! All those lovely triangles and sharp diagonals, and those greens....

Hip hip hooray the kids were singing this morning: first day of half term....
This didn't last long: we'd agreed to ''sort and organise'' Miss Y's bedroom in preparation for a new very grown up bed ( very studenty it can look like a sofa when nicely made up) and a proper grown-up 3 door wardrobe....
But to ensure there was room and to facilitate some throwing out and giving away ( to Oxfam) of outdated/unloved toys etc as well as lovely but ''too childish now'' books we had planned this as a sorting out day. ( supposedly all 4 members of family would work as a team?? LOL
Oh dear what dramas we have had! Miss Y ( like me alas) is a wee hoarder and found this a very testing and trying time. Then again she re-discovered soo many beloved toys and games that I could wrap them for Christmas and she'd be delighted!!!( No I won't be so mean but it is a tempting thought...) There were 2 huge baskets of stuffed cuddly toys, one of large ones and one of medium sized ones and then another smaller basket of the tiny ones....
And whose idea was it to give her an Argos catalogue??? Her Christmas list is already over 2 miles ( and no I'm NOT kidding) long!!! Apart form being a hoarder she had a massivley acute attack of the ''wanties''.

Happy dogs were a welcome relief I can tell you! Here's Pippa in her customary pose when meeting any human. She's in her cute cuddly teddy bear phase, but I'll take a new photo because she had her 3 hour stint at the doggie beauty parlour today and is looking rather different.

Magnificent but with a lot less hair....!!!All those blonde curls on her paws are gone. Lucy is still working on her dominance strategy and moves to the driving seat the minute I move out of it.''What do you mean you're back?I'm driving home today!''
OK OK, I'll come back and sit in the back, I don't want to walk all the way from here.

Tonight after dinner JJ was persuaded that his help would be appreciated as he had promised the entire day off, but had spent it in his office on the phone/ answering e-mails all day- WHY do blokes do this??? Promise and book a day off and then hide away from the domestic stuff by working anyway???

Luckily he was great at the tidying and speeding it all up and we were all cracked up with laughter as it HAD to be done in flashing pink spectacles!

He's measuring walls so we can decide where the new- much bigger and taller- wardrobe is going to go... And me too in silly glasses as it helps in the fun: looking rather tired as I was up at 5 am with a whining nesting Pippa....She demanded to be let into my workroom to curl up on some piles of fabric. That's the old 5 am so it was probably only 4 am? OUCH! I am finding myself very very tired by 7pm and don't like the dark afternoons we now have!!!

It always takes me ages to get used to British Wintertime even if it does give you an extra hour in bed, but I have no problems adapting to the Spring change.

I will try to alleviate these long dark afternoons/evenings by planning some intensice crocheting and film watching/ fireside times!!! It's too dark to walk the dogs, even if I have bought them ''blinkies'' : which are flashing lights for their collars.

Yes really! JJ declares the sorting and tidying to be complete and the pink flashing glasses absolutely essential.

I just hope the rest of half term is a bit more fun than this was, mmmmm.

Have a really LOVELY week and I may be a bit late or sporadic depending on how the kids are.

We've got shopping and creating, skating and visiting to do as well as a trip to London and some entertaining.

See you soon? Have fun!