Much to my surprise, I have discovered today two wonderful versions of a song. It is "Hurt" originally sung by Nine Inch Nails, and then covered by Johnny Cash, not long before he died. Both versions in their different ways are excellent, but at the moment the Cash one is doing it for me, not least because of the video that accompanies it - absolutely breathtaking, and very moving. Both can easily be found on Youtube - if you haven't found them, I recommend scoping them out. I feel rather embarrassed as both songs have been around for ages, and I have only just cottoned on to their existence. Annoyingly as a teenager, country in all forms was regarded as being completely outside taste and decency, so I never listened to any, with the exception of Ry Cooder (yes, not really country I know, but American, and a slide guitarist without match). It is only later as I got into blues, a bit of folk and a dash of bluegrass, that it began to dawn on me that country could be good, so there are still these large gaps in my knowledge and understanding of it. Going back to the song, the lyrics are raw, powerful and describe harrowing emotional suffering, with its isolation and corrosive effects on relationships. I recommend it wholeheartedly.

After that, there really isn't much else I can add, except I am thinking of buying some of the later Cash CDs - the American songbook series - Hurt comes from Volume 4, the last he made before he died. Interestingly, there is a posthumous Volume 5 too. Several of the albums were made with the Heartbreakers (as in Tom Petty and) who I already liked as they sing two of my favourite songs - I Won't Back Down and Learning To Fly.

What I think today confirms is that truly great songs can stand and are enhanced by cover versions that are completely different in genre. Am just thinking of some of Leonard Cohen's such as Hallelujah which everyone has had a go at, and of course the wonderful Nouvelle Vague. They dared to cover Love Will Tear us Apart, which I would have regarded as heresy, but to my amazement, I loved it. Another of my all time fave albums is KD Lang's compilation of covers, Hymns of the 49th Parallel. She chooses some blinders including Joni Mitchell, Neil Young and of course Mr Cohen. Her voice is so beautiful that if she invited me I would become a lesbian without a second's hesitation, although I realise this is a very theoretical possibility.

As threatened yesterday, some photos of the garden. From the top, our cardoon, which after a terrible start last year, this year is looking magnificent. Proof if any were needed that recovery is possible after the most disastrous setbacks. Secondly, one of our beautiful alliums. I love these crazy green fronds - there's something terribly random and druggy about them, which suits my mood at the moment. In the background of this picture, you can see the pot with the lilies in it - so far we've had no problems with lily beetle. Touching wood frantically as I type this. So far, every visitor to the house who's seen them has said "Oh, what lovely lilies. Have you had any problems with lily beetles?" as lots of them have.

Thirdly, honeysuckle. One of my favourite flowers since childhood, and even the smell of it takes me back to being 12, and hacking along a Gower lane covered with blossom on the way to a common for a canter. Or Pony Club camp. Both very happy memories. Why not share your favourite smell -induced memories? I realise that this is all getting a bit Proustian, but hey, why not?

Another Tuesday and not a great deal to report. The weather keeps threatening to turn into a proper summer, and then it rains.......... ho hum. The only upside is the garden looks fantastic. At the front of the house, we have banks of lavender and santolina (cotton lavender) in flower and they smell divine. Also out there are flourishing sage, both purple and gold, rosemary and a variegated marjoram. With some scabious in pinks and purples, and a hanging basket full of pretty verbena the whole effect is fragrant and very pretty. I will try and take some pictures, although they won't be able to capture the glorious scent. Bees love it and the lavender particularly is alive with them, which is good.

In the pond we have a new crop of micro fish - tiny baby goldfish that are no bigger in length than my thumbnail, and about the width of a pine needle. My knowledge of fish biology is rather shaky - I remember doing the life cycle of the stickleback in O level Biology but that was (scarily) nearly thirty years ago. Anyway, we had never attempted to sex our fish when we bought them as I have no idea how this is done, or had any plans for a breeding colony. This seems to be a happy accident and I hope it shows that the pond environment is good for both fish and amphibians. The larger fish (parents, possibly) are flourishing and have become responsive and surprisingly bold when they are fed each day on a kind of pellet. Unfortunately, it is usually a race between the fish and a certain greyhound, who has mastered the art of perilous leaning while stretching his neck like a giraffe. This enables him to scoff any pellets which are within reach. It's an amazing sight to see fish and greyhound tongue chasing the same pellet - one day he is either going to lean too far and fall in, or he is going to accidentally lick up a live fish, and then there'll be trouble.

In other news, local government both nationally and locally will be facing a series of strikes this summer. Nationally, Unison have voted for industrial action on the national pay award. Locally, Cardiff unions are in dispute with the council over the revised sickness policy. It will be interesting to see how these disputes unfold. Generally, all out strike action is limited in its effectiveness, both politically and practically, but industrial action such as refusing overtime could be a very different matter and would be devestatingly effective in our service, where most of our weekend and events cleaning is based on overtime working. With the Eisteddfod shortly coming to Cardiff in a matter of weeks now, this could potentially have a huge impact both nationally and on the city stage. This heightens the stakes considerably for both sides of the dispute, and it will be fascinating to see what tactics are used.

A brief post on the theme of chickens again. We went to Tesco tonight for our weekly shop. I am happy to report that we were able to buy free range chicken breast portions (or organic), as well as thighs. Got free range eggs - but have been buying those for years. By a quirk, their egg producer is only about 2 miles down the road, on the Wentloog levels, so is also incredibly local. Hellmann's mayonnaise has now also gone Free Range, which is excellent ( I resisted the obvious pun there - sorry, so easy to talk about cracking jokes, groan......) There has also been an noticeably steady improvement in the availability of outdoor reared British pork and bacon over the last couple of years, and we always buy this if we can. I am less convinced of the need for strictly organic production, particularly at the high price differential but would welcome views on this. We do buy some, principally yoghurt (Rachel's Dairy, and Yeo Valley), butter (when Andy doesn't pinch it) and some other dairy products but that is unashamedly on the basis of flavour, rather than any perceived environmental benefit. Some chocolate also would fall into this category such as Green and Black's - I use their cocoa powder for cooking. Again, similar reasoning for some fairtrade sugars and a few organic flours - we love the Dove's Farms ones which we use regularly in the breadmaker. Approximately 80% of our bread consumption is now home-made, and the other 20% is shop bought mainly because I haven't got my act together and occasionally forget to set the machine in the evenings. Also, I would always buy specialist baked goods such as bagels - life is really too short to make these, as they are both boiled and baked. Current favourite mix in the breadmaker is 70% strong white, 15% rye flour and 15% white with seeds (countrygrain) - this makes a beautifully textured, nutty flavoured loaf without that plutonium like density that all rye breads can often achieve. Fellow Pratchett readers will be familiar with dwarf bread - well, rye flour is definately one of the key ingredients along with a little gravel for lightness.

Anyway, the point of all this rambling is that Tesco do seem to be responding to customer demand and stocking meat that is produced humanely - and for that they should be congratulated.

Quick update on the wounded warrior - he is licking his paw a lot, but seems to be recovering. When we got back from Tesco, I took some of the bathroom purchases upstairs, to find that he had been playing with his friend the oven glove, which had been placed lovingly on our bed. He then supervised the unpacking of the carrier bag of goodies, and decided to have a recreational gnaw on some of the contents. My new anti-perspirant now has some rather fetching teeth marks in it.

Firstly, apologies to Jonathan. Of course you can have as many oiled young men as you like - no exclusivity was intended. And isn't it good news about Russell T Davies? Will we all have to curtsey? Nice to see him being rewarded for his good work though.

Favourite aunty came for the weekend, and yes, we did have a barbeque, but it was not as warm as we would have liked. She came on Friday night, and we did Jamie's chicken caesar salad, which was lovely, followed by bowls of strawberries. At this time of the year, when it's possible to get British ones that taste lovely they are a real treat.

On Saturday we went to Bath, as a belated birthday treat for Hil. Bath is a magical city in many ways, for visiting, although I would not like to live there. From a shopping point of view it is as much fun as London, as there are lots of my favourite shops there and loads of gorgeous, quirky individual places that make beautiful things. We visited a sausage shop and bought some lovely home made sausages. Also to the new Cath Kidston store - I love her retro florals and vintage looks. In one particular place there can be found Space NK, Molton Brown, Lush and L'Occitane all within a credit card flick of each other. I decided to simply avoid temptation completely by not entering Space NK - a painful struggle but virtue won. L'Occitane did manage to lure me in and I succumbed to a beautiful Green Tea with Mint cologne. Sadly, they have stopped doing their beautiful ironing waters, I particularly liked the Verbena one. The sales assistant was telling me that lots of customers ask for it every week - seems a pity this message has not gone back to the company.

When we were visiting Claire and Basil the previous weekend, they were telling us about a quirky public art project in Bath this summer, featuring a hundred different decorated pigs in Bath and its environs. The theme derives from King Bladud (founder of Bath) and his pigs, and they are being auctioned for charity at the end of the summer. C & B have one near them in Bathampton which we saw, and Hil and I were looking out for them. We saw three and loved them. Photos attached. The one in the tree is a Pig of Paradise - brilliant. The project has its own website - http://www.kingbladudspigs.org/

When we returned home, we decided to be brave as it wasn't actually snowing, and eat outdoors. Andrew fired up the barbie, thermal vests were donned, and we enjoyed the Mongolian Fire pot sausages we brought back from the sausage shop, along with a variety of other delicacies and a big jug of Pimms. For dessert, Andrew made pineapple kebabs that he coated in brown sugar, before caramelising them on the hot grill. This was delicious and I highly recommend it.

On Sunday, we went down to Ikea as Hil was looking for some photo frames. We bought some new plates, as several of our existing ones have fallen victim to Andy's counter-surfing habits. Also bought a couple of glass vases that I will be using to store my various crafty bits in, such as bone folder, pokey tool, craft knife, tweezers etc... Finally took her to the station in the afternoon, and spent a quiet remainder of the day.

Andrew took both dogs to the vet this morning. Booty had a scheduled check up as the vet requires a personal visit after three prescriptions (for her NSAIDs). Due to over-enthusiastic squirrel chasing yesterday morning, Andy had the equivalent of a skinned knee on the top of his foot. Because greys have so little body fat, and such tissue like skin, we've become quite blase about superficial wounds and both dogs have an impressive collection of scars. The vet was able to do a double appointment, and confirmed there was nothing to worry about, and gave the wounded warrior a painkiller. Subsequently, he's been asleep all day, but emitting the most noxious wind. Booty is continuing on her medication, and the vet confirmed her muscle tone is excellent. The warmer weather is also helping her. Just about to go and watch Mary Queen of Shops which apparently this week is in Cardiff. Should be interesting.

Firstly, apologies to all for the hiatus in posting. No plausible excuses such as computer problems, foreign trips or domestic refurbishments. It's tempting to go with the blog equivalent of "The dog ate my homework". They eat virtually everything else. Reality is slightly more prosaic and therefore in all the finest traditions I say "Bah" - I don't do prosaic, or humdrum.

Most important news first. We have a flourishing housemarten nest on the front of the house, under the eaves, just above the guest bedroom. If you're planning a stay with us this summer, you'll be close to the action. The nest is an intricate construction of tiny mud lumps, forming a sort of mosaic construction. Because of the angle, it is impossible to see inside it, but all sorts of intriguing noises are coming from it. Every time we come into or out of the house, we spend a couple of minutes looking up, fascinated and enthralled.

Last weekend, we saw Aida down at the Millennium Centre. Every time I visit the auditorium, my affection for the building grows. I love the way it works - a full auditorium of people can be moved around, and catered for without too much squeeze. During the intervals there are always lots of nice nooks and crannies to wander around and park with a drink, and it is the first theatre in the history of the universe to have sufficient toilets for women visitors.

The only rather endearing drawback is that even though we must have been at least a dozen times now, and Andrew is a former Scout leader so is officially good at finding his way around, the signing for the auditorium is very poor in terms of selecting your entrance. Because of the rather cunning design, it's often counter-intuitive, so for instance as on Saturday night, our tickets were for the second row of the stalls but we found ourselves ascending to the first floor and around a couple of corners before we arrived at the right entry for the auditorium. This means that the building is often full of befuddled visitors getting a good stretch of their legs before the show. The signing for the various doors and entrances is beautifully discreet and rather stylish, and hence completely useless as people simply don't seem to see it. Hours of fun!

Anyway, about the opera. I hadn't seen this one before so was interested. Orchestra were faultless. WNO are justly famous for their chorus and this is an opera that allows them a starring role. In this production the main line up had also been supplemented by a further group so in total around 120 people would be on stage during crowd scenes. The chorus sang wonderfully.

Main roles were also generally very well sung although the woman who sang the title role had a charisma bypass (not strictly necessary I realise). Her singing was a little tight to begin with, but she warmed up beautifully as the evening progressed. Dennis O'Neill sang the male lead and again, his voice is wonderful. Perhaps wrongly, I spent the journey down to the theatre speculating with Andrew how the imagined Egyptian footwear (probably sandals) would be accommodated to provide heels for him. When he walked on stage, it appeared that the costume designer had neatly overcome the problem by simply transposing his costume to the 19th Century. Hence he wore baggy pantaloons, knee high wedge boots (!!!), a black jacket and a kind of shawl that dangled from his shoulders at the back. The wedges were a completely new advance on his usual black lift shoes. The entire costume would have looked dashing on a man of 6 ft with a godlike bod, but as DON is built like me, being about five feet tall and the same width it didn't really work. Also unfortunately, the director had placed a lavish sprinkling of scantily dressed young men around the set as mobile eye candy - very successful as they were superbly buff. They popped up as slaves, soldiers and dancers at one point. Anyway, at one point, the Egyptian princess who wants his hand is lying on a chaise longue being fanned and fawned over by a quartet of half naked muscular young men, glistening with body oil, lithe, taut and willing to do anything she demands. Female readers will be happy to know I had a long list of commands mentally prepared..... There was then a bit of a mental leap required to imagine said princess declining this delicacy for the pleasures of a man in late middle age, of considerable girth and questionable costume.... Hmmm.

All in all, the production was very well done, but the opera itself just didn't grab me - it seemed to keep lurching between huge crowd scenes and a more intimate central threesome. Andrew has now booked our tickets for the summer 2009 season.

This weekend was pleasant. On Saturday I went to another craft workshop at Inkspot, on using Fantasy Film and Fibre. I have seen these items on sale at craft shops and shows, but had never used them, so was interested to see what could be done with them. As usual, the teacher, Pam is excellent, being very thorough and helpful, and happy to answer lots of questions. We made three very pretty cards, each using different techniques with the materials. I have now booked in to another one on the 21st on Shrink Plastic.

Sunday we visited Bathampton where resides Andrew's sister Claire, husband and three boys. A blazing hot day, which we spent mainly relaxing in the garden. The dogs were very good and I attach a picture of Andy who decided the sand pit was the place for him. Also a pic of Basil with a mug of tea and Claire holding Alex the youngest of the three boys. He is growing remarkably quickly and is now at the stage where he comes up and launches into a cheerful and lengthy speech, none of which is comprehensible. Claire and Basil were "tuned in" so were able to provide translation services. Took birthday presents for James, the middle son, gave him some more Scaletrix bits,which went down well,so we all went upstairs to have a go - great fun. I managed to get my Subaru over the ramp first time - yay! Came home very tired and spent a quiet evening in the garden with a jug of Pimms.

Weather very hot again today so dogs are quiet and relaxing in the house. A is in Scotland but is returning tonight. This coming weekend, having a visit from fave auntie Hilary. If weather continues to be good, might risk planning a barbeque. Having written this, I realise the law of sod will now intervene and it will probably snow.