OK, first with the toothache. What had been an intermittent niggle turned by Saturday night into one of those horrible, intense, raging pains that turns you into a miserable, sleepless creature, restlessly stalking the house and seriously considering using a pair of pliers just to make it go away. Used the emergency dental system on Sunday, and ended up in Pontypridd (what a horrible place) where a very nice dentist not surprisingly diagnosed an abscess. Prescribed antibiotics and went at high speed to pharmacy at nearby Tesco (in a place called Upper Boat - why? Is there a Lower Boat? ) plus large quantities of over the counter painkillers. The pain continued to be so annoying that even scarfing down the tablets like Smarties wasn't making much of a dent and I spent another pretty miserable evening and night. Slept for a lot of today and there is beginning to be a slight improvement. Seeing my own dentist on Thursday morning - I will be marching in there with the pliers, saying "Just do it."

Since I last wrote, the summer avalanche of visitors has continued. The weekend after Rita and Roger was busy, with a wonderful lunch party on the Saturday for Penny and Paula. Very pleased with how menu turned out - did a sort of Meditteranean assortment of mezze - with lots of different salads, home made flatbreads, Andrew's home made hummus (which is great), chicken and to finish home made strawberry shortcakes. Fantastic to enjoy Penny and Paula's company with plenty of time for chatting and laughter. Paula brought along some of her home made beading and jewellery to show us - it is stunning and I was very touched when she gave both Penny and me a piece of her wonderful di-chromic glass as a gift. I've mounted it on a chain and it makes a stunning pendant which attracts very positive comments whenever I wear it. You can see me wearing it in some of the attached pics.

On the Sunday, Andrew's sister, her husband and three boys arrived from Bath for a day visit. The boys are enjoying their summer, even though the weather hasn't been too good. We all went over to Cefn Mably Farm Park for a look at the animals and a picnic. The farm is only about 5 miles from us, well laid out and as well as the animals there are plenty of old tractors and combines, and toy vehicles for the boys to play on/with. Picnic went well - made a tray of Rocky Road for the first time and can recommend it. We were lucky with the weather - a few intermittent showers, but nothing to spoil the day. Came home and boys had a bowl of pasta before leaving. Some pics attached.

On Monday, the next day, Hilary arrived from Swansea for a four day stay. We went to see the new Harry Potter film while she was up. Some good bits, but overall I felt it was too long and needed some more editing, especially to remove some of the teenager related romance. The performance was marred by the Chav Brats From Hell who were sitting behind us - although sitting was not really much on the agenda - with plenty of kicking, fidgets, texting, whining, loud eating and drinking, crying, sneezing, sniffing, more whining at quiet bits and other anti social behaviour. To be fair, the children were I think too young to have been taken to such a long film, but this type of behaviour is why we so rarely go to the cinema - and it is certainly not just confined to children. Openly talking through the film, making and receiving calls, fidgeting and kicking and loud eating/slurping have all rapidly become the norm.

We also enjoyed a lot of craft related activity - with visits to the new Hobbycraft and to Inkspot. Overall,the days just flew by and it seemed no time at all before we took her back to the station on Thursday afternoon. Her next visit will be for the big annual craft exhibition/fair at the CIA in the autumn, one of the highlights of the crafting year.

Friday was a catch-up day on the domestic front and on Saturday afternoon, Anna and Bec came over with Pacman, both for a catch up and for Andrew to help Anna with some of the bits to do with her new website. Pacman and Andy had a wonderful dudely afternoon together, with a lot of synchronised weeing in the garden, Paco emitting very powerful farts, cuddles all round and Booty enjoying having some new people to adore her - she is such a diva!

Tomorrow should have been the St. Mellons show over at Tredegar House. However, due to the appalling weather last week, the show organisers reluctantly decided to cancel it, as the ground is like a quagmire. So my first foray into competitive showing of crafts has been suspended.

Over the weekend, Andrew's parents came to stay with us, the first of a succession (very welcome, I hasten to add) of summer visitors. They arrived on Friday. On Saturday and Sunday we were blessed with blazing sunshine and scorching temperatures. Amazingly we then woke up on Monday after they had gone to be faced with more rain. We had an enjoyable weekend. On Saturday we visited the Brecon Mountain Railway - a gorgeous little baby steam train, above Merthyr running along into the Beacons National Park. Glorious scenery, plentiful wildflowers, absolutely lovely. I attach some pics. Sunday was again very hot, so we ended up just having a walk with the dogs over at Tredegar House, before coming back and soaking up the sunshine in the garden, with Pimm's in a big jug and a delicious crab tart.

While we were over at Tredegar House, and just walking back to the car, we bumped into Marianne, my quilt tutor from Busy Bees so it was great to say hello and introduce everyone. Andy is notorious for flirting with her - he likes leaning against her and looking up at her with adoring eyes. On Saturday night I made some Turkish style flatbreads with Moroccan lamb - very successful, served with big piles of salad. The dogs were very well behaved and all enjoyed themselves.

Went over to friend Paula's tonight, for Andrew to assist in bathing her greyhounds. Although they are not the heaviest of dogs, they are large and an awkward shape to lift, so Jim and Blue are now beautifully clean, fragrant and fluffy.

A peaceful weekend before a very busy August. Yesterday, we bathed the dogs, fortunately not something we do too often as it is traumatic for them and damp for us. Pics attached. Even though Booty loves water when she is out on her walks, she is not a fan of the bath. Her tail goes between her legs and she shakes while she is in there. I love the way they look when they emerge - fluffy and spiky and somehow so naked without their collars on. When Booty is draped with the towel while she is being dried, she always reminds me of a medieval charger, wearing heraldic livery.

I popped down to Hobbycraft yesterday afternoon - this is in a new retail complex adjacent to the new stadium in Cardiff, shared between Cardiff football and rugby club. Swansea have done a similar thing. Treated myself to some crafty bits, before coming home. We watched Indiana Jones and the Crystal Skull last night which was awful, truly dismal and astoundingly bad. If you haven't watched it, please don't. Tonight, we watched Mamma Mia, at last, long after the rest of the world I guess. Loved it - slightly surreal, very perculiar to see an actress like Meryl Streep cavorting and singing so badly - and Pierce Brosnan! But all in all fab, and I was very happily reminded of the many nice holidays we have enjoyed in Greece, which Andrew particularly loves.

Rather worryingly,we are beginning to look ahead to some autumn activities - planning a weekend in London and a pre-Christmas trip over to Germany to enjoy some of their festive markets. How quickly this year is going by!