Sometimes, things happen in life that are unexpected miracles. People do things that are magnificent acts of kindness and generosity. By doing so, they bring joy and happiness and go a long way to act as lights in the world. If you read my blog, you'll see a list down the side of other websites/blogs that I recommend or particularly like. One of these is a blog called the Calico Quilter, which as the name suggests is a quilter living in the USA with her husband, her cat Molly and a rather lovely garden, all of which feature regularly. Long term readers will recall my offering hand made Christmas cards to anyone who'd like one two Christmasses back, and CQ was one of the volunteer recipients. Since then, we've continued to read each other's blogs, exchange emails and again Christmas cards. CQ like myself is hopelessly devoted to her husband and animal companion (in her case, Molly) but unlike me she is a ferociously talented and highly disciplined quilter with a work rate that is pretty Stakhovian. Anyway, enough background - I commend her blog to you.

But what really matters is that at the end of last week, a wonderful tube arrived via the postman. The contents were so securely wrapped I spent ages peeling off layers, surrounded by greyhounds all gradually disappearing under waves of tissue paper. Eventually, I reached the precious cargo. Oh boy!! A glorious handmade wall hanging, beautifully quilted, foundation pieced of a black greyhound. I sat there with tears in my eyes and a lump in my throat as I looked at the lovely hanging, hand made with exquisite care and finished impeccably. Andrew was away so all I could do was burble down the phone to him. Once he got home, we have spent the weekend wandering round the house with the hanging, holding it up against various walls and saying "Shall we put it here? Or here? How's the light in this spot? " anyway, we think we have a place for it, on the upstairs landing. We are going to move one of our John Knapp Fisher prints and use the space for the hanging. We haven't hung it yet, but I attach a couple of pics of it, laid out on the bed, one taken with flash and one without.

Since the weekend, I've continued to be busy with my microchipping research. I feel as though I am peeling off layers of an onion, as with every question I ask, at least three more pop up to be answered. Answers are slowly coming in from Councils to the basic questions about chipping strays, but I now have more questions to be raised about dog pounds and scanning dead dogs as well as a whole slew of technical queries about scanning, different scanners and the chips used.

In answer to Jan's query, here in the UK, microchipping is promoted heavily by nearly all reputable and major dog charities including our own, the Dogs' Trust, the RSPCA and so on. Although chips can and do migrate round the body, especially in dogs that are very thin (step forward all sighthounds and many rescue cases), I have not come across any queries about the health effects of chipping - I would say there is far more concern about vaccination. Microchipping is now compulsory for horses as part of the horse passport scheme and believe me, horse welfare is not generally something Brits compromise on as love of horses goes all the way up to the Royal Family. Can you imagine Princess Anne on the warpath if there was the slightest chance of it being harmful? I don't know what the general feeling is among the cat fraternity - generally cats in the UK are much less likely to be wearing a collar or any form of ID and they are treated differently legally - there is no such thing for instance as a "stray" cat as cats are recognised as being wanderers by nature.

So, all in all, a busy time, what with hangings, and chips and of course the daily routines of dog walking, housework, work and crafting.