It's been a pretty busy few days. The Tour has now finished, and it's been wonderful, one of the most interesting and surprising I can remember for a long time. I've really enjoyed every stage, and the suspense carried on right into the third week and into the last couple of stages. Last Wednesday, I went on a trip organised by Busy Bees, over to the American Museum near Bath at Claverton Manor. The manor is a beautiful old 18th Century mansion, set on Claverton Down, in gorgeous rolling countryside and was converted into a museum after the war. It focuses on the decorative arts and in particular shows how American rooms in the 18th and 19th Centuries would have been furnished, decorated and so on. I can heartily recommend it as a great day out anyway, but of particular interest is their very fine collection of quilts. I had seen these before but at the moment they are having an exhibiton which is showcasing some of the rarer quilts that are not normally on display, so it was great to see them. My friend Margaret was due to come on the trip but unfortunately she had trouble with her car's clutch the day before so couldn't make it. Anyway, we all trundled off on the bus, had a great journey, and on arrival were met by a lovely guide and then ushered in for a beautiful lunch. After that it was time for a leisurely browse round the exhibition and to marvel at the beautiful exhibits. Eventually it was time to head back on the bus around 4.30 but I liked the fact we had enough time to browse the exhibits and spend a bit of time wandering around the lovely gardens and grounds as well. It was a glorious day, with lots of fluffy clouds in a deep blue sky, bright sunshine and a cool breeze - wonderful.

On Saturday the quilting theme continued over at Busy Bees when they had the launch of their annual programme of classes (both one day and series) plus an exhibition of customers work in the Community Centre. Lots of lovely quilts, and I picked up a programme which is full of tempting classes.

The other main news is that I have now launched my microchipping website - www.houndmistress.co.uk - please take a look if you have a few minutes. I've been pretty busy compiling content for it, and just as much, doing lots of FOI requests to Welsh Councils for info to put on the site. Of course, the site will grow and develop over time but I'd be delighted to get any feedback, or suggestions for links for it. It's been very satisfying seeing something which started as just a quick question about strays develop into a whole big chunk of information needing to be sorted and organised. I'm sure I'll be writing more about it in the future.