It's been a sad week. On Tuesday, Paula came with me over to Busy Bees so we could choose some fabric together for a course I am doing this coming Saturday. This helped us both a bit. The shop is lovely, very small, crammed with fabric and lots of other happy customers. As is usual, you end up having conversations with lots of other customers, ooh-ing over other people's fabric choices and also met another lady who will be doing the same course as me and had also come to buy supplies. The warmth and happiness of the shop atmosphere was good for us both - I am sorry to say though that I succumbed to temptation. As well as the layer cake I had got for the class, I also bought a Moda pack of gorgeous "Candy Bars" - these are like a charm square but cut in half so are 5" x 2.5" pieces. Forty in each pack - four packs. Absolutely lovely. I've been making some Dresden Plate blocks with them, and they have been a joy to do.

The week has been cold, crisp and frosty - lots of ice on the pond and the grass frozen over at the park. Paula has been walking over the park most days - she feels the exercise is doing her good, but it's hard as she keeps bumping into other dog walkers who of course want to know where Jim is. We met her on one of these on Thursday and it was a fresh blow - I hadn't realised how much I had mentally associated her with the dogs, seeing her walking alone was awful. Part of me kept expecting Jim to pop out and do his usual joyful bark of greeting at us, while wagging his tail and asking Andrew to play with him.

Yesterday, we went over to Paula's and she asked us to take a few things like some of the unused dog biscuits, chews and a coat that will fit Booty. A lot of the other stuff like dog beds, towels, leads etc is going to the greyhound charity where it will come in useful for the hounds who are in our care - a mutual friend is picking these up shortly. Going to the house for the first time without both dogs was dreadful - I sat down and immediately started crying. It seemed so empty and of course there were no dog beds, blankets etc. Paula came in and we talked about it and had a cry together. I think some of these "firsts" are always tough.

In the evening, we felt like watching a film, but there was nothing recorded or on Sky that we particularly wanted to see, so watched Leon. It was wonderful - I have a huge crush on Jean Reno, and the film was also noticeable for being the screen debut of Natalie Portman, aged I think 12. She was excellent in it.

Today has been a quiet day. We took the dogs over to the sea wall at St Bride's - it was wonderful. Apart from fishermen perched on the edge, it was quiet and lonely and peaceful and bleak. The dogs loved sniffing everything. Andrew went for a run this afternoon (he went running with Andy and Boola yesterday) and now we're about to enjoy some roast beef. Happily I've got a large and strong glass of gin., which is going down beautifully.