A hugely restorative weekend. Yesterday busy in the garden. More planting and some sowing, including Californian poppies sown straight into the ground and a Californian mix that looks interesting. A side effect of spending time out in the garden is the way it makes us incapable of staying up beyond 10 as we are both nodding off on the sofa. I ruefully consider Saturday nights in my youth when I would consider 10 pm a good time to start going out, not go to bed.

We also planted our sunflowers in pots and have put them on the dining room window sill where they will get lots of sunshine. We've got Russian Giants (visions of the plant equivalent of a scary shotputter) along with a selection of smaller, prettily coloured ones, in a selection (hopefully) of beautiful russets and oranges.

Today we went to meet Andy, our adoptee greyhound. We drove up to the kennels where he is currently living, up on the Heads of the Valleys Road above Tredegar. The weather was extraordinarily bleak, with rain turning into first sleet and then snow as we climbed higher and snow capped peaks up on the Beacons very clearly visible. The kennels were up a remote farm track and by the time we got there the snow was falling horizontally. We met Sue, the lady who runs the kennels and she introduced us to Andy. Not surprisingly he was quite timid but we totally fell in love with him. Andrew took a couple of pictures. After a few minutes in the howling gale, all of us, dogs and humans alike, were ready to call it a day, so off we toddled. Next weekend we are going back up to take him for a walk before we finally bring him home at the end of the month.

Drove back down the A470 and called in Pets at Home to stock up ready. Bought an assortment of food (low protein as advised, to start),a pet bed and some pig ears for him to nibble. We've already bought him a lead, bowls and a pet lobster. One of the things I'd like to work on is his coat which does appear to need a bit of TLC. Sardines every week and a review of his grooming, I think.

One of the issues that has stopped us getting a dog in the past is Andrew's asthma which is exacerbated by dogs. We decided that if we got a dog we would move from carpets to a wooden floor. These are less likely to hold allergens and also are less smelly over time. So, we've selected a floor and the man is coming on Wednesday to give us a quote for supplying and fitting it shortly. Hopefully this will help to minimise any difficulties with Andrew's chest, if we maintain a regime of regular cleaning. When we lived in Borehamwood, the flat had laminate floors in some rooms and we found them very easy to manage. Interestingly, they make it embarrassingly obvious if there is any dust or dirt on them so they sort of encourage you to clean more often anyway. With our carpets, even though they are beige, we are more relaxed as they definately don't show every morsel up in the same way. So if nothing else Andy will encourage us to higher standards of housekeeping.

Now I'm off to do the ironing, Andrew has just put a chicken in the oven and there's a bottle of white with my name on it in the fridge. Lovely......... All we need now is for Andy to join us and the picture is complete.........