Firstly, apologies to all for the hiatus in posting. No plausible excuses such as computer problems, foreign trips or domestic refurbishments. It's tempting to go with the blog equivalent of "The dog ate my homework". They eat virtually everything else. Reality is slightly more prosaic and therefore in all the finest traditions I say "Bah" - I don't do prosaic, or humdrum.

Most important news first. We have a flourishing housemarten nest on the front of the house, under the eaves, just above the guest bedroom. If you're planning a stay with us this summer, you'll be close to the action. The nest is an intricate construction of tiny mud lumps, forming a sort of mosaic construction. Because of the angle, it is impossible to see inside it, but all sorts of intriguing noises are coming from it. Every time we come into or out of the house, we spend a couple of minutes looking up, fascinated and enthralled.

Last weekend, we saw Aida down at the Millennium Centre. Every time I visit the auditorium, my affection for the building grows. I love the way it works - a full auditorium of people can be moved around, and catered for without too much squeeze. During the intervals there are always lots of nice nooks and crannies to wander around and park with a drink, and it is the first theatre in the history of the universe to have sufficient toilets for women visitors.

The only rather endearing drawback is that even though we must have been at least a dozen times now, and Andrew is a former Scout leader so is officially good at finding his way around, the signing for the auditorium is very poor in terms of selecting your entrance. Because of the rather cunning design, it's often counter-intuitive, so for instance as on Saturday night, our tickets were for the second row of the stalls but we found ourselves ascending to the first floor and around a couple of corners before we arrived at the right entry for the auditorium. This means that the building is often full of befuddled visitors getting a good stretch of their legs before the show. The signing for the various doors and entrances is beautifully discreet and rather stylish, and hence completely useless as people simply don't seem to see it. Hours of fun!

Anyway, about the opera. I hadn't seen this one before so was interested. Orchestra were faultless. WNO are justly famous for their chorus and this is an opera that allows them a starring role. In this production the main line up had also been supplemented by a further group so in total around 120 people would be on stage during crowd scenes. The chorus sang wonderfully.

Main roles were also generally very well sung although the woman who sang the title role had a charisma bypass (not strictly necessary I realise). Her singing was a little tight to begin with, but she warmed up beautifully as the evening progressed. Dennis O'Neill sang the male lead and again, his voice is wonderful. Perhaps wrongly, I spent the journey down to the theatre speculating with Andrew how the imagined Egyptian footwear (probably sandals) would be accommodated to provide heels for him. When he walked on stage, it appeared that the costume designer had neatly overcome the problem by simply transposing his costume to the 19th Century. Hence he wore baggy pantaloons, knee high wedge boots (!!!), a black jacket and a kind of shawl that dangled from his shoulders at the back. The wedges were a completely new advance on his usual black lift shoes. The entire costume would have looked dashing on a man of 6 ft with a godlike bod, but as DON is built like me, being about five feet tall and the same width it didn't really work. Also unfortunately, the director had placed a lavish sprinkling of scantily dressed young men around the set as mobile eye candy - very successful as they were superbly buff. They popped up as slaves, soldiers and dancers at one point. Anyway, at one point, the Egyptian princess who wants his hand is lying on a chaise longue being fanned and fawned over by a quartet of half naked muscular young men, glistening with body oil, lithe, taut and willing to do anything she demands. Female readers will be happy to know I had a long list of commands mentally prepared..... There was then a bit of a mental leap required to imagine said princess declining this delicacy for the pleasures of a man in late middle age, of considerable girth and questionable costume.... Hmmm.

All in all, the production was very well done, but the opera itself just didn't grab me - it seemed to keep lurching between huge crowd scenes and a more intimate central threesome. Andrew has now booked our tickets for the summer 2009 season.

This weekend was pleasant. On Saturday I went to another craft workshop at Inkspot, on using Fantasy Film and Fibre. I have seen these items on sale at craft shops and shows, but had never used them, so was interested to see what could be done with them. As usual, the teacher, Pam is excellent, being very thorough and helpful, and happy to answer lots of questions. We made three very pretty cards, each using different techniques with the materials. I have now booked in to another one on the 21st on Shrink Plastic.

Sunday we visited Bathampton where resides Andrew's sister Claire, husband and three boys. A blazing hot day, which we spent mainly relaxing in the garden. The dogs were very good and I attach a picture of Andy who decided the sand pit was the place for him. Also a pic of Basil with a mug of tea and Claire holding Alex the youngest of the three boys. He is growing remarkably quickly and is now at the stage where he comes up and launches into a cheerful and lengthy speech, none of which is comprehensible. Claire and Basil were "tuned in" so were able to provide translation services. Took birthday presents for James, the middle son, gave him some more Scaletrix bits,which went down well,so we all went upstairs to have a go - great fun. I managed to get my Subaru over the ramp first time - yay! Came home very tired and spent a quiet evening in the garden with a jug of Pimms.

Weather very hot again today so dogs are quiet and relaxing in the house. A is in Scotland but is returning tonight. This coming weekend, having a visit from fave auntie Hilary. If weather continues to be good, might risk planning a barbeque. Having written this, I realise the law of sod will now intervene and it will probably snow.