Since I last wrote, Booty has continued to be well and quickly recovered from her adventure at the vet's. On Saturday, our friends Anna and Rebecca brought their greyhound Paco over for a sleepover, while they went to a combined engagement/30th birthday party in Swansea. They came over in the afternoon and we had a tray of lemon vanilla cupcakes that I'd baked - these disappeared very quickly! Most amusingly, Andy stole a couple of the discarded paper cases from the garden table where we were all sitting out, as they still had lots of yummy frosting on them. We all expected him to just lick off the frosting, but not Andy. No, he promptly ate the entire case, frosting, crumbs and all. It doesn't appear to have done him any harm but I hope he doesn't make a habit of it.

It was lovely to have Paco around - he's good friends with Booty and Andy as they all go out for walks together regularly and Paco comes over with Anna and Bec when they visit us. He quickly made himself at home, enjoying sniffing all the garden plants, having peeing contests with Andy, drinking from the pond and lying on his back with his legs in the air waiting for tickles. In the evening we all watched the final Bourne film with all three dogs reclining gracefully on their respective cushions.

In the afternoon, I also went over to Busy Bees, my local patchwork/quilting store and where I go for lessons. They were having a weekend remnant sale and also launching their new programme of classes which start in September. As usual, there is a mouth watering selection of stand alone day classes and series of lessons - there are several which look particularly tempting. I will probably write more on this over on my craft blog. While I was there, I also bought a few fat quarters in the sale, and then treated myself to a Moda Scrap bag of lovely blue and buff fabrics and the most adorable Moda Honey Bun - basically a miniature jelly roll. So sweet. So now I have a new stash of strokeable fabric and several ideas buzzing round my head for items to make. The last couple of nights I have gone to sleep picturing quilt blocks and counting squares! My initial thought for the scrap bag fabric is to make a Christmas present for a friend of mine, with nine patch blocks in the centre and flying geese round the edges as an inner border. We shall see.

On Sunday afternoon, Anna and Bec reclaimed their hound - we had walked him and ours in he morning over at Tredegar House. Fortunately we just missed the rain and by the time Paco left us it was a downpour. This summer is not as bad as last year, but I would really like some settled sunshine - it would be so nice.

On another craft related note, I have taken the momentous (for me, anyway) decision to enter some cross stitch into our local show - the St. Mellons Agricultural Show. This is held at Tredegar House every August - we went last year and it was like the Somme with mud everywhere and appalling downpours. This year, fingers crossed for better weather. There are several adult craft classes, including one for cross-stitch, one for a greeting card and one for an item that could be sold at a bazaar or fete. For this latter one, I think I might make something like a cross-stitched coaster or possibly a key-ring. The piece of cross -stitch I will enter will be the baby sampler I am currently working on, not the largest of pieces, but a pretty piece with coloured aida, some fractional stitches, backstitch and some beading. Entry is the princely sum of 50p per class so I think I will go for it.

Paco is coming over again on Thursday for the day - Andy and Booty are looking forward to seeing him again. I attach a couple of snaps from his visit on the weekend.

So it's Thursday and Andrew will soon be off out to running club. I've just finished prepping some home made pizzas and these will go in the oven to be ready when he returns. Watched the ITT this afternoon on the Tour - Lance has scrambled back into third (riding the most awesome customised bike) with Contador holding what looks like an unassailable lead. Going into the last two stages tomorrow and Saturday there will be everything to play for to see who gets the other two podium places. Much depends on how much Brad Wiggins has got left in the tank - I'm not yet convinced he's got the stamina for two more long climbing stages but it would be interesting to be proved wrong.

We took Booty to the vet yesterday for her big day. A general anaesthetic, shoulder Xray, blood work, and a dental. The vet showed us the shoulder plates - there is a little hook of protruding bone which is causing her the pain and a tiny piece of wear on the other part of the joint. However, it was a relief that nothing else was lurking. Her blood test results were great and the dental went very well with no extractions. The level of residual staining means she still doesn't quite have a Hollywood smile a la Tom Cruise but she does look a lot better and this will have a big impact on her general health.

She was quiet but happy yesterday evening and slept peacefully on the bed with us. Today we took her and Andy over to Heath Park. She bounced, sniffed, growled, barked and trotted with every sign of full on joie de vivre - a pleasure to see. The park is full of beautiful rowans that are covered in berries - seems almost autumnal - aaargh!

When we came back from the park I made some puppy soup for her and Andy as a special treat, involving large quantitites of liver. Liver is my food Waterloo - I have hated it since early childhood and even trying the most beautifully cooked morsels in fine restaurants has never convinced me otherwise. However, in this case, all I had to do was cook it and feed it to the adoring hounds and not surprisingly they loved it.

Regular readers will know I am a huge fan of the Tour, so for the last few days I have been glued to the TV, watching highlights and where possible, live stages through the magic of the Sky Red Button. Wonderful. This year, the Tour organisers have not given us a vintage programme, with a lot of the second week being less eventful stages - I'd have preferred a mix of mountain and sprint stages through the programme, rather than the heavy emphasis on the mountains in the last week.

However, the rest of the race has amply compensated for this in terms of drama and events. Sadly, a spectator was killed yesterday in an accident with a police bike (seems the French police are as dangerous on the roads as the British ones). But this apart, we've had riders being shot on the route, riders punching spectators, mechanics punching cameramen, amazing falls and crashes, with awesome remounts to the end of the stage, intra-team rivalries, name calling about the Green Jersey, George Hincapie narrowly losing out on a stage win with an vicious argument over who was to blame (mostly his own team) and of course the return of Lance Armstrong. No drug scandals yet but Lance has been tested forty (yes, forty!) times in the past two months, with three tests in a 48 hr period at the first week of the Tour. All of this has been taking place against the background of the finest scenery in Europe with everything from rural scenes of sunflower fields down to the white horses of the Carmague and the mountains of the Alps.

British riders have been playing a large part in the dramas and excitement with Mark Cavendish doing brilliantly in the sprints and Bradley Wiggins in the top 5 of the GC. Other British riders are prominent support riders (domestiques) such as David Millar and Charlie Wegelius. We are now in the final week with a number of very tough mountain stages and a time trial with hardly any time separating the top riders. I will continue to be glued to it, so don't expect any but the most cursory blog posts this week. Normal life will resume next week.

Generally, I loathe most televised sports particularly football - finding it boorish, blokey, boring and banal. The Tour is my exception to this - I am completely addicted to every second of it. One thing I would like to consider is visiting a stage- this is perfectly feasible in future years. It seems likely that we will be going away for our first non-dog accompanied holiday in the winter - if that goes well, we could well consider a trip over to the Tour next summer. Spare a thought for Andrew in all this. Even when we walk the dogs in the morning, I tend to wander along burbling happily about green jerseys, team tactics and Contador's climbs. He is admirably patient, probably thinking that at least he only has to put up with this for three weeks a year - compared to the length of the football season, it's a cinch. As I write, he is enjoying a gin in the bath, after doing a lot of gardening today between showers. Lots of frogs out there which si good.

We went to the Farm shop yesterday morning on our way back from our walk, so got some lovely aged steaks for dinner last night (they were excellent) and a pork loin joint for tonight.

Recovering from a busy and enjoyable weekend. My father is the eldest of seven siblings so as a consequence I have a huge number of cousins - we range in age from 44 down to about 6, with a number of cousins also having their own children, to add to the generational confusion. What makes the mix even more interesting is that my dad's siblings (5 brothers and a sister) are geographically scattered both across the UK and the world, so some of my cousins are only seen on infrequent inter-continental trips. One such took place recently with my cousin Sarah visiting from Canada, doing a fortnight of sightseeing and family visits. Sarah is 35 and I last hosted her when she was 18, and I was living down in Plymouth. Fortunately this time round the house was pretty much straight after the move, and we met her at the station on Friday afternoon.

It was good to catch up with her - we had a fairly quiet night in on Friday, just chatting, enjoying a meal and catching up on family news. On Saturday we took her down to the Bay - to see the Senedd, home of the Welsh Assembly, the Millennium Centre and all the bars/restaurants/shops at Mermaid Quay. We enjoyed wandering about between showers then went over to the Terra Nova for a drink. This pub is named after the ship Captain Scott used on his voyage to the South Pole (the ship set sail from Cardiff) and has a ship-like prow with arrow shaped balcony. Sarah thoroughly enjoyed visiting the Senedd and when we got to the pub set about sampling a variety of Brains beers (the local brewery) which is not available in Canada. On the way home we dropped her off in the city centre to allow her to do a little shopping and I went home to glue myself to the Tour de France time trial prologue.

Saturday evening, we again enjoyed a peaceful dinner with wine then on Sunday we visited Caerphilly Castle, one of the finest castles in South Wales, and fortunately very close to us - about twenty minutes in the car. Again, we had to dodge some showers but it was an impressive and interesting visit. Came home for a sandwich then met up with friends down at the Wharf pub for a drink (again, Sarah enjoying the Brains beer). Home for dinner then bed, before an early start on Monday morning to take her to the station for her train to London and Gatwick airport. The weekend seemed to fly by and I attach a few photos.

Well, it's finally happened. We took Murgatroyd to her new home yesterday morning. Ironically, it was very close to where she was found after she had been dumped. The actual handover was easier than I expected it to be as it was busy with paperwork, collars, tags and so on. It really began to sink in once we were home, and especially last night. The night before (her last night with us) she has spent the night on our bed, her bony little bum and legs poking me and then coming up to me for a morning cuddle as soon we all awoke. Last night, the bed was greyhound free and it seemed odd this morning without that wonky nose and bright eyes greeting me. Still, her new home will look after her - I was particularly impressed that her new owner has designated a very comfy green velvet reclining chair for her. She is also living in an area blessed with fabulous walks.

Photos attached of her last walk with us, down at Rumney playing fields.

When we got back from delivering her, a very pleasant surprise was waiting for us in the post. The landlord and landlady of the property we rented in Powys had sent us a very nice note, wishing us all the best for the future, and thanking us for leaving the property in an "immaculate" condition - with the note, was a Book Token! What a thoughtful and kind gesture, followed up today by an equally nice letter from the estate agent we used returning our deposit in what must be record time. Having lived in a variety of rented establishments during my life I can honestly say this is the first time a landlord has ever done this, although to be fair when I lived in Plymouth my landlord/lady lived upstairs and would often leave little notes or bars of chocolate - as they were an exceptionally nice couple. Something like this goes a long way in boosting my slightly jaded faith in human nature. The irony is that i felt there was more cleaning that could be done, and Andrew was not happy that the garden was up to his standards.

The weather continues to be very hot. Andy bit a hole in the paddling pool when Andrew was trying to inflate it for him and Booty (that dog was definately behind the door when they were handing out the brains). Andrew tried squirting them with the hose pipe today - Booty loved it but Andy ran away and hid in the undergrowth.