Freedom of Information requests can be made to any public body in Wales, and a huge amount of information can be obtained. For my Houndmistress website, the information compiled is mainly generated by a combination of viewing Council websites and by FOI requests. FOI requests are governed by a number of legal requirements set down by the Government, in particular requests must be answered within twenty working days.

I’ve done several batches of requests to all 22 Welsh Councils for statistics on stray dogs, policy on stray dog payments and revenue budgets. All of these requests have been clearly and politely made, and where possible I’ve directed them straight to the FOI Officer (where this information is clearly given on a Council’s website). All requests are made by email and specifically request information to be provided in the same way (though I provide my home address and telephone number).

Council financial years work from April to March, so by waiting until July, there should be no year end problems with figures not being compiled. As with previous FOI requests, responses have varied considerably and it is this that I wanted to highlight. For previous requests, I’ve sometimes had to wait months for basic data, and it’s not uncommon to have to escalate complaints to Chief Officer or Chief Executive level before information is provided.

There is an argument for saying that much of this information should be provided anyway on Council websites and in England, the Westminster government is encouraging Councils to be far more transparent with the publishing of financial and other information. Sadly there’s no indication of this approach to openness and transparency in Wales. With web publishing being such a relatively low cost option these days, I’m struggling to see what the problem is. I certainly wouldn’t advocate any requirement for paper based documentation.

My most recent request was to all Welsh Councils, and was made on 13^th July 2011, which means that the deadline for information to be returned is 10^th August 2011.

The text sent to all Councils is this:-

Dear Sir/Madam,

I wish to make a request for the following information under the FOI scheme.

For the financial year 2010/11, please supply :-

· The total number of stray dogs dealt with (preferably broken down by month, if possible)

Of these, please enumerate which are : Returned directly to owner, of those kennelled, those collected by the owner, those rehomed, those put down, and any other destinations.

Please enumerate any puppies born in kennels.

· What is the total revenue budget for the stray dog service for the financial year 2010/11 and for 2011/12? Has the service had to undergo any service restrictions in light of the current financial climate?

· Are stray dog kennelling services provided in house or by a contractor?

· If services are in house, has any market testing been done in the past three years or are there plans to undertake any?

· If services are provided by a contractor, when are they due for renewal?

Thank you for this information. I’d be grateful if you could acknowledge receipt of this email. Please reply by email and do not hesitate to contact me if you require any further clarification.

If some information can be provided quickly, I am happy to receive it in advance of the full response.

Mrs. K Woodhouse

The only thing I’ve removed from the above is my address at the top and the date.

I’ve put together a table which shows the responses I’ve had so far.

Name of Council	Acknowledgement received	Information received within 20 day deadline	Information all provided and correct
Anglesey	Yes	Yes	No, minor clarifications received very promptly on 19.7.11.
Blaenau Gwent	Yes	Yes	No – previous year’s figures initially sent.
Bridgend	Yes	Yes	Yes – on 9.8.11.
Caerphilly	Yes	Yes	Yes, in paper form, though asked for electronic delivery.
Cardiff	No	No	Partial answer received on 23rd August, still waiting on remainder of information.
Carmarthenshire	Yes	Yes	Yes – on 10.8.11.
Ceredigion	Yes	Yes	Yes – on 26.7.11.
Conwy	Yes	Yes	Yes – on 29.7.11.
Denbighshire	Yes	Yes	Yes – on 27.7.11.
Flintshire	Yes	Yes	Partial answer sent on 25.7.11. Clarification sent on 26.7.11.
Gwynedd	Yes.	Yes.	No - still waiting on 29.8.11.
Merthyr Tydfil	Yes	Yes	No – 2008/9 figures provided. Had to be chased to provide correction.
Monmouthshire	Yes	Yes	Sent in two tranches on 22nd and 24th August.
Neath Port Talbot	Yes	Yes	Initial information sent on 15.7.11 – completed information received on 23.7.11. after queries
Newport	Yes	Yes	Yes – on 10.8.11.
Pembrokeshire	Yes	Yes	Partial info received on 10.8.11. Clarification received on 11.8.11.
Powys	Yes	Yes	Yes – on 4.8.11.
Rhondda Cynon Taff	Yes	Yes	Partial info received on 4.8.11, and clarification received on 15.8.11.
Swansea	Yes	Yes	Yes on 27.7.11. with a minor clarification received on 11.8.11.
Torfaen	Yes	Yes	Yes, on 26.7.11.
Vale of Glamorgan	Yes	Yes	Yes, on 10.8.11.
Wrexham	Yes	Yes	Partial info sent on 29.7.11. and fully corrected info on 1.8.11.

Only ten Councils were able to provide the information requested in the correct form within the deadline – that’s 45.45%. Is it just me or is that a shocking indictment of the sloppy way Welsh local government manages its correspondence, and the low regard it has for its customers?

A further ten sent information within the deadline, but answers were incomplete or just plain wrong. For example, both Blaenau Gwent and Merthyr Tydfil sent figures for previous years rather than the one requested. If I hadn’t already had the previous figures to compare with, and had carefully checked each answer as it arrived, I would never have known these figures were wrong. Merthyr didn’t even apologise when they sent out the corrected figures, and had to be chased to provide them.

I am also utterly baffled by Caerphilly’s determination to send out paper based communication when I had specifically requested an email response. More worryingly, a letter will incur printing and postage costs that an email will not.

Most worrying of all, is that at the time of writing, I am still waiting for a partial answer from Cardiff Council and haven’t received ANY information from Gwynedd. Gwynedd explained the delay when it was queried by saying that their officers have been on holiday for the past two months. I swear I am not making this up – I really couldn’t be that brazen to fulfil every cliché about the slowness of Councils. I escalated my Gwynedd complaint to the Chief Executive of the Council last week. You probably won’t be surprised to know that Harry Thomas was away on holiday, so his charming PA valiantly sent me a very polite apology and told me that the Head of Environmental Health would be looking into the matter. I’m still waiting for this mythical beast to contact me – presumably he also is enjoying a lengthy summer break.

And let’s not forget what we’re dealing with here – nothing complex, no lengthy trawls through historical archives. Just simple figures on the dogs dealt with last year, and how much money they spend while doing it. These should be used by every service manager on a regular basis, assessing trends, monitoring hotspots, driving efficiencies. The fact that these figures are so difficult to come by suggests that they are not being used by service managers.

And in the bigger picture, Wales is poised later this year to produce legislation on breeding dogs which will almost certainly push microchipping as part of the planned programme. Issues around stray dogs and their management are timely, and Councils themselves should be looking at these figures to assess the impact of legislative changes. That’s exactly why I’m chasing the numbers, so I can run some assessments and forecasts on an all Wales basis. You might even reasonably expect that Welsh local Councils would share this level of data with each other –again, looking at legislative impacts and being prepared. That’s a reasonable expectation but unfortunately it’s wrong. No such sharing is taking place, and not even WG are looking at this detail in the data.

One of the things I often buy when at Busy Bees are items from Moda's wonderful range of pre-cuts. Most quilters are familiar with jelly rolls and charm packs and Moda have developed a range of complementary items, all with lovely cake based names - fab! One purchase a while back that had been tucked in the cupboard was a Honey Buns Christmas pack. This is a pair of rolls of 1.5" strips of fabric, quite small and ideal for a fun project. In the pack was a recipe for some Seminole pieced Christmas stockings with attractive ruffle tops and so I decided to give these a go. The instructions were easy to follow and clear, and I'm now the proud owner of six dinky little miniature stockings, ready for Christmas. This was the first time I'd done any Seminole work, and it's great.

My thinking is that these would be ideal either as decorative items, say hung on a door knob, or ideal for jazzing up a smaller present, by making the stocking part of the gift, if you see what I mean. They'd be perfect filled with something like a soap, some hand cream and a few chocolates for instance. Now that I'm working at the library, it's likely we'll exchange token gifts with a few colleagues, so they'll be perfect for that. It's also good to get ahead on a few Christmas things - September is nearly upon us and I know how fast the end of the year seems to fly by. Making them was a lot of fun. Now all I need to do is to ensure I don't put them somewhere so safe I forget about them!

The only downside - lint. I'm wearing a navy long sleeved cotton top and a chambray tiered knee length skirt - both are now covered with maddening little pieces of fabric "crumb". Oh well, it makes a change from dog hair.

Tuesday was Boola's big night - his Gold test. I was very nervous about it as although he is brilliant at some of the exercises, he is a bit more hit and miss with others. We all gathered before our class, and there were some pretty tense faces, even from those who'd done Gold before with their other dogs. The examiner arrived and then it was time.

We started with our road work exercise, before it got dark and that went very well. This is one of Boola's strong points as he walks so well on the lead. Then we were back inside the church hall for the remainder of the test. We slowly worked through going to the bed (Boola had to have two goes at this). This exercise is paradoxically the hardest for Boola because as a typical greyhound his bed is his default position! In all the time we've owned him, we've never needed to tell him to go and lie down as he usually just takes himself off to the nearest comfy sofa, duvet or rug. So having to get him up, walk round the church hall and then tell him to go back where he just came from is obviously in Boola's eyes, a completely baffling exercise. Anyway, he did it.

Then it was doing a timed Stay with an out of sight bit too (I had to go and stand in the vestibule, leaving Boola settled). As expected, this is another of his strong points - once he's on his mat, and lying down, he's usually pretty settled. Then the examiner came round and did the physical examination - by this time, Boola had actually fallen asleep, so we had to gently wake him for the examiner to do her inspection of teeth, eyes, ears, coat etc. Then it was time for questions to handlers on dog care and welfare. After that, we did off lead walking and the emergency stop. Boola's emergency stop is not as crisp as some of the others - but it was sufficient to pass which was a huge relief as this is also one of his less good exercises. We had to a small test with some food to demonstrate food manners - fortunately, Boola's are pretty good so that was fine. Then we had to do Controlled Isolation - Boola flew through this as again it just required him to stretch out on his rug and have a nap! By this time, we had completed the test exercises, and Caroline came round with our certificates and rosettes. I was so proud of him - he is the only greyhound in Caroline's classes to have done his Gold, and he really is a wonderful ambassador for ex racing dogs. Given his age, his achievement is even more special.

I wanted to give Caroline a small gift to say Thank you - I also made her a card. I have a bag in the spare bedroom which is my "present" bag where I stash gifts that I buy during the year so out of that came a lovely L'Occitane Pivoine toiletry set, plus I popped in a tissue holder that I'd made. To complete it, I made a little drawstring bag. Picture attached. The fabric is from the Martinique range by Moda. A while back, I bought a lovely little box of precut 2.5" squares in a selection of designs by Moda - a sampler collection. For each fabric collection there are 40 squares so this was perfect to make up a small drawstring bag - with 5 rows of 4 squares on each outer side. I lined the bag with some striped blue and cream cotton, and used a Martinique strip to make a channel for the drawstring. After pressing and adding the drawstring, it was ready to go. Caroline really liked it, which I was very pleased about.

It turned out that sadly, that evening Caroline had been to the vet with one of her three dogs, Bella, a beautiful mastiff, and had received the terrible news that she would have to be put to sleep. Caroline's ability to keep going and run the class after hearing this awful news was a tribute to her professionalism. Bella was actually put to sleep yesterday afternoon - RIP to a beautiful dog. We actually heard the news when we were at the hydrotherapist with Booty - Angela the therapist was another of the gold classmates with her Staffy cross, Charlie and she had her rosette and certificate proudly displayed when we arrived. She had the text from Caroline with the news while Booty was putting on her harness for her dip.

Booty is continuing to enjoy the therapy - she rushes in with a waggy tail, gets lots of fusses and treats, and then trots quite happily up the ramp into the tank. Afterwards, not surprisingly, she usually has her tea then spends the evening fast asleep.

I've written before about my cousin Jonathan and his lovely blog - link in the sidebar. Technically of course he's my dad's cousin (Jonathan's father is my grandmothers' brother) but because he's closer in age to me than to my dad I just tend to think of him as being my cousin. Jonathan, like myself is a cancer survivor, indeed his blog started during his cancer treatment and he recently passed his five year mark - something that all cancer patients recognise as a huge milestone. If you've never read his blog, then I can highly recommend it. Jonathan's parents, uncle Bill and aunty Janet, used to live in Three Crosses when I was growing up in Dunvant (next village along) so we saw quite a bit of them and Janet and my mum played badminton together for many years in the village hall in Dunvant.

Ten years ago, aunty Janet had cancer just as her daughter Sally passed away - a horrendous time. I'm very sorry to write that the cancer appears to be back - more scans are happening shortly but the oncologist sounds pretty certain. It's just another wallop that this year has brought - I can't believe the awful toll of illnesses and death there's been. In some ways, having had cancer before is both a curse and a blessing - you know more about what's happening and I know Jonathan will be immensely supportive too, but that knowledge is not a comfortable gift. Our thoughts and prayers are with her, and there will be detailed updates on Jonathan's blog, but I'll keep posting as I know more.

I often write about Caroline, who does Boola's dog training classes and I've got to know as a friend. I am full of admiration of the excellent work she does as a dog warden and in her own business as a dog behaviourist and trainer. Here's an article about her that appeared in our local paper this week. Link below.

Caroline’s puppy love offers new career as Wales' dog whisperer - Real Life - Lifestyle from @walesonline

Unusually for me and for this blog, I've got a lot to write about today, and some of it is political. I think I'll do seperate posts for the different items. First up, some news about Plymouth City Council, where I worked for around 12 years. The Council, like most of local government is highly unionised, part of the reason why local government workers generally enjoy such good terms and conditions. Anyway, when I worked there, I was an active shop steward, and for a while was on the Branch Executive. It was interesting work, but as any union rep will tell you, it's pretty thankless. Most union members are completely apathetic until they need a steward, then suddenly you're expected to drop everything for them. Anyway, partly as a legacy from my father, and partly because I cannot stand bullying in any shape or form, I'm very glad I did act as a steward - this is very much the sort of glue that holds together our society, along with all sorts of voluntary work and mutual aid. It was also (surprisingly) an excellent primer for becoming a manager, in that in so many ways it provided lessons in what NOT to do, as much as what works. Like all Councils, Plymouth recognised not just Unison, but the GMB and Unite (in its previous forms), and practiced a form of collective bargaining. Unions were given accommodation, recognised time off for union work and the usual facilities. This generally worked well, and by and large I'd say industrial relations in Plymouth were pretty good.

Fast forward a few years, and like all Councils Plymouth is grappling with the implementation of Single Status. This is attempting to eliminate the old professional and clerical/manual divide with big differences in terms and conditions, including working hours, overtime arrangements and so on. One of the drivers for this is the inherent sex bias in much of the old arrangements, (in which unions were highly complicit, it has to be said) which led to institutionalised pay gaps between jobs that had overwhelmingly male or female staff. Plymouth has been steadily inching towards a revised package of terms and conditions but recently negotiations have stalled. Now here's the thing that has really rendered me hopping mad - Plymouth Council have thrown out Unison from the negotiations and closed their offices, rendering them homeless. Rightly, Unite and GMB have now withdrawn their agreement from what was an almost completed package. This has left the negotiations in complete chaos.

Eventually, I have no doubt that the Council can and will drive through a package of measures, and yes, I understand completely the really tight situation facing local government finance. And yes, there are plenty of arcane and bonkers practices that need to be driven out - in Cardiff, I sometimes felt I'd been teleported back to the 1970s with some of the bizarre things unions fought to defend. But none of this takes away from the basic point about the employer shredding the goodwill and trust of its employees, and its union reps, many of whom are highly effective, hardworking and do a thankless job with many hours of voluntary commitment. Equally, employees of the Council (and particularly female and low paid ones) are now further away than ever from having fairness and parity at work. I'm sure that many trade unionists will be taking action to support Plymouth's unions, and I hope that if any of my readers are trade unionists they will immediately press their branches and national bodies to put pressure on both sides to resume negotiations. See here for the BBC report and links to relevant websites.

A really busy weekend as Thomas and James came to stay (eldest and middle nephew). They arrived on the train on Friday lunchtime and we collected them from Cardiff station. In the afternoon, Andrew took them swimming down at the new leisure pool at the International Sports Village. The complex has a large competition pool and a separate leisure pool area with lots of slides, water spouts and other similar features to appeal to small boys. And it did, they had a great time. I made a vegetable pizza, which we had with some garlic bread and salad, followed by ice cream, then a movie then bed for the boys.

Saturday we took the dogs for a walk in the morning, came home for a brief lunch then went out to Caerleon Roman Fort. Caerleon is just the other side of Newport, a pretty little town which is also the site of Isca, a Roman fort and settlement which has been extensively excavated and partially preserved. We started our visit in the amphitheatre which when built housed around 6000 spectators. The boys loved running around, jumping off various bits, exploring the arena and chasing each other over the steep banks. We took some pics (attached). Then we headed over to the small but excellent (and free!) museum nearby which told the story of the Roman invasion of Britain, the local Roman presence and gave a great deal of information about the running of the fort and daily life, all supported by a fascinating range of artefacts found on hte site, including gravestones, statues, pottery, jewellery, weapons, a coin hoard, glass and so on. At the back of the museum was a play area with lots of Roman games for kids, then out in the garden there was a planted area with plants that would have been used by Roman cooks and doctors. Roman re-enactors were dressed up and encouraging children to have a go with a sword and shield or they could make woven willow bracelets.

Then we strolled back via the Roman barracks, another large complex but less remaining above ground than the amphitheatre. The boys enjoyed it, although of course being brought up in Bath they are no stranger to Roman features. Returning home, the boys disappeared upstairs onto the computer. Andrew cooked a turkey and leek pie with some home made cheesecake, then we watched a Star Wars film, then it was time for bed.

Sunday was another busy day, again with a dog walk in the morning, then we headed off to the Hope Rescue Dog Show, over at Newport. This was held at Coronation Park, just behind the unique Transporter Bridge (see website here). Thomas and James love engineering and railway visits so were fascinated by the bridge, and we've promised them that on a future visit they can make a crossing on it.

Hope Rescue are a local all breed rescue who take a lot of the pound dogs from the Newport Council dog pound, so I was delighted to go along to support them in this work. There were the usual array of classes, Best Rescue, Best Veteran etc. so we entered Boola and James into a selection. Boola got a 4th place in the Most Handsome Male Class! James was impressed by the fine rosette he was awarded and the goody bag from the judge which included a spare dog lead, and a sample pack of kibble. A pic attached.

After the show finished, we came home for a welcome meal of beef casserole that had been cooking in the slow cooker since the morning, so was meltingly tender and lovely, with sage dumplings and mash. Boys decided to watch another film, so watched Hellboy, which they really enjoyed, then it was time for bed.

Today, it was going home day, but first a busy morning. Andrew went to the hospital for a check up at the Fracture clinic at 8, and was delighted to find that his collar bone has now officially healed - X rays reveal the bone is regrowing, and it's nice and straight. So no more visits there. Then back home and he took the boys down to Cardiff Bay for an enjoyable hour's boat trip on a powerboat, right out as far as Flatholm in the middle of the Severn estuary. They loved it, and had a great time. Pic attached of them in their life jackets before setting off. While they were gone, I got busy doing some cleaning, then did the prep for a BBQ, including lighting the coals nice and early so that they were properly ready by the time we cooked. I marinaded some sausages, and we had a selection of salads including a coleslaw with a maple buttermilk dressing. Andrew had also made a giant raspberry trifle. The boys came back, damp and happy from their trip, then Claire (Andrew's sister) and youngest son Alex arrived. We also cooked some Glamorgan sausages and mushroom burgers (Claire is a veggy), grilled sausages and burgers, and then all tucked in. It was lovely to eat out in the garden, surrounded by lots of flowers, enjoying the warmth and the sunshine, listening to the birds. We put the dogs in the house as Andy kept trying to pinch the boys' food.

After a leisurely lunch, trifle and coffee it was eventually time to say goodbye and the boys left around 4. Suddenly the house seemed very quiet! I think they had a good time and the weekend just seemed to fly by. We've had a quiet evening - watched a taped episode of Torchwood. I am not enjoying the new series as much as previous ones. Andrew is going to the physiotherapist in the morning, hopefully she will be as positive as the Fracture Clinic.

So, it's been another busy week. Last Saturday we went along to the Amelia trust (link here) where they were hosting a dog show in aid of Help for Heroes, a great charity. In fact, the Amelia Trust is also a lovely charity, running a therapeutic farm to help vulnerable young people, set in lovely countryside just the other side of Cardiff. We had a great afternoon at the dog show, which had lots of fun classes, and masses of entrants so I guess it will have raised loads of funds for HFH. Boola got a rosette in the Best Rescue class and was also provided with a complimentary bag of kibble, so Andy and Booty have been eating it appreciatively this week. Pics attached.

I had a surprise message on Tuesday - Caroline, our lovely KC tutor contacted me to let me know there was a space on her Gold course and did Boola and I want to come along? The answer was a very definite Yes, though with a certain amount of trepidation since the course is considerably more advanced than the Silver. It turned out to be one of those "small world" nights. As we were waiting to go in, the Bronze class before us were coming out, and in the group was Wendy, from SOL, who I'd done a collection with down at Ikea. She was doing a class with a beautiful foster lurcher (utterly adorable, of course) who I was smitten by.

Once we got into the class, one of the other dogs (a lively collie) was one we'd done our Silver with, and also there was Angela from Aqua Dogs, with one of her three dogs, a gorgeous blue Staffy cross (she also has two gorgeous lurchers). The class just flew by - it's an hour and a half so is longer than the previous ones. Boola thoroughly enjoyed himself and as usual, once he was home, clambered on the sofa and fell asleep.

Another dog day on Wednesday, again with Caroline, though with her wearing another hat. She'd asked for ideas on helping a local dog rescue improve its adoption rates, and like many rescues, their website was in need of some updating. I'd put together some ideas, and on Wednesday Caroline and I went there to discuss them. I was delighted with the meeting, it went really well, very positive. I was a bit nervous, since it's diffiucult for anyone to accept that what they are currently doing needs improvement but they were very open about teh fact that they had got stuck in the day to day operations and hadn't really stood back recently to look at the organisation more strategically. Sometimes, just having a fresh pair of eyes is is enough to move things along. I'm now going to be writing and updating some web pages for them, with a particular emphasis on the dog adoption process, things to consider before adoption, a walk through the adoption process and what to expect afterwards. Caroline will also be closely involved with the process - her experience will be invaluable. While we were there, it was fascinating and lovely to meet the various dogs, including an entrancing litter of puppies (though they had a heartbreaking story) and I was absolutely bowled over by the most gorgeous brindle lurcher bitch. I'm really looking forward to this - it will be great to think the website can make a difference to the rescue.

Continuing the dog theme, I've also been busy this week collating Freedom of Information requests on stray dog figures for my Houndmistress website (link on sidebar). As far as I know, I'm the only person who's really looking at this, in this level of statistical detail. None of the big charities (like RSPCA, or Dogs Trust are, since they take a UK wide view, and just publish overall stats on numbers of stray dogs, without the extra detail I have). None of the Welsh dog charities do - most of them are simply too busy on the day to day business of looking after dogs. More worryingly, WG aren't looking - I think they should be. And of course local government itself could and should (but doesn't) be doing some comparative work on data. Not a single Welsh Council actually publishes any statistical information on stray dogs and in most cases the web pages are shockingly inadequate. For instance, Cardiff, which is actually one of the best authorities, doesn't tell you how much the charges are to get a stray out of kennels, what payment methods are acceptable and where you should pay.

More importantly, the figures I've been compiling include the depressing statistic of how many dogs are killed each year in Wales by local Councils. The first thing to say is that there is an enormous variation - some Councils are killing none - others are killing many. What I'm working on in particular is the kill rate for seven day dogs. In the UK, stray dogs are taken to a pound (either run by the Council itself, like Cardiff Dogs Home) or run on their behalf by a private kennel. The stray has seven days in which its owner can come and reclaim it, on payment of a fee, vets bills etc. Around 40% of dogs are reclaimed by their owners in this seven day period. After seven days, the dogs then pass into the ownership of the local authority. At this point, the Council could quite legally kill them all, but most Councils do make some effort to rehome dogs, either themselves or often working in partnership with local charities and rescues. The kill rates for these seven day dogs is what I am particularly concerned about. I still haven't had all the figures back but on what I've got so far, a seven day dog in the care of the ratepayer will face between a one in six and one in three chance of a date with a needle. In the 21st Century, I don't think that's acceptable.

As figures for individual Councils come back, I am posting the results on the website and working on an overview. My plans are to submit the relevant stas to the worst offending Councils with a request for action and to share them with local charities. My longer term goal is for Councils to officially make themselves "kill free" - that strikes me as a good aspiration. Of course, I should stress that I recognise that there will always be a need for having dogs put to sleep in certain, very tightly prescribed circumstances - severe illness or injury, or the very rare cases when a dog has suffered major psychological trauma that cannot be rectified. But in general, many of these dogs could and should be given a second chance.

After the vet visit on Monday, we got busy and did some searching. We quickly established the presence of a canine hydrotherapy unit, and that our pet insurance would help with the costs, which is good news. Caroline, our lovely KC classes tutor, had recommended the clinic she uses, so we gave them a call, and yesterday, after some fiddling around getting forms signed by the vet and various pieces of paper sent to the insurers, we took Booty for her initial assessment. You can see the website here.

Aqua Dogs is in the industrial estate behind the steelworks, but is easy for us to get to. Plenty of parking outside, and we made sure Booty also had a sniff about before going in. The first half of the appointment, Angela the therapist asked us lots of questions about Booty, her background, health, condition and so on. Then she was given a very thorough physical exam, including measuring limbs to check wastage, stretching, massage, a trot up outside to view her gait and weighing. Then her own lead and collar were removed and she was fitted with an adjustable harness, ready for her first session. We went through into the treadmill area, which is a kind of giant glass tank with a treadmill on the bottom of the floor. Booty was persuaded up the ramp into the tank and once she was in the glass door was shut and the tank gradually filled with warm water. Once the water was above her feet, she was given a little go on the treadmill to see how she reacted to it. To start with she obviously found it a bit strange but she soon got the hang of it. Gradually, the level of the water deepened and it was fascinating to watch. As the water gradually bore more of her weight, it was clear how much more freely she was moving. We kept watching and encouraging, and Booty seemed very happy. After what seemed like a very short time, her first session came to an end and the tank gradually emptied of water. Then the door opened, and Booty could walk down the ramp and onto the waiting towel for a dry off, her harness to be removed and a celebratory biscuit. Then it was back on with her collar and lead, and time to book her next session.

Angela the therapist has given us some instructions on massage to do in the meantime, and said that she might be a bit tired after her first session. Last night, she snoozed contentedly, but of course that's not much different to a normal greyhound! Today, we were keen to see how she'd be. She was lively this morning after a peaceful night in our bedroom, and keen to go on her walk. On the walk we could see no signs of any problem, in fact she seemed more energetic than usual, though that might be because today was cool and damp, much more pleasant than the hot, muggy conditions we've been having. Initially, she'll be having a series of 12 sessions, probably weekly to start with, and then, if all goes well, a maintenance programme. For future sessions, I'll take a camera, so will be able to record her progress. In the evening, I gave Caroline a call, who'd been asking about how she'd got on, and we ended up having a good long chat, which was lovely.

Today the dogs have been spending most of the day snoozing. Boola is on the floor behind me, as I've been working on the computer. Booty has been lying upside down with her legs in the air on one of the beds, and Andy has rotated between one of the beds and the landing where he can look out of the window down the street and keep an eye out for cats.

Regular readers will know that Booty,our greyhound bitch has arthritis, in her right shoulder. Although the condition cannot be cured, we've done everything we possibly can to try to ensure the best possible care and management of the condition. Her weight is optimal, she has the softest beds imaginable, she is kept as warm as possible (there is always a noticeable decline in her condition in cold winter weather), we feed a canine glucosamine supplement and she is on a combined medication regime of NSAIDs and pain relief. Recently however we've noticed that she is in more pain. For example, we went to the greyhound field yesterday, and while she was clearly enjoying herself pottering about she didn't get above a trot, while Andy and Boola were doing top speed zoomies. Today we took her to the vet, for a discussion about pain relief, and the conclusion from the vet is that she is on pretty much the optimal pain relief now - that effectively the ladder has no more rungs to climb.

The vet's suggestion is that we should try hydrotherapy - we've considered and discussed this before and know that for some dogs it can work very well indeed. There are a number of canine hydrotherapy centres in Cardiff and so we will be looking at these and booking her in for some treatment.

More broadly, though, we may have to face the fact that our darling girl may be getting to the end of her days. She is twelve at the moment, and otherwise in very good health. My hope had always been that she would end up dying with arthritis, not because of it. I had privately hoped that we would be able to have at least another couple of good years with her. Obviously, it's still early days and we need to try the hydrotherapy, but I don't think we would be responsible dog owners if we kept her going in severe pain.

With an animal it's always difficult to make precise judgements on pain and on quality of life. At the moment, I think we can say with assurance that she enjoys her walks, eats with enthusiasm, loves her tickles and definitely still has a twinkle in her eye. The hard question for us to consider is the balance between quality of life and acceptable pain limits. Whatever we do, our primary concern is her welfare, but this doesn't stop these moments being utterly and awfully heartbreaking. It also confirms my feeling that this year is just awful and has been an emotional Hell from the start; pretty much every month has brought bereavement, sickness and bad news.

The Tour finished today, and I'm bereft for another year. It's hard to explain how much it means to me, especially since I don't watch any other sport on TV, with the exception of the occasional equestrian event and sometimes the Olympics, or the occasional Welsh rugby match.

The Tour is particularly fascinating since it works so well on so many levels. Visually, it's a feast. Gorgeous French countryside for a start. Imagine chateaux, mountains, fields of sunflowers, lavender, ancient hill towns, alps, then into that throw nearly 200 riders all wearing the most colourful and photogenic team strips with a further layer of complexity added by the national colours worn by champions.

Now add sheer athleticism. The hardest sporting event on the planet. Three solid weeks of racing at rarified levels of intensity. Imagine Usain Bolt sprinting, but doing so after running a marathon. Picture athletes with body fat levels below 5%. When they smile, you don't see dimples - you see that tuck or fold in the cheek that tells you there's not enough meat on the bones for a dimple.

Then talk about danger. This year was particularly bloody. Racers compete with nothing but Lycra between them and the road, at speeds of up to 70 mph downhill on a mountain stage (Thor Hushovd was clocked at 69 mph this year) and routinely 40 mph for sprints and other fast stages. Crashes happen frequently and result in concussion, broken bones, skin removal, even coma and death. And that's without the fact that many accidents occur on high Alpine roads where there are no guards between you and a drop down the valley. This year there were particularly memorable incidents with a French media car and another with a motorbike, leaving riders dragged along and flung into ditches, tossed into the road and bounced into a barbed wire fence, missing a concrete post by inches. Astonishingly, after these incidents, the riders get back on and ride to the line. Even when Vino crashed down a mountain and his team mates were having to scramble to drag his broken body (fractured pelvis) back up to the road and the paramedics, you could see the question - was he getting back on? Completing a stage with a broken collar bone is normal - riders will routinely pretend an injury is minor when they have broken bones, fractures and concussion.

Then there's the strategy and tactics - now this I love. The Tour is not a single race with a single winner (well in one sense it is) but rather it is an interlocking series of 21 different stages, with fierce competition for different elements of it. Look at Mark Cavendish the British sprinter. Cav will finish well down the overall rankings yet is widely regarded as one of the best riders in the world because of his particular talent at sprint finishes, leading to record numbers of stage wins, a green jersey and huge amounts of respect. There are team tactics with clever blocking moves, subtle strategems to manoeuvre key riders into the right spots, and opportunities in the breakaway to get your team some all important coverage from the TV cameras. There are mountain specialists, big beefy sprinters, faithful domestiques who will go for years wiht no individual glory, yet will faithfully support their team leader into the right place for team and stage glory.

And finally there's the drama - the sheer wacky unpredictability of it. One year, someone was shooting at spectators. Sometimes the weather plays an important role (snow on the Alps, baking heat, unpredictable rain and slipperiness), the colourful, costume wearing, flag waving spectators, The Devil - a key Tour fixture on every stage waving his trident, his beard now grey, unexpected bike breakdowns, wardrobe malfunctions, illnesses, practical jokes, drugs (aah, drugs, that's a story in itself), personal rivalries and enmities, French politics, the podium girls - it's all there, adding layers of complexity and unexpectedness to every single Stage.

Now it's over for another year and I'm suffering withdrawal symptoms.

Firstly, many apologies for the delay in posting. Over the past week, we've been having major problems with our broadband, with it having an intermittent fault, the most frustrating kind, since just as we decide to call BT, service resumes, then the next day it's playing up again. Grrrrr.

Last weekend, we took the dogs over to the greyhound field near the old Severn bridge. Some pics attached. We hadn't been for a while and the dogs loved it, though of course their first thought on entering the flower filled meadow was to have a graze on the delicious grasses. It's quite strange seeing three dogs strolling through the field munching grass like a herd of leggy cows. We saw masses of butterflies, I took a picture of a Meadow Brown and we saw some Speckled Whites too, which were beautiful.

During the week, I've been gripped by the Tour de France - another outstanding race this year though with a high casualty rate, sadly.

On Thursday night, we went down to County Hall for a public meeting that had been set up to establish a "Friends of" group for the Council dog pound. Like many people involved in dog rescue I have ambivalent feelings about the pound. Running a stray dog service is a statutory part of the Council's responsibilities and Cardiff is unusual in having its own Dogs Home rather than contracting out the service. Dogs can be adopted from the pound, but do not generally have a homecheck first, may not be neutered and don't come with the same sort of support and aftercare that rescues generally provide. Lastly, and this is a dealbreaker for many, they kill many dogs.

So, I had ambivalent feelings. Is my voluntary effort better spent on working with rescues or should we encourage the dog pound to improve its standards? Eventually I decided to go along as I think the Council is to be commended for wanting to improve services. It was an interesting meeting and I will write more about the issues involved. You can link here to the Dogs Home website. I must admit it felt odd though to be back at County Hall, for the first time in a number of years.

On Saturday morning we went along to Roath Farmers Market (see website here). We bought some gorgeous tomatoes - a big selection of lovely shapes, sizes, colours. And the flavour!!! Just like home grown. On Saturday night, we had a tomato salad with a home made sage foccaccio, plus some courgette fritters (courgettes also from the market), and on Sunday, some local, free range pork from one of the stalls.

Sunday was a nice, sociable day. Our next door neighbours, Russ and Sarah, were celebrating Russ's 40th birthday party with a barbeque and open house party in the afternoon, so we went along and thoroughly enjoyed ourselves. Met some lovely people including a very nice couple, one half of whom went to the same 6th form college as Andrew, and whose parents live very close to Andrew's. Small world!

Sunday was another scorcher. We decided to take Boola down to Margam Park for the Dogs Trust Summer Fair and Dog Show. Happily for the Trust, it was incredibly well attended - we guessed into the thousands. Dogs of every shape, size, age and colour (along with their owners), a huge variety of trade stalls, charity stalls, plants, cakes, gifts, tombola, bar, displays and so on. After strolling over to the dog show area, we found that the first class was for Golden Oldies - perfect for Boola. So Andrew entered us, and we trotted into the ring, along with a fabulous assortment of other dogs, many of them rescues that had been homed via the Dogs Trust. The judge (a local vet) came round and had a look at everyone. While we were waiting, Boola decided to embarrass me by weeing enthusiastically over an agility tunnel that was waiting to be used for a display following our class. There was absolutely nothing I could do once he had started.

Anyway, the judge came round, asked us a few questions and had a good look at Boola, who was his usual chilled out self. Then the judge went into a huddle and pulled out five finalists, including us. Now rather nervous, he had another look at us, and to my utter delight gave us the first prize along with the biggest, blingiest rosette I have ever seen - it must have been a foot long. After being presented, a professional photographer came over and took pictures, Andrew came into the ring for some pics and as we headed slowly out, a radio journalist collared me for Real Radio (local radio station) and did a quick interview. I was able to burble out a few words about how greyhounds make fabulous pets which I hope will help. Some pics attached.

Afterwards, we had a look round the stalls, Rita bought some plants and as it was getting hotter and hotter, we decided to take Boola home. Still proudly wearing his rosette, we strolled back to the car, attracting quite a few comments. Once the air con was working it was a smooth, swift journey home and Rita enjoyed watching the tennis final in the afternoon. Like Boola, I must admit I had forty winks in the afternoon. In the evening we had a delicious dinner in the garden - it was lovely to be able to sit out there, with the smell of the jasmine wafting over us.

Rita and Roger joined us for our dog walk on Monday morning and then returned to Somerset. I've been catching up on the Tour - am loving my annual cycle fest. Andy is still limping due to the missing toenail, but is milking the sympathy for all he's worth, which is usually a very good sign.

Well, the Pony Club show was great fun. I drove down to Penny's in the early morning fog and drizzle, with extra fleeces and warm cardigans tucked in to the back of the car. I arrived with Penny about 8.20 a.m. and we jumped into her car after a quick dose of lurcher love from Ben and Milly and also saying hello to Joe. Then it was off to Llandovery. On the way, saw masses of red kites which was great, then once we hit Llandeilo suddenly the sun came out and by the time we arrived at the show, it was a clear blue sky and blazing sunshine all day. We had a wonderful day and I really enjoyed myself. Lots to do, with quite a few classes, scores to record for jumping rounds, rosettes and certificates to dish out, picking up class lists and judging sheets from the secretary and helping out with repairing fences and catching ponies when riders fell off in the ring. Smallest were little leading rein ponies with tiny 3 year olds on top right up to the big hunters with adults on board. There was a professional photographer there and you can see the gallery from the show here.

By the time we finished our classes it was close to 3, there was a lunch laid on for us in the rugby club and then we pootled back to Penny's. Then home and I was pretty tired, and unfortunately had really caught the sun on the back of my neck and tops of my arms. I hadn't expected to need to take sun lotion as the weather had started being more suitable for welly boots. I'm now at the peeling stage.

Rita and Roger came over for the weekend and arrived yesterday afternoon. Rita's arm is still giving cause for concern - she is still in a cast but her arm is painful and swollen and an operation has still not been fully ruled out. However, she is being seen regularly by the consultant so we are hopeful it will continue to heal.

We took the dogs out early yesterday morning to Tredegar House for our normal walk, and as it was quiet let Andy off the lead. He was happy to be able to run around and then to his delight spotted a squirrel and was off like a rocket after it. Naturally the squirrel was able to safely take refuge in a tree, leaving Andy doing his vertical take off jumps at the base. We caught up with him and realised he was limping and bleeding and it turned out that in his sprint he'd ripped out a toenail on his back off side paw and the near side was grazed on the knuckle of his paw. We got him back to the car leaving a trail of bloody footprints and in hte house it looked like a crime scene. We bathed the foot in warm salty water and he retired to his bed, looking very sorry for himself so we gave him a painkiller. Since then, he's been very quiet, and we've continued to give pain relief although the stump/quick appears to be healing. I can only imagine how painful it must be.

It's been a lovely day today - we didn't take Andy out for his walk as he was still looking very sorry for himself and not moving very much. After the others came back, we had a late breakfast - I had made a delicious date, honey and oatmeal loaf which we all enjoyed. After a relaxing potter, we then went out this afternoon to one of the National Garden Scheme gardens. For those who don't know, this is a wonderful scheme where otherwise private gardens are opened to the public for charity on specified dates, usually with beautiful or unusual planting, plant sales and tea and cake.

The garden we went to see today is this one - not too far to travel so we set off in the beautiful sunshine leaving the woofs peacefully snoozing at home. They had laid on parking in an adjacent field and it was absolutely lovely with a steady stream of visitors, some tempting plant sales and delicious home made cakes and tea. I loved the orchard which had a variety of apple, pear, plum and medlar trees, and also particularly liked the use of clematis in the garden - they are obviously a fan of the species, and it was unusual to see clematis being used against the house walls. Lots of lovely herbaceous perennials with attractive colour combinations. The garden was set against the beautiful Usk countryside and looked out over a wheat field. I've attached some pics. After we came home, Rita is watching the tennis final and I'm hoping to sneak a peek later at the Tour. As it's such a gorgeous day, we'll be having a big jug of Pimms in the garden and will probably eat out there tonight. We're doing a sort of Meditteranean medley, with a watermelon, feta and mint salad, a pea and mint hummus, some pitta breads, grilled marinaded beef strips, and a couple of other salads with a raspberry cheesecake to follow.

Confession time. I'm scared of zips. Not in the sense of refusing to have them in the house or wear a jacket with them, but in the sense of not having previously sewn with them and finding the idea of them quite daunting. Anyway, as you've noticed, I've been going through this bag phase recently and in my perambulations around the internet came across several tutorials that promised (faithfully, hand on heart) to take the pain out of zips and make inserting them a breeze. Well, I girded my loins and went to Hobbycraft and bought two small zips. I decided to make some little zippered bags - the sort of thing that might be suitable for makeup or loose change. My thinking (bold, this, I know) was that if it worked, then these might make very attractive Christmas or birthday presents, especially if coupled with say, a tote and a tissue holder in co-ordinating fabrics.

The first one worked, and the instructions were simple to follow, and I was very pleased in one sense. But the zip insertion was wonky and the whole thing didn't look terribly impressive. Another tutorial mentioned having fabric covered zip ends which seemed to look a lot smarter so I went for it. I used some of my Amy Butler fabric with a plain blue lining and a blue zip. The instructions were quite simple and painless to follow and I ended up with a zippered purse. It's not going to win any prizes at the Annual Zippered Purse Show but I'm very pleased with it. Moreover, I've conquered my fear of zips and I think the next stage will simply be to practice a lot, to improve how I do it. I should also mention that the Amy Butler fabric was a dream to work with - a nice weight, didn't fray as soon as you look at it, ironed well, very easy to handle. Fellow sewers/quilters will know how much fabrics can vary, and what a huge difference a good quality fabric can make. I'm going to be really brave and give this little purse to my friend Penny tomorrow, along with the tote bag I made that you can see in the pics above. Again, the lovely AB fabric with the gorgeous lining in the tote. Penny loves shopping at farmers' markets and does a lot of travelling with her work so I can see this being really useful for her.

Tomorrow is the Llandovery Pony Club Show and Penny is judging the Working Hunter Pony Class. I'll be stewarding for her, so it should be a really enjoyable day. We were supposed to be having a heatwave this weekend - today it's been raining most of the day, windy and cold. Earlier in the week, I was so fed up with the weather, (cold and wet) I ordered a new cardigan from Lands End - not for the winter, but for wearing now! In the best British traditions tomorrow, I'm still quite unclear what to wear. My thinking at the moment is to go for cropped jeans, my comfortable dog walking shoes (good grip too when dashing around on grass), a short sleeved cotton top plus cardigan plus fleece in car as back up. Sunglasses too, if it goes the other way. And I'll probably take a spare pair of jeans, socks and top in case it pours down all day and I need to change into something dry before coming home. I've got to be down at Penny's farm by 8.30 and we'll travel together from there so it will be an early start - probably leave here about 7.10. Andrew will be staying home with the woofs. He's been busy in the kitchen preparing a delicious marinade for some pork that he is going to casserole tomorrow - his thinking being that this can sit quite happily for hours in the oven so no worries about rushing home or burning dinner if he waits.

More news about Boola, our blonde bombshell. Now that he's enjoying coming upstairs, he's really getting into it. Last night, a further breakthrough came when he decided to hop on the bed and spent the night on it with me. Andrew is still in the bunk bed as he is finding it easier to make a nest with pillows for his arm. I woke a couple of times in the night to give Boola a stroke and he seemed very happy. In fact, as I write, he's lying behind me, snoozing gently on his duvet.

Lots to write about and show. I've finally come to the end of this semester's work at the library. I've really enjoyed it, but the last month or so has been very hectic with doing my agency shifts, my permanent shifts and a whole range of extra training, induction and so on. Now I'm off for the summer and will return in the autumn to my permanent hours arrangement. As we came to the end of term, I decided to make something for Sian, the lovely person I've done most of my shifts with. Following on from the tote bag I made for myself, I made one for Sian, then got a bit carried away. To go with it I made a little tissue holder (I just LOVE making these at the moment) plus I made up a little pouch with a Velcro closure. Sian plays a lot of softball in a league so I thought that it might be handy for things like keys, change etc when she goes to a match. On the front of the pouch I added some pretty gingham ribbon and a little flower button. I'd asked Sian what colours she liked and she said "Blues and turquoise" so I tried to incorporate these. Some of the fabrics are ones I bought on my birthday as part of a fat quarter bundle at Cross Patch. You can just see bits of Andy in the pics, as he was lying on the bed, assisting/supervising the photo shoot. Sian loved the bags and I was really pleased with them.

As part of another gift for someone, I made up a little parcel for my friend Leila. She's shortly to go away for the weekend with another girlfriend who's been going through breast cancer and fancies a few days away in Cornwall (well, who wouldn't?). I made up a couple of drawstring bags for her, (plus the obligatory matching tissue holder) and I popped in a little goodie bag from L'Occitane, filled with lots of little travel/treat size goodies, such as conditioner, shower gel, a face pack and so on. These sizes are always so handy for travelling - you don't want to be lugging a huge vat of shower gel around with you when away for the weekend. The bags use some of the fabric I bought at the V & A last year, I love these fresh, pretty greens and blues.

On a related note, a study published this week by the University of Glasgow makes interesting reading, discussing the benefits of quilting from a health perspective. See the link to the story here.

I don't think the story will come as any surprise to anyone who sews/quilts. I've written many times before about the very deep emotional satisfaction I derive from this hobby, made up of a range of benefits, many of which were reflected in the study. Much of what I make is for others, and I love giving things that are hand made. I love the immersion in colour and pattern, the challenges, learning new skills, the social side, and also feeling part of a long line of tradition.

I also made a tissue holder for one of the ladies I've just started working with on one of my permanent shifts, Claire. Again, I asked about colour choices and she specified "Blue, non floral" so I made up a batch of various ones, in assorted patterns and then at the last minute threw in one in a Kaffe Fassett turquoise floral. Now anyone who knows Kaffe's fabrics will know that quiet is just not a word to use - Kaffe has a use of colour that is bold and positive. This fabric went in and guess what, Claire chose it!

We were up early this morning as a new chest freezer arrived for the garage. I've previously mentioned that we've gradually moved away from feeding the dogs on manufactured kibble and are now doing a lot more home cooked and raw food. This is working very well, and the dogs are thriving on this sort of diet but it's a bit of a pain in terms of storage. So we decided to get a dedicated chest freezer so we can buy frozen meat etc in bulk (much, much cheaper that way too) and then just defrost what we need when we need it. All of them absolutely adore tripe - it's vile stuff, looks and smells disgusting, but for the dogs, seems like it's a winner. I suspect the freezer will also be handy at times like Christmas or when we are having lots of guests for batch baking/cooking in advance.

I'll close by sharing some good news about Boola. When we first had him, he was terrified of the stairs, and the thought of even going near them. Even passing through the hall, he wouldn't even look at them, but would just shoot past them. Gradually, he gained confidence in the hall, and would even put his front paws on the bottom step when he was excited about going out for his walk, but had never been brave enough to come upstairs. When we had brought him, he'd been stressed and nervous, so we didn't repeat the experiment. Anyway, fast forward a bit. When on holiday in Pembrokeshire, we brought him upstairs every night in the cottage and he had settled beautifully, which was nice to see. During the summer, he had been living up to his nickname of the "blonde alarmclock" by waking us every morning when he felt ready for some company. Trouble was, that was usually around 6 a.m. and we were getting a bit fed up, to say the least! And for all those saying "Well, ignore him then" (as in controlled crying for babies) we didn't want to do that, as he would occasionally be telling us he needed to go outside, and we would never want to stop him telling us that. So we were being woken early.

Andrew decided to bring him upstairs about a week ago, with a duvet for him to sleep on from downstairs. He was escorted gently up and immediately settled happily on the duvet. Next morning, not a peep. Bliss. This has been going on for about a week now, and each evening he comes up the stairs with progressively more ease, and less reluctance, which is lovely to see. Then this afternoon, a big break through. I was on the computer and Andrew was also upstairs, and Boola was in the hall. Andrew called him, and all by himself he came up the stairs, looking very pleased with himself. He came into the study, settled immediately on his duvet, after a bit of congratulatory cuddles and tickles, and masses of praise from both of us, and is now lying by my feet snoozing contentedly. It's lovely to see him looking so happy.

I'm beginning to feel that everyone around me is the victim of a strange orthopaedic curse. While I was at work last night, Andrew heard from his mum, who's just broken her arm/wrist, and is now in plaster. So, that's three breaks in three weeks, after going years without anyone I know breaking anything. Fortunately, she is not in too much pain, but as with all these sorts of injuries, is finding the cast a hindrance to everyday life. Also, she's righthanded and has broken her left arm, so that at least means her right arm is still working. I sent her a get well card this morning that I made. I used some of the lovely Anna Griffin kit I recently got from QVC - I've been delighted with it. Pics of Rita in her cast (courtesy of FIL) and card attached.

The other downer is that Andrew came home yesterday afternoon after a successful trip to Watford (successful in the sense that he managed the travelling with no problem) and by last night was feeling very poorly. This morning his temperature was 38.8, he's unwell and has wisely stayed in bed and slept most of the day. Later this afternoon, Tesco are delivering some groceries to us, and I'm hoping to catch up on some sewing after a busy morning.

I mentioned in my last post that I'd bought some lovely fabric in John Lewis. After a very busy week, with work on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday (an extra shift for some training) and Friday, I decided that Saturday was going to be for me. After walking the dogs, I settled down for a blissful afternoon with the sewing machine. I'd found a lovely set of instructions for making a Fat Quarter handbag on Sew Mama Sew (an excellent website for ideas and inspiration) - you can see the tutorial here.

I recently also made a nice tote bag for my MIL for Mothers' Day - the instructions were on another of my favourite websites, the Moda Bake Shop and you can see the tutorial here.

So I decided to make the handbag and the tote bag, and a little tissue holder to go in the handbag. You can see the two fabrics I used. The lining of the handbag is done in the same fabric as the tissue holder and it looks gorgeous. I made sure the handbag had an internal pocket and a magnetic closure. For the tote bag, the back of the bag is one panel of the peacock fabric and I lined it with a very pretty pink spotty fabric (you can just see a glimpse of it if you peep carefully) - I also added an interior pocket. I was delighted with how they turned out - absolutely thrilled to bits. For the handbag, I added a pretty blue rose corsage that I wear sometimes - just seemed to work. These are great summer colours - so zingy and cheerful. I took them both into work with me on Sunday and felt like a million dollars.

Today has been one of those days for running around doing various errands that individually don't take much time, but cumulatively add up to an afternoon, things like picking up tablets from the vet, getting my ID card photo done for the university, dropping off some paperwork and picking up some dog food. The afternoon weather was glorious - really sunny and with a gorgeous blue sky. After we came back home, I sat out in the garden to soak it up and Booty came and joined me. After some quality tickle time, she decided to sunbathe on the flagstones near the pond and practically cooked herself. When she got up to go back in the house, she was so hot, she was almost too hot to touch. She loves the sun, and will often sunbathe in the garden - I guess that with her arthritis, the heat probably helps her.

This week I am doing fewer shifts in work, and I'm hoping to make a bag for one of my colleagues that I get on very well with. We've done most of our shifts together since January and she's lovely - that makes a huge difference when you are working predominantly with one other person. She loves blues and turquoises so I shall try and make her a tote bag similar to the one above, and I thought I might also make a drawstring bag - she plays softball regularly so might come in handy for sports kit or shoes.

Firstly, after my last post, I'd like to thank all those who have passed on their good wishes; it is hugely appreciated. And Don, I'm not sure who you are, but thank you. If I do know you, please let me know.

The patients are continuing to make progress. Andrew is finding it very frustrating, but is managing a surprising amount around the house. Work wise, although he cannot travel, he is doing lots via his laptop and phone, so that's not so bad. This week, he's been out with me a few times with the dogs and really enjoyed it.

One of the things that has also been happening in my life that I haven't talked much about on the blog is my work. Regular readers will recall that back in January, I saw an ad for an agency post in the University library and have been doing regular shifts ever since. The work is at gloriously unsocial hours so suits me perfectly and in April, the University advertised some permanent part time vacancies in the library service, working term time only. After some thought, I decided to apply. In early May, I had an interview, and to my delight I was successful in obtaining a post in Trevithick, my favourite library which serves the Schools of Engineering, Computing and Astronomy. Much to the surprise of the library manager, the HR department seemed to move at record speed and to everyone's delight, I started my permanent job a week ago. However, and this is where it gets complicated, I've also been continuing with my agency work. I felt it would be grossly unfair to the libraries if I left with only a few weeks to the end of term - somehow it seemed like the right thing to do to complete the project. There's a slight overlap on one day of the week when I do a double shift of 12 - 5 in one library and then do 5.30 till 9.30 in the other, starting half an hour later than I would normally. The basic term time hours will be quite manageable, being just three short shifts, but with agency work, lots of extra induction related visits and a scheduled extra shift today on the Bank Holiday that I signed up for months ago I am feeling like I have hardly any time to myself. I've done a complicated table of hours worked and whether these are permanent or agency and this is pinned on the fridge so both Andrew and I know my whereabouts and can plan. All of this will be very busy until the middle of June when term finishes, and then I can breathe as I'll then have the summer off before starting my permanent hours again in the last week of September when the autumn term kicks off.

Backing up are the need for a haircut (am now looking quite shaggy), a visit to the dentist for a checkup and an eyetest for my reading glasses - probably going to be next week or the week after by the looks of things. On Saturday, I was determined to escape into town. Andrew came too even though it was very busy. I stocked up on moisturiser and got some L'Occitane goodies (lovely free gift too, which was a nice bonus). Then off to John Lewis haberdashery department for the joy of fabric. I've bought two lots of Amy Butler prints which are going to be made into bags, along with some bag handles. I haven't yet had time to play with them but all being well, I might get some quality play time tomorrow with my sewing machine. It's one of the things that keeps me sane along with the dogs and the garden, which is also looking wonderful at the moment. The recent rain has done it good and at night it is alive with lovely frogs and toads.

Talking of dogs, I'll update on Andy too. After his adventure in the car, he is none the worse for his experience. It seems a benign Providence is looking after him. This is the dog who regularly steals kitchen implements and can usually be found with his shnozz stuck inside a tin, yet somehow his nose and tongue remain intact. I remember reading when we first had greyhounds that they hate the taste of metal in their mouth - Andy obviously didn't get that memo. We have still never found one particular potato masher that he stole; usually they end up in his lair where he sits there surrounded by his spoils like a dragon guarding his hoard.

Another piece of good news came from Penny. She phoned to check on Andrew's progress, and we discussed a planned meetup in June at one of her local shows, the Gwendraeth Valley Agricultural show. She couldn't now do this date, as she has been invited to judge a Working Hunter Pony class at another show in Llandovery on the same day, but to my delight she invited me to attend, and then asked if I would steward for her. I was thrilled to bits and am now really looking forward to this. I used to enter these classes myself as a teenager and have very happy memories of doing so. The chance of spending a nice day at a show, catching up with Penny and seeing some lovely horses is just perfect.

Finally, in my last post, I mentioned Game of Thrones and how much we are enjoying it, notwithstanding the occasional gory bit, and the very explicit sex, both straight and gay (and incestuous). Andrew was browsing on Amazon (always a fatal move!) and the whole series of books was available at half price, so he's ordered them, and we're going to enjoy reading them. It also seems that HBO are already at work on Series 2 which is good news. If you haven't tried it yet, then I can recommend it. There are some very well known actors in it (Sean Bean, Charles Dance etc..) although Peter Dinklage is completely stealing the show at the moment. Production values are very high, scenery, costumes and props are excellent, and it has a satisfyingly complicated plot, with generous dollops of skullduggery, a bit of magic, plenty of backstabbing, and some truly beautiful wolves. Who could ask for more?

Reading my last post, I'm struck by the feeling that although I was still missing Paula terribly, my life was slowly getting back on track. Shortly after my last post a series of events have occurred that have left me feeling that 2011 is not turning out to be one of our best years.

Firstly, just after my last post, we found out that my father has inoperable and terminal liver cancer. He had had a bile duct problem earlier this year, which was resolved nicely but in the course of sorting that out, there were investigations to find out exactly what was causing the blockage - these discovered the cancer. For complex reasons, we are mostly estranged from my parents, although we maintain some contact (e.g. to pass on news about shared relatives for instance such as my Aunty Floss) and occasionally other similar health news. There's not really very much else I can say at this point - my father has started a course of chemotherapy which is hoping to shrink the tumour - this is taking place in Swansea where he lives.

Shortly after this news, his sister, my auntie Hilary, was coming back in from the garden on a Sunday evening and fell awkwardly as she stepped into the conservatory. She phoned NHS Direct and the triage nurse advised going to A & E. My father took her in and they discovered that she had broken her arm in a particularly nasty way that would need an operation, so she would need to stay in. We went down to see her in hospital on the Tuesday and she had her operation on the Wednesday. The top of the arm had been replaced by a new joint and the break was pinned with a plate - a long and complex operation. Hilary had been fitted with a complicated sling arrangement with various straps, waistbands, harness fittings and lots and lots of Velcro. Dressing normally was completely impossible. On the Friday, armed with lots of heavy duty painkillers, she was allowed to leave hospital and we picked her up, took her home briefly to collect some possessions and then brought her home for a week's intensive R &R. With her dressing on the scar (which is going to be a real beauty) taking a shower was out of the question, so I've been washing her hair, giving her foot baths and helping adjust the harness.

On the Saturday, we had a long standing arrangement to go and see our friend Penny, as it was her birthday and go out for a pub lunch and a long natter. I can't even begin to describe how much I was looking forward to this. We also had some of Paula's quilts to give her. We left Hilary in the house, with a plate of cut sandwiches, and a pile of cushions on the sofa. I was happy to leave all three dogs in the house but Andrew was keen to take Andy with us as he is the most likely to hassle Hil while she is eating. We arrived safely at Penny's farm, and it was lovely to see her and Joe (her business partner). Joe and Penny were showing us some new caps they had got for wearing under the armour, and Penny and I were discussing making some quilted ones. We then slowly drifted back out to the farmyard in the general direction of the farmhouse. Andy was very excited as one of the farm cats was doing that cat thing of sitting just out of reach and being provocative. As he was bouncing around, Andrew turned and somehow tripped and fell, quite heavily. Initially, he got up and dusted himself off, and put Andy back into our car while we went back into the house. Penny opened her birthday presents and had just put the kettle on when we realised that Andrew had gone a very nasty colour (think of cold porridge or a bowl of putty) and said "I've broken something". There was nothing for it but to leave Penny and Joe and head off back to hospital.

Going back out to the car, we then discovered that the cat had re-emerged from the barn and had been sitting by the car, taunting Andy. Andy had literally tried to eat his way out of the car and the entire front passenger door was now shredded and a mass of blood and saliva, he had even taken a chunk out of the dashboard.

I drove Andrew back to the Heath, dropped him off at A & E and took Andy home and also had a sandwich and a coffee with Hil, who was understandably surprised to see me home so early and without my husband. Then it was back to the hospital and time to collect the second patient. Andrew is right handed and had broken his right clavicle so was particularly badly affected. The only good news is that he did not to stay in or an operation.

Until the following Friday I passed an exhusting and stressful week looking after the two patients. Anyone who's nursed an incapacitated relative will know what this is like. Days seemed to pass in a round of washing, ironing, shopping, housework and trying to see to the dogs.

On Friday Hil was ready to go home, and first of all we took her to Marks and Spencer to stock up on some ready meals and other food for her home. Then it was the drive back to Swansea, unpacking her stuff, getting her settled and then returning home. Friday night I was exhausted, and enjoyed a very large gin.

On Saturday, Rita (Andrew's mother) had bought tickets for her, Claire (Andrew's sister) and myself to go to the Hippodrome in Bristol to see Matthew Bourne's Cinderella, with lunch first. I caught the train at around 10.30 and already the city centre was prepared for thousands of rugby fans for the Heineken trophy match between Leinster and Northampton. We all met up at Bristol train station and took the water taxi to the harbourside area, where we had a delightful lunch at the Waterside, an arts centre, cinema and cafe complex on the quay. We then strolled over to the Hippodrome and took our seats (which were excellent) for the ballet which was lovely. It was set in the London Blitz during World War 2 and was beautifully danced. I didn't think the flow of the choreography seemed as smooth as it had for Swan Lake - somehow the narrative seemed more choppy and disjointed but it was an enthralling performance. Sets and costumes were gorgeous. Coming out we took a taxi back to the station, and I was able to step straight on to a train coming back to Cardiff, which made for a smooth journey.

On Sunday, another busy day - lots more housekeeping in the morning, then I shot off to a double shift in the library while Rita and Roger arrived in the afternoon. By the time I returned home, they'd cooked a meal for Andrew and there was some for me too. This morning we all had an early start. Andrew had an appointment at the fracture clinic. No real news except to come back in four weeks time, but they have given him a much better sling, another contraption of Velco, straps and buckles. I'm now feeling that I stand a good chance of a job as a dresser in an S & M dungeon. The car also went for its MOT - unfortunately it failed on a number of minor points so tomorrow it is going in to the garage for some more work before being retested. After all these outings, it was back home for a belated brunch, Rita and Roger took the dogs for a walk while I did some more housework and then they kindly picked up some groceries for us at Tesco, before leaving us around 4. After they left, I just went and had a snooze upstairs, and tonight we've relaxed with a pizza and some TV. We're particularly enjoying the new series on Sky called Game of Thrones - very gory in places, but good.

I hope this post explains the lengthy silence - I'm hoping normal service can be resumed shortly.