So much to share

For ages I have been meaning to do an update on Gimli.  He gave us a scare a few weeks ago with a suspected bout of intussuseption, which is where the intestine telescopes inside itself causing a blockage.  The vet could have left hom for 24 hours to see how things panned out, but if it was intussuseption then it could have made him so weak he wouldn't survive the op, so we had to have an emergency operation for him.  Thankfully it wasn't as serious as we feared, but he still had an operation to recover from.  He has well and truly recovered from it, and us up to all kinds of michief.  He discovered the fish the other day, he thinks the chickens are great to play 'chase' with.  He likes the new windchimes in the conservatory (this picture was when we were supposed to be limiting his movements after the op, try telling that to a kitten!)

 He is so good with the children, Sophie spent the whole afternoon pushing him around in the basket under her pushchair!

 Now he is allowed outside, he is investigating all the neighbours houses, and many trees, as well as standing his ground with cats that have been in the area much longer than he has!!

Other things...

I thought I'd got a picture of this, but it must have been on Alec's camera, but back in April Alec and I saw a parrot type bird in the back garden early one morning.  A beautiful bird, green, with a blue tail and red beak.  I didn't think anything else of it until recently when I kept hearing this unusual bird call.  I saw the bird the other morning, and it is the same bird!!  I think we have identified it as a ring-necked parakeet, which can apparently survive British winters, so hopefully this one will, and will have a long free life.  I must try and get a piccie of it if I can ever lure it close enough!

Remember a couple of weeks ago, Alec had buried his nose in a book?  Well, thanks to Laura, we managed to pick up some more in the series of a diary of a wimpy kid, at a knock down price.  The books arrived yesterday, Alec is about 20 pages from the end of the next book.  He even woke in the middle of the night and did some reading (he thought it was later than it was, and when realised how early it was he went back to sleep!)

 And yesterday I went shopping with a lovely friend to a fabric shop.  I know I don't need any more fabric, it literally falls out the wardrobe when I open the door, but I really could not resist this.  I think I may have bought enough to make a summer dress with it, so I think it will be a project for the spring!  It was a real eye-opener going into Birmingham, I haven't been in for a long time, and many places are unrecogniseable to me.  Sophie made me smile by asking to see the yellow tractors, by the end of it she did call them diggers, but I suppose she's more used to tractors than diggers around here!  It was truly a lovely day, I never really see shopping as a pleasure, but it really was, I guess it must have been the good company (and only one child to keep track of!)