Pushing through.

I've hit a bit of a wall today and have decided to take the morning off. I'm too sick to eat but I can drink tea, so the wonders of Earl Grey will get me through.
Yesterday we met with friends who helped us go through some planning application forms. We stayed for over two hours, and it was lovely but tiring. We then had to get horse feed and some building supplies. The feed shop is always a success, but we couldn't get the electric wires and had to go to several shops for chicken feed. It was stressful. Later a lovely BBQ with family finished me off. I was fine when I went to bed, but felt steamrollered when I woke up!
So, I'm sat here, watching my little Cotton cat hunting in the garden, Manchee is curled beside me and Walley is in his safe spot under the bed. He loves it there and being such a nervouse dog, it's so important for him to have somewhere he can hide and be comfortable. When we talk about him, we can hear his tail brushing the floorboards in happiness. He's so precious <3

A few weeks ago our poor Fae was rushed to the vets with worrying symptoms. After a very long and confusing discussion with the French vet, the English speaking vet arrived and explained that they thought Fae had been poisoned. You see the word for poison and fish sound identical and this caused a lot of confusion. However, the treatment was sorted and Fae was given strong injections and I had many tablets to take with me. Fae is picky over food at the best of times, but suffering as she was, the last thing she was going to do was co operate. We crushed tablets in kitten milk and syringed it into her mouth, tempted her with pate, fish and cheese. Each day was a new battle as she was ready for us. However, we did get some medication into her and with lots of love and cuddles, she's now on the road to recovery.

 Just as we were getting over that hiccup, Cotton, Fae's mum came in one night with a huge chunk of flesh missing from her nose. Her eyes were swollen and she was so very fragile. A night on our bed and a breakfast of pate (she's not fussy) and she also slowly recovered.

 A week later and the nasty scab was hanging from her nose! It was driving her mad, but I couldn't touch it as the flesh was so tender underneath. A little more pate seemed to revive her spirits! You can see the swelling has gone down in the picture below.

 Out in the garden, the Dirigible Plums are now ripening nicely. I've caused so much confusion on FB because of my renaming of the Physalis or Chinese Lanterns. Years ago, when I read Harry Potter, I found a lovely house in Wales that I wanted to move to. It had a wooden tower and a circular kitchen with bespoke, wonky cupboards. I loved it and wanted to live there with Dirigible plums growing by the door, just like Luna Lovegoods house. I immediately imagined Chinese lanterns when I thought of the magical plums and tried in vain to grow them for years. Now living here, they're thriving, like so many things I'm planting.

I've started sprouting sweet potatoes. Can you see the tiny leaves forming in the center of the picture?

I've also sprouted and planted ginger and the vegetable garden is doing well after a shaky start.
I've made another youtube vid, and I think I'm getting better, I'm less nervous, at least, although it is a bit of a whistlestop tour :D

Youtube in the garden

Edited to add: Apart from going outside to feed the ponies, I've stayed in bed all day, visiting blogs and doing research on youtube. I may manage a little rice for supper, but that's all! I'm trying not to view today as a waste!!!