Bunty's mother has gone away to a UFO conference, and has left her haggis hound with him, to the disgust of his cats. A haggis hound is used up here for the hunting of wild haggises (obviously). South of the border, she's known as a "smooth collie" or a "Scottish sheepdog", but that shows what they know. Personally, I am against the barbaric ( Read more... )

I've been remiss with my blog. The problem is that things keep happening - lots of things! I haven't a hope of catching up, so to cut a long story short, I'm now living in Scotland, ( and here's a visual representation of my new life: )

I've been ill in bed for the past five weeks. Things have been difficult. They still are, but I'm starting to recover.

I miss hugs.

Click to view

My beloved Chilean rose tarantula has died. I feel as though part of my identity has gone with her. I have had her since not long after I left home. I have had her for longer than I was with Gothly. I thought I would have her for longer still--I kept her so carefully. She was fourteen years old.

The other day, I was sitting in my room feeding a blob ( Read more... )

Gothly came to visit me for the first time since we separated. I brewed some tea and conducted a tour of my place. It went well, apart from a brief moment when we got to my bedroom: Gothly took in the sight of all my old familiar things and looked sad--which of course made me sad.

We sipped our drinks on the living room sofa, and talked about my ( Read more... )

The travel from Greece, combined with Britain's wintry weather, has had me spending a great deal of time lying in bed, unable to do very much or even think clearly for long stretches. I like to open my curtains and watch the sky from my bed, with clouds scudding past and birds doing their birdy things. I live in a sort of bird paradise, up on the ( Read more... )

Spyros invited me for dinner at a taverna in my old home village of Perithia. The rain was coming down vertically, turning the roads to rivulets and soaking my shoes and the bottoms of the trousers I had hastily bought to replace my torn ones. Our table was on a glass-enclosed patio, where the landlord had placed garden heaters to cosy the place up ( Read more... )

The skies when you were young

My  trip to Apolisies left me barely able to walk, so I spent three days recuperating in the sunshine on the balcony, immersed in a book. The sun sets quickly here; the sky turns peach and mauve, silhouetting the olive and cypress trees, and then it is dark, with scops owls calling to each other under the stars. Mars ( Read more... )

The olive harvest


( Read more... )

From the breeding colony of the remarkable SEF, I give you... the Emo Slimey!


( Read more... )