Throw another cat on the bed...

It must be getting even colder at night because this morning we woke to not one, not two but three cats on our bed and one of them was asleep on top of my head - it was Miss Minnie who has transferred her affections from John to me for some reason!!!  If it continues like this we shall have a full set tomorrow should Chivers decide to join us!

It was another bright start to the day which was encouraging because there is so much I want to do in the garden which looks like a whirlwind has passed through and that is probably not far from the truth.

I did manage to get outside for a short while until the weather took a turn for the worse only to find that the weeds are everywhere and I mean everywhere.  We have a couple of old village chairs in the front garden that are there awaiting being upcycled which isn't going to be for some time yet as they are absolutely sodden and in the seat of one of them something is growing.

I cannot be sure but by the looks of it I would say that there are some Californian Poppies valiantly trying to make their home there which is pretty amazing when you think I have given all sorts of people some of the seeds and they have failed to get them to germinate.  I shall leave them there aa they are too small to transplant elsewhere and if we ever get some sunshine they will probably perish anyway.

Around on John's bench there is an old dustpan and brush and the brush now has new green shoots of something or another!! Who would have thought that seeds could take hold in a brush?

My main aim of the day, as I wasn't at art, was to get a little tidying done out in the garden and to get our sheets washed and out on the line, dried and back on the bed which I managed but not without the aid of the airer indoors later on in the afternoon.  John was trying to get to the bottom of what is draining the battery on Lakis' car although he suspects, and is probably correct, that it is the radio which does not seem to be able to switch off completely.  He nipped down to Polis hoping to catch the guy that was going to check for him but unfortunately he wasn't around so John had to arrange to return later this afternoon when we had to take Charlie to the vets.

Today the larger of the two clockvines had to go - the wind is ripping the foliage off and dumping it into the swimming pool and John is worried that it is going to make the water go green.  Normally I think I have cut the clockvine back by now - this is a plant which thrives on being cut right down to the ground for the next season.  The weather up until December was so mild it just meant that the vine continued to grow and flower much later than it would normally do.

I started at the top on the roof terrace where the furniture has been blown all over the place but which is now lashed down so it cannot go any further nor cause any damage.  The material that we have woven through the railings has lost its moorings but that is ok as we have some brand new to put up once the weather is better.  In previous years the vine has grown up and through a wooden 'A' frame which was great but made it difficult to cut down - this year we used strings which just needed to be cut at the top and the bottom and the whole vine came down in one piece.  The goats will benefit when they next pass through as we have put it over the wall near the green area.  I was lucky to get this job finished, along with a bit of weeding before the lovely sunny weather disappeared.

I had not realised that the lovely narcissi were already in bloom under the olive tree and had been so for a while by the looks of them.  Some had been hammered to the ground so I decided to rescue as many as I could and put them in the house and, as they looked a little lost in the vase, but a couple of rosebuds from 'Hadge' to join them.  They looked and smelt absolutely lovely - so bright and cheerful and they were just lost outside so it was nice to have them indoors where we could appreciate them.

As the weather worsened I escaped indoors and had absolutely no excuse not to tackle the mound of ironing that was sitting in the basket and the fact that we had had a bit of sunshine meant that the conservatory was pleasantly warm at least for a while.

The weather got worse and worse and we didn't relish the thought of the trip with Charlie down to the vets although Dr Inna was at the Prodromi surgery this afternoon so it wasn't such a long trip with him if he was in wingebag mode.

It was a follow up appointment for Charlie as he has now come to the end of the steroids he was given after his encounter with a car.  In himself he is fine although the steroids have increased his appetite so he does nothing but eat which isn't good as he is rather on the fat side anyway.  We haven't seen any movement in the right side of his face - it is like he has had a stroke.  We have two other concerns, one is that he has lost quite a chunk of his left hand fang.  This doesn't seem to be bothering him but we wanted to make sure.  He has also developed a circular sore under his right ear which worryingly looked a little like ring worm which is highly contagious to both us and the other cats.  We are hoping it is simply an irritation that he has scratched but because he doesn't have any real feeling there he doesn't know how hard he has scratched himself.

We braved the heavy rain and got to the vets.  Dr Inna tested all around his face and confirmed that there is little to no response from the right hand side of his face and this may never return.  She was not worried about his fang having bravely given it a good old press and she checked the sore and felt, like we did, that it was more self inflicted and definitely not ring worm.  She gave him a nerve blocking injection so that the wound can heal quickly and then weighed him - he is a massive 6.8 kilograms.

He was a very good boy on the way home - he didn't really moan too much and demanded food as soon as we got in so no change there then.

A quiet night in with leftover pot-mess and we actually got to watch a film I have wanted to watch for ages - The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society which was perfect easy watching - a bit of a chick flick but John said he had quite enjoyed it too.