Happy New Year!

2015 was a pretty good year for the first eleven months - my first year working from home, with plenty of work coming in, time to care for my family without rushing about, no builders next door so the garden was utilised and enjoyed fully, some lovely outings and generally living life peacefully which is all anyone could want.

However, December...not so much!  In the past fortnight we have had a series of things going wrong around the house - the oven, the heating (still cold today!), vacuum cleaner, car, various other minor appliances.  Yesterday, the final day of 2015, was a doozy - not only was it the day the heating broke, my poor Clovis collapsed on his walk in the morning.   I managed to get him home & to the vets, where the diagnosis was that he has heart problems.  He stayed for an ECG, results of which did not come in by the end of the day so we will have to wait until Monday due to the bank holidays.  So he is home, on tablets to tide him over until we know exactly what the problems are & the correct medication can be prescribed.  He's an old dog, but we're not ready to lose him just yet.

I'm hoping that such a concentrated run of bad luck is now gone with the old year and that 2016 can be a fresh start and we get a bit of respite for a while - I'm exhausted!

Very little painting or crafting done due to the festive (!) season and extenuating circumstances - hopefuly normal service will be resumed on Monday.