One Fewer Fish, Two Further Fish

19th July: We got two goldfish when we first moved into this house about 12 years ago,and Debbie has looked after them fantastically for all that time as they have gradually grown and we've gradually got them bigger and bigger tanks. They've never been sick at all... until just now: one of them has just died. The two of them always seemed to be good pals, and they swam around as a pair most of the time, so even though the remaining fish seems to be coping OK with his new-found independence, we are thinking that we'll be going and getting him a friend or two over the next few days...

20th July: Fearing that Bubbles might be missing his friend, who is now buried beneath our apple tree, we went out today and got him two new friends: Pacino and Shark. So we now have three goldfish. Bubbles seems very pleased to have company, and the two little newcomers seem very impressed with what is probably the biggest goldfish they've ever seen or imagined. Not that I think goldfish spend a lot of time imagining bigger goldfish. But who knows. Anyway, Pacino and Shark don't have to imagine any more: they have a big friend all of their own.

Debbie's Painting of Classic Punch

Here's the painting that Debbie has been working on.

A bit of painting

I used to do lots of painting and drawing but haven't done any for ages. Debbie has just got started back to work on one of her paintings and watching her inspired me to make time to have another go myself. I've never used one of those little stretched canvas blocks before, so I had a go with one of those. It's only tiny, but it was interesting to try it out. Also new to me is using acrylics instead of oils. Not terribly pleased with this first result, I have to say, but at least I've got the brushes out again. Watch this space. But don't hold your breath.

Open Day at "The Dogs Trust"

We took Gus to the annual open day at the "Dogs Trust" at Roden, where we got him from. There were sunny intervals in between the thunderstorms, and as we strolled around eating chips and ice creams some of the people who used to look after Gus came up to say hello; they all remember him because he's such a distinctive character.

Last year Gus won a rosette in the show, but this year we were robbed: the judge's glasses must have fogged up in the rain! Debbie and Gus looked very splendid in the parade ring: Gus was wearing a natty "Dogs Trust" bandanna that we bought on the day. We also bought a year's supply of lemon cake and coffee-and-walnut cake from the Cake Stall, so it was a productive day all round.

Debbie took some really nice pictures of Gus: the one below is one of our favourites of him. As we've both got back into doing painting, perhaps Debbie will paint this as his official portrait!