Poor Teddy has the chicken pox. Luckily though it seems like a pretty mild dose and it’s not bothering him too much. He’s a little grumpy at times, but …well…there’s nothing new there!!

I must admit that when I heard the diagnosis I was filled with dread because of the memories of my own experiences with the pox as a 5 year old. Like lots of kids, I was lucky enough to have spots EVERYWHERE. And to cap it off, I had a broken arm at the same time, with plaster from my wrist to my shoulder. I had to get creative shoving kitchen implements up under the plaster to scratch! Eeeew.

As I’ve said many times before, two posts is my usual run on stickfly.com (old or new) before I take my hiatus… so here goes. Post two.

We are lucky enough to live in a house backing on to a large paddock with four cows in it. For those of you who missed Ben’s earlier snap of Ms Moo, here goes –

Every day or so Ms Moo or one of her mates will stick their heads over the fence to say g’day … or “moo” as it is usually, and munch on our banana trees.

Ted is doing his best to confuse the poor cows as, to him, everything with four legs is “doggie”. But I don’t think Ms Moo minds…

Five years ago today we were in our flat in Chiswick, London mourning the sudden and desperately tragic loss of our dear friend Cath. We were completely lost, mindlessly opening a bottle of bubbly in our fridge to numb the pain and stop the thoughts. A weird thing to do, but hey, that’s what we did. Today, we share a glass while we reflect on a the way-too-short life of a gem who lit up our lives. We won’t ever forget you.

Yep, still baking. Yesterday it was a pineapple upside down cake, something Ben has been telling me about his mum’s version of for many years. With that kind of pressure, I’d always stayed well away. Perhaps it was a hormone rush to the head, but yesterday I thought I’d have a go. And it was seriously divine. There were no comparisons to his mum’s cake – he knows to tread carefully at the moment ;) – but the look of pure joy on his face when he saw the cake and then inhaled a large piece was a sight to behold. Wish I had a photo of that. Now if only I could convince him to take the rest to work so it’s not here tempting me all day!