and then the rains came

I'm not usually glad to see rain, but am certainly pleased that my drought prophecy of the other day has turned out to be wrong: the water-butt is filling up as I type, & the ground is finally getting a decent soaking; hubby is equally pleased, as with so many new shrubs we're trying to get established, he was beginning to feel like he had the watering can welded to his hand. But quite apart from the temporary alleviation of our water concerns, I love the fresh smell & look of a garden after rain; this photo doesn't quite do it justice (I only just caught it before the light went), but all the greens were looking greener, the pinks pinker, the blues bluer, etcetera.

I slept well last night, & yet woke up feeling exhausted this morning, & as it didn't get any better I awarded myself a 'duvet day'. Jack didn't think much of this: he kept popping his head around my door to see if I was coming to play, but at least there was always a lap available for when he was ready for a rest. Our night time routine increasingly resembles a comedy sketch: I'm always in bed by early evening, but whilst hubby may have been in & out of my room umpteen times during the day, Jack now recognises when he's on his way in to say goodnight, & he barges in ahead of hubby & sits by the bed waiting for him to bend down to kiss me, at which he leaps up on the bed to push his head between us, & starts frantically nuzzling whichever bits of us he can get to; when hubby says "Good night", that's Jack's cue to jump down & head out the door (unlike me, he sleeps with hubby), but when he hears me respond with my own "good night" he has to leap up & give me another quick lick; just for fun, hubby will again say "good night", at which Jack's off out the door again ?. it's a good job we're not as prolific as 'The Waltons', as we suspect that Jack's stamina would easily see him through the entire "Goodnight John-boy" routine!

Things we've learned about Jack:
He loves frozen peas - & luckily, his love of them saves us the bother of having to sweep them up off the kitchen floor. I wonder if we could train him to go in & clear out all those stray peas from the bottom of the freezer?

We're off out again tomorrow, so watch this space for an update on the state of the floor