Geode

It's been a rather worrying day today. Arthur, our senior hound, had a somewhat upset gut yesterday, and CH woke me before 7 this morning to tell me that the poor old chap had redecorated the kitchen overnight - we pretty much had to dismantle the entire room and boil it. I try not to take Arfie to the vet if I can avoid it because he becomes so stressed that I suspect it usually does him more harm than good, so I've just done common sense things with him today - kept him quiet, but with constant access to the garden if he needed it, and only allowed him water. Being a hound he generally greets food as if he might never see any again, and finds the concept of fasting bemusing - but as he's spent most of the day sound asleep in his basket we haven't had to discuss the situation too often, which has been a relief. But I have been anxious: he turned 15 in February, and I'm very conscious that time isn't on his side. He seems a little brighter this evening, and I'm cautiously hopeful that he may be on the mend - if he gets through tonight without further incident he'll be rewarded with some scrambled egg tomorrow, but if not I will have to bite the bullet and take him to the vet.

Because of all this stress I didn't get out to look for something appropriate for Derelict Thursday, which I had been intending to do; if you hadn't heard, DT is being given a break by SarumStroller for the duration of the summer, so today's challenge, hosted by freespiral, is the last opportunity to take part for a while. Luckily there's plenty of stuff lying around the house for me to photograph: this geode is a relic of the time when both Offspring collected minerals and fossils, though as it lives on the landing windowsill rather than in a bedroom cupboard I think I must have bought it - I believe it's amethyst, and if so it was probably too expensive to have been a pocket-money purchase.

On the subject of the Offspring, they have both been back in the Shire today, for a flying pre-Easter visit home. They're both very busy with work projects, so it's relatively rare for our little unit to be fully reassembled, and it was lovely to see them and have a family meal together. Child One is now on her way back to Cardiff, and Child Two returns to Leeds tomorrow.