Tuesday 19 August 2008

Autumn in August?

It does feel like it, believe me you all... apparently, we are experiencing the wettest August since 1910 or so, but temperatures are approx. 19°C max and it is not cold. But...wet!! The garden is a no-go area for the bunnies, but they get plenty of exercise indoors, and also two extra petting hands in the form of my best friend, who is visiting from Sardinia. Does she miss the +30°C temperatures from home? She says NO! :)

Friday 8 August 2008

Knitting in summer

Hmmm...who am I kidding? Knitting in summer? What summer? We did not have a summer, just a few days of summer, and I managed to miss them all because they happened when I was in Dundee. Oh well...
Anyway, sometimes people will ask what I knit in summer, since one does not really want to deal with hairy and woolly yarns when it's hot. As I was saying, since "hot" is a term that cannot be used very often here, at least not in the sense I give to the word "hot"**, I am happy to knit anything, large or small a project, no problem. When my first Sock Wars III victim received the socks of death she was so happy with the parcel that she sent in return two skeins of a US sock yarn, Crystal Palace "Maizy", and a pattern. She thought I should knit the heel and the toes in the bright lime green, and the rest with the variegated skein, but being a lacy pattern I thought they would look better this way:



Although I like them very much, I will be sending them to my sister, who is a fan of lime green. It's the least I can do for her for sending me a huge parcel with lots of Italian biscuits and Sardinian pasta :)

**: I call "hot" when the temperature is above +28°C...a bit like what can be experienced these days in Cagliari, my hometown...

Sock Wars III - new update

Remember this? Well, it is now official that I have TWO killings to show off! My second victim, Zippity, wrote to me yesterday to confirm that she had been happily killed. The best piece of news is that the socks fit well, so one worry is now over for me. It was the first time I knitted socks size US12 and was a bit worried about the length. Paranoid, me??
Unfortunately I missed taking a picture of those socks, but hopefully Zippity will upload a pic on her flickr album soon, so that I can link to it :)
Zippity will be shipping to me her SIPs (=socks in progress) for her victim soon, so that I can work on another lethal weapon.

Wednesday 6 August 2008

And we're back!

It has been another long break from bloglife, but hopefully with holidays at the doorstep I will be able to catch up with all the blogs and bunny lives, keeping fingers firmly crossed that all and everybun is well and thriving.

Firstly, a big thank you to all of you who posted and sent healing vibes to Hugo...my white furry man had me quite worried just until the day before yesterday, but he is such a "Stehaufmännchen" as the Germans would put it, no matter what the "ordeal" is he must go through, he will recover and be back the usual spoiled bunny in search of a stroking hand or a grooming session from Miss Eve :)

Unfortunately, he has shown to Mr. D who the boss is and refused to take his baytril while I was away. He is quite a challenge really, hates being picked up and we manage to medicate him only when we work in a team...he will grab him and hold him close on his chest, and I will sneak the nasty baytril with the siringe in his mouth. Poor Hugo! So, he went for the last two days without antibiotic, but Mr. D assured me that he was eating and pushing Miss Eve out of the bowl for pellets. He only noticed a drop in appetite in both due to the heath wave that England was experiencing while I was up in Scotland, balmy +20°C and sea breeze and all.
When I returned last Saturday he was fine, but on Sunday he did not seem particularly interested in food, so I gave him some metacam and brought him to see Dani on Monday as soon as she was out of the operating theatre. She checked him over, looked at the space where the molar was, and said that all was fine. No infection to be seen, all looked nice and healing, and gut sounds were fine too, which was very good news to me! Now he is dozing off in his cage with Miss Eve, certainly waiting for 6pm when it is time for pellets.
I will take a few more pictures, hopefully in the garden, in the next days...being off work will surely help!
And now, something Scottish for you all :)

White & Blue
This is especially for Diana's boyfriend :) (click to see full picture)

Penguins outside the Discovery museum...


The legendary Discovery


The city quay near Tay bridge


And... a Dundee bunny just outside the lecture hall near Bonar Hall! They were everywhere...the hill just outside the hotel was full of them at dusk and early morning!