Over the last weekend, I was suffering from bad pains in my jaw, not quite toothache, but very close. A couple of years ago, I cracked a tooth when I bit down into a piece of cake (well, malt loaf) and found a grape pip. I went to the dentist about it, and she diagnosed not only the cracked tooth, but also some bruising to the nerves. There wasn't much she could do about the pain, except prescribing painkillers, but I had the crack fixed up in the next visit.

And everything was fine,...

It's been a long time since my last blog post. A lot has happened, too. This summer has been really busy!

In short, I've had to help my sister with her wedding, I've had to deal with computer problems (so much so that I've been convinced it's been dead on several occasions, only for it to rise again) and I've been wracked by a combination of lack of inspiration and no real desire to write. A couple of minor health issues aside, it's not been a good season for me, in terms of actually...

November and December have been a bad couple of months for me. It seems like a lot of things have gone wrong all at once. I'm hoping that January will be a lot better.

A lot has happened. On top of the problems that my sister has been having, she had to spend a long afternoon in hospital after her doctor thought it wise she get checked out for appendicitis. It turned out to be nothing so serious, but it still caused a lot of worry. The family is rather close-knit, too, so I think...

It's been an odd couple of weeks for me.

Over these past few weeks, I've had a lot of things to deal with, from the trivial to the very serious, and I'm feeling a bit drained from it all. The upside to it is that I've been writing a lot more.

My sister has been having a few problems, one of which left me with a dilemma and worrying for her. As twins, we've always been close and there are times when I just wish I could help more. The worry over that and other things has...

When my cat, Pip, succumbed to the effects of old age and infirmity, a couple of years ago, I wasn't sure if I wanted another pet. I didn't think anything could quite replace him, and I still don't. But I have found somewhat of a substitute in taking care of the wildlife in the garden.

The garden has always attracted a lot of birds and animals, but I never really paid much attention to them when my cat was alive. Now, I love to sit and watch the birds, animals and insects that stop...