Monday again already? Well, our weekend’s been non-stop. A whirlwind of eating, sleeping, reading newspapers, a touch more eating and lots more sleeping. On Saturday we rustled up a huge bacon and mushroom frittata (recipe to follow), then went for a walk in the unseasonable sunshine with next door’s mad outdoor-living dog, Holly, to work it off a bit and introduce my Mum to the cows. One of the adjoining fields is a kind of nursery and there are always the most adorable Mummy and baby cows in there. The mothers are incredibly protective of their babies and huff and puff when we walk past, herding their children as close as possible.
Holly is a completely mental bundle of energy wrapped in white fluff, and not a bit interested in cows, but she’s good fun nevertheless. She’s a bit worrying when you take her for a walk (especially for an ex-greyhound owner) as she charges off at full pelt, then suddenly turns and charges straight towards you, all fluff and lolling pink tongue and flying clumps of mud. No piece of clothing was left unscathed, and we trudged back to the house exhausted and covered in mud.
Holly, who couldn’t believe that her new walking buddies had had enough already, proceeded to rush up and down past the window with a stick as if to say ‘look! I’m still here! Come and play!’ The children went out to whack golf balls about, but Holly stole them all and wouldn’t give them back, then they had a game of football but Holly took that ball too, so they gave up and settled on just charging up and down, with Holly in hot pursuit, until they too arrived puffing and panting back at the house, much to Holly’s disappointment. I must say, though, it’s quite refreshing to have a dog on hand to go walkies, but then not have to worry about all the mud and crap that it picks up. When she’s had enough she trots back to her kennel to wait until someone else wants to play, or indeed until a tractor comes past that she can chase.
Saturday evening, then, we had a massive Chinese takeaway. Sunday, we started off with the newspapers, then moved on to cocktails and finished with a chicken casserole of epic proportions, helped along with a creamy layered potato dish from Rachel Allen and a nice healthy dollop of Ben and Jerry’s to round it off. Not exactly the hip and thigh diet methinks. Oh, and we had pancakes for breakfast this morning; but we did have a fruit salad with them so that makes them healthy, doesn’t it?
