Preoccupations and Distractions.

We have been very preoccupied of late. Our beloved Leo, ate something he should not have. It made him quite ill, & he had to spend 2 nights, & 3 days in the Veterinary Hospital. Of course the family was demented with worry, hoping that he would be ok.

Here he is with Gom, happily back in the family fold, & though he is on a special diet for a few days, he seems his usual bright & happy self, & I am sure he would be eating much more than he is allowed, if he only had the chance.
He dropped a bit of weight, but luckily he had some to come & go on!

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A dear Cousin, noted my love of owls. He & his wife recently went to England in search of family roots.
Here is an extract of the email that accompanied these wonderful photographs, which were taken by his wife.

"When we were in Thirsk, we stayed at a property owned by a lady who was a real bird nut. She had more different kinds of chooks than I knew existed, and also operated a safe haven for abandoned and injured owls. This was sanctioned by their equivalent of DOC*, and she was required to release them back into the wild when they were fit and strong enough. She had English Barn Owls, Snowy Owls, and a European Eagle Owl. This was a fairly new arrival in England, and opinion was still divided on whether they should be encouraged or exterminated. Apparently they will carry off small dogs!!"

* I am unsure of what DOC is but I take it to be some sort of rescue of wildlife association, in New Zealand.

Here are some of my favourite photos.

Look at these eyes! How wonderful to have the chance to take these photos.

I suspect this may be the European Eagle Owl. Look the the fierce eyes!

They do make a wonderful distraction.

Perhaps this one is my Favourite of them all. Barn Owl, I think.

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Mr & Mrs Nice Neighbour recently acquired a gadget to transfer old slides onto the computer.

Here is a photo they sent me of the Sydney Harbour view 39 years ago!!

How very different it all looks today.

Sorry I don't have a pic taken today, but Google has some very interesting views, if you are interested.

We have had some very nice warm, fine days. We did not do them full justice, as we were so distracted by Leo's mishap. I think even Honey missed him, & she gave him quite a welcome, trotting about after him when he got home.

We recently re watched Lawrence of Arabia. Dated though it is, it seems to have stood the test of time as far as acting goes. I find it distasteful in the extreme to ponder the sheer arrogance of the British, & can scarcely believe the manipulation of Lawrence. A very complex character, indeed.

I have been doing much reading, & am currently reading Arundhati Roy's The God of Small Things. Everyone else has probably read it long ago, but I am so wishing I had begun it long ago. It is wonderful.

I recently read Joy Dettman's Henry's Daughter, & found it to be one of those books I could not stop reading. I devoured it in a weekend.

Anita Shreve is an author I like, & a recent read was Light on Snow, which I read in double time also.

I finally finished The Book Thief, I found it hard going, & I had many spells whilst reading this book. My brother read it in 2 days, but I just could not seem to handle the 'darkness'.
In the midst of these books I have read a Minette Walters, a book called When the Bough Breaks, by Matthew Benns, a true story about an Australian woman who murdered her 4 children, & have 3 other books on the 'simmer', as it were.

The sewing has taken a back seat to all the reading, & running about after family.