Tortoiseshell

Millie's fur is such pretty colours, and she has beautiful, semi-symmetrical markings on her face, but she is a reluctant model: if I point the camera at her, she either bounds towards me to rub her head around my legs, or disappears into some dingy, inconvenient corner. Casper, however, is a consummate poser. I tried to frame and shape abstract compositions from his favourite lounging positions, but for Abstract Thursday's animal theme it has to be the one close up view of Millie's coat I managed to snatch, with a portrait of Casper as an extra.

After Wednesday's visit from the tree surgeon, Thursday saw the plumber arrive and complete a series of small jobs, some of them long delayed. I was particularly happy that the dishwasher which came with us from Durham nine years ago has been plumbed in (replacing the defunct one from the fitted kitchen we inherited) and still works; three or four weeks without a dishwasher had made serious inroads on my already limited gardening time. As well as this excitement, I picked the remaining redcurrants and a tub of raspberries and caught up with a good number of admin tasks. I love ticking lots of things off on my to-do list!