In days of yore

The strange costume and mouldy state of the photo might provide a clue as to how ancient I am (but my brother's older...). My mother used to make all my dresses (and her beautiful evening gowns) and this is one of the simpler examples of her smocking. How she managed to do all that, look after the house and garden, chickens etc and still play lots of golf is a mystery to me. Think she palmed us off onto nannies whenever possible.

Haven't set foot outside the house all day. HH's Texan client flew in, due to arrive at 7 am, so I stuck around, not sure if I would be required to produce coffee, breakfast, strong drinks or... In the end, he only pitched up at around 10.30 , with two others, and the supply chain was limited to two coffees and water all round. HH was tied up most of the day, and work had come in for me in the meantime, so that took care of the rest in the day.

Excitement in the evening, though - finally booked our tickets to the UK in July, with KLM, a company I used to work for. I love the airline and travelling via Schiphol, my favourite airport. Still haven't done anything concrete about renting rooms for the World Cup, just some research, as suggested by digitaldaze.

Fifi, our snow-white visitor, is still here and has been meowing a lot today. Thought she might have a tummy ache, but I just put down yet more food, which she gobbled up immediately and is now quiet. Efforts to find her a good home have been fruitless so far.