China Girl & Days at Home....

My good friend Natalie is off to Australia tomorrow to stay with my sister & family (she's Esther's best friend too!) and we're looking after her Shar Pei, China, while she's gone. What a gorgeous dog she is! She's 8 years old, and didn't have a happy start in life (can you believe that her ears were sewn shut when she was young? How cruel can people be, and how loving & forgiving dogs are!) but luckily she found her way to Natalie & now has a lovely life! As you can see, she's made herself at home. Alice wasn't very impressed to begin with. "WHO is this big dog, coming into MY house & cuddling up to MY mum" you could almost hear her say this morning! But China is so sweet & docile and doesn't seem to notice the fluffy, indignant terrier following her every move - and there's no aggression between them, so all should be well. I'll keep you posted!

While I was writing the list of my favourite things for my 101 Award last week, I kept looking over to this corner. I couldn't actually put it on my list then, it just didn't fit. But I have always adored this table (given to me by my Mum & Dad as it didn't fit into their house any more) since I was a little girl. It's a tavern table, 18th Century (my favourite period) and shows that it's been well-used & well loved through it's hundreds of years by it's knocks & chips (all of them made years & years ago). I love it's golden patina & the marks beer tankards have left on it's surface...and now it stand in a corner of our 18th Century home and holds some of my treasured books & photographs & is loved all over again!

I've been baking this weekend, this victoria sponge was for an order on Saturday morning (I LOVE victoria sponge! But never get to eat it...I just love the thought of it!)

And I'm making a wedding cake for friends this week, so here is the start of it.....

and I'll post the finished article when it's done! Just the bottom tier is fruitcake, the top two are sponge so I won't be making them until Thursday. And NO fancy bits, I just have to ice them with plain white fondant as it's a small wedding & the bride wants to put her own fresh flowers on top as decoration (phew!)

And finally.......I want the opinion of my gorgeous readers on the picture below!! It's the subject of much debate in this house, that'll make you laugh I'm sure. The picture is of Paul's new pyjama bottoms, given to him by Esther & Phil for Christmas. The print is a repeated one of a certain creature and I'd like your opinions on which creature that might be! We have very different views and I'm not going to give any clues as to my opinion on the subject. So, just for fun, let me know what you think! And I'll let you know the name of the print in my next post & see if you agree & tell you who thought what! Happy happy Monday, everyone xoxo