Had a very pleasant Italian-themed menu dinner party last night. The menu for posterity :-

• Arancini balls with spicy tomato sauce
• Slow-cooked lamb ragu with fresh pappardelle pasta and garlic bread
• Almond chocolate torte with coconut vanilla bean ice cream

As usual Wor Lass The Duchess of Seacroft knocked it out of the park, though I would take some of the credit for starter – the guests were most impressed with my balls.

Last night did teach me two things :-

1. If you add a bouquet garni to a lamb ragu to add flavour, remember to remove it before getting your gormless boyfriend to dish it up to the unwitting guests. Thankfully the lucky recipient of a muslin bag of spices fished it out instead of trying to eat it.
2. Don’t, under any circumstances, finish the meal by getting out a bottle of home-made limoncello and pass it around like it’s lemonade.

Have lost most of today to ibuprofen and couch surfing broken up with constant refilling of the dishwasher. How did we manage to use so much crockery and cutlery? It was only 3 courses!

Check out Stephen Wildish’s site if you like infographics and visual puns. His latest gave me a chuckle: sourced from B3ta.com (nsf mams)

If they’re good enough for Hilda Ogden then we’ll give it a go! Took a punt on a Potteresque bookshelf with candles mural, and I think it adds a fun touch to the home office.

It’s the right way up and still on the wall after an hour so I’m happy with my work.

Poor NZ bird caught being a bit hopeless on a webcam.

Just ordered a flat white (normally $4.50) and claimed a half price loyalty discount. The girl taking the order had to do the maths on a calculator. What are they teaching at school these days? SMH

The good news is that Penny’s recovery is coming on nicely. The dressing is off and she’s eating again.

Have found we can sneak the pain meds into her by encasing them in shredded cheese so she’s comfortable.

Hardest parts now are blocking her from using the stairs and reducing her food intake by a third to avoid her poking up further. Poor girl is bringing us her bowl as soon as she has finished eating.

Penny is back home after a traumatic day at the vets, having her knee operated on to put back a dislocated miniscus and replace her ACL tendon with a stronger plastic tie.

She is still coming round from the anaesthesia and on pain meds but is still whimpering constantly, painful to witness when there is nothing you can do.

I have four sets of tablets and liquid to give her to keep her topped up, which given past experience will be fun. She is also confined to one room for the next 2 weeks.

Just hoping she sleeps through the night otherwise we will be on duty with her for a while, as she only seems to settle when she can see one of us in front of her.

Have just checked the Top Streaking list on my streaming service of choice and had never heard of 17 of the artists in the Top 20 streaming songs list.

Tried listening to some of them and they are all absolute crap. Not in a “I just don’t get it” way, just that songs could have been – and may have been – written by a software application.

Ah well, back to the safety of my Floyd and Bowie albums.