I hope everyone had a great Christmas and had good times with their loved ones. We spent the day with number one son and wife, third son and Keryn's DD. It was very laid back, which is what I needed after all our hectic running around. Now we have a few days off, and we can calm down and think about the new year coming up. We never do anything to celebrate, but I do like to contemplate the old year and try to make plans for the new.

The new owners of Bear, now named 'Chief', sent me this photo on Christmas day along with the message that he was having fun in his new life at the beach. The other puppies seem to have settled in well too, and they must be bringing entertainment to a whole host of other people judging by the reactions of their new families. That's nice to know, and softens the fact that our own Christmas was puppyless. I do miss those little guys.

But in the meantime I have to start dealing with my tomatoes which have ripened by the kilo, and I foresee batches of sauce and salsa and chili sauce and whatever else I can cook up until the supply runs out.

And I still have a few four patches to make for Bonnie's mystery, and the borders to get on those tops, so I'd better go and get busy.