Seal and Cupcake

Seal and Post

I couldn’t decide what the seal should be balancing, so I drew a couple of versions :)

I’m into the second trimester now and feeling SO much better! I’m still very tired and have to take a nap every day, but the nausea is almost completely gone, and that’s such a relief.

We had an ultrasound yesterday and saw the baby wiggling about, hands and feet all over the place, looking just as it should. It’s so exciting (and strange!) to have a person inside of me. I wish I could show you a picture, but I can’t make my scanner read the ultrasound film. Pah!

Since I’m now able to get a little more work done there will be a September update next week, hooray! It won’t include any one-of-a-kind items, so I probably won’t announce the exact time in advance, but I’m expecting to be ready on Wednesday or Thursday with some new stationery and buttons. As always, the mailing list will be the first to know, and will receive an exclusive special offer – sign up over on the left if you’re keen :)

There’s a tree in our new yard, completely covered with lichen, that we were assuming was probably dead. We first saw this house in early winter, and it’s always been bare. Today I was outside and realised that it is simply covered with blossom, and sprouting new leaves!

I think it might be a plum tree. How exciting! I can’t wait to see what other surprises might be in our garden.

We also have a few freesias popping up around the front of the house. I was already planning to plant a swathe of them next autumn, as I love the scent and they seem to naturalize well in the Auckland climate, so I’m pleased to find they must be happy in our soil. Some of my more ambitious gardening plans will have to wait until we can afford to have some serious landscaping and drainage work done, but the freesias are readily achievable.

Sail Bird

(Photo by Rob Isaac)

These two rapscallions joined our family a couple of weeks ago! I mentioned to a friend that we were going to visit a shelter to look for a kitty or two, and as it turned out her mother was fostering a litter that needed homes. We went to visit and fell in love with this pair.

The kitten on the left is Montgomery, shortened to Monty or Merry for everyday use. (Technically he is actually a girl, but we didn’t find out for some time because they were very timid to begin with, and by the time the discovery was made the name and pronoun had firmly stuck.) He is almost all grey except for a little white tuft in the middle of his belly.

The kitten on the right is Pippin. She has white socks on all four paws, anklets in front and knee-highs in back, plus a white chin and chest.

They are wonderful little cats, very naughty at times but so sweet and soft. Monty is turning into a snugglepuss and spends most of the day in the office with me, winding around my legs and playing with his catnip mice, whereas Pippin is a little more adventurous and loves to climb trees. They sleep at the foot of our bed and have the loudest purrs. It is so nice to have cats in the house again :)

Baker Bread

Swellephant

Sunset Dolphin