Christmas Crafting

As is the way during December, it's been a very crafty week so far. Emily has spent hours making various beautiful Christmas presents for friends and family and she's been busy making cards too. My favourite is a stunning quilled sleigh plus presents which she's made for her "cousin" Elise in Canada. We've also put up yet more Christmas decorations. The new tree arrived on Monday so we now have a tree upstairs too, although this one has had to be tied to the wall thanks to kittens' efforts to climb the flippin' thing. Rolls eyes.

Jon went to his psychic circle meeting again on Monday night. He did some very accurate readings for a couple of people, picking up on someone's theatrical background and interests and on someone else's recent run of extremely good luck. Next year we'll definitely have to look into some weekend courses for Jon here.

Yesterday the vet rang with the results of Merlin's blood and liver tests. Apparently the liver test showed slightly low albumen protein, but not sufficient to be a concern and not the cause of his deterioration. He has to go back next week for them to look at his bladder and take some survery x-rays but as yet it's still a mystery :-( If they don't find anything on the x-rays then we're looking at an intestine biopsy. Assuming he's strong enough to withstand that - he's so frail, poor thing :-((( The vet was quite upbeat, saying this loss of condition is fairly common in cats his age and that there are many things it *could* be, most of which are treatable - but of course, it could be a cancer of some kind, in which case it's just a matter of time. It's heartbreaking. At the moment Merlin's quality of life is still OK, we think. He doesn't seem to be in pain although he's not as affectionate as he always used to be. How long that quality of life will last though is something we're trying not to wonder about.

On a happier note, Emily and I had fun at yoga on Tuesday evening. For the last two lessons this term they decided to do Christmassy things; I was invited to join the lesson and we spent a happy hour making yoga wrapping paper, lol. Next week we're making mandala Christmas cards and having a bit of a party :-))

Yesterday was fun too; Emily went to play and have tea at her friend Kate's house. The two girls played beautifully and Margaret and I had a very interesting natter too. Emily and Jon have been to tai chi this morning and we're off to ballet shortly. Time's flying by. Our little girl is nearly 8!