TEDDY | Cider with Rosie

Our weekend, as told by my camera roll.

28.01

Porridge-with-jam

I’ve been starting most weekend days recently with porridge. For the first 20+ years of my life I wouldn’t touch the stuff with a bargepole, but then I discovered that my boyfriend makes the World’s Best Porridge, and I’ve been hooked ever since. I don’t know what he does to make it so great. It’s like magic. Lately I’ve been adding a spoonful of jam (my favourite is strawberry, though apricot is lovely too) and pairing it with a little glass mug full of fresh coffee. That’s how this weekend started out- with porridge made by Jason and coffee made by me; both enjoyed whilst listening to the rain falling hard outside.

The rest of the weekend was spent in our usual style. You know- going on muddy walks, baking sweet things…*eating* sweet things. We also listened to old albums that took us back to our first few months of dating (You Me At Six’ second album) and started watching Hostages as a way of filling the void left by our beloved Homeland. It’s okaaaaay…but not brilliant. Toni Collette just can’t compete with Claire Danes and her trembling chin, if you ask me.

Weekends spent like this are my favourite. Ones without plans, where we can lazy about to our hearts’ content and move at our own pace for two whole days. Even Teddy slows down at the weekends these days, and is happy to sleep in late and wait until midday before heading out on a walk. Here are a few photos of our weekend, if you’d like to see…

Breakfast-Cider-with-Rosie

^^ Can we take a minute to appreciate Teddy’s face in this photo? Have you ever seen so much joy contained in one facial expression? He just loves walks. And rain. And puddles and mud and smells and running and…^^

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Posted in HAPPINESS, TEDDY, WEEKEND

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An update on that little man of ours, who turned one in August but still looks like a puppy.

04.12

His current favourite toy is an empty peanut butter pot. He kicks it around the living room like it’s a football, and then puts it on my lap when he gets bored of playing with it by himself as a way of asking me to throw it for him.

He’s kind of obsessed with the ladies at the moment. The poor lamb’s hormones are really raging, and make him fall head over heels in love with every ladydog we meet whilst out walking. One day little man, one day…

Every morning when I come downstairs after putting on my makeup, Ted attempts to lick it off my face. He sniffs along my cheeks if I’m wearing blusher, and makes mad attempts to lick any eyeshadow off my eyelids. I’m certain he thinks I go upstairs, smear my face in filth, then come downstairs for him to clean it off for me. (Oh, and I do NOT let him lick my face. I’m not one of *those* dog owners…yet ;)

He still loves to dig in the garden. We’re working on it. He still would eat every poop he does if we let him. We’re working on that too.

He’s slowly ridding our garden of fallen beech nuts, by scoffing them every chance he gets. Oh and speaking of the garden, he stands on pigeon watch most days just in case a pigeon dare land in his precious territory. When they do venture into our garden, he charges out at them, barking and huffing and puffing like a mad dog.

He’s obsessed with licking metal, and has been since we first met him at 5 weeks old and he sat licking my belt buckle. Watches, earrings, the metal detailing on my handbag…it’s all good stuff to Ted.

He’s a true lapdog, and will climb butt-first onto our laps any chance he can get.

The other day I had three raw chicken skins that I was going to throw in the bin, but instead I cooked them up and fed them to Ted. He looked at me with love in his eyes the whole rest of the evening.

When I cook, he stands at my feet with his eyes fixed on the floor, just waiting for things to fall from the counter. He also comes running at the sound of the peeler being used, because it usually means he’s about to get fed carrot peelings.

We call him Spud a lot of the time. And also Bunny, since he hops like one when he gets excited.

The little fuzz around his mouth is super soft, and super tickly. It almost makes up for the loss of that darling little tuft of hair he used to have on the top of his head, that sadly disappeared when he shed his puppy coat. Sob.

In the past few months I’ve caught him attempting to eat: Blue tack. A Pantone colour chip. A needle. A rusty nail. Deer poop. Several slugs and snails. Many, many pebbles. Many, many sticks. A Biro pen. Feathers from a dead bird. The squeaker from one of his toys. The case from my camera remote. A kirby grip. And a sock.

He gets antsy if I haven’t taken him out for a walk by 10am during the week, and sneaks up to the second or third step to try and get my attention.

Yep, I guess we love that little woof of ours a lot. He’s the greatest.

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Posted in PUPPY, TEDDY

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Oh, these Autumn days.

12.11

I was so grateful for the chance to photograph the glorious light on Sunday, I counted my blessings a hundred times that I’d decided to bring my camera with me on our walk. It seems as though the leaves are just at their tipping point; gloriously yellow and technicoloured now, but just a hair’s breadth away from dissolving into winter. It’s been so chilly in our house of late (our heating’s been acting up. Because this, after all, is the year in which Everything We Own Breaks.) so cold in fact that we’ve been taking hot water bottles to bed with us, and wearing two pairs of socks. I’m enjoying the bite in the air though, and the excuse to drink lots of hot chocolate. Speaking of hot chocolate, I tried Starbuck’s Peppermint Hot Chocolate this weekend, and oh.my.gawd, that stuff’s like crack. I can’t stop thinking about it.

^^ Our dog looks this joyful a good 95% of the time. The only time he looks glum is when he’s waiting to be taken for a walk, or when he feels he’d rather not wait until half 5 for his dinner, thank you very much. I do love that silly little face :) ^^

^^ We had lots of talks this weekend about appreciating the little things, and taking joy in the every day. In the colour of the leaves, in a work day full of laughter, in an afternoon slice of cake, in Teddy resting his chin on the sofa to let us know he’d like a fuss. Jason finds it harder than I do to just be happy, so we’re working on it. I’m also trying hard not to let the little things (like broken tumble dryers, and being over-tired, and that muddy paw print I just can’t get out of our living room carpet) bring down my spirits. We’re a team, and I’m proud of that. ^^

^^ ‘Wait…’^^

And now, great news! Over the weekend, I FINALLY managed to convince Jason that Modern Family is funny! You’ve no idea how long I’ve been working on bringing him round! He was stubborn as a mule at first- ‘I’m not watching that rubbish B (Jase never calls me Rosie, only ever ‘B’) You know I hate American sitcoms’…But I used my tried and tested coercion techniques to win him over (leaving it on the telly in the background, putting it on after Jason’s watched two hours of rugby & so can’t complain) and then lo and behold- belly laughs from the man! I win, I win, I win! And now I get to watch back through the episodes again, finding them extra funny because Jason’s laughing too! Ha!

Other news from our weekend, and a bit of Monday too because I enjoyed Monday a lot! I bought Ted the Dog a new bed, and got a new pair of non-leaky Hunters to replace my crappy old ones. I’m happy to not have to get wet socks every time I go walking from now on, but mainly I’m just very excited about Ted’s new bed. There are two major reasons for this excitement. One! Because I want Ted to be all cosy-snug in the winter and think this new bed will be just the thing. And Two! Because the colour matches perfectly with our kitchen accessories. And colour coordination is very important, I think.

On Sunday Jason suggested that perhaps we should paint the spare room, and I politely declined taking part in favour of a day of vegging and photo-editing. Then when Jason remembered that eating chocolate on the sofa is way better than sanding whitework, he ditched his DIY plans and joined me in a day of inactivity instead. And that, my friends, is why our spare room is still lilac, and not our favourite shade of kinda greyish-taupe.

Sunday night I babysit my friend’s little girl, and whilst we were reading storybooks (Kipper, in case you were wondering) Ruby asked if I had a baby in my tummy. I told her no, not right now, and that I probably won’t do for a few more years. She asked if she and her Mum could look after the baby when I have one, and I said yes, of course! Then Ruby smiled, and asked ‘And will I be like…a sister?’ and my heart melted all over the floor. Isn’t that just the cutest?

Tell me, how was your weekend?

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Posted in AUTUMN, COUNTRY WALKS, DOG WALKS, TEDDY, WEEKEND

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From a midweek, morning walk.

18.09

I’ve been relishing my morning walks with Teddy just lately. I’d forgotten how efficient crisp Autumn air is at whipping life into my body at 9 o’clock in the morning. And my goodness, is that air crisp?! I think in another couple of weeks or so it’ll be time to dig out my gloves! I’m not complaining though, not a jot. Coming home from a dog walk completely chilled, and defrosting with a cup of tea is basically the best thing ever.

Oh, and that first photo of Ted? It could just be my new favourite. I do love that soppy little face :)

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Posted in AUTUMN, COUNTRY WALKS, DOG WALKS, TEDDY