Good news all round. When I went to feed the cats this morning, all five of them were there as usual (Barney is the most likely to have hunted well enough to skip breakfast with me) and then the injured tabby appeared, mewing for food again. He was bold or anxious enough to jump on to the table where the others are fed, which worried Freddy and Barney enough so they skittered off for a few minutes. They didn’t all eat together, but they all got fed in the end. Newbie’s face is healing, there’s still a big red area but it’s much smaller than on Sunday. If he keeps coming along, he’ll get named (certainly not Newbie!) but I’ll wait until he’s a regular and then see what name comes to me.

I went into town to get food to cook for Rose and family. I don’t often visit the butcher, excellent though it is, but did today. While I was there, I remembered that it’s market day and the excellent baker who made the fabulous rye bread I bought at the food market now has a weekly stall there. I wasn’t able to go for his first two weeks, but I trotted down the road and had a chat. He’s a really nice man, is Pete and very friendly. I complimented him on the rye bread, saying that I’ve had to stop putting rye flour in my sourdough bread, it made it so heavy. He said that the secret is giving it a really long rise – I told him I leave it overnight for the first rise and most of the day for the second. I’m now using half white wheat and half wholemeal spelt flour, plus five different seeds. It isn’t the lightest bread, I said, but it’s very good to eat.

He’d cut up a “Not Cross Bun” – same recipe as the pre-Easter ones, obviously without the Good Friday cross and offered me a bit. It was delicious and I bought one, which I had for lunch. Not that I’d normally have a bun for lunch. Another time, I’d have half and save the rest for another day, it was very filling.

Rose is doing very well. She’s very tired but already feeling and looking so much better.