Swings and roundabouts...

...or more accurately today, roller-coaster. Because today has been splendidly good on some fronts and woefully bad on others.

I suppose it all really began last night, when, without going into details, I found out somebody I consider one of my best friends has done something which I find quite sneaky and underhand. On the face of it, it's relatively insignificant, and my head is saying 'just leave it'; my heart, however, is quite wounded by the issue, not because it's a 'big thing' - as I said, it's not especially important - but because I can't help but feel my trust has been stamped on a bit, and it's going to take a while for my absolute confidence in that person to be regained, if it ever will be. I started off being angry about it all, but now I'm just sad. More to the point I'm rather confused because I don't really know how best to address the problem without it escalating - which is my principal worry. I have a lot of acquaintances but, being quite choosy about my friends, I don't make good ones lightly and it pains me when anything like this happens: not just for my sake but because I feel the person concerned has let themself down too and seeing anybody I care about do that is neither pleasant or the stuff joy is made from. Anyway, until I can get some perspective on this whole thing and feel confident about which path to tread with regard to sorting it out satisfactorily, I'm keeping my head down and my gob shut... neither of which activities comes naturally...

On a happier note, today was also the time for my six-weekly appointment with Robert, my hairdresser. I always look forward to these days, even though they mean at least two hours driving to get to him and two hours back again; just occasionally it's great to get away from my local patch and have a good gawp at what's going on in London. Perhaps I should do it more often! Anyway, aside from being a true artist in the hairdressing department, Robert is one of my pals and we always have a good laugh putting the world to rights as he snips away. He's not had an easy time of it lately, so it was good to see him laughing and joking again and almost back to his normal self - I walked out of there feeling life was good (and it has to be said the mane was looking fab too, she says vainly). The sight of Robert clutching two jars of my homemade jam to his bosom was a picture I'm not likely to forget in a hurry either - the old boy LOVES jam and gets in quite a strop if I forget to take him some (as I did on my last visit.. oops). It's nice to be appreciated, even if it is for something as pokey as my ability to make good jam!

Another good thing was that on my return I found out the cheque I'd received for doing some cooking for a friend had finally cleared which meant I could at last order the quilting fabric I've had my eye on for what seems like years (but which in truth is probably only a few weeks) without running the risk of having to encounter The Wrath of Troll When Faced With Quilting Expenses. Whey hey... I shall be checking the mail box EVERY DAY now (even though I know my fabric can't reasonably arrive from the States for at least a week). Child in a Toy Shop? Moi??
The range, in case anybody is interested is 'Neptune' by Tula Pink for Moda (quelle surprise!) - I've ordered the whole range in fat quarters and got some yardage too so I should be able to get at least two quilts and probably some smaller projects out of it too... can't wait!

Unfortunately, the nice things didn't last the day out and I was extremely upset this evening when I found out that Mr Fox had visited in my absence and eaten both Mr Bantam (my lovely dark brahma bantam cockerel) and Samuel (my gorgeous and extremely large gold brahma cock). Apart from the financial angle - both these boys were worth a substantial amount of shekels - I AM attached to my birds and naturally it upsets me to think of the distress they must have endured before the blasted fox actually put an end to them. Just don't any animal rights people come anywhere near me for a day or two otherwise I might just have to throttle them... ANYBODY who has seen just how nasty foxes can be to poultry can have absolutely no objection to exterminating the flipping things. Anyway, James the Chicken Boy - who is equally upset about today's events - is arranging for somebody (either himself or a pal) to patrol the place with a shotgun over the next couple of days so hopefully it's curtains for the four-legged pests. It won't come soon enough to save Mr Bantam or Samuel, but at least it might ensure some of my other babies won't be fox-supper.