Three droplets

   OUR homely, slightly cluttered kitchen has become a higgledy piggledy shambles!  Three distinct zones have emerged. The upper zone is much as usual, some Dutch still lifes, cobwebs, the rich reds and midnight blue of the Ton Shulten October calender and a 'Herbalists without Borders' calender with planting records and herbal remedies that I love too. Two little shelves above the sink with their familiars; a green glass vinegar bottle, a shimmering aventurine tumblestone of the same shade, a miniature Ganesh figure with inexplicably half a walnut at his feet,  a woodburning of Celtic hares gifted by a friend when we moved here and a champagne cork... There's a fake Victorian clock in soft reds, greens and blues, a mobile of sun ,moon and stars, spices on high shelves and fruit in baskets that I'm too short to see into.             The middle zone - table, worktops and every available surface is where a hurricane has scattered items ...

   I'VE been looking for photos...old grainy fading photos of long ago loves...    My boy Pedro - He was only a year or so old when I became a single parent and proved to be the best friend ever.  He was as friendly and easy as the day was long. He loved everyone, children and animals..would allow tiny ducklings to snuggle under his soft floppy ears and was always up for a journey - absolute saint (this is how memory tricks us isn't it?)...    Our first puppy as a couple was Nellie...she was a sleepy soul and wanted to be carried way beyond her vaccination date..Always at our heels, she was loving, smelly and a complete Bimbo.                    She moved house with us lots of times and didn't much like it but she always established the most comfortable and quiet place for her bed. She was an absolute gannet and especially favoured dead stuff that she coul...