Sally's Early Christmas Treat

I'm hopping mad, spitting feathers and steam must surely be coming out of my ears! Why? Well you might ask! Sally is the culprit!

About a month ago I went to the shops armed with a very special list. A list of ingredients for our family Christmas cake. I chose only the finest ingredients, you understand. Fruit soaked in rum, only the best butter and off I went home to put the thing together. I worked away with a glass of port at hand, dreaming of a white Christmas. All was well in my world. I slaved for about an hour, forsaking my food processor and chose hand mixing instead. I was a little alarmed to discover I would need to bake it for 5 and a half hours, meaning that I would have to stay up till gone 1am just to turn the oven off. But never mind this was a labour of love, a little sacrifice that would hopefully reap the reward of seeing friends and family enjoying a seasonal treat in a couple of month's time.

Of course that's not quite how things turned out! The cake has been sitting, double wrapped with foil and encased in silicone paper on our kitchen work surface since it came out of the oven... until tonight! Sally left my side and went downstairs while we were waiting for Tony to finish his conversation on the phone. I heard the rustle of something and really should have gone downstairs straight away but never would have guessed what she had gotten up to - literally!

The first I heard was when Tony got off the phone, walked into the kitchen and shouted: 'What are you doing? Get down, what have you got? You have eaten half of the Christmas cake!' I was down like a shot and reeled at the total decimation I saw and half marvelled at the fact that Sally had actually managed to scoff half of the huge cake.

It looks like I'll be back at the shops this weekend and this time I'll start baking a little earlier - oh yes and I'll store the next Christmas cake somewhere well out of reach!!

Sally's One Year Anniversary

Well there hasn't been much time for blogging recently but it feels right to mark Sally's first year of Bower life with a little message. Funny really, none of us had much faith that this day would actually come. There have been so many times when we have thought 'today is the day we go home without finding Sally.' Somehow, though, we have managed to find her every single time. Talk about cats and nine lives. Sally seems to have had many more than that already!

Take the other Sunday afternoon for example. I took her into our local woods and felt she needed letting off lead. (Usually my downfall). Sure enough she went AWOL again. I waited, I shouted, I whistled and time marched on. I had a phone call from someone wanting to know the size of a tool box, of all things mid Sally hunt and then I realised I needed to be in town to pick up my son and husband from a weekend's camp. What was I to do? In the end I had to dash home, get the car, pick up the guys and then we returned, fretful to the woods. The daylight was fading fast. We got to the area where I had lost her and shouted her name. Sure enough she appeared like a dot on the horizon, bounding towards us. Oh boy!!! Here's to Sally and to another chapter of adventures as we begin year 2 together.