Pictured with him is another gift from my mum who is a little cat made from pompoms, and what we used to call ‘pipe cleaners’. I’m not sure what the younger generation will call them now that pipe smoking is about extinct, but they were very useful for making all sorts of things of the ‘Blue Peter here’s one I prepared earlier variety’. So I have named him “Peter Pipecat”.

The other object in the picture has nothing to do with cats or presents but is the first cultivated strawberry out of the garden. It could have done with one more day to ripen, but the last time I took that approach a squirrel ate it just before I got the chance to pick it. So I consumed it today and very nice it was too. Next up the cherries and blackcurrants.

The cherries are also just starting to turn red. I was surprised by how many we got last year as I was expecting our numerous birds to get most of them. Maybe they were too stuffed with nuts and sunflower seeds to bother….