#AmWriting + Cute #Dogs + Artemis The #Tortoise Turns 2 + #Mountain #Fog + #Crafting + #SelfCare With Happy Post

Thanks to some encouragement and accountability partnering from my friend and fellow author, Barb, I finally made some decent progress on writing.  I wrote a couple of new poems, but also managed to make some excellent progress on three of the stories I started but didn't really get anywhere with before world and life events got in my way, plust ended up starting another.  I'm hoping to be able to publish one of them before the end of this year, and the others early next year.  Yes, progress was that good.

In the meantime, though one of the poetry books I published earlier this year is now available in audio, audiobook production is still not complete on the other one.  I'm hopeful that will change soon.

 

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When we first got Logan a little over two years ago, we were concerned that our hopes of him and Lilie becoming great friends weren't going to come to pass.  Especially in the first couple of months.  After a while though they did become very close, as photos like this one taken when they were cuddled up together at the foot of the bed on the evening of September 5th illustrate:

Aren't they cute?

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It was Artemis' second hatchday on September 6th.  So, my little Hermann's Tortoise - who isn't quite so little any more, having easily doubled in size since we got her - is now two years old.

We always give the petkids something for their birthdays, but there's not much to buy a tortoise as a gift, so I treated her to some extra helpings of fruit.  My Mam even got in on it and contributed some melon.  So, Artemis got a special hatchday breakfast of lettuce, tortoise pellets, melon, apple, raspberry, and strawberry.  Here's a photo and video of her, taken right after we presented her with her breakfast:

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We had woken on the morning of September 6th to find this:

No.  There's nothing wrong with the camera, or your monitor.  That really is a whole lot of fog.  A curtain of mist had all but concealed things in every direction, so that the whole of our area of the mountains was blanketed in it.  Mam could even see that there was a lot of mist in our direction from her place, and she lives just over five miles away.

It had cleared by lunch time, leaving a rather warm and sunny day.

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I finished a crochet dishcloth I've been working on.  This is my first completely 100% solo crochet project, since my Mam had helped me get the only other one I've done started, but this time I didn't have help from her.  Here's a photo Kelly took for those who would like to see it:

 

I'm now working on finishing a half-knitted blanket I found among the craft stuff I got from Nan.

 

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Remember the charity thing where I knitted squares to send to someone who was collecting them for a charity that turns them in to blankets for the homeless? The goal was to get 100 squares to send to the charity by the end of August.  Well, the final count is in, and it turns out between us we made loads more than that.  In fact, we weren't too far off tripling the goal.  The charity will be getting 271 squares.

 

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I've got lots of happy post to enjoy these days.

 

Since it's my favourite way for some self care, I've been making a point to spend some time enjoying a book while working on a craft project, with a cup of herbal tea and a snack to hand, while enjoying a scented candle.  So, since I love getting subscription boxes - AKA happy post - I decided to make sure I was subscribed to some that would encourage me to keep doing it.

With that in mind, along with the Makerly Crafts and Cosy Craft Club craft kit subscription boxes I was already getting, I now also subscribe to the scented tealights subscription box from Sara-Jane Candles, as well as the Bird & Blend Co. tea tasting club subscription box, and The Vegan Kind lifestyle box.

 

I can't do any of the book subscription boxes, for obvious reasons, but I do have an Audible subscription, so technically I also have one for books, even if those get chosen by me and delivered to my Kindle, rather than chosen by the companies and delivered to my door.

 

Anyway, the arrival of my subscription boxes gives me plenty of happy post, and also acts as a reminder and excuse for some self care.  Plus, since Kelly has his game and magazine subscriptions, it's only fair I get some fun subscriptions each month too, right?