A few random things...kittens, fridges, mocha mousse.
Absolutely no logic rather, 'stream of consciousness' topics
Ok so almost two months on and the goat has finally gone. After posting a picture of him looking for some new furry friends to hang out with I came across a wonderful place called Curo-Lincs. The place was founded by a lady called Rachel and with her vision this farm was born. It specialises in animal assisted therapy for those that need it in the community. Through animal-assisted therapy sessions, people of all ages and backgrounds are invited to visit to seek solace and support by being close by to the farm's gentle inhabitants. The main aim? To uplift spirits and improve emotional well-being for those that need it most. Participants can also nurture a sense of responsibility - being allowed to help with inoculations and medical care (with expert guidance) means they have the chance to learn valuable life skills. So it is there, that very friendly goat Joey has gone. As coincidence would have it, Curo-Lincs was covered on the local BBC Look North News last week and Joey had a full nose in the shot to camera. See below. He was always very curious and friendly. So it seems fitting that his lovely nature is helping those that need it, in nature. I am very happy.
I am also happy because I have planted a lot of gorgeous flowers and plants and not one thing has been eaten. And I think I swept the last of the goat poo up last weekend although the nuggets have a tendency to reappear at the most unexpected of moments.
No sooner was the goat despatched and a week or so later a litter of 5 kittens dropped. Here they are, fighting for space but looking extremely tiny and cute. But getting bigger and more curious daily trying to walk invariably falling over but just so adorable.
Fridge Goals
I got a new mini-fridge the other day. One that is in addition to the main fridge. I kind of wish I had taken a photo of the old one and what it looked like by the end, empty. Then I’d have proof of how far I had come with the new one that just looks so shiny and new and all around wonderful. It got me thinking about how everything feels so fresh and exciting when it’s just unwrapped and new…and then how tedious it becomes when it becomes lived in and old. The honeymoon period if you will, that we all know is not sustainable but morphs into something else…
This little fridge was fine when we moved in when we inherited it. It started out with little in it - milk, butter, the odd sauce. Clean, hopeful, spacious. But then the grill at the bottom broke. It was disgustingly dusty and dirty and I couldn’t reattach it. So I binned it. Then the door wouldn’t close so I used a chair to prop it closed. Then one day I went to put a bottle of wine back in the shelf on the door and it fell through the rather large crack. Then the shelf at the top that was held on by ridiculously miniscule plastic tiny holders gave way because well the plastic things in the single hole holding 25 jars of sauce up couldn’t cope anymore. But on I persisted. The bottom started to flood, and sometimes the spilt Frank’s hot sauce sat around at the bottom of the fridge that then congealed with some kind of jam or ketchup concoction (when someone couldn’t be bothered to put the sauce the right way up) making it look even worse. We kept piling more and more irrelevant sauces and soggy jars of red cabbage and forgettable pots of squishy gherkins in. I kept saying I would sort it and get a new one. But do you ever get the feeling that these niggles of such drab domesticity just never make it into your time of day? Because well, you just can’t be arsed. Or in the grand scheme of things, there is so much other boring stuff to do that is priority or in my case, just going to the pub is so much more fun.
Disclaimer this below is NOT my fridge, it was never this bad but you get my drift about just how repulsive a dirty fridge is looking at this.
Anyway, eventually I found time and now I have a gorgeous new fridge. The part-time sauces (bearnaise, tartare, sweet chilli, vietnamese dipping, mint, horseradish, jam etc) have been despatched to a fridge outside and the sauce staples have a permanent fixture (ketchup, mayo, salad cream, HP, trio of mustards, Frank’s Original Hot, Perinaise, some olives, capers, pickles and cat milk) and of course the essentials, Rose wine, milk and chocolate. But honestly, the lesson is, the emptier the fridge the better sometimes. The below is my real new mini fridge. Actually, people’s fridge contents could be an entire post. Don’t they often ask famous people what’s in theirs….?
Are you feeling Mocha Mousse?
No! Not a new frappe drink or a new dessert that a supermarket and a chef have birthed in a swishy ‘collab.’ No darlings, instead a reminder mid way through the year that this is the name of the Pantone Colour of the Year 2025. Did you know? I must have sort of known this because I came across it in my writing notes from a while ago but as quickly as it went it, it left me. But anyway. Here I am writing about it, reminding you all. If you didn’t know then according to the Pantone website, ‘Pantone selects a colour each year that captures the global zeitgeist—the Colour of the Year expresses a global mood and an attitude, reflecting collective desire in the form of a single, distinct hue.’
I am not sure I would ever describe myself as having a Mocha Mousse attitude, I might instead say it’s a bit shit. But it doesn’t sound as glamorous. It always amazes me how these things come to be decided. Do you envisage lots of people having copious amounts of meetings about it all, power dressed up and putting their cases forward for what colour should be crowned no 1 each year. Or do you think it’s a lot more collaborative and organic. I honestly don’t know but I love to make up stories in my head about all the back stabbing and in-bitch corporate fighting that might go on behind the scenes of the swishy pictures and press releases (blame my PR experience over the years). And the comedy sketches I might create from those kernels.
Thing is, I’m bringing this brown colour up mid-summer when brown for me really belongs more in the autumn and the tip into winter when it’s log burners and bare trees. Now mid-summer, it’s so much more of a yellow/orange/gold moment. But if it’s a colour of the year, then the colour must sustain for all seasons. Some naysayers decreed this colour as not properly brown but instead being more like mauve on a bad day. Others said it should be called Mocha Mousey as it could not be described as fully brown. But that said I kind of like this palette Pantone have pulled together below. I think maybe Mocha Mousse needs friends to shine.
I wonder what the Pantone Colour of the Year will be next year?
I bet they’re having really powerful, bitchy meetings about it now….or maybe they’ll pin a tail to a muli-coloured donkey to decide…? Who knows?!