two kindnesses and some other things

I'm joining with Deirdre and Leila this week, and the above is one of my {pretty}s.  A few weeks ago I was so fortunate as to win a giveaway at Yiota's blog. She crocheted me a lovely placemat, and also sent pretty ribbons, an assortment of buttons and some paper flowers, all wrapped in charming paper! Did I say she lives in Greece?

But I have more -

Just a few days before, Tracy also said she wanted to send me something, and I received this beautiful diary filled with photographs of her native Australia.

I tried to photograph a couple of them here -

this place is called the Twelve Apostles.  I have to add that I received both these packages the same week I was struggling with bronchitis, and they were doubly welcome on that account!  Now that I'm feeling better, I wanted to share my surprises - thank you, Tracy and Yiota!!

My {happy} picture is of some cucumber soup I made today, from Julia Child's The Way to Cook. 

It has no cream in it - the base is a rice puree; I've been wanting to try the technique for a while. I used up four fat cukes in this - there's still another in the fridge. I'm happy it came out well!

The {funny} is Dolly - she got interested in my toast the other day -

No, I didn't give her any!  She was content with a few pieces of her dry food, placed right near my plate.

For my {real} picture, I leave you with a piece of Henry's fur on the living room rug

there's plenty more of it - the vacuum cleaner stopped running the other day.  But a new one is on the way!

Thank you, Deirdre and Leila!