A great find!

We awoke to beautiful blue skies and sunshine this morning and Sophie and Keith decided to go for a long walk. I dropped them off at Pitsford and then headed home to clean the downstairs of the house and prepare the veggies for dinner tonight.

I felt a bit left out as everyone seemed to be out walking and enjoying the sunshine, but someone has to do the cleaning and I didn't fancy spending the rest of the day doing it after we'd been for a walk! I went and picked Keith and Sophie up and then it was time for a late breakfast in the conservatory.

Sophie and I went out in the afternoon to Olney but the small town isn't the place it used to be on a Sunday when there were lots of little antique shops to browse in. Admittedly, we arrived there quite late but the few shops that were still open were in the process of shutting up. We headed for a small cafe situated off a cobbled alley and enjoyed a cup of tea and a hot chocolate. I indulged in a warm blueberry muffin, which was delicious!

We did manage to browse in one shop and spotted some clothes for pets...none of them looked like they would fit Monty, though! I suggested to Sophie that we head to Castle Ashby on the way home and see if the shops there were still open and I'm glad we did as we bought our October candle! The courtyard was open until 5pm but there were very few people about and we were able to get parked right in front of the shops. We spotted the candle heart straight away and it was perfect!

We also had a quick look in the farm shop and I treated myself to some shortcake biscuits that I will enjoy with a cup of tea. We then saw another heart that would have been perfect - a rough wooden candle holder with a heart shaped cut-out on the side but the shop was temporarily closed for a couple of minutes. We hung about and waited and noticed how chilly it was...I think the end is nigh for wearing sandals now!

Unfortunately, the woman running the shop didn't return so we reluctantly left, but decided we would go back and get the heart another day. Once we got home we decided to try and sort Monty out with the cat nappies we'd ordered. They'd been delivered today (along with the Hairy Bikers' book, Chicken and Egg) and as it was getting colder, we thought that when Monty was in the house we could fit the nappies on him so he wouldn't be able to spray.

Needless to say, our efforts weren't that successful! When we did manage to fit the nappy onto him he hated it and kept cocking his leg up as if it was uncomfortable. Somehow, we managed to get Keith to agree to keeping him in, but if he sprays again, that's it!

Not really a good look!