SHOSHANNAH PRODUCES DESIGNER KNITWEAR FOR THE ORANGE CAT

JON'S JOURNAL: Home again

We have been away since Sunday, and only got back at some ridiculous hour last night.

For the last week we have been staying with my eldest stepdaughter Shosh at her house in Staffordshire, and have been largely indoors, hence the fact that there have been no updates to this series because I haven't been anywhere to do any significant Nature Study.

When I got home last night I was pleased to see that the big southeast Asian fishtank in my study looks magnificent! It has been looking a little shoddy for some weeks, and when he was here Max suggested that it needed a filter with more ooomph. Said filter was duly ordered and installed last Saturday. When we returned last night it had certainly done its magic!

Just look at this brief clip of Max's Ctenopoma weeksii - otherwise known as the mottled bushfish, an unjustifiably obscure species from the Congo basin. I am really chuffed!

CFZ PEOPLE: Happy Birthday Shosh

When I got married for the second time in 2007, one thing worried me. I had just - at the age of 48 - become a stepfather, twice over. I had heard all sorts of horror stories from friends of mine in similar situations, who found that their new stepchildren resented them, and in extreme cases did their best to jeopardise things between their mama and this unwanted new husband of hers.

I needn't have worried: both girls accepted me, and I love them both very much. Indeed, my relationship with them, especially those moments when I get to do daddy stuff, are two of the things in my life which I most prize.

And today, the eldest, Shoshannah (familiar to one and all from various Weird Weekends) is 26. Happy Birthday, my darling girl....

And mama writes...

MORE UNICORNS

A few days ago as part of his series on crypto Hallowe'en costumes Robert Schneck posted a centaur costume. So we had to top that. Here (from Corinna's archives) are my two delightful stepdaughters many years ago. And on the right is Olivia dressed as a unicorn...

APOLOGIES..

I am sorry that I have not been as useful over the last few days as I might have been. However, it seems that at Shosh's wedding last week I caught a cold. And as you may well know, colds and diabetes are not a particularly pleasant mix. I have been in bed for the past two days and have achieved practically nothing.

I occasionally get out of bed to read my emails, but then (together with my faithful furry companion Biggles) I retreat back to my pit and go back to sleep.

So, if you have written to me over the past few days and are expecting a reply, please be patient. This bloody disease cannot last forever....

A PUBLIC SERVICE ANNOUNCEMENT (without guitars)

As the eagle-eyed amongst you will have noticed, we have been away for the last few days attending the wedding of my lovely stepdaughter Shoshannah. I came back to 1495 emails, which included numerous invitations to me suggesting that I purchase viagra, several emails from a young lady in Russia telling me how virile I was, and an offer to send $300 to someone who would draw up a personalised astrology chart for Biggles the border collie.

There were also a lot of important and/or interesting e-mails for me to answer, but I will ask you all for your forbearance if I wait until tomorrow afternoon before I start answering them. Both Corinna and I are in desperate need of sleep....