Remember all those delicious Italian cheeses? Mmm. So do I.

This, however, is not one of them. This is a block of … something which looks like cheese, and which I bought to wrap the dogs’ pills so that they’d just eat them. It certainly moulds around capsules and pills very nicely, and they certainly eat it with every appearance of pleasure, so as far as that goes, it works quite well.

However, OH pointed something out to me. Something weird, and perhaps very important, and which I’d missed altogether.

Nowhere on the label is this product actually described as ‘cheese’.

It surely looks like cheese; it says ‘Double Gloucester’ on the front (which is definitely a well-known variety of English cheese), it’s more or less the right colour, and the nutritional values are all in line with what you’d expect from a pack of cheese. But it does not claim that this actually is cheese.

Of course, OH says ‘quite right, too’. He would give it as his opinion that of course it isn’t cheese. It might look yellow and have a waxy, slightly greasy feel – as cheese does – but you should not be able to make models with a good cheese, as he is certain you could with this. It also has very little cheese odour, and though we haven’t actually been able to bring ourselves to taste it, we suspect that it won’t have much cheese flavour, either.

So. Perhaps it isn’t, after all, cheese. Perhaps it is simply some kind of artificially-coagulated milk product which doesn’t merit the appellation of ‘cheese’ under current EU regulations!

To paraphrase a common saying: it might look like cheese, slice like cheese, and smell vaguely like cheese, but that doesn’t necessary mean it is cheese.

Oh dear. I feel like a bit of a fraud here.  I mean, how hard is it to keep a greyhound slim?

Actually, you’d be surprised. I’ve seen far too many greyhounds who have been allowed to get porky and their slim frames simply don’t handle extra weight well.  In addition, all the fat ones I’ve seen have looked positively depressed!

I’m taking part in a blog hop titled ‘Show off your dog’s waistline’, which I read about today on ‘You Did What With Your Wiener’.  The aim is laudable: to raise awareness of what constitutes a fit dog and to share stories of struggles with weight.  So many people seem unaware of the fact that their dogs are fat, rather than fit, and it really isn’t good for them.

For some breeds this is more critical than for others.  Dogs like dachshunds, with those short legs and long vulnerable backs, are at great risk for slipped discs and other spine problems.  Cavalier King Charles spaniels, with a genetic tendency to weak hearts, clearly do not need extra weight to carry around, any more than do other brachycephalic breeds like pugs, boxers, and bulldogs.

And of course, there are dogs with disabilities.

Sid is an obvious example, being a tripod. Each one of his three remaining legs takes extra strain, and so does his back.  His one functional hip joint is under particular stress.  So I have to watch his weight carefully.  I  have him weighed regularly, and also ask the vet to assess his weight by eye and by feel when we consult.  For some reason, with Sid I find it hard to tell if he’s overweight or not – possibly because a) more of his stomach is exposed by the absence of a leg, and b) he has developed some strangely unbalanced musculature over the years, with a protruding spine which can fool you.

As you can see from that picture up there, we have our moments when the creeping weight gets past us and he ends up less than sylph-like.  Oh, Sid – you porker!  Time to cut down, old son!

Last time we saw the vet – a matter of a few days ago – he was pronounced absolutely fine on the weight front, which pleased me, but in the past he has silently packed on the pounds when I wasn’t looking, and when he does, he always, always struggles.

The problem with Sid, of course, is that, because he only has three legs it’s harder for him to do enough exercise to keep in shape as he ages without reducing his food intake.  And the main problem with that, of course, is that we don’t want him losing muscle!

So far, we’ve managed OK, I think.

Jeffie, on the other hand, maintains his slenderness and his tuck effortlessly.  In fact, it’s hard to keep weight on this dog.  He looks as if he’d break in a strong gust of wind!

And yet, if you can believe it, he weighs more right now than at any time since we got him!  He looks thinner in the photos, but in real life he feels nice to me at the moment.  He has a good amount of muscle, especially over his loins.  He will always have a bony appearance, and his iliac crests will always show like two horn buds at the wrong end, but he is fit and well.

Oh, to have his problem, huh?

To join in, add your link and tell your story!

This week has really felt like spring – and that really helps to make everyone happy, including me.  There has been a warmth in the air quite unlike the ‘balmy’ days of winter, and any breeze that has sprung up has lacked the bitter edge we’ve been treated to for so long.

One thing which makes me very happy is that, once the flowers are open, all the little insects wake up and begin dancing in the air.   And one of the first to appear is always the bee-fly, which is often mistaken for a bumble bee .. for obvious reasons!

Don’t you just love the blur where his wings should be?

The thing that looks like a sting is in fact – or perhaps I should say ‘are in fact’ – the mouthparts,  adapted for sucking nectar.  So, this one is a bee-fly, and the one at the top on the lavender is a bumble bee.  Got it?  Good.

Another thing that has made me really happy this week is that, despite some very cold nights, the flower buds are still on my wisteria!  Wisteria buds are very vulnerable to frost, and ours has often begun to bloom, only to be nipped by a severe frost in April or early May which has killed all the buds stone dead.

So far,  so good!

Now for something completely different.

I have terrible trouble getting shoes to fit.  I have high arches, fairly narrow heels, and my feet are very wide at the front.  Added to that, in recent years, is the fact that I am developing one our family’s less pleasant genetic abnormalities: bunions!

Imagine my delight, therefore, to have discovered a new-to-me brand of footwear that exactly fits my foot shape!

These are Merrells trainers.  While I might not have chosen this colour (they were simply black and pink when I got them – with violent pink laces, which I have now replaced with purple ones) they are blissfully comfortable.  I really did need to replace my heavy mountain trainers which were almost completely worn through on one heel, and since these are made almost entirely of mesh fabric, they will be perfect for summer.

And what’s more, yesterday I discovered an outlet shop which sold Merrells and had two styles of barefoot trainers, which I’ve wanted to try for a long time.  It seems to me, that with my particular type of foot problems, it’s the way to go.

These are not my colour choice, either, but who the fuck cares, when they are this comfortable, and only two thirds of their usual price?  I’d like to find the man who invented these things and kiss him soundly.

They’ve certainly made me happy this week!

Join in – it’s easy: post something that made you happy this week!  Add this little badge and link back here, if you’d like.

Following my decision to make my own cakes and biscuits, I bought some silicone muffin trays and I dug out some recipes.  I found one for honey cake, and one for zucchini muffins!

I decided to boldly go where no-one make the attempt to substitute olive oil for the hard fats in the honey cake and cut down on the sugar in both.

It worked quite well, but I have to admit that the muffins were dry.  I didn’t really mind that, and I ate them for breakfast.  The honey cake was better, probably because of the amount of honey in it.  I finished that one before the zucchini muffins – and here I have to further admit that OH didn’t like either of them and refused to eat them at all.

However.  I now have another Umberto recipe!  This time it’s for carrot cake, and has the correct proportions of olive oil to flour etc.  It sounds delicious!

Guess what I’ll be baking tomorrow?

I don’t know whether to hope that OH likes the Torta Carota Umberto or not.  I mean, if he doesn’t like it, that means more for me, right?

Right.