A special birthday present

For all those who have asked about the health of Lucy, my cat with cancer, many thanks.

She is still with us, and very well, despite a mishap on Monday. She was bitten by one of our other cats, Scoop, and her tumour - now the size of a small melon, burst. 

I ran downstairs at the sound of caterwauling and found Lucy lapping at a hole in her side as a tide of fluid fairly poured out of her - not a pretty sight. 

However, once I'd realised that she was only losing sera, with a little blood mixed in, rather than pure blood, I stopped panicking. The DH and I rushed her to the vet, and kept her calm while the vet squeezed about a litre of fluid out of the tumour. 

She's now home with antibiotics, and is sitting outside in the sun, happy as a clam. The wound has released much of the pressure on the tumour and she is actually more mobile and comfortable, so strangely enough, this may have prolonged her life.

It was a mixed start, then, for my birthday, LOL. But the rest of it improved considerably, with presents of cake and chocolate, books, koto music and jasmine tea - and at the end of the day, a job offer. In case anyone gives a toss, my pressies were:

* Home-made spice cake and Thornton's Special Selection from friends.

* Okazura's Book of Tea, Blue and White Japan by Amy Katoh, Japan Country Living by Amy Katoh, Lullaby for the Moon (koto music) and Music for Zen Mediation by Tony Scott, from my sister.

* Japan Style by Angelika Taschen and Japanese Style by Suzanne Slesin, from myself(!)

* and Jasmine pearl China White tea from Whittard's, a new glass teapot for my new tea, The Barefoot Home and Carole King's Tapestry album, plus some extra downloads of my favourite music, from the DH. 

Most of these presents I chose myself, being of a practical bent (reviews of the books and music will follow), but of course, the best present of all is to still have Lucy with us, which at 10.00 that morning I didn't think we would.