It's Nika's birthday today--hurray! She's six years old today. There will be much pettage and play and a trip to the park (always her favorite expedition, because there are always dogs there for her to play with) later today. Having had that big scare last week just makes us appreciate her even more. She was found, half-starved and very sick, lying on the street outside the train station in Naples, Italy, five years and four months ago from today. We were all so, so lucky that day.

Sadly, since her stomach's still pretty delicate, we can't actually celebrate her birthday with special food. (Actually, this is her first day back on her normal dry food, instead of the prescription wet food, which she loved, so I predict a lot of sighing and begging at her mealtimes.) But we'll do our best to make it a good day for her anyway.

I know I keep on saying this, but--I really think I'm going to finish the rewrites on Masks & Shadows today! No, really, this time! Honest. And then tomorrow, I can...whoa. Do I really get to write anything else? Ever? :) I'm sure it'll be good for me. But my head is so full of 1779 Eszterhaza, I can't imagine working with any other characters or setting right now. My Novel Has Eaten My Brain...

But I've found the perfect writing snack! Fruity Seeds, from FruitFace, the funkiest local Yorkshire company ever. It's healthy (full of Omegas!), surprisingly delicious, and absolutely addictive...which is, of course, the downside of eating it as a writing snack. Because it is sooooo easy just to keep on taking another handful...and another...and another.....!

Oh, and I've done some tweaking to my website lately, adding a separate page for Masks & Shadows, and finally, finally filling out my Opera Links page a little bit. Let me know what you think! (The picture on the page is of Eszterhaza, of course. :) )