a few days' nobble

So what's been going on here? At the moment, B's string quartet (3 acquaintances from her orchestral music-making come over monthly for a chamber session) is downstairs playing Corelli's Christmas Concerto, a piece I've always liked. We push the sofa and coffee table out of the way first, and then there's enough space in our tiny living room to set up a string quartet.

The cats have been getting ever more needy for affection. Anyone who thinks cats are standoffish hasn't met ours. Tybalt persists in walking across my desk whenever I'm at it, stopping in front of the screen so I can't read anything. I pick him up and put him on my shoulders. Then he usually snuggles under my arm for a bit, then climbs back on the desk.

Maia has been getting on the table behind me and meowing. Following a lead from B., I've been picking Maia up and cuddling her: a lot of head-scritching, which is what cats usually like best. She never used to allow being picked up. Now she's of mixed feeling - you can tell that she wants to jump down but is enjoying this far too much.

The new stove and oven, due to cooking at the temperatures you set them at, are providing new frontiers in our eating experience. Last night I made my standard meat loaf recipe, and it was stunningly tender. That's because every meat loaf I've previously made, in the old oven, was actually overcooked, despite my efforts to compensate for that.

I haven't yet resumed watching the Beatles documentary.

I've started writing posts about the news, but they all became either too ranty or too historical-lectury, so you're spared that.