In my office slash crafty room I have packets of yarn for projects I am busy working on or planning. A couple of bags full and two baskets. Luckily everything is kept wrapped because Rosendal is a very dusty place. I noted that this room is decidedly free of spiders, moths, and other insects. At first I thought that maybe it was because I’m always cleaning it, but then I discovered a resident. Meet Toadie.

Toadie is a badass. He looks at me with immense disdain when I discover him in a bag or basket, nestled on top of the yarn. I am clearly bothering him. And we are involved in what seems like a game to him. He is gently released outside each time I find him, to an ever further part of the property. Toadie is having absolutely none of this. Before I wipe out my eyes, he’s back. And more badass than ever!

This morning while taking some Stonewashed out of a bag who do I find? Yep. It’s pretty cold here, and I cannot bring myself to relocate him outside. He has been relegated to a pot plant elsewhere in the house. He is bristling, as he believes he does a rather stellar job of keeping the crafty room insect and arachnid free. He feels this is rather heavy-handed.

I reckon he’ll be back by tonight. And we’ll meet in the passage when he goes for a hop and swim in the dogs’ water. You have to love living in The Mad House in the wilds of the Free State. I wouldn’t trade it for anything.