Eclipses, strange beasts and the Red Room

Waved goodbye to Lord H at our front door as he left for work today and then hurried to the bedroom window to wave him off down the path as usual. At which point a dark grey tabby strolled down the path and paused at the junction with the road - a distinctly unusual event that made me wonder if Lord H had turned into a cat and, if so, where he'd put his briefcase. However, a moment or so later, Lord H strolled out as usual, pointing at the cat and shaking his head and then pointing at himself and nodding. Always best to reassure wives that one is one's usual shape, I suppose. Anyway, I did know Lord H hadn't turned into the cat - if he had, the cat would have been taller.

Later on, I was reading the news online and thought the morning was turning a little dull when I realised we were having an eclipse. Well gosh! They sneaked that one up on us for sure. Or am I the only person in the western hemisphere who didn't know it was happening? It wouldn't surprise me. Apparently it lasted from 9.32 to 10.16am, and has surely to be in the running for the Dullest Eclipse in the Universe Award. Ah well, many a flower ... etc etc.

Still, Marian and I managed to squeeze a game of golf into our action-packed day. We did okay, but not brilliantly, though Marian's shot hitting the edge of the pond and then bouncing over it onto the green (dammit and curses, Carruthers) has to go into the annals. Really, m'dears, I was green with envy. After all that excitement, I popped into Godalming to pick up the usual shopping and had a very pleasant chat with the lady who sells The Big Issue. She was very excited about showing me pictures of her new son, Ronaldo, a brother for Yosef - though language problems prevented us from being entirely sure of the exact age of the latter. Anyway, all very thrilling for her, and the new child even sleeps through the night - almost. How very civilised. Well done, Big Issue Lady!

Back home, I scribbled down some more to Hallsfoot's Battle and I now have just over 19,000 words. And I've given a larger role to the First Gathandrian Elder, who comes more to the fore in this book for a variety of reasons. I've decided to call him Daagmund - which derives from the Anglo-Saxon and means Day-Guardian. Or as near as darn it. Well, it seemed to fit. I shall enjoy having him in my head, I think.

Ooh and thanks to a blog tip-off from Roger Morris, I have joined The Red Room and now have my own author's page here. You can find out all about my influences, my favourite writers and what I'm reading now. Amongst other stuff. Well gosh! Really, what more could you ask for? Sometimes, I nearly sound like a real writer, ho ho. Almost.

And I have to admit that I'm not very well, dammit. I felt rather odd this morning, but this afternoon, this odd feeling has developed into a series of fascinating stomach gripes that suddenly appear out of nowhere and hold me captive until they pass. How marvellous. Along with that is a very achey feeling and a complete lack of interest in food. Very bizarre indeed! Anyway, I've had a nap late afternoon, but have now dragged myself upright to greet the returning cat-husband. Not sure whether the planned pizza & garlic bread will actually be on the menu or not, but I'm swigging lemonade (always very good for stomachs, along with coke, you know) as if it's going out of business.

Still, at least it's taking my mind off other health issues so, hell, there's always a silver lining somewhere! Possibly in my ruddy stomach indeed ...

Today's nice things:

1. Laughing at dull eclipses
2. Golf
3. Big Issue news
4. Writing
5. The Red Room entry

Anne Brooke
Anne's website