Waking up the House and burning the cakes

Lord H and I decided that, in spite of the need to do more theology presentation prep, Sundays are still as boring as hell, so we decided to visit local National Trust property, Clandon House. It wasn't actually officially open today, but it's having its "Wake up the House" weekend, when hordes of NT volunteers take the dustsheets down and move the bodies into the rockery. Or some such shenanigans. Actually, we quite enjoyed it - which just goes to show how sad and middle-aged we indeed are. It was nice to see the place without its usual streams of visitors and to get the behind the scenes view of what goes on. They also do a nice line in chair coverings. And we found out that it takes two women (women, mind you - here in the shires, men don't do this kind of job ...) two days to clean an average chandelier. We also watched them doing it - but not for two days, mind. You have to take off all the little crystal bits, clean them with distilled water followed by a mild soap solution, followed by more distilled water. And then you have to blow-dry them so the connections don't get rusty. Bizarrely soothing to watch. Naturally, we also raided the shop and have bought (and consumed) two chocolate mice. The first of the NT season ...

Back home, I have finished the ironing (hurrah!), checked the cars (water, oil, are Lord H's lights clean? etc etc) and caught up on the latest excitements of "Ugly Betty". Go for the cute accountant, Betty! - they're always the best choice, believe me! I've also baked a tray of flapjacks for Lord H's theology GM presentation tomorrow (it's part of his props). Under normal circumstances, this would have gained me thousands of Wife Points, but unfortunately I lost track of the time and I have burnt them. Sigh. Cue Lord H's False Husband Smile - which is quite painful to experience. I reassured him that the carcinogenic qualities of my flapjacks will take the course attendees' minds off the GM issue, so he should be grateful. Not sure he's entirely convinced by my argument, and suspect that tomorrow will see him raiding Budgens flapjack counter. Ah well. He should be grateful he doesn't have to give them my special Kitchen Floor Nuts ... Hush, say nothing ...

However, I have redeemed myself somewhat by listening to his presentation and laughing (I think) at the right moments. There's a lot of GM crop stuff to take in but he's lightening the load by demonstrating the tongue rolling (arghh!!) dominant gene, how to make a double helix DNA strand with a rubber band, and holding up a bag of rice which has a more complex DNA structure than humans do. Hmm, certainly makes you think. Oh, and he's somehow got hold of a copy of my grandfather's book on the trials and tribulations of growing peaches in England - and, believe me, seeing as Granddaddy was a founder member of the Neo-Pagans, he was certainly a man who knew his fruit. 'Nuff said already. Apparently, this demonstrates that not all pre-20th century crop improvement was carried out by monks. The theology group will be thrilled.

I've also added another 1000 words to "The Gifting", which means that Simon & Johan are at last actually on the sea. Thank God for that - I was beginning to think I'd never get them there. Now all they have to do is get to the other side ... So, 102,000 words and rising, slowly. Dogger, Gromety, Watchamacallit, or however the Radio 4 shipping forecast goes ...

Tonight, I've earmarked the first part of the "Fallen Angel" trilogy for watching on TV - and, bearing in mind that it was written by the lovely Andrew Taylor (http://www.andrew-taylor.co.uk) who gave me a nice review for "A Dangerous Man" (http://www.flamebooks.com), you must all watch it too! Though I'm sure the book (published in its entirety as "Requiem for an Angel") will be better, as it's an ace read.

This week's haiku:

As we talk: grey-black,
a pair of wild geese rises,
trumpeting the spring.

Oh, and my friend's nasty grandfather has finally died, and she's feeling goooood - double hurrah for us all!

Today's nice things:

1. Visiting Clandon
2. Doing more to "The Gifting"
3. Making double helixes out of rubber bands.

Anne Brooke
http://www.annebrooke.com
http://www.goldenford.co.uk

Christmas Eve

Lordy, lordy, here it is again, eh? A nice lazy start to the morning today, and then I had to nip out to Godalming for some medicines I don't seem to have in the house. Women's troubles - say no more! Just what I didn't ask from Santa. Luckily one of the High Street chemists was open, so it's safe to say that the rest of today and tomorrow will be rather less twitchy than it otherwise would have been. Actually, most of the shops were open and there was actually quite a relaxed atmosphere around. I also desperately tried to find petrol as I only have a spit-full left, but the Sainsbury's petrol station seemed to be having a rather exciting incident involving a fire engine and an abandoned car (never say we're dull in Godalming ...) and the other petrol station had a line of cars right out onto the road, so I didn't bother.

The combination of aforementioned illness and the lack of fuel put me right into tantrum mode (the household wouldn't be the same without Anne's Christmas Tantrum, you know ...), and Lord H is now wearing the cloak of nobility and has gone for another hunt for some petrol. This means he's ahead in the Christmas Hero stakes, but as I've just washed the car and made rum butter, then I must surely be catching up by now. One hopes. Never mind, once we've got the beers open tonight, then all harmony will be restored again. I shall even offer to proof-read his latest theology essay - which has to be in by 31 December, so we'd better be quick. Still, at least we're still able to laugh about how differently we both deal with stress. Ho ho ho.

Tonight, we are distinctly not attending church (hurrah!) and will be having a pagan Christmas in front of the TV. Bliss.

Today's haiku (especially for the season) is:

How has this week been?
Work; sleep; darkness; fog. Slow steps
on the way to God.

Today's nice things:

1. Making rum butter
2. Not attending church
3. Surviving the hell that is Christmas - one hopes.

Happy Christmas to all!

Anne Brooke
http://www.annebrooke.com
http://www.goldenford.co.uk