A Diet of Worms

The New Examinations Officer is an austere man.

He has laid down strict rules for his regime:

1.
There shall be no tea urn
because it wastes energy.

2.
There shall be organic rooibos tea
available for the sole use of
the Examinations Officer.

3.
There shall not be tins of biscuits
with excess packaging.

4.
There shall be a financial review
of the catering arrangements
and specifically the sushi order
for the Visiting Examiners lunch.

5.
There shall not be chocolate cake
because carrot sticks are healthier.

The Deputy Examinations Officer looks gloomy
but MrsM has a cunning plan...

Stage 1

Maple syrup and Pecan cake
with repurposed* bananas
and organic Medjool dates
in greaseproof paper.

It looks healthy, no?

*****

* the early edition of this post
referred to recycled bananas
but this has been edited
after an uprising in Blogland.

Domestic Trivia

MrsM
Do you think that the Duchess of Cambridge
has to curtsey to the Countess of Wessex?

MrM
I don't know.

MrsM
What about the Duchess of Cornwall
Does she have to curtsey to her?

MrM
I'm not an expert on this.

MrsM
What about the Princess Royal?

MrM
Why is this bothering you?

MrsM
And Queen Sofia of Spain...
Does she have to curtsey to her?

MrM
Well, not if they meet in Waitrose.

MrsM gives up.

(MissM would have known the answers.)

Diversion Therapy

What do you do...

when your husband is on the phone
to your daughter in Rome
because she only has 6 Euros
and she can't get any money out of the bank...

...you photograph fruit on a plate

and turn the music up louder...

...and console yourself that lovely Paola
has given you her phone number
"in case of emergency"...

...and you wait...

...until it is all sorted
and then you breathe out.

Cake Status

This post is for:

Nancy and Emma
thanks for the banter

Vicki
your sweet comment made me smile

Cathy
because you have been SO good recently


and MrM

...of course.

family chit-chat

chatting with my sister B

(not that sister, the other one)

"...I had a lovely birthday...in the morning I went for a swim with a friend and in the evening I did a 10k run. It wasn't competitive because I am saving myself for the triathalon challenge next month but I made a good time..."

MrsM remembers her extremely idle birthday and blushes..

MissM : update

MissM
Guess where I am??


MrsM
Oh!!!
Where ARE you???
I am so useless...


MissM
Here is a clue...


*****

MrsM gives thanks
for her wonderful mobile phone
which allows her to share MissM's smiles
in real time.

To Do Lists

Last weekend I discovered accidentally that if your To Do list is all about the things you want to do...then the boring things that you need to do fit painlessly in the gaps. And the things that you want to do don't get lost in the mountain of things that you need to do.

Were you planning to tell me this when I grow up?

1.
Read book in sunshine
I can't remember the last time
I sat in the garden and read a book.
Last summer? The summer before?
A casualty of employment.

2.
Finish back of jumper
I did!
Go me!

3.
Plant window box
I went out to buy
a tasteful selection
of blue and white flowers
and came back with salmon pink.
I must have had a brain storm.

4.
Make wedding cake
'Royal' Victoria Sponge.
Eaten under sufferance by MrM
due to lack of coffee flavouring.
But still eaten.

5.
Nail polish
Dark green.
I am going through
a belated Goth phase.

6.
Drink cider in pub garden
Didn't manage this one.
To carry over to this weekend.

MissM : update

Checked into hotel.
Been to museum.
Had supper.
Have not seen Zen
but have seen Hillary Clinton.

MissM, Viaggiatore della Vita

MissM is sitting next to me
as I write this post.

Tomorrow she will be in Italy.

Spanish Steps, Rome

She has packed her rucksack
and checked her passport and tickets.
The money that Granny gave her
to buy a smart handbag in Florence
is safely tucked away.

Ponte Santa Trinita, Florence

MrM is trying to persuade her
to take more guide books.
And many more maps.
MissM explains that she must take clothes.

MrM looks disappointed.

Gondoliers, Venice

MissM is worried that she will
not have Enough Books To Read.
I reassure her that
there are book shops in Italy
if she has a Book Emergency.

View from San Miniato, Florence

Anyway,
I say,
you will be spending your spare time
writing to me.

At the Writing Desk

*****

All paintings by Frederick Childe Hassam (1859 - 1935)

*****

Update from MissM
Arrived safely.
Have just seen Italian couple
in matching Burberry trousers...
hers were pink. Of course.
All is well.

the spaces in between

This isn't really a post about knitting
but let's use it as a starting point.

Lace knitting is about the creation of space,
about balancing increases and decreases.
If you follow the instructions carefully
a complicated pattern will slowly unfold.
I cannot deny that the start of a project
has moments of excruciating self-doubt
but as you become confident with the rhythm
the knitting becomes a pleasure.

When I write,
the words are woven around
tiny pockets of silence.
I have periods when the words flow easily
and other times when I struggle.
Silence is in short supply at the moment
and so I find it difficult to write
but I know that will change
and I will find my rhythm once again.

I am not sure why I stopped knitting
and packed away the needles for years
but I have rediscovered
the quiet pleasure of creating
intricate patterns out of spaces.

I think that I always knew I would...
eventually.