counting blessings

We have all survived so far without fisticuffs.
Daughter and the Glorious Grandson are doing well, filling up the time and space available, they are out today visiting a children's palace/bouncy castle or some such, with daughters friend and her little kidlet.
He is lovely, but was one of those babes damaged at birth [not enough attention paid by medicals at the relevant time, "i think i am having the baby nurse", "nonsense it will be ages yet" Not] He is slow on his milestones and now has been belatedly discovered to have a hole in his heart which will hopefully fixed this coming year.
It is wet and windy, but no snow so far.
We made full use of two sunny days to go to the seaside and push baby's buggy along the prom and eat chips! The inadequate free buggy [thanks V*rgin] was a benefit as the stroller is rather large, but with just Buggers we can also fit GG, Daughter, Grandma, Hattie the Dog and Driver into the car.
Otherwise we have watched a lot of TV, cleaned up the floor area in a continuous rolling programme, tried not to eat chocs and/or abandoned baby food and discussed Men - particularly Men in Marriage, and why don't they grow up as quickly as women or should that be Women Who have become Mothers...............

food for thought

The Glorious Grandson has landed.
Daughter and he had a good, if delayed, flight from SF.
We drove up on Sunday afternoon, worried that the icy temperatures would make the roads a bit dicey if we left early Monday morning.
In reality it is the pavements that are treacherous down here in the S, as the fresh snow line has drifted N.
We booked a cupboard with shower in some big airport hotel thru a website that is supposed to arrange these things at short notice. Sadly they belatedly discovered the Inn was full, by the time they phoned home to let us know they had told us wrong, we were on our way.
The over booked hotel didn't want to admit it was their fault so took at least an hour trying to blame/contact the website, before passing us on to the alternative hotel they knew had a cupboard booked for us.
The cupboard had a shower [no bath I do like a long hot soak to celebrate a journey ie get my monies worth!] and a TV so I managed. The shower never did reach temperature and the scampi and chips was yuk, but we found offspring and her offspring and turned to go home. Horrible jam on the A12 but fortunately going the other way.
Airline had lost the stroller so provided a small buggy in company colours which definitely won't challenge the mountainous pavements. Took 3 days for stroller to be couriered over and part of it has been busted however it still works. Not a total celebration, but we do still have the little buggy.

Tree is enjoying seeing the cold clear light of day after a year in the loft.

and lights up the evenings.
Madame Xmas checks out the visitors [not many in this weather
Had a worry yesterday when ma wasn't answering her phone, eventually battled round, with the buggy, only to find she had just returned from town.
Damn those free bus passes, she was going stir crazy so decided to escape. Town was cold and full of wet snow and the shops had nothing she liked - surprise.
Today we did the food shopping and made sure the birds had some seeds and water. Mr and Mrs Blackbirds are feasting on the few apples still clinging to the trees, they peck away till the apple is eaten three quarters away, then it falls and they munch on to the next one.
GG doesn't seem to eat anything nutritious except cereal and bananas but I guess he knows best.

personae dramatis

The snow is sliding off the roof - the skies are shiny blue, it may not last much longer.
Last night there was a huge bang + power cut, which I immediately surmised was terrorists blowing up the docks...........so calm in my third age...........no, it turned out it was thunder, didn't know we could get winter storms.

I expect the old mangle has seen worse.


Daughter and grandson are due at Heathrow on Monday, so have to decide whether to drive up and stay over night in bleak hotel, or drive thru London in the bleak early morning light.
I am desperately trying to clear back my work room, where they sleep, so young mover [he stands and totters but isn't walking yet] doesn't disappear under an avalanche of creativity and needles.
Great grandma and I went up to the ToysRUs hanger [so big she could ask the pilot to land there, it is closer] and threw money around, mostly on wooden toys, so the Glorious Grandson will probably believe the rumours that we are become a Third World country.
American, or maybe just current, expectations of Health & Saftery are somewhat alien. When the daughter was a babe she and brother rocketed around in a veritable battle field of dangers it seems. e.g. She says I must buy duct tape to secure the plugs, and everything up to 2' above the floor must be removed or barricaded .......oh dear. I don't care, I have bought him a packet of Rusks! every baby has to risk new experiences.
That e.g. reminds me, I have just finished Robert Harris' Lustrum, his second novel on Cicero taken from the narratives of his slave secretary, Tiro. It seems that Tiro invented his own shorthand to take down C's speeches etc and Tiro invented "e.g" "&" and even "etc". just shows you never know who, why or what will be remembered.

For those who enjoy Harry Hill, I reveal our own "knitted character". I bought him to cuddle when I was ill over 20 years ago, and he has stood guard ever since, so he he well over due for his inclusion in the hall of Fame.

Merry Chrimble

The church where the RP bends his knee on a Sunday is a miserable concrete replacement of the Norman flint edifice that the Germans doodle bugged in the war.
To cheer it up a bit the congregation make [or get made] kneelers to commemorate each other and their clubs, they always put them up on show for the rest of the week, adding a bit of colour and local history.

Some young blood was added this Chrimble by the kids at the local primaries.

This angel gave one the impression she would be a good girl to have at one's side in times of adversity
The vicar has a mad collie dog [reminiscent of the vicar]but so far the sheep is cool.
The three wise men [some exaggeration surely] may or may not be illegal immigrants. The only known foreigners in the village are from the Chinese Take Away, and all us lot from London.

These are definitely the only persons of colour within five miles
I used to go to the midnight service on Xmas Eve, but I have given it up, another club I don't belong to, I should make my own kneeler.

cold comfort

Thoughts of local mysteries was kicked off by RP returning from church this morning to announce that they had prayed for Sarah who had been "killed". As he rarely notices information/gossip he asked me what it was about.
I know nothing.
We are also fairly clueless about a lesser event that obviously occurred recently, down the road, when the old brick bus shelter suddenly appeared to be sagging to it's knees and scattering bricks willy nilly.
After several drive byes we noticed that the hedgerows next to the shelter had been heavily flailed, as is the country macho custom.
Then a DIY notice appeared, tied to the protective Health and Safety fence that now protects us from retribution from the deeply wounded bus shelter.
"Well done Harry"
Enigmatic, intriguing and indicating the narrative that said Harry was happily driving his big agricultural machinery along the road, flailing away, when he misjudged when to withdraw, so to speak.
We must all expect the unexpected.

Ladies who lurch

These two ladies will be mounting guard at our January exhibition. Mrs Crisp at the top lives up to her name, while Mrs Buttons and Zips celebrates the tyranny of fastenings that struggle to contain her. [Double click for detail]
Other ladies will be Mrs Media, emblazoned with the headlines that women have to endure as to their size and gender, and Mrs Alcohol with a cork necklace of her recent comforters, and finally Mrs Chocolate with a long elegant skirt of chocolate wrappers. Took dedication that one.
As they are life size [except for appendages] they make quite a statement. All we need now is to encourage persons with cheque books to venture out in the January cold.