Aalii as a scrabble word? You bet!

Friday December 5^th

One of those ‘where did it go?’ days, today. We followed the usual routines, walk, swim, breakfast, Uni etc and it seemed to fly past.

We helped it at lunch time by strolling down to the Millennium Gallery to look at the Handmade for Christmas Sheffield exhibition. It wasn’t exactly what I expected. I thought it would be a look at the things being manufactured in Sheffield but it was a shopping exhibit. Having said that, there were some gorgeous things for sale in there with a huge variation in prices.

I found a gorgeous make-up bag thing which was about the size of one of those old cylindrical pencil cases you used to get in school, but was full of zips and pockets and the like. I was very tempted to buy it. Until I saw it was £45! The tag had a web-address attached which I noted down. Back in Uni I was able to discover not only was it the maker’s website, selling more hand-made bags, there was also a link to buy the pattern for the make-up bag. Not being one to shirk a challenge I have ordered a pattern. It is about time my Janome sewing machine began to earn its keep again.

The beauty of the bag is you can make them out of a multitude of fabric scraps rather than having them all the same material, so that should make it a lot cheaper to buy. All I have to do now is wait for it to arrive.

I phoned Mum after work to let her know Dad & Louisa were coming down on Sunday. She likes to know these things so she doesn’t turn up and find them at my house. Awkwardness has followed such a chance encounter. She knows I am house sitting for Dad at Christmas and we think it would be a wonderful ruse if Mum and Gran came across as well, while Dad & Louisa are in Australia. Dad has always let me invite guests to stay, so why not my Mum and Gran? She thought it was a great idea and she is going to Skype Gran this evening to ask what she thinks.

We discussed the tree decorations and arranged to swap colours again. Last year I had red, gold and green and Mum had blue, silver and clear; this year we’ll swap our boxes so we each get the others colours. It is a neat arrangement and avoids masses of boxes needing to be stored. Steve has told me to expect a Christmas tree on Saturday morning so we’ll have to think of a method of making it stand up! I am not going to dress it until Sunday as I have invited Dad & Louisa to help. Well, it seemed like a nice thing to do.

Looking out my bauble boxes from the under-eaves storage I rummaged in my material trunk, this fits in front of the under-eaves access door, hiding it from view. It is full of off cuts of material I have accumulated over the years. I don’t know why exactly but it seemed like a good thing to do. I should have enough scraps in there to make at least 10 of these bags if I wish. I think I may make it a house sitting project at Dad’s. He has enough space for me to spread my stuff out and to leave it out, so I can just come back when I feel like it. Laura has said we could make a production line, she does the cutting out and I do the sewing. I will need to visit Fun2do Carlisle to buy hundreds of zips, first.

Saturday 6^th December.

I get up pretty early to walk Callie. I am usually out of the back door and through my conservatory at 6am, or just before. This morning a large, green, netting sausage was leaning against my gate. The Christmas tree! God knows when Steve put it there, but I am very impressed. I stood it on the stump and it seems to be just about as tall as me and I am 5’ 7. I have already worked out how to stand it up. I have some pieces of five eights ply wood in the shed. No Idea why I have it, but never mind. If I saw the stump of the tree off level, I can fasten a disc of this plywood to the bottom and then place it in my zinc bucket, which I will fill with gravel. I have a few spare bags of that for the front drive. (It’s my OCD, don’t worry about it!) This will be this morning’s project.

Funny thing on the walk today, which shows how much of a people dog Callie is. Every morning (or most mornings) I pass a woman (girl probably) in a high-vis jacket coming out of a drive and walking towards the main road to catch the bus to work. This is usually just as I am heading back home along our little cul-de-sac. I think she works at a Nursery in the City as in the summer she was wearing a polo shirt with a nursery name embroidered on the front.

We pass a few words and she always stokes Callie’s head. If Callie spots her first, she’ll run on ahead doing her doggy squeal of excitement (it is a weird noise she makes!). This morning, coming out of Bernard Road was a guy (who I have never seen before) with two dogs on leads (bitzers) heading towards me and Callie. I was just about to call her to heel when she took off! Bloody disobedient dog, although as I hadn’t given a command that doesn’t really work, does it?

She got half way towards the dogs and then saw the girl in the high-vis jacket leaving her house. It was as though I could actually see the thought process going through Callie’s head. She stopped dead, like she does when she’s scented something out shooting, she looked at the girl, looked at the man with the dogs, looked at me and made a bee-line for girl. When she got to her the girl did her usual scratching of Callie’s head whilst the man with dogs walked on up the hill ignored. I asked her if she felt honoured. She asked why? I told her that faced with a decision between her and the two unknown dogs, Callie had chosen her.

That might tell you something about dogs’ psyche, or it might tell you something about Weimaraners or even something about how I have trained Callie. It was strange to watch her have to make a choice between a human or a dog and she chose a human!

Back home Laura said, “She just likes having her head scratched, don’t you girl?” To which Callie wobbled over and allowed Laura to scratch her head as if to prove a point.

We had our swim, breakfast and read of the morning papers before I finally got round to dealing with the Christmas tree. I decided to leave it in its net to make it easier to handle, and Loll helped me cart it down to the shed to have its stump cut. It hardly needed a cut. The chopping down had been done almost at 90 degrees to the trunk. I measured the base of the zinc bucket. Found a smallish piece of the ply wood and drew on the circle on to it, after measuring again just to make sure I was correct. A swift hole drilled through the centre of the wood and a smaller one in the trunk of the tree allowed the two items to be fastened together with the longest countersunk headed screw I could find in my tool box. (Yes I have a tool box. Who else is going to do stuff when you are single and a homeowner? So I got myself sorted.)

Without the net removed, it stood up fine by itself but I wasn’t planning on having it fall over in the lounge fully bedecked, so we hoicked it back into the conservatory, placed it in the bucket and I emptied a bag of gravel over my handiwork. “Job’s a good un” – as my Dad would say. We left it netted in there for the time being.

Mum arrived at about 12.30 with her box of baubles, so I carried mine out to her car. She stayed for a cuppa and one of Christopher’s Mum’s mince pies. She had two cups and three mince pies and talked us into going over to Wentworth Garden Centre to look for some new light for her tree! This was foolish. It was packed! You could tell it was going to be busy by the queue for the car park! We elbowed our way through the teeming hordes and Mum did find some lights she liked. We then walked around the craft section of the garden centre; this is a series of small buildings turned into little workshops and shops. There must be about 20 there altogether. Guess what? I found another woman selling bags similar to the ones at the Handmade for Christmas exhibition. Hers were £35 which is still a lot of money.

In order to stop Mum spending £35, I promised to make her one when my pattern arrived. So, I have to make some now, or else…

Back home we had a swiftly prepared mid-afternoon lunch type meal and Mum whizzed off back to Holmesfield all set to decorate her tree in red, gold and green with some new lights. She and Gran think going to Dad’s for New Year is a great idea and they are all for it. Mum will drive up to Hawick to collect Gran on the 30^th and they will drive straight across to Tallentire. I mean, what is the worst that can happen?

Spent some time re-arranging the lounge to take the Christmas tree. Not a long job really, as I have a minimalist approach to furniture and clutter. It is now in its place ready for the aged parent’s visit and tree decoration.

Sunday December 7^th

Up and out before dawn with Callie. I am so glad the shortest day will soon be here and it will gradually become lighter again in the mornings. I don’t think I suffer from SAD but I do prefer it to be light when I walk the woofie in the mornings. I don’t think she cares so long as she is out, with me, in the open air.

After a leisurely breakfast I was all prepared for Dad and Louisa to roll up at around lunch time. To that end I put a ham in to boil for lunch and our evening meal and it had only been bubbling away for about half an hour when the aforementioned aged-parent and step-mother arrived on our door step. 10.45. They must’ve been up with the larks too.

After a reviving cup of tea and a bit of a natter, Dad and Laura decamped to the lounge to decorate the tree whilst Louisa and I set to on prepping the veggies for lunch. I always do a mountain of vegetables with our meals. They are good for you and I like them. Today I had broccoli and cauliflower in the steamer, with mange tout below and carrots and peas in the bottom layer. I had potatoes ready for mash, a pan of savoy cabbage and some leeks set to go in the microwave. My plan was we’d eat the ham, hot with pineapple, and then in the evening we’d have it cold with a bubble and squeak made from the left over veggies. It was a big enough ham that with judicious carving (I would defer to Dad, even though I am adept enough myself) we’d have enough to fill our sangers for Monday’s lunch.

By the time we had chopped and sliced and en-panned the assortment of greenery for lunch the Lollster and Dad had decked the tree with all our baubles, lights and tinsel. All that was needed was the grand switch on. Rah rah rah. It does look lovely. 

Dad disappeared for a moment and came back with a medium sized cardboard box. He told me he’d bought it to go in my conservatory, so I would at least have a token gesture of outside lights showing for the festive season. I could have hit him. He knows I hate all that ostentatious display of how full of the Christmas Spirit a house is by the number of gaudy and tacky lights strung up outside. It turned out that in the box was a 3 foot Christmas three with fibre optic lights at the end of each of the branches. Tacky it wasn’t, actually. It also did look lovely on the rattan and glass table in the conservatory. I know I will get remarks from the neighbours but it looks very cute. It is relaxing to watch it change colour.

After lunch, which we only half demolished, I asked if they wanted to go for a stroll. Nothing strenuous for Louisa. They agreed and I took them over to Burbage and we walked along the edge where Laura and I regularly rock climb. It was only a brief walk and the wind was whipping at us quite cruelly. There was no snow yet on any of the tops, which was a disappointment. Dad said there was a dusting on the giants as they drove through the Lakes on their way down. That’s something to look forward to when we are house sitting.

Dad cooked the bubble and squeak and Laura was his sous-chef for the evening. We finished with some apple scones I had baked which were really much nicer than I imagined they’d be. Dad played scrabble against me whilst Loll and Louisa sat and gossiped about the new arrival. For someone who has sworn she isn’t ever having one of those ‘boody things’ inside her, she seemed quite animated.

Dad was annoyed with aalii in my final go at our game, but had to concede it was in the Official Scrabble Words book so he had to concede defeat. It was a pretty poor game though, no seven letter words at all. We had the new Pink Floyd album Dad had sent me playing in the background and, even though I am still of the opinion the bleeding river is endless, it was a good background to our game. He rummage through my storage system for another CD he had burned and told me this was the album which he’d been playing all the time after I’d been born, so he thought of it as my album. The Division Bell. Now that is much better than The Endless River IMHO. Dad and I have agreed to differ.