domestic matters

BACK HOME after two weeks' break, which inevitably means engaging in sudden domesticity - especially interaction with the washing machine.  This of course means that the ironing pile has ballooned - I shall soon be once again waxing lyrical over it, I'm sure.

I also need to sort out the spare room so I can be all creative and inspiring.  Hmm.  I now have an in-tray / letter rack which is very exciting.  Does anyone else find stationery thrilling?  Or am I utterly alone (as well as utterly weird)?

Charlie (the rabbit, for newbies) is back with us - he  is getting quite elderly.  He has glaucoma in one eye which is advancing steadily - it's gone from mildly foggy to almost white.  His other eye is getting frequent infections and his hops are getting hobbly. He can no longer see the ramp in his hutch or have the confidence to navigate it - I board up the hole at night and put him in the upper level; during the day he either goes in his run (if weather is fine) or in the lower level (if weather is not fine).  While on his 'holiday' I repainted the  hutch.  It looked like this originally

and now looks like this, although I don't have a photo of the shabby in between - but trust me, it needed it.

The weather was rather mixed while we were away, but we were shattered so happy to be lazy.  It was nice to slow down my mind.

In the church office this morning sorting out this month's rota (for church services - worship leaders, techno, PA, etc); I'd done all I could quite early on so spent the rest of the time scribbling thoughts on memory for the book and reading the first chapter of Jesus in Disneyland by David Lyon, which I nicked off Andy's shelf.  Last time I read it was for my dissertation.  That feels a long time ago...

I hope you enjoyed the welcome and hospitality quotes I had posted in my absence.  Do you feel all welcomed out?!

an ode to the ironing pile

O! Great pile of washed clothes longing to be flattened
Desperate for those crinkles to be squeezed out and sleeves folded!
O! You have recently become a living beast,
crawling over the spare bed without concern for anything else.

O!  You eat up whatever you come across,
tentacles of trouser legs and even the occasional skirt
a monster made of pockets and collars
pleats and cuffs (actually I'm not sure this pile has anything pleated).

O!  For weeks I have stared at you,
watching you grow, lovingly tending you
and helping you (lots of washing being done)
and now, your time has come.

For here and now, today I announce
that I am about to do the ironing.






Image: from stock.xchng.  Please note that this is NOT my iron.  Mine is ever so slightly more modern.

let's tidy things up

Need to do housework.  The irritating thing about housework is that it always comes round again.   Have to get myself good humoured about it.  What would be useful is the capacity to sing 'ah-ah-ah-ah' out of my window and have the animals in suburbia come to my aid, just as Giselle summoned the city dwellers...



...I wonder if wood pigeons are clumsier than feral pigeons at putting the plates away?  Not sure Andy would appreciate knowing rats had cleaned the toilet.  Perhaps I'll give the hedgehogs of the area an early wake up call and rely on the ingenuity of any squirrels who happen to be in range.

(And yes, I know - how does she know how to use the vacuum cleaner or what the shower drain is?  Three words: suspension of disbelief.  As if you didn't already need it.)

Of course, we all know what this post is really about.

Procrastination, procrastination, procrastination.

on returning

We've just had a lovely two week holiday in Suffolk, which was very relaxing, in a tiny cottage. The doorways were rather low so had to get into the habit of ducking!

I'd write more, but after frenetic amounts of washing yesterday, the ironing pile is about to grow legs and clamber all over the house, which could be somewhat alarming. Andy will come home and find me consumed by an over-enthusiastic pair of trousers. That would be unpleasant for both of us, so I suppose I'd better start tackling it. I'm feeling the 'itch' of wanting to start work (writing) but I shall look at the ironing as my obstacle to be vanquished. On guard, ironing pile! (Yes I've had a holiday and thus reverted to default state = rather silly).

breaking the block...

I always find it rather hard to start writing when I haven't been doing so for a few days...I get out of the habit and suffer a kind of blogger's block, I suppose! The best way to break any kind of writer's block, in my experience, is to start by writing anything, even if it's complete rubbish. So, here I am. (Although having said that, my parents are coming to stay on Wednesday, so I'll probably be absent yet again for a while!)

Andy had last week off work, after the busy-ness of Easter, and it was good to just relax and spend time together. We had a couple of nice days out, which I may recount here, at some point. (For less regular readers, 'at some point' can mean anything from next week to never.)

I have been catching up a bit around the house and cleaning out Charlie's hutch, giving him a bottom dunking as well, what joy. Started making some more bird cake since they are just about to finish off their third fat tube. They certainly do love it.

Not entirely convinced the goldfinches are going to continue nesting in next doors' tree. Not much activity lately, and I spied the blue tits stealing nest material from it last week, which isn't very hopeful, goldfinch wise. However, they are still coming through and feeding, together with the blue tits and great tits and blackbirds all in 'courtship mode'.

My, isn't this entry exhilarating....

Andy at a meeting this evening, so watched a Primeval episode recorded on Saturday before coming up here to get some stuff together for Youth Housegroup tomorrow. Andy has given up on Primeval but I am still watching it for a pleasant bit of silliness. OK, so the underlying plot is somewhat convoluted and hard to follow - and you can't work out if that's because it is too complex, or not complex enough. Like Steven, Cutter is now dead (killed by sinister amoral former wife Helen) and Jenny seems to be suddenly more like Claudia Brown's personality in this series, which is somewhat ironic as Nick (Cutter) was the only person who remembered Claudia's existence in the first place. (Except perhaps Helen, but I doubt she cares). Of course, dying in Primeval can mean anything really, and watch out for the clones, of course. Connor is as always looking apologetic and perplexed, and he and Abby continue to adopt mini-dinosaur-type pets without batting an eyelid. The acting is...mixed. The special effects are good. There are quintessentially British moments - when a huge dinosaur head, Jurassic Park style, raises itself to peer into the window of a plane, one pilot says with mild fascination, "now there's something you don't see every day".

(Pause for breath.)

All right, so most of you haven't got a clue what I'm on about, but never mind.
I did warn you it might be rubbish.

Sort of.

out of the comfort zone

Having a brief break in a somewhat housework-oriented day. Not helped by Charlie of course, back indoors - his cage has to go at the end of the dining room as there are no alternatives. Have cleaned him out and hoovered all around but no doubt I will go back downstairs and find somehow he managed to huff some hay into the kitchen or something. A bunny with super-breath. Hmmm. I yearn for a utility room! But I suspect he'd still manage it, somehow. He'll go back outside next week. These strange bursts of snow will be over soon, surely??

Having youth housegroup over tonight. Should be fun. Andy leads but I put in my two pence worth every now and again. Occasionally I forget my role and get told off for giggling. Youthwork is not my area of gifting but I have been involved before. A couple of years back I led a small youthgroup in a church without many young people. There were 4 teenagers without anything of their own. Since there was no one else, and I felt strongly about it - in the end I volunteered myself. With the help of the oldest girl I led it for a few months before our wedding (and thus departure). Although completely out of my comfort zone I grew extremely fond of these kids. There was a mix of Christian and non-Christian (unusual in such a small group). When I left there were 6 of them. Hey, c'mon, that's a 50% increase!! One moment I will always remember is one girl asking me to explain a verse to her - and then saying 'oh....I never really understood the cross before'. That one comment alone would have made the whole experience worth it. I don't claim to have explained the whole multi-faceted meaning of the cross - and I believe it is multi-faceted. But she had grasped a basic idea that helped her understand the purpose of what Jesus did, and what he had achieved. The boys generally sniggered a lot, and teased me. I learnt this was a good sign. Staring sullenly at me would not have been good! I was accepted among them and that both encouraged and surprised me. I know I am not a natural youthleader! But I enjoy working alongside small groups and taking the role as a listener when needed. Now with the youth in our church, I am not very involved but I still feel that same degree of concern that I first felt in that earlier experience.