The Long-Tail Squadron

These past few weeks have been very cold in Somerset, with the thermometer diving below freezing most nights and each sunrise showing cars covered in a rime of thick frost. Our bird population has been feeling the pinch and we (I mean Kim really, as he has the working legs) have been putting out food for our feathered friends.

First, I washed out the tall seed feeder and we re-filled it with sunflower hearts. The small wire rack was filled with fat balls, encrusted with seeds and other goodies for the birds. The peanut feeder has been topped up and hung off the main pole and the square wire rack, designed for the little birds, has been dangled from the bush beside the scullery.

Each morning Kim goes out and tops up the feeders, puts out water after removing the solid block of ice that is in the drinking bowl and scatters suet and insect and seed encrusted fat pellets for the birds.

They are wonderful. Our local birds form disorderly queues, with the jackdaws taking prime positions on the chimney pots, the starlings on the roof ridges and the smaller birds in the holm oak, which has grown back nicely since it's recent scalping. We have a pair of pied wagtails who march around the garage roof, the centre of our bird delicatessen, but best of all, we have a squadron of long tailed tits who visit each day. Their delicate plumage and soft browns make them look so delicate and their song lifts the heart. Each day, a small gang of about five or six long tailed tits lands in the tall fuchsia beside the garage roof and they take turns landing on the fat ball feeder for an afternoon repast.

While winter grips this soft and beautiful county, and hard frosts make the mornings a bit of a trial, the middle of the day is such an oasis of delight watching our long tailed squadron that I think we'd probably sacrifice quite a lot to keep ourselves well stocked with bird food.

Lately, I have been working from the kitchen table on my laptop, flicking the kettle when needed and saving the heating through the rest of the house. I don't have my big iMac screen, but I do have a grandstand view of the birds, and that's such a treat. It's funny how the winter months make you realise what's really important, isn't it?

P.S. WhiteWicca now has a twitter feed - just go to twitter.com and search for "WhiteWicca".

Greetings To You

Yet again it seems ages since I have had time to sit and write for the blog - I've been doing far too much sitting, but there has always been too much noise and disturbance to focus on writing for this but happily, today, Kim is flitting about the house in "Dobbie" mode cleaning and vacuuming and I have retreated to my study for a bit of peace and quiet between bouts in the kitchen.

This has been a fascinating year, filled with high and low spots, happily many more highs than lows. We have, in no particular order: made some wonderful new friends, got an allotment, had wonderful dinners and parties, got married, my business has taken off, the cat is still alive and I have been touched by the thoughtfulness and generosity of so many people that I feel truly blessed. Thinking about things, there haven't been too many negatives - one or two people who have turned out to be sad or bad, but it's no tragedy to loose those from my life, and the perennial pain in the bum that is my dicky hip - and that will be mended soon I hope. I don't think that I'm even looking at things through rose, or should I say merlot, tinted glasses; no, this has been a good year.

To my amazement, I'm finding that married life suits me very well; that probably sounds odd, but having tried it once before, I entered the state with some trepidation - but it's just wonderful. There are, of course, times when I could quite gleefully throttle Kim, but they are few and far between and luckily for south Somerset's crime rate, I'm managing to resist the urge when it comes upon me! It's also caused by a promise I made to a friend who is a Police Officer, that if I were to do some heinous crime, I'd let him know first so he could have a splendid arrest record - truth is, I know he'd just tell me off so badly that it's not worth considering!

The solstice passed quietly and though I can't get out and about to mark the turning of the year (walking up a gravelled driveway laid me out for a couple of days), I know that I shall be able to change all that next year and will appreciate it so much more than I did before. Though the Solstice is the time of year I mark, we both like to mark Christmas too and Kim has been buzzing about making preparations so I'm off to wrap a present to tuck under the glossy pine needles of our tree as I know he will be like an excited five-year-old tomorrow morning.

With all the news of the credit crunch, shop closures and the increasing glee of news organisations to revel in horror and tragedy, it seems to me that it is reminding many people about the things that are really important - taking stock of one's year, being with those whom you love and sharing fellowship rather than the insane consumerism that has pervaded for so long - at least, I hope that's it.

Wherever you are and whatever is happening in your lives, I wish you peace, joy and contentment and may your Gods bless you.

Rasberries, Blackberries and Baskets

Thank goodness the week is over. I've had more calls this week trying to sell me advertising than is decent; you can tell that the economy isn't good when the volume of sales calls increases the the level where you'd really like the change your phone number or blow raspberries. It's not that you can even be mean to the poor people doing the sales calls - it's not a fun thing to do - I know, I've tried it. Wouldn't it be wonderful if someone could invent an "Intent Meter" for telephones? Before you answered a call, you could check the meter and find out of they wanted to sell you something, complain or just generally make a nuisance of themselves!

This week has been a weird combination of good and bad. Monday and Tuesday were still a time of recovery from my London trip and yet I felt cheery and positive, getting loads of things done and clearing that long list of irritating little chores that never quite gets done. Thursday was nice, as I went and treated myself to a leg wax and a bit of a pamper - actually, it's less of a luxury than a necessity these days, as I'm so unable to reach down, that my legs were beginning to look more like a yeti's than a human's! As it has now got to the stage where I can't pull on a pair of socks, because the bending hurts too much, the leg-fur was warm but deeply unattractive and in danger of tripping me up. Happily, I am now bald and as smooth as silk - oh joy!

Today has been completely wonderful. We had a really nice lie-in while listening to the last of the howling winds and rain that had lashed at the village all night. We're lucky as our house has a few steps up to it, but others at the far end of the village were swamped with flood waters flowing right through their houses. At 3 a.m. the council lorries were outside clearing out the drains (even though they had been cleared less than two months ago), just to try to cope with the 18 inches of flood water. Anyway, back to our oblivious lie-in - one of those lovely mornings when there's a warm, snuggly spot under the duvet and Tom doesn't set up a katzenjammer to call us down to serve him.

Then the doorbell rang - our cheery post lady with a big box that had my name on it - I just love parcels and scuttled off to the kitchen to pop on the kettle and open the box. What a treat! I ordered a berry basket from a fellow blogger Bee-Leaf after seeing her gorgeous wares pictured and the real thing was even better than the pictures! All dressed up in real wood shavings rather than those horrid polystyrene wotsits, with a posh label, the basket is just a perfect size for blackberrying. This one is a Yule gift for a dear friend of mine who is always off picking something or other from the hedgerows, though the temptation to keep it is great.

The rest of the day meandered along at a gentle pace and then I decided to go and have a soak in the bath. Kim had thoughtfully treated me to a couple of bath bombs from Lush, and though they're full of all sorts of SLS-type substances, I popped one in the running water. Wow! Talk about PINK - it fizzled madly and loads of little pink and white love hearts popped out from the bath bomb, filling the water. Now, call me frivolous, but when you're feeling old and creaking, there's nothing like getting in a hot bath filled with hearts and very pink water to make you feel girlie again. I'm so lucky - Kim is such a sweetheart and so thoughtful.

Yes, today has been wonderful and now I shall go and cook up a storm so that we finish off with a good meal. I am happy.

Apologies For Absence

It has been ages since I have even looked at my blog, and I am sorry for not writing sooner... well I'm sorry and I'm not sorry. The last few weeks have taken their toll on my health and a trip to Geneva, standing without respite for over eight hours a day followed by another gig in London before I was fully recovered has taken the stuffing, and joy, out of my days.

The trouble with something like a dodgy hip is that it pervades every part of your life - I can't even sit on the toilet without shooting pains through the joint, so there's not even that moment of quiet repose, gazing at the ceiling blankly. I feel like all I do is moan about my hip pain and though Kim tells me it isn't the case, the chatter in my own head leads me to feel that I'm turning into a complete bore - so I stopped writing. You see, there's not much I can do these days; even housework and going to the village shop for a stamp is beyond me now, so I don't have much exciting stuff to write about. My travels don't even afford me that luxury, as all I see are the insides of airports, hotel rooms that could be anywhere, and the rooms where I teach; trust me, they're not much to write home about, never mind blogging about them!

So, dear reader, this explains my absence. I did see the Consultant at the beginning of last week, though I had to wonder why I was there. He told me that the waiting list was three months, which I knew from checking the net - but at least I am now on it now. He grabbed my ankle, moved my leg about six inches and seemed to loose interest, he told me I'd get a metal hip and that I needed to loose weight. To be honest, the 45 minute wait to be mildly pulled around for two minutes hardly seemed worth the bother. There was the usual disgruntlement when my blood pressure was healthily low and I was tempted to follow up with a snappy remark about how they'd be surprised at how good my cholesterol levels were, but decided to bite my tongue till I had a date. I opted to take a cancellation date if one came up, so please pray to your Gods that someone decides they're rather have Christmas and New Year at home (with no harm to them), as I'd far rather have a new hip and soggy hospital meals!

Happily, I won't be travelling any more until after the New Year, assuming I'm not recovering from the op, so I shall have the rest of this week to start feeling human again and hopefully able to get up and down the stairs without too many yelps. I have got so behind with writing to friends and catching up on that will be wonderful therapy. Some of my friends are having pretty tough times and even though there's nothing I can do to change that for them, at least staying in touch and making sure that they have someone to talk to helps - and it's wonderful therapy for me, because that is one thing that doesn't get spoiled by my hip. There, that's set my head back on straight and left me feeling cheered - what a nice way to end the day.