Lots of Writing Stuff

Sue - I still haven't got the nerve to go on the motorway. I'm not sure I ever will at this rate.

Sharon - I'm sure things will get sorted. It's just going to take time. Thank you for the hug.

Today is far too hot. I have been drying things on a clothes horse in the garden and sitting behind closed curtains. We had rice salad with chicken for dinner, which was lovely and refreshing. 

All the edits are now finished. I now have to go through my manuscript and agree it. I plan to try reading it out loud to myself twice through, which hopefully will pick up anything odd. Now it's into the publicity side. 

One of the things that the lovely publishers are planning is to give the option of a book with a message in the front.  I can't actually sign books that are going from warehouse direct to the reader, but they can get books printed with a copy of a hand written message. This is incredibly flattering to me, and came with some challenges. 

First of all, I had to learn to write my name. The book is called Out of the London Mist, by Lyssa Medana. My name isn't really Lyssa Medana. LM is a made up name for writing books. I only ever type it. The bin is full of practice sheets of me writing 'Lyssa Medana' over and over again with some very strange results. It feels a little egotistical. 

Finally I wrote out some messages and tried to take a pic to send to my editor (who is totally awesome (she may be reading this)). Inside was too dark, so I went outside and set them down on the front step. And that is how I got my exercise today, chasing around after pieces of paper covered in egotistical writing that were blowing all over the garden while a strange woman sat on a step across the corner and I swear she was judging me. I went back inside and laid them out next to a bedroom window and finally got some results I could send back. And somehow she will take the photos I sent and magic them into a readable dedication. Here's one of them, which I hope will be typical. 

Hugs and good health to all 

Worked it Out

They've changed the format of the blog thingy and it's taken me until now to work out how to post.

Yesterday was a video conference between bear and the physio. It wasn't hugely successful. Bear didn't feel 'heard' and when that sets in, it's really tough to get back. 

Today we did a little in the garden (which still looks like an area under special measures) and we will probably do some more tomorrow.

I popped out for some necessary bits and on the way home went past my first mobile speed camera. I was wondering what the knot of police were doing on the side of the road and then realised that I was going past a policeman holding a speed gun pointing at the car after me and standing with an air of purpose. I think I was around about the speed limit. It was in the 30mph zone, and I was being bugged by someone so far up my exhaust they could check my dipstick. I was probably doing between 29mph and 31mph. I suppose I will find out if I was speeding if I get a letter in the post. 

I drive up to the speed limit. When I was learning, I was so scared about going at speed that I forced myself to keep up. You can fail your driving test for going to slow. I'm still not comfortable much above 40mph, but I usually keep the needle around the speed limit, conditions permitting. That being said, there have been so many cars speeding around me that even if I do get a ticket, I'm still glad that they are cracking down. There were two instances today when I was genuinely scared by the speed cars were overtaking me. 

Writing stuff - I finally wrote a piece for the writing challenge, which is here. I hope the link works. I'm still figuring out the new layout.

Hugs and good health to all.

Disappointing Bong

Bong, as in, chime of a clock.

A while back I got this clock fixed. It's around 130 years old and a little temperamental.

Bear and I finally got around to winding it up. The pendulum needed to be put back on place and we weren't sure which side to wind for the clock and which for the chimes. We wanted to avoid the chimes, as we didn't need sonorous bongs at midnight. The bongs are lovely, deep and mellow, but, according to bear, the clock lost count at 9pm and we only got eight bongs. We had only wound the chimes up a little, so we didn't need to worry about whether it would chime thirteen. It belonged to a member of my mother's family, and therefore all bets are off.

Actually it's a different branch of the family to the Christian Spiritualist Medium. This was the clock presented to one of my male ancesters as he retired after being a butler at the big house in the village for many years. His wife was the housekeeper, and while the butler was apparently fairly harmless, my great-great-grandmother (or some 'great's anyway) was a holy terror. She is the reason that her sons went to sea and her daughter-in-laws kept moving to get away from her. There were six siblings in grandfather's family, and, apart from the twins, they were all born in separate locations.  It was no good. The Duchess always followed them.

On the other hand, their connection with the big house meant that her sons could borrow the money to pay for their studies and exams to get their master's ticket. I don't know how it works now, but it meant that great-grandfather and his brother were able to captain merchant ships. It took them a while to pay it back, though, as it was an expensive business then.

So while the bongs are pretty awesome, they are lacking in number. Bear was also unimpressed to find out that the clock would need winding every night.

Also, I suppose I could call them 'chimes' but they sound like weighty 'bongs' and there is no way on earth that I am referring to inadequate 'dongs'. I may be less rational than normal. The codeine isn't currently helping bear as much as we would like.

And that was the Bank Holiday

It's been a quiet day. I've caught up on The Great British Sewing Bee, got into discussions with bear on history, and generally managed an ant free kitchen.

I'd like more like this please. Although it would be nice to have stuff to post, I'd like it to be happy stuff.

Writing stuff - this week's writing challenge is here. All welcome.

Hugs and good health to all.

The Ants are Back!

There were only a half dozen or so ants milling around a coffee jar, but it felt like a blow after a few days without sightings. They vanished after I sprinkled large quantities of lemon oil around. One poor thing was just running around in circles before I squished her, and I suspect that some of the bumps in the vast swathe of cinnamon are the remains of others. It caused some disruption this afternoon. Mind you, it seems that they are coming in near the washer and away from the sink, so it should be safe to use an ant trap away from the food areas. I'll put one down once the area stops smelling so strongly of lemons. I may have got a little carried away.

Since I last posted, we have had a new internet connection fitted and DH has started me on a much needed clear out. DH crammed his car full for a trip to the newly opened tip on Saturday morning and since then we have filled the garden again with black bin sacks. I found a tin of tomatoes today that expired last month, and I suspect there is even more surprises lurking in the tin cupboard since bear cleared it out. I won't keep tins of tomatoes. I don't think it applies any more, but tomatoes are acidic and it used to be wise not to use them after their expiry date in case they had worn away some of the tin they were in. I think that there is a proper coating now, but I like to play it safe. If there are any tins of beans etc that are out of date, I'll bring them to the front to use early. DH has booked a slot to visit the tip on Tuesday, but the bin bags may not all fit into the car! In which case, I can see me booking a lot more slots. I'm happy to leave it to DH as I do all the shopping and this way his car keeps turning over (and stops the battery failing), but he works from home and it's very busy for him, so he is limited to when he can go out.

Tonight's dinner was some chicken breasts cooked in the oven with tinned tomatoes, olives (very inexpensive jar from Tesco, used about a quarter), a finely chopped pepper, onion, garlic, a little stock powder and some water. It turned out really well. I wish I had remembered to add the mixed herbs, though. I need to go through my cupboards to check for casserole dishes. I got rid of a lot of mine because I wasn't using them, but now I would. I still regret the casserole that bear left at school.

Actually, I need to go through the cupboards in general. I can see me adding to the bin bags!

Hugs and good health to all. 

Plans

One day I will plan to do something and it will happen.

I didn't get out today as I'm going out tomorrow. Last night my brother called and invited me for a socially distant catch up. I may break the rules to get a cuddle from his older dog, though. He is an utter sweetie, and getting very elderly. It gives me more time to work out what we are going to need over the bank holiday. I still want to get there early, and I've already loaded bags into the car.

The house smells of firelighters. What that usually means is that someone further up the sewage system has dumped a load of paint thinner or similar into the drains and we are getting the benefit. I may run our water later to see if it washes some stuff away, but something like turps or white spirit would float on water, so it may not be a quick fix.

I'm wondering if the new business that's a little upstream is anything to do with it. There has been a bathroom place there all the time we've lived here until a year or two ago, when they moved out and something else started. There has been lots of rubble, a permanent oil barrel full of burning scrap wood and people hanging around and making noise. I'm looking forward to finding out what is going on.

Today has been far too warm. I can't wait until it's autumn and I start complaining about the cold!

Hugs and good health to all.

Handbag? What Handbag?

Thank you for the good wishes and advice. It really helps.

I really wanted to be out at 7am this morning. I hoped to get out, have a short walk and then get to Tesco before the reserved hour between 9am and 10am that is kept for the elderly and vulnerable or nhs workers. Instead I was tearing the house apart looking for my handbag.

I'd left it in the car overnight! Fortunately, as I drive through some less than fancy places, I have a habit of always putting my handbag in the footwell on the passenger side and it was still there this morning. I gave up on the walk and just about made it to Tesco on time, where I dashed around and shot out again like a startled cat.

Then I got home to the ongoing battle of bear with school work. Due to pain and all the other issues, he's struggling and school are less than sympathetic. He managed to get some done.

I jammed the vacuum cleaner and then inhaled a snoot full of dust as I tried to unjam it, so we ended up having baked potatoes instead of rice salad with the burgers, which was okay. The men had honeycomb on toast for dessert. I found some on a site which was also delivering gluten free flour, so got it for a treat, and I thought bear should know what it was like. It has been a success.

I now feel utterly, completely and totally exhausted. I'm not sure why, but it's right to the bones. I feel incredibly embarassed as I have done nothing compared to people who are on the front line with this virus, whether in health care or the frontline essential workers in shops and deliveries.

Hugs and good health to all.