The cottage is more or less Silent this morning.
No taxi horns, no police sirens, no bustle, no clatter.
All I can hear is Winnie's rasping snores and the crowing of the bachelors as Mandy from next door feeds them and Irene stale bread.
The dogs and Albert are reunited on the duvet and are all fast asleep.
I'm washing and packing away the contents of the kitchen cupboards today in readiness for the new kitchen.
No radio, no music and no noise.
Everything is nicely zen.
The Prof and I have a tradition of buying Christmas decorations from New York
This time we have gone Camp " Opera" and oh sooo Gay
With The Queen of the Night from The Magic Flute and Clara from The Nutcracker
I placed them on the mantlepiece to look at for a while before getting cracking on washing and packing away the glassware.
Back to normal
All I can hear is Winnie's rasping snores and the crowing of the bachelors as Mandy from next door feeds them and Irene stale bread.
The dogs and Albert are reunited on the duvet and are all fast asleep.
I'm washing and packing away the contents of the kitchen cupboards today in readiness for the new kitchen.
No radio, no music and no noise.
Everything is nicely zen.
The Prof and I have a tradition of buying Christmas decorations from New York
This time we have gone Camp " Opera" and oh sooo Gay
With The Queen of the Night from The Magic Flute and Clara from The Nutcracker
I placed them on the mantlepiece to look at for a while before getting cracking on washing and packing away the glassware.
Back to normal
I suppose it's just as normal as putting a fairy on top of a Christmas tree! BTW, you have a boring anonymous troll over on your previous post.
ReplyDeleteYes I've Just replied but I am enjoying my packing so they haven't bothered me
DeleteThe one good thing about the troll is that at least I didn't dream the post you, John, decided to take down. When I got up this morning, checking on your blog, I thought that's it - I've lost the plot. I swear John wrote something about the prof, and collecting the dogs and stuff. Now it's not here; why would he take it down?
DeleteAs to your troll's assertion about 50s housewives. I was a wife (for a while); not in the fifties. Fairly recently. Let me assure you, Anonymous, that some couples are perfectly happy to share "the load" as they see fit. Some chase the bacon, some fry it whilst holding the baby.
Anyway, John, good to have you back. Six hour flight? Just shows you how vast the States are. The Angel flew back from LA the other week. Took nearly twelve hours.
U
I just bought some castanets.
ReplyDeleteOmg EVERYONE that went to Spain in the 1970s bought them didn't they? Didn't think they still sold them
DeleteThat or a huge stuffed souvenir donkey tucked under peoples arms at the airport!
DeleteBack to normal and neither you or the Prof seem to suffer from jet lag. Your trip to New York and a new kitchen, that is how you kick off retirement!
ReplyDelete30 years from now, when you hang those on the tree, you will remember the time you spent in New York, good stuff.
ReplyDeleteIsn't it just so nice to be back home.
ReplyDeleteI try to buy Christmas decs whenever I go abroad. My favourites are gondola santa (I bet you can't guess where from) and a huge blown glass painted bauble from the Czech Republic.
ReplyDeleteI'm not keen on noise, quiet is good for me.
ReplyDeleteFun decorations.
ReplyDeleteHome sweet home!
ReplyDeleteI dislike Christmas intensely but I do love certain Christmas decorations and keep some of them around all year as they please me. Those two you brought back would definitely be on that list. Beautiful.
ReplyDeleteGlad you both had a good time and your home safely, but there's no place like home right? Nice decorations. I'm sure they'll look just lovely on your tree.
ReplyDeleteI love your new Christmas decorations ! They are so charming.
ReplyDeleteHow exciting to have the kitchen work started again. All the four footed furry ones back home cuddling and asleep.
Written with an American accent. . .
cheers, parsnip
We started collecting Christmas ornaments years ago whenever we were traveling .. so to look at things on the tree now, I can zoom back in time to that day in that city and have lovely memories .. Except for last year, when there was no tree, no visitors, no presents ... it was the Christmas that sucked ... not going to happen again though ..
ReplyDeletethe above comment was written with a New York Accent blended with a Southern Accent.
DeleteNotesFromAbroad, I can sympathize about your sucky Christmas. In 2012 my mom died three days before Christmas. We were in the process of moving into town from the country and had a lot of stuff in storage units. Some Grinch broke into one of them (thankfully, the overflow one, not the main one) and made off with all of my Christmas stuff---things my kids had made when they were little, old Shiny Brite ornaments from my family, my daughter's little red socks with pom poms on the toes that she wore at age one month to her first Christmas. I have some photos of past trees, but...it's not the same. That was a sucky Christmas indeed.
DeleteThe above comment was written with a Southern California non-surfer dude accent with just a hint of a Texas "y'all" here and there.
DeleteWonderful and charming. We have a tradition of alternating colors...red one year, blue the next. Your tree must look wonderful.
ReplyDeleteLove the ornaments! It must be wonderful to be home.
ReplyDeleteGreat souvenirs. Love the 'Königin der Nacht', seen her several times here, and also Thomas Bernhard's amazing spoof of it a couple of times. It's called 'Der Ignorant und der Wahnsinnige'. Nussnacker Clara is not on my radar. Who owns which?
ReplyDeleteWe saw The magic flute at the New York Met last time we went......magical
DeleteIsn't the quiet of home blissful.
ReplyDeleteI have not been reading your blog recently but I have now caught up and I still luff you. Looks like you had a grand but short visit with NYC. Probably enough to exhaust you, what with 60 miles of walking!
ReplyDeleteMug of hot steaming tea....warm furry bodies.....and the quiet familiar sounds of your home.....aah bliss!
ReplyDeleteWelcome home, John!
ReplyDeleteI think going gentle must be haunted this is the second day in a row while having my cuppa and sat to read your lovely blog. I noticed you've lost your trolley.... Lets hope they've disappeared for good to whence they came and burn in the fires of hell..
ReplyDeleteYour "Trolls" post has disappeared! I guess that we are allowed to have second thoughts about the blogposts we publish.
ReplyDeleteI won't speculate why John took that post down too (second in a row) - though do have a pretty good idea. At least he doesn't delete his posts habitually or as frequently as a couple of other bloggers I read do. Reasons are rarely given though in one case blindingly obvious. Unfortunately marks both people as lacking their own convictions. Which, eventually, can be pretty off putting for readers or at least those inclined to comment.
DeleteU
We used to also collect Christmas ornaments whenever we traveled. I love these. After our recent 11 days in NYC, we also noticed (and were so grateful for) the quiet that greeted us on our return home.
ReplyDeleteI especially like that Queen of the Night. Christmas is a rather campy holiday, if you think about it.
ReplyDeleteWonderful and charming!My Pillow Promo Code
ReplyDelete