Advent Calendar Scavenger Hunt- Day 15- Mistletoe........and murder!

I was wracking my brain to think what I could post for Mistletoe for my Scavenger Hunt and then I suddenly realised what the title of my last book was!!

Anyone who has read this blog for a while should know that I am an ardent 'Whodunnit' fan. The majority of my reading material is this genre- historical fiction.  I picked up this Daisy Dalrymple murder mystery in the Summer but knew I wanted to save it for Christmas to read, along with the various seasonally-named British Crime Classics such as 'Mystery in White', 'The Christmas Murder' etc.

Daisy Dalrymple is an amateur-sleuth. She is the daughter of a peer but now married to Alec Fletcher, Chief-Inspector at Scotland Yard.  She is invited along with all her family to Brockdene, the ancestral home of Lord Westmoor under the orders of her mother, the dowager Lady Dalrymple. 
But when they arrive, they discover that the Norvilles, Lord Westmoor's poor relatives live there and Lord Westmoor has no intention of attending.  There are plenty of interesting stories about the place and tension over relationships.  But then, another guest to the house is found murdered in the chapel on Christmas day.  It seems curious because most people had no motive to murder him but Daisy and Alec dig up the truth!

This was a jolly good adventure with lots of 'Jolly Hockeysticks' language and spirit.  The characters are very likeable and fairly well written. I enjoyed the unravelling of the murder and thought the murderer being revealed was fine but I did feel that Daisy plucked the murder a little out of the blue to a certain extent. I do like a good festive murder and I enjoy this series which is  bit like a cross between Agatha Christie and the Famous Five, but I wasn't so convinced by the denouement!

Have you read any of this series or any festive fiction?




Julie's list:

• Letterbox
• Something handcrafted for Christmas
• Favourite Christmas recipe
• Christmas book(s)
• Stained glass window
• Robin
• Bell(s)
• Sleigh
• Christmas Bauble
• Holly and Ivy
• Snowman
• Angel
• First Christmas card received in the post
• Christmas crackers
• Tree before dressed
• Tree after dressed
• Christmas wrapping paper
• Mistletoe
• Stocking or Christmas Sack/Bag
• Wrapped present(s)
• Winter
• Father Christmas
• Nativity
• The Night Before Christmas

Top eleven fictional places I would like to visit.

I like a good discussion over fiction and when I saw that Bevchen had done a post entitled, Top 10 fictional places I would like to visit, I knew this was something I would be doing!
https://confuzzledom.wordpress.com/2015/09/08/top-ten-fictional-places-i-would-like-to-visit/

So, without further ado, here are my choices:

1. The chocolate room in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory

You know the one.  Now, I confess, I SAW the Gene Wilder Willy Wonka's  Chocolate Factory BEFORE I read the book.  Thus my choice is is a combination of the film AND book version.  Here is the extract from the book I am talking about. In the book, I wanted to drink the hot chocolate river, straight from that frothy waterfall! Because that hot chocolate wouldn't be a mediocre Coffee-shop/Cafe let-down, it would be made of real milk with real chocolate blended beautifully! And trying that minty grass!  And in the film version, I too,like Violet Beauregard would pull one of those giant jelly bears from a tree and eat a lemon cup like Mr Wonka. I'd lick that cream from the NICE mushrooms like Mrs Mike TeeVee, stuff an enormous red licorice rope in my rope like Mr Beauregard!!! Oh this place was my place of wonder as a child!!!



2. The land of treats, The land of take what you please and The land of wishes from the Faraway tree! 
The Faraway tree also features in BevChen's choice but I am quite sure it will be in many Blyton fans' lists. These lands were amazing as you could do what you want, eat what you want, find what you want.  If you don't know the book, strange lands would appear if you climbed a ladder into the cloud at the top of the Faraway Tree, a magical tree. There were some horrid lands too but these ones were the best!

 3. Tom's midnight garden 
I only read Philippa Pearce's book as an adult but it is one of my most favourite books in all the world now.  Tom is having to stay at his Aunt and Uncle's dull house whilst his brother has measles and when the clock strikes 13 after midnight, a beautiful garden would appear in the back garden when he opened the back gate. It was a vast garden from the Victorian era, it would have so many beautiful areas to it and Tom would play with Hattie, a sad little girl he meets there. The descriptions of that garden were so vivid, I longed to be there.  Also, in my mind, the garden was rather like my Grandparents' beautiful, huge garden so it has happy memory associations too!  I saw a beautiful film version of the book too and the garden they used in the film surpassed my imagination. Not often that happens in an adaptation!

 4. Perelandra when it was first formed in C.S. Lewis' Voyage to Venus.
C.S. Lewis wrote a beautiful Sci-fi trilogy and in the second book, Voyage to Venus, Ransome, the main character travels to Venus to try to stop this evil character from ruining the new paradise.  The description of Perelandra (the old universe language version of Venus), is just so imaginative.  The land is made up of sea with islands that float and move with the waves,so the land ripples as you walk on it. And there were these trees with these bubbles on them that when you walked through them, refreshed and cleansed you as an alternative to a shower.  These seemed so amazing, I longed to try them. Perelandra did not fall to temptation so it remained a beautiful place which Ransome longs to return to, the true fulfilment of what the garden of Eden could have been. He is truly changed by his visit to Perelandra and I long to go there to a place without sin and illness.

 5. Kirrin Island. from Enid Blyton's Famous Five series
I strongly suspect that the reason I adore visiting small islands is that in my subconscious, I am seeking Kirrin Island, the small island that belonged to George Kirrin. It had a ruined castle with dungeons that concealed gold (1.Five on a Treasure island), an underwater tunnel from the mainland that was naturally formed (6. Five on Kirrin Island again) , a wonderful perfect cave with a hole in the ceiling for light (3. Five run away together)and a natural stone shelf round the edge, a perfect swimming pool amongst the rocks and tame wild rabbits! And the children had it all to themselves!

 6. The Wandering shop. 
Ankh Morpork sounds a bit grubby and dangerous for me BUT In Terry Pratchett's books:

Certain constants apply to these shops. They carry exactly what the person is looking for, even if they aren't looking for anything particular; Out of all the myriad items, most of which are broken, the most powerful and mystical one will be the most ordinary looking, and the most affordable; and the shop owner will be older than mud, but sharper than flint.

These shops will appear in rarely travelled side streets, and will look as though they have been there forever. The next time the customers return (often to return the purchased items) the shop will be gone, the space it occupied looking as though it has been that way forever as well.

Quantum is suspected to play a large part in this, though some people believe it's just a clever way to avoid various Sunday Closing laws, while others believe these shops form an Emporium, a galactic empire controlled by shopkeepers.

Tempting thought these explanations are, and while noting that they seem to fit the observed facts, they are almost entirely wrong.

This description is borrowed from Wikilspace.

I loved the idea of a shop that was only there sometimes and then disappeared! To actually find one of these would be very exciting, even if I did end up buying a whole load of tat!

7.  The Room of Requirement.   First seen in Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix.  
When I read the description of the Room of Requirement, I knew this was a place I wanted to visit.  The place of lost things which was piled up. I'd love to go there and have a good rummage through! When I read the last Harry Potter book, as soon as the lost Diadem of Ravenclaw was mentioned, I said it had to be the tiara on the bust where Harry hid the Half Blood Prince's spell book! I always wanted to read the Half Blood Prince's spell book too!
I'd love to visit the room where the DA met as well and have a lovely long read without being disturbed! It would have all the tea I could possibly want to drink and copious bags of Wotsits!

8.  Northanger Abbey.  
I'd love to go and stay in Northanger Abbey with Catherine Morland and Mr Tillney. To see if it was really very ordinary or very scary.  I'd also love to visit the Lower Rooms in Bath with them to experience the assembly!

9.  The Land of Oz.
I did wonder if I could narrow down one place in Oz I'd like to visit but there are so many interesting places within Oz, that I couldn't choose.  I've read all of the 15 original Oz books by L. Frank Baum and the places within were so exciting! Even though, strictly speaking, it was in the Land of Ev, rather than the land of Oz, I'd love to visit the Nome King's land where the ground was made up of precious gems (Tiktok of Oz) and visit the cavern filled with all his treasures (Ozma of Oz), I'd pick a lunchpail and a dinner pail from the trees in Ozma of Oz. The Emerald City would be amazing to see as would Glinda's palace and I always fancied visiting Miss Cuttenclip's (The Emerald City of Oz) where all the people are made out of paper and Bunnybury (ibid) where all the inhabitants are rabbits!

10. Smuggler's Top.
Enid Blyton has a lot to answer for.  Smuggler's Top is a mysterious old house surrounded by marshes absolutely riddled with secret passages galore. Top of my bucket list is to find a real secret passage, and this place was where I got that zeal from!!! I would love to explore all the passages with my torch, the Famous Five and a nice big picnic!

11.  Narnia when it was formed.

Of course I'd love to climb through the wardrobe and find that amazing land, but I'd also like to visit the wood between the worlds and see Narnia as Aslan formed it in the very beginning by singing that song. What would that song sound like, a song which brings stars, entities, plants and animals into existence???? It would be the most beautiful, glorious song ever heard.   It would be glorious to see that and have that privilege to witness that!

It's very hard to narrow it down, but these immediately came to mind.
I would LOVE to read your post if you felt compelled to write one too so if you do, please leave me a link and I will be there like a shot!!!
xx

A Roman accessory wishlist

Dear Flavia,

Greetings to you, most illustrious, esteemed and honoured friend. It seems a long time since we hosted you here at Vindolanda and I most cordially invite you to spend your next time of rest here with us.  In the meantime, I thought it would greatly amuse you if I were to share a few items of adornment that I myself have been coveting in recent times as I am sure you, with your impeccable taste, would also esteem these greatly.
In these clement times of weather, I have been finding myself attracted to the rather more lacy and intricate footwear that is offered from that most worthy and well-sourced of merchants Irregularus Choicus and have selected two pairs that I feel to be the height of fashion amongst the wives and family of officers in the legion. Do you not agree that these offer much more interest than the sandals we have currently been wearing.  Admittedly, they cost more denaris that I usually care to part with, but it seems that these are rather too special to avoid.



In addition, a recent and much welcome addition to the town was a merchant stocking a most impressive range of items for adorning ones hair and achieving the most pleasing of hair styles- I rather thought of purchasing the black comb on the lower left since it has such fine teeth and I am told that these are the best at achieving curls in one's hair. Do you not agree, oh excellent muse?

I have also been considering the care and appearance of my face and have purchased a rather splendid compact and mirror so I can keep myself constantly looking fashionable and neat whilst riding the chariot- the compact is made of decorative stoneware and I am assured, is the height of opulence!

I also thought to include something to interest your young daughter.  It seems, amongst our young ladies, that the current thrill is to thread a series of different coloured glass beads, made from a superior artisan, Pandoracus, onto simple gold chains and wearing these around the wrists.  It seems to me, to be a rather expensive way of buying jewellery but there you are. Young people will have their whims.




More to yours and my taste, when it comes to wrist adornment, are these rather fine bangles, crafted in only the finest metals.  I apologise for the quality of the artwork in which I send you image- it seems my artist was a little worse for wear on grape-juice!  Bacchus had obviously been with him! I rather have my eye on the exquisite gold circlet in the centre.

More evidence of the lax nature of my artist who has created images of the latest fashion items we are enjoying in the northern regions of this land, Brittania.. However, you can see that here, we are being offered a wonderful range of rings with the image of our most illustrious of Emperors proudly adorned on her- H.M Samuelius is truly a great artisan- his range of rings are far superior to many of the artists in the region!


One of the most fashionable items for both men and women to wear is the humble brooch- I rather fancy the sign of the arrow- the sign of the God of the hunt!




We have been in receipt of these excellent images from Gallus- we are told that the fashion for broochware will be in shades of scarlet and sapphire though they are very expensive!

Finally, I would love it if you felt able to attend my birthday party.  It would make the occasion most enjoyable with you and your husband were able to travel to us here at Vindolanda in order to enjoy our celebrations.

Recently, we received a travelling merchant from Whitby who bought a stunning range of jet items- Jet is highly sought after and I confess, that should you wish to bring anything with you, that you might consider a detour to Whitby for some of the following items.

Your most loving and affectionate friend,

Luciana Altavian.





*** This is a silly fictional account with no historical accuracy whatsoever- to share some of the artefacts I saw at Vindolanda, Northumberland- more of the excursion to follow in another post.***

Unusual Christmas presents 2013: an explanation

And so it endeth! I have had an extraordinary amount of fun thinking up these posts, writing, publishing and eliciting your reactions. Thank YOU all for being such lively participants, but especially, Louise, Greenthumb, Pink-haired Princess, Lisa, Fat Dormouse, M.K, Tracy, Katie and Nicole who have been with me virtually every day

I suppose that explanations are necessary. Well, actually, the whole thing does actually have a foundation in real-life events. For the first Christmas that CBC (did you notice I didn't refer to him as CBC throughout the whole process? This was part of the narrative spin to keep it in fiction) and I were going out, we spent Christmas with our respective families from around the 21st of December and sent each other a text message each day saying, "On the first day of Christmas, my true love sent to me..." and sent a fictional item that we thought the other would enjoy such as 4 owls a hooting. I believe that I started it off but CBC soon caught on and reciprocated, always each of us trying to be the first one to send it each day. It was ridiculously fun and I always held that in my mind as a fun way to mark the twelve days of Christmas.


The subsequent 3 Christmases of our 'courtship' were spent together so there was no need to send text messages though I did actually send CBC a card I had made the second year timed to arrive on the twelth day of Christmas in which I recycled all the robins from my Christmas cards that year and what serendipity that I should have twelve in total! I stuck them to the card and wrote an accompanying message stating, On the twelth day of Christmas, your true love sends to you: twelve jolly robins...


This year however, I reread John Julian Norwich's 'Twelve Days of Christmas' (available here from the Bookpeople) which I had bought for CBC the second Christmas. If you haven't read it, do! It's a delightful account, illustrated by Quentin Blake written in the form of letters in which Emily writes letters to her true-love who sends her the items in the original tale. She starts of delighted and gushing but by the end, has issued a restraining order and takes legal action as the presents start getting out of control. It has me laughing every time, especially with Quentin Blakes' witty illustrations.

As I read it this year, I thought to myself, how much fun it would be to create a modern day interpretation of the carol and how better to transmit it than via my blog, with a post each day. I pondered in which form to write it- letter, diary, 1st person or 3rd person, newspaper report, list and decided that it would be fun to imagine what my new husband MIGHT have bought for me had he decided to do this. What would suit his personality and likes, what would he buy for me, what would I like, what was in the realms of believability? In addition, I have been feeling recently, that I wanted a little more creativity in terms of my writing on this blog (particularly as CBC keeps saying I have too many outfits on here- which is true) and a serialised story would be a fun and motivational way for me to achieve this.

I put my idea to my Mum, reading her the 1st day of Christmas account that I had written. She cackled when I mentioned 'roast partridge in pear sauce' and said it was a good idea which made me certain that yes, I should write it like it was happening. To be honest with you, I did think that people would think it was too far-fetched a tale to believe, so I was confounded when I had such lovely reactions to the story upon publishing the first few days. Then I had a sudden attack of conscience worrying that a) lovely people who were commenting so kindly were going to hate me at the end of the process and may never return to my blog again, b) I would disappoint people and they might not trust my writing in the future (I do have frequent cases of paranoia it seems!) c) When commenters said they were telling their families, husbands etc, I genuinely didn't want to shatter the romantic illusions and then have said spouses say, "Seee, it's not true!" and d) in a sense, when you write an account based on real life, it can start to feel real and I was feeling the romance of it, like all of you and e) I wondered how bringing forward the denouement (if this word is appropriate in this case) would affect the dialogue we had going on here in the comments. Would people stop reading? Would their comments change? Would it bring in a new consciousness?

In writing the account, I had to choose which order I wanted to write the tale as there are many variations on the order, particularly in the latter stages of the accumulation. In the end, I decided to go with the latest edition which was Austin's 1909 publication in which the order was: A partridge in a pear tree.
2 turtle doves
3 french hens
4 Calling Birds
5 Gold Rings
6 Geese-a-Laying
7 Swans-a-Swimming
8 Maids-a-Milking
9 Ladies Dancing
10 Lords-a-Leaping
11 Pipers Piping
12 Drummers Drumming
EXCEPT that I had to swap the last two days round in order to fit with the 12 track CD and it would make more sense for a gig to happen on a Saturday, rather than a Sunday.

When researching the order, I was amused to discover that in some versions there are some little known variations such as bells a-ringing, hares a running, badgers a baiting, Colly birds (actually translates as Blackbirds which we know I love), squabs a swimming, cocks a crowing (can you think of a more unromantic present?!)*

The days I MOST enjoyed writing were obviously, maids a milking- this is definitely how it would have occured, had it happened- I am clumsy and appalling at following sets of instructions that are demonstrated in one go!
The 5 gold rings was genuinely based on someone's ring or wishlist in either November or December- I was SURE someone had a set of gold stacking rings in their post- so if that was you, please tell me, as it was your post I based that on.
The porcelain hens are based on my much-beloved Chicken mouth jug which I inherited from my deceased Grandmother/Mamgu. She loved hens and I have always had an affection for china hens!
I think that the Calling-birds would definitely make a good band name for a Andrews sister set up- anyone want to form it with me?
The 12 drummers drumming was based on the Swiss percussion player we saw on our honeymoon at the Lucerne festival and CBC IS keen that we go and see him should he ever come to Britain. His name is Martin Graubinger and his super ensemble is called 'Percussion Planet'.

I had most trouble OBVIOUSLY with '10 Lords a-leaping'- I mean- aside from a dance troupe or going to Parliament and getting myself arrested, what else could I have said? Any contributions gratefully received!
I was also dissatisfied with my 9 ladies dancing- yes we really do love contemporary dance and I found a genuine course offered at the place I wrote about (though only for 4 weeks and didn't specify ladies only) originally, but I felt that perhaps it was a little unbelievable and tenuous.

Regardless of all this, I have had the most fun with my blog than I have had in a long time and wonder if perhaps I could do a little more creative writing! Speaking of which, did you notice that this was in my tags from the very beginning. I wondered if anyone eagle-eyed had noticed it?

Conclusion: SO CBC is not as romantic as we would all have liked to have believed, BUT when I was sharing with him,what I was doing, he said to me that he had contemplated doing the twelve days of Christmas with my presents but wasn't sure how he could keep it up. He then said that perhaps we could try it next year, buying each other twelve days worth of littler presents. I agreed, with alacrity, that this would be a marvellous idea So the narrative has had a romantic revelation AND an outcome. And next year, I can tell a truthful tale of the twelve days of Christmas which we can all share in!


I read the Wikipedia entry on the Twelve days of Christmas

Tomorrow, I will share what CBC, REALLY bought me!


Linking up with the lovely Claire Justine's Creative Mondays with my card and creative writing!

Unusual Christmas presents 2013: 12

I confess to feeling the back to work, oh-dear-I-have-so-much-to-do feeling as I woke this morning but luckily, we were going over to visit my Dad's house, so I had little time to get too stressed. We had a really nice visit with my Dad, enjoying lots of food, presents and sharing of Christmas tales.

When we had returned home, however, the fear and shock of returning to work reared its ugly head. As my husband and I sat down at the table with heated bowls of Glorious Soup's 'West African chicken and peanut' soup, he slid across a thin rectangular package to me, which could only contain one thing. CD's are hard to disguise! Why is it that CDs are also SO hard to free from their cellophane prisons? The CD was entitled, Pipe Major Jim Drury's Highland Bagpipes and featured 12 tracks of Scottish piping favourites including The Flower of Scotland and Amazing Grace (can be bought here)

Excellent, now I can have a ceilidh in my own front room without having to play my People's Friend Christmas Ceilidh CD which my husband really dislikes! As I placed the CD player into the player and we whirled around the living room to the airs and reels in gay abandon in this last day of flashing Christmas lights (haven't you always wanted to write of doing something 'in gay abandon' or is that just me), reflected that my Christmas and ephiphany could not have ended on a more bright way and I could scarcely have believe that the return to work would finish so joyfully! So to summarise my Christmas treats: On the first day of Christmas, my true love sent to me: a partridge in a pear tree (or roast partridge in pear sauce)

On the second day of Christmas, my true love sent to me: two turtle doves (with a ribbon loop to hang on the Christmas tree)

On the third day of Christmas, my true love sent to me: three French hens (three rather cute porcelain hens bought on holiday)

On the fourth day of Christmas, my true love sent to me: 4 calling birds (A super singing act at a Swing-dance night, singing Andrews sisters classics)

On the fifth day of Christmas, my true love sent to me: five gold rings (a set of stacking rings in graduating shades of gold)

On the sixth day of Christmas, my true love sent to me: six geese a laying (knitted egg-cosy geese, 'laying' upon goose eggs)

On the seventh day of Christmas, my true love sent to me: seven swans a swimming (technically two- knitted onto a jumper, not swimming)

On the eigth day of Christmas, my true love sent to me: eight maids a milking (myself and 7 other ladies learning the traditional art of milking in a barn in Northumberland)

On the ninth day of Christmas, my true love sent to me: nine ladies dancing (well, nine weeks worth of contemporary dance lessons in Martha Graham techniques- ladies only!)

On the tenth day of Christmas, my true love sent to me: ten lords a-leaping (A guided tour of the house of Lords at 10am in which I was required to leap into every subsequent room visited)

On the eleventh day of Christmas, my true love sent to me: 11 drummers drumming (a Swiss percussionist and his 10[ -piece Percussion ensemble in a riotous open-air concert)
On the twelfth day of Christmas, my true love sent to me: 12 pipers piping (well, 12 tracks of Pipe Major Jim Drury playing bagpipe classics!)

Oh how lucky I am!

Unusual Christmas presents 2013: 10

I confess that as I woke up today, I wondered how on earth my true-loved husband would manage to fulfill today's Christmas gift. Not the foggiest or the slightest idea. He'd surprisingly set the alarm for 8am, a mystical time we have not managed to attain thus far this Christmas holiday. As I got out of bed, he told me to dress warmly and smartly but quickly. I obeyed of course.

45 minutes later, we were driving towards our local station and he was particularly harassed saying that we HAD to be somewhere at a certain time. As we rode the train to London and changed to the Circle line at Liverpool Street, I asked if I was allowed to know where we were going. He replied that I must wait and see so I buried my nose into my book and read quietly.

At Westminster station, he suddenly stood up and said we were getting off here. The doors opened and he sped out of the door and up the silvery coloured stairs to the station main concourse. As we exited the station, straight ahead, I saw Big Ben showing it was 9.40am. My husband hastened his pace and we made our way into the Cromwell Green visitor entrance to Parliament!!!! Aha, so now I knew what is game was- partially! Firstly, we had to submit to a security scan and bag search. Luckily, neither of us were smuggling, so we got out of that fairly quickly and went into Westminster Hall and climbed the stairs where we had to wait.

I asked my husband what was happening and he said that we were going to have a guided tour of the House of Lords. Apparently, since it was parliamentary recess, we were allowed to take a guided tour during a week day, whereas usually you are only allowed to go on a Saturday and what luck it was that we could go today of all days!

At 10, on the dot, the tour leader, who had been gathering his group of followers, began our tour. Just at this moment, my husband held me back and whispered in my ear that it was mandatory for each of us to leap into each new room we got to.
"What?" I replied, aghast.
"That's the condition!" he smirked back at me.
I understood why of course.

We began in the Queen’s Robing Room (apparently following the route she takes for the opening of parliament)into which my husband and I leaped. Since we were at the back, nobody noticed although a lady in grey did glance back curiously at the thump she heard. Our faces were all innocence . Soon after, we continued through the Royal Gallery and Prince’s Chamber, leaping each time and the lady in grey became more confuzzled as we did so.

Finally, we leaped into the impressive Lords Chamber and I am afraid to say that the lady in grey caught us! "Are you ok, dears? she whispered nervously as we went in. "Er- fine, sorry.." I mumbled looking at my toes ruefully.

The Lords chamber was amazing- so strange to see it in real life with its rows of red leather seats. I walked demurely up to the top of the stairs and leapt down 2 stairs at a time to sit down at the bottom in the first row, laughing! At this point, the tour-guide asked us if we wouldn't mind walking as he noticed my little energetic movement!

The decoration is truly amazing with The Throne, a golden place where the Queen sits at the opening of parliament, as a particularly impressive sight with a painting of Queen Victoria beside it. We looked up at the press gallery, where visitors can sit, learnt about the Crossbenches, where any peers who don't belong to a political party can sit (apparently, it's because of these that often you don't know how the House of Lords is going to vote)

We continued leaping through to the Central Lobby, Members’ Lobby and one of the voting lobbies (not my favourite parts, hence no information) before entering the Commons Chamber with its distinctive green seats which was sadly empty of its sparring politicians which might have proved entertaining!

The tour finally ended through the St Stephens hall in the Westminster hall which is 900 years old apparently! I think the most brilliant thing about this tour is getting up close to such historical and intricate architecture. The ceilings alone were extraordinary in terms of detail! I certainly recommend visiting here!

At the end, we leapt into the Jubilee cafe to drink Earl Grey tea and eat Victoria Sponge cake which was just what we needed after 75 minutes of talk and er-leaping!

My trip to the House of Lords had certainly been interesting, educational and definitely something I wouldn't have done otherwise. I can't believe how fortunate we were that it was open to the public for tours today!

Should you wish to, you can visit the House of Lords virtually here.

Unusual Christmas presents 2013: 9

Sadly, today we drove home from Northumberland which made both my husband and I feel miserable. We always miss our family up there when we leave them and keenly wish we had made more of the time up there with them. It seemed likely to me that I wouldn't encounter ladies dancing as we travelled down the M1 so I resigned myself to the parade of presents coming to an end. As we drove down past the Sheffield junction, my husband started asking me if I had any new year's resolutions at all? I expressed my usual things about being more organised, more swing dancing, being more disciplined and then said of course, I'd love to learn something new. He smiled at which point and said perhaps he could do something about that. I laughed and rejoined that perhaps he was going to send me to dance classes. "Just look in my coat pocket," he replied knowingly and crinkled his eyes at me before returning his gaze to the road ahead. I contorted myself, snake-like, to reach into the back of the car and grabbed his grey coat. In the pocket, I found a C5 envelope. "Oh, another envelope is it?" I queried, "Just what I need!" "Just open it Kezzie," he replied. I opened up the envelope and opened up the folded A4 page to reveal that my husband had booked me onto a 10 week course at the Language of Dance Centre in Contemporary dance (except that I could only do 9 weeks of it as we are away for Half term). The pair of us are interested in contemporary dance- me because of having studied it a bit during A'level performing arts, but never learning it properly, and him because, well- he's just always fancied modelling himself on Merce Cunningham! "Sadly, I won't be joining you as it's ladies only," he bemoaned, as I continued to read up on my Christmas treat. In the class, we would be learning the basic principles of breath control, building strength, shifting weight contracting and release. We'd begin with floor work which would then lead to exercises in standing and then use of space using Martha Graham techniques. It would be held every Wednesday in Oxford House in London. Well, that ticks all the boxes in terms of new year's resolutions as I can a) get fit, b) learn a new skill, c) meet new people, and once again, he gets 10 out of 10 for originality and surprising me! Did you expect that this is the form it would take?

Unusual Christmas presents 2013: 8

Today is most definitely THE most unusual and unconventional way I have spent a day of my Christmas holidays. As I finished dressing this morning, my husband, who had been up for hours, came in and glanced at the circle dress, cardigan and tights I wore and said, "No, you need to dress warmly in old clothing!". Intrigued? So was I!

I put on alternative garments and he bustled me into the car.
"Where are we going?" I asked in query as we zoomed along the Roman Road.
"Let's just say that today's Christmas treat is going to be an experience!" he smirked which made me more than a little apprehensive.

Some twenty minutes later, we drew up in front of what looked like a farm- well in Northumerland lots of places look like farms to the untrained eye such as mine. We got out and a lady dressed in wellies and brown-waxed jacket came over to us and exclaimed, "Welcome to Allendale farm and welcome to your days-gone-by farm experience. If you'd like to follow me..."

She led us into a barn where I was greeted by the sight of seven other ladies and girls ranging from teen to late twenties. Oh, and eight cows!
She invited each of us to crowd round one of the cows and explained that we'd be learning the traditional style of milking a cow! Ok, so I am remarkably cack-handed at anything remotely practical of this kind and as I watched her demonstrating, I was reminded of being shown how to saddle a pony in the Wye valley, aged 12 and what a mess I made of that!
Suddenly aware that I'd been lost in thought throughout most of the demonstration, no doubt gawping absentmindedly into the distance, I shook myself and tried to catch the rest of the demonstration. Oh heck, I didn't have a clue! She invited each of us to take our place on a small stool under our cow which definitely didn't look big or stable enough for my own modest-sized derriere. The other seven of the girls walked confidently over to their bovine ladies, chatting and laughing. I walked slowly over to my own lady moo, who I am absolutely certain turned and fixed me with the evil eye as I came towards her. How do animals just KNOW when you fear them? Her name was Sunshine. I think not. I have not met a more grumpy animal. Wet weekend with hurricane and tornado whilst shivering in a tent would suit her better. As I sat on my stool and attempted to ring in the new year on her udders, she leaned suddenly against me, causing me to overbalance on my stool. Grumpy cow!

I won't bore you with the details of the whole sordid process but eventually, I managed to succeed in producing some milk which I was ecstatic about after a few more incidents with Sunshine.

I glanced around the room as the sweat on my brow accumulated and thought of how funny it was that eight of us girls were here milking cows on New Year's Day!

We thanked our hosts who effusively handed us leaflets listing the various short farming experiences they offered and we headed back home.

I had told my husband that I wanted to learn some new skills but I think I got slightly more than I bargained for!

Unusual Christmas presents 2013: 7

Slightly stunned. You heard my revelation yesterday. My husband has been made aware of these posts as I confided in him due to an attack of conscience where I needed advice on whether to bring forward the big confession. However, I was not expecting what happened this morning! Never did I expect to receive an item of clothing from my husband this Christmas since he frequently tells me I have too many clothes and I don't need anymore. However, he decided to take pity on me in that respect today for which I am very grateful. I am always sad when Christmas doesn't include a new item of clothing.

He handed me a soft-thin package as I cleaned my teeth in my dressing-gown and leaned over and kissed my head whispering, "Something for you to wear today in line with a familiar theme." I was puzzled, since I wasn't obviously expecting anything! I opened the package to find a long-sleeved, intarsia-knitted jumper. Across the front were SWANS- white with black and yellow beaks. Alas, there were TWO swans, as opposed to the required 7, but then the odds of actually finding the correct number on a knitted jumper in the Metro centre in Newcastle in the space of an hour, yesterday afternoon, were obviously pretty slim. As I hugged him in grateful and stunned joy, I couldn't resist the opportunity to say surely, he could have commissioned an experienced knitter to make one perhaps, had he had a year to prepare? I must confess, I was OVERJOYED and couldn't wait to share this revelation with all of you after yesterday!!! I was giggling in utter joy!!!

I donned my new jumper with a short black skirt and new brown ankle boots and it really did look nice in this combination with my rabbit earrings. This would be a lovely warm outfit as we went to take a walk to Lambley Viaduct. He flatly refused to take a picture of my outfit as punishment for my blog dishonesty saying it would be a blog case of the boy that cried wolf and I would just have to wait till we travelled home to Essex and I'd charged my Canon battery to take a picture myself! How are you? X

Unusual Christmas presents 2013- an aside

Up until this time, I have faithfully told the truth on this blog. However, with this Christmas series, I have so far enjoyed my foray into fiction-writing. My husband is, alas, not as perfect as he has thus been portrayed, nor things as they seem, but I would ask you to carry on along this fanciful, romantic adventure with me which I hope you have been enjoying as much joining in with, as I have enjoyed writing it! You may be saying, "Whaaaat?" especially with your effusive reactins to my posts, (My husband is gloating) but I have been feeling increasingly that I must tell you this now, rather than later, as originally planned, since I really was not expecting such positive reaction to my posts. I feel it prudent to tell you now, rather than face your wrath in 6 days time! I also hope you aren't disappointed. More explanations soon.

Anyway, onwards we go...

Unusual Christmas presents 2013: 6

This morning, the family and I enjoyed a particularly fine breakfast, courtesy of my husband's Christmas creativity. I came down to breakfast first with my father-in-law and enjoyed a small bowl of porridge. Suddenly, my husband bounded in through the front door, slamming it carelessly as he did so. He handed me a rather large egg box, unwrapped.

I opened the box and inside, found 6 large goose eggs Atop each of these was a knitted egg-cosy made to resemble a goose! Admittedly, they did look a bit duck-like and were all white with white necks and little stubby wings with orange beaks and black pin-stitch eyes. As I carefully lifted one of these eggs dressed in its egg cosy, I laughed out loud as it did genuinely look like an enormous egg was coming out of the goose's bottom!

Once the entire family was down, we cooked up a large pan of scrambled eggs and a pile of buttered toast with a generous pot of tea and sat down to breakfast together. Such a luxury to sit down to a breakfast with those I love. I'm definitely trying to avoid thinking about the return to work when breakfast is a hasty 5-minute porridge-gobble.We all had a good laugh at those egg cosies and sat them atop the slightly more modest looking hen eggs that were sitting on the worktop. Hmmm, 6 hens a laying doesn't sound quite so funny.

Unusual Christmas presents 2013: 5

We woke really late after swing dancing so late and I confess I was in a complete grump. I had a headache after such a late night. Stomping around teh house, preparing to go round to a friend's, I was obviously not fun to be around so my husband called me to join him over by his computer where he was checking his e-mails.
"What?" I huffed, sitting down grumpily.
"I've got something to cheer you up," he smiled at me encouragingly, immediately makign me feel guilty for being so stroppy. "Oh?" I enquired, thawing a little. He handed me a tiny wrapped cube box which was remarkably hard to unwrap. "Use enough sellotape?" I muttered as my stubby fingernails scrabbled uselessly against the inpenetrable parcel.

Eventually, the target was breached and I opened a black velvet box to reveal a ring consisting of 5 very thin bands in varied shades of gold from silvery white gold through shades of yellow to rose gold. I was sure I'd seen it on a blog before in someone's wishlist, perhaps the Twobirds or Alex Oddsocks or perhaps just something on Etsy? It was very pretty and I worried it had cost a lot. "Look, it seperates into 5 tiny rings" he showed me, eagerly pulling apart the stacking rings. "You can wear just one or any combination!" he continued.
He doesn't usually buy me jewellery so it certainly was a surprise. And as I sat there playing wiht my gold rings, I suddenly noticed that my bad mood had dissipated. That did well once again. Five days in, I wondered if he'd manage to keep up the originality in his daily gifts.

Unusual Christmas presents 2013: 4

Thank you for your recent comments. In the interests of fair game, I should point out the interesting absence of my camera at the moment ;-) In addition, my love of creative writing and books!!!!

We had a lovely day hitting the sales in town I bought a couple of items- a dress and some books - but not so much! I didn't receive my Christmas surprise until the evening and was curious as to know why.

It reached 6 o'clock and my husband suggested we go and have a bite to eat. As we finished our loaded jacket potatoes, he pulled out a red envelope and slid it over to me. Curiously, I opened it up to reveal 2 tickets to a swing-dance night with a new live band called 'The calling birds'- an Andrews sisters-style line-up with accompanying swing-band. This was their debut gig! I was overjoyed to be going swing-dancing and with an amazing live-band! At which point, I looked dismayedly at my trousers and rabbit jumper. But my love had thought of everything and pulled out a bag containing my red and white swing dress so I could dress up.

We headed off to a nice bar where the swing evening was being held. The Calling Birds were fantastic singing many of my favourite Andrews sisters classics. We danced and danced to their dulcet tones which I hope means that my husband won't be so reluctant to go swing dancing in the new year.

I write this on the train as I come home and I confess, I can hardly keep my eyes open! All in all, today was the best present so far!

Unusual Christmas presents 2013: 3

By the time it had reached mid-morning and I had got out of bed and breakfasted, I thought at first that my darling husband had forgotten his promise of a gift a day but luckily he turned up with a rectangular box wrapped in red paper with white and blue polka dots on!
"Ooooh, what is it?" I exclaimed gleefull, grasping it and instantly shaking it.
"DON'T!" he cried, panicked and stilled my hands with his.
I set it down and unwrapped, noticing too late, the Fragile, handle with care label. Inside a cardboard box filled with shredded paper, I found 3 tiny porcelain models of hens- one pecking, one in a scratching-the-ground pose and a 3rd which was seated like it was laying eggs. "Oh!" I gasped in remembrance and joy, having spotted these figurines in an antique/second hand shop in Lotte-et-Gerond, France a year and a half ago when we holidayed there in a cottage. I'd reluctantly put them down, realising that ornaments gather dust and I was supposed to be getting rid of things, not buying them. How thoughtful of him to remember my hens!

My hen figurines will sit proudly on our fireplace! Ooh, I forgot to mention that the partridge was delicious! One to cook again, methinks!