tuesday tune

My song of the week.  Not usually one for country sounds or female vocalists but this is such a sad, catchy tune sung in a tragic but fun way.  I just want to meet this "Pie Maker" and listen to her stories.

It's not far 

I can walk 

Down the block 

To TableTalk 

Close my eyes 

Make the pies all day

Plastic cap 

On my hair 

I used to mind 

Now I don't care 

I used to mind 

Now I don't care 

Cause I'm gray

Did I show you this picture of my nephew 

Taken at his big birthday surprise 

At my sister's house last Sunday 

This is Monday and I'm making pies

I'm making pies

Making pies

Pies 

Thursday nights 

I go and type

Down at the church 

For Father Mike

It gets me out 

And he ain't hard to like

At all

Jesus stares at me 

In my chair

With his big blue eyes 

And his honey brown hair 

And he's looking at me 

Way up there 

On the wall

Did I show you this picture of my sweetheart

Taken of us before the war

Of the Greek and his Italian girl 

One Sunday at the shore 

We tied our ribbons to the fire escape 

They were taken by the birds 

Who flew home to the country 

As the bombs rained on the world

5am 

Here I am 

Walking the block 

To TableTalk 

You could cry or die 

Or just make pies all day 

I'm making pies 

Making pies

Making pies 

Making pies

The story in my head goes like this...A more than middle aged woman, working at a bakery called Table Talk, making pies (all day).  No children, her sisters children are her life.  She works at the church (because she quite fancies the priest :)) and has maybe got a bit a guilt about her loss of faith.  Not sure if the bombs got her "Sweetheart" or the Italian girl on the shore (was he Greek, or was there a Greek girl as well).  I love the pace of this song and the way it is sung makes you realise that although she has had a tough life, she still makes the best of everything.

You agree?

Patty Griffin is awesome.  Many of her songs have been made famous by other artists and a while back, I gave you this song to listen to.

i started the day with a giggle

and am now feeling pretty bleak about the Stormers losing to the Sharks, so I think I will share my giggle of the day with you (because you are probably also feeling the pain).  Nic arrived for breakfast this morning and showed me this snippet from Youtube which has gone viral.  I thought immediately of Caroline - who also loves cats (very much) and has quite a few of them (which I think is a bit crazy) but hells bells, Caroline is the most uncrazy cat lover in the world since I met Debbie.

Well she is famous now but I wonder how many guys are knocking on her door?

Michael's niece Janet is arriving in Cape Town tonight for a week, so I am thinking about making a cheesecake this evening for tomorrow.  However, my trip to the shops was a disaster as I left my list and the recipe behind so had to rely on memory.  I have forgotten about 4 of the ingredients and and true Jenny baking style will have to be inventive.  This is what it is supposed to look like....

Watch this space!!

But let me warn you.  It probably won't be round because my springform baking tin has gone all rusty from lack of use.  So I will do it in a square dish and it will be more like a fridge-cake cheesecake (then I don't have to worry about fussing with greasing the dish too well).  Then you can serve it as a pudding because you can dish it up with a spoon.

Alternatively, I can eat the chocolate, use the cream for dessert to serve with strawberries but then what do I do with the 2 containers of cream cheese?

happy birthday nix

Nicky would have been 58 today

She must have been an awesome kisser, cos she sure could cook!!

Happy times on the houseboat

Looking for Jamie Oliver at the Borough Market 

London - 2005

Doris, Thelma or Louise?

Ireland - June 2005

Mosaic in my Courtyard

In the middle is her favourite salad bowl, which had broken (and she had saved) and which she ran home to fetch as she thought it would be

perfect in the middle

It is!!

They are not dead,

Who leave us this great heritage of remembering joy.

They still live in our hearts,

In the happiness we knew, in the dreams we shared.

They still breathe,

In the lingering fragrance,windblown, from their favourite flowers.

They still smile in the moonlight’s silver,

And laugh in the sunlight’s sparking gold.

They still speak in the echoes of the words we’ve heard them say again and again.

They still move,

In the rhythm of waving grasses, in the dance of the tossing branches.

They are not dead;

Their memory is warm in our hearts, comfort in our sorrow.

They are not apart from us, but part of us,

For love is eternal,

And those we love shall be with us throughout all eternity.

Anon

Cheers Nix

Thanks for the love and happiness you shared with so many

i was stumped...

in more ways than one today.  I have this lovely (and very funny) story to tell but it is one of those "names and places have to be changed to protect innocent people involved" kind of stories that I am dying to tell you but I have to be diplomatic and actually I don't think there is a way that I can tell the story without somebody knowing exactly who I am talking about. (Not that it is talking about this person in a bad way - it is a good way, a very good way, she would be proud, but I can't tell).  So as much as I have wanted to share and have thought the whole day about how I can share it with you, it cannot be done (especially on a blog). 

All my energy today has gone into finding a way to tell this story, I have written two drafts and tried changing stuff but walking home from a lovely pizza with friends at the new corner pizza stop, I realised that there was just "no way" so I needed some new material or there would be no blog tonight.

Hey Ho, thank you Hope (Bob to some, Hope to me).  It took me quite a while to realise why some friends called her Bob.  "Why do you call Hope, Bob?" was my question, years ago to Judy.  Her answer "Why do you call Bob, Hope?"  Dhurrrr....

Hope posted this picture on my Facebook page this evening

It was the weirdest thing.  Suddenly (a bit like Michael's 92 year old mother does) I started reciting "The Kings Breakfast".  Come on, you must all remember it....

The King's Breakfast

The King asked

The Queen, and

The Queen asked

The Dairymaid:

"Could we have some butter for

The Royal slice of bread?"

The Queen asked the Dairymaid,

The Dairymaid

Said, "Certainly,

I'll go and tell the cow

Now

Before she goes to bed."

The Dairymaid

She curtsied,

And went and told

The Alderney:

"Don't forget the butter for

The Royal slice of bread."

The Alderney

Said sleepily:

"You'd better tell

His Majesty

That many people nowadays

Like marmalade

Instead."

The Dairymaid

Said, "Fancy!"

And went to

Her Majesty.

She curtsied to the Queen, and

She turned a little red:

"Excuse me,

Your Majesty,

For taking of

The liberty,

But marmalade is tasty, if

It's very

Thickly

Spread."

The Queen said

"Oh!:

And went to

His Majesty:

"Talking of the butter for

The royal slice of bread,

Many people

Think that

Marmalade

Is nicer.

Would you like to try a little

Marmalade

Instead?"

The King said,

"Bother!"

And then he said,

"Oh, deary me!"

The King sobbed, "Oh, deary me!"

And went back to bed.

"Nobody,"

He whimpered,

"Could call me

A fussy man;

I only want

A little bit

Of butter for

My bread!"

The Queen said,

"There, there!"

And went to

The Dairymaid.

The Dairymaid

Said, "There, there!"

And went to the shed.

The cow said,

"There, there!

I didn't really

Mean it;

Here's milk for his porringer,

And butter for his bread."

The Queen took

The butter

And brought it to

His Majesty;

The King said,

"Butter, eh?"

And bounced out of bed.

"Nobody," he said,

As he kissed her

Tenderly,

"Nobody," he said,

As he slid down the banisters,

"Nobody,

My darling,

Could call me

A fussy man -

BUT

I do like a little bit of butter to my bread!" 

Alan Alexander Milne

Good old AA Milne and Miss Howell.  I remember the entire poem word for word but I still do not know what an Alderney is.  I "googled" it and it is the most northerly of the Channel Islands but I do not have much time to investigate it more.  I have been into a pub in Northampton called "The Alderney" as well.  Is it perhaps a breed of cow?  

So sorry for the fairy story tonight - I will find a way to relate the other tale.

PS.  I also thought of another of those words that Dalene and I used to get completely wrong as children.  It has to do with telling the time.  "Half past" was always "Hop past" and (if you listen closely) Dalene still says it.

Sorry Dalene.  Thanks Hope.

you say potatoes, i say potatoes

I am by no means a master of the English language.  I wish I was.  I have spoken before about how I got ripped off by my young sons for calling "Wimbledon", "Wimbleton".  It was only when those 8, 6 and 5 year old cretins reprimanded me that I realised that I had forever and a day said and thought that Wimbledon was Wimbleton.  To this day, and especially if the cretins are around, I make sure that I say the "don" with emphasis.  It does not come naturally.

Michael's mother is a master of the English language and is not afraid to correct me if I say "I" instead of "me" or if I end a sentence with a preposition.  She also loves to pronounce things properly.  Hout Bay is Hout (Afrikaans) Bay (English).  Pretty odd to me.  If in an Italian restaurant, she will ask for "Ravioli" (said like a real Italian).  It is a pity we don't take her to restaurants that often anymore, because it really used to amuse me.

Dalene and I had some beauts as children.  A handbag was a hambag and a chest of drawers a "chester drawers".    A sandwich was a samwich and my mother still confuses us to this day by calling them "sarnies" when we call them "sarmies".

I saw joke the other day that all people over 50 cannot say "prostate" and call it a "prostrate".  The joke was along the lines of  "a pain in the prostate may leave a man "prostrate" but the gland contains no "r"".  I know for a fact that I have made this mistake.

Now try this quiz.  Confession - I scored an 88% and went back, changed one or two (and scored 88% again).  It needed a third try and I am still not sure where I went wrong?  Pretty interesting (and I hope I am not the only one).  Library and Asterisk?

Here are some common words that are incorrectly pronounced.

Etcetera - in this case a "k" is often substituted for the first "t". Pronouncing it as "ek-set-er-a" is not correct; it is "et-set-er-a". Or, to avoid the confusion rather say "and so on".  Sounds better than "etcetera, etcetera", I think.

I am a bit like that with the word dyslexic - I cannot say it, so just avoid it.  It comes with "DYS" is it "die" or "dis"?.  My brain has it wrong. When I read it, it is fine but to say it causes a pregnant pause, so I avoid it.  Perhaps I need to be diagnosed?  However, I can say psychologist and psychiatrist perfectly but struggle so with the spelling.

Porsche fanatics often (offen NOT ofTEN) go berserk over this one. Porsche is a two-syllable word - "Porsh" may sound faster, but is incorrect. The word is "Porsh-uh".  Durrh...

Do you say "Chomp at the bit" - WRONG. Please say "Champ at the bit"

Do you say expresso, instead of espresso?  It does indeed seem like an express version of  a cup of coffee but it is from the Italian, so don't change it.  While talking about coffee do you say "perculated" coffee instead of the correct "percolated"?  You bad - (me too)

Everybody must know someone who says "fillum" instead of "film", who uses the expression "for all intensive purposes" instead of "for all intents and purposes" and who adds a  few more "e's" to jewelry or who drops the "e" altogether "jewlry".

The famous one from our legal office - the word "affidavid".  Even if your attorney's name is David, he issues "Affidavits"

Just as pronounciation must be pronunciation and renumeration is remuneration.  These two are just there to confuse us - pronouncing the words and counting the numbers? 

One of my most embarrassing moments was having to read out loud in front of the class in Standard 2.  The mother was very fatigued and I called her "fat ee gooed".   I don't think the class would have noticed but the very scary Miss Howell drew attention to the matter, wrote it on the board and explained the meaning to the class (much to their amusement).  Fatigue is another word that I avoid using and not because I cannot pronounce it (that is a lesson I will never forget), I decided there and then in that English class 44 years ago that I would never, ever say that word again.  It is a matter of principle.

a very sad story...

I read about the madman who started firing at the midnight premier of the new Batman movie, Dark Knight Rises in Denver last week.

James Holmes a pretty average looking 24 year old PhD student has now been arrested.  Here are some details which have recently been released.


The story that I have been following though is about of one of the victims, Jessica Ghawi.  Just over a month ago she was on holiday in Toronto when she narrowly escaped death in the Eaton Shopping Centre.  Again the arrested suspect is only 23 years old.  This is Jessica's moving blog post of how close she was to missing death that fateful day in Canada in June.


Late Night Thoughts on the Eaton Center Shooting


I can’t get this odd feeling out of my chest. This empty, almost sickening feeling won’t go away. I noticed this feeling when I was in the Eaton Center in Toronto just seconds before someone opened fire in the food court. An odd feeling which led me to go outside and unknowingly out of harm‘s way. It’s hard for me to wrap my mind around how a weird feeling saved me from being in the middle of a deadly shooting.


What started off as a trip to the mall to get sushi and shop, ended up as a day that has forever changed my life. I was on a mission to eat sushi that day, and when I’m on a mission, nothing will deter me. When I arrived at the Eaton Center mall, I walked down to the food court and spotted a sushi restaurant. Instead of walking in, sitting down and enjoying sushi, I changed my mind, which is very unlike me, and decided that a greasy burger and poutine would do the trick. I rushed through my dinner. I found out after seeing a map of the scene, that minutes later a man was standing in the same spot I just ate at and opened fire in the food court full of people. Had I had sushi, I would’ve been in the same place where one of the victims was found.


My receipt shows my purchase was made at 6:20 pm. After that purchase I said I felt funny. It wasn’t the kind of funny you feel after spending money you know you shouldn’t have spent. It was almost a panicky feeling that left my chest feeling like something was missing. A feeling that was overwhelming enough to lead me to head outside in the rain to get fresh air instead of continuing back into the food court to go shopping at SportChek. The gunshots rung out at 6:23. Had I not gone outside, I would’ve been in the midst of gunfire.


I walked around the outside of the mall. People started funneling out of every exit. When I got back to the front, I saw a police car, an ambulance, and a fire truck. I initially thought that maybe the street performer that was drumming there earlier had a heart attack or something. But more and more police officers, ambulances, and fire trucks started showing up. Something terrible has happened. I overheard a panicked guy say, “There was a shooting in the food court.” I thought that there was no way, I was just down there. I asked him what happened. He said “Some guy just opened fire. Shot about 8 shots. It sounded like balloons popping. The guy is still on the loose.” I’m not sure what made me stick around at this point instead of running as far away from the mall as possible. Shock? Curiosity? Human nature? Who knows.


Standing there in the midst of the chaos all around us, police started yelling to get back and make room. I saw a young shirtless boy, writhing on a stretcher, with his face and head covered by the EMS as they rushed him by us to get him into an ambulance. The moment was surprisingly calm. The EMTs helping the boy weren’t yelling orders and no one was screaming like a night time medical drama. It was as if it was one swift movement to get the boy out of the mall and into the ambulance. That’s when it really hit me. I felt nauseas. Who would go into a mall full of thousands of innocent people and open fire? Is this really the world we live in?


Police start yelling again “GET BACK NOW!” Another stretcher came rushing out of the mall. I saw a man on a stretcher, the blanket underneath him spotted with blood. Multiple gunshot holes in his chest, side, and neck were visible. It’s not like in the movies when you see someone shot and they’re bleeding continuously from the wound. There was no blood flowing from the wounds, I could only see the holes. Numerous gaping holes, as if his skin was putty and someone stuck their finger in it. Except these wounds were caused by bullets. Bullets shot out of hatred. His dark skin on his torso was tinted red with what I assume was his own blood. He was rushed into the ambulance and taken away.


More people joined the crowd at the scene and asked what happened. “There was a shooting in the food court,” kept being whispered through the crowd like a game of telephone. I was standing near a security guard when I heard him say over his walkie talkie, “One fatality.” At this point I was convinced I was going to throw up. I’m not an EMT or a police officer. I’m not trained to handle crime and murder. Gun crimes are fairly common where I grew up in Texas, but I never imagined I’d experience a violent crime first hand. I’m on vacation and wanted to eat and go shopping. Everyone else at the mall probably wanted the same thing. I doubt anyone left for the mall imagined they witness a shooting.


I was shown how fragile life was on Saturday. I saw the terror on bystanders’ faces. I saw the victims of a senseless crime. I saw lives change. I was reminded that we don’t know when or where our time on Earth will end. When or where we will breathe our last breath. For one man, it was in the middle of a busy food court on a Saturday evening.


I say all the time that every moment we have to live our life is a blessing. So often I have found myself taking it for granted. Every hug from a family member. Every laugh we share with friends. Even the times of solitude are all blessings. Every second of every day is a gift. After Saturday evening, I know I truly understand how blessed I am for each second I am given.


I feel like I am overreacting about what I experienced. But I can’t help but be thankful for whatever caused me to make the choices that I made that day. My mind keeps replaying what I saw over in my head. I hope the victims make a full recovery. I wish I could shake this odd feeling from my chest. The feeling that’s reminding me how blessed I am. The same feeling that made me leave the Eaton Center. The feeling that may have potentially saved my life.


The following month she is gunned down in a movie theatre.


Her blog and the story is here and her brother Jordan has also written about the tragedy.



How sad. How senseless.  I have read the last two paragraphs over and over again. 

my weekend begins....now...

No work for me tomorrow!!

It has been a busy week.  Children have returned home from working adventures.  Suppers with family and drinks with friends. I need a day off.  I have hair that needs some serious attention, Kathy is back home after her travels so lunch is booked (What is the weather going to do? Wet and cold = fire at Barristers or Forres, Dry (and warm or cold) = half price sushi at Salushi) and then to help Gareth and Hayley move into their new home.  Exciting times.

As I am not around tomorrow, I thought I would just share a few things from the week that I have enjoyed, that have made me smile and that are worth sharing.  I hope you agree.

Such beautiful calligraphy on this site.  It makes me want to invest in some new pens and inks and spend some time writing in the "old school" way again.

Don't you think these moving pictures are so clever?

and people are so clever to think of these things

ABC of ageing

Do you know what "Jettison" means - sorry I didn't

jet·ti·son   [jet-uh-suhn, -zuhn]  
verb (used with object)
1.
to cast (goods) overboard in order to lighten a vessel or aircraft or to improve its stability in an emergency.
2.
to throw off (something) as an obstacle or burden; discard.
3.
Cards . to discard (an unwanted card or cards)



Now I do

Something to dream about

Take a look here

I found this one on my computer

Kelly at her 3 year old Gremlin best

Free tomorrow?  Me thinks, Salushi is calling - rain or shine, wet or dry, cold or warm.

an anthology of bukowski brilliance

Charles Bukowski wrote some mean stuff.  Factotum was his second novel which I read years ago and I am not sure why, but I never followed up on my love of his writing until recently when I found a couple of great websites for his poetry and quotes.  I must also confess to never seeing his movie Barfly, with Mickey Rourke and maybe it is worth looking out for.  Factotum, later a movie starring Matt Dillon and Barfly (Rourke) both portrayed Hank Chinaski - Bukowski's fictional alter ego.  A guy who drank too much and did menial jobs to support himself while pursuing his love of writing.  

As I sit here going through some of his poems that I have saved to use on my blog, I feel as though I am once again back at Westerford in an English class with Mr Rumboll preparing for one (of many) English projects we had to do for the year, the "Poetry Anthology".   I wish I had know Bukowski then because I am sure old Frank (Rumboll) would have rather preferred reading a project on his stuff to the project that I churned out on ee cummings.  Not to dismiss ee cummings - he taught me lots - a disregard for capital letters and a love of brackets!!

But back to Charles.  You can read more about him here.  I don't need to say much more as I sit here with my glass of wine (trying to take on Hemingway), listening to some vintage Bob Dylan and reading through some incredibly real ramblings from this tortured soul who was so very wise.  On reading more about his life and loves, it is just so great to be able to read and feel his optimism and wisdom, which come through strongly, even in really low times.

How beautiful and how sad?

I will remember the kisses

our lips raw with love

and how you gave me

everything you had

and how I

offered you what was left of

me,

and I will remember your small room

the feel of you

the light in the window

your records

your books

our morning coffee

our noons our nights

our bodies spilled together

sleeping

the tiny flowing currents

immediate and forever

your leg my leg

your arm my arm

your smile and the warmth

of you

who made me laugh

again.”

"The Laughing Heart"

your life is your life

don’t let it be clubbed into dank submission.

be on the watch.

there are ways out.

there is a light somewhere.

it may not be much light but

it beats the darkness.

be on the watch.

the gods will offer you chances.

know them.

take them.

you can’t beat death but

you can beat death in life, sometimes.

and the more often you learn to do it,

the more light there will be.

your life is your life.

know it while you have it.

you are marvellous

the gods wait to delight

in you

“We’re all going to die, all of us, what a circus! That alone should make us love each other but it doesn’t. We are terrorized and flattened by trivialities, we are eaten up by nothing. ”


“there are worse things than being alone but it often takes decades to realize this and most often when you do it’s too late and there’s nothing worse than too late”


“You have to die a few times before you can really live.”


“An intellectual says a simple thing in a hard way. An artist says a hard thing in a simple way.”

"The Aliens"

you may not believe it

but there are people

who go through life with

very little

friction of distress.

they dress well, sleep well.

they are contented with

their family

life.

they are undisturbed

and often feel

very good.

and when they die

it is an easy death, usually in their

sleep.

you may not believe

it

but such people do

exist.

but i am not one of

them.

oh no, I am not one of them,

I am not even near

to being

one of

them.

but they

are there

and I am

here

I must try to memorise this:-

your life is your life.

know it while you have it.

you are marvellous

the gods wait to delight

in you.

Another lesson in life.

blur are back for olympic finale

Blur were one of my favourite bands in the 90's.  They have recently reunited and are performing in a big concert in Hyde Park on 12 August to mark the end of the Olympics.  Oh to be in London!!

They released two new songs and don't promise to do more or reunite.  These two songs were performed live on a rooftop on 2 July 2012 and I think that the one in particular, "Under the Westway", is one of the best songs I have heard this year.

When the flags coming down 

and the Last Post sounds....

just like a love song

for the way I feel about you

Paradise is not Lost 

it´s in you

on a permanent basis 

I apologize

But I am going to sing....

Hallelujah

Sing it out loud and sing it 

to you

I just love it.  It is more like a hymn, don't you think?  I love the bells and the instrumental parts and especially the words above "...and the Last Post sounds just like a love song...".   My aching nerves - How in love must you be for the Last Post to sound like a love song?

There is something about their English accents that immediately takes me back to my favourite song of theirs "Country House".   

If you enjoyed it - take a look at this live version taken on the rooftops.  They too are getting old but I think it is pretty awesome video and an even better song.


Great song to end the Olympics.  Let the games begin!!  (Hopefully the show will be televised worldwide)

the perks of being a wallflower

This Stephen Chbosky novel has now been made into a movie (which is about to be released shortly), I have seen it mentioned on many fellow bloggers "My Bestest Books" lists and I thought it about time I read the book (even although it was published in 1999).  I have been disappointed too many times by not reading a book before seeing the movie.  One of the main joys of reading is to form your own pictures of the characters in your head.  So I think it best to read the book first and then see what Hollywood comes up with, sometimes you agree with their casting agent and other times not.  My mind is already boggling because they have cast Tom Cruise as Jack Reacher in the movies.  Just. Not. Right!!


Back to the book. It is a quick read, written with honesty and humour through Charlie, an awkward 15 year old who is about to start high school.  I am only going to post a couple of quotes from the book as I don't want to give away anything and say too much except, "Read it".  

“Sometimes, I look outside, and I think that a lot of other people have seen this snow before. Just like I think that a lot of other people have read those books before. And listened to those songs. I wonder how they feel tonight.”


This quote really rings true with me.  I remember as a teenager thinking weird things, like whether I was the first person in the world to see a particular raindrop as it fell or if I turned around and walked back to the corner a wish would come true?  I was forever taking bets with myself.  I was pretty weird.


"We didn’t talk about anything heavy or light. We were just there together. And that was enough."

Maybe these quotes are out of context and might make the book seem cheesy, it is not.  I highly recommended it.

all this and my day has only just begun....

Cape Town is as cold as I have ever experienced it.  Last night Michael and I went for a walk up to our local shopping centre.  He went off to Woolies and I had a present to buy at the bookshop.  Well one children's book for the present and four books for myself later, we proceeded home.  A quick stop off at my sister for a happy hour drink and home to the fire, homemade burgers, QI and Graham Norton.  A perfect end to a busy week.

This morning 3 confessions are necessary:-

First one:-

The flesh is weak and I hate people knowing and talking about something that I don't know anything about.  I heard John "Who needs Google" Maytham talking about it on the radio the other day, I have seen the stacks in Exclusive Books and read the back cover (guiltily) and everyone seems to be reading it.  Maytham and the book lady he was interviewing were dismayed and perplexed as to how such a badly written book is already overtaking book sales of Harry Potter.  I have not read any Harry Potter, so who am I to judge.

So seeing the book at the Bargain Book store for R90 (and not R173), I sneaked it into the middle of my new pile of books (snugly between the new Deon Meyer and Beatrix Potter).  I read the first chapter in bed last night - nothing gripping or riveting with "she looked up at him through her eyelashes", twice in one chapter and innuendos but nothing too graphic (yet).

Well I am now up and about after reading through to page 82 in bed (on my own) this morning.  I could tear myself pretty easily away from it, she has "looked up at him through her eyelashes" only one more time and he has seductively held back her hair while she vomited on the pavement.  Anastasia (original name for a heroine) has desperately wanted to "run her hands through his hair" a couple too many times to count and I think I am going to have to do some skim reading to get through to the meaty parts.  (Hide your ties, Michael!!) (Joking Gareth!!)

I don't need to be sheepish about my mother reading this post as I know that her book club bought the trilogy the moment they hit the shelves!!

First confession done.

Second one:-

This was my breakfast this morning.  It was the first thing I saw on my computer this morning - thanks to the picture on Cheryl's Facebook page.  I had to try it.  No cream but vanilla ice cream worked just as well.  A tad too sweet (but I am not one for exact measurements) but a pretty decadent start to a Saturday morning and it was gooey and chocolaty and a very quick and easy treat.  Maybe better as a dessert than a breakfast cereal though.

So after reading about bondage, eating hot chocolate brownies out of my tea cup, I was feeling the need for something salty.

Confession 3.  I dug into Michael's man drawer and pulled out one of his many packets of biltong treats.  I opened a 300g packet and devoured the lot.

I have to end off now because I am off to Athlone to watch Kelly play her first game of provincial hockey.  She has made the U13 B team but in her words "had a random call up" to the A team for today.  Go Kelly!!

But before I get there I have to stop at the Biltong Shop and replace the biltong and I have to find myself a lovely cold lemony fruit juice (with bubbles) to quench this terrible thirst I have developed.

Then I must hurry home to read some more "mommy porn", she said as she blushed and looked up at him through her eyelashes.  (This girl blushes a lot as well)

I don't think there will be any Adonis outside to hold my hair back seductively while I vomit on the pavement.