Pointsettias

1 - 15 Dec
I adore the flame red splash of pointsettias
and fill my fireplace with plants.
16 - 25 Dec
I can't imagine my home without pointsettias.
25 - 31 Dec
I have started
to fall out of love
with the brash, bold colours.
1 Jan
I don't want pointsettias in my home.
Fortunately, most years the plants know this
and politely shrivel and die.
5 Jan
This year the pointsettia is unnaturally healthy.
I have tried neglect
and am considering cruelty.
16 Jan
I am getting desperate.
Does anyone want to adopt a pointsettia?

Miss Charming

MissM had a silver charm bracelet for her birthday
with lots of empty rings.

And so, before Christmas,
MrsM made a secret visit
to an antique jewellers.

It was such fun to look though the tray of charms
and wonder who had owned them before.
The shop owner was entranced too
and picked out charms to tempt MrsM.

After much discussion
a winged Pegasus, a tiny mouse house and a cheeky robot
were wrapped in tissue paper
to rattle on her wrists
and make her friends smile.

In January, MrsM and MissM returned to the antique shop
with Christmas money
and discovered an Aladdin's lamp with a genie inside
and a carriage suitable for a Heyer heroine.

MrsM is struggling with her conscience
because for two pins
(or maybe even less than that)
she would have a charm bracelet of her own.

But you can't copy your daughter.

Can you?

Paws for Thought

I would like to draw your attention
to the little known fact that
many writers owe their success
to their Cocker Spaniels.

Elizabeth Barrett Browning

Virginia Woolf

Enid Blyton

Cocker Spaniels are renowned for their
sharp intelligence,
classical features
and total loyalty.
It is not surprising that they are inspirational.

Having said all that...
it does depend on what material you have to work with.
I try my best with MrsM.

Love
Poppy
x

p.s. Bonjour, Molly

Desperate Measures

MasterM has 'flu.

YES...
I DO KNOW that he is going to South America
NEXT WEEK.

I have prescribed a dose of Family Magic

1.
the Lemsip Mug
2.
the Happy Teddy for Poorly People
3.
the Movie.

(It would appear that
the best movie for Poorly MEN is
Lord of the Rings.

Move over, Dumbo.)

Shopping with My Family

MasterM needs shoes.
He REALLY needs shoes
because he has been too busy to go shopping
and his shoes have achieved a level of designer decay
that even he finds disgusting.

MissM has agreed to provide style guidance,
MrsM will provide the money
and MrM has come to act as enforcer.

And so we are all on an escalator, going up.

Ahead of me my son is making my daughter laugh.
I turn to my husband
and he smiles at me.

and I think...

"This is what it is all about."

MrM Gets His Revenge

Monday Morning

MrM
"Get Up!
Get UP!
GET UP!!
Do you know what the time is??
It is 7.15"

MrsM leaps out of bed.
It is her first day back at work
and she does not want to be late.

She is very disappointed
that her new alarm clock
(which she bought while MrM was considering bags)
has let her down.

She runs downstairs to the kitchen
where she discovers that...

It is not 7.15am...



It is 6.15am.

She totters back upstairs to bed for half an hour.

(MrM claims that this was an innocent mistake.)

Shopping with MrM

I regret to report that
MrM and MrsM have just had an argument.
In Public.
Oh! The Shame!

MrM decided that he needed an Executive Rucksack
to carry his laptop and his important business paraphenalia
(pencil case, iPod, Financial Times).
MrsM regrets the passing of the leather briefcase
but understands that times move on.
Fashions change.

MrM and MrsM go to a very large Department Store
with a lot of stylish options.
MrsM has been shopping with MrM before
and she knows that the best thing to do is abandon him
with the poor shop assistant for half an hour
so that MrM can explore exhaustively
the many features of the bags on offer.
In the meantime MrsM will check out all the special offers
in the entire store.

At the end of the 30 minutes MrsM goes back
to the bag department and rescues the poor shop assistant
who is looking as though he is going to sign himself
into the Priory for work-related stress.

On this occasion MrsM arrives to discover a catastrophe.
MrM has fallen in love with a Swiss Army bag.
It has 34 pockets
and each pocket has two zip fobs with the Swiss flag on.
If there was a light breeze MrM would become a wind chime.

MrM looks so happy with his choice.

MrsM
"NO!"

MrM looks crushed.

MrsM
"Take the smart, black, executive bag"

MrM points to the big label with the Swiss Flag on.

MrsM
"Think of your image"
MrM
"Don't you thinks it looks macho?"
MrsM
"You should be aspiring to intelligent not macho"
MrM
"It has 34 pockets including one for my iPod"
MrsM
"It looks as though you stole it from your seven year old son"
MrM
"It is me that has to use it"
MrsM
"Listen to me carefully.
I am going to leave you now and go and have a cup of coffee
You can join me when you have bought
the smart, black, executive bag."

At this point the shop assistant looks desperate.

MrsM
"If you think I have been harsh,
imagine what MissM would say"

(MrM will be commuting tomorrow with
a smart, black, executive bag.)

The Grand Tour

Today we went for lunch with friends.
They are the parents of MasterM's best friend, T.
The other guests were the parents
of one of his other best friends, B.
We have known these boys since they were 13.
The boys sat at one end of the table,
full of laughter and fun.

At the other end of the table
the parents spoke of
cheap flights,
travel insurance,
inoculations,
tips for travelling safely,
methods for transferring cash in an emergency.

In three weeks time MasterM will be in Peru.
He will meet up with B for a while
before travelling on to Brazil and Argentina.
T will be in Ghana teaching
and will travel to South America in April.
We will not see MasterM again until July.

I feel unbearably anxious.
As you know MasterM is an experienced traveller
but I feel that this trip takes him outside
any safety net that I can create.
He will have to rely on his resources,
common sense and ingenuity.

What can you do?
If you bring your children up to be independent
you have to let them go.

My Body is a Temple

Yesterday we had coffee and cake
in The Parlour at Fortnum & Masons.
Delicious!


Each cup of coffee has a tiny ice cream!
Irresistible!


And then we went downstairs
and bought chocolates from MasterM.
Self Indulgent!


Alas, my body is starting to feel uncomfortably like
a Temple to cake, ice-cream and chocolate

so emergency action is called for.

Today, it is homemade Turkey broth for lunch...

Welcome to 2009

New Year's Eve, 2008
Skaters outside the Natural History Museum.

We spent the morning in London
with my brother and his wonderful wife
who are expecting their first baby in February.
2009 will be a very special year for them.

Whatever your plans and hopes for the New Year
I wish you success and happiness.