Little Messages from the Universe or Wherever

The Thrill of Decoding Messages from Afar.

I've just realised that I'm Too Too Tired to write much. My arms feel like Tree Trunks. And we all know that Tree Trunks can't type, don't we?

You see, I went to Boot Camp this afternoon & Miss Jay, the V. Strict Games Mistress had us running up & down a v.v. steep hill with our boxing gloves on. And then we had to box. And do a whole load of other Unspeakable Things.

Here's me, below, with Princess Pip just before things Turned Ugly & I was forced to remove my large earrings because they kept on slapping me in the face every time I attempted a push up. Princess is far more suitably dressed in sensible school sun visor & aviators.

But I'm getting carried away with myself. I haven't walked you through the first picture. Scroll back & have another look. Its totally worth it.

I absolutely bet you won't be able to guess what it is, so I'll tell you: Its my new Hot Water Bottle!

I'm always looking for Little Messages from the Universe or Wherever to give me much needed Important Guidance. So when I unwrapped it & saw that it was called 'Hot Date', I immediately took notice.

What could it mean, I wondered?

The instructions on the label assured me that my new bed companion was made of 100% Rubber. How enticing!

As my Tree Trunks type, I am kind of watching TV. Amazingly, three things about Sex have come up which might be More Messages from the Universe or Wherever:

1. Boy George said that he'd rather have a nice cup of tea than have sex.

2. Peter Biscind, a biographer, has calculated that Warren Beatty has probably had 12,000 Sexual Partners. Peter says that this is only a rough calculation, & certainly not Rocket Science or applied mathematics.

3. Christopher Plummer, the actor who most famously played Captain Von Trapp in 'The Sound of Music' who is now making a whole new career for himself playing Dying Flawed Geniuses like Tolstoy, said that he can't imagine a scene with Helen Mirren in it without sex.

That seemed a Bit Much . Hasn't he see her play HRH Queen Elizabeth II in 'The Queen'? There wasn't even a hint of sex in that film, although we did see The Queen in bed a few times complaining to Prince Philip which was decidedly unsexy.

Anyway, I'm now going to make an Almost Perfect Segue into (or is it 'to'?) 'The Sound of Music' which is not really one of my favourite movies, but certainly one that I have seen many many times ever since I saw it for the first time when I was twelve at a Theatre Birthday Outing.

Then, I was decidedly Underwhelmed. What an incredibly annoying Goody-Goody Julie Andrews was, not to mention all those Wholesomely Twee Songs - 'My Favourite Things', 'You are Sixteen' 'How Do You Solve a Problem Like Maria', & my Personal Nemesis, 'The Lonely Goatherd.'

But over the years, through multiple screenings, the film has grown on me. I often wonder which character from the film I'm most like.

Today, I posed this question to one of my Senior Students & she immediately said 'The Mother Superior'. How cruel.

I see myself more as The Countess. Or Uncle Max, if I'm allowing my Masculine Side to emerge.

My daughter Maeflower visited earlier this week. Here we are preparing for my usual 'Mad Men' dinner.

She is an inspired cook. Sadly, I can't take any of the credit. I dutifully served up the same dinner to her from the time she could eat solids to the time she left home for University: Pasta with perhaps a hint of Parmesan. Later, I added Extra Virgin Olive Oil. But that was many years down the track.

Here's a close up of a salad with Fetta & Rocket featuring Hazelnuts that M.Flower had v. Carefully Personally Candied. Don't ask me how she did it, but I think that first, she did something slightly tricky to coax their little skins off & then lightly sauteed them with Something Sweet, perhaps honey. Her preferred ingredient was golden syrup which of course I didn't have.

I can't believe that the Tree Trunks let me type so much.