Yes…yes…it is very exciting – and I am doubly, no maybe triply excited – because Jack is coming over tonight (I have not seen him for around six weeks!!) and I am going to make some scones following a recipe that I am going to adapt into a vegetarian version.
Sorry…I cannot tell you any more than that right now…I don’t want any of you to pinch my idea. I don’t have many ideas you know! But I am sure you will have plenty of ideas of your own. Whether you love the classic scones, or prefer a spicy or fruit twist, or maybe even a boozy version of the incredibly popular scone – I am sure that Tandy would love to have you join in the fun!
So pull out the flour and butter. Pre-heat your ovens. Put on your pinny and roll up your sleeves – it is time to drum up some sensational scones for INTERNATIOAL SCONE WEEK 2021!!
How would you feel if you were at home getting ready for work, and while you were in your bathroom, brushing your teeth, a man you have never seen before walks in and says, “Hello”?
I am the type of person who really truly does try to see things from the other person’s point of view. I am honestly. You can even ask Fandango if I am the kind of person who tries to understand where someone else is coming from.
But this bloke, who just walked into my home without knocking, I was just struggling to see where he was coming from.
Later on when I had chance to work out what had happened from my Landlords, it seems that they were not ready to open the front door, so gave the chap the keys to the side gate. So he unlocked the side gate and then somehow worked out that the other key on the bunch was for my front door.
Well….it freaked me out. I have to admit, I did not give him the warmest welcome. I politely expressed my surprise that he had just walked straight into my home, and I eloquently asked him to depart with haste!
The irony of the whole situation, the chap was there to test the intruder alarms in the main house. Well, he should be glad that Caramel has such a peaceful nature. I am not sure anyone else would have been quite so polite if he had intruded their home like that!
When Jack asked me to marry him – I knew I was saying “yes” for all the right reasons. I want to be part of team Jackamel….or… Carajack. I want to be at the side of this man forever. I want to live with him, work with him, sleep with him. Mutual support, comfort and loyalty. I want to give give give with all my heart to him.
What I have always struggled with the idea of is our wedding. If we could just sign a legal contract I would be so pleased. But there is more than that to a wedding.
Whether I like it or not it is a family event. I love my family and of course I would want to share it with them. But I have a lot of relatives. Jack and I have a lot of friends and colleagues who I know are expecting for an invitation to our wedding.
I said yes to marrying Jack because I want the rest of my life to be with him. I did not say yes to him because I want a big wedding. In fact, I am starting to feel overwhelmed by the idea of a wedding. The Pandemic has postponed the issue for me, but now that lots of social distancing restrictions have lifted, people keep asking me when our wedding will be. There is no date. Jack has suggested a month in 2022, but I told him I was happy to wait for things to settle Pandemic-wise before we started making bookings.
I would have eloped with Jack the moment he asked me to marry him. I would have happily married him during the past eighteen months with a maximum of six people, (which I think would have included us, the minister, the registrar and two witnesses) only Jack was not keen on that at all.
It’s all on ice still. But I love Jack. I will be his wife, even though if I have to go through the torture of a wedding. I want a marriage with the man I love…and if I have to go through the wedding day part of it, I will.
I noticed in the past year that I seem unable to watch the weather forecast effectively. I watch the forecaster waving their arms around, and the pictures change over the map of England, Scotland, Wales and Ireland. But if you asked me at the end of the broadcast, what will the weather be like tomorrow – I cannot tell you!!
It’s so bizarre. I have lost my ability to concentrate on the report. I told a friend, and she thinks it a sign that I am saturated with information intake. I have had to do so much training this year, and I also have to listen to scores of patients each day talking. I have to listen and concentrate so much at work, that it seems when I come home, my mind has no room left to digest information.
However….I am compensating for my lack of weather forecast comprehension. I never go anywhere without my umbrella. So far it is working.
I am blaming both my TOM and also Thomas Hardy for this….but I am writing about it because I am trying to make sense of it.
I found myself in the unusual situation of unexpected and inexplicable tears early this morning.
Maybe it was the agony I felt for poor Tess of the D’Ubervilles. Jack is coming back on Wednesday, and I should see him on Saturday night for the first time since mid-June. You know how much I love Jack, how incredibly grateful I am. But watching the dramatization of Thomas Hardy’s desperately tragic novel provoked suppressed fears deep within.
I do trust Jack. I really do. But putting your trust in someone brings a certain vulnerability. Trust can be broken or betrayed. I am sure Jack would never treat me the way poor Tess is treated. Yet how frightening a thought it is to be let down by someone who fills your heart with hope and makes you feel so happy.
For some reason, I kept on thinking of Goldfinch. I was weeping within because it is so long since I saw him. Jack knows how much I love Goldfinch, how much he means to me. Goldfinch unwittingly became a source of safety to me, after a harsh storm in my lift. He was careful never to let me entertain the hope of a permanent future with him. Yet he allowed me to enjoy happiness with him, he added so much to my happiness. Sometimes I long to be in his arms.
Confusing – isn’t it! I am deeply happy that I am going to marry the man who is absolutely ideal for me in every way. There is no question in my mind that Jack is as close to a perfect match and compliment to me and I am to him as could ever be. “We dream the same dream, we want the same things”. I am full of hope and happiness. But the vulnerability, the fear of it all falling apart and ending in desperate tears.
Is it pre-wedding jitters? It will all be fine when Jack is back and I can look into his eyes and know….he won’t let me down again.
Sunday was a wash out here in London. pouring rain along with thunder and lightning. I did not mind that. I had plenty of ironing and cooking and cleaning to occupy me.
I was glad to be tucked away in my little nest. Yesterday at work, TOM (time of the month) arrived and truthfully it was nice to be on my lonesome with plenty to do.
But I also made the mistake of turning on the television to see if there was anything on television. Why oh why did I watch “Tess Of The D’Ubervilles”? It is just so heartbreaking. I wept and wept, and yet I kept watching.
I don’t know why – it is so alarming to me at some points. It actually pushes my buttons in frightfully unwanted ways. Yet I had to stick with it right to the end. I had to endure her heartbreak right to the bitter conclusion. Why did I put myself through that?
The rain kept on pouring and my tears kept on pouring and the lightning crashed! What a dramatic day of housework!!
Have you ever been in a getaway car? I had one hysterical experience where my beaux was pretty much bundled straight off stage into a getaway car I was waiting in. Our driver leaving trails of smoke on the tracks behind us! My panting and sweaty beloved full of adrenaline. It felt like we were making an escape before anyone – media or audience could tack us. That was way back in January of 2020. Exciting times!
That’s why I like the track I have chosen today. I even asked my lovely friend Jenna what she was going to feature as she so often picks Taylor Swift. This is a track called “Getaway Car” and it is fun!
I have two versions for you….a lyric video and a live performance. Not trying to sway you in any way, but there is a very sweet moment at the end of the live performance, when you see Taylor Swift looking thrilled to see a special someone.
No, nothing good starts in a getaway car…
It was the best of times, the worst of crimes I struck a match and blew your mind But I didn’t mean it And you didn’t see it The ties were black, the lies were white In shades of gray and candlelight I wanted to leave him I needed a reason
X marks the spot, where we fell apart He poisoned the well, I was lying to myself I knew it from the first old fashioned, we were cursed We never had a shotgun shot in the dark
You were driving the getaway car We were flying, but we’d never get far Don’t pretend it’s such a mystery Think about the place where you first met me We’re riding in a getaway car There were sirens in the beat of your heart Should’ve known I’d be the first to leave Think about the place where you first met me In a getaway car No, they never get far No, nothing good starts in a getaway car
It was the great escape, the prison break The light of freedom on my face But you weren’t thinking And I was just drinking Well he was running after us, I was screaming ‘Go go go!’ But with three of us, honey, it’s a side show And a circus ain’t a love story And now we’re both sorry (we’re both sorry)
X marks the spot, where we fell apart He poisoned the well, every man for himself I knew it from the first old fashioned, we were cursed It hit you like a shotgun shot to the heart
You were driving the getaway car We were flying, but we’d never get far Don’t pretend it’s such a mystery Think about the place where you first met me We’re riding in a getaway car There were sirens in the beat of your heart Should’ve known I’d be the first to leave Think about the place where you first met me In a getaway car No, they never get far No, nothing good starts in a getaway car
We were jet set Bonnie and Clyde Until I switched to the other side It’s no surprise, I turned you in ‘Cause us traitors never win
I’m in a getaway car I left you in the motel bar I put the money in a bag and stole the keys That was the last time you ever saw me
Driving the getaway car We were flying, but we’d never get far Don’t pretend it’s such a mystery Think about the place where you first met me We’re riding in a getaway car There were sirens in the beat of your heart Should’ve known I’d be the first to leave Think about the place where you first met me In a getaway car No, they never get far No, nothing good starts in a getaway car
I was riding in a getaway car I was crying in a getaway car I was dying in a getaway car Said ‘goodbye’ in a getaway car
I was riding in a getaway car I was crying in a getaway car I was dying in a getaway car Said ‘goodbye’ in a getaway car
What a week! The first work of the lifting of lockdown restrictions and it has been tough. It has been tough for reasons I don’t want to think about, never mind write about. But now it is nearly over.
I just have one more day of work and then I can switch off to work. I had a celebration last night that the week is nearly over. Vegan pizza and beer. That is not like me nowadays. I have become quite the chef during the Pandemic – even if it has been almost exclusively Jack partaking of the meals I prepared.
Jack will be back with me next week, so long as his Covid tests are negative before and after his flight back. He is fully vaccinated, so if all his tests are clear, apparently he does not have to quarantine…unless he is contacted by Track & Trace.
I am planning on spoiling him!! I have not seen him for over a month…and I am now so excited that it is just a few days until I will see him again. Happy glow!
I always find gifts strange. They are mostly useless, or just not what something I would ever choose to buy for myself.
But every now and then…there is something that ticks all the right boxes. During the Pandemic, I have expanded my collection of spices. I had so many that they were becoming very disorganized in the cupboards. Sometimes I was buying spices that I had already had (because it was hard to see them in the cupboard.
So, the treat for me – a beautiful new spice rack – made with oak and slate and some chrome bars to keep the spice jars in place.
So useful, so well made, so beautiful – I just love it!!!
We are all so different – if someone gives me a box of chocolates, or a bottle of wine, or jewellery, they end up in the cupboard and jar and are forgotten about…until I decide to give them to someone else.
But my spice rack is a keeper!!! It is on display in my kitchen and every time I see it I want to smile. So thank you to the person who paid for it. I am very grateful…and it really is a lovely little treat for me!
Another re-post!!! I have now fully recovered from my injuries!
I was wandering through the park on my way home, (where cyclists are not supposed to ride their bikes, but they can push them) enjoying some late afternoon sunshine….when BOOM!!
Yes…I said BOOM!!
A cyclist ploughed into me. I was shocked. And it hurt. I turned around and saw that the cyclist was distressed. My first thoughts and words were: “are you ok?” She was silent. She was shaking and seemed completely bewildered. I asked her again, “are you ok?” There was still no response. So I said to her, “we both had a shock didn’t we.” She was clearly lost for words. Anyway, she seemed to be alright, so I said “take care” and carried on along my way.
But it was only when I carried on walking that I realized how much my left leg hurt. And now that I am home I can report there are distinctly blue marks all over my leg. I have lathered on some arnica cream…and I am running a bath because I am feeling rather sore.
I am not anti-cyclists. I am anti-lycra – eeeeeyuw! But hey…I do have a problem with cyclists ploughing into me and not even saying sorry. Oh well…she was probably just horrified at what had happened.
Caramel 