My Favourite Author...

... sat in this chair a few minutes after I took the photo. Obviously, I was too embarrassed to take a photo once she was actually sitting down - it's a bit rude, isn't it, to take someone's picture without asking? And there was no way I was going to put my hand up and ask permission. No sirreee. Much too much of a wallflower for that kind of behaviour.

Anyway, M.C. Beaton was appearing at the Reading (as in the town, not the activity) Festival of Crime Writing which took place last weekend and I was lucky enough to have a ticket. Not only that, hubby was around so he looked after DC while I snuck off for a very relaxing hour and a bit in the middle of the day to hear about the life and times of the author of the Agatha Raisin and Hamish Macbeth series. Very interesting it was too. Especially the bit about the quiche. And I was somehow rather (sadly) pleased when she was asked which authors she enjoys and top of her list was Simon Brett. Pleased because I'd just started reading one of his books. Tra la la. How sad am I? Don't answer that.

This is a wind-up, right?

Surely to goodness, this has to be someone playing a little prank. Taken from The Times of Tuesday 1st September:

PONG. On 27th August to Kate Pong, Newport, Shropshire beautiful quintuplets, Beyonce, Tyra, Bobbi, Barack and Earl.

Beyonce Pong
Tyra Pong
Bobbi Pong
Barack Pong
Earl Pong

I am almost speechless. Fair enough, there's not a lot you can do with a surname like that but, please, Beyonce?

Celebrity Name of the Day

Nicole Richie, daughter of 'What do you call a man with a biscuit on his shoulder?' Lionel Rich Tea, has just given birth to a baby boy to be known by the interesting moniker:

Sparrow James Midnight Madden.

She already has a daughter called Harlow Winter Kate Madden. I have to admit I quite like the name Harlow, or that's to say I did like the name when, to me, it conjured up thoughts of screen sirens (a la Jean Harlow), but then I was telling hubby about these names and he said 'Is she named after the place [ie Harlow, Essex]?' and suddenly the romance was gone.

So, that's Harlow and Sparrow. What next? Jethro(w)? Harpo(w)? Bingo(w)?

Meet Our New Low-Tech Breadcrumb Making Machine

DC is weaning. Our should that be 'we are weaning DC'? Whichever it's meant to be, we've been trying for about three weeks now to get DC interested in food. Clearly, he has a savoury tooth (takes after his father there, who's never happier than when he has a lump of Wenslydale in one paw and a packet of salt and vinegar crisps in the other), as apples, pears and kiwi fruit have all been firmly rejected and banana is just about tolerated. Potatoes, carrots and the like, on the other hand, seem to be - occasionally - going down a treat. Although baby rice remains the firm favourite. Then, as an experiment on Saturday when hubby had returned from the Farmers' Market with a tasy-looking loaf, we gave DC a hunk of bread to chew on. With the result that we now have an in-house breadcrumb making machine.

Fear not, this food doesn't go to waste and, indeed, a new term has been coined in the Wilkinson home - 'pre-loved food'. The chickens think food that has been well-gummed by DC is most enjoyable.

'Alf' Wiedersehen, Pet

Remember a couple of months back when Audrey, Gail and Sarah-luv came to live at the bottom of the garden? Well, it turns out that Audrey was in fact a cockerel (henceforth Alf), masquerading as a lady hen. We spent a few weeks watching dear Audrey grow a very impressive comb and magnificent tail feathers, but when s/he starting on the old cock-a-doodle-dooing at 6 in the morning, something had to be done.

And so today, Alf has been returned whence he came, leaving Gail, Sarah-luv, our neighbours and ourselves in perfect peace.

No animals were harmed in the making of this post.

Today's name

"Gerada On 28th July 2009, to Katie and Charlie, a son, Willoughby Eric, a brother for Freddy and Berty"

Katie
Charlie
Willoughby
Freddy
Berty

all living happily in Chelsea (or somewhere else ending in 'eee')

Flower Power

Our latest round of decorating involved having the chimney breast in the living room wallpapered (along with the chimney breast in our bedroom being re-wallpapered - this time the right way up.)


Before the papering began:




After the papering but before the titivating:




Finally, complete with dust-collectors:

Not sure about the huge mirror as it covers up too much of the lovely wallpaper, so may need a rethink; also, the lightshade no longer works and, finally, I need to paint the 'home' sign - a nice shade of green, methinks.


The wallpaper, if you are interested, is Cath Kidston Antique Rose.

Name of the Day

Here I am, hard at work at 8am on a Saturday morning. But my day has already been brightened by this announcement from The Times of Thursday 13 August:

Inglis-Jones. On 12th August 2009, to Arabella (Madam Kincaid of Kincaid, nee Lennox) and Giles, a daughter Kalula Charis Hope, a sister for Angus, Jessie, Isabella and Dominic.'

Firstly: 'Madam Kincaid of Kincaid'? What is that? 'Madam' always brings to mind brothels.
Secondly: Kalula? Do they mean Kahlua? Is that what Madam has been drinking?

Festivalwatch III

A mix of sunshine and showers today meant that hot drinks were the order of the day from the next door neighbour's front garden.

And plastic macs were de rigeur.

Then came the early evening and all went eerily quiet.

The man selling pork pie hats had no customers (not that he seemed to have any when the street was teeming with Festival-goers.)

Clearly the big bands had started to take to the stage.

With the wind blowing in the right direction (or the wrong direction, depending on your mindset and desire to go to sleep) we could hear the music and the crowds singing along, although because we are not young enough to recognise which band was playing, I can't tell you who it was we were listening to.

International Businessman made it home safely from The Land of Toberlerones, bringing with him a handful of mini Toberlerones, a tube of Lindor chocs and a box of fancy Lindt truffles. Didn't he do well?! Did I mention that I like chocolate?!

Festivalwatch II, and a visit to the Cotswolds

Things are hotting up on the Festival front, it's getting busy, busy, busy. These were the scenes from the hide (well, bedroom window) this morning:

Free squash going down a treat

Spot the tout...

And on a completely different note, the Family W took a day trip to the Cotswolds on Sunday. First stop was Burford, a village we have driven through several times and admired from the safety of the car, but somewhere we had never yet stopped. So this time we decided to disembark and investigate whether Burford could be a future home for us.

After careful consideration involving going in to lots of the shops, buying a new cross-stitch project (me, not hubby) and eating a sandwich from Maison Blanc (clearly a monumental decision about our future can't be made on an empty stomach), we came to the conclusion that while Burford is an extremely pretty village (as can be seen from the photos above and below), it's not somewhere that we could see ourselves living due to being a bit too touristy for our liking. It's fine for a place to be 'touristy' when you are a tourist but not so good, we find, if you actually live there.

With that in mind, we then headed off for our fifth return visit to Chipping Norton, the current fave on our list of possible places to live. We made haste directly to the rather lovely bookshop/cafe/artspace that is Jaffe & Neale where we partook of some yummy cake and a hot drink. I was very excited to see that one of my favourite authors - Lindsey Davis - will be making an appearance there in October, so it looks like a return trip is not too far off.

While we were in Jaffe & Neale, the boys did a spot of reading.

DC loves a good book, but in this instance he put up with what his Daddy was reading. Didn't taste quite as good as his own books.