louisa

3BT – five beautiful things before lunchtime

1. When I finally wake up, she’s stretched out next to me, fully stretched out with her stumpy chicken legs pushed out behind her. I ask her if she wants to get up – it’s late and she must need a wee – but she buries her nose back under the duvet. Hearing my voice, Carla jumps on the bed for a cuddle and since it’s the only space available, she lies down next to her – not touching at first but then they are. By the time sleepy John turns over to see and we both coo at the cuteness of it.

2. Everyone is brunching in their gardens. The intermingling laughter and conversations draws people’s attention from the woods as they walk past the gap in the trees.

3. If someone made a perfume from the slightly sweaty, slightly caramelised smell of sun-touched skin, I’d buy it by the gallon.

4. Ditto “sweaty cat” – as I’ve said before, my most favourite smell. Carbon was more renowned for the smell but after sitting in her favourite spot on top of the woodpile, Carla smelled delicious too.

5. The oak trees are big enough for us to hide behind so without speaking, we do. Lily looks around confused, then runs to the spot where we’d been stood a moment earlier and looks into the mid-distance. Her face says “huh, where have they gone?” until the giggling gives away our location and we run together laughing/tail wagging.

3BT – it’s working, always time for bread & jam, comfortable

19/6/2010 / louisa / 0 Comments

1. I spend the afternoon pottering in the garden – sowing more salad, potting on small seedlings and planting out their bigger siblings. Growing veg is such a waiting game – waiting and hoping – but when I see the first courgettes forming, it feels worth it.

2. John’s out all day at a friend’s stag do but pops home between the go-karting and the evening activities to eat some bread & jam.

3. Boron discovers a new place to sleep – my yarn stash between the sofa & the armchair. I hear rustling as he circles around, padding it into shape but by the time I turn around to look at him, he’s curled in a tight circle, his chin resting on a fluffy magenta skein.

3BT – funny, big & ugly; music to smile to; Boron’s blinks

18/6/2010 / louisa / 0 Comments

1. I run upstairs to get my phone and see cracks of daylight around his wardrobe doors. It jars me for a second before I remember: there is a window – a floor-to-ceiling window – at the back of the fitted wardrobes. I laugh out loud. This house is so funny, it’s perfect for us.

2. Music that’s made me smile today:
a) the Divine Comedy’s new album ‘Bang Goes the Knighthood’. The whole album (aside from ‘When A Man Cries’) is great perky-pop but it’s ‘At the Indie Disco‘ which leaves me grinning like an idiot: it’s my 1997 down to a tee. It’s like Neil Hannon stole my diary and wrote a fun tune from it.
b) I’m trying to find something for us to listen to while I’m gaming and John’s programming. “This is music to choose music to,” I explain when Herb Alpert and the Tijuana Brass’s ‘Up Cherry Street‘ starts playing. It’s impossible to keep still when that’s playing. Moronic head dancing a-go-go.
c) The music I pick is the first ‘69 Love Songs‘ album by the Magnetic Fields. I’ve listened to it so many times that the great lyrics wash past me while I’m Theme Hospital-ing but I smile as John laughs, hearing phrases for the first time.

3. Boron is dozing on the armchair – the fireside chair that’s been moved into the corner for the summer. When I look over at him, he half-opens his eyes and blinks slowly at me.

3BT – keeping separate, worth the work, evening walk

17/6/2010 / louisa / 0 Comments

1. The clear oil cuts through the beetroot-stained vinegar on the plate.

2. I’m re-reading ‘I Capture The Castle’ by Dodie Smith yet again. The introduction to my edition tells me: “[Dodie] rewrote every line, under [husband] Alec’s critical supervision, hearing every line of dialogue in her head and unable to stop thinking about it even in bed. … She kept a 100,000 word notebook on the progress of the novel, recording how each character changed, and how even the minor characters, down to the [family]’s dog and cat, were kept in play.” One of my most favourite books.

3. After dinner, we go for a walk in the woods – I want to show John the new meadow I found and a balmy summer evening seems to be the perfect time to do it. We follow the faint paths to it, then through it, then away from it, stretching out into the horses fields then twisting back in the woods and home. We’re sweaty and nursing nettle stings by the time we make it home but have had a wonderful time.

3BT – found heaven, I’m not THAT lazy, surprised to love it

16/6/2010 / louisa / 0 Comments

1. I call John when he’s on his way home. “I’ve found heaven,” I tell him. “Really?” he asks, “are you phoning from there now? How’s the mobile reception?”. In fact, I’ve found yet another new part of the woods – daily walks for over three months and we’re still finding new bits – and it’s beautiful. A small glade at the hill, out of the way and as I enter, two red butterflies dance above the waist high grass. Judging by the path and the grass, no one has been here for months – or next to no one. There is a crushed crop circle of grass to one side of the clearing – is this where the deer sleep?

2. The bus driver is incredulously when I get up to stand near the door – had I really just waited ten minutes at the start of his route to go one stop? No, I explain, but I couldn’t hear what he was saying when I was sat down. I think he likes I’ve made the effort and we chat about holidays, travelling and the internet until the bus fills up.

3. If all kids were like them, I’d become a teacher in a shot. Wednesday nights at drama are amongst my favourite times of the week.

3BT – puppy love, unusual blooms, kitty love, John love

14/6/2010 / louisa / 0 Comments

1. I’m pawed, I’m licked, I’m nibbled all over. He can’t decide whether to eat his lunch or play with me so runs back and forth between both options until I’m tired. When I get back home, Lily thinks I smell very interesting and I’m grateful for her comparative calmness.

Later on, they play together in the garden. We watch over them like proud mums as they jump about with their helicopter tails.

2. I can smell garlic on the way up the hill but it’s only after leaving the meadow that I spot the former stream bed covered in wilting leaves. I decide to collect some more seed pods but without a basket, have to carry them in a bunch by their stems. I feel like I’m carrying a bouquet designed in the atomic era.

3. In turn, both of the cats visit my knee and I close my eyes to fully appreciate how they feel, sound and smell.

4. I’m so glad when I get a text just before midnight to say he’s on the train, the last train. Just over three hours later, I wake up suddenly and so do the cats and the dog. I hear keys in the door, a shuffling, a quiet unmistakeable cough. Lily’s tail starts banging on the bed – she knows who it is too.

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