Frankly, I’m sick of the rain. I think we have had two days in the last three weeks when it hasn’t poured down and the wind is blowing a hooley, all of which is playing havoc with our attempts to get the façade ready for the competition. I spent most of yesterday tying down the Santa sign and securing covers over everything that wasn’t waterproof – which is most of it of course. Darling Denis spent hours up a ladder fixing all the lights on the houses, getting drenched in the process and having to patiently remove bundles of cable out of puppy mouths. I only hope that the deluge stops by the end of next week when the judging starts, soggy Santas aren’t going to swing the vote in our favour.
Despite the depressing weather system overhead, I have managed to stir up a little Christmas spirit by getting my little abode all sparkled up. I know there is always much debate (especially within my own family) as to when the tree goes up but I like the festive season to last as long as possible so I buy and bling up the tree the first week of December. Amazingly, most of the baubles have managed to stay attached even with Sherman and Salome’s attempts – any sudden jingling is usually a giveaway kids. As much as I love putting up all the Christmas paraphernalia, it’s a bit disheartening when you don’t have anyone to sing ‘Santa Baby’ with but at least the woofers don’t cringe when I’m warbling and they do like a bit of a boogie round the ‘sapin‘.
Last Wednesday was the second anniversary of Pop’s passing so Mumo and I took a trip over to L’Horte to say hello. I feel guilty sometimes that I don’t go over to see him as much as I used to but apart from the land he loved, I have no attachment any more to the home my family had for over a quarter of a century. We have had an offer from some organic farmers to rent the land which I know Pop would approve of, it would be a shame to just let it fold into nothing like the buildings on it. The lovely Lionel is keen to pilfer some of the wooden doors and take off the balcony railings so we can use the latter by the pool and the shutters somewhere here at Rouffiac. They’d only get nicked by someone else or decay along with the rest of the house there although I’ve no idea where we’d store them here, this place is groaning with bits of flooring and furniture still waiting to be needed. Mind you, Denis and I would probably find some use for everything in the exterior decorating department, so far we’ve uncovered the old tractor for ‘Papa Noel’ and dragged out Tony’s old skis for the elves. You’ll have to wait for the rain to stop before all is revealed though…..
‘White Christmas’ is the ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’ of Christmas songs.” (Stewart Stafford)
Widow plus woofs 