![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
In Real Life
Saturday was the Belconnen Community Fair, Sunday was the trip to Sydney, Monday (and Tuesday) were spent cleaning and tidying the house for the arrival of Mum and her sister. Wednesday was Parliament House. Thursday was catching up. Or trying to.
Mum stayed an extra night, which is fine, but took up a bit of time I wasn't expecting. She's had a recent hip operation and gets around with a couple of walking sticks, so I've been fetching and carrying and helping. Poor Mum, she's always been a bit of a martyr, and would rather die in agony than make a fuss, so I try to pick up on what she needs.
Had the foresight to ring up Parliament House and make sure that there was a visitor wheelchair for her, and I wheeled her around. Went up on the roof for a quick look at the view and a close up on the flagpole, before joining a tour of the building. The guide knew her stuff, and though she must have done it a hundred times before, there was passion in her voice when she spoke of the history and freedom of our Federation as evidenced in the details of the building. Not enough time to see everything, of course.
Lunch was a couple of 12-inch subs, half each. Mum's a bit of a ditherer, so I was expecting her to take ages to pick her fillings and choices of sauces, but she and her sister managed fine. DD did the picking for me. Mmmmm, I love Subway!
Had to do my runs during the day and evening, which cut down on my time, but I was shockingly behind. Took off my headphones and thought very hard about Squirty Bertie. I'm pretty sure I've got a good handle on crisis and resolution now. Tried hard to find a connection between Bertie and Jacinta, but I was caught in that jigsaw puzzle thing. I might be writing a completely nonsensical book, but my rules are that if one accepts the fantasy premise, everything else must be consistent with reality, and it's too much of a stretch to make a connection.
Especially if I compress the main story into a day and a half so it happens in real time, more or less. I've also decided to run a third series of chapters in flashback, telling the story of Bert and Dee and how they both got into this situation.
I gave Mum's sister my last copy of BookCrossing Through Middle-Earth. She was reading the back cover and I went downstairs and came back suddenly, to hear her say to Mum - "He's a clever boy, isn't he?". I smiled, gave Mum a hug and a kiss and said "If I am. this is where it comes from!"
Which is true. Mum's one smart cookie.
Aunt wanted to know if I could find a book for her, a book containing a poem she'd read many years ago and since given the book away. She quoted the first few lines. I couldn't find the book, but I found the poem. "White Cliffs" by Alice Duer Miller. Such a memory - she knew how to spell that odd middle name and when I found a site with the whole poem, all twenty pages, I discovered that she'd got those first lines spot on.
I printed her out a copy and she gave me a hug back. Glad to be of service. I might not be good for much, but I can find things on the Internet! I've also ordered a copy of the book for her. Biblio.com seems to have many copies not shown on Bookfinder.
A thousand other things I haven't time to mention. But it looks like I've missed out on that Zuji comp. Winners will be notified by email within four days, and this is the fourth - or fifth, if you count it the other way. Oh well. Not sure about managing a round the world trip via FF points, neither. It can be done, but getting seats on reasonable days is the tricky part. The key leg is the one across the Pacific, and if I can't get that flight, then there's no point in looking any further.
Mum stayed an extra night, which is fine, but took up a bit of time I wasn't expecting. She's had a recent hip operation and gets around with a couple of walking sticks, so I've been fetching and carrying and helping. Poor Mum, she's always been a bit of a martyr, and would rather die in agony than make a fuss, so I try to pick up on what she needs.
Had the foresight to ring up Parliament House and make sure that there was a visitor wheelchair for her, and I wheeled her around. Went up on the roof for a quick look at the view and a close up on the flagpole, before joining a tour of the building. The guide knew her stuff, and though she must have done it a hundred times before, there was passion in her voice when she spoke of the history and freedom of our Federation as evidenced in the details of the building. Not enough time to see everything, of course.
Lunch was a couple of 12-inch subs, half each. Mum's a bit of a ditherer, so I was expecting her to take ages to pick her fillings and choices of sauces, but she and her sister managed fine. DD did the picking for me. Mmmmm, I love Subway!
Had to do my runs during the day and evening, which cut down on my time, but I was shockingly behind. Took off my headphones and thought very hard about Squirty Bertie. I'm pretty sure I've got a good handle on crisis and resolution now. Tried hard to find a connection between Bertie and Jacinta, but I was caught in that jigsaw puzzle thing. I might be writing a completely nonsensical book, but my rules are that if one accepts the fantasy premise, everything else must be consistent with reality, and it's too much of a stretch to make a connection.
Especially if I compress the main story into a day and a half so it happens in real time, more or less. I've also decided to run a third series of chapters in flashback, telling the story of Bert and Dee and how they both got into this situation.
I gave Mum's sister my last copy of BookCrossing Through Middle-Earth. She was reading the back cover and I went downstairs and came back suddenly, to hear her say to Mum - "He's a clever boy, isn't he?". I smiled, gave Mum a hug and a kiss and said "If I am. this is where it comes from!"
Which is true. Mum's one smart cookie.
Aunt wanted to know if I could find a book for her, a book containing a poem she'd read many years ago and since given the book away. She quoted the first few lines. I couldn't find the book, but I found the poem. "White Cliffs" by Alice Duer Miller. Such a memory - she knew how to spell that odd middle name and when I found a site with the whole poem, all twenty pages, I discovered that she'd got those first lines spot on.
I printed her out a copy and she gave me a hug back. Glad to be of service. I might not be good for much, but I can find things on the Internet! I've also ordered a copy of the book for her. Biblio.com seems to have many copies not shown on Bookfinder.
A thousand other things I haven't time to mention. But it looks like I've missed out on that Zuji comp. Winners will be notified by email within four days, and this is the fourth - or fifth, if you count it the other way. Oh well. Not sure about managing a round the world trip via FF points, neither. It can be done, but getting seats on reasonable days is the tricky part. The key leg is the one across the Pacific, and if I can't get that flight, then there's no point in looking any further.
no subject