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Put It In The Airing Cupboard And Have A Cup Of Tea

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Greetings and the very best Happy New Year wishes to you all!

I hope you had a truly wonderful Christmas.  Christmas for us was a lovely affair despite the crazy chaos of the build-up and yes, I was more than ready for that bottle glass of Prosecco on Christmas Eve.

Christmas cheer with Mum  (c) Sherri Matthews 2014

Christmas cheer with Mum
(c) Sherri Matthews 2014

At that point, no matter what (including but not limited to: a threatened water leak from the toilet, television black out – darn, should have bought a new one on Black Friday – and the arrival of a nasty cough and cold generously shared by one and all), I didn’t care what happened.

With all my chicks back in the nest for a few days, a silly hat to wear and a glass of bubbly in my hand, what more could I ask?

But it is great to be back after what seems an age of non-blogging (I missed you!). And non-writing.  That’s right, I haven’t written one word.

I knew it would be impossible for me to return to blogging and writing until now, today.  But it has been an amazingly productive thinking time, a time to ponder what it is I’m doing here and what I really want to achieve in my writing. I’ll be sharing more about this later in the week. Two year’s blogging anniversary coming up, believe it or not!

So how has the year started off for you?  Well, I hope.   Ours kicked off in, well, not the most usual of ways but then you wouldn’t expect anything less from the Summerhouse would you?

Firstly though, hubby and I enjoyed a couple of walks during a brief spell of proper winter weather (two days, oh joy!).  The sort of day when the winter sun casts its pale, white light upon the frost-bitten ground and your breath makes soft clouds in the crisp, clear air.

Somerset Frost December 2014 (c) Sherri Matthews

Somerset Frost December 2014
(c) Sherri Matthews

New Year’s Eve found us at a house party, friends of  friends, none of whom we knew. Their friends had a macaw which was allowed out of its huge cage the size of a small room to sit on a mobile perch with us so that it could join in with the fun.

This macaw is ten feet tall with the wing span of a small plane.  And although, dear readers, who know that I adore all birds, I am usually freaked out by them flapping about inside, particularly if they fly near me.  I am just the same with butterflies and moths. No rhyme or reason, no explanation.

Keeping one rather nervous eye on Mr. Macaw (or Mrs, as his/her owners didn’t know: they are very hard to sex apparently. I did learn some interesting facts about these beautiful creatures), I admit that I found him (as I’ll call him) rather fascinating. Z8600064-Scarlet_Macaw-SPL

So long as he stayed put on the other side of the room.

But then, just as midnight struck, we all jumped up to hold hands and sing Auld Lang Syne, and wouldn’t you know it, that macaw let out an almighty ‘squawk’ and took off, flying in a complete circle mere inches above our heads.

I felt my hair move in its wake.

The strange thing is that I remained calm.  ‘Oh, was that a macaw that just flew over my head?  Well, I never…’ Surreal.

Back home, coughing up a storm by now and finally falling to sleep in the small hours, I was brusquely awoken by the sounds of my despairing daughter crying in her bedroom. I shot out of bed, worried sick as to what might have happened.

She had accidentally spilt a bottle of water all over her brand new laptop and was utterly distraught, thinking she had broken it and had lost all her recent work.

I really couldn’t believe that yet another thing had broken. I was at a low ebb, putting it mildly, plus I could barely talk (I was losing my voice from the coughing at that point) and both Aspie D and I were a crumpled, crying mess together.  Middle of the night stuff will do that to you.

Then at last Hubby emerged (he sleeps like a log), and helped Daughter with practical advise (thank God he is a calm man) as she managed to look up what to do on her mobile phone: stand laptop upside down like a teepee and leave it to dry for a good 48 hours.  The good news is that it was only water, as if it had been something like a sugary fizzy drink, it would have been a bigger problem.  Apparently.

But I also had a great idea and blurted out,  ‘Put it in the airing cupboard!’

I adore my airing cupboard.  It is the answer to so many of life’s problems.  Got caught in a downpour and shoes soaking wet? Stuff them with newspaper and put them in the airing cupboard.  Knocked juice all over homework?  Put it in the airing cupboard.  It will come out crumpled and stained, but at least it will be dry.  Water damaged laptop?  There you go.

And then we had a cup of tea.  The great comfort above all comforts when in a crisis: a steaming, hot mug of sweet tea, my answer to everything.

So that’s how my new year started: Gigantic macaw flew over my head and I didn’t lose it.  Laptop dried out, files saved, crisis averted and Daughter smiling again.  I still can’t talk with more than a squeak but I can read and write. And listen.

There has to be a great message hidden somewhere amongst that lot.

Happy New Year!



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