An elaborate celebration cake

was my contribution to a birthday party last week.

Slabs of lemon drizzle sponge cake, jars of homemade lemon curd, a vat of lemony creamy cheesecake, a pot of lemon/vanilla frosting, boxes of paper pasted with crispy thin shards of bitter chocolate and a tub of lemon peel that had been turned into candied yellow ribbon - all these things needed to be kept separate and cold ready to assemble on party day  - Party Fridge (see previous post) was my dearest friend in this endeavour. When Neat New Fridge arrived a few days ago, I cleaned up my dear friend, wrapped her so she could still breathe and then I placed her in the wood store - ready for the next party.

Three bus stops up the road

from my house there's a prison and all around the prison are streets and streets of samey-looking houses.

One local nosey parker devised a scheme to get a peep into as many people's houses as possible, she suggested that the whole neighbourhood did art in their windows for three hours this evening and let the rest of everybody in the whole world walk around gawking into their houses

AND THEY DID!!!!

This evening I have been peeping into peoples houses - whole front rooms have been transformed into a disco or an aquarium, someone made several little illuminated boxes of glass animal scenarios and many children made Lego-worlds and cardboard Minecraft Worlds in their windows.

One house was bathed in a projection of flames - the house next door had a giant puppet sausage-on-a-toasting-fork tipping towards the flames.

There was a house that had made it's front garden into a beach with a punch-and-judy show and a beach hut and a flock of seagulls on the washing line guarded by a Cliff-Richard-singing-light-flashing dalek.

There were houses that looked like they were full of balloons or full of a forest and lots of people just left their curtains open so you could look at their stuff

and it was great!

In Other News

image by Edward Gorey who’s pen names included Ogdred Weary, Raddory Gewe, Regera Dowdy, D. Awd­rey-Gore, E.G. Deadworry, Waredo Dyrge, Deary Rewdgo, Dewda Yorger, and Dogear Wryde. Writer Wim Tigges responded, “God reward ye!”


Turns out that I'm not just a conceptual-house-pet, for today I have sold two of my bird skull etchings.

This has been celebrated by the boiling up a pot of black-eyed beans

Is it on or is it off?

25th July, Back in UK
Got back after midnight last night, new drama has broken out about terms and conditions, money, budgets... The Director is in London all day today meeting the Big Controller. A few days ago, when we were in celebration mode, he invited everyone who’s had anything to do with the project to a party tonight. This includes a new camera assistant who started working for us while I was away. This one is dark and brooding: slouchy posture, super-baggy low-slung trousers, underwear spilling over the top. He arrives for work first thing and he's bought his new wife along, she is pretty and pouty and spends the day sunbathing in the garden. I spend the day preparing for the party, getting tense about the outcome of the London meeting and developing my plans for running a B&B from the Lovely House.

The Director arrives slightly later than the other guests. I don't get a chance to find out how the meeting went.

New Camera Boy is keen for his wife to join the team. When the subject is broached directly to me I point out that a) we don’t definitely have a project yet but if we do finally hook it, it will have less rather than more budget. And b) if we can afford extra help there are several strong reasons why we should be using French people.


Late to bed - The Director tells me that New Wife persuaded him to give her a job interview  tomorrow evening????!!!