wee

When I was a little girl my Mother would read me the stories of Strega Nona and Big Anthony by Tomie DePaola. They were delightful and funny books about a Grandma witch and her assistant who was kind of a tall gangly absent-minded guy. Obviously I have taken a lot of inspiration from Strega Nona and the deep belief in certain cures for what ails you. Garlic. Plenty of garlic.

Mr. Jenner had quite a temp yesterday. I made him sleep, drink tea, eat so much garlic in various forms and rest. This morning he has no fever and the chills/aches are gone. He is a bit stuffed up but that is all right. He looks much better and all is fairly well once again at Chez Anglo-America.

The sky is rather pretty this morning. Maybe I will take the kids out for a walk or something. But first there is laundry to attack. For there is always piles of laundry.

book lust

The new Persephone Book catalogue came in the mail today. I love looking through it and making lists of what I desperately need from them. One of the best books I read this year came from them. It was Mariana by Monica Dickens. I loved it so much and pressed it upon a number of people. I told friends they had to read this and I think I helped build a minor cult for this book. It was just so perfectly written. I have read other books this year but there is part of me that keeps looking for something to match up to Mariana. I want to go to a really good bookseller and say, "Something like this dammit!" The publishers describe the book as,
"a hot-water bottle novel one to curl up with on the sofa on a wet Sunday afternoon."
Nuff said.

Maybe I need to read some more EM Delafield to distract me for the time being until I find that next great book.

This book review looks mighty entertaining.

...

I didn't accomplish a great deal today, though maybe I did. Sometimes it is hard to tell. We baked brownies and then I took the kids out for a walk. We watched this impressive concrete pumper being used to pour sidewalks a block over. We also watched men smooth out the concrete for the sidewalks. I did a few loads of laundry and even got things folded/put away. It struck me that I could build a whole business around going to people's homes and doing just that. It is easy to throw things in the wash/dryer but most hate the folding/putting away business. The clean clothes begin to pile up and it becomes this awful monster in the house. I don't terribly care for folding clothes, but I am a bit rabid about it. It is a slightly complicated task these days because I have a toddler who wants to "help". Though his version of help means throwing things around and being an imp. If I can fold laundry without the assistance of one Senor Onion, it can be a fairly relaxing chore that I enjoy. It is methodical and it appeals to my yen to put things in categories. Don't mess with my piles.
When I wasn't waxing weird about laundry I held a baby. Boy am I ever good at that. Just a lot of holding.
But by four o'clock I was worn out dinner really wasn't going to be made. I decided to order thai food. There is a new-ish place that is up the hill from us and it has decent reviews -for a thai place. And it was indeed all right for Thai food. They were darn quick for take-out, not too expensive and the country-style Phad Tai wasn't all ketchupy. I like their noodles. I am curious to try some of their curry. Spring rolls weren't all that interesting. But that is okay. So we have another place to get food from now and then.

Mr. Jenner has settled down to having a cold/cough. He doesn't have a mancold. I just need to make him tea and tell him to take a throat lozenge now and then. Plus I washed his pajamas and changed the bedclothes on the bed and put a hotwater bottle on his side of the bed. I think that cures a lot of things.

Dinner has been thrown a bit off the past few days so tomorrow I may devote myself to creating something nice. Finally roasting a damn chicken and doing something with the acorn squash.