The evening before yesterday my Droitwich friend came over and we cooked a meal together which we both really enjoyed. We have done this about three times now and as both enjoy sharing the cooking, this has turned out to be an excellent way in which we can relax in each other’s company. I had previously collected Meg’s ashes which are supplied in a stout cardboard box about 9″ x 6″ x 6″ and this was covered with a beautiful ruby covered cloth. In many ways it almost looks like the chalice veil which is used in a Catholic Mass at the start of the service to keep the sacred vessels clean and pure and although I originally intended to transfer the contents to a proper funeral urn, I am more than happy with how Meg’s remains are resting at the moment. She is nesting amongst a little collection that we have of owls and other wildlife and at the moment is being overlooked by an arctic fox and a golden goose (both embroidered cushion covers as it happens) In vase this all sounds completely ‘kitsch’ it really is tastefulness itself and I am minded to keep things just as they are. Kitsch refers to art, design, and popular culture that is considered by some to be of poor taste, sentimental, garish, or overly commercial, often characterized by its superficiality or excessive melodrama. The word originated in Germany in the 19th century as a derogatory term for low-quality and cheap artwork but has since been adopted into English to describe items that appeal to popular, lowbrow tastes, sometimes with an appreciation for their ironic or nostalgic qualities. I did plan on transferring the ashes into one pf the large vases that we have but to be honest these may all be a little unstable. I am minded, though, to take the really excellent photo of Meg taken at her best (a staff photo, taken in her early 30’s) and using this in a discreet size to place atop the box which would be more difficult in a conventional case or urn. At the risk of being over-sentimental, I have a profound feeling that Meg is really happy back in her own home and my heart is filled with joy (and the inevitable tinge of sadness) Needless to say, my friend and I stood in front of the arrangement and included her in our toast to the three of us. Now returning to yesterday, I have an arrangement to meet up with my University of Birmingham friend with whom I have quite a lot to discuss – but that is what good friends are for, after all. This weekend will be dominated by rugby, no doubt as France and the ‘Black Ferns’ (New Zealand) will have a play off for 3rd place earlier on Saturday afternoon whilst Canada and England play in the final starting at 4.00. If I have to predict the results, I feel that both New Zealand and Canada will emerge as winners of both of these contests and England will have to be content with second place.
In the morning, I took the car down into town and then walked along the High Street to introduce my University of Birmingham friend to my ‘Donley Sanctuary’ café. I think it is true to say that he preferred the informal and homely atmosphere within the shop to what might term a ‘normal’ coffee bar and we had a really good chat about the things that we had been doing I the last week or so. He had just returned from holiday in Mallorca where he had found it very hot, not surprisingly. Then after I had returned home, my son and daughter-in-law turned up as they had previously indicated and I showed them the little arrangement I have made in the Music Lounge to display the box containing Meg’s ashes, I intend to put a small red rose in a small flower dish immediately in font but I do not want the whole to look over-sentimentalised which is always the danger. Then I cooked myself a simple lunch of slices of ham, heated in some onion gravy and then served on a bed of lettuce.
I spent a certain amount of time trying to track down some internet copies of the three articles I read recently about the experiences of three female journalists who had been living alone for the past 10-20 years. You have thought this should have been a simple task of searching the internet but this was to no avail. As I am a subscriber to ‘The Times‘ I accessed their own website and eventually found the article in I which was particularly interested. But the reason why I had not been able to find the article in my my internet searches was that the same article was headlined in two different ways between the paper version of the newspaper and the internet version. Whether this is a regular occurrence or just an aberrance I cannot say but I was particularly pleased to be able to locate the article so that I could pass it on to on particular friend for whom I feel it may have a special relevance. I notice from the news bulletins that Donald Trump is claiming that he is very close to securing a peace deal for the Israel/Gaza conflict. If this is the case, then no one else has been able to discern it and I suspect that Trump may be deploying some gamesmanship here. He is due to meet with the Israeli PM Netanyahu on Monday and be hoping that by announcing an imminent deal which the Israeli leader may be forced to deny it is not true may bounce the Israelis into some sort of deal just to save face. As the days unfold, we shall find out whether Trump’s claim is true in any particular. Now to turn from high politics to the much more mundane. As I went shopping yesterday, I bought myself a ‘Peppermint and Liquorice’ fruit tea. Now his tea has an immense and interesting flavour that I suppose one will either love or hate. But many of these fruit teas are incredibly insipid and require more time in which to infuse but this tea is a real exception as the resulting taste is so powerful. The other tea I particularly like is ‘Camomile and Spiced Apple’ but this can be a little hard to find.