What Passes For Normal Around Here

At last the dry season has arrived - the skies are deep cornflower blue by day and a glittering mass by night, so it’s warm days and cold nights, which is just the way we like it.  We have little light pollution at the mountain stronghold, so we can lay in bed and watch shooting stars and satellites passing over head, which is nice.  The moon often sets behind the mountain in the early hours, and a full moon gives a particularly primordial feel to the forest as it sinks behind the trees.  The night sky is amazingly busy when you see it clearly. 



French magazine cover
by Rene Vincent



The dry weather means we’ve been able to start on some land care – sadly neglected when everything has been so wet, and I’m also re-motivated to get a bit of work done for the shop.  I haven’t done any framing for a little while because it’s not a good idea to handle old paper in damp conditions, but now I’m inclined to drag out some French images and change the look on the picture wall in the shop.  We need to replenish the French images in the shop anyway, so when we’re away the shop sitters have something to sell.  They always complain that we haven’t left enough jewellery or pictures for them, but I don’t have a limitless supply and by the time a buying trip rolls around we’re usually in pretty desperate need for more stock. 

 

It’s been back to normal programming on the Duty Moggie front this week.  Calypso resumed duties on Wednesday, and it was clear that she was happy to be back.  She was in a very chipper mood, with her tail straight in the air, lots of visits to look out the front window, and she even deigned to pose nicely for all photographers and only retreated to my lap a few times after she had enough of being stroked by her admirers.  I think she also quite enjoyed having a break from Caleb, who follows her around endlessly, jumping on her, rolling over her, biting her on the neck and then hogging all her bed space.  So she was very schmoozy and purring a lot and offering her belly to be tickled by all and sundry, which all and sundry found to be charming.  I brought Calypso and Caleb into the shop together again last Sunday, but really it’s not going to work because this time they both headed straight for the manager’s chair and immediately commandeered it, and I didn’t even get a look-in when it came to sitting down. 

Caleb enjoying his leopard skin cushion
at work on Sunday

Mischka is back on duty today, and again it’s clear she’s glad to be back, with lots of investigating the window but repeated returns to me for snuggles.  Klaatu will be back in his spot on Saturday, and he has a little fan club which always lays in wait for him on the way to work and they will no doubt be glad to see him back too.  Artemis is the least known of the moggies as she pulls the Sunday shift, but I’m thinking of maybe trying her with Caleb next week and see if we have a better result than the Calypso/Caleb combination.

This week we’ve gone semi-industrial in the window, with the first of the piano trolleys turned into a coffee table being presented, along with an excellent large metal English Georgian trivet, the French metal grape basket, a variety of enamelware and a very large Thai wooden bowl, which looks particularly good now that it’s raised off the floor so all the lovely gnarly old wood can be better seen.  It’s a very different look from the Pretty in Pink window of last week, but it’s good to change things around and show the stock in a whole new light.  The semi-industrial look is hugely popular, so we’ll see how the trolleys go.  We value-add by getting the glass cut for pieces like these, so people can just take them home and use them straight away without any effort on their part.  It’s always easier when someone else has done the work for you.



Not the best shot of the piano trolley in
the window,  but you get the idea

In Breaking News – Ridge is leaving The Bold & The Beautiful!!! Oh no!! How can this be? I always try to catch an episode while in France, because the dialogue sounds so much more sexy in French. I saw it in Portugal once but didn’t understand a single thing that was happening, and when what’s happening is usually so bleedin’ obvious it was saying a lot that I was clueless in Portuguese. We now have our own Bold & Beautiful, being Caleb and Calypso. Caleb is Hebrew for Bold (and yes, all Hebrew speakers, I know it also means Dog and it’s kind of weird to call your cat Dog, but we’re going with the other translation here, which is Bold, and anyway I don’t mind a bit of weird in my life). And guess what? Both Caleb and Calypso are left-pawed - or south-paws, as a visitor pointed out. Who knew that cats were left or right pawed? Not me, but now I’ve checked and all the others are right-pawed.

French Metal Grape Basket with
blue hydrangeas - it's amazing
how many people have wanted
to buy the flowers



Apropos of nothing, has anyone ever heard of the word Infinitude? I heard an Olympics commentator using it, and I don’t think it’s a real word but I quite fancy it and shall use it when I can. Which is now - I’m about to go shopping in Europe and face an infinitude of choices. How nice will that be? Infinitudily nice is the answer.

And I also really like the word Boobylicious. There is a TV show about to start in Australia which has a café called Boobylicious, and I swear it’s such a funnily tacky word that I must steal it – I just can’t think of a relevant antiques context, right now. I know it’s a steal from Bootylicious, but I like that word too. I know, small things. Anyway, could someone cleverer with words than me please let me know if you can think of something vintage-related that I can use Boobylicious in, and I shall consider it for the name of my next antiques business. Droopylicious will not be considered. Doug maintains his support for the name Dead Peoples’ Stuff for our next business, but I’m not using that either.

But talking of favourite words and phrases, I have two favourite lines of television dialogue at the moment.  The first is:  I reject your reality and substitute my own, which is from Mythbusters.  Not only is this a good motto in life, it’s a line I have actually been able to use on a strange woman in the shop, who repeatedly and forcefully informed me that my shop is not open on Thursdays.  Goodness knows where I’ve been sitting every Thursday, then.  So I did use this line on her, and regret to report that it was entirely lost on her.  How annoyment when your pithy witticisms aren’t understood by your victim.

My second favourite line of dialogue is from the only episode I’ve ever seen of an English show called Emmerdale.  But it’s such a good line that I really should try to catch a few more episodes next time we’re there.  It’s:   Get a jog on, you sour-faced slag, ‘fore I slap you silly.  This is Essex-girl-talk for:  I say, you should depart my vicinity right now, you unpleasant and really quite common person, or I shall be obliged to strike you rather firmly.  I’m so dying to use this line in the shop – the Essex-girl version, naturally - but I haven’t found anyone awful enough to say it to yet.  I might have to just spring it on a perfectly nice visitor who I just don’t like the look of.  So big smiles when you visit me, people, or I shall unexpectedly accost you in gibberish.

Mischka must insert herself into the middle of everything at all times. 
A photo without me in it?  You can't be serious!