Family day with granny

Ro and co came over today. Astonishingly, because he saw so little of me for months on end, Rufus loves me very much. He also loves my house and wants to live here. His mother enquired delicately whether he wanted to live here with me and Wink or with mummy and daddy. Granny and Auntie Wink, he said. And Perdita.

His parents are sorely tempted. I pointed out to him that it’s too far from his school and he likes school. Yes, but he likes weekends better…

I still think it’s the house that is the main attraction. It’s the size and the space outside – not that their house is small. Anyway, I made cheese soufflé for lunch, which children usually like and, because I was rather late getting started, did a rapid starter of smoked salmon sandwiches and cucumber, to stave off starvation in small children and their elders. Rufus had helped fetch the eggs from the henhouse and he and his sister fed the chickens their daily treat of mealworms. Later, he picked blackberries and I fetched some apples from the tree. i was going to give them to him to take home, but he wanted me to make a crumble, so we had pudding sometime after 3 in the afternoon. I had some local Jersey ice cream to go with it. I don’t normally eat anything sweet, but sometimes I had a couple of spoonfuls when Tim was away.

Ronan is going to check the catalogue to see if the formatting can be improved. He was quite impressed by how well I’d done, as am I. There are still a few things that I’d like changed but have tried and failed to do, so he’ll have a look. It doesn’t matter if it isn’t done. I know that few people will notice and it really does look fine as it is – still, it’s a satisfaction to get it as good as it can be.

I spent a while this morning cleaning the kitchen. It was a mess. In fact, it is again because I was so busy getting lunch ready that I couldn’t clear up as I went, then we went to the playground in the village so I had all the dirty dishes waiting for me afterwards. They didn’t all fit in the dishwasher and I left out those that needed soaking, so they’ll be dealt with in the morning. Anyway, that meant it wasn’t until after 11 when I sat down at the computer again and I plunged into writing about Tim. You know my informal style and that’s what I used. I hadn’t finished the first draft when the family arrived, but I printed it out and passed it round. That’s so unlike the Z I was a couple of decades ago. I’d have needed to perfect it before anyone saw it. Now, I know that isn’t necessary. Some helpful feedback was received and I’ll do more tomorrow.

5 comments on “Family day with granny

  1. 63mago

    Like you I could not give a text away before I felt that it was “ready” – corrected over and over, sometimes even reworked …achgott what a futile effort in retrospect. Congratulations to the catalogue ! “Word” was never meant as a “Satzprogram”, for typesetting, it is a word processor, nothing else. They later added parts for typesetting, layout etc., but still today you write with word, for publishing use scribus or something like that.

    Reply
    1. Z Post author

      When my daughter produced the catalogue for Russell, she used Publisher and Tim did too, for the first couple of years. Then he had to get a new computer, which meant a new version of Office and there was a glitch in Publisher. Every time he saved his work and came back to it, it said the file was corrupted and couldn’t be opened. Hours on the phone to Microsoft Support couldn’t track down the problem. So he managed to format it in Word which, as you say, isn’t designed for it.
      It was just as well though, because I have a Mac and always have had. Publisher isn’t licensed for Macs and so I wouldn’t have been able to do the work myself without huge difficulty as I am not used to his laptop.

      Reply
  2. Scarlet

    Children love places with animals – I know I did! I would have happily spent a day with the chickens. My goodness, I think I would have been besotted visiting you as well – cats; dogs; chickens; great food; and a house that in my imagination is something out of a popular C.S Lewis book! Please can you be my auntie too?!
    No, I’m not uptight about my writing anymore either – maybe it’s all this blogging?
    Sx

    Reply
    1. Z Post author

      It’s all so normal for me that I take it for granted, but I do realise this is an unusual setup when I think about it. And you’re welcome! I think you’re right about the blogging.

      Reply
  3. Blue Witch

    Word is such a pain. I think it’s got worse as the versions have gone on. I’m now using LibreOffice for everything and it’s brilliant, free (no adverts or anything either) and compatible with all Word docs etc.

    Someone I know uses PowerPoint for producing a magazine. Sometimes that works when Publisher doesn’t.

    I can’t believe that you’ve managed to get that catalogue done at this time. You amaze me!

    Reply

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