David Almond & Baci

Just finished reading ‘The Fire Eaters’ and I wholeheartedly agree with the reviews on the back cover. It was a delightful book. David Almond is a great writer and his books are always refreshingly different to me.
I love reading. I have a couple more Gary Crew books to read now.
I am tired tonight so I shall retire early with my book and my Mothers Day ‘Bacio’. I love those chocolates as much for the love notes inside as the delightful chocs. I also like the silver and blue wrappings and I think the star design is divine too. I think they were created by someone with very similar taste as me!

Transformation

I received a free tarot reading for mothers day this morning. I rushed through it and noticed of all the cards that I got the Death card. It is so appropriate for me right now. I have had a seriously busy week and lots of things have happened around me that I won’t go into because they are mostly other people’s stories and not mine to tell. I’ll just say that some of my closest friends have been through harsh times. It hurts to see people you love hurt. I feel changed.
I got an email from another Tarot site that I used to read about the Death card meaning transformation. I guess it was there to insist even if I had been too rushed this morning to register it in the reading. I got it.
I have made some decisions about small changes I am going to instigate in my life.
My long time and treasured friend, Jane bought me this gorgeous treat from the bakery as a gift for a small favour I did and I couldn’t possibly eat it without photographing it. The anticipation and visual deliciousness of it deserves sharing. I’ll let you know if the taste measures up!

A success but never again….

I was crazy enough to give my 16 year old son a birthday party on Saturday night. The guest list grew out of proportion, as they do and I existed through the night in absolute stress bordering on fear to be honest. I was cranky and uptight with many of the kids and watched as about 80 kids trouped through my home out to the back yard concealing amounts of alcohol beyond thier capacity. I watched as they swayed and heard the noise level rise until I could tolerate it no longer. I turned of the music and sent them all home. They went. It was over and I breathed a sigh of relief.
They forgave me my crustiness. Only one small thing was broken and the breaker quickly reported it to me and promised to return the next day to fix it, which he actually did to my surprise and delight. No fights or agressive behaviour. My neighbour put a card in my letter box today thanking us for handling the party so well, which was a really touching and amazing thing.
There were a handful of kids who drank too much and caused me concern. Interestingly enough none of these kids were listed when the invitations went out and were all people I let in at the door because I felt sorry for them and didn’t want to turn them away as all their friends were there. I guess that is why they weren’t on the list – because they behave themselves in such a way as to leave themselves out. It wasn’t that bad though, just annoying mostly.
I felt extra stressed because I received some really sad news on Friday night, which I won’t be writing about because it is private but it made me very sad and I would have preferred to spend the weekend alone with my reminiscences. Sometimes you just don’t have that option.
I will not be having any more parties like that. It was too stressful for me and not necessary. I am sad to think kids that young are drinking alcohol to enjoy themselves and I don’t want it in my face again. They are good kids most of them though. This has been reinforced to me again.
For parents reading this, the kids whose parents phoned me and said they weren’t allowed to drink, did not drink. They enjoyed themselves just as much and were a pleasure to have. It is a shame more parents don’t make that stand, including myself.