Belated thanks!

[anteros_lmc]

Apologies for dropping off the internet for the last month or so. Things have been a bit mad even by my work's crazy standards. I'll save you the gory details of the relentless erosion of contracts, terms and conditions, and the casualisation of professional academic staff in UK higher education. Suffice to say, after being reduced to a two month contract, I've had to do some concerted job hunting and have had six (count em!) job interviews in the last four weeks. The upshot of which, is that I have now gone from potentially having no job beyond February, to potentially having two jobs, at two different universities. On the plus side, this is good because, y'know, I have a mortgage to pay, on the minus side, it's all just a bit mad.

Aaaaanyway...as a result of all this nonsense I have been woefully remiss in thanking folk for all the cards and gifts they have sent. So thank you amaraal, nodbear, mylodon and esteven for the gifts, which are now under out Christmas tree being prodded on a daily basis by daughter. And thank you also latin_cat, aletheiafelinea (thank you for the opłatek! :), esmerelda_t and katriona_s (love your Christmas hat! XD) for the lovely cards. I did manage to send out some Christmas cards and parcels, but I was very late in posting them, so I suspect they will be New Year's cards for most of you :}

I've also been neglecting following_sea terribly which makes me feel very :( but I've been accumulating various things to post both here and there, so I plan to spam you all with Navyboy related goodness over the holidays :)

Hope you're all well and looking forward to the holidays however you choose to spend them. A x



Winter Sky

Comments

[eglantine-br.livejournal.com]

Did you take that photo? It is lovely.

There is something for me, always in the sight of branches against the sky. It is like the tail of a dream that I cannot quite catch.

As a kid I had a little blue painted room with peaked ceiling. (You may remember it, I gave it to Horatio.) I had just one window with wobbly blown glass panes. It looked out over trees. On winter mornings I would get up in the cold to milk the goats and feed chickens before school. My view was that, winter lace, oak tree branches against the white winter sky.

It is the visual equivalent to the smell of faraway woodsmoke. A little bit lonesome for something you cannot name.

Funny, you know, the smell of woodsmoke and the sight of trees would have done nothing at all for Archie or Horatio. It would be like us felling nostalgia for cars or soda cans. We don't see the beauty of what is all around.

[anteros-lmc.livejournal.com]

I did take the picture, in the park on Saturday morning. I'm glad you found it so evocative. It's funny the things that can trigger such strong memories. Strange to think that a picture taken on a dull rainy morning in a park half the world away can recall your blue peaked room and winter skies. Then again, winter skies are timeless.

I despatched the jolly boat yesterday so it won't be with you until the New Year, but hopefully it'll raise a smile when it arrives ;)

[eglantine-br.livejournal.com]

I look forward to it. I will be sending things out late this year as usual I fear, but they will come as a late January surprise I suppose!

There will be another child now, sleeping in that little slanted room.

I wonder if there is a kid in Horatio's room too? (After all, Marlowe's house was still inhabited until WWII!

[mylodon.livejournal.com]

*hugs hugs hugs hugs hugs hugs *

[anteros-lmc.livejournal.com]

*hugs hugs hugs hugs hugs hugs* back :)

And thank you so much for sending Scrimgeour's diary. I'll look forward to reading it.

[mylodon.livejournal.com]

You will love it. But do have a hankie ready.

[amaraal.livejournal.com]

You're welcome :) I hope you like the gift and have a pleasant time and a cozy, warm Christmas!

[anteros-lmc.livejournal.com]

Daughter is intensely curious as to what's inside it! I told her it was from the lady who made the little bead animals :)

[nodbear.livejournal.com]

*hugs* and glad to see your reappearance and look forward to more of it on Following sea and elsewhere

You have had such a barrage of things to cope with all in a mad scramble
I do hope the season has a few quiet moments somewhere along the line as well as some fun ones .
then the news today must affect you as everyone in Glasgow * so more hugs*

[anteros-lmc.livejournal.com]

Aye it's all been a bit mad recently and I suspect it will only be more so after the New Year! Never mind hopefully I can catch up with all things Navyboys in the meantime.

the news today must affect you as everyone in Glasgow * so more hugs*
Thanks. It's just awful for something like this to happen at this time of year, especially after the Clutha crash last year.

[eglantine-br.livejournal.com]

Yes. Thinking of you and of S when I heard of the emergency medical response.

I hope you and family will have a peaceful quietly happy Christmas.

[aletheiafelinea.livejournal.com]

Belated reply for the thanks! (I guess we all are more or less busy around this time... *g*) I'm glad my card reached you! I hope your next year will be less mad. :)