KILLER HOBBIES

 This will be my third try to get this thing posted!

Riddle: I am where yesterday comes after tomorrow though today remains in between.

About ten days or two weeks ago I realized I was going to need a haircut pretty soon.  I’ve worn my hair short most of my life and was all right with that.  There was just a bit of a wave in my hair that showed best when my hair was short.  But lately, the wave is gone.  Because of the meds I take, my hair is getting thin, and nothing I tried was making it look even just okay.  (Thank God I love to wear hats!)  But last week I looked at myself in the mirror and said, “I need something different.”  I went to my hairdresser and said, “Can you give me a perm?  Not tight curls, but really wavy.”  I haven’t had a permanent wave since I was a child and was surprised to find they don’t smell any better now than they did then.  As she began to take off the little rollers I asked anxiously, “Do we have curls?”  And oh, my, did we!  All I needed was a henna rinse and I’d look like Orphan Annie!  But as I’ve gotten used to it, and learned how to apply mousse and comb it out, I think I really like it.  There are only two problems:  A “perm” isn’t permanent, but has to be renewed every three months – and it costs a whole lot more than a haircut.  On the other hand, I think it looks great!  The cat in my arms is Snaps, our big neutered male.

The wedding on Saturday was wonderful.  There were amusing parts – the two little flower girls competed to see who could throw rose petals the farthest up the aisle – and touching parts – Adam and Jamie took their vows in firm, sincere voices.  And the reception was well planned and lots of fun.

Michaelmas was smaller than usual – just fifteen people – but the geese were especially delicious, and so was all the other food.  My parish priest came and didn’t seem bothered by the superstition element of the party (“Who eats goose at Michaelmas won’t want for money for a year”), and the other guests came from a wide spectrum but seemed to get along splendidly.

When I’m not going to weddings or throwing parties, I am working hard on the notated manuscript of The Drowning Spool – it’s due back at my publisher today – and on the needlepoint canvas Christmas stocking.  The manuscript will be ready on time, but I’ve already missed the deadline before which the canvas has to be turned in to a “finisher” who will make it into a stocking I can hang up.  But the stitching will be finished by Thanksgiving.

To my surprise, I won a seat on the board of directors of the co-op we live in.  There are already some decisions to be made, and I’m hoping I am up to the responsibility.  We’re going out later this morning to look at hardwood or laminate flooring we might buy to replace some of the carpeting.

Also to my surprise, I’ve been asked to “facilitate” the discussion at Magna cum Murder later this month of the book every attendee has been asked to read, “The Daught of Time,” by Josephine Tey.  The daughter of time is Truth, and it’s about the awful and possibly – no, probably –  untrue reputation pressed onto King Richard III back in the fifteenth century.  Written as a modern mystery, it has provided a wonderful entry into late-medieval English history.  To further prepare myself I am re-re-re-reading Paul Murray Kendall’s more detailed and serious work on King Richard.

Answer: A dictionary.