Tuesday, November 5, 2013

'Ullo, 'ullo, 'ullo!

Riddle: Red in the first
Bitter in the second
Bed in the third
Dead in the fourth
Female in the fifth
And giggle in the sixth.
What is it?

While in London back in the later sixties, I made the acquaintance of a London bobby, and he ended up giving me his helmet - one of my most prized possessions.  At about that time the London government released for sale a warehouse full of heavy black wool capes that had been part of the bobby's uniform back in the 1800s.  (You may remember photos of the Beatles wearing them.)  I bought one not just because they were fun, but because they were warm and almost waterproof.  I still have mine.  Upshot: I went to our co-op's Halloween party last Thursday as a London bobby - boy, that mustache itched!

I am working on two books at once: the final version of The Drowning Spool – it’s been set in type and all I can change now are typos – and the opening chapters of A Needle Case.  I have gotten a sudden insight into my sleuth Betsy’s boyfriend, but it's sort of strange and I was almost afraid to tell my writer’s group about it.  But they think it’s great because almost all my characters in this series are at least a little strange and now he’s become one of them.  It’s interesting when a character opens up like that; it’s as if he were a little shy about telling me about himself until he felt he could trust me.  (I think I’ve already stated that writers of fiction are all mad as hatters; they think the people they invent are, in some sense, real.)

I got on the scale yesterday morning and almost burst into tears.  The holidays are on the horizon and I’m already up several pounds.  This is what happens when golf season ends, I guess.  But also I’ve been eating too richly lately.  And in yesterday’s mail I got my Claxton Fruit Cake catalog.  They sell the very best-tasting fruitcake in the world, absolutely.  So between now and when the shipment I'm going to order arrives, I have to do some serious dieting.

Sunday morning I woke up with a serious cold.  Sneezing and blowing and a little throat tickle only confirmed the diagnosis.  So on my way home from church, I bought a bottle of Zicam (is it okay to mention brand names here?) and very religiously let one tablet melt on my tongue every three hours all day long.  Woke up Monday morning almost well, just a little stuffy – incredible!  So I took them all day long and now, Tuesday morning the cold is still here but not very severe.  This is amazing to me, normally my colds last at least ten days, and the first few days are misery

The Courage Center’s big heated pool is closed for virtually all of November for repairs, so I have been looking for an alternative place to do my water aerobics.  (Oddly enough, that’s the starting place for The Drowning Spool, the Courage Center closing its pool so Betsy has to find a temporary alternative.)  I finally found one that offers an early morning class – well, not quite as early as the Early Bird class at Courage Center – for eight dollars a session.  And I’m going to go to the Braemar Golf Dome on Thursday.  It has a driving range under one of those big white fabric bubbles.  My motto this week:  Get moving!

Answer:  Riddle

4 comments:

Linda O. Johnston said...

Great costume, Monica! And isn't juggling two books (or more) at a time a fun challenge? BTW, of course our characters are real...

Monica Ferris said...

See? Fellow authors understand how real our characters become! Sometimes it seems as if we just follow them around, writing down what they say and do!

Betty Hechtman said...

I'm glad I'm not the only one who thinks their characters are real!

Zinc is great for shortening colds. Trader Joe's used to sell these great zinc losenges. I'm glad to know there is something out there like them.

Love the costume. You must have been the hit of the party.

Monica Ferris said...

I don't do all my grocery shopping at Trader Joe's but I do appreciate a lot of the items they carry. Lately it's been their "apple flowers," which are little tarts, like miniature apple pies, very tasty. (See what I mean about eating too richly?)