All our times have come

This is my 599th post. I can't believe that a. I've rambled on that much and b. you've all listened. Well, read, I suppose. Anyway...

We all went to Steve's grave today. Took some flowers, did a tiny bit of tidying. There weren't any other flowers there this time, as there have been in the past. I wondered if someone would come along, but they didn't. I kind of hope they do though, and see our offerings and know someone else is thinking about him.

We sat on a bench for a bit, and Sherlock had a lot of questions about post-death rituals. He wants to be a ghost. Slightly hampered by the fact he doesn't believe in ghosts...but as a concept, he wants to believe, and he wants to do some haunting.

He got most excited by being turned into a diamond (Mycroft's suggestion), being shot into space (John's suggestion) and being buried at sea (My suggestion). None of us really knew much about anything apart from being buried at sea, though, so that was his quiz topic of the day. He wants to donate himself to science anyway, but he said once they were done he'd like to be turned into a diamond and then shot into space. Everyone's got to have an ambition, I suppose?


Work has been....work. Good results, bad results.

Sherlock has announced this is how he wants to sleep for our camping trip:

Don't forget where you are and jump out of bed...

I said I thought I'd spend all night needing a wee. John pointed out at least you could just stick your chap out and go.... (I'm also confused as to the ingress and egress...but Sherlock has that in hand..."You'd just carry me and put me in it!" I don't know why I asked...)

Anyway, we have cautiously allowed the possibility of hammocks to enter our plans.


Aaaand now I have to go because Sherlock decided to see what percentage of his body weight of carrots he could fit in his mouth and now there are carrots all over the floor and the dogs are eating them ... never a dull moment.

My feet don't hardly make no sound

We all had a lovely walk yesterday.

I think, if the boys do sort out cloning, that I'd like an Anthea. I have no idea how Mrs H found her, or where, but I'm beginning to think she was actually manufactured specifically for the purpose.

So we biked out to the countryside, and Anthea played dog-taxi, then she looked after all of our bike gear so we could go on a long ramble around the sun-soaked countryside.

The dogs were great, bounding all over the place, having the time of their lives. As was Sherlock.

We all ran amok, but the dogs are so big and excitable that I discovered if you run amok in too silly a fashion, they just accidentally flatten you. And then your husband laughs like a drain. I just didn't see the dog coming - I was halfway through a particularly balletic leap, when WHAM, dog from the side meant I met the turf - luckily not a cow-pat! And then the dog tried to lick me to death - no dog gets to lick me when it's spent half the walk trying to eat rabbit poo, thanks all the same.

Anyway, here are some views.

Still the fox is growing older, As he calls over his shoulder to the night

We went out for a jog today. bumped into a sponsored run thing for Sport Relief, so we decided all to do it - including Sherlock.

He literally ran rings around us. We thought he'd find three miles a bit far/boring. Now we're not so sure. He was so full of energy, dancing about, running off, coming back to us, running off again. He must have done at least 2 miles. And at the end we all got a medal :)

Now, in other news - anyone know where you can get 4 finger nitrile gloves? There's an officer on another force who had to have a finger amputated, and now needs gloves for crime scenes/searches etc. They're stuck!


Found this, and laughed a lot...our two get terrible confused when they drop things and then can't get under the sofa to retrieve them, or if you pretend to throw a ball but don't let go of it..





My cough is...boring. but I feel a million times better. Which is good, as I've got to do my assessment next week. My eyes passed with flying colours - no worse than last time, just reminded me to wear my glasses more. Hmmm.

Got nights soon, too. At least it's not so cold now. The allotment does actually look like someone cares for it again, and we're hopeful that our beans and peas and spuds will all flourish soon. The soil's still a bit heavy - very clay-y round these parts. But with some sun on it, everything (meaning weeds) seems to be doing ok.

We'll get some tomatoes in once we're ready. Someone gave us some lavender the other day, which we've added to our herb-y corner :)

Now, toad in the hole is almost cooked, with roast spuds and parsnips and veggies! Mmm.

You have to be trusted by the people that you lie to

I found this.

Sherlock is not allowed to use the first expression.

Nor is anyone to call me the one which refers to policemen.

I read something about World War One slang which made it into common use (much of it still in common use, too) and one which I wish had stuck is 'zeppelins in the clouds' meaning bangers and mash. Brilliant.

I do like language, especially when it's all the same language, and dialect bits, or just changes from historical splits - like English and American/Canadian/Australian etc. But even more when it's just English dialect. Although it was the source of a lot of teasing when I first moved to London.


We've said goodbye to Mycroft once more. I swear that the dogs have as much stuff as he does. And we couldn't find Phobos' favourite chew toy. It's a big...like a fake tyre, on a rope. He loves it. Deimos didn't help by parading about with the huge red bone he likes in his mouth. All smug and 'I'm ready to go, what's the hold up?'

John did provide a perfect moment when he stood in the middle of the room, Phobos looking up at him, all wide eyed, and John looked at him and said "Well where did you see it last?" Exactly like he does with Sherlock...

Anyway, found in the kitchen cupboard. Don't ask me how it got there.

So, yes, Mycroft's gone back. And dropped the bombshell that he's considering other 6th Forms, not just Harrow, for next year...

 We're back home. We've been fed. I'm putting the final touches to my seminar, which I'm delivering on Tuesday...now, leave early Tuesday morning, stay over until Weds... or leave Monday night, back Weds....which one?

John is checking Sherlock's homework, piece by piece, to check he hasn't only done the ones he wants to...although it's a bit late now!

And tomorrow, everyone will be back to their respective workplaces, or in John's case, he'll get his workplace back and undoubtedly try to rebuild it, after a week of boys and dogs and chaos.

Love forever love is free, Let's turn forever you and me

We've had a lovely day today. Haven't done much, just explored, walked, eaten, had a nice time together. Exactly what holidays are for.

Sherlock hasn't finished tearing around the mill. I have no idea where he gets the energy from. He's up and down the stairs like a ferret up a trouser leg. Occasionally followed by the dogs. Like a ten-legged avalanche.

Waking up with John in a four-poster bed, on top of the world, was wonderful. Our room's split level, and the bath is on the lower level. John had a soak this morning while I made breakfast.

Last night we all piled into the hot tub. Why doesn't every house have one of those? It's so relaxing. Well, it has potential to be, if you don't have a seven year old at the controls ;) We got out to put Sherlock to bed, and then John and I got back in for a last bit of relaxation. Figure it's good for both of us, all that warmth.

So here's our current abode:

And make believe it's wonderland

We went and saw Mycroft today - in the snow. Snow came even earlier than predicted. So it was a cold and slightly slippery ride up there. But we were all fine.

Mycroft helped me do this - by which I mean, put a picture on my phone, and then provide evidence of this...I don't even know.

I do know that I immediately fell prey to some autocorrect. I emailed myself this image, to use in this blog, using the subject 'Jmob' - makes sense, right? J on my mobile?

Yeah, so when a photo of my lovely boyfriend arrived in my inbox with the title 'Knob'...well, it wasn't intended!

Fast away the old year passes

Merry Christmas, everyone!

I hope you all had a fun/peaceful/nice day (delete as applicable), whether you celebrated or not.

I had a lovely day. Everyone was very kind about the food, and seemed to enjoy it (there is barely anything left.)

We made two Christmas cakes - Sherlock helped ice ours, Mycroft helped ice Mrs Hudson's.

I think they...differ in style in a pleasing way.

Don we now our gay apparel

Well, hasn't today been ridiculously wet and miserable?

Still, we did some...most? Of the final Christmas shop. Just need to pick up the meat from the butcher...and...errr...well, I need to buy John a present. What do you get the Nanny in your life? Answers on a postcard...or a comment.

We bought baubles.

I got a ceramic snowflake shape, because John said getting a black one with 'Ho Bloody Ho' on it wasn't 'in the spirit'. But my snowflake is nice, I like it a lot (it's the one on the left.). I'll let the others choose if they want to tell you what they got.

Breakfast at Gregory's....

This is one plate of breakfast from this morning.

One plate. Two massive bits of french toast sitting on said plate.

Guess who ate BOTH those bits of French Toast?

I'll give you a clue. He was six. (And only has two legs... I've no idea if either of the dogs are six. It's possible.)

Those bits of toast where bigger than his face!  Serves me right for being such a soft touch and making it, I imagine. Everyone else was only slightly more restrained...

If you can't...

Blog readers of the world.

I honestly never thought I'd have to say this, but here it goes.

Please all act respectfully towards one another. These blogs are supposed to be fun. Treat others as you would wish to be treated.

We're never going to take away the option to post anonymously. Lots of people in the past have participated in otherwise very difficult discussions which they otherwise wouldnt have, because the Anon function gave them the chance to talk about things.

Please don't abuse it.

I don't think John or I ever expected these blogs to grow into quite such a 'community'. As with any group of people, I certainly don't expect everyone to get along. But if something or someone irritates you, please try to rise above it and ignore, instead of sniping or baiting or being rude.

This post does not require anyone to comment on it. It doesn't need debate, discussion or validation. It just needs everyone to take a moment to think about their actions.

re-united

Takes a long time to get a house moving in the morning when there's five people to get through the bathroom (and chaos when two different people feed the dogs. They love it. And are capable of eating their entire feed and then looking half starved by the time the next person enters the room, thereby getting the second feed.) and Sherlock begs for pancakes, because it's pancake day [Shrove Tuesday] Mycroft!I'd almost forgotten you could do that. Don't. Pancake day, Shrove Tuesday - everyone knows what I mean! [It's plebeian] And? I'm a pleb! Stop it. Anyway, yeah, so Sherlock manages to negotiate pancakes for everyone for breakfast, using logic to defeat all my arguments, and begging to defeat the ones logic failed on. And enlisting Mary on his side as a final blow to any objections I had.

John got a phonecall, and it was so late it was decided we should head to the park to let the dogs run off their mammoth breakfasts. Sherlock climbed trees, the dogs somehow ran about without being sick, Deimos completely destroyed one of their tennis balls by catching it mid-air with such a hard bite it disintegrated. He looked surprised.

Knight in Shining Armour

So, most of you will have read John's post from yesterday. Which was just about as dramatic as any Friday has a right to be.

Mycroft very kindly gave up his bedroom for Mary, and slept on the floor of Sherlock's room.

I think it took everyone a while to settle down to sleep.

And then I was woken up by Sherlock shaking my arm and telling me that "Mycroft had a bad dream and I got him a dog and gave him a hug and he's still not okay". So I headed in there, swiftly followed by John, and Mycroft was being exceptionally brave, but was a bit upset about everything.

Since we've no place to go...

Sherlock's face will soon be stuck to the window, and there will be a path worn in the carpet where he keeps bouncing to the window to check on the (lack of) snowfall.

Obviously we don't have a driveway...change it to something like 'scooping snow to form snowballs'.

I don't think Sherlock's trek back and forth to the windows would be as bad if he weren't always followed by two hounds bounding after him. The number of times my paperwork has gone flying today makes me think I should actually invest in a desk and do this all properly. Except that would feel like I was intending to work from home, which I'm not.

Understand that sexuality is as wide as the sea.

 Understand that sexuality is as wide as the sea. Understand that your morality is not law. Understand that we are you. Understand that if we decide to have sex whether safe, safer, or unsafe, it is our decision and you have no rights in our lovemaking.

Derek Jarman

So, after all of yesterday's drama today was pretty calm.

We made pancakes for breakfast, then Sherlock went down to Mrs Hudson and John and I headed to Harrow via the pet shop. We met up with Mycroft, Anthea and the dogs in the park. Presented the dogs with their new chews - those big weird marrowbone things, and a chewy/throwing toy for them each. They seemed satisfied.

Pond life

Today was lovely. Well, the very first bit wasn't - no idea, beyond the vague suspicion that Sally might have poisoned me - what was up with me, but at about 3am I woke up. Got annoyed that I was awake again for no reason. And then found out there was a reason... And spent the next hour hanging onto various bathroom fixtures being very miserable.

Anyway, upshot of that was falling asleep again at nearly 5, and being woken up by breakfast in bed from John and the boys.

Once we were all up and dressed and ready to go we headed to the school to get some pond digging done. The hole had filled up with water a fair bit, after the rain we've had, so Deimos was straight in there, splashing about and getting filthy. Almost followed by Sherlock, but John and Mycroft both grabbed him.

...food is the food of love. Apparently.

Recipes. As promised.

We have bowls of fruit soaking in brandy hidden in high cupboards to keep it away from predators, four legged and two legged...

It soothes all my troubles away...

I'm not advocating drinking all your troubles away...that's a line from the song 'I Am A Cider Drinker'. (It also includes the lines 'With me breeches full o' tadpoles,
And the newts between me toes'. I don't advocate bothering wildlife, either.)

There's a pub quite close to where we're camping. It's basically three small rooms - two for drinking, one a 'museum', full of those infamous 'Things In Glass Jars' that Sherlock loves, a lot of fossils and bones, an entire stuffed alligator...well, it's just got all sorts in it. Both the boys have spent quite a bit of time in there.

It's a cider pub, so there are about ten ciders on tap, a few bitters and that's about it. It's stuffed with walkers, musicians, and dogs. A lot of dogs. Which seems like even more dogs, when our two get involved, being massive.

Anyway, it's lovely. Unspoilt by modern life, fantastic views down to the sea, chicken roaming about in the large garden (did I mention dogs?) and utterly relaxing.

Mycroft even let his hair down and had a ginger beer shandy. (Which isn't an extended metaphor for any gay sex act...) If you like ginger beer...and you like bitter, then you should try mixing them.

Camping it up.

Quick updates!

We're here. Tent is standing. Fire is lit. Sherlock is predictably unwilling to think about going to bed.

We haven't been down to the sea yet - it's a bit of a walk - but have explored the surrounding area. Dogs have made doggy friends. Sherlock has talked to everyone and probably now knows their life stories. And eaten ice cream.

I am very much looking forward to zipping myself to Danger and sleeping for a long time. Although I imagine Sherlock will be up at sparrow's fart desperate to go down to the (very cold) sea...

We're gonna have a good time...

well, yes. Much to Sherlock's disbelief, I did sort of forget it was my birthday. I mean, if you'd asked me my date of birth, I still know it, but it hadn't really hit me we were even in August, I've been so busy.

So my birthday surprise(s) came as more of a surprise than ever...

Last night, I got home, expecting some takeaway...and John had cooked. Cooked a bloody amazing dinner. (details here) It was really, really nice. And really touching that John even thought about it.

One-and-a-half up.

Today, after a slow start, a long breakfast, quite a bit of coffee and  a run around the park with the dogs (Well, half with the dogs...John and I ran around the paths, Sherlock and Mycroft played frisbee with the dogs in the middle, the dogs occasionally came and tried to trip us up), Mycroft and I headed off on the bike.

We didn't go too far, just for a spin out of town, a few different roads, nothing spectacular. And he mainly liked it. Well, he smiled when he got off...and I think it was because he enjoyed it, not because he was pleased to be off the back. He did say he didn't like filtering through the traffic much ("Because you never know what the other drivers might do - some of them are idiots.") We stopped and had a drink, then came back into town and went straight to the swimming pool, where we met John and Sherlock.