The End of Summer

The August bank holiday weekend always signals the beginning of the end of the summer for me, and now I'm counting down the days to September as autumn begins to roll in.

Our bank holiday was very busy. Both my husband and I had the Friday off work too so we cleared out the basement and tidied and cleaned the rest of the house. By late Saturday afternoon the main rooms that visitors see and use were looking good - living room, dining room, kitchen and bathroom. The basement was ready for its new task - cider brewing!

Yes, Saturday evening my brothers and the youngest's girlfriend arrived bearing five large carrier bags filled with pears from my parents' garden. One look at the sheer volume of fruit and we decided all we wanted to do was chill out, so we ate pizza and ice-cream, caught up with each other and played Carcassone until it was time to hit the hay.

Next day, the pear preparation (and awful pear-related work puns) began! One brother washed the pears, the other chopped, and my husband sent them through the juicer and into the brewing bucket.

Meanwhile my brother's girlfriend and I set to preparing for the afternoon's tea party - a treat for both my and my husband's families, as a very belated thank you for helping us move house back in March. I baked chocolate flapjacks, and together we made mini scones to be served with cherry jam and clotted cream. She and my brother had already made incredibly delicious lemon & lime cupcakes and a large chocolate sponge. We then also made several sandwiches - ham with lettuce from the garden, cheese and cucumber, and roasted vegetables with houmous, all cut into neat little triangles. Whilst we worked hard at this the men had transformed the dining room into some kind of hideous pear-filled nightmare. Unwanted cores and bits of pulp scattered everywhere. Within an hour, however, the room was looking spotless and the smell of pear (as delicious as it is) had thankfully vanished. The perry-to-be was safely hidden away in the basement, merrily starting to brew. The table was set up with one cake stands and plates of sandwiches, the kettle was on ready to make different pots of tea, and we had just enough time to mess around with a chain mail coif, discovered during one of the earlier tidying sprees!

If the coif fits...

Then my husband's family arrived, shortly followed by my parents, and time to tuck in was finally here! And if I may say so myself it was all rather tasty!

The awesome lemon and lime cupcakes

We spent the afternoon drinking cup after cup of tea and eating lots and lots of sandwiches and cakes, catching up with each other, telling stories and jokes, and generally relaxing. The house felt very quiet after everyone left, but both my husband and I felt strangely serene. I think it was what we needed. Then it was off to church for the evening service, before having a chilled evening watching Lost and eating eggy bread for supper (well it wasn't like we'd eaten enough bread earlier or anything!)

We both slept very well that night!

The bank holiday Monday was a day for just us. A late start, a wander along the river as it wends its way south out of town edging ever nearer to the sea, a windswept picnic on said river banks, an attempt to pick blackberries that were a little too close to the overhead bypass to be safe to eat...

Blackberries signifying that autumn is almost here

The sparkling waters of the river

Then it was back home to more of those wretched pears. We filled a large pot with them and stewed them, then freezing them ready for winter puddings. And there is still half a bagful left, argh! Forget zombies, pears have been invading our house! Still, we're hoping the perry brewing works and that we will be enjoying some fine and tasty cider in time for Christmas.

In the meantime though, as it's now feeling distinctly autumnal, and summer is well and truly coming to its end in Sussex, I think I shall have a cup of tea to warm the cockles.

Photos my own.

Only One Can Live

On Wednesday evening I finally got to see the last Harry Potter film. Long anticipated by many, upon its release in mid-July it was declared the 'end of an era.'

I first read Harry Potter when I was 15. My youngest brother had been given the first three books for one of his birthdays and he read and reread them, especially Harry Potter & the Prisoner of Azkaban, his favourite. Eventually my dad prised it out of his hands and handed him a copy of The Hobbit which he devoured with equal rapidity. And then he read and reread both that and the Lord of the Rings trilogy thereafter. Even though he had temporarily discarded Harry Potter I was curious about why he loved it so much. I was bored one day in the school holidays and I thought I would pick up this 'children's book' and read the first chapter, and then put it down when it got tedious.

Well, I read the first three books in a week. And my brother and I were close to fighting with each other when the fourth came out. I LOVED them! J K Rowling is a great storyteller, and from start to finish of each book I have been caught up in Harry's adventures and desperate to know the outcome each time.

Therefore it was some trepidation that I agreed to go and see the first film when it came out on cinema in 2001. I had initially made the decision not to see it but curiosity eventually got the better of me. I was not impressed. It didn't help that my friend and I had chosen to share a packet of Bertie Bott's Every Flavour Beans in honour of the occasion and I managed to nearly choke on a horseradish flavour one half way through the film, which I struggled to recover from until after we'd left the cinema! Afterwards I decided that I wouldn't bother seeing anymore of the Harry Potter films because they just couldn't do the books justice.

That was until Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire came out on cinema during my third year at university. The peer pressure of my fellow academics meant I agreed to endure a trip to the cinema as long as I was allowed to pour scorn on the film for all its inaccuracies. I had to quell instant rage from early on, when Hermione and Harry talk about Sirius without referring to him as Padfoot, oh the crime! But then Patrick Doyle captured my imagination with his beautiful soundtrack, the cinematography and special effects were fantastic, and against my better judgement I just couldn't help enjoying the film. Oh. Dear.

I had to then borrow DVDs to watch the two I had missed, and then ensured that I got to see all of the others on the big screen as well. I always waited until the films had been out for about a month. This was partially to allow the hysteria to die down, but mainly because I liked the films, I didn't love them.

And that is still true now. The films, in my opinion, will never be as special as the books. But they have come a long way. I realise that I can enjoy the films as good films if I cast aside my own ideas of the books. I apply that to other films so why not Harry Potter? I'm a Roman historian and yet Gladiator is one of my favourite films - I can't help it! Even though I know there are things that aren't quite right with it historically it is an awesome film!

So seeing the Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part Two was something I had looked forward to, and thoroughly enjoyed (apart from the loudest popcorn munchers in the world sitting behind us who had clearly never seen any of the other HP films let alone read the books - uncultured swines!), and will probably add it to my DVD collection eventually. It wasn't the end of an era for me. But I'm glad I gave the films a chance in the end, it's been fun to be part of the excitement, and now I can enjoy watching them when I fancy a good epic that isn't as long as Lord of the Rings (clearly the greatest epic films of all time).

Now I want to re-read all the books again as it's been ages since I have. They are amongst my all time favourite books, and however beautiful and captivating the scenery, acting, soundtrack etc of the HP films they will never take away the World of Potter that I have imagined through reading the books.

Photo courtesy of Google Images.

The Howling Wind

The weather has been very windy recently. Cold, wet and windy on Thursday. Warm, sunny and windy yesterday. All of that today. Such is the nature of the British summer.

My office is high up on a hill. I sit on the third floor from the top. Fantastic views, but my how the wind howls up there. I've likened it to a ghost army, banshees wailing, Nazgul screeching... You can feel the building move slightly as the wind batters and slams against it.

As it is summer the windows have been flung wide open all over the building. The wind drums sweet rattly music on the metallic blinds. The draughts that wend their way up the stairwell cause shivers down the spine. In the offices doors and windows slam shut. Papers flap and rustle in as the breeze touches them. And the wind continues to howl. Oh how it howls.

At home its howl is much calmer, less persistent, less raucous. It still makes its presence known. It makes the curtains dance. It occasionally pushes plant pots over. And it is always attempting to get into the recycling boxes to send plastic bottles and cans whirling in a mini Oz-like twister around the garden. And it softly howls and whistles and sings, edging its way around the Victorian sash windows, creeping through the gap above the back door.

Now a cat joins in this singing. It sits on the shed of a nearby garden and then jumps up onto a window ledge, and there it mews plaintively. "Let me in, please let me in. Let me in like the wind. Let me in." It mews, it cries, it whines, it howls.

I turn back to the hob where the bean chilli is ready to be served for dinner. I dance with the ladle, spinning around the kitchen to find plates and cutlery as Orbital's take on the Doctor Who theme plays from my laptop. And the fridge freezer begins its ceremonious howl. Its strange juddering squeaking, creaking howl. The wind, the cat, Orbital. The fridge freezer wants in. And I dance to this strange music, caught momentarily in one of my bizarre daydreams.

Fancy Dress - The Challenges and the Hilarity

On Friday night we went to our friend's birthday party - themed sci-fi & fantasy fancy dress. Now I love fancy dress parties. I used to do lots of acting so I always enjoy dressing up as a different "character" but I also love the chance to be creative with costumes. The one problem with this is that I conjure up fantastic images in my head of what I will look like in my awesome costume, and the reality is never quite right. Friday night's attempt was one such. Nevertheless I think it turned out reasonably well considering...

I decided to go as a Blood Elf Mage from World of Warcraft. Some of our friends wanted me to go as Galadriel from Lord of the Rings, but a) my hair is too short nowadays and I didn't want to buy a wig or extensions, b) I would have to obtain a long (no doubt gorgeous) white gown (not my wedding dress!) and then avoid getting tomato sauce on it - BBQ, virtually impossible, c) I would need to look ethereal and stunning at the same time - I am not Cate Blanchett... and d) I didn't feel I could be creative enough with the costume. So, I opted for Blood Elf.

I started by searching Google Images for ideas. This mostly churned out photos of hardcore WoW players at BlizzCon with replica costumes - costumes they had slaved over for days or that they had had custom-made at great expense. I have no sewing skills whatsoever and couldn't afford to have custom-made Judgement armour - why would I want to anyway? What would I do with it afterwards? So I decided to go for the RP Mage look. I knew only three others, including my husband and the birthday boy, who were attending the party that have played WoW and therefore I had little to fear about not looking genuine.

                                                                                    

The first step to my costume was to find a dress. I went shopping in Brighton with my husband and the birthday boy a couple of weeks ago. Brighton was a nightmare. People everywhere. Thankfully, however, we had a very productive shopping trip. First we tried Snooper's Paradise, which is an amazing flea-market style shop in the North Laine. My husband and our friend both found long leather jackets for £25 each! That was their Steam Punk Hero or Villain costumes started! My husband also found a pair of brass binoculars to hang round his neck. I looked admiringly at several beautiful vintage dresses, especially Medieval style, that would have done the trick but were tear-inducingly expensive and so out of the question. Then we moved onto Revamp, a fancy dress shop. And outside was a sale rail of ex-hire outfits. I found a long black dress with black veils attached to each strap to form sort of sleeves/cloak. Perfect, and a definite bargain at £10! My husband then found a waistcoat for only £3 over the road. We then went to rest our aching feet and quench our thirst with fruit smoothies in the Guarana Bar (an old favourite haunt from our sixth-form days), before heading back towards the town centre where the car was parked. There I battled my way through gangs of horribly fashionable teenage girls and young women in New Look to find a suitable belt, which thankfully I did, for less than a fiver. So far so good.

Then we got out of there and went home. Next, I had to obtain ears. The elf ears that you can buy in fancy dress shops are the LOTR ones. Thanks to Google I discovered that Blizzard sell official Blood Elf and Night Elf ears. Blood elves have fairly large and long ears as you can see in the screenshots of my hunter above and mage below. I was lucky enough to find some being sold on Amazon in the UK rather than having to purchase some from the States which would have cost me an arm and a leg. I like making an effort with fancy dress costumes, but I don't like spending a fortune to do so. The ears arrived and they looked cool, except for the thin black band that held them together and keeps them on your ears. If you want to wear the ears right the band has to sit across your forehead. If you cut the band off then I'm pretty sure the ears won't stay on. I have small(ish) ears, so found they elf ears slipped off very easily. I think they would work better on men's ears. The ears also came with some rather dubious looking make-up - the instructions said, 'Do not use the purple make-up near the eyes.' Er, ok then...

So, final purchases were cheap make-up from Boots - eyeshadow, eyeliner, and bright red lipstick - and a purple silk hairscarf that I was able to cover the black band with - it also looks very like a Mageweave silk band that low-level tailors can make in WoW - I am nothing if not authentic, haha!

Thankfully I already had enough of the other items I required. A staff from when I played the Chorus Leader in Aristophanes' Thesmophorizusae at university (a large wooden stick that a friend of mine had found in the university woods!), a purple pashmina cum sash for the belt to sit on so that it didn't catch on the dress, black sparkly pumps, and mascara. My brother leant me a dagger in its sheath that I could hang off the belt. So, if you are a WoW nerd I managed to do the impossible - have a stave and an enchanted dagger all at once, OMG LOL ^^ right? Is there any way I can express sarcasm on this blog?

So the next challenge was putting it altogether. The costume itself worked like a charm but the trouble came with putting on the ears. I am ashamed to say I had something of a childish hissy-fit over this and went into a temporary self-hating tantrum, declaring that I wasn't going to bother because I just looked stupid! I know, silly huh?

Anyway, I got over it and managed to make it work, yey! The party was a good laugh with some pretty awesome costumes. I'm biased but I must say that my husband looked very dashing as a Steam Punk Hero, complete with his replica flint-lock pistol and cogs around his neck (shh, don't tell anyone that they are from Gears of War...)

Other costumes included Dr Who, 3 fairies, Aslan, Men in Black, Neo from The Matrix, a Jedi (with an incredibly cool lightsabre), a star and some indistinguishable Harry Potter and Lord of the Rings characters. But the best costume of all, which could only be worn for photos as it was immensely impractical, was that of a friend of ours who we had given some boxes to...he came as a robot. He'd put boxes together and used various bits of tubing and lots of silver spray paint to make a fantastic costume. He could hardly see, barely walk, and certainly couldn't eat or drink, but he made a brilliant entrance and definitely got the most cheers of the evening. That was the height of creativity.

I've been to many fancy dress costumes and I've dressed as many things including a fairy (many times), a pirate, Puss in Boots, Rainbow Brite, a bunny, a princess, the list goes on. Each time I relish the opportunity to be creative and come up with something different to what other people might try, even if there are other fairies at a party I make sure I am my own special brand of fairy! My Blood Elf costume is not worthy of special recognition by WoW fans, but it was fun to try and I enjoyed making it my own.

Now, to persuade another friend to host a fancy dress party in the near future... What theme shall we suggest? Ah yes, I forgot to mention that it was our fault our friend opted for fancy dress, we're just persuasive like that xD

Screenshots & photo my own.