On the morning of my concert back in early December R and I both had errands to run in Stratford, and when we met up for coffee I told him that I’d just spotted a gingerbread house kit in Lakeland, and suggested it as a pre-Christmas gift for the Cardiff crew. R was enthusiastic, so we bought it, and today it provided the entire family (bar the Baby Brother, who was busy about his own concerns) with several hours of entertainment.
The Boy Wonder insisted on whisking up an egg white by hand, all by himself, and then the entire family took turns at the lengthy process of adding enough sifted icing sugar to turn this into thick but pipeable icing. Here you see the moment when L began cementing the pre-baked gingerbread pieces together to make the house, after which she and the Boy decorated it with gingerbread figures, icing, and sweets. I probably don’t need to tell you that quite a few of the sweets never made it onto the house, but as you’ll see in my second photo it looked pretty fine anyway. It also tasted rather good – so I’d say it was an all-round hit (and £12.99 well spent).
I was trying for a Wright of Derby vibe with the main photo, but failed dismally – largely because you can’t conjure chiaroscuro under LED downlighters, but also because I wasn’t exactly at my photographic best this afternoon. I would at least have straightened the image, if that hadn’t necessitated cutting off H’s head. I’d also have tidied the kitchen a bit, if I hadn’t been thinking of other things (food, alcohol, pain killers – not necessarily in that order) at the time. When I got up this morning my ribs felt noticeably better than they had yesterday evening, so I turned down separate offers by both Offspring to drive me to the nearest Minor Injuries unit. This refusal earned me a Special Look from one child, and a tolerant and amused smile from the other one that made me want to poke him in the eye (had I been able to reach his eye without standing on a chair). For much of the day I really didn’t feel too bad, but it’s clear from the angle of this shot that I was listing fairly strongly to port, and by dinner time, I must admit, I was flagging.
It looks as though I’ll be spending a second night dozing, propped upon pillows at 45°. Sigh…
R: L2, C3, D6.
