Snowflakes and a Massage

I was going to start this post talking about my Sunday lie-in, because my bedside clock says it's 7:45 a.m. and I never sleep that late. But then I realized British Summer Time ended this morning, so the clocks jumped back and it's actually 6:45. A trick of the universe to make me feel slightly less lazy!

Yesterday was a day of domesticity -- three loads of laundry (I had to catch up!), vacuuming, that kind of thing. I know I said I was going to read "Bleak House," and I honestly tried right after lunch, but I could barely keep my eyes open and my mind wasn't on the book. I'll try again today, maybe when I'm not in a post-prandial haze.

Oh, and I got something fun in the mail from blogger Ellen!

No, not taco shells. It was a slim envelope containing two flat pieces of cardboard, which happened to have been taken from an Old El Paso box, taped together. Tucked between them were these:

If you read Ellen's blog, you'll recognize these as crocheted and starched snowflakes made by her sister, Pam. Ellen kindly offered them to blogland pals in a recent post, so I spoke up and she mailed me two. (Looks like the two on the far right in the photo she posted to her own blog.) Thanks, Ellen!

Getting these in the mail prompted another bout of housecleaning. I hung them in a living room window, and I was going to take a photo for the blog, but the glass was filthy -- because, you'll recall, Mr. Russia power-washed the upstairs terrace not long ago. All the dirt and debris from there came raining down on our patio, and the windows looked like someone had held a monster truck rally in our garden.

So I went out with a squeegee and the garden hose and wiped and rinsed all the exterior glass around the patio (some of it, out of reach behind the plants, I just sprayed from afar). It all looks much better now, but the task made me grumpy. (Or, in Russian, сердитый -- pronounced "serdityy.")

To help relax I had a massage in the afternoon. I went to the Thai place on the high street and once again had a very good massage experience, though it was deep-tissue and occasionally it hurt. I always have to tell masseurs to go easy on my calves -- my calf muscles don't like fingers digging into them. She even massaged my jaw muscles, which I also could have done without. But seriously, overall, she did a great job.

(Top photo: Nicole the Nicotiana is still blooming away!)