Hatam Soferet

Today, column 89:* Moses hoofed around on the mountain a bit, and then the people brought lots of pretty things and God gave some directions on what to do with the pretty things - quantities of cedar wood and beaten gold and cherubim all over the place.

It never fails to amuse me** that the word for "cherub" is the same as the word for "cabbage." Linguistically it's not a surprise, but conceptually it's sort of amusing - winged brassicas by Michaelangelo, that sort of thing.

Tomorrow, column 90: more of the same, but describing the candlestick and the curtains.

In other news: my sister made some awesome ginger cupcakes, and I have been eating them like there's no tomorrow. Ginger is very good for you.

* Column 88 was Friday and Sunday
** It doesn't take much.

I have internet! Yay yay yay. I love wireless and connection sharing and having internet!

It occurs to me to wonder: just how exactly is bird flu transmitted? By having lots of goose feathers around the place, am I Putting My Household At Risk? According to Auntie Google, the answer is probably no, not unless they've got poo or other runny stuff on them. Worth bearing in mind, given that I tend to collect feathers if I see them lying around, and given that there's a fair chance bird flu will have reached the UK by the next time I'm there. Honestly, the things I never thought would be considerations for my job increase steadily.

Going into last week of December: courtesy of jillt driving at 5am, pseudomonas, livredor and I went to the airport and swopped the two Tabs for my W, who had been detained in NYC by school commitments and who had bravely travelled from Riverdale to JFK during the transit strike (thanks to MJNH for good travel advice).

Big sis J later took us out to Emsworth, to visit Bro, Bro's Wife, and Smallest Niece (still officially the cutest child in the world). Much loveliness. Bedtime happened while we were there, and we all sat on Bro's bed and read lots and lots of story books. I'm boggled by the kid's ability to comprehend pictures - you can point to any picture of a bunny, and she'll identify it as a bunny - or a clock, or a flower, or the moon or a cloud* - even though pictures are presented in so many different ways, from photographs to relatively representational coloured drawings to line drawings to cartoons - all kids are like that, pretty much, but how do they know? I tend to think of pictorial representation as being rather an abstract concept, like numbers. I must be wrong. Anyway, this was so fascinating that we read four books instead of the usual one or two, and Smallest Niece peed on the bed. Should've put the nappy on before book time.

* She didn't get on so well with Psychology Today - it only has pictures of psychologists and that got old pretty fast.

Dog died at the weekend. Much much sadness.

( Dog pictures )

Things are a bit overwhelming, really. I'm working like mad to get a highly intricate ketubah finished, and at the same time trying to make sense of the family dynamics. It would be a great deal easier if some people would stop behaving like children. Ho hum.

On the bright side, I'm about to go shopping for the usual obscene pile of chocolate, tea, Branston pickle and Birds Eye custard powder. Parochial, moi?

"Work out what the worst-case scenario would be, and face it - then anything better is a bonus."

--My mum on life. My mum is amazing.

I'm going book-shopping for my highly cute one-year-old niece. What do you think is an essential component of a toddler's library? Each Peach Pear Plum and The Very Hungry Caterpillar are my considered essentials.

Went to my niece's christening! Doesn't that sound grown-up? My brother and his lovely wife have the most beautiful baby, and today was her christening. They'd got her an amazing christening gown, a tremendous confection of white frills and lace and pearls and ribbons, and the most darling little bonnet. And she was ever so good, and didn't cry once.

Afterwards there was a little party, and the lovely baby sat in the middle of the floor with her skirts spread about her, looking like a little princess and surrounded by a crowd of worshippers. She smiles and laughs at the least thing, and she likes shiny things. I had a Creme Egg in my pocket (as you do), and it's shiny, so I took it out and rolled it for her, and she grabbed it and stuffed it in her mouth - little baby chugging a whole Creme Egg in one with the wrapper still on - hilarious. Obviously I didn't let her chug it really. Why waste a Creme Egg on a baby, right? Anyway, utterly lovely, I'm glad I happened to be home the weekend it happened.

I didn't get to be a godmother (there were seven!), but perhaps that's not surprising :)