DEBBIE NEVER DID GO BACK INTO THE RESTAURANT

There was no emergency call the other night at the restaurant  and the quick text under the table to her sister, Maddi was the signal to call Debbie with an emergency. 

Upon arriving home Debbie was feeling really bad that she had tricked this nice man.  The problem was that Debbie wasn't attracted to Neil's  physical appearance but she was very attracted to his character.  She spent the next week trying to decide whether to  get back in touch with him and finally called her sister and asked her to click on his profile to see if she could get a feeling about him.   

Maddi  spent late Thursday afternoon when she should have been preparing for her writer's group that was meeting at 7:00, looking at Neil's profile and also reading the texts between Debbie and Neil for the last week.

Maddi  is skeptical that Debbie won't end up hurting this nice man.    She likes what she has seen and read about Neil and feels that this is not a good situation.  She has decided to advise Debbie that Neil isn't right for her and she could do much better, kind of doubting,  however,  that Debbie can. 

Maddi is quite impressed with Neil and even a bit attracted to him. 

(at the speed I am going, this story could drag out through 2021:)  

Mini Drama

The girls tonight

I took the younger dogs out for a walk this morning
We walked up to Chic Eleanor's house
Leaving Winnie asleep on the lawn
We were gone perhaps half an hour
On returning to the cottage I turned the corner by Trevor's bungalow  to see a British Telicon van  stopped in the middle of road with its driver standing in the lane by the open van door.
I could see a large brown bulldog shape lying in the road

" oh god!"  I shouted out and galloped forward dragging the dogs with me and the driver suddenly grinned when he saw me
" He won't move !" He said pointing forward 
Winnie was sunbathing in the middle of the lane, right on the corner
She was grinning at both of us

A Safe Place

One of the saddest things about divorce is that you have to split joint possessions .
I managed to keep my beloved grandfather clock and sort of swapped it for an antique writing desk I bought years ago with money from my mother's estate , but on reflection it is the loss of several of the  paintings bought during our early years together that smarts the most.
Buying paintings together is something intensely personal and indelibly shared
And so the watercolour of the Bluebell wood in Derbyshire and the gentle 1930s painting of rolling wheat fields of Kent I still grieve for.
Not because of their monetary value
But because of the memories and feelings about how they were acquired.

All this talk stems from my chimney sweep
He returned yesterday morning as promised to give my flue a bit of a going over after I had experienced so many smoke problems a while ago.
" I'm one of those hidden key workers" he told me cheerfully from behind his face mask " No lockdown at home for me!!" 
Winnie blew him kisses as he beavered away with his brushes and as he walked through the kitchen on the way home, he noticed an oil painting sat against my art wall.
It was a painting I had saved up to buy for an age after seeing it in exhibition at Theatre Clwyd
" Now I like That!" he said brightly " May I?" he gestured to pick it up.
I nodded

He chose a study of a woodland scene in autumn by Irene Goodier 
"A Safe Quiet Place" he read from the label on the back of the painting"We all need one of those !"
He made a note of the painter saying that he needed something similar for his living room only larger
I told him it was my first purchase of my new collection.
" Hedy Lamar the actress, said that "a good painting is like a friend it keeps you company and inspires!" he added.......
Not something you expect a chimney sweep to say for sure
But he and Hedy nailed it
They do keep you company
And they do inspire!!!