#Frenella Peabody

[weepingfoxfury]

"A home without spiders and dust belongs to someone whose hands have yet to find that moment of stillness and understanding " - Frenella Peabody

When I first moved into my home all those years ago, it had been uninhabited for some time. There were flies in abundance. My immediate reaction was to reach for and put up sticky fly trap paper.

I sat day after day drinking my coffee, watching insects fall foul of this enticing, swinging graveyard, and thought no more about it other than how nice it was without being mithered by flies.

Then, one day, the bulb went in the kitchen light. I got a fresh one and stood on the table and started to take the old bulb out. It was at that point that the fly trap got stuck to my hair and face.

I was horrified and mortified. Now I was up close and personal with the dead and the dying, their legs and wings writhing close to my left eye. I reached up with my left hand, released the pin that held this monstrosity up and stepped shakily back onto my chair and then onto the floor.

Once down I stood, scissors in hand, and cut the fly trap out of my hair and managed, with some heat, to ease the paper off my skin.

Never again!

Now I just sit and look at the kitchen windows, drink my coffee and smile as I watch the spiders getting fat on the flies that keep barrelling in to bounce against the glass ... and I think to myself that Mithered By Flies would make a great album title ...

[weepingfoxfury]

The man on the radio is chatting with his chef mate, Nevin about legs of lamb and a flourless chocolate cake that needs skinned, roasted hazelnuts ... no sunshine today, just the usual grey and mild ... the traffic lady said the traffic started off quiet but is slowly picking up the pace.

Meet Wolfram ... found in the corner of a rather damp cupboard when I moved in. Slowly dried out and then, over time, made hairless by moths and other critters that move in the periphery of vision. For the sake of the very few hairs left, he now resides within a see through cube.

This house used to belong to Frenella Peabody ... so Wolfram was once hers ... I wonder if she had a name for him? Did she choose him for herself? Was he a gift? Whose hands placed him in the furthest, darkest recesses of the cupboard I found him in?

The cupboard is long gone, eaten as it was by woodworm. A reddish brown floor to ceiling construction, cupboard upon cupboard upon cupboard filled with Miss Peabody's kitchen treasures. Stepping into this house and the sight that greeted me on my first visit, it was as though the former owner had merely stepped out for a moment.

Wolfram knows how life was with Miss Peabody, but he keeps close counsel ...

[weepingfoxfury]

"You can tread on as many cracks in the pavement as you wish, if you've already poked all the bears." - Frenella Peabody

Sunday, Sunday, Sunday ... or is it Tuesday, Tuesday, Tuesday in Tuesdayville? Either way, I'm still full of sleep, head already thinking towards next weekend and resenting the bloody time change.

Grrrrrrr and Aarrgghh and I need more coffee! ...

[weepingfoxfury]

"When you get that feeling of being watched, you put your best hat on, raise your eyebrow and take to the stage" - Frenella Peabody

The Rooks are busy. Twigs galore strewn across the driveway as they build and repair their nests. They watch as the cats are fed, eyeing me and engaging with me from less and less distance.

Fierce little sods. They argue over everything. I watch them as much as they watch me. If a pair are mating, apparently the others are obliged to fly over and noisily harrass the couple from branches surrounding the nest. If a youngster has misbehaved, they're forced to the ground, the youngster then rolls on its back and the adults push and pull it around. Any available food is a free for all.

All that said, theirs is a tight knit community. They all know each other. Complicated conversations continue all day and all night, constant calling from nest to nest.

They know me, know my face. On occasion, one of them has been at risk from a cat and the noise has become so much that I've gone out to them and seen the cat off.

I help them, they help me. Best neighbours I've ever had ... even if they do keep crapping all over my car ...