"Oh dear, it's sticky!"
"What did you expect? It must be glued to your face, Aziraphale."
"Yes, but it feels awful... Oh, no, no, take it off -"
"What a fuss you're making! Come on, stay still, I promise it will be worth it."
Sitting astride Aziraphale's thighs, Anthony fights with the Lord to apply a milky green mask to his face. It takes a few minutes between reassurances and insistence, but in the end the redhead emerges victorious: to his great satisfaction, Aziraphale seems to relax under the refreshing sensation of the devilry he has agreed to try.
From Anthony's point of view, however, the Lord is just funny with his curly hair pulled back by a headband and his face covered by the green mask, he almost looks like an alien. Although he restrains himself, the artist cannot help but burst out laughing.
"What?" Aziraphale opens his eyes, alarmed. "Oh God, I look ridiculous, don't I?"
"You're adorable," Anthony chuckles, rising just enough to kiss his head through the headband, "just a little funny, but that's normal. It's part of the process."
"Don't take the opportunity to laugh at me, though..." Sulks the Lord.
"I don't laugh at you. I laugh with you!" Solemnly announces the redhead, reaching into the bathroom cabinet to retrieve a sachet containing a second mask. "Wait till you see me with this stuff on my face. I'm about to make your day!"
Anthony is proud to have kept his word when, after taking a couple of funny pictures with his phone a few minutes later, the bathroom is filled with Aziraphale's happy, carefree laughter.
And it's his new favourite sound.
Yesterday, we said goodbye to our sweetest angel, Sugar.
She had been struggling with her health for the past couple weeks and we did everything we could to figure out what was wrong with multiple vet visits and tests, but in the end, her body was failing.
We didn't want her to suffer anymore, so Faye and I held her together as she drifted off peacefully, purring till the end.
She was always a happy cat and never afraid to meet a new face. It meant a new person to pet her. She never understood what was going on, but she was happy to curl up next to us, pulling our hands to her head for a pet and a demanding, gentle squeak.
No matter where she was, she always ended up being the most comfortable creature in the room, I'd even say the world. She may have looked angry to some, but there was never a mean bone in her body. She was pure bliss.
She came from a hoarding situation and that's all we knew, but we suspected that maybe she didn't have the best health because of her origins. Still, she lived a happy and full life. Our little old lady lived to be ten and we were so blessed to know her.
i learned that sugar does not cause hyperactivity in children. This myth is based on a single 1978 study; no subsequent study has shown a relationship (x)
Today I learned that the term "sugarloaf" is not figurative; until the late 19th Century, sugar was most commonly sold in enormous cone-shaped masses, some up to three feet in length and thirty pounds in weight, and in order to use it you had to break off a piece of the desired size using a specialised pair of iron pliers called "sugar nips".