Today is Lady Day. Or the day Mary supposidly became pregnant. (ie nine months before Christmas). Until the calender changed and eleven days were lost, it was the start of the New Year in Britain. It was the day that all the rents and contracts came due. However, a variety of people objected to being elven days short one year, and so when the change over was made, they simply moved the day along until 6 April. This is why the British tax year begins on 6 April. The Roman New Year was also around this time. This is probably why Lady Day was adopted as the change over for rents and such.
Today is also my dh's birthday. I have made him a carrot cake or as
Anna Lucia calls it -- The God of Carrot Cakes. it is a recipe from
The Village Baker's Wife with one or two adaptations by me. We are going out to lunch later. Nothing major but then we have recently had a lot of work done on the house...
I have discovered where the duck is nesting. Quite close to the house and more than likely on the cat route through the garden. As Penny and Tuppence tend stay in the house these days unless the weather is exceptionally warm, our garden is used by several cats -- generally at night after the hens and ducks are away. Our cats have not liked going out very often ever since a series of unfortunate incidents involving the hens and ducks. Large bird can defend themselves. None of the participents were worse for wear but both Penny and Tuppence decided -- indoors was better.
Having delivered, my Viking, I have started thinking about my next one. I was going to take time off, but my muse started whispering. And I saw a hugely inspiring photo of James Purefoy in the Times yesterday. He just does work for this book...despite being the model for Fabius Aro in
Sold and Seduced. A doppleganger effect I suspect. Because the deep characters will have certain differences. James Purefoy is promoting the
Macmillan Cancer Support's Pin Up campaign. He made an interesting comment about Marc Antony -- he had to make sure that he had the body they had back then. He also hates his toes and loves his son.
And my good friend Nell Dixon has put up an interview with me on her
myspace page. Nell is a wonderful writer and my fingers are firmly crossed for medical full that is current with HM&B. Her book
Marrying Max is a finalist along with
Gladiator's Honour for the RNA's Romance Prize.
Heathcliff decided my post on creating vivid detail was not worth it and deleted it. Suffice it to say -- vivid specific detail works better than vague and general. Little details bring the world into focus.
Mr Darcy is sleeker and elgant than his fluffy brother. He is far more likely to boss the dogs about and has no hestiation about nicking food from either Tess or Hardy. I suspect the collies know the size of his claws. They are both the alpha males in the pack.
Hardy seems to be settling and stays near me rather than trying to wander down to the neighbour's or beyond. Tess keeps bring sticks for me to throw. When I throw a stick for Hardy, he takes it away and guards it. Hardy still manages Houdini like to squeeze under the kitchen cupboard. It is a particular favourite, particularly when he has rolled in something foul and knows that a bath is in the offing!
Our cat, Tuppence has a liver problem, I think. She has lost tons of weight, is very cold etc. She does not seem to be in any great pain, but it is a matter of weeks. I am hesitating taking her to the vet as I know what will happen. I would just like her to get through until April... It is selfish but if her quality of life totally went, I wouldn't hesitate. She still seems to be very hungry. Penny the other cat is doing fine on her metacam. They are both 17. 
