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Good Morning Everybody! How the devil are you today? Thank you for the wonderful response to last week’s post. The little houses are none-the-wiser about that little interlude, so let’s keep it that way as we re-join them back at 199… There’s Lady Grey tea and custard creams and some coffee in one of those glass squasher things, do help yourself and settle in for a teeny-tiny-tongue-twisty-tale…

Living on the Edge 199; Love Letters…

Wendy and Ali were celebrating their wedding anniversary. Neither one could recall how many years. Being wordsmiths, they were far more concerned with letters than numbers. And anyway, what did it really matter? They were both happy and that was the important thing.

They had been brought together a while back by a freak mailing mishap when Wallawa St, Wanneroo, Western Australia had been mistaken for Wallula Avenue, Walla Walla, Washington. Who could have guessed that a romance would be the end result?

In case you are currently abiding there and are worried that the accident could occur again, don’t be. You can safely live in either place now because the mailman responsible for the mix up, was taken to one side and informed about the widely available wireless accessories, which would help him to avoid repeating said error. Wisely, he invested immediately. Problem solved.

Although from different continents and worlds apart in circumstances one meeting was all it took for Wendy and Ali to fall completely head over heels. After endless Whatsapp messages across oceans, they decided to marry and the rest, as they say, is history.

After consulting my cocktail encyclopaedia, please join in me raising a glass of Wa Hoo Wa to Wendy and Ali, the whacky world of acronyms and wordy alliteration… xxx

PS… I have just released a small batch of ‘Living on the Edge 19; Reel Lives’ into the wild here at the beautiful Made By Hand Online… They are exceedingly gossipy and simply can’t stop themselves sharing scandal after scandal… xxx

Good morning Everybody, how have you been this week? I hope you managed to side step Blue Monday. And if you didn’t, looking at the positive, it is over for another year and we can dive head first into what I’m going to name ‘Peachy Friday’. This will be where we can all glow with health, friendship, cake (it’s a Victoria sponge today) tea and chatter. What do you think? I’ll pour if you find the cake slice…

As usual, the little houses are here to fill us in on the up to the minute detail of paper life with a short tale of perseverance…

Living on the Edge 198; Faded Splendour…

From a very young age Dorothy had always been the centre of attention and so no one was surprised when she took to the stage. She loved the limelight and rose to each and every role she played with a youthful zest that the cameras loved.

By the time she was forty eight Dorothy had starred in fifty two films and made countless television appearances. And then, suddenly the work just dried up as if a tap had been turned off. She found her agent mysteriously had urgent family business to attend to from which he never returned. The phone no longer rang and the letters, which had been numerous, ceased to drop through her letterbox.

At the age of ninety two, with her fortune dwindling, Dorothy decided that she would move to the tiny seaside village of Flotsam-on-Sea. She would ignore the newspapers’ cruel comments about her ageing façade with their then and now photographs. She was self-assured enough to be certain that her cracks, lines and fading colour gave her character and made her even more beautiful.

And anyway, she was far too busy to be troubled by such nonsense especially as, that afternoon, despite the easterly gale, she was treating the locals to a clifftop solo performance of ‘Gone With the Wind’… xxx

Good morning Everybody. Is Everybody fine? Happy New Year to you! I hope you’re well rested and ready to face 2023 firing on all cylinders. I’ve cleared the table ready for us to begin afresh with new tales, tea and biscuits. I’ve had a think about some resolutions but haven’t managed to commit to any yet. How about you? There’s still time, Januarys do tend to be slow to get moving I find… Ideal time to take inspiration from this week’s share as someone is about to make a new start…

Living on the Edge 197; Joy Division…

It wasn’t that things had gone wrong that bothered Blenkinsop. He had learned to deal with that, to make lemonade with life’s lemons, to find silver linings and even how to make silk purses from the ears of sows. He was well able, if he coaxed himself, to find the good in almost any situation. What bothered him greatly was the fact that, no matter how much positive energy he poured into anything, Ogden was always there to bring proceedings to an abrupt and miserable halt.

Ogden was not unskilled. He could take the current disappointment in hand and add to it a slew of other glooms until he had crafted an enormously long chain of worriment that he would then hang heavily around Blenkinsop like a necklace of despair.

For his part Blenkinsop did his best to polish up each bead but, in truth, Ogden’s Eeyore-esque ways were dragging Blenkinsop to the brink. There was nothing else for it, he was going to have to make an escape… xxx

Hello Everybody, welcome back to the table. Are you fine? I’m in need of tea and a biscuit, how about you? This morning I’m a little bit dizzy as the latest additions to the Reel family have been up since 6am playing on the twirler and arguing about who is best at being the Sugar Plum Fairy.

Whilst I love the magical plinking of the celeste, once it is accompanied by little voices saying “Me!”… “No it’s Me! Just watch me” followed by a shoving… and on and on … it becomes a trifle difficult to enjoy quite as much.

“This is not what Tchaikovsky had in mind when he wrote it” said I. But no one was listening of course…

If you feel able to offer a home to a reel then, for the last time this year, they are available in my online shop and here …

Now, what do you say we see if we can rustle up some mince pies and enjoy the start to the weekend?… xxx

Hello Everybody! Can it really be Friday again? The calendar says that it’s true but it’s probably just having one of those senior moments… It will right itself I’m sure. Let’s ignore it and get on with the tea, biscuits and gossip…

So, this week I opened my online shop and that has given the little houses cause to think about their behaviour of late and to wonder whether they deserve a forever home. No bad thing said I.

Also, here’s a quick pre-warning… there will be an interruption in the coming week when I tell you of the next Reel Lives release… the thread tanglings, strops and bad language have already begun over on the table. You never know quite what mood these reels are going to be in but it quickly became very apparent that the new lot are not going to be a walk in the park to work with…

Not one of them has stopped to consider the plight of these dear souls sat in the corner of the table… (A twirl is available here and this one is available in my shop now)

Living on the Edge 195; Paper Weight…

Years ago, after work in the quarry had ceased, the employees voted to remain on site and start a kind of commune.

Mostly they managed pretty well without much need to interact with the outside world. Except, during one very cold winter, when the services of an insulation specialist had to be called in.

The terrain meant that little rocks falls here and there, were an unremarkable part of daily life. However, at three o’ clock this afternoon, the particularly dry spell they had been experiencing was brought to an abrupt end by a heavy downpour.

Suddenly, a very perturbed Dilys let out a shriek that echoed round the steep hollow as the cusp at the upper mouth of the quarry gave way. Panic stricken, she tried her hardest to keep very still, calm and upright whilst Benny next door hyperventilated. Some serious collapse-prevention measures were urgently required. She should never have agreed to house the community library… xxx