Blue Flames

This killed me.

Thursday was overcast, but there was still no rain. It didn’t arrive until last night and it came in buckets. We needed the rain, so I welcomed it. I sleep soundly when I can hear rain pounding down on my metal roof. I love it.

I walked Her Highness before going into the village where, to my amazement, I found something close enough to what I wanted in the Home and Garden store. I got a wreath of fake Fir boughs that is illuminated with tiny lights that are battery operated. And that’s what I wanted, some lights that were powered by a battery so that I could decorate my fireplace where there is no outlet for a plug.

I’m now done with holiday decorating, except for a large candle that I want for my coffee table. I have five Poinsettias to scatter around, and some tapered candles, but I want a nice big one for the coffee table and I’ll be set for partying with Paula and David. Plus, I did something brilliant.

I’d picked up some paraffin in the store and so in the afternoon, I melted some and I took my dried Norfolk Pine cones and I rolled them in the paraffin and then sprinkled them with copper sulphate powder. One the paraffin dried, I wrapped each one in a piece of ribbon with a tiny bow and put them in a bowl by the fire. This morning, I tried one and it worked perfectly—the flames were a gorgeous shade of blue. I’m going to use these cones when I have guests.

In the evening I watched Genius, a pretty great film (even though it had Nicole Kidman in it). I love Jude Law, Colin Firth and Laura Linney. It’s based on the book by Scott Berg about Scribner editor Max Perkins, and it focuses on his relationship with revered writer Thomas Wolfe. I loved the film. Colin Firth can do no wrong.

Today is, of course, wet. I’ll walk Sheba during a break in the rain, and then I’ll be coming back to work with Pete on tiling the new firebox foundation I built in the studio. At 2:00 a woman is coming to take my grape vines up and take them home to her place where she gets far more sun than Id o. My poor vines need a new home.