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Monday, July 24, 2006

Hooray for Bertie Bee!

My sweetly silly ex-husband (who, I'd like to digress and point out for newbies is NOT the father of my son -- my bad) had a lot of odd sayings and habits, one of which was to call the motorbike-mounted postperson 'Bertie Bee'.

Here comes Bertie Bee! he'd chortle if he heard the buzz of the bike. And he'd caper outside for a chat with whomever was doing the delivery. Since he worked fulltime, this didn't happen often. But often enough that the postie always gave me a smile if I was in the front yard of a day.

Today Bertie Bee did himself proud. I got fantastic mail. No bills, a couple of boring thingies and two EXCELLENT parcels. Hooray!

1. KATE IS THE BOMB

I sent Kate a Buffy the Vampire Slayer comic that I picked up at a Lifeline Book Fair, as a reward for her excellent and popular Joss Whedon post. I didn't send it straight away, because I am a slack tart, and the gap between impulse and post office is often wide. I'm delighted to find that Kate is a friend of the delayed impulse. She has sent me a gift in return, which she did not have to do, but hey, we're parcel sisters now. Check it out!

kate's parcel

There are some of her wonderful photos (thanks!), a letter, some nice wrapping... and... HEY WOW! Black knitted kittens! And a knitted bookmark (which Bumblebee has decided is actually a bed for the knitted kits and won't be persuaded otherwise)!

Black knitted cats are as hard to photograph at night as real black cats. I'm sorry about the photo quality, but if I don't blog them now, they'll never get posted (heh). Aren't they beauties? Padge thinks so.

Padge & the knitted kits

They bring out his nurturing side.

They now live atop my computer, looking down at me as I work.

kit sit

Thanks Kate, you rock!


2. DAD DOES SOMETHING WHITE

dad does something White

We have a longstanding family joke that I stole all of my Dad's Patrick White books when I started uni 20 years ago. Whenever Dad visited he would look at my bookshelves and mutter something about getting them back sometime. My theory is that he stole them from my youngest Auntie on my Mum's side, who is a voracious and open-minded reader, and that she gradually took them back everytime she visited. I may be totally wrong about this, but it's not totally off-base.

I have 'borrowed' many of the books on my parents' shelves, but all of my PWs are post-1980 editions, which prove that I bought them for myself. The only PW books I definitely remember my Dad owning from my childhood are The Burnt Ones and A Fringe of Leaves. And until today, that copy of FoL has been on his bookshelf.

Along with his Collected Shakespeare, I have coveted his hardback FoL, but have never dared 'borrow' it because it looked so distinctive. When I visited the AP the other day I admired her shelf of Patrick White hardbacks -- nearly all first editions. (None of them are signed, but she does have a few letters from him!) I also noticed that her copy of FoL was the same as Dad's.

I mentioned this to Dad the other day on the phone whilst telling him about the Patrick White Reading Circle. He went and got his copy, and discovered that yes, indeed, it is a first edition. Not a pristine one: a bit shaggy around the edges, but well read (mostly by me!).

And today it arrived in the mail. Shucks, Dad. I'll re-read it and love it and care for it. And we'll know I haven't stolen it. xxx

9 comments:

Cozalcoatl said...

Getting stuff in the mail always rocks, i think that why i buy to much crap from E-bay- i mean how many Emily Strange t-shirts do i need?!

I have a few 'borrowed' books from Mother, mostly the Brother Cadfael series. I think she has re stocked by now, not that she lets me forget it.

Its 1am and i'm at work....frack....sorting out some dumb stuff, i'm not sure why i'm here since i'm over it and i had a job interview today in the hopes to escape.
Anyway I'll be out by 2am...i hope.

Anonymous said...

I'm glad you like the parcel, sorry it took me so long, I am a slack (as well as watery) tart.

Ampersand Duck said...

I love it, Kate! Slack and watery tarts are often very productive, just not the way society expects them to be!

Mummy/Crit said...

That copy of FoL looks a bit like mine, the title of which I finally remembered after I'd failed to, when I last mentioned it. I still haven't read it, not 'cos I didn't like it, just didn't grab me when i picked it up.

lucy tartan said...

The kittens are superb, and a truly thoughtful present.

Any book lucky enough to have a Nolan painting on the cover immediately gains extra covetable-object points.

worldpeace and a speedboat said...

I love the kitties and I love the photo of Bumblebee that's on your conprutah!

(ps, Cozling, you're even more of an eBayin' fool than I am)

Ampersand Duck said...

Yes, L, that's what I think. Most of the PW hardbacks of that era have Nolan paintings on them, I noticed from AP's mouthwatering shelf.

I snapped that picture of B at the dentist because he looked so high-tech in those protective glasses. Anything to make him relax in the chair! I have a rotating slideshow of my fav photos as my screensaver. It stops us all in our tracks as we walk up and down the corridor, especially when there are kitten pictures!

Anonymous said...

Any chance of getting the pattern for the kitties........I want to knit some!!!! My cats would love them.....me too.

Ampersand Duck said...

Adele! So nice to see you here!
I'll ask Kate... she might be nice and share her knitting secrets.