All is quietening down in The Mother-in-Law’s House. After the summer’s beavering away, we are all turning in like a family of mice bedding down for the winter in an old boot. We have yet to replace the light bulbs which are blowing daily, one by one, leaving an atmospheric chiaroscuro falling upon the rooms, […]
We’re having a party. A Chanukah party. In The Mother-in-Law’s House. As any abiding and courtly daughter-in-law would do, I asked The Mother-in-Law if we could invite a few family members and friends round to celebrate the most popular winter festival in the Jewish social calendar. And honestly, it was just as much a surprise […]
You’d have been forgiven for thinking me part-wolf last week, given my uncontrollable howling and beastly moods. Then again, I probably wouldn’t have forgiven you; I’d have gobbled you up whole, like I almost did The Mother-in-Law, when she ‘vanished’ my keys for a night. At times like these, it helps to be in the […]
A few months ago, when I was planting out seedlings in The Secret Garden, we met our neighbours for the first time. Or rather they met us. Zippy and Roo were attempting to scale the crumbling wall between our two gardens, in pursuit of their ballsy cat, Henry, who never tires of teasing the children […]
Tonight is the Erev of Rosh HaShana, which, translated from the Hebrew, means ‘New Years Eve’. Unlike the organised ‘People of the Book’, those that inhabit The Mother-in-Law’s house are entangled in the annual maelstrom of preparing for a festival: last minute baking, shopping, cleaning, gardening, and inviting of the renegade West Country Jews. The […]
