AS THE SUN SET OVER THE SEA

 

As the sun set over the sea

Filling the sky with an orange hue

I held your hand

And beheld that wondrous view

Then I squeezed your hand

And said “I love you”

I held my breath

Until you said “I love you too”

Mornington-By-Mere – (99) the Cello Recital

 

Mornington-By-Mere is a small country village lying in the Finchbottom Vale nestled between the Ancient Dancingdean Forest and the rolling Pepperstock Hills.

It is a quaint picturesque village, a proper chocolate box picturesque idyll, with a Manor House, 12th Century Church, a Coaching Inn, Windmills, an Old Forge, a Schoolhouse, a River and a Mere.

But Mornington-By-Mere was not just a quaint chocolate box English Village it was the beating heart of the Finchbottom Vale and there were a number of cottages and small houses on the Purplemere road and Dulcets Lane which formed the part of Mornington Village known as Manorside and among them were Brooke Side Cottages where the Incles and the Kundu families lived.

 

Annemarie Incles loved music, it was her life, she played the Cello and she was a student at the Purplemere Park Music Academy, and she had aspirations to play for the Downshire Symphony Orchestra, but although music was her first love, it wasn’t her only love.

Second place in her heart went to Michael Kundu, the boy next door, the only problem was getting him to make a move.

She knew that his reluctance wasn’t because he didn’t feel the same way as her it was just that he was desperately shy.

But Annemarie had lost her heart to Paul and her failure to win his was not an option so she put her plan into operation.

 

The Purplemere Park Music Academy was funded by the Downshire Symphony Orchestra and they used the well-appointed facilities several times a year, especially the large rehearsal space as well as smaller soundproof rooms which were used for individual practice.

Michael also loved music and was also a student at the PPMA, his instrument however was the Clarinet, and although he was competent he wasn’t in Annemarie’s league, so he needed to take every chance he could to practise and was always the first one there and was the last one to leave and before he turned in he always did a walk around before he turned the lights off and locked up.

Michelle knew that and so it would be late at night and in one of the soundproof rooms where she would set her trap.

 

So it was late on Friday evening when he had finished practising and was doing his walk round that he heard the strains of Bach’s Cello Suite No.1 emanating from one of the small rooms through a partially open door.

It was Michael’s favourite piece so Annemarie knew it would get his attention.

He peered in through the half open door and his heart skipped a beat as he saw Erika sitting in the middle of the room facing him with the great polished instrument between her long black stocking clad legs, her wavy red hair dancing across her naked shoulders and brushing her alabaster skin and along with her stockings, and an emerald green dress she was wearing a smile.

His heart was pounding in his chest as she was playing his favourite piece, and looking stunning.

He had always loved her but she was out of his league in every sense so for years he had consoled himself by being her friend so he could stay close and as a friend he could admire her in secret, at least he thought it was a secret.

Without speaking he walked into the room and closed the door behind him and his eyes never left her while she played and he circled the beautiful pale skinned cellist perched on a stool and he drank in the beautiful smiling girl along with the Bach.

“Do you like the Bach?” she asked

“I love the Bach” he replied

“I know” she said “Do you like anything else?”

“Oh yes”

“Do you like what I’m wearing?” she asked seductively

“Oh yes, very much, I think you look lovely” he replied “Are you going somewhere?”

“Maybe” she replied enigmatically

“But you got dressed up just in case” he asked

“I got dressed up for you” she said and stopped playing

“For me?” he asked with surprise “Why?”

“To get your attention” she said and put her cello on its stand and stood up “I do have your attention don’t I?”

“Oh yes” he replied “but I don’t understand”

“Maybe this will help” she said and leant forward and kissed him and then added

“Did that help?”

“I’m still a little confused” he replied and then he kissed her

SUNSETS

 

I watch the sunset and think of you

And picture you beneath that sun

Burning high in your sky

And I feel your presence

Though you are half a world away

And we are separated

By oceans and continents

Our hearts are connected

And soon we will be hand in hand

To share our sunsets

Mornington-By-Mere – (98) Christmas Cards

 

Mornington-By-Mere is a small country village lying in the Finchbottom Vale nestled between the Ancient Dancingdean Forest and the rolling Pepperstock Hills.

It is a quaint picturesque village, a proper chocolate box picturesque idyll, with a Manor House, 12th Century Church, a Coaching Inn, Windmills, an Old Forge, a Schoolhouse, a River and a Mere.

But Mornington-By-Mere is not just a quaint chocolate box English Village it is the beating heart of the Finchbottom Vale and there were a number of cottages and small houses on the Purplemere road and Dulcets Lane which formed the part of Mornington Village known as Manorside and Mariana Harding was staying at number 1 Dulcet Mill Lane in the house she was raised in, along with her brother George, by their Aunt Julia.

 

She was a well-travelled woman in her mid-thirties who hadn’t put down roots anywhere but she had made lots of friends which became problematic at Christmas time when it came to sending Christmas cards because a considerable amount of strategic planning was required to ensure that maximum effect was gained from sending Christmas cards, because, design, timing, size and quality are of paramount importance.

There are all kinds of do’s and don’ts, one of them is sending Christmas cards too early, which is not only ineffective but can be humiliating for the sender because it is very revealing, by disclosing the size and quality of card, it exposes the sender to the possibility of a devastating counter-attack.

On the other hand, a very late Christmas card runs the risk of negating the recipient's ability to respond, and reduces one's total card count, and it can look like an afterthought.

Mariana thought it was better to be on the early, rather than late side, because the pre-emptive Christmas card sets the pace and compels the opposition to reply.

And it is a brave opponent who will respond with either a lesser card or better than card.

The second thing she considered was the value and size of cards. Important people, certainly people who think they are important, send big and important looking Christmas cards which was designed to make the recipient feel small.

It was a costly option but she thought it was worth it.

She didn’t consider herself a snob though and she thought there was definitely a place for cheap and nasty Christmas cards.

They could be used for a variety of reasons they didn’t just imply bad taste or poverty, they could be used to disrespect the recipient, and possibly lead to deletion from their Christmas card list.

She found cheap cards were particularly useful for terminating pointless Christmas card exchanges with people she met on holiday or business trips when she foolishly exchanged addresses on drunken night’s outs.

She tried to avoid First-time Christmas cards sent on impulse to recent acquaintances because they can have devastating consequences or disappointments.

But she didn’t follow her own protocols so when she was in Denver for a conference at the end of November and she met a man called Seelie Dawson, with whom she let her guard down, and one night after dinner, when alcohol had been taken, she gave him her address and phone number.

Following that breach she was overcome with regrets, firstly for the breach, second for not getting his details, thirdly for not giving him her email and finally for losing her phone on the journey home.

And ever since she got back to Mornington she had thought of nothing else but him and had abandoned her long standing and well-honed system and sent no cards at all and occupied her time examining the abundance of cards that arrived through her door every day hoping there would be one from him and each day she was disappointed.

But she never gave up hope and then on Christmas Eve she perused the pile of mail on the door mat once again and on that day with wonder in her eyes she received a Christmas card and the postmark was from Colorado, and she only knew one person there.

Her hand was shaking while she opened the envelope and withdrew the card, but before reading it she looked inside the envelope and saw a photo and it was a picture of her and Seelie, together and smiling, which recalled the evening to her mind with perfect clarity.

She turned her attention to the card, but she closed her eyes and took a breath before opening it, but when she did she read.

 

Mariana

 

I hope you liked the photo, it was a very memorable evening.

I have tried several times to phone you on the mobile number you gave me.

I am going to be in England for the New Year, I would very much like to see you while I’m there, perhaps we could have dinner.

I’ve written my contact details on the back of the photo.

I look forward to hearing from you, and I hope very much that we can get together in the New Year.

 

Have a Happy Christmas

Seelie x

 

She flipped the photo over and saw the full gamut of details and her joy could not be contained so it was twenty minutes before she had calmed down enough for her start using them.

 

Despite the fact she didn’t send a single Christmas card that year she had her best Christmas in a decade and a very Happy New Year.

YOU ARE MY ALPHABET GIRL

 

You are Cute with a capital C

And Gorgeous with a capital G

You are beautiful to me

You are my Beloved with a capital B

You are my Darling, with a capital D

You mean the entire world to me.

You are my alphabet girl you see

Every letter from A to Z

Loving you is as easy as ABC

Mornington-By-Mere – (97) A West Bank Cottage Christmas

 

The James family lives in the village of Mornington-By-Mere, which is a small country village lying in the Finchbottom Vale nestled between the Ancient Dancingdean Forest and the rolling Pepperstock Hills.

It is a quaint picturesque village, a proper chocolate box picturesque idyll, with a Manor House, 12th Century Church, a Coaching Inn, Windmills, an Old Forge, a Schoolhouse, a River and a Mere.

But Mornington-By-Mere is not just a quaint chocolate box English Village it is the beating heart of the Finchbottom Vale and there were a number of cottages and small houses on the Purplemere road and Dulcets Lane which form the part of Mornington Village known as Manorside where the James’s lived in a small two bedroom cottage in the row of West Gate Cottages on the banks of the River Brooke.

 

Wilson James was 18 years old when he fell in love for first time and it happened at Christmas at the next door neighbour’s house while he was home from University.

He hadn’t intended to, he wasn’t even looking for a girlfriend, he was far too busy and struggled to fit in all the student socializing as it was.

In fact he didn’t even want to go to the Craven’s house that night and he had never even given Deirdre a second look.

Mainly because she was just a kid, after all she was also only 15 when he went away, but also she wasn’t his type, although he had only met her a couple of time as the family only moved in at Easter.

But he did at least remember that she had a crush on him but he shrugged that off, because a lot of girls that he met seemed to feel that way about him.

So under sufferance he went next door with his parents a week before Christmas and when he went in the house and the pleasantries were exchanged he realized that the immature 15 year old who had a crush on him had turned into a dazzling young woman and all at once she had his full attention and he thought that if he couldn’t find a way to fit Deirdre into his life, there was something wrong with him.     

They only had eyes for each other from the first moment and over the next week they were inseparable but on Christmas Eve she and her family were driving to Nettlefield to spend Christmas with the Grandparents.

So on that morning shortly before the Craven’s set off the love struck couple exchanged presents, he gave her a locket with his photograph in it, which she loved and then she gave him a beautifully wrapped gift box and said,

“This is for you”

“Wow” he said and was a bit embarrassed and felt a bit guilty because it looked so much more than what he’d got for her.

But he opened the box anyway and found it was empty.

“Is there supposed to be something inside the package?” he asked and she smiled
“It's not empty” she said “I blew kisses into it until it was full”
“That’s really sweet” he said and kissed her

“I got you a proper present as well” she said and handed him what appeared to be a CD “That was just a bit of fun”

He loved the CD because she had chosen it for him, and even though she said it was only a bit of fun he kept that gold box by his bed while she was away and whenever he missed her he would
open the box and take out an imaginary kiss.

PEOPLE LOVE

 

People love each other in many different ways

Take love where they can find it, I would say

All kinds of love shared each and everyday

But the truest are those that can’t be taken away