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Feb. 1st, 2012 08:26 pmI had an absolutely wonderful birthday yesterday. Thank you all ever so much for the well wishes and parcels. I'm writing proper thank-yous this weekend.
I woke up to breakfast and prezzies in bed, and Frank insisted that I not lift a finger all day. The children sang a song for me at dinner -- it was one about my time at Moddey Dhoo, and they rhymed "Alice" with "Palace," and it was fantastically clever. I suspect Tim and Lisa had something to do with it -- they really are brilliant, the two of them.
All of our new residents have now been fitted with proper wands, although the going is a bit smoother for some than others. They've spent such a long time suppressing their magic, and haven't had any wand training at all, so sometimes what they're trying to do doesn't work and other times it works a bit too well. Thank Merlin for cushioning charms and reparo. I think that for most of them, magic has been something to be feared for such a long time, or only seen as something that is used to punish or cause pain. No wonder they find it overwhelming. They're just so different from our younger ones, who have grown up here and take to it like breathing. And our older ones too, like Stephen and Laura McGivern, who remember what it was like to hold a wand. Finbar is the most likely to break things, and Portia is the most timid, but all of them can perform a handful of the basic charms consistently, so there's that.
It's slow going, but there are some hopeful signs. Lisa Turpin, for one, turned out to be hiding exactly how smart she was from us until she felt more comfortable -- Regina stumbled across her reading a book about plant biology or jeans or something and found her secret out, and she's taken Lisa under her wing since then and has been teaching her all sorts of things. Finbar is still worrisome when it comes to his temper, but whenever he gets too worked up, Frank has him running obstacle courses and swimming until he's worked the angry right out of him. And our Danny and Richard Weyman have become thick as thieves, almost more inseparable than the twins (who are also doing better, though it's slow going). Danny's always been so quiet and shy, and I'm glad he's found someone he can be close to.
Everything else is progressing nicely, especially since our lovely large shipment came in. We've got plenty of staples to last us through the remainder of the winter and first part of the spring, although we've had to convert some of the potion-growing greenhouses to veg as a precaution. (Don't worry, Poppy and Severus, we haven't cut down on any of the fluxweed beds.)
Saunders Morys had his first display of magic today -- he levitated a spoon and smacked himself in the head with it at dinner. He and Kevin are right around the same age, and it made me wonder when Kevin will show his. It'd make things a bit more complicated when we're on family trips with Neville and Evelyn to convince them he's a squib. And he's getting so chatty, too. Merlin knows what we'll do this summer. He is a sweet thing, though, and loves his mum to distraction, just like his older brother. Who knows? Neville showed fairly late, so we might have a few years more.
This is a very long-winded way of saying that I had a fantastic birthday, and things are going very well here, and thank you all for being so thoughtful.
I woke up to breakfast and prezzies in bed, and Frank insisted that I not lift a finger all day. The children sang a song for me at dinner -- it was one about my time at Moddey Dhoo, and they rhymed "Alice" with "Palace," and it was fantastically clever. I suspect Tim and Lisa had something to do with it -- they really are brilliant, the two of them.
All of our new residents have now been fitted with proper wands, although the going is a bit smoother for some than others. They've spent such a long time suppressing their magic, and haven't had any wand training at all, so sometimes what they're trying to do doesn't work and other times it works a bit too well. Thank Merlin for cushioning charms and reparo. I think that for most of them, magic has been something to be feared for such a long time, or only seen as something that is used to punish or cause pain. No wonder they find it overwhelming. They're just so different from our younger ones, who have grown up here and take to it like breathing. And our older ones too, like Stephen and Laura McGivern, who remember what it was like to hold a wand. Finbar is the most likely to break things, and Portia is the most timid, but all of them can perform a handful of the basic charms consistently, so there's that.
It's slow going, but there are some hopeful signs. Lisa Turpin, for one, turned out to be hiding exactly how smart she was from us until she felt more comfortable -- Regina stumbled across her reading a book about plant biology or jeans or something and found her secret out, and she's taken Lisa under her wing since then and has been teaching her all sorts of things. Finbar is still worrisome when it comes to his temper, but whenever he gets too worked up, Frank has him running obstacle courses and swimming until he's worked the angry right out of him. And our Danny and Richard Weyman have become thick as thieves, almost more inseparable than the twins (who are also doing better, though it's slow going). Danny's always been so quiet and shy, and I'm glad he's found someone he can be close to.
Everything else is progressing nicely, especially since our lovely large shipment came in. We've got plenty of staples to last us through the remainder of the winter and first part of the spring, although we've had to convert some of the potion-growing greenhouses to veg as a precaution. (Don't worry, Poppy and Severus, we haven't cut down on any of the fluxweed beds.)
Saunders Morys had his first display of magic today -- he levitated a spoon and smacked himself in the head with it at dinner. He and Kevin are right around the same age, and it made me wonder when Kevin will show his. It'd make things a bit more complicated when we're on family trips with Neville and Evelyn to convince them he's a squib. And he's getting so chatty, too. Merlin knows what we'll do this summer. He is a sweet thing, though, and loves his mum to distraction, just like his older brother. Who knows? Neville showed fairly late, so we might have a few years more.
This is a very long-winded way of saying that I had a fantastic birthday, and things are going very well here, and thank you all for being so thoughtful.
