Every where that Aunt Mildred went was a bustle with serious activity; jars of jam were being dusted, flower buds were being coaxed into bloom, vegetables cosseted into a final growth spurt and at the main Pavilion an air of serious - almost fever pitch bustle - prevailed. 'Must remember to bring my basket of tinctures and balms on the big day' thought Aunt Mildred ' you never know what can happen with all this excitement'.
Poor Uncle Humperdinck had been given the challanging job of training the Bunnies. As Aunt Mildred's husband, and because it had been her idea, the responsibility for persuading the bunnies to take the rodeo seriously and to hop on request, had fallen on his shoulders. Uncle Humperdinck was a tall, thin gnome of Nordic descent, his hair was particularly wispy and even with all of Aunt Mildred's skill as a milliner, his hats were always at a rakish angle, so much so that he had great difficulty keeping a hat on his white and wild curls at all. The bunnies had been playing him up at first (anything to eat more free carrots and parsley) but his inherent kindness was winning them around and he in turn was forming a firm friendship with several of the older bunnies - of an evening he and some of his new friends had been found to enjoy a wee snooze together - Uncle Humperdinck was very old and a bunnies fur so particularly soft that a snooze leaning against a bunny's warm soft tummy was proving irresistible.
The arena for the rodeo had been enclosed with posts and ivy-rope trellis and surrounded with mossy banks for the spectators and judges to sit on. Uncle Humperdinck had been encouraging the bunnies every day for the past few weeks - he had of course had to resort to bribery, and several times poor Archibold and Stephanotis had to rush off on a carrot hunting mission.
Hortensia had taken to playing the trumpet whenever possible and her whole household was having to adjust to early morning trumpet calls summoning them to breakfast. She was all of a flutter too for another reason, her sons Horatio and Lupin were coming home on Sunday from the garden centre where they had been working learning vital young gnome skills. Busy as she was, she had found time to polish the buttons on their best waistcoats and to embroider a silk sash for each of them.
'Steady does it, grass grows all on it's own - trust and dance with the flow' Aunt Mildred was singing a little song to calm and inspire as she went out and about. The Midsummer Revels were a chance to frolic and play (she was looking forward to a dance or two herself) but savouring each moment made the day even more special when it finally arrived and some of the younger gnomes were in danger of exhausting themselves with over excitement well before the day had dawned. 'Tea Darlings? A wee tisane to steady the nerves and bring a bloom to your checks?' Aunt Mildred was dispensing kindness and calming teas as she went, she wanted all the gnomes to be on their best form for their special day.
No comments:
Post a Comment