Preparations and excitement all around!

It is true that Mrs Partridge had gasped when she had seen Aunt Mildred's suggestions for the tea party - that is after she had found her glasses and spent about half an hour trying to read Aunt Mildred's writing. 'I suppose she learnt to write rather a long time ago, and writing giant letters when you are very small must be tricky, especially with such a large pencil!' Mrs Partridge felt sympathy for Aunt Mildred's efforts but was truely shocked at the recipe selection. 'I've never even heard of Aloo Gobi, I remember lovely sticky baklava from our holiday in Greece all those years ago, but to make it myself, Oh Dear, Oh Dear, what a to do!'

'I don't suppose we need more than one pomegranate, a seed per gnome will be more than enough, and peanut butter, how do I serve that to the gnomes?! After a few days of careful thinking and planning, Mrs Partridge caught the bus to the supermarket. She wore a straw hat with a blue ribbon for courage.

'Nothing like a hat for boosting ones morale' she had thought as she checked the angle of the brim in the mirror before she left. Between you and me, Aunt Mildred often made the same kind of comment about wearing a cape, of which of course, she had rather a large selection.

The gnomes were wondering what to bring Mrs Partridge as a gift at the tea party. Everyone was so very busy with the harvest that there wasn't a lot of time to even think. Hortensia's kitchen smelt of blackberry jam and apple sauce, blackcurrant cordial and drying crab apples. 'Can't remember a better year for blackberries Archie, and the cobnuts - just so firm and tasty! All that rain and sunshine has served us well!' Archibold had mumbled a crumbly sort of 'yes' as his mouth had been full of fresh apple pie at the time. Everyday he had been out from dawn to dusk gathering the harvest and extra supplies of wood for the fire.

'I've been thinking Hortie' Hortensia's eyebrow raised, sometimes Archibold's thoughts could lead to wild escapades. 'About Mrs Partridge's present, what she really needs and will never have experienced, is the benefits of Aunt Mildred's foot balm!' 'Oh Archie what a good idea!' and with that Hortensia took off her apron, put on her second best tweed jacket, kissed Archibold on the cheek and rushed out to speak with Aunt Mildred.

So that was that, Uncle Humperdinck had found a huge jar (for the gnomes that is) and Aunt Mildred had spent a whole day becoming increasingly hot and cross, locked in her kitchen making up up an enormous quantity of her famous foot balm. She had refused all offers of help, 'even you Hortensia, when the time's right I'll tell you the recipe but till then I'll manage on my own.' Secretly Hortensia had been relieved, even talking through the closed door to Aunt Mildred had made her feel very faint, 'the fumes, Archie, the fumes, I don't know how they sleep at night.'

The tea party was just a week away and preparations were well on the way at Mrs Partridge's. She had been trying out all kinds of recipes and even taken more furniture from the old doll's house to make a seating area for the gnomes. 'Just so lovely to see it being used at last, they can take it home afterwards if they want any of the furniture!' She thought that she hadn't felt so happy for a very long time. 'Sad that I can't tell anyone about the gnomes' she sighed, 'but there we are, not everything makes sense to everybody!' and with that she settled down to watch the rugby on television. Mrs Partridge liked the rugby 'such handsome young men, and so brave too!'