The neverending WORD ASSOCIATION GAME

cakes

bakery

Ya gotta get up pretty early...

Jesus birthday and Santa coming

reindeer with a red nose

Me with a red face if I don't cook the turkey well enough

The Brussels Sprouts (invariably) upsetting someone's stomach.

'morning drom lass!

WIND

Morning Clary! How are you?

Willows.

Fine - although at 5 a m my cannabis-scented youngest crawled into my (admittedly huge) bed as a friend of his had come to sleep in his own. Youth!

The Salley Gardens

He should have slept on his floor instead of sleeping in his mother's bed... no respect for the privacy of the people who brought them into the world these days! God only knows what my mother would do if I entered her house like that; she virtually excommunicated me when she found out that I was organizing protests for some Socialist group.

The Garden of Eden.

hi
I have to say it, I am a model mother. I just laughed, turned over and went back to sleep.

Paradise (which you will know comes from a word for garden)

That's the way to do it! (As long as he doesn't take all your quilt; then you are obliged to push him off.)

Yes, the Greeks adopted that from some dead language, didn't they?

Euphoria.

No, he was out like a light so I could commandeer the quilt. I think paradise was Persian but not sure. I wrote a sonnet about a garden in Persia based on a traveller's tale... can't remember if I knew the origin then.

ECSTASY

Are he and his friend still asleep?

I'll just get the OED...

*Falls to the floor whilst trying to drag it over.*

Middle English from Old French 'paradis', from Lower Latin paradisus, from Greek paradeisos, from Avestan (??) pairidaëza.

Drugs.

Ah, Avestan. My OED is compact, so I have to remove one contact lens to read it (being myopic)!
Of COURSE they are still asleep, they can sleep for England. Even my other son is still asleep and he went to sleep in the sitting room watching tv. He has to work on his extended essay today, I must wake him with a nice cuppa tea(what did I say about being a model mother?)
I am VERY BAD doing this instead of writing chapter 9, prepositions.

ANTIBIOTICS

Ah, the typical 16-25 year old son: play hard, sleep long, do work at the last minute. You are the Model Mother; we should start cloning you, and give the clones out to the unfortunates without model mothers. Are your sons going to be with you through until the New Year?

I can appreciate how hard it is to peel yourself away from somewhere as addictive as A2K to do work on prepositions! When is your deadline? If it be soon, well... Dostoevsky did some of his best work at the last minute!

Pharmacy.

Yes, the lads + their older bro will be here at Xmas and then we borrow someone's house in London for a week over NY so they can roister even more.
After I get back I have to decide when and if to be married again - I am having v cold feet + nightmares! Are you partnered?
My deadline is a while away but I'd like to do as much as possible this week...

CHEMIST (hang on to the Briticism)

Fantastic; I hope that you have a good Christmas, Clary, and that everything goes well... I cross my fingers. I hope that the London trip goes well; have you any plans for your time down there? London was very quiet last New Year's; I don't think that there was a big planned event.

Is everything going alright with your husband at the moment? Are you leaning towards getting married again, or not? I am sure that you will make the right decision, but this is one of those times when the right decision can only be made by you. Where did you marry the last time? No, I am not partnered, but most of my relationships have been long term things; I'm not one for flings.

Getting as much done as you can before the Christmas break is a good idea, as it alleviates the probable pressure after it. How many chapters have you to do, anyhow? About nineteen?

I would say Bangladesh, as every chemist whom I meet tells me that they come from there... but I will go for 'White coats.'

Thanks for your good wishes.
I'm not actually divorced, the odd state of the last 2 years was due to various things but mostly the silly man falling in love with a younger woman (SO 50 yr old cliche) - leaving the job he had teaching in Bangkok whither the family were all preparing to go - ending up with no job, things didn't seem to work out with the other woman - and he's been in hospital on and off with the sulks - well they call it depression. Now he's wanting to come back as if I could just forgive and forget but I'm finding it very hard indeed. I have become used to my own life - selfish probably. And the boys are grown and flown. I relish being like you and able to go off at a moment's notice to Berlin for Christmas or the Red Sea for New Year, without anyone else tagging along and having their own opinions and agenda. I'm suggesting a semi-detached partnership where we could have 6 months a yearoff - not all at once perhaps.

No wish to bend your ear but I'mleaving you time to make up a really good Letterdash entry! Usually there are too many people to polish it as an artform.

White coats - SAMOYEDS