I've been praising P. G. Wodehouse for months now.  We've been listening to his stories on audio books and for Christmas I bought Tim the television series Jeeves and Wooster.  The same stories, but visually quite different.  On audio, you never see what a bonus it is to have a butler, especially one as meticulous as Jeeves.

Jeeves brings Bertie his morning tea on a tray right to his bedside.  Jeeves makes a cocktail for the morning after a rough night that straightens you out in minutes.  Jeeves irons the clothes and lays them out on a pillow for Bertie's daily wear.  Jeeves draws the bath, putting salts in, placing the towel near by, so Bertie never has to even take a towel out of a closet.  Jeeves answers the phone, and will cover for Bertie if Bertie doesn't want to talk.  The same with the door, if an unwanted visitor, Jeeves makes an excuse for him.  In short, he is like a doting parent, but acts and is treated as an equal with Bertie.  And all the stories have Bertie getting into trouble, either with the law or a female (he has been engaged many, many times - often to the same woman) and Jeeves devises a plan to rescue him. 

So, I am wondering if there is still in this day and age, someone like Jeeves, a butler, but more than a servant, who you can hire.  I will have to look on the internet.  If I ever win the lottery, I will hire one.

On another note, Hugh Laurie plays Bertie Wooster, and his eyes popping out, jaw dropping antics are nothing like the character in  house, M.D. which I am now watching too.  Timmy looked up Hugh Laurie and it said he had been in a deep depression and it was the Jeeves' books that brought him out of it.  I can believe that.  I dare you not to laugh at them. 

Winter is finally here - single digits on the thermometer, windows all iced in the mornings.  This is when I most appreciate the feather bed comforter given to me on Christmas by Paul and Helene several years ago.  It is a pleasant weight on the body, and holds the heat under the other two covers, making for a warm nest.  It makes me think of the squirrel nests that I can see so clearly now the trees are bare.  We have a big one in the back yard, mostly made of oak leaves, which do not deteriorate very easily. 

The squirrel's nest is called a dray and can be as large as two feet wide and a foot high.  In cold weather, like this, they share the nest.  January is also the mating month for squirrels - that's why you see them acting crazy in the roads.  (I use to think they were so cold it made them suicidal, but now I realize it is something else.)  On the internet they had a drawing of two squirrels sleeping in their cocoon like nest. This is how I feel.

Years ago my sister Diane gave me a "Bucky ( that's what we called our mother).  Anyway Bucky is filled with buckwheat, and you stick it in the microwave for two minutes and it is toasty warm.  That goes on my feet.  In only minutes, the featherbed has done its job and the bed is warm.   The warm bed, the fundador and the one or two pieces of candy, and you can't ask for anything more.  Nighty night, as Aunt Lillian used to say.