Christmas at Blackthorn Castle

Crown rack of spring lamb with rosemary and oregano 

The photo: A crown rack of lamb that will melt in your mouth! It’s something that Mrs. Bridges has made the castle’s kitchen famous for.

Christmas at the castle: Christmas day dawned cold with temps in the high 30s (F) with heavy rain almost all day. Fortunately none of us had to go outside unless we wanted to. We have a lovely fifteen foot spruce as a Christmas tree decorated with ornaments handed down from earlier holders of the title augmented down through the years. The lights are new, but the rest is very traditional. Presents were exchanged before breakfast. Though there are no children present Bea at eighteen the youngest girl present seemed almost as excited as I remember being when I was six, the Christmas before my mother died. This year I got lingerie (The giver looks forward to watching me take it off or ripping it off me himself.), perfume and gift certificates to Freed and Gaynor Minden as well as a lovely amethyst (my birthstone) necklace. Marvin gave me a special gift I had been looking for seemingly for ages, but hadn’t been able to find. I’m going to write about that in a separate post.

For the most part I gave practical token but useful fun gifts; razors (beard burn on breasts can be very annoying), condoms and Viagra for the men and Caya diaphragms, spermicide, EllaOne, remote controlled vibis (by Lelo) to be worn in the vagina and toe pads for the women. Caya should be appreciated by men too because the matte textured dome stimulates the glans remarkably and the removal dome can be used by a lover to stimulate the wearer’s G-spot. Just saying…   Later, in a private moment I gave my wards small designer leather bags fitted out and fully equipped as slit-kits.

Menstrual cycle status: Later Christmas morning my wards, their French ballet boyfriends and I took our obligatory ballet and pointe classes to stay flexible for the anticipated ballet and dive-sex. All my wards have frameless, stringless copper bead GyneFix IUDs implanted so they cycle naturally. When I lived in Las Vegas and my wards lived with me they were in menstrual synchrony with me because we sweated so much together that their bodies synched to my pheromones. Now that we live apart Bea and Willow cycle on their own while the Dryads, Bryony and Claire are beginning to sync with my 28 day cycle. Christmas day I was CD14 and ovulated while the Dryads were about CD9 and fertile. Bea and Willow were CD 20 something and luteal.

A first dip in The Wells: The women all followed me down to the shallowest (64 ft.) of the wells. We inserted our latex flat spring diaphragms, used as flood insurance, in case men joined us and wanted dive-sex. But none did as they were glued to the telly binge watching one sport program after another. I had Carla hang a net at 30 feet in the shallow pool as a precaution so if there was an uncontrolled descent the diver wouldn’t fall to the bottom.  

We wore thong bikinis, flippers and swim caps to keep the chemicals out of our hair. Carla checked the fit of our OTS Guardian FFMs and buoyancy compensators with integral weight pockets. She has checked that all the masks were in good repair before we got to the equipment room Willow, Bea and my Guardians have gotten a lot of use but Bryony and Claire just got theirs so they are still getting used to wearing them. One of the nice things is that we can all talk to one another on the comm. units while underwater and we can all hear each other scream, moan, whimper and gasp in orgasm.

Pool temperatures: For Olympic swimming, the Red Cross and FINA (The international governing body of swimming, diving, water polo, synchronized swimming and open water diving), have set the water temperature for competitive swimming between 77° to 82° F (25°-28°C), and 81°F (27°C) for synchronized swimming. Warmer water is less dense and therefore less friction as a swimmers body moves through it. Standard water temperatures ensure that all performances are on a level state of conditions. I have my pools temperatures set at 79° (F) and that is very comfortable. 

Christmas dinner: Dinner on Christmas day for my wards, their boyfriends, Carla my 29 y/o Divemaster and her diver boyfriend, Chris my male Gyn and a ballerina girlfriend and Marvin and I went extremely well. The menu was a typical Christmas feast with turkey and crown rack of spring lamb (for which the castle kitchen is famous) stuffing, mashed potatoes, giblet gravy, candid yams, mince pie and ice cream, coffee and hot or ice tea. And Christmas Crackers in which were small favors for each guest.

Sloe Brandy: After dinner the Barony’s famous (or perhaps a better term is infamous) Sloe brandy was served. It is distilled, aged and bottled at the castle from the fruit of the ubiquitous blackthorn bushes used to hedge fields and roads on the Barony. The fruit, called a "sloe", is a drupe 10–12 millimeters (0.39–0.47 in) in diameter, black with a purple-blue waxy bloom, ripening in autumn, and harvested—traditionally, at least in the UK, in October or November after the first frosts.

Charades: After dinner had settled we played a game of charades using the huge wardrobe of costumes and props that had been accumulated by Edith my predecessor. The subject for the evening was film stars from the 50s to present. The Brits seem to love dressing up especially the men who love mincing about in high heels and womens clothes. I think that must be from the sexually repressive upbringing of all-male schools, corporal punishment and cold showers that warp their sexuality. Fortunately some of them make lovely women (until you get their clothes off) so they can be great fun to play charades with!

I thought standouts in men’s roles were: Marvin who did a marvelous impression of Cary Grant “Judy, Judy, Judy”, and Chris who made an amazing Clark Gable, “Frankly Scarlet, I don’t give a damn.” Go figure!

Among characters from dance films I portrayed during the evening - with the help of Emily, my dresser, who got me in and out of costume and makeup quickly with her skill as a studio costumer and makeup expert - I became: ‘Olympia’ the Moira Shearer role as a mechanical doll that comes to life in The Tales of Hoffmann (1951); the Cyd Charisse role of ‘The Widow’ dressed in black tights, black pointes, black elbow length gloves and a black bustier with circular white breast accent in  the film Black Tights (1961); and The Natalie Portman role as ‘Nina Sayers’ costumed as the Swan Queen in Black Swan (2010). What fun!