I had a parcel yesterday

and it was not, as my parcels usually are, a book. It was soft and squashy instead. The mail delivery person had left it stuffed in the letter box along with another surprise for my father. My father's surprise was not, as his parcels usually are, a book either. His did not really rate the word "parcel" but it came by parcel delivery anyway. My parcel had two skeins of silk in it from my good friend Prudence Mapstone. She has asked me to try the silk out and let her know what I think. It will need thinking about. It is soft, smooth, slippery and rather fine. My paws may have met their knitting match but it is a new challenge and I am prepared to try. I am just grateful my friend has so much faith in me. My father's parcel had a DVD in it. It came from my brother. My brother makes his own short family films. These are not your average, unedited, shaky camera with poor sound videos transferred to DVD for family consumption. These come with title, music, proper editing and credits at the end. Even if they were not as good as they are they would of course be eagerly anticipated and watched by my father. This one let him see where my youngest sibling is now living. My father will not travel there now. It would involve a 'plane journey - or a complicated sea journey. He is, so he says, too old to contemplate such things. A family member would have to be critically ill before he even considered it. This way however he can see the house, the garden, the surrounding district, "meet" friends and see the place of employment. My brother has actually seen all of this and so has his partner. It goes a long way to reassuring my father that the youngest child is actually "all right". I liked my parcel. I like the challenge involved in the contents. I will enjoy trying but I know that my enjoyment is nothing like the enjoyment my father experienced as he watched. He believes it is his immense good fortune to have a child who can do something like this - and wants to do it for a parent. Of course parcels come in all shapes and sizes and with all sorts of contents. We all know that - but they rarely come with contents as perfect as the DVD.