Miss Honoria Finch
Resident Astrologer… Sometimes

The Guest Cottage always knows when Honoria Finch is coming.

Days before her arrival, its lights begin turning on in the early evening. No one admits to switching them on. Someone checks the calendar. Someone else checks the gin.

Then Honoria appears, with enough luggage to suggest a lengthy stay and no intention of confirming one.

This year, she has brought glass stockpots filled with holiday aromatics: orange, apple, cinnamon, cloves, star anise, and bay leaf. She prescribes a gentle simmer before company arrives. Apparently, a house should smell welcoming even when its owner is still deciding.

She has also brought equestrian needlepoint pillows for the horse lover in your life. Honoria feels that people who spend so much time arranging things for their horses deserve somewhere handsome to collapse afterward.

A few have already found their way onto the Guest Cottage sofa. She claims to be assessing them.

Her astrological services remain available occasionally. She may offer a remarkably precise observation over breakfast, then refuse to discuss Mercury for the remainder of the week. Pressing her is rarely productive.

For now, she is comfortably installed in the Guest Cottage, the stockpot is simmering, and the pillows are being thoroughly assessed.

The lights stay on rather late.