Revelations

At long last it's safe to reveal what was in the package we sent to Ms Ehle on behalf of the blog and its readers to thank her for the interview and wish her a happy birthday. It's so late because she'd left the country before it arrived.

We've been keeping this under our hats to keep it a surprise...oh alright, we just love being mysterious. Anyhow, since this was on everyone's behalf, we thought we'd better let you know what we sent:

Card. Cover says "to our favourite actress in the world, you are [ace]!". The ace is a playing card. There's also a photo of a BAFTA with fake lashes glued on. Inside left: our mugs with a note from each of us. Inside right: "Happy Birthday, Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! Thanks for everything! From Tina and Chelsea on behalf of our fellow loyal fans from the Blog" and a bunch of roses.

Inventory list. Cover says "CARE package inventory". CARE = "(hopefully) Cool (mostly) Aussie Random objEcts". Inside says "Unfortunately we couldn't procure these for you..." with a picture of Pemberley, a backyard with the Old Vic in it, a baby sling, a cellar full of wine, and a giant Starbucks cup. The other side says "...so we got you these instead" with a list of what's in the package and silly comments on them. There's an Aussie theme since we're both from down under.

"Gorgeous" moisturiser and "Eau Roma" from Lush. Les pièces de resistance.

Tim Tams, chocolate biscuits. Aimed at luring Ms Ehle down under for refills.

"Jane Austen - Antipodean Views". A collection of famous Australians and New Zealanders' opinions on Jane. There's a note to Ms Ehle from Susannah Fullerton, an editor of the book and the current president of JASA (I think?).

"Dogs of the world" playing cards.

Bookmarks with Aussie authors.

We also ended up getting stuff for the rest of the family since it was around Christmas. It started with something for George, a stuffed kangaroo and socks. Then we thought we'd better thank Rosemary Harris since we sent the parcel through her, so she and Mr Ehle received a box of tea and a card. It seemed too mean to exclude Mr Ryan, so he got "Prince" shaving cream from Lush and a card.

By the way, "we" here means Chelsea and I. Full interstate collaboration - from planning to making the cards to getting the presents, everything! We had a blast - seriously, we gleefully plotted for yonks. We hope that Ms Ehle and her family enjoy it at least as much as we did creating it.