7 Various Takes

One

We've come tragically to the end of our real holiday. My parents have been here for the last many days which has extended the holiday atmosphere, the sense of 'oh I won't do that now, I'll do that later' and 'oh we might as well watch all six episodes of Pride wnd Pejudice' and 'oh no, it's eight o'clock and we're hungry, let's have a complicated chocolate mousse pudding something or other' and 'oh no, we can't find the vanilla, but here's the Cointreau'.

It also made the celebrating of Elphine's birthday much more exciting than if it had been just me. We all went up to Cole Park, and there was the usual lovely serene view.

This was the blog picture, as opposed to the cheerful one, or the Gollum one which came after. It takes practice, a good frown.

Anyway, we're so sad because they go on to the next thing tomorrow, and we will have to truly face reality.

Two

My mother came into the possession of a Melon Baller which rather set the tone for the birthday.

One thing you can do with a Melon Baller is scoop out the inside of a cucumber and fill it with tuna fish mixed together with mayonnaise, real mayonnaise made by your own father. Then you can watch at least one child carefully, with a spoon, eat the tuna fish out of the cucumber before running off to roll in the sand. But if you're eating it yourself you can just really pop the whole thing in your mouth, if you don't mind looking rather, well, you know what I mean.

Tuna fish cucumber cups lend themselves naturally to deviled eggs.

And then of course fruit on sticks, with a square of cheese. The cheese was a good idea in theory, but it turned out that all the little squares of cheese were plucked off and flung aside. Upon reflection, there should have been sticks with cheese and olives. I went round and ate as much discarded cheese as I could. But then I stopped, because, it's not actually a moral good for me to eat all the cheese.

All of that was assembled by Elphine and her grandparents, while I made biscuits

and cut flowers from my bountiful garden

and made Elphine's requested Clafoutis. Thank heaven for one child who will agree to fruit baked into various kinds of cakes and dough. Would that All The Children had pity on their poor mother.

Have I said how much I hate making birthday cake? American (or in this case French) fruit desserts, or the Wegmans Ultimate Chocolate (or vanilla) Cake–will continue to drip like rain on a stone, trying to influence each child away from the foul birthday cake with the foul icing.

Three

As you all know, because I say it all the time, I really hate winter. I understand that I am alone in this feeling, that lots of people enjoy the gentle fall of snow, the crisp chill in the air, the bone cold wind that cuts through the back of your jacket and tightens every muscle in your poor broken flesh. I get it. Everyone but me loves winter (and by everyone I mean Matt and the children). Nevertheless, however much I try to rejoice with those who are rejoicing, I just really loath the cold and gray. So I thought, because I am frankly already cold, and wore a long sleeved shirt and a sweater yesterday, the whole day, that I would try to cope this year, instead of complaining all. the. time.

And coping, I think, is best achieved with the wearing of red shoes. So I'm breaking them in, even though it's only July.

Four

Almost as soon as we got back, after I'd held the dog for like ten hours to stop his crying, I went out and pried the robin's nest off its precarious post and had a nice long look at it. Don't worry, the robins are long gone. I'm going to believe that the baby grew up and is enjoying a happy and prosperous life somewhere.

So amazed by the solidity and delicacy of the nest. It is coated with mud inside and out, and then woven with all manner of straw and sticks. And now moss is growing all around the inside.

Five

I wasn't going to complain, because I'm trying to be a better more holy person, but whatever, complaining is really who I am, and I, for just a minute, am going to embrace my true identity, and I'd like a special recognition of who I really am…sorry….that was just a little sarcasm….

One of the reasons my blogging break was way too much longer than I wanted is because I've hurt myself, my shoulder to be precise. I didn't hurt it by working out, or by lifting anything too heavy, or rescuing a child from peril. As far as I can discern I hurt it in my sleep in what I thought was a pretty comfortable hotel bed. In the long run, though, not comfortable at all. I find this kind of injury most humiliating. Who gets hurt just by sleeping soundly through the night. Uncool. So so uncool. I've tried praying, which didn't work. And I've tried stretching, which was not helpful. So now I'm going to just going to complain, a lot. Maybe God will hear me that way. Anyway, I can't write anything without loading up on ibuprofen, although tragically doing laundry doesn't trouble it that much.

Six

Pretty soon I will turn my thoughts back to the Education and Instruction of The Children. Sniff. Books to order. School room to face. Maybe I will blog about it. Maybe I will go hide under the bed. Pretty sure we are going to kick back into gear August first. Because otherwise something terrible will probably happen.

Seven

There is much screaming coming from the kitchen. Elphine made oatmeal for breakfast for everyone. Can't tell, from the brawl, whether it's because it tastes good or bad. On the other, she made oatmeal! Who even cares if it's bad, I didn't have to make it, and that is probably the best thing that has ever happened to me ever.

Have a lovely weekend! Go read more takes!

7 various takes