Dazzled
The yellow house across the street has chickens in the yard. Here in my little town there aren’t too many chickens and I love to hear them in the morning. The other day my mum was going for a short stroll and noticed the neighbor planting pansies in her window box. I should say that my mum is 86 years old and has always greeted people she sees and that we live (she in the first floor apartment and my husband and I in the second floor apartment) on a very narrow little lane in Marblehead, MA where many of the homes are pre-revolutionary and many of the roads are more narrow than most driveways. In New England, spring time means greeting your neighbors after a long hibernation. When my mum got home from her little stroll the neighboring woman had left a half dozen eggs in her doorway. White, brown, and the prettiest shade of blue. My mum shared them with me and there were omelettes for breakfast both upstairs and down the following morning. And....I got to hear the chickens clucking! Win, win.
I’ve never been a bath person but lately I’ve been taking a nice relaxing bath on Friday nights when I get home from work. I put some music on, light a few candles, sprinkle some aromatic oils in the diffuser and in the tub and pour myself a glass of wine for a nice relaxing soak.
I went up to visit my grandchildren. Abigail kept saying she wanted to go outside and play in the yard with Verne so my daughter told her she needed to put pants on first. She was wearing a shirt and her diapers because she had already taken her pants off...the girl is a fashionista and is always changing her clothes. So she went up to her room and came back down with a tutu on. A little bit later she said she wanted to go outside again and my daughter told her (again) that she needed to have pants on. Abigail went in to the closet and pulled out her cowboy boots (which used to be Verne’s but don’t fit him anymore). After a bit longer Verne came in to see if Abigail wanted to come out to play with him and, you guessed it, my daughter told her she would need to put pants on. She went into the mud room and grabbed a helmet.
Sweet little Natalie slept through almost all of it, waking only once for a little suck of something delicious.
I celebrated my 58th birthday at the beginning of the month and my mum came upstairs for dinner when I got home from work.
There was some sort of an incident with the real sparklers that my mother (who is quite a character) was going to put into the cake she got for me. However, for some reason which I don’t truly understand, she lit a sparkler to show my husband and a spark lit the rest of the sparklers...there were small flames and some damage to my birthday card. All of this happened before I arrived so I was presented with a burnt card and some very delicious cake.
I have learned over the years that it is best not to delve too deeply into the affairs of my mum.
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Happy Belated Birthday! I had to laugh at your burnt card. At first glance before reading what happened I actually thought they were being creative with the envelope to the card which had a sparkler. LOL. How fun for your class to explore bug trails. My dayhome kids always love finding leaves where we can see the paths that little bugs make. Your grandchildren are so sweet!
ReplyDeleteYour mum sounds like my kind of girl! No, we won't ask about the sparklers...
ReplyDeleteAnd Happy Birthday to you!
I noticed those cowboy boots immediately! She definitely has a daring personality (got it from her great-grandma?) Did she ever get to go outside?
😂 I love your mum stories! And.your singed card
ReplyDeleteAbigail looks fabulous in her chosen outfit. What a wonderful and joyful photo of her and Verne. i love your branch lesson, you always make the most of a learning experience with nature. The story of your Mom & the cake...I find it hilarious! How cool to have neighbors with chickens! Hope roosters don't wake you at the crack of dawn! We used to buy eggs from the lady a few blocks away, who has many exotic chickens in her back yard. They get out periodically and terrorize the neighbor.
ReplyDeleteOh that sleeping baby...how precious!
ReplyDeleteSO. DID Abigail ever get her pants on to go play outdoors??????
HAHHA....sounds like my Claire.
Happy belated birthday wishes. I just had a birthday yesterday too. I'm so
ReplyDeleteglad that you like your neighbor's chickens. I lived right next door to a house
with chickens in So Cal, and they were so loud that it annoyed me. Now,
when I moved back up north and up to the mountains, I don't hear chickens,
dogs barking, or neighbors playing loud music. It is a peaceful environment,
and it's so nice. Happy month of May. Your photos are always so calm and
beautiful.
~Sheri