Tea time

Oh what a beautiful day!  I have a beautiful feeling… 🎶 It was a gorgeous first of September, with lots of sunshine but not too hot or humid and really pleasant to be outdoors.  It’s a great day overall.  I spoke with my boys as usual this morning, and they were in fine form — Jerry has got the art of ignoring me to a perfect science.  He hears my voice, turns his back, rolls into a ball and then refuses to even flick an ear when I call him.  It’s both funny and sad, because I’m being ignored and rejected by my dog!  Don looks really good, and seems to have a little extra energy, which is probably due to having my little black shadow as his own.  He was joking that he’s not old enough to go to the bathroom alone anymore, because Jerry insists on accompanying him and sitting on his feet!  He’s been sending me sports updates, just so I’m “updated on the important things” 🙄 so I know he misses having me around while he’s watching his games!  Or at least, that’s what I suspect!

My tummy and my back worked in concert last night to disrupt my sleep.  One had me up three times in the middle of the night, while the other wouldn’t let me settle down for any length of time!  Guess which was which… Today I had to take my ‘breakthrough’ painkillers and I’ve asked my sister to rub my back with the Voltaren gel tonight before bed.  I hope that helps tonight.  My sugar was lower than usual this morning; I can’t account for that but thankfully that’s easy enough to adjust.  A mouthful of juice and Bob’s your uncle!

I took my sister and niece out to tea this afternoon at the Royal Botanical Gardens in Hamilton.  It was a girls’ outing, where my niece (who loves playing tea party) dressed in her “princess” white dress and looked like an adorable baby angel.  She got lots of compliments from people in the Tea House and walking through the gardens, and she politely replied, “Thank you,” to each of them.  Tea was delicious and Sonja-sized (I ate half of my sandwiches, half of the scones and pastries, plus what’s effectively a mug of tea)  My niece had a Teddy Bear Tea, sized for children under 10, with a juice, 3 sandwiches (she ate one of mine as well), a scone, all 3 of our chocolate profiteroles, most of her fruit and some of my strawberries (she loves fruit).  My sister had all of hers, no problem.  We did bring home the leftovers, which were mainly fruit.  Then we wandered the Gardens, where my niece skipped ahead of us and played “I spy” with the different coloured flowers and butterflies.  My nephew got to go to a new park, where he played enthusiastically before he got a (lactose-free) ice-cream with my sister-in-law.  They chatted briefly while we were in the car stuck in traffic, and it was so cute to hear them saying, “That’s my sister!  Where’s my sister?” and describing their relative outings with gusto.  He thought that he was coming to tea with us, but because of his celiac condition, we opted against that and hoped that he would burn off some energy.  Incidentally, one of the sandwiches at tea was coronation chicken salad, something which sounds impressive but all too often fails in its execution.  I’d like it to be retired in favour of traditional chicken salad, or at least a cranberry chicken salad.  The curry powder and raisins are not a good combination IMO, unless there’s more salad dressing so it’s not so dry from curry powder.  Yes, I’ve had fruit in curry in several variations, but not all of them are successful.  I also realized that I like ripe figs (I’d never had one before); am not a particular fan of Brie with ham but I do really enjoy a good smoked salmon.  I’d consider it an improvement that I can think of food and want to eat, even if I can’t do much yet with that yearning.

We’re home now, where unsurprisingly I’m exhausted while the little people have seemingly recharged by entering the house.  I don’t know how they do it, but if there were a way to harness that ability we’d have fully renewable, clean energy available for all of the planet in about a week, with loads of excess… I’m trying to decide if I’m hungry enough to enjoy the aromatic food that L prepared and sent over, or whether I should live dangerously and trust my family to Leave. My. Portion. Alone!!!!  Honestly, I wouldn’t if I had my normal appetite; he’s one of those cooks whose meals are worth a dozen Michelin stars even if it’s a sliced tomato and a piece of lettuce…  I only exaggerate a little on this point!  Even Don, holder of the lifetime “pickiest eater ever” award goes back for seconds when L cooks.  I’ve got about half an hour before I can eat, so maybe by then I’ll be able to do justice to his food. 

We’ve got both a lot and nothing planned on the weekend.  First, it’s a long weekend, and the “end of summer/back to school” crowd will be trying to squeeze the last bits of summer before school starts.  The kids are home until Tuesday, when she starts junior kindergarten; she is very excited about that, and he’s decided that he should go too 😁  Right now, though, I can hear them heading to come downstairs so I’ll wrap up and prepare for the onslaught!  Good night.