Sunday Smiles

It is Bank Holiday Sunday - and it is very busy out in the estate - not sure we have ever seen so many cars but it remains pretty peaceful.  Mum is coming for lunch but we are having the most un-Sunday-like lunch based on something which she had out earlier this week and which she said she enjoyed.  Once again it was very windy so we weren't sure whether we would be able to eat outside.  I don't think I have ever known it to be so continuously windy - I don't mind as it keeps the temperatures bearable but as Mum feels the cold we have to decamp indoors quite often and then I struggle.

I don't normally take a photograph of our outside dining space from the pool end but I can see now that we have removed the green hedge at the back my shed is pretty visible and I need to think of ways of getting it to blend into the background - any ideas?  I wanted to paint it - John was not keen.

Our sago palm which is in a pot in the 'Japanese' garden and which has taken ages to buck its ideas up after the winter has suddenly sprung to life and produced a baby.  This will be too much for the pot it is in.  I am not a fan.  It is poisonous and very spiky and if you get spiked it itches like buggery - I had thought that I would get rid when it looked to have met its maker after our exceptionally cold winter but I find it almost impossible to throw away anything which looks like it might survive.

I usually like to do a bit of a tidy up before Mum arrives.  We had told her not to panic that there will be loads of cars around and we were out having a chat with neighbours when she arrived and parked up as instructed.

Mum had brought her new swimming costume with her which is a very pretty shade of lilac but made of some very thick and absorbent material which appeared to take half the pool with her when she got out!  I get into the pool to help her down the steps as we have no rail and to make sure that she is feeling safe and secure.  We give her a noodle formed into a circle to put around her waist to keep her buoyant - she said that the water felt cold (it was a smidge under 30 degrees thanks to the wind).  Still a bob around in the pool before having lunch usually takes up about half an hour of our time together and then we eat so by the time we have packed everything away there is only a couple of hours to keep her entertained before she goes back home - it is such a shame that lockdown robbed her of the ability to chat and laugh.  

Apparently when Mum had been out with Lilian earlier this week she had eaten chicken nuggets and enjoyed them - I asked what she had eaten them with and she said chips.  I inwardly shuddered as this is my idea of hell - orange food but I made chicken nuggets for her today using free range chicken breast and made my own take on a breadcrumb coating with the herbs and spices used in KFC which she also says she likes.  The 'chips' were oven baked and we had coleslaw - sadly the cabbage was quite white as I do like to have something green on my plate.  This comes from years of being made to sit at the dining table by my dad and eat my Sunday dinner including bloody Brussels Sprouts even though I hated them.  I could still be sitting at the table at night time pushing the sprout round and round my cold and congealed plate of food.  I mention this to Mum when she pushes her food about or leaves something but I am still the child and she is still the parent and parents are always in the right apparently so she gets away with it!  I hate to waste food so better Mum has something she will eat and enjoy rather than serve her something which gets thrown away.  I think this week Mum really enjoyed her food, she actually had extra which is really something. John and I can eat the sort of food we like on any other day.

We had invited Andrew, Caroline and Niamh to come around for a drink this evening after they had been to the Last Castle for a late lunch.  The weather got progressively more grey and cloudy and it began to look like rain.  The dining area was like a wind tunnel so we decided that if we could sit outside we would do so out the back and John decided that the bougainvillea needed a bit of a haircut if it was not to take someone's eye out.  

Although it was a rather cool and damp evening we sat outside and chatted.  They are lovely company and it is great to hear how much they are enjoying their break and how much they like the changes that have been made to 11A.  I can't believe that they will be going home on Wednesday so we were pleased to catch up with them for just one evening.  Good luck to Niamh for her exam results next week and also Happy Birthday!