We've decided to have lunch (grilled fish) at the Groper and his Wife (must remember one day to try them at the Ferry Road Markets) and as we wait - because this is a very popular choice today - S is playing "60 Seconds" on the iPad while I ring my mother. Wouldn't you know that just as I rang, W arrived back from the retreat so I have left them to it and will ring Mum later today when she and Pippa get home. (S is enjoying 60 Seconds but says she does find it a bit of a challenge ... so I can only imagine what it would be like if I insisted on using the iPad for writing this rather than letting her use it. She is watching me touchtype here and asking what I'm typing ... thinking I might be transcribing every word that she utters ... which I could do because each and every one is worth recording ... like "I could easily mistake holly for a bat" - which is 60 Seconds talk. But she does "like the milk cartons because they have stripes".)
Not making it to the markets, although she was on her way at one point and then appears to have gone straight to her folks' place instead, was N - who recently had a job interview with Treasury in our national capital. While her folks wished her well, they also made sure N knew they didn't really want her to get it because that would mean her moving away ... and all that entails (by which I think they thought there might be a chance she would fall in love and ... but wait, isn't that part of the life plan, that she should fall in love, marry and produce grandchildren that everyone but especially they, can dote on?)
Life at Latimers is exciting. This morning I was first up - well, second if you don't count when S was up to open the door to let the kids out - and as I was lifting Beazley up to his (at least) second breakfast of cat cookies, I noticed a mouse had been deposited just inside the cat door. I don't usually do this, but just this once I debated pretending I hadn't seen it and leaving it for S to find. Well, that was the plan but my conscience got the better of me and off I went to get a plastic bag (maybe one of the cats or Pearl would find it while I was gone and "dispose" of it) and it was only when I got back and was bending down to pick it up that I realized that that poor little expired mouse was actually a dead leaf! Phew (and thank you)!
The kids seem to be content to lounge around this afternoon and I can't sat that we blame them. I am planning to do some paperwork and tidying up but that could very easily translate to the virtual world rather than in the real world where it is actually needed. Last I saw S she was heading off for one of those lazy Sunday afternoon naps, having already watched one of the Foreign films she hired yesterday. Could be all that reading that tires a person out!
You've heard of a frog in the throat? Well, it sounds as though there's one in the downpipe ... and I'm still trying to work out how it got in there. Fancifully, it could be that all the local amphibians come to Latimers when it rains and use it as a theme park - slipping and sliding their way through the plants and plumbing, through the cats' territory and finally launching themselves headfirst into the downpipe. It may be that pipes distort sound but the one in there really does sound quite large - possibly even large enough to have gotten stuck there and even the whump whump whump of the others into it wasn't quite enough to dislodge it. Or perhaps not.
Some hours later and all is quiet now as we get ready to settle in for another night at Latimers. S is just doing the last round of whistles for the kids before we all call it a night - and making sure they all have that last snack of cookies to sustain them through the night ... and singing them the "who are the good children" song (high praise indeed). Hugs all round should just finish it off nicely ... and then we'll look forward to doing it all again tomorrow.
