Thursday...Ma's Birthday was a beautiful day.
The sun shone, the birds sang....it could not have dawned better if it had been planned that way.
Ma rang me just after 8am...telling me that she needed nothing and not to bother going up to her house. She told me I should take myself off somewhere with my camera.
I said to her ' Haven't you forgotten something?'
'No' she said.
'What about your birthday then?'
She feigned forgetfulness, but it did not fool me.
I told her that I would be coming up with a home cooked cottage pie with peas and gravy....and I was bringing my rubber gloves and a range of cleaning stuff to 'do you now Ma'am'.(from ITMA...I think)
'Oh leave the bloody cleaning and go out somewhere nice' she said.
'No can do, I am programmed to do the carpets, make your bed, do the bagwash...and the program cannot be over ridden' was my repsonse.
I had planned to buy her a large bunch of sunflowers, but I had been talking to my little sis and she said the bouquet that she had sent Ma had sunflowers in it....so I bought two bunches of roses instead.
My gifts for Ma were very mundane...a bag of oranges, two cooked lamb shanks(to go in her freezer) some fish cakes - home made with cod and parsley...again they would go in her freezer.
Some baby wipes( she uses these for her tender little places) and a few other odds and sods.
We shopped, once done, we both went up. I gave Ma her card(which she loved)...and showed her the roses.
I told her about the food that was going in the freezer.
I found a large earthenware jug to put the roses in.....and set about arranging them.
They looked lovely on her window ledge.
I told her that her present was my time.
I told her that I did not know what special thing I could get her ...and that she really did not need 'stuff' that she would salt away in a drawer like the fine cotton nightdress that I bought for her when we were in Brisbane.
Which has never been out of the tissue paper.
I said that my gift of 'time' was much more useful.
I went upstairs and got out the upstairs vacuum cleaner(yes, she has an upstairs one and a downstairs one).
I vacuumed the landing and then went into Ma's bedroom.
I stripped the bed and made it up with fresh linen...plumped up the pillows, opened the windows and gave the room a spay of Lavender room spray.
I put that vacuum away and went and got the little dustette and did the stairs.
I was sweating cobs so I went and got myself a cold drink.
Ma was nowhere to be seen and the TV was turned off.
I went to the backdoor...there was Ma sat at the little table in the backyard....she was sunning herself and having a read of the paper.
I asked if she would like me to make her a morning coffee.
'No, but I will have a glass of orange juice please'
I took her the glass of juice and went back to my cleaning.
I shifted the furniture in the living room and vacuumed everywhere....adjusted the cushions on the sofa, knocked the dust off the piano...rearranged the birthday cards.
I looked at the time. It was 11.50.
I told Ma That I was going to stop and go for some lunch for us.
I asked her what she would like as her birthday celebration lunch.
'A pudding and a mixture' was what she wanted.
This is what we used to call Steak pudding chips, peas and gravy, back in the dim and distant past. Back then it was one and sixpence....and you took your own pudding dish for it all to be piled into.
Friday teatime the streets were thronged with people carrying dishes in which to get one of these concoctions.
Ma also asked if I would get her some dabs, a jumbo sausage(for Roxy's birthday lunch) and a tub of gravy.
'I am not buying you chippy gravy...I have brought you a pot of real meat gravy from the cooking of the cottage pie' I said.
Ma came in the house and was rummaging around for her purse.
I told her that this was my shout...as part of her birthday present...and skipped off( how ridiculous does that sound? Me at 70 skipping off?)
To be continued.
The sun shone, the birds sang....it could not have dawned better if it had been planned that way.
Ma rang me just after 8am...telling me that she needed nothing and not to bother going up to her house. She told me I should take myself off somewhere with my camera.
I said to her ' Haven't you forgotten something?'
'No' she said.
'What about your birthday then?'
She feigned forgetfulness, but it did not fool me.
I told her that I would be coming up with a home cooked cottage pie with peas and gravy....and I was bringing my rubber gloves and a range of cleaning stuff to 'do you now Ma'am'.(from ITMA...I think)
'Oh leave the bloody cleaning and go out somewhere nice' she said.
'No can do, I am programmed to do the carpets, make your bed, do the bagwash...and the program cannot be over ridden' was my repsonse.
I had planned to buy her a large bunch of sunflowers, but I had been talking to my little sis and she said the bouquet that she had sent Ma had sunflowers in it....so I bought two bunches of roses instead.
My gifts for Ma were very mundane...a bag of oranges, two cooked lamb shanks(to go in her freezer) some fish cakes - home made with cod and parsley...again they would go in her freezer.
Some baby wipes( she uses these for her tender little places) and a few other odds and sods.
We shopped, once done, we both went up. I gave Ma her card(which she loved)...and showed her the roses.
I told her about the food that was going in the freezer.
I found a large earthenware jug to put the roses in.....and set about arranging them.
They looked lovely on her window ledge.
I told her that her present was my time.
I told her that I did not know what special thing I could get her ...and that she really did not need 'stuff' that she would salt away in a drawer like the fine cotton nightdress that I bought for her when we were in Brisbane.
Which has never been out of the tissue paper.
I said that my gift of 'time' was much more useful.
I went upstairs and got out the upstairs vacuum cleaner(yes, she has an upstairs one and a downstairs one).
I vacuumed the landing and then went into Ma's bedroom.
I stripped the bed and made it up with fresh linen...plumped up the pillows, opened the windows and gave the room a spay of Lavender room spray.
I put that vacuum away and went and got the little dustette and did the stairs.
I was sweating cobs so I went and got myself a cold drink.
Ma was nowhere to be seen and the TV was turned off.
I went to the backdoor...there was Ma sat at the little table in the backyard....she was sunning herself and having a read of the paper.
I asked if she would like me to make her a morning coffee.
'No, but I will have a glass of orange juice please'
I took her the glass of juice and went back to my cleaning.
I shifted the furniture in the living room and vacuumed everywhere....adjusted the cushions on the sofa, knocked the dust off the piano...rearranged the birthday cards.
I looked at the time. It was 11.50.
I told Ma That I was going to stop and go for some lunch for us.
I asked her what she would like as her birthday celebration lunch.
'A pudding and a mixture' was what she wanted.
This is what we used to call Steak pudding chips, peas and gravy, back in the dim and distant past. Back then it was one and sixpence....and you took your own pudding dish for it all to be piled into.
Friday teatime the streets were thronged with people carrying dishes in which to get one of these concoctions.
Ma also asked if I would get her some dabs, a jumbo sausage(for Roxy's birthday lunch) and a tub of gravy.
'I am not buying you chippy gravy...I have brought you a pot of real meat gravy from the cooking of the cottage pie' I said.
Ma came in the house and was rummaging around for her purse.
I told her that this was my shout...as part of her birthday present...and skipped off( how ridiculous does that sound? Me at 70 skipping off?)
To be continued.