Booming Banter

Sometimes Ma is nasty to Dad. This morning she chewed him up. If you guessed till Christmas you wouldn’t guess why.

She said he bought too much ice cream.

Now who shouts at someone because they do something like that?

Poor Dad he was only trying to stock up on her favorite just in case she had a craving or needed crisis therapy.

Ma sees it another way though. Those who know Dad well know that he always buys things in multiples.

He can’t get one of anything. There is not a single inch of space to spare in our freezer. It’s coming down with chapathies, chicken burgers and ice cream oh and of course that key lime pie.

It’s not like we live a million miles from a grocery store and we go shopping every week. But why on earth do humans get riled up about such nonsense?

I could yummy up that sea salt caramel before you could say Jack Robinson.

Blessing # 1093– Sweet Solution

I’ll sleep well tonight as I’ve been on a road trip since 10:00 am and am just home a few minutes ago.

We went all over mid-Ohio today.

First trip was to the tearoom to pick up some plants that had been residing there over the winter.

Next up we had to go to a notary to have them certify that Ma and Pa are living so they can get their pensions from Nestle. I could have done that but paws are not accepted it seems has to be official stamps.

After that we headed East to get the news on the parents tax situation and are delighted to say that everything is ready to roll on time to meet the deadline of May 15. That made Dad very happy as he’s worked so hard preparing everything. I gave him a kiss.

With that done and dusted we headed South to do some shopping and found a new thrift store where Ma picked up some useful little dishes to hold jam and cream. She realized last week she hadn’t enough of these as she hasn’t time to get what she has washed in between customers.

Finally we headed home and when Ma went to put her geranium plants on the patio she found a disaster. The Bizzy Lizzy’s that she kept in our bathroom over the winter and that she’d put outside last week had all been ravaged by frost and rain. Poor souls I’d grown attached to them. Maybe there’s a chance if I bark nicely they’ll come back to life.

In the meantime we’ll put a bag over those geraniums if it doesn’t warm up soon.

Blessing # 1092 – Buds and Blooms

Rained, make that poured ALL day.

Ma and me had a trot and got soaked to the skin. I was wearing my usual fur, she her thickest raincoat. Mines better!

She said the state of her nighty that was underneath reminded her of wet T-Shirt contests when she and her mates went to Spain to party. Made her chuckle. Especially since good old Paddington has on his sowester.

She ate the face of the bro by text before going to Church because he only left her a card for Mother’s Day. Turned out his present was in the freezer. He’d bought her a Key Lime Pie and Four Creme Brûlés. She had to admit she’d judged him wrong.

When she got back from asking for forgiveness he’d made pancakes and eggs for her breakfast. He’d cooked enough to feed a family of ten. I helped.

That made her feel better and so she did his tax return for him. He’s going to get a good chunk of change back from Uncle Sam!

She then did all her sums for the project and nearly fainted at the amount of money she’d poured into that place. Thought I was going to have to get the medics to bring her round. She’ll need to sell an awful lot of Tea not to mention uncover some series Treasure to make this work.

So now after much deep breathing we are relaxing and she has decided to binge watch her favorite Call the Midwife from the very beginning.

Turns out she never did see the very first episode but had read the book. May the Lord Bless and preserve me as I see visions of a week long session ahead. All that screaming!

Blessing #1091-Filed and Filled

Ma is all smiles again tonight.

After patiently waiting since February my darling Auntie Lori was at last able to have her party at Mom’s tearoom.

Auntie Lori was adamant she wanted to host her birthday party there even though she had to postpone it three times she hung in there and didn’t give up.

Ma so appreciated her patience and her willingness to be the first party at the T&T and to bring her friends there too.

I’m just waiting for some snacks. Auntie Lori always gives me those when I see her and a little birdie told me she sent me a few home with Ma. Big loves.

Blessing # 1090-Supporters

Ma is hyper happy as the story of Tea and Treasures made the front page of the Marion Star.

The newspaper was once owned by President Harding and his dog Laddie Boy. I just know we are related. Bet he was my great great great great uncle.

He was so supportive of his human just as I am and was in many a front page of the Star too.

For sure he attended many rally’s on the Presidents porch when he was campaigning for the 1920 election and helped draw the crowd.

I do my best to help my Mom too. My greatest talent is taste testing. I have as my auntie Pat Pol says a fin bec. I’m sure Laddie boy did too.

Wonder did he like scones?

Blessing # 1089-Headline News

Dad and I had a decent day playing and cooking.

Ma is just in and is in an excessively good mood. She sold a book to her first customer who is not one of her friends.

She brought home a box of yummies as she has to trash them after they’ve been thawed for a few days.

They are not destined directly for landfill they’ll be in our tummies first. I see a very happy future ahead for me.

They are scrumptious and I didn’t even have to be a good boy to get one.

Blessing # 1088 – High Cream Tea

Grimm this morning and pouring down.

So after a shorter than usual trot I was abandoned as herself left for the shop.

She took all her haul from yesterday with her. It’s just as well she found plenty because she’d nothing else to do to keep herself occupied.

Appropriately, as it’s cinco de Mayo, one of the things she’d found were margaritas glasses. Bottoms up to that!

She also found a new work of art. A vineyard. Do you see a theme going on? Anyway she hung it up.

Let’s hope it stays in place longer than her sign that’s already fallen down. Bad omen!

You can hardly see it though the window as a bird the size of an ostrich has pooped on the front window.

Her experiment of the day was to determine how long whipped cream stays up as clotted cream cannot be found in this neck of the woods.

The result is not promising but any cream is better than no cream at all. We’ll have to give crème fraîche a go tomorrow to see if it’s more robust.

The bro stopped by to say hi which gave her a little lift. If he’d thought and brought me that would have made her day especially now the suns out.

Blessing # 1087 – Downs and Ups

Having a simple stay home day restores sanity. So I prescribed one for Ma and it worked.

The smile has returned to the her face at least for now.

We had a long walk in the sunshine before the rain.

She nuked some weeds and went to TMG with Dad and then did some Goodwill hunting. She didn’t bring her haul into the house though as it’s going directly to the store. Less mess for us.

We had a late yum yum nomnom for lunch followed by a deep and long slumber.

When we woke up at 4:15 we panicked briefly because it was bright daylight. We thought we’d overslept and must be late for something and then realized it was afternoon not morning.

Now we are going for another walk and Ma is making dinner as a treat for Dad who has been in the kitchen non stop for the past two weeks.

Blessing # 1086-Normality

This is one really miserable day. Ma and I left very early for the Tearoom this morning.

She had to get the coving done around the restroom wall and the workman was coming to do it at 8:00. He did it real fast.

That’s when the trouble started. He took the screen window off that window that had sprung a leak last week and discovered that the issue is major.

Ma has now totally had it. It’s like there is no end to the problems. They just keep coming. Why on earth did she not just stick with zumba and her little antique booth rather than digging this hole for herself. The number of “if onlys » today I can’t tell you.

I took her out for a trot between torrents but it didn’t do much to cheers her up.

It’s tough to stay upbeat and positive even though she knows she very fortunate unlike that little girl cracking those stones. I try my best to help her and reassure her.

Truth be told today she’s not able to see a light at the end of this stinking tunnel and totally regrets ever setting foot in this ruin of a place.

I may have a solution when I get her home to help her!

Blessing # 1085-Tomorrow

I kept Ma in my sights this morning and sat up close in case she’d escape.

We went through our Facebook feed and saw a shocking image of a little girl breaking stones. Sickeningly sad.

Just afterwards we watched one of our favorite Facebook stars Trinny sorting through her shoe collection. She was deciding which she’d keep and which she’d give for auction. The funds raised would support some good cause.

It’s hard to imagine two such different circumstances. As my Granny would have said “the world is ill divided”

Makes you ask why some, like my family live in luxury, while others are born into a poverty so abject that we can’t even imagine how they can go on.

Blessing # 1084-Perspective