Booming Banter

The Sedum in the pots on the doorstep is bushy and turning pink. Always a sure sign of fall. The Sedum in the yard alas is not in such good shape.

It has once more been ravaged by the deer but there is hope. Following an earlier rampage some of the chewed up bits left strewn in the flower beds we’re rescued and planted in pots on the back porch.

Each one is doing well and will come inside over winter for some TLC to keep them going till spring.

They are little signs of hope on a day when we are very worried. Dibley has not eaten since Friday and is very weak. He is just lying around like a carpet. It’s all he can do to drink his water.

We took it in turns to stay with him throughout the night and trust he will gain some strength as the chemo wears off.

He was due for another tablet tonight but of course we can’t think of that till he gets stronger.

Praying that like the Sedum there will be new life in the old boy yet.

Blessing #453 – Special Cuddles

Today our nephew Krishna tagged me in a post. It was a BBC Radio 2 spot by the actor Stephen Fry.

Krishna and I have only met a few times yet the past year has brought us close because of Facebook and Bantering and shown just how many things we have in common. To name a few a love of science, literature and women’s rights.

In the link Stephen was speaking about the importance of language. He underlined it’s a gift we are all born with but not something we freely share.

Why not?

We’ll  according to Stephen it’s because so many of us are bogged down in details and perfectionism. We care more about spelling or grammar than communication.

His plea to us is let it rip. Use language to its utmost. Write! Make up stories, love the letter, tell tales, spin a yarn! Just please please don’t let language be wasted on perfecting the placement of dots and apostrophes.

It made me think of someone that Stephen portrayed early in his career the beloved Irish author Oscar Wilde. A man who was so gifted and so tragic. Who loved and lost and left a legacy for so many to enjoy. So very grateful he put his pen to paper and put on pink!

Blessing # 452 – Global Connections

Growing up in Northern Ireland meant that a trip to the seaside could happen anytime. The nearest seaside town to Belfast is Bangor just thirty minutes by car.

During the long summer nights it was quite normal to “take a wee run down to the shore”

One of the must haves was a Candy Floss. This was made fresh in a big old machine and it seemed like magic. From just a little bit of powdered sugar a gigantic mass of baby pink fluff appeared. It was a BIG treat and provided lots of fun for just a few pennies.

In Bangor this was sold at Barry’s Amusement Arcade. The building was a bit like a decrepit castle and whether it was the Ghost Train or the old slot machines it all was just a little bit spooky. This made the magic even more incredible.

In France the delicacy is known as Barbe à Papa. Would we have eaten it with such relish with the name Grandads Beard? Maybe it would have made no difference.

Today in the USA we find it as the dense compressed Cotton Candy in plastic bags and plastic tubs and it just doesn’t seem the same.

Give me the face covering, hair clinging wobbly beehive bounty on a wooden wand anytime!

Blessing # 451 – Sticky on a Stick

My Mom and Dad always referred to Carnations as PINKS. We had a border of them in our little back yard and they had the most divine smell you can imagine.

Some of the Carnations we buy in the store today have no smell at all. Maybe they are different hybrids but these « Pinks » were powerful. The perfume was better than anything from a bottle.

The smell was spicy and a bit like a clove which explains another name they have Gilly Flowers derived from the French word for clove giroflée.

Fans of Brideshead Revisited will remember that when Charles Ryder arrived in Oxford his apartment was on the ground floor and beneath the window was a border full of Gilly Flowers.

Pinks are officially known as Dianthus which from the Greek means Gods Flowers (Dios Anthos). They got the name Pink not because of their color but because they look as though they had been cut with pinking shears.

Regardless of name they are beautiful and they remind most of my Dads second cousin Davy.

My Dad was an only child but he lived in the small village of Seapatrick along with a whole collection of family members. All the parents worked in the local linen mill and everyone was poor as Church mice.

Hardship, especially during the depression was worst in those who had large families as was the case for Davy. Truthfully I’m no longer sure how many they were but it was at least eight.

Davy was quite deaf and in those days of hard times hearing aids were unheard off but Davy did very well going on to do beautiful work as a carpenter.

I got to know him as a child. He was very gentle, talked only a little but had the softest brown eyes you’ve ever seen. It was almost as though he talked with his eyes.

He never married and lived with his younger brother and his wife. His great passion was flowers and each time we went to the village he’d take us to the garden. Here we’d find his trophy collection not just of Pinks but ever imaginable type of rose and his most prized treasure of all his Dahlias.

Each year these beauties seemed to get bigger and bigger until they quite honestly became the size of dinner plates. When we’d leave he’d send us home with arms full of them.

The last time I saw Davy was about forty years ago just before he moved on to the big garden in the sky. He left a mark on my life and I’m sure that of many others with his great bunch of goodness; contentment, gentleness and generosity.

Blessing #450 – Sweet Scented Soul

After almost two months absence the green monsters have returned to eat not just leaves but holes in whole tomatoes. Wouldn’t you think they’d have transformed into something magnificent by now!

They are in competition with the white fly, that had also disappeared for weeks after copious treatment with soapy water, to see who can wreck the most havoc.

So any fruit that is a reasonable size is being plucked even if it’s green and incubated with a ripe sibling to help it on the road to becoming something edible.

This little miracle is amazing. It’s something I remember my Mom doing when she got green tomatoes from my Auntie Nora’s garden. She’d put them in a brown bag with one seriously ripe tomato and let them rest for a while. It was like the older and wiser ripe tomato was infusing them with wisdom.

We’d take a peak at them now and then and see them in their various shades of rosiness. Little did we know what was causing this transformation. It was only at college I learned it was éthylène gas. Ripe fruits produce this and it acts like a hormone to tell other fruits it’s time to shape up and mature.

Shame it doesn’t work the same with humans but at least we can

be glad that it does in all those lovely pink plants surrounding us this time of year from watermelon to pomegranates and grapefruits.

The color tells us these foods are good sources of Lycopene an antioxidant that has all sorts of benefits protecting our eyes and skin from those UV rays that some of us like myself are a little too fond of at this time of year!

Its one of those goodies that’s best absorbed when it’s cooked especially with a little fat. So get stewing!

Blessing # 449 – Mighty Marinara

Today there were a few things going on that were getting on my nerves. We had to shuffle through papers to find some documents and in so doing unearthed a PEOPLE magazine that had been hanging around since March.

Is ours the only home were such things get set aside to read in a quiet moment and then get filed with bills?

Anyway, after the stress of the day was over it seemed the time was right to relax and flick through the pages.

As awards season is fast approaching it was almost too late to review the 2019 Oscar fashions. As fortune would have it though they happened to be predominantly PINK.

Helen Mirren was inspirational as always to us of a certain age with her before and after selfie.

Tomorrow I’m definitely  getting some of that rosy tone makeup she advertises.

As Archie is now about to start eating solids it also seemed appropriate to find out all the details about Meghan’s baby shower.

First though sandwiched  in between these two vitally important articles was another that drew my attention.

Loving  a little science it was hard to resist the title.

Krishna might argue that when I cook he’s used to crap. This lady however was really smart and discovered that little viruses living in sewage can be used to fight superbugs. Sweet! What made me laugh out loud though is the section below.

Did they deliberately use  »Flying  by the seat of our pants » because they were talking about sewage?

Wait though the journalistic excellence did not end there. The article about Meghan’s pregnancy made me cry. Not with frustration as I could have earlier in the day but with laughter.

Read this a few times and see if you get what cracked me up!

Whether it’s Mr Muscle or Ajax at least we have an idea why she’s so slim!!!

Blessing #448 – Light Reading

Today is Labor Day when you celebrate working by having a good day off.

It’s the last day for the pool but we’re still at home waiting for the clouds to pass and the sun to come out.

So what to do when you’ve Zumbad and put enough spag bol in the slow cooker to feed fifty than hunker down and get out a favorite movie.

My personal Selection of DVDs live as you might guess in a PINK IKEA box that sits under the coffee table by my spot on the sofa.

It’s the go to place for feel good any time of day or night. Today’s pic is Steel Magnolias.

This movie has everything a girl can dream of. One of the best cast of women every put together as well as a wedding  with lots of PINK « Blush and Bashful » a great story line albeit a sad one but best of all some of the funniest characters and one liners ever imagined.

Shirley McLaine as the hard as nails Ouiser is hysterical but Dolly Parton as the beautician Truvy is magnificent.

Truvy is a source of hope for the hopeless. Her reassurance that « there is no such thing as natural beauty » is a never ending source of inspiration. Guess I just need to try harder!!!

Blessing # 447 – Classic Collection

There is nothing to beat a good party! We went to one last night.

Our friends Bala and Arthi we’re celebrating and put on a great big bash!

There were people from all over the world at the party. It was like the United Nations.  There were friends from Latin America others from various parts of Europe, Aaron of course from China,  locals from USA and of course many from Indian.

Everyone had dressed up to the nines and with all the Indian ladies in their saris the whole event was extra specially colorful.

Now here is the piece of the story that you just could not make up! All the décor from chair backs to table settings were PINK.

Blessing # 446 – Party People

This morning I read a great little article from back home in Belfast. The idea is a Disco for “older” people who are lonely to have some fun.

Typical of the Northern Irish sense of humor it’s called the Slipped Disco!

It’s funny because only yesterday my friend Terri and me we’re talking about the lack of places for kids to go dancing these days.

The Slipped Disco plans to play lots of ABBA, Barry White, Cool and the Gang and so on. I’d love to go.

There wasn’t a week when I was a teenager that my friends and I didn’t dance. When we were young teens it was at the youth club and when we hit sixteen it was the disco. Oh and we got all dressed up for it too often like ABBA in PINK!

Kept us all fit too. We’d belly wobble the night away even when we had no bellies to wobble.

Whose up for a new hashtag #BRINGBACKBOOGIE

Blessing # 445 – Dancing Days

When we lived in France there was a summer street fair in our village. They were selling all sorts of things from the standard cheese and wine to local crafts and antiques. I bought a plastic pink handbag!

It was a steal at one Euro and for me it’s better than any Gucci. It has become my trusted summer companion in the twelve years since. Krishna loathes it with a vengeance and each time I take it on vacation he groans and says « not that plastic thing again »

You see he does not understand, no matter how many times I explain, that this is ideal for anywhere near the water. It is deep as Pandora’s box and you can pile it full of books, magazines,  towels, sunscreen and so on and they won’t get wet. Better still it has a detachable purse that holds cell phones and cash safe and dry too.

Summer pool season comes to an end on Monday so Pinky is having her last days out before it’s time for hibernation.

Before that though was today’s last session of water aerobics. We started this class end of May as soon as the pool opened and have been working out for an hour twice a week every since.

We had such fun with our instructor who is hilarious as well as driving us hard to burn the calories and build up the muscles.

Today in addition to our cardio and isolation we played around like big kids and had some games and prizes.

In addition to winning a pack of pistachios two little plastic ducks came home too!

PINK would you believe and matching so well with their new nest it’s like they were made for each other.

Blessing #444 – New Fun Friends