Booming Banter

Such a beautiful ceremony today for the wonderful man Senator John McCain.

Vice President Biden said it clearly and so graciously when he spoke about his best friend.

Goodness and honor transcend politics.

Blessing #86 – A Good Man Is Home

The humongous tomato plant that grew in the planter from seed has started to give us a harvest.

The tomatoes are called hierlooms and they are a bit of a funny multi-color and not the prettiest. They have the look of a cooking apple or a russet.

Am wondering, as supposedly tomatoes originally looked like this, is this why they were first called love apples in Europe. Anyone know?

Anyway these critters are very true to their promise and are indeed very BIG BOYS.

The biggest one was starting to pull the plant down so it had to be pluck. It weighs a full pound.

Behind it some other biggies were hiding and were close to being ready to tumble too.

Some have already been eaten and there were phenomenal, sweet and juicy and served along with some good mozzarella, basil and a few chopped onions. YUMMY

Blessing #85 – Hidden Treasure

Today is a sad one for the city of Belfast. One of our oldest and most iconic buildings was devastated by fire.

Known as The Bank Buildings the landmark was much admired and also much loved.

It dates from the 1780s when it was indeed a bank but Belfast Boomers will remember it best as a beautiful department store.

As young girls my friend Carol and I would go there and sneak a spray of perfume from the samples on display at the cosmetics counters or we would quickly try on a fancy hat or shoes when no one was watching.

It was such a lovely place and always smelled divine. We aspired to be able to buy just the smallest thing in that store.

Over the years it underwent many transformations most recently being the flagship store for the PRIMARK chain.

Way before Zara and H&M, PRIMARK brought great fun and joy to all of us with their affordable trend setting fashion.

Just as the fire happened a total renovation of the store was nearing completion in time for the peak Christmas shopping season.

So what is the blessing in the events of today? Not the jobs lost or the loss of revenue for sure.

The blessings are that the store was safely evacuated and that there are heroes in our communities who fight such monstrous infernos.

The same dedicated heroes who battled so hard today to save that building will go out again tonight and tomorrow and for many more days and years to come to bravely fight other blazes on our behalf.

They are AMAZING!

Blessing # 84 –  Firefighters

Big stress at home this weekend. Poor Aaron’s car is suffering from a very serious condition.

He took it to work as usual and it started to make a weird noise and the steering got really stiff.

When he got home I took it for a drive and it was indeed awful. The poor lad is gutted.

We fear the worse but let us hope for the best.

In such situations what to do? Light a few candles, run a bath add some smelly stuff, bubble up and soak with a good book.

That was my only solution on a Sunday evening. What’s your go to solution to chill?

Blessing # 83 – Tried and trusted stress buster

There is nothing quite as enjoyable as a wee lie in on a Sunday morning especially if you have a warm furry blanket at your feet.

This morning we had thunder again. Surprisingly, even though it woke Aaron and Krishna and me, for once Dibley did not stir.

He was in bed in a deep sleep and then he started to dream.

In his dream he must have been having a dreadful fight because he was barking for at least two minutes.

Those of you who have dogs will know that when a dog barks while dreaming the noise is really funny.

In the still of this morning I realized that this noise unlike a bark is really and truly a WOOF WOOF sound.

So in honor of all those fur babies out there who give us so much love happy Doggie Day and many happy dreams.

Blessing # 82 – Wet Nose Kisses

Today I was at a meeting where we had a lot of music and singing.

The musicians played the guitar and piano most of the time and that was lovely.

We all had a real treat though when out came a banjo.

This immediately brought a big smile to everyone’s face and there was lots of clapping and stomping of feet.

There is something about a banjo that spells happiness and yet we don’t see it played so often.

What other instrument can you think of that brings a universal smile?

Blessing # 81 – A joyful noise

Today Krishna and I went for a little bargain hunting. We didn’t find a single thing at any of the yard, barn or garage sales. This is quite unusual. Maybe we are becoming too picky.

One of the garage sales was at Bunty Station Road about five miles from our home. I pass it fairly often but today for some reason it brought back a memory of  the weekly children’s comic book BUNTY that we British girls were very fond of.

The stories in BUNTY were either very sweet or very funny. At the back of each edition was a paper doll and some paper clothes that we would cut out and hook onto the doll.

These comic books brought great joy. Everyone raced to get the next edition as soon as it came out each week.

Boys had their own comics the names of which escape me now and then there were other comics like the BEANO that both boys and girls would read.

I don’t know if these comics still exist today but they sure did encourage kids to develop a regular reading habit!

One thing that always perplexed me though was I never once met someone called BUNTY!!!!

Blessing # 80 – A Good Read

Last week having hailed the bounty of the Banana, and faced with some very ripe berries, there was nothing left to do but make banana bread.

Thinking that some speedy on the go breakfast items might be needed this week the bread was made as muffins.

A few ingredients were hidden with the banana, butter and sugar including whole grain flour and oat meal.

Aaron ate one. Said it was “Ah OK” which means he hated it.  Dad doesn’t rate them either. Great  British Bakers have nothing to fear!

Fortunately a furry hero appreciates his mother’s efforts. Wonder is it because they taste like  his pet food kibble?

Blessing # 79 – A Connoisseur!

You certainly have experienced children who are very attached to one special item. They take it everywhere with them and it is often a challenge to get it from them to wash.

For some this is a soft toy, for our Aaron it was a little blanket that we called Panda Duvet and that eventually totally disintegrated.

Maybe you have also experienced such a helpful go to pacifier with your pet.

Those of you who know our Dibley will know how important Big Ball is to him.

Big Ball was purchased for Aaron when he started baseball in spring of 2011. Shortly thereafter it was taken over by Dibley.

Being a spoiled pooch he has many toys but he took to Big Ball like no other. He plays with it, he sleeps with it but most importantly he seeks it out when he smells a storm in the air.

About thirty minutes before the lightening strikes Dibley will get Big Ball in his mouth and start pacing.  He will hold on to it till the storm completely subsides.

You can imagine that this must get a little uncomfortable especially when storms are lengthy as they have been in the past weeks.

Thankfully when the storm has past Dibley seems to have no problem quickly transforming Big Ball right back into a play thing.

Do you have a similar story?

Blessing # 78 – Comforter