Tea Room the 23rd - The Canadian Rockies

[Jacksmania]

Welcome to the 23rd incarnation of the One-Child Tea Room. Not to be misleading - although its inmates inhabitants mostly have just one child, we also have mums of many (but no dads yet... hmmm...). Everyone is welcome.

The usual rules apply - no bunfighting. If you like that sort of thing, go elsewhere.
Other rules: bring . Or [tea]. :o

We find ourselves in a lovely spacious log cabin in the Canadian Rockies. Enormous west-facing windows show a gorgeous view of the sunset over the mountains, and there are log and/or gas fireplaces in every room, even the priest hole (which is a Hiding Spot of Requirement for Those In Need) and the bathrooms. In the open-concept living room, we find the Aga gently simmering against the wall, the bar fully stocked, and the cappuccino bar prepared to dispense any hot beverage of your choice.

Fluffy duvets and colourful pillows abound on the deep, squashy couches and armchairs. Outside, we see a vista of deep snow, dotted here and there with deer and bunny tracks. The walking trails and access roads have been ploughed clear of snow by our able (and hunky) handyman, Mellors, who is also available for massages and facial treatments in the Log Cabin Spa.
There is a hot tub outside on the west-facing deck, with a mini-bar conveniently nearby.

There are no aspidistras in this log cabin, as the cold of the Rockies causes them to shrivel and die. However, the Naked Mohawk Babies have come along and are swarming along the rafters, and in the adjacent stable, the Tea Room horses, Earl and Lady Grey are available for snowy rides. The bison are frolicking in their snowy paddock, and I have no idea if the bishops followed the trail of breadcrumbs or not.

(For newcomers, the last paragraphs obv. makes no sense - just go with, all will be explained.)

None of my French family, apart from MIL, ever acknowledge gifts. I have sent several things for the two babies in the family, sent Christmas presents to my niece's family, etc, and never a mention. So I don't know if they have got them, let alone if they like them.

I do hope I told you at once how excited WRiggle was with her present when it arrived - it still lives on the sitting room mantlepiece due to being 'too special to lose'.

Have just looked on FB and seen that so much has been going on that I need to make supper first, then sit down in peace to read it.

Thank you, Tea. That was delightful, although for feel good, sing at the top of your voice songs, I think .

Serpent - No, my working day is not one of monastic calm. It's generally one of incessant phone calls, feverish tapping of the keyboard and trying to do things that ought to take six weeks within an afternoon. It does offer intellectual stimulation but also annoying, workshy colleagues who try to foist their work onto you.

::Buttons lip::

About images of poverty and suffering. Who are the 'they' who are divided about this? The diocese? The SMT? The children themselves? We spend quite a lot of time at Brownies [age 7 to 10] on world issues, which has included things like fundraising to buy chickens for a farm in Africa and for relief in Haiti and elsewhere. We also have links with an orphanage in Romania. I am therefore rather taken aback at the notion that children should not be aware that there are children (in this country and in other parts of the world) who are not happy and are in need. Obviously it needs to be done in an age-appropriate way, but I see no reason to keep children in a bubble of ignorance. In any event, that would be impossible in a multicultural area like this, where many children have friends and family in the affected countries. So I would say, show the [carefully chosen] pictures and be prepared to have a discussion about them. Am tempted also to say that any child who doesn't want to think about unhappy children is a spoilt brat, but that is probably too harsh.

How exciting! Tee, I have tweeted you and put you down as a follower. Maud, it's at Austerity Housekeeping. Any feedback or article suggestions gratefully received. It's not very impressive compared to Tee's blog though, as she has lots in her archive and I only started the blog the day before yesterday (although I fiddled around with the dates to make it considerably look older, all of two weeks).

I mean I am following you, Tee, You know what I mean!

I knew what you meant boffin! And I have been blogging for 3 years, so I would think I would have more than you in my archive!!

Maud, it is the children who are divided as to whether they should see such images. We are in an area which is not at all multicultural and is indeed very wealthy, which is why I sometimes get a bit peeved that I have to buy things out of my own pocket for my class when their parents earn salaries which are multiples of mine.

Ha, I thought so. Are these children super-squeamish about poverty? Or simply rather Marie-Antoinettish about it? Either way, I remain shocked at any suggestion that they should be screened from the reality of life as it is for many children in the world.

Yes, I agree. They are rather too safe and smug, imo. And their parents are the same. Although the photograph of the starving baby with the vulture waiting nearby made me cry. Won't inlude that one.

No, that's what I mean about age-appropriate. This is about broader social education, not a horror show.

Am watching an improving programme on BBC4 about sculpture.

Am still watching the Sword in the Stone.

some families try to hide their kids away from anything that might upset them. I find already that we are more open about death with boy than some of his peers parents. Boy is rather matter of fact about people dyeing currently... He has lost 2 great grandparents in last year, so he has some understanding of X is very ill and her body can't be made better leading to, X has died and her body doesn't work any more. followed by funeral...
I've put foot in it with other families... finding a memorial and first reading it to boy and other child then explaining that the friends of someone who died put the memorial there as they wanted to remember their friend in a beautiful place. Turned out other child was "upset" by it , asked more questions when they were home and mother would have preferred to ignore the memorial. ho hum....

All the best with your yr 6s and their discovery of the less pleasant side of life . BUT are these children not already reading novels like "coram boy", "once", "AK" and others that feature children being abused, killed or trained as child soldiers.

I have name changed. Can you tell? I have a deep vein of pedantry and geekiness in matters linguistic, and it will out. So I couldn't rest, having turned the French agent (n,m) into agente (made up n,f) just so it would fit me better. No.

But now I have a (n,m) that surely shouldn't take a feminine agreement, nonetheless taking one. Because I just can't be a chap, can I? (Secrete, can I just clarify, is supposed to be as in the French adj "secret" feminine form, ie "sekrette", emphasis on the second syllable, only there isn't a grave accent on MN. Or on my keyboard. Hate to imagine anyone thinking of me as "sekreet", as in the English verb . But you probably knew that anyway, literate bunch that you are.

Then I wanted to be "L'AgentSecrete" but MN won't let me put an apostrophe in my name. So now I've ended up with Un instead. Apologies to Serpent. Whose name I secretly admire, btw. Maybe I should just give up and call myself SpecialAgentOso. Unless the other tea room francophones can come to my aide.

This is what drinking leftover Valentine's prosecco does to your brain. Or rather mine.
Glad I'm not the only one to remember the moon landings, anyway. You ladies have made me feel positively youthful and vibrant. (Is that right, Maud?) Fresh faced and dewey-eyed.

Do wish I wasn't quite so old tho, really. Not that I mind being old in itself, just wish there wasn't quite such a big gap between us and SecretBoy. Ah well. Keep dying the roots and hopefully no one will notice

Serpent, I always mentally translate you into Running Snake, a la American Indian stylee. Have an image of a respected elder dewey-eyed maiden, sitting cross legged by a campfire, waving a bottle of chardonnay and singing ging gang gooley gooley gooley gooley wotcha meditating peacefully. Is that you?

Some are ... but pictures probably make it too real.

Wriggle has a friend whose uncle has died ... he frequently suggests digging him up.

I was very open with Wriggle about death until quite recently ... she got very cross with me for putting little dead pets out in the hedge (covered with suitable branches and flowers) and used to try and sneak out with food for them. But I wasn't able to tell her that her beloved cat had probably been run over and she now believes that he has joined the circus.

Agent, sadly, no, but I shall ponder the image and may decide to adopt it. I love the idea of the serenity it evokes. Dewey-eyed as in the Dewey Decimal system, I presume?

Are you a frequentee of the tea room who has name changed and would be recognisable under your previous name? I am hopeless at spotting people and once didn't recognise Oxeye.

I don't mind the age gap between myself and Wriggle (have never noticed it, tbh ... although now it has been pointed out) ... but I feel that I missed out on quite a lot of fun in earlier centuries decades and wish I could try again.

I'm a fake Francophone, AgentSecrete, more aspiring than actual, but I did understand that that was a feminine secret and not a secretion! Serpent is the real deal.

It is true that apostrophes aren't allowed in MN names, as I wanted one at one time. Can't remember what ridiculous appellation I had in mind then. I can only get accents by C&P from Word and, frankly, rarely bother.

Yes, repeat after me. We are youthful, dewy-eyed, peachy-skinned and vibrant, yet at the same time carrying the grace of many years' accumulated wisdom and sagacity.

::Collapses laughing::

Has Tee got off the massage table yet? I seem to have missed my turn.

woooooooorrrrrhhhhh

cAN TEH TEA ROOM HABITUES COPE WITH 3 OF US WITH NAMES STARTING UN... sorry, didn;t mean to shout, hits caps lock and was looking at keyboard not screen. I can't touch type.

I dug out some fridge poetry magnets for boy and I to use to practise his reading... only got some short words out, I have teh Shakespearean set, didn;t think he was up to perchance or melodious yet

rE BOOKS- YES, MAYBE PICTURES DOES MAKE IT MORE "REAL" (opps, done it again) for some children. Do the parents hide the Sunday papers away as well. I have to explain some pics to boy.Then he wants to know WHY soldiers break some peoples houses making them sad. Lost of questions about soldiers recently. We go walking up on the ranges and come across military debris which triggers off yet more questions. hes really trying to make sense of it.

It's Scout and I who sing ging gang gooley gooley gooley gooley wotcha, as we are Brownie and Guide leaders (although actually that's a Scouting song and my Brownies prefer you'll never get to Heaven in a Girl Guides' bra 'cos a Girl Guide's bra won't stretch that far).

I was wondering about newspapers, UniS. I have uncomfortable memories of using newspaper to cover the tables at Brownies when we were painting and then snatching away several pages that featured a lurid story about human remains being discovered on a beach. Man (or, rather, Brownies) certainly cannot stand too much reality.

Haaaalaaaaa, hayla shaaaaaylaaaa, hayla shaaaaayla haaaaaaayla hoooooooo

I wish I was a real Francophone. I can merely be ungrammatical in more than one language. And make lots of mistakes with gender. It is Tea who is the real thing.

wasn't it- aaaaalo, aaaaalo shaylo, aaaaaylo shaylo hair shampooooooooooo . or at least it was in my London Guide co. we did camp at scout sites tho. Which is where I learnt the lyrics to Barnacle Bill the sailor long before I understood what I was singing... oops.

Maud it's all yours. I'm all massaged and off to bed.

Just had a lovely chat with my sister in law in California. She's married to my one biological brother (I have about 10000 steps) and she's more like my sister. I miss her horribly and we try to speak once a week.

My oldest niece, who will be 11 in April, just came back from her first residential school trip and apparently has learned, in one week away, how to control her out of control pre-teen hormoneness! I told sister in law that all children must attend then!

Ah UniS - I learnt the words to that song helping out at a summer "camp" one year (except that it was only a daytime thing) - a couple of the boys taught it to us.

Zut alors. Ooooh la la!

We never sang ging gang gooley, but BoffinMum's phonetic version matches what (as far as my failing memory permits) I remember. I like the subversive London version, though. Where were you a Guide, UniS?

My French is quite grammatical as, having been educated in the Edwardian era, we spent a great deal of time on le subjonctif and so on. But my vocabulary has shifted over the years from that culled from worthy French novels to gleanings from the French gardening magazines I buy now to combine my two interests.

Just spotted the reference to Barnacle Bill. I was very old when I first heard that.

::sheltered life::