Episode 34 - The Tearoom moves to New England

[beanandspud]

At this time of year New England is famous for its glorious foliage as billions of leaves change from green to a kaleidoscope of colours. The air is crisp and cool ? perfect for hiking, biking or a drive along back roads, where farm stands are piled high with crunchy apples and orange pumpkins.

Everyone is welcome. There are tea, cakes and wine aplenty so pull up a comfortable chair and join us.

The usual rule applies - no fisticuffs please!

My new theory Mistle, is that when you think 'tomorrow will be the day' then today is probably the day. But you do know when it comes though
When the last cat to go needed to be pts, we actually stopped at the Cats Protection League on the way home, and came out of there (previous adopters) with a kitten. The house way going to be way too empty without him.

On Tuesday, we are being assessed by Greyhound rescue to see if we are suitable !

Carrot cake would be lovely. Today has felt like a long day as I started off with a conf call to Oz, so they were off for a beer when we finished !

Fingers crossed for a positive Maud!

I like greyhounds - a friend has a pair of ex racers. However, I think we would like something that's a little bit smaller (sort of collie sized) and possibly a little less 'independant' in the house (ie liking to curl up on your lap / foot / somewhere near you...) I was looking at Greyhound gap though as they have some lurchers too....

I thought the day was Weds - because she was bad on Tuesday night - but Weds was better and we picked up some more painkillers and she's not been as bad. She's still enjoying food and going for a very short (although time consuming) walk and woofing down the garden.... We will definitely get the vet to visit though - she doesn't like the vets and I hope we will be able to get by without taking her in again.

Cake would be good. As would

Here, mistle, have both cake and .
I agree that you will know when the time has come. I doubt you will all remember but my poor old Bucky-cat died end of August 2009. I knew he'd been extremely poorly for a few days and when he was unable to walk on the Saturday morning, we knew it was time.
I'm so sorry. It's so hard.

CMOT - thank you, and your post made me :o "sending love to my ladybits" - I don't think anyone except DH has ever said that :o

I'm starting to feel a bit more human. Still tired, but the blisters are starting to scab over (sorry to be disgusting) so they don't itch as badly, and I'm actually really not hurting much at all. Back's still a bit achy but that's it.
Happy days.

I'm hoping to persuade DS to leave his Lego for a short bit so we can go to the garden centre and buy a half whiskey barrel. I'd like to half bury it in the front and plant something pretty and colourful in it. I suspect that will be the end of my energy for today but it's something more than I've accomplished in the last few days :)

Glad to hear that you're doing slightly better JM - but don't try to do too much too soon.

Cake- yes please , a slice of carrot cake and maybe one of sticky cake too. Can I offer you coffee cake with nutella frosting in return.

Sympathy MT, glad you got some nice memory photos in the summer.

Did someone say Nutella frosting? How do you make that?? YUM!

JM.. surely you just open a jar and spread it on?

Nope, plain nutella tends to slide off cakes. but mixed with glace icing it sticks better, and tastes yummy. I did also use cocoa powder - so now boy is refusing to eat it . Tragic. All the more for ME ...

Mistle, I thought that , but someone mentioned there is actually frosting that has Nutella as an ingredient.

UniS, how do you make glace icing? I probably know, but we often call things by a different name here in Canadia.

Glace icing - icing sugar ( powdered sugar) and water.

I make this bit on the runny side, then stir in a good dollop of nutella till the whole lot stiffens up a bit .

Stop sniggering at the back.

Ok, that's what i thought. Thanks! Must try with DS.

You see, I don't know this sort of thing as I don't do things with chocolate (for obvious reasons)

Ooooohhhh, that sounds yummy!

I have a batch of this on the stove at the moment. Thought I'd try something new this year (it seems like every year since my pregnancy I add something new to my Christmas cooking/baking repertoire). My house smells loverly!

Only one mention of "red balloon sad" today and thankfully Toddler waited until MrScout and I were actually awake and able to talk to him about it. I managed to get out of him (though how accurate it is I don't know) that he's not sad about the balloon but that the balloon is sad at being blown away from him.

MomScout sent me some links of some of Toddler's birthday presents (she's keeping them there for him to open and have toys to play with at their house). TS saw some of them and while he doesn't realize they're presents waiting for him he seemed quite keen on a couple of the bits he saw. Bad Scout, I know, and next year I'll have to watch myself much more carefully.

MT, what kind of dog is MistleDog?

JM, are you actually resting?

Does anyone need a top up?

mistledog is a proper mutt.... We got her as a whippet cross - but she's got more greyhound than whippet - max of 1/8th! Bit of lab or retriver, possibly bit of alsatian and or ridgeback.....

I had an unexpected burst of energy today so we went to a garden centre in Abbotsford (about 30 km away) and I found my much-longed-for half whiskey barrel :)

They had hanging baskets of white geraniums for a song (CDN$ 5.00) so I bought a pair to hang on the planter hooks at the front of the house. It gets sun all afternoon which is perfect for geraniums. I also got some pansies just to add some colour.

Now I have to decide what to actually do with my barrel. Knock holes in the bottom, half bury it and use it as a mixed bulb planter? The depth means it would make an amazing bulb "lasagne". Latest bloomers on the bottom, earliest on top.
Or, turn on its side and half bury it (tipped back a little) and plant pretty colourful things in it and make it look like it's spilling out?

We also went to Costco (Scout will know) for bulk shopping, and then to our local supermarket to buy our Thanksgiving turkey, since its Canadian Thanksgiving this weekend.

Erm, and I washed and folded a load of laundry. All this between about noon and 6 pm. Like I said, a surprising burst of energy given I've been lying around the last few days. I'm a little tired now. Actually I'm parked on the couch and DH can pretty much pick up from here. :o
But in my defence, JB and I sat and lay around most of the morning, until about noon. He played Lego and I read/ MNd.

See you all tomorrow!

Why does it need half burrying JM? I like the sound of the bulb lasagne though.

Please don't try to do too much - shingles is nasty!

Oh not to worry - it was loathsome, I do NOT need a relapse!!

You half-bury whiskey barrels because they're HUGE. Or a third could be enough. Basically would want enough of it underground so you have something to plant pretty things in. That's if they're on their side.

As a bulb planter I suppose I could just plop it down.

JM - As your transatlantic garden design consultant, I have to say I looove the idea of the barrel at an angle, planted with soft things that tumble out like water.

ouch to your ladybits JM and yes rest and yes flowing waterfall like flowers from barrel

Mistle so sorry about dog. You will know. Even though OxHound was ill on and off for 2 years we knew when it was time. gaps are hard. we are still dog free but it is deceptively easy....

Maud, yes, I have even touched the life size Skyfall poster since I just happened to be close to it at the cinema and couldn't help a quick stroke....

Oxboy lives in a parallel universe, often things that haven't happened are totally true - but I think on balance his world is better than mine "oh mummy I am sorry I wasn't listening but my head was just so full of jolly plans" - and yes,he is part Enid Blyton

I am longing for another baby, aching, gah I can't seperate why or emotion from practical but a few friends have just had babies and Oxboy is begging for one.... it is too hard - do I say "no" because it is impractical - technically hard - inconvenient - because we were shattered by the end of the journey that led to Oxboy and I have forgotten?? hard indeed to answer and not possible even to voice in RL - I am normally very good at placing things and recognising feelings for what they are but this makes me flounder!

::Clasps Oxeye to her ample bosooom::

You stroked James Bond? You hussy.

I have no idea what to say about the baby hunger. For very nearly all the time, I have felt that we were so fortunate to have The Girl that it would be greedy and presumptuous to hope for more, but I did have that sort of wobble when my antenatal group started announcing second pregnancies. But, faced with the reality that for us the journey would be (as you say) impractical, technically hard verging on impossible (as it was first time) and emotionally shattering, the wobble soon passed. It is odd, and disorientating, and very hard to voice in RL. What does OxBloke think?

Have some and, if you wish, some further [clasping].

Oxeye, how difficult to still have a choice. I agonised about trying again; it failed, which was heartbreaking. Would it have been better not to try ... I don't know. Wriggle was too young to understand; would Oxboy understand? (Yes, we are trying to have another baby/No, we don't want to have another baby) Probably the person who helped me to come to terms with this most was Maud.

Really, LaBelleDame? I'm humbled to think so, but find it hard to beleive that my wafflings and ramblings help anyone.

You are absolutely right that it's the element (or not) of choice that lies at the heart of the difficulty. What helped me was the realisation that, realistically, we probably had only the illusion of choice, because we could choose to set off down the path again but the chances of arriving at the destination were vanishingly small - we'd managed it once, but the odds really were stacked against our managing it again. So, really, our choice wasn't baby/ no baby but gruelling journey to uncertain destination/arriving spontaneously at probably the same destination.

((((oxeye)))) Been there, done that, know what it feels like. Getting over it is tough. We could, I suppose, have continued down that route, but for us there was so much angst associated that it would have torn us in pieces... DS would have been a wonderful big brother... and he has asked if he could have a sibling. More recently though, he has commented that he would have to share our time - and that its not necessarily all roses with younger siblings - so there is hope.

MIstledog has had a reasonable weekend, but is in pain this evening - don't think it will be long.

Oh oxeye, no words of wisdom but lots of and ((hugs)).

I'm useless in situations like this.

I always felt like the decision was taken from me even though I could have chosen to put things off and try for another and was okay with it but when I got the letter from the hospital saying they were putting things off until 2014 my first thought was "Bastards! We could have tried/had a second BabyScout!" Not a very positive thought. My nieces/nephews have apparently been talking about when I have another baby which makes me a bit I guess lingering resentment over a statement my BiL made two years ago. I dread Toddler asking about a brother or sister but am hoping that maybe because he doesn't like babies (never has been interested in them when all of the other children were/are) that maybe he won't ask too much.

That must be very hard, Scout.

Have some and [bosooom clasping] yourself.

Have you made any progress in checking whether the hospital is 'allowed' to defer you for so long?