Mamalade

“Love at first sight is easy to understand. It’s when two people have been looking at each other for years that it becomes a miracle.”
Sam Levenson

MumDadwed

Last Saturday, Mum and Dad celebrated their 60th wedding anniversary. We had a party for them at their house. Most of their brothers and sisters and their husbands and wives were able to come, including all those that were in the original wedding party.

“I wish they’d all come back so I could talk to them,” said Relle wistfully, as the last of our guests departed. We’d been busy all day, preparing and passing around food trays. Relle was just beginning to relax and enjoy it. But it had been a good day, and we’d caught up with a lot of our relations that we hadn’t seen for ages.

Dangerous

I want to share this email message I just recieved from a friend.

“Hi, this was passed on to me and I was alarmed when I realised how easily it could happen. About five days ago, my 26-year-old son decided to have a cup of instant coffee. He took a cup of water and put it in the microwave to heat it up (something that he had done numerous times before). I am not sure how long he set the timer for but he told me he wanted to bring the water to a boil. When the timer shut the oven off, he removed the cup from the oven.

As he looked into the cup he noted that the water was not boiling. Then instantly the water in the cup “blew up” into his face. The cup remained intact until he threw it out of his hand but all the water had flown out into his face due to the build up of energy. His whole face is blistered and he has 1st and 2nd degree burns to his face, which may leave scarring. He may also have lost partial sight in his left eye. While at the hospital, the doctor who was attending to him stated that this a fairly common occurrence and water (alone) should never be heated in a microwave oven. If water is heated in this manner, something such as a wooden stir stick or a tea bag should be placed in the cup to diffuse the energy. It is however a much safer choice to boil the water in a teakettle.”

It was a beautiful card. Red roses and butterflies. I didn’t recognise the handwriting. The message said:

“I have been a genuine admirer of yours for a long time…for the present I must remain anonymous, but you do know me to talk to… meet me tomorrow in the Supermarket and I will reveal my identity.”

Wow, a secret admirer. Someone who knows which supermarket I shop in. Someone I already know to talk to. I can think of quite a few men I speak to when I’m out shopping. “Isn’t it hot?” I might say. “Do you think it will rain?” “Yes, we could do with it!” “How are the kids?” “Goodness, haven’t they grown!”

Hardly secret admirer material.

“But I’d love to know who it is.” I said to my friend.

“Then go and find out!”

“What’s the point? Since its someone I already know, and I can’t think of anyone that I hope it will be, it means I won’t want to be involved with them anyway.”

“Perhaps you could go in disguise.”

Good idea. I found an old rubber fake nose with a wart on the end. It was attached to thick black plastic spectacles. I tried it on and added a bushy wig.

“Naah!” said my friend. “It still looks like you!”

I took off the disguise. “Anyway, I wouldn’t know which section of the supermarket to go to.”

“That’s easy,” said my friend. “The pick-up department, of course!”

I guess I’ll never know who my secret admirer is.

A Blind Date

I’m not adventurous like one of my friends who once replied to a personal advertisement in the newspaper. Some fellow was looking for a companion. He sounded interesting.

They arranged to meet the following afternoon at her place. At the appointed time, a taxi drew up at her house. As she watched breathlessly behind the lace curtain, a tall handsome hunk emerged and walked up her front path.

He rang the bell.

“Are you Mr X?” she breathed.

“He’s in the car,” said the hunk. “I’ll get him.”

He went back to the car and helped out a little stooped man. He looked about ninety.

“I’ll come back for him in a couple of hours,” said the hunk.

My friend said she and the little man had quite a pleasant afternoon, chatting over afternoon tea. He was from a nursing home and just wanted someone to talk to.

My friend swears that this is a true story.

Well, we’ve had some weather in the past week.

The cooling rain was appreciated after the heatwave. But the next day we wondered if it would ever stop bucketing down - ’specially when the wind started to blow in squalls and thunder rumbled ominously.

It was a noisy night. Windows rattled, doors banged. Trees bowed and scraped. The plastic chairs on my patio took flight and pounded against the front door. The mesh in my screen door was torn into strips. I got up several times to look out to see if the big pine tree was likely to land on my roof.

The tree was still standing next morning, but two branches had blown down. The yard was covered in pine-cones and twigs and the side of my old garden shed had collapsed.

I didn’t know if we should cancel our Jumble Sale that morning. I couldn’t imagine anyone coming out in that weather. But by the time I arrived at the hall, several of our faithful helpers were already there and had things set up.

Of course, there were far fewer customers than usual, but we were surprised to see how many people did literally blow in through our door with their umbrellas turned inside out.

We had a large jar on the counter for donations for the victims of the earthquake in India. A large-scale disaster like that puts our little problems in perspective.

Settling in

The new cats, Oscar and Olive are settling in well and the other cats don’t seem to mind them. Oscar is spending more time exploring the world outside. I’m relieved that he is going out rather than use the litter tray. He will only use the kitty litter if it is covered with a layer of soil, which he then walks into the carpet. Then when I reach for the vacuum cleaner, Oscar screams and hangs from the ceiling.

Olive, on the other hand, will howl to come in if she has been outside for a while and then go straight to the litter tray!

This morning, Oscar sat and watched with big solemn eyes while I was getting dressed. My mind went to back to one morning years ago, (I must have been about five) when I modestly objected to being watched by the cat while I was dressing.

“Don’t be silly,” said Dad. “He’s only a cat. He doesn’t know if you are putting your pants on or taking them off!”

This made me even more uneasy. I remember pulling my pants on and thinking, “This cat thinks I’m really taking them off.” I felt uncomfortable with the cat all day because I kept thinking, “This cat thinks I’ve got no pants on!”

It was rather embarrassing.