Cakes and flowers

Littlest Granddaughter has a lot of books in which American children set up lemonade stalls. This isn't a thing here, but she likes the idea and persuaded Daughter 2 to let her set up a table with cakes in the front garden. It rained a bit, but she persisted for a while, despite the fact that she lives in a very quiet street without many passing pedestrians. However, she managed to sell five cakes, and was pleased. The power of literature! I read American books as a child too, though there weren't all that many books for children then, compared to now. One I loved was "Thimble Summer" by Elizabeth Enwright. I loved the description of no rain (a foreign concept for a British person) and then the rain coming. And I remember Kewpie dolls being prizes, I think, at a fair. I had no idea what these were (I did look them up on Google once Google was a thing) but it didn't matter. Apart from that, I think the only American books available were the "What Katy Did" ones and the "Little Women" ones. I was - probably still am - quite influenced by Cousin Helen's maxim that everything and everyone has a rough and a smooth handle. I don't think it's made me quite as saintly as her, though. 

My snowdrop is yellow, by the way, to the extent that the bit behind the white petals is yellow, not the usual green. I think this yellow bit is the ovary. It's expensive because it's quite unusual. 

This is the £20 one.

These are the more usual ones. 

Do snowdrops happen in Australia? New Zealand? The US? 

It's been an uneventful week here, though not at all in the rest of the world. Urgh. Might the world be better without men??? Well no, but it's always men who start wars, isn't it? Just a few, horrible men. 

Meanwhile, I've managed to do a bit of gardening this week. Don't know how to eliminate the nasty men, so have been cutting down last year's herbaceous growth instead. Sadly, my left hip has been quite sore. I got my right one replaced a couple of years ago, but the left one has now gone, and because of the waiting lists for the NHS, I think it'll be well into next year before I have it done. The NHS is great, in that it will be free. But sadly there are too many crumbling oldies like me. I could pay and get it privately but that would cost £20,000. We'll see! It's nothing compared to what's happening in other places, but it's been a very mild winter with hardly any frost, so the weeds have been growing and I need to stop them in their tracks, hip or no hip.  

 

Storms

We went to our beloved Botanics today and saw some of the results of the recent storm. This was the tallest tree in the gardens. No longer, sadly.

Poor tree. 

And this one. 

Still, my favourite tree, the Taxodium Distichum (or to put it tactlessly, the bald cypress - it's deciduous, as you can see) seems to have survived with only some twigs blown off. It's so beautiful in leaf, covered in lots of tiny lime green needles in the summer, which turn reddish in the autumn. And when it rains (what? in Scotland?) it seems to be covered in diamonds.

So there are good things too, to distract us from the unbelievable events in the US and elsewhere. Good things such as snowdrops. 

And sunshine, and lovely branches against the sky. 

 

Happy and sad things

Daughter 2's in-laws were due to come for the weekend and though she was (non-infectiously) unwell, she agreed to their coming because she's a lovely person and they hadn't seen Littlest Granddaughter since Christmas and who knows when they'll see her again? There was some trepidation about their journey (from Nottingham) on the train because of the coronavirus - they're both disabled. But they were keen to see the little one, so they did come. And since Daughter 2 and her family live in a two-bedroom flat, I went to my brother and sister-in-law's in Surrey for the weekend, which was lovely (though possibly ill-advised for the same reason. But we did a lot of hand-washing). We went for a walk in a park and passed this, fairly recently uncovered, tiled doorway for Sainsbury - it's a while since they've used that font.

And the next day, they took me to Wisley, a Royal Horticultural Society garden, which was wonderful. Lots of people our age were there, all keeping our distance from each other and breathing in lovely fresh air. We hope.

It was so hard to take in that anything much was wrong in the world.

So many daffodils.

And hellebores.

And tulips.

And then I went back to Daughter 2's in case she still needed help with the little one, but she was much better.

"Dis," said Littlest Granddaughter in the garden, "is [her name] wiv a plate on her head."

And actor son-in-law went to his theatre to do a show, met up with the rest of the cast of Showstopper The Improvised Musical, of which he's a key member, got changed - and then the Government shut all the theatres down. It was probably a good thing to do but it means that he and his friends are suddenly without income. Dire. And Daughter 2 is an architect and deals mainly with remodelling hotels, and their main client has cancelled their projects. Hmm...

And then I came home, trying not to breathe deeply or touch anything on the train. This is King's Cross station. It doesn't usually look so deserted.

Come back, 2019; all is forgiven.

Well, that was a long gap between blog posts. We had a lovely visit from Son, his wife, Middle Granddaughter and Little Grandson - seems ages ago now. Son had shaved off his beard because coronavirus masks don't fit snugly enough over beards. (He's a doctor.) He grew it because their children don't sleep through the night, and by not shaving, he doesn't have to get up so early in the morning. I must say I prefer being able to see his face but I'm his mother, so am probably biased. Anyway, here he is communing with his cute little boy, now nine months. Little Grandson has a lovely head of dark hair and the sweetest little smiley face - though apparently not so smiley in the middle of the night.

And then Daughter 2 became unwell and I went down to London to help with Little Granddaughter and am only just back. Here she is, serenading me on the triangle. She is so lovely.

Sometimes Daughter 2 was well enough to come with us to feed the ducks.

They live opposite Epping Forest. You can see how wet it's been down there.

There's the forest out of their living room window.

I took Littlest Granddaughter to a play centre which is fitted out as shops, a doctor's, a vet's, a fire station etc.

And then things became even direr than they were before, as the virus spread.

Big sigh

In the direness of the news, what is there to be done but look at all these streptocarpus plants at the garden show at the weekend...?

And admire these mecanopsis and peonies.

And my beautiful clematis - with flowers as big as a hand.

And watch the little ones as they diligently paint the paving slabs with water.

And try not to despair at the state of the world.

The mouths of babes...

Granddaughter was painting, with her paper resting on a bit of old newspaper to save the table from being painted. Then she removed her art work and surveyed the newspaper - with its cartoon about the recent budget's tax on sugar. This is her interpretation of the picture. Firstly: "Here's a man and some children. I wonder where their mummy is. They're running out to the garden."

"This is a lighthouse."

"And this is [my brother] and me."


"This [below] is Grandpa and he is a friendly fairy."


So interesting to see her trying to make sense of the world. (She's not the only one.)

Words still fail. More or less.

I'm posting today out of habit - I seem to be doing it every day during December as well as November because of Daughter 2's Advent gifties. But it all seems very trivial compared to the awful, terrible events of yesterday in America. In Scotland one is reminded of the similarly horrific killings in Dunblane in 1996. This is the sort of thing that just doesn't happen here... or so we thought. Anyway, anything I can think to say about it seems totally inadequate so instead, here are the chocolate Christmas trees that we enjoyed today (thank you, darling Daughter 2)...

... and the little heart that she opened this morning, to remind her (not that she needs reminding) how much we love her.

The tree is now up and decorated but the wrappings for all the decorations are scattered all over the sitting room so I must go and tidy them up. Oh, for a maid. Or a fairy.

My heart goes out to all those poor parents and grandparents for whom Christmas will forever be a time of grief.

Words fail

This morning: two felt balls - Christmas decorations - from Daughter 2. And a reindeer on the calendar.

From us to her - chocolate plum puddings.

We went into town today and parked in Heriot Row, where Robert Louis Stevenson grew up. This is his house. Heriot Row is very very expensive. I'm amazed that the owners are allowed to have a scarlet door. I thought that New Town ("new" as in 1800ish) doors all had to be black or white. It looks festively decorated inside, unlike (currently) our house. Tomorrow, however... .

This is a little street of shops which I shall never enter - all designery stuff such as Mulberry and Calvin Klein. Hmm, that lady in red could do with shedding a few pounds. She is not me, I hasten to add.

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My husband has just this moment told me of the horrible shooting of little children in America. So I shall stop burbling about Christmas and just say that I'm very very sorry for anyone involved. How absolutely dreadful. Words fail.

Sandy

Oh dear, all good wishes to any Americans reading this. I hope that you and your loved ones aren't affected by the big storm. Keep safe!

The fires in Victoria

Like the rest of the world, we in Britain have been hearing about the terrible fires in Victoria. I do hope that all my blog friends and their friends and family are safe. My thoughts are with all those who have been affected by these dreadful events.