A blast from the past

I came across this letter written about 5 years ago and really enjoyed re-reading it, so decided to post it for eternity :). Muffin, bless her, is now at the Rainbow Bridge but I am sure she would be very happy to know she is still giving me such enjoyable memories.

It's 7.20am and I have just waved A-M and T off on their wee trip to Hamilton. I knew I would have to get up early today so had been hoping for a good night's sleep but Muffin had other ideas.

About 4.30am she woke and wandered all over the bed, eventually settling into the 6in strip of bed between me and edge ... stayed there a few moments, and started moving again. That is NEVER a good sign! She hopped off the bed and went into the hallway, where she proceeded to growl and scratch at the front door. If she had gone straight ahead instead of turning right when she exited my room, she would have been in the living area where the dog door is .... it’s also the area where her biscuits and food are. Muffin continued to make a fuss until I got out of bed and escorted her to the back door. Put her outside and she made a very quick visit to the lawn. Oh good, I thought, we can all go back to sleep now. Silly me! I don't know what I was thinking.

On the way back to the bedroom, Muffin remembered her food corner and decided to check it out. Oh no, one bowl was empty so she stood on the side and tipped it over - and over - and over .... Sigh - muggins me put some biscuits down, left Muffin inspecting them and went back to bed. Settled down, closed my eyes and Muffin returned - with a biscuit in her mouth. Now, where to bury it? She covered every inch of the bed, including the pillow and me, was not satisfied I wouldn't find the said biscuit, so hopped back off the bed and out into the hallway. She returned minutes later; back on to the bed, wandering all over again. Then she decided to rub or scratch her head on the bed covers. That felt like an earthquake of at least a 7 on the richter scale.

Believe it or not, but I was getting just a bit tetchy by this stage. Grabbed hold of her and gave her a good head scratch in the hope it would be sufficient. Little madam sat there and enjoyed it but when I stopped she jumped off the bed and went back into the hall, where she proceeded to growl and scratch at the front door again. With slightly less grace than normal, I got out of bed again. By the time I got to the bedroom door, she was waiting halfway up the hall on her way to the living area. She led the way to the back door, I let her out. She did one circuit of the patio and came back in through the dog door. We wandered back up the hallway, again past her biscuit and water bowl. She gave it a quick sniff and followed me back to the bedroom. I climbed into bed and she proceeded to rub herself all around the edge of the bed - 9 on the richter scale! By this time it was about 5.10am and I was aware I would be getting up in the next hour but I hadn’t had anywhere enough sleep yet. I sat up and spoke firmly to Muffin who looked very surprised at my attitude and continued doing what she was doing.

At this point, Mingus got off the foot of the bed where he had been sleeping and disappeared. (I found him later on A-M's bed - sensible dog!). Perhaps if I ignore her, she'll stop fussing and get tired, I thought to myself. Sure enough, she soon climbed back on to the bed and inspected it all over again. She settled down twice but only for a few seconds. Then she got down again and started growling and scratching at the front door - again! As soon as I reached the hallway though, she changed direction and headed back for the living area and the back door. Let her out again and this time she did two circuits of the patio and stopped once at her empty outside water bowl (my grandchildren visited yesterday) before coming back in through the dog door. By this time I was beginning to mutter ..... we returned to the bedroom and on the way, she again checked the food situation and had a drink of water. She then went back towards the back door and climbed into her day bed, curled up and went to sleep! I was ready to start growling and scratching at something myself by now!!

I climbed back into my dogless bed at 5.40am and had 20 minutes uninterrupted sleep before waking up with a start as I hadn’t heard A-M up and knew she had to be up and about by 6am if she was to get to PN in time to catch her plane. So, I got out of bed again and wandered through the house to her room. Lights were on and she was dressed so I headed back to bed again, just to rest my eyes. Muffin followed, picked up her biscuit she had "buried" in the hall (not even covered), and we both settled down for another 30 mins sleep. Muffin, poor thing, is exhausted and is still asleep!!

A random thought

Why do we say breakfast in bed, smoking in bed, reading in bed but never say reading (etc) in bath, or eating at table?? What happened to the "the"???

Happy New Year & HAPPY BIRTHDAY

Here it is - already Jan 3 2010 - and the year is rushing by too fast again :)

It's my middle daughter's (M) birthday today. Even though slightly more than 3 decades have passed since her birth, I still remember the occasion very well. They do say our long term memories become enhanced as we age whereas the short term ones are just that - very short term!

The soon to be Miss M teased me all day about her imminent arrival. Because my previous two babies were very quick labours (less than 4 hours), we didnt want to take any risks so at the first uncomfortable niggles, I was whisked off to the hospital where the pains promptly stopped. Throughout the whole day, I had short sessions of false labour - I knew they were false because they felt so different to the real thing. At 6pm, the doctor told me he was sending me home, at which point I had a proper contraction and it was all on. Miss M (or Ruth as she was first named but as all I could think of was "struth Ruth" we changed it after 4 days) arrived very quickly and it was all over by 9pm. No one had believed how quick my "real" labours were and the doctor had gone elsewhere so it was just me and the hospital midwife doing the work. We didnt have independent midwives in those days - all babies were delivered by an obstetrician or doctor.


So Happy Birthday Miss M (or should I now say Mrs M). You have been a wonderful blessing to me - I am so proud of you and I love you very much.

Some special memories of your childhood years include (in no particular order) :

• Being able to wear white clothes and still look clean and tidy
• Rope skipping and managing to keep your socks pulled up at the same time
• Being described as a "chocolate box" beauty
• Knocking your top front teeth out on your 5th birthday and still managing to blow the candles out.
• Always wearing a handbag over your shoulder - even when skipping
• Your beautiful voice - it's always been a pleasure to hear you sing
• Telling a busload of youth group members that your mother had been speyed
  
• Breaking your arm and cracking a rib while roller skating - and still coming to the ballet with me that night.
• If you said you would do something, you would do it ... you could always be relied on.

There are many other memories too of course. One in particular "haunts" me from time to time and here I will publicly apologise for washing your mouth out with soap. I have no idea why I would have believed your brother's tales over your version of events because you were not a naughty child and I certainly did not ever hear you swear. But for some reason on that particular day I made a bad choice and you suffered an injustice. I am sorry.

You once asked me why I said no to a particular request. My answer was "you will understand when you are a mother." I recall you saying to me just after your first child was born, "now I understand ..."

Now you have just finished your training to be a nurse and are looking forward to a new direction. You are a born nurse .... your gentle, caring, yet practical nature is a gift and you will use it well. May the year ahead be all that you dreamed of and more.


Love Mum xxxx

Norris - my hero!

Today I found the first evidence of baby teeth and the damage they can do when left to their own devices..... my cellphone recharger is now in two pieces! Sigh .... I guess it was just too appealing to the little kittens - it must have "moved" at some stage so Norris (I am assuming it was the king mischief maker) must have leaped and killed it for me. My hero! I have now removed all other temptations from his reach.

Bears, bears and more bears

If you know me at all, you will know that I have a thing for teddy bears. I am not really sure how my collection started, but start it did and I now have hundreds of little furry creatures in my home. Actually not all of them are furry - some are porcelain or pictures on a wall.
There was one Christmas when almost every gift received had the "bear factor" - every gift was different but certainly followed a theme.
For a while, I tried to name each one - there is Bartholomew, Belinda, Bertrum, Betty, Bear, Brenda, Barbara, Baby, Baxter, but it became increasingly difficult to think of names starting with B and then remembering which was which. I know some farmers do it with their cows but it was just a bit beyond me.
I don't buy bears very often any more. However, if I am travelling overseas or elsewhere in the country, I try to find a bear that relates to that particular trip. On my first overseas trip to Europe I came home with 12 bears! Among this collection are bears from Australia, Germany, England, Holland, Belgium, America, Wales, Scotland, Singapore. The international bears have a wall of their own - in time this room will be my memory room with all sorts of other treasures gathered throughout NZ and elsewhere.
At Christmas time, my "ordinary" bears go into hibernation and I bring out my collection of Santa Bears. Farmers has been producing Santa bears since the early 1990s and I have at least one of each year since then. Some years I bought both Mr and Mrs Santa and sometimes even a Baby Clause ... so this collections is now quite large and of course grows bigger every year. A small part of this Christmas display is shown in an earlier blog. And if you click on this picture on the left, you can get to read the small captions I have created :) This is just a small part of my collection but it gives some idea of what I have.
As a quilt maker, I also try to incorporate a bear into every quilt I make. Sometimes it will be part of the label and other times it might be a tiny bear in a piece of fabric. Just my little trademark.
I am now considering starting a new collection - something quite different. I love bells and have half a dozen of them. I also love glass and have a nice selection of crystal decanters of all shapes and sizes. More about these another time.

My garden

Much of this afternoon was spent outside in the garden - helped (or is that hindered) by two very frisky kittens. If something moved, they pounced .... a worm, a weed, my fingers, a butterfly or a leaf - all were equally as exciting.
I wouldn't call myself an avid gardener but I do enjoy pottering about outside and growing things.








I get a lot of pleasure when I see things growing especially if I can pick them and either use them myself or share with others.
I have always had a garden of some description. When I was a young stay-at-home mum living first in Taihape and then Wanganui, I had a huge garden. It took up the entire width of the section and half of the back yard. I would grow a variety of veges ranging from potatoes, to sweet corn, strawberries and carrots and everything in between - cabbages, lettuces, beetroot, broad beans, runner beans, parsnip, tomatoes, etc .... you name it and I probably grew it.
Then we moved to Invercargill where the temperatures were colder and it wasnt so easy to grow things. The size of my garden decreased considerably (3 metres by 2 metre approx) but its amazing how much you can grow in a small space. It was down south also that I first started growing flowers, especially dahlias which remain my favourite.
In Hamilton, I returned to the workforce and had no time to keep a garden but I still managed to grow tomatoes and rhubarb.
Now I am in Wanganui on a smaller section and it has taken me almost two years to decide how to organise my garden. It's bitsy but very satisfying. I am growing tomatoes and rhubarb as usual but I am also concentrating on things that are a bit different. This year I have egg plant, capsicums, courgettes, red onion, celery, par-cel (parsley/celery), as well as thornless blackberry, tamarillo, passionfruit, pepinos, strawberries and blueberries. On the flower side, I have gladiolis, carnations, dahlias, miniature roses, and other pickables that I don't know the names of. There is nothing quite so satisfying as taking a bunch of home grown flowers when visiting someone.
Its just as dangerous for me to wander around a garden centre as it is to let me loose in a clothing store... in fact, I think I spend more money in the garden centres! There is always one more plant that I think will look perfect somewhere.
My dream is to establish a wild garden - one with very little structure and created with all sorts of interesting plants, stepping stones and little concrete "creatures" hiding amongst the foliage. That will have to wait until I re-fence so could be a few years away yet.

Christmas (Part 2)

Nearly two weeks ago I said I would write another blog later that day ... somebody stole the time from me :) and it's now Christmas Eve. Tonight I am joining my parents, three daughters and their families for nibbles and pre-Christmas celebrations which will be a perfect end to a lovely day.
I woke up early (just after 6am) and took my breakfast back to bed, along with the newspaper and computer. About the time I was thinking of getting out of bed, the two kittens decided to stop their play and go to sleep - one on my legs and the other on my chest so I had to stay in bed a bit longer as they are only babies and need their rest :)!
The little darlings are in a very similar position again now as I write ... Molly loves my legs and Norris tries to get as close to my face as possible. He literally does get right into my face.
I spent the rest of the morning at Mum and Dad's preparing bits and pieces for the Christmas gathering tomorrow. Then Hannah and Ari and Cyrus came for lunch which we had on the deck in the sun, then more shopping, (there is always something else you just have to get), wrapping and more food preparations..... I think its all done now! Soon I will get changed and head back to Mum and Dad's with the rest of the food so that I don't have to worry about forgetting something tomorrow.
Not a very exciting blog today but I am sure there will be lots to write about after tomorrow.