My mum rang up yesterday afternoon, just as I was getting Baby and myself ready for a last-ditch-attempt-at-afternoon-nap buggy ride into town and back. She was hoping we'd be free to go visit my dad.
It's pretty hard to get the whole family together for a trip to the cemetary, because it has to be scheduled in with my almost-2-year-old niece's long afternoon nap, Baby's erratic feeding and napping timetable, my brother's workload, my sister-out-law's need for family time and the boy's need to sleep like a dead thing on weekend mornings.
I put her off the idea of doing it that afternoon; as far as I was concerned it was way more important to a) put Baby to sleep, b) get out of the house while it was still sunny and c) buy a blender so I can stop trying to make pea puree with a sieve and a wooden spoon. So I promised we'd be available the next morning.
We weren't to know that the following day would bring heavy rain and dark clouds; my mum is superstitious enough that she won't go near a graveyard unless it's bright daylight, warm and calm.
So once more this weekend, our afternoon highlight was listening to Baby gurgling, shrieking, squealing and occasionally protesting, during her afternoon nap time. A couple of hours later we acknowledged Baby's superior stamina, and the boy has taken her out for a drive to see the ducks at the Botanic Gardens.
5 comments:
My family being fairly nomadic in nature have taken to being cremators. Keeping SEALED boxes of ashes in a central household. (My sister's)
I'm not superstitious as far as I can tell but even I am a little bit creeped out by this situation.
Also I like the idea of a grave being attached to the Earth. It's like going back to the beginning.
yes, Nigel, in fact in Maori the word for birth and the word for earth are one and the same - whenua. Also, bones and people are the same word - iwi. I like it a lot.
Anyway, back to bigger things - Violet did you buy a blender? If not I would recommend buying a whizzstick, much smaller and does everything a blender does. I love my whizzstick.
nigel: if I were to be entirely practical about it, cremation seems an awful waste of potential plant food AND contributes to the greenhouse effect.
editter: I bought a Kenwood stick blender which comes with a mini sized food processing bowl, whisk and beaker. It's fairly compact. Funnily enough, I told the boy that Consumer magazine would probably do an article on stick blenders now that I've bought one - and they did!
I'm with your mum - I find cemeteries depressing enough when it's sunny and lovely!
And "sister-out-law"? Do tell.
the skirt: I find cemetaries interesting; I like reading the tombstone inscriptions. Sister-out-law is just a term I use to describe my brother's partner. Since they aren't married, she's not my sister-in-law...
Post a Comment