Just stuff

The father of my children called tonight to talk to them. He asks, what did you do today. Just stuff, I hear my daughters reply. Here's the stuff we did. Alas, we have head lice again. This time I got them too so the day started with getting rid of them and patient combing. Then I laundered all the sheets and towels and hair ties and hung them all out in the sunshine. I took down the netting over the fig tree. I had only just put it away in the shed and gone back to the tree and there was already a magpie in the tree. I chased it off to get the last of the fruit off the tree. Then I swept up two wheelbarrows of leaves. The I made the beds up with clean sheets. Miss S's friend came over and they played a Harry Potter cd-rom. Then they printed off medieval recipes. They are reading the Redwall books at the moment and seem obsessed with mead and the like. They wanted to make crystallised rose petals so they gathered stuff off one of my bushes. They made a sugar syrup while I looked on in fear of burnt skin but they were safe and sensible. Unfortunately, my sugar thermoter got dropped towards the end of the proceedings. As it was covered in syrup it stuck to the floor which was a challenge to clear up. Miss S's friend said the rose petals tasted like artichokes. I don't think this was high praise. Since the big girls were cooking, Miss I made a marble cake with lurid application of food colouring. It tastes pretty good though. Then I ironed sheets and pillow cases and we all watched Pride and Prejudice. I was surprised at how attentive my 8 year old was. They watched about an hour of it which was good going. Then they played outside on the trampoline while I hoovered and tidied up. Miss I walked down to the newsagent by herself and came back with a restaurant pad which cost her $1.50. She is delighted with it and has enjoyed taking our orders for various meals all day. The bit she likes best is the carbon paper between the sheets. I share her love of stationery and find it charming that she is fascinated by carbon paper. It is a struggle for me letting her test her independence but I try to balance my fear of the unlikely with the need for her to expand the boundaries of her world safely. I am heartened that I live in a safe suburb in a safe town and that if I stand on the edge of my tiny upstairs balcony I can see to the local shops. When I was her age I walked a couple of miles to school but it seems almost unthinkable to let her do that. Tonight we made risotto for dinner with lemon and black olives. This is a nice soothing thing to do when you have helpers to ladle in stock and stir and grate parmesan cheese. It was perfect comfort food for a cool autumnal evening. We have some left over and I plan to attempt those arancini balls tomorrow. Tomorrow I have to emerge from my cocoon of domesticity into the work world again. sigh.

Comments

[Gianna]

what color was the marble cake? just curious. very impressed that you iron your sheets and pillowcases...how lovely and civilised! i'm lucky to just get them on and off, full stop.

[AG]

Gianna - it was yellow, barbie pink and chocolate - it looked like neapolitan ice cream. I love cotton sheets and find ironing a soothing pleasure now there are no longer mounds of men's shirts in the ironing basket. I iron while watching tv.

[Anne]

I iron listening to the radio. I have too big a mound at the moment so need to do some ironing tonight.

Hope the cake tasted nice - I think it sounds like you and Miss I would enjoy tray bakes. Check out Zoe if you need a recipe from her NI ladies cook book.

Anne

[kitschenette]

i have never managed to make arancini balls successfully. please let me know yr secret!

i too am impressed by yr civilised use of ironing as a relaxation technique. i have resisted the need to iron since i moved out of home but now that i have my own family i have detected a faint yearning for the smell of a warm, freshly ironed pillowslip...i want lola and max to grow up with the same lovely domestic smells that i remember from my childhood, so perhaps it is time to go forth and iron....

[Gianna]

i think i must have had a deprived childhood...we never had ironed anything! then again my mother had four toddlers and worked, so she mustn't have had time. and my father...as if he would lift a finger to iron something!

[AG]

Gianna - I'm the youngest of 5 and my mother ironed and made us iron too. Mind you, she did go through a shocking phase in the late 60s when she bought nylon sheets.