Mother's Day and other things.

We celebrated Mother's Day at our place for the very first time on Sunday. Not having any children of our own, we've always gone to visit Ken's Mum or his sister, wherever the family congregated for the day. But this year, SIL wasn't up to having the family over there, for a number of reasons which I don't need to elaborate on here. We discussed going to her Mum's and providing all the food etc. then I said "You can come here if you like", and my invitation was gratefully accepted. So we had four generations here for the afternoon. Ken's Mum (93), her daughter L (60), L's daughter M (30) and M's two little ones, O and E. Along with Ken, L's husband and me. We had a beaut day; us ladies had gone overboard as usual with cooking, so there was masses of food, which everyone grazed on for most of the afternoon. I spent a lot of time playing with two year old O. - a real cutie and such a livewire! Our cat Topsy had disappeared at the first sign of strangers in the house, and couldn't be found anywhere. So I played a game with O. - Looking For Topsy - in unexpected places like the oven, the washing machine, the linen cupboard, etc. and she was most amused by all this, running about the house calling "TOPSY, TOPSY, TOPSY!" giggling all the time. Her mother thought this was wonderful, as she was able to devote more time to her one year old daughter who is teething or something, and not 100% well.

As I have mentioned elsewhere, SIL and I have birthdays 10 days apart in April, but we hadn't caught up with each other until Sunday, so we exchanged our gifts then. I gave her a sampler I had stitched and framed, for her new kitchen. She gave me a bottle of perfume - Elizabeth Arden's 'Red Door'. Now if you expect me to get excited, dear Reader, you have got me all wrong. I don't wear perfume, I don't even LIKE perfume. Firstly, we are not allowed to wear it in the job I do. Going into elderly peoples' homes smelling like a French (or anywhere else) brothel is NOT conducive to a caring environment. Secondly, Ken got a taste of highly perfumed women nearly every day as a bus driver, and he said he nearly threw up sometimes, the smell was so strong. And my own nose prefers more subtle and old fashioned fragrances like Lavender or Lily of the Valley, if ever I do add perfume to my skin, but it is very rare. So when I opened my gift from SIL, I caught Ken's eye on me and we exchanged meaningful glances - he knew exactly what I was thinking! Fortunately, SIL didn't notice, so I thanked her politely and left it at that. 'Red Door' will join 'Cinnabar' and 'Dior' on my dressing table for the next few years until I can find someone who likes them - and they are welcome to them! S was happy to get a bottle of 'Opium' from me a little while ago....ugh..I was glad to get rid of it! Although when she had some of it on one day while I was with her, it didn't smell too bad. Probably because she hadn't drowned herself in it, like some people do.