Have You Been Thinking About Visiting Me?
Have you been thinking about visiting me? Well, this weekend would be the perfect time. You see, we have a clean fridge. I cleaned it out all by myself. Yes, I tossed out all the old food and scrubbed the shelves. The fridge looks good! If you arrive unexpectedly on our doorstep this weekend, I won’t have to panic if you approach my fridge, looking for milk to add to your coffee. Gemma-Rose was impressed by all my work: “Wow, Mum! I nearly fainted. You cleaned the fridge!”
You’re probably wondering what all the fuss is about. You probably have a clean fridge all the time. I have to admit I am not a very good housekeeper. Oh yes, our home looks good on the surface. It’s liveable, but there are lots of jobs I put off doing because I’d rather write or do something with the girls.
The girls haven’t been well this week. Nothing serious, just colds. I hope they’re all recovered by Sunday. It’s Pentecost and our choir singers will be needed for some special Pentecost music. The other day I said to the girls, “I’m not very good at organising feast day activities, am I? We never do any craft.” I might have felt a bit guilty but Imogen replied, “But we sing, Mum. We’re always preparing special music. And we eat cake.”
Yes, the girls like baking cakes. They used to make this fabulous white chocolate mud cake covered with white frosting, and decorated with 12 fondant icing fruits, to represent the Fruits of the Holy Spirit. Used to? That cake is packed full of sugar and the girls won’t let me eat sugar any more. Of course, we eat it now and then when we dine out, and we eat a fair bit of dark chocolate. We’re not fanatical about it. But we no longer buy sugar for cooking. We used to buy bags and bags of it. The girls decided all that sugar wasn’t good for me (or them). I can’t say we miss it. I guess we can get used to anything.
We might need two cakes this weekend. Monday is a public holiday in honour of the Queen’s birthday. The girls will probably want to make the Queen a cake (though we will eat it for her). Any occasion is a good excuse for a cake, as far as the girls are concerned.
Because the girls weren’t well, it was a quiet week. We didn’t do anything exciting, unlike my son Callum. The other evening he drove to Sydney, so he could race his car (the low-to-the-ground one that has an engine that growls). It was an organised event. The cars were inspected for safety, and helmets had to be worn. “How fast did you go?” I asked Callum when he returned home. He said it took him 15 seconds (or something like that) to race along the track. He travelled for two hours to get to Sydney and of course, he did the same trip back, so he could race for 15 seconds? It doesn’t make any sense to me. But Callum came home with a grin on his face. He was happy.
I wasn’t unhappy, but I didn’t see the value of Callum’s racing experience. Not that I’d tell him. It really has nothing to do with me. He’s going to race whatever I think about it, so I might as well sound interested and supportive. He likes it when I take an interest in his cars. I wonder if Callum will be working on his cars this weekend.
How shall the rest of us spend our three day weekend (besides eating cake)? The first thing we need to do is go to the shops. We need some ingredients to make our cakes. We also need some ordinary groceries. When Andy stuck his head into my clean fridge, he said, “Where’s all the food?” I told him we don’t have any. “We’ve eaten everything.” Yes, both the fridge and the pantry are bare.
Perhaps you’re thinking it might not be such a great weekend to visit us after all. Don’t worry, tomorrow morning we shall go to town. We shall return with bags and bags of groceries. We will have plenty of food to offer any unexpected visitors. So are you coming? Or do you have other plans for the long weekend?
Image: Sophie had a Fruits of the Holy Spirit cake when she was confirmed.