On Saturday in Plymouth
Little fingers scooping out the innards of a pumpkin....
my sweet great-niece getting stuck in with gusto....
with hat of witch....
making a not-so-scary
monster face
for Halloween.
She is scarily good at cutting things up with a knife and scissors...
making spiders out of plums, raisins, and goji berries...frogs out of kiwis and strawberries, and witches fingers out of carrots and peppers - recipes provided by her creative grandma.
Her pumpkin face found pride of place on her chest of drawers in her bedroom next to the ceramic dog Robin gave her.....one of his own weird and wonderful creatures.
She remembers him for the moment. Which touches me immensely.
Today
I had time to complete some fiddly small tasks that have been annoying me....because I don't want to do them....taking up more mind space than they warrant...... but every time I see them they blot my landscape.
I. Cleaning out the gunk in the split plastic seal of the freezer door with a small flexible brush. Maybe I should get a new freezer but I can't face it.
2. Unpicking the label inside the collar of a cardi from M&S which scratches my neck. A job you can't do in a hurry - one slip of the nail scissors on the tight stitches and you have a hole in your knitwear. Which always gets bigger over time.
3. Filling out a PPI complaint form. Robin took out a loan in 2006 ....I've been putting it off. I took it to the bank to get advice about some of the questions. Waiting in the long queue finally paid off. Lovely bank manager made it easy. She even sent it off for me. Although I doubt we'll get anything back.
4. Looking up on Google how to read my new smart metre for the gas and electricity so I can send off a reading even though I was told I wouldn't need to any more. Talking to very helpful man on the phone who sorts it out and makes me laugh.
5. Scraping off the sticky paper labels on 6 honey and jam jars which have been stacking up on the counter by the sink because I hate doing it. It was always Robin's job - he had much more patience than me. It was part of the washing up he did every day. Till he couldn't hold a brush in his right hand.
Getting through some of the blots.....so satisfying....trying not to notice all the others that have surfaced. Remembering I have time.... even though the sun goes down in what used to be the afternoon....
The new Buddha that I brought back from Hong Kong. He sits on my kitchen window sill... a tiny round and shining ceramic....always laughing.... always offering a gift.....reminding me there is always another way to look at my landscape.....
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