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Husband was away this weekend. He went to Dorset with two of his brothers to do maintenance tasks.
Since we didn’t need to watch the rugby, we girls spent Saturday afternoon and early evening in front of the TV. We watched An American in Paris and the dancing was sublime. Rather less so in Strictly: we cringed and cheered. And we relished Dr. Who’s ‘season finale’; we’ve got to wait until Christmas for more! According to Youngest watching TV together counts as quality time and she didn’t think I should do the gardening instead.
Eldest went to an 18th birthday party that night (she took this cake*, which she made, to school to give to her friend on Friday), and Youngest went to The Big Gig, a Guide event, at Wembley Arena early Sunday morning. Despite the need to wake early (for a Sunday) I said I’d collect Eldest, and she didn’t demur so I think she was pleased not offended.
Did you see how I breezed over Eldest’s evening entertainment? Aren’t I the cool calm mother taking her Eldest’s trip to a party in a friend’s car so lightly even if I did chicken out of letting her come home the same way?
I went to boarding school. When I was at home I rarely went to anything that didn’t involve the whole family. At school I am afraid I was just as unlikely to be invited anywhere. But my first teenage party happened when I was 16. (As far as I know it was the only occasion on which I was offered drugs, but I was so dim I thought they were cigarettes and I was far too good to smoke!) I moved from my all girls’ school to do sixth form at a co-ed, and there we had regular school discos. So, at Eldest’s age I may not have been cool, but I had managed a bit of partying and a boyfriend or two (OK, one boyfriend). Not so my big girl. Since she stopped being of an age to have a children’s party, she has refused to hold her own parties and she has ceased to be invited anywhere.
I’m sure you will understand that this is a mixed blessing. As a general rule I do not need to worry about what she and her friends might be getting up to, nor have to plan and host suitable parties that won’t let her down. On the other hand: what’s wrong with her?! She’s pretty enough, dresses well, has a wonderfully cynical sense of humour… aah! And is clever! Does she put the boys off asking? Or maybe she really is just not bothered? She once said it was more interesting sorting out other people’s love lives than getting involved herself. I do hope she really believes that – this unkissed 16 year old was mortified!
“I’ve been to a proper big girl’s party, Mummy!” she said in very pleased tones.
*I don't know why the photo won't be the right way up and I've got bored with trying to sort it out - sorry!
Eldest was seventeen last Wednesday. It seems unbelievable: time has whizzed by. She is (of course) talented, intelligent, witty and attractive and takes after her mother… actually she has her father’s memory for detail and tuneless singing voice, and her grandmother’s sense of rhythm and dancing feet. And she’s taller than me. And her life is ruined because she's never had a fairy castle birthday cake... Well I shall know what to make for her 18th: that'll teach her to mock her mother.
She has been working all week helping her ballet teacher run a summer school at the end of which they put on a show. She’s loved the experience and even been amused by the little kids – “They’re so cute!”
So we've had a stream of grandparents and godparents to entertain. It’s been fun, but as of today they have all departed and our next task is to get Youngest onto a bus bound for Heathrow and on to Switzerland. She has been earning money for the trip all year, and received a couple of welcome grants from the Guide ‘pot’, but I am just beginning to loose my patience with requests for yet more kit that someone somewhere has told her is essential: apart from anything else it is not all going to fit in her rucksack! So I need to go and look at a weather forecast for Adelboden to try and calm her requests for shorts, factor 50 and sunglasses, and waterproof trousers and jacket, and layers for snow… Twelve of them, including 3 Young Leaders, are camping and self-catering at the Guide centre for 8 days. I’m sure they will have the time of their lives, and the enormity of the adventure will dawn on me eventually, but for the moment I’m just harrassed!
A catch up, possibly with pictures.. I write from Husband's new computer on a wireless link, 'my' computer is yet to be plugged in never mind connected to the wireless thingy. Yes, I know, I should just sort it out for myself, but a) I've no techy skills whatever, and b) I would be in very deep trouble if it went wrong and messed up this one! I'm sure he'll get there, not least because he doesn't want us "clogging up this computer like we did the old one".
Youngest's Just William Guide Camp went very well judging by the exhaustion of the participants - not to mention their general grubbiness. She even held an award ceremony at the end and presented certificates for such feats as 'Most interesting table manners' and 'Best den builder'. The planned mid-night camp-fire sing-song was moved to around 8pm because they were all a little bit afraid of the dark.
The weather in Spain was not quite as good as it was at home, but the welcome from Firstcousinonceremoved was enthusiastic and we packed in a great deal of sightseeing: Segovia, Madrid, San Lorenzo El Escorial, Picasso's Guernica, tapas, Easter parades (a sort of Live and Let Die style funeral march dressed in Klu Klux Klan outfits!) and a Palm Sunday service.
Home to some hasty planning for an Easter weekend visited by both sets of Grandparents and a stray Brotherinlaw. Youngest made place settings and Eldest a cake. (Pictures will have to follow as I can't find them anywhere on here!)
A couple of days of school and they were all off again for The Wedding. Youngest and I were pretty much glued to the telly - I needed to see all those frocks! Loved The Dress but threw abuse at the commentator who described it badly and failed to talk about where and by whom the fabrics were made; I've had to buy a paper to find out! The coverage was followed by a street party at our end of the village that was well supported and a bit of fun.
Yesterday we took my in-laws to Camden Town for a (younger) Brotherinlaw's 50th birthday lunch. A real treat in a private dining-room at the York and Albany.
That's it, life ought to be back to normal now.
I was allowed to watch Eldest’s last Grade 8 lesson last night – I don’t think I’ve been welcome since about Grade 4 and it was a huge pleasure! There are only three of them in the class and one was dancing at her school, so Traineedanceteacher’s father and I were the audience of a pretty exclusive show. Traineedanceteacher completed her A levels last year and is now training as indicated. Her dancing was beautiful and her ability to reach the floor in full splits and put her legs over her head was amazing. But Eldest could hold up her head with pride: she may not have achieved the extremes of her classmate, but her delivery of the steps, her expression of movement and grace were a delight for a proud mother to behold.
Youngest, meanwhile, is in the throws of organising a camping weekend for her and five littler guides. They will be camping in a garden in the village so there will be some grown-ups to hand if required, but the idea is for her to arrange the whole thing and make it through to Sunday with everyone in one piece. At 14 she doesn't drive so yesterday I helped collect tents, a chemical loo and a variety of other bits of camping equipment and deliver them to the site. I also have a hall (and a fridge) full of provisions. The theme is Just William and she plans to build dens, play outlaws in the woods and generally chill without adults! They’re cooking their own meals on a camp fire – bangers and baked potatoes one night and a veggie chilli the next. It’s ambitious, but she’s enthusiastic and believes it will be fun rather than any sort of problem… The forecast is promising.
I'd like to go and play in the garden, but I must make cake for a church fete meeting tomorrow and get ready for upholstery this afternoon. School holidays start this weekend so I may be away for a little while. How about you?
I’ve been doing quite a bit of sewing lately. Last seen delivering prom dresses, more recently I've been measuring up for some outdoor seat cushions and being asked whether I’d consider making cushions for someone to sell on E-Bay, or perhaps sell something for myself. (I still don’t think I could command the money needed to make it interesting to be making the same thing over and over.) As Likeminded friend-from-round-the-corner discovered when she came to play with me: I’m not always capable of finishing projects I’ve got bored with. She and I talked about our collection of sewing machines and compared presser feet, we considered patterns, fabric and embroidery. It was all very pleasurable!
I’m getting very little time to myself. I’m still not used to having Husband round the house, and now I have Eldest as well. I love them both of course, but my routine is shot! I’m keeping on top of the washing but the cleaning and gardening are never really planned as such: I tend to do the thing that shows most in the hope that it will demonstrate that I have done some useful work rather than idle about in a novel or the Blogosphere. In fact I’ve barely been here of late, and probably won’t make it again until after Eldest’s birthday, family visits, Youngest’s Guide camp, Husband’s birthday and a holiday travelling along the Rhone.
If I don't make it back, have a great summer!
