Summertime

Officially it's still Spring, but we don't really have Spring here - just dry season and wet season. In the dry season it can get cool, never cold. In the wet season it gets hot. Not blistering dry heat but, but steamy, sauna-like, sticky heat. It's starting to get like that, but we've had some gentle breezes to make it much more bearable - very pleasant. It will get worse. Much worse. February is usually the most unbearable month.
There is some recompense to the heat. One of them is the Frangipani. About 200 years ago a botanist described them as a set of antlers bedecked with posies. They have been the subject of many artworks, but there is one thing art cannot show you. The fragrance. Every time I step outside the air is filled with their gorgeous scent. Frangipani-scented perfumes never do it justice.
The grandchildren love to pick up a fallen flower with brown edges around the petals (they seem to accept imperfections in flowers and people) and make a special presentation of it to me.
That makes them smell even sweeter.

Culture Unplugged Video

No comment needed from me. Just watch the video and be moved.

View this movie at cultureunplugged.com

Laws of life with children

Reading this blog from Mummy McTavish reminded me of all those unpleasant 'coincidences' that occurred when my children were pre-schoolers. I thought I'd try and see how many I could think of. Here's a start:

1. Mopping the floor means that someone will spill either milk or something sticky on it within the next 30 minutes. Usually a lot sooner.


2. Putting a clean nappy/diaper on the baby will cause him/her to have a bowel motion almost immediately.


3. You only have to think about sex and the toddler will wake up.


4. No one drops in when the house is tidy. They only drop in when it looks like a bomb shelter with toys everywhere, last nights dishes still in the sink, a weeks dirty washing in the bathroom and another weeks clean washing waiting to be folded in a very prominent place.


5. Your husband only has to wink at you and the baby wakes up.


6. Children never get sick on week days. Illness usually starts Friday night. On Saturday you think they're on the mend, but late Saturday night you are wondering if their appendix has burst or if they have scarlet fever. Every doctor in town will be closed.


7. When you do take a sick child to the doctor, he/she will make a miraculous recovery in the waiting room and be symptom free when you finally see the doctor.


8. If your child has NEVER written on the walls at home, they will suddenly decide to express their artistic creativity with permanent markers when you are at someone else's house. This is particularly true if the house has recently been repainted.
   
9. Sitting down to read the newspaper, a book, write a letter, etc., causes babies and young children (husbands too) to suddenly need your undivided attention.
10. Your husband only has to look at you and they all wake up.

These are just some that I thought of, but my memory is getting a little fuzzy about the specifics. Please feel free to suggest others.