Domestic Sunday

Weekends come suddenly everyweek and the plans are always a scramble. This one was no different, and my visit to the weekly tramping club meeting provided no direction other than a possible easy day hike saturday in wet rainy weather. the same weather seemed to be all about the island and I had no desire to attempt to hitch the long road back north to sunny mountains. So I made no plans, went climbing with James in the porthills instead. kinda off day with our wall constantly confounding us, leading both of us to take wingers. Later we had some nice climbs though it was windy and sometimes felt as if we were gona get blown off the face.

I recall the events of sunday proper beginning in paragraph five if your pressed for time, otherwise - as all sundays do, this one began on a saturday. A lazy, uncommitted, uneventful saturday evening, on my own, eating dinner and contemplating my studies. Satisfied and full on the flattie's spaghetti sauce I was restless and the cheap rhubarb and other fruits I had sitting around hung in my mind. At Braeden's urging I gave in and whipped up a pear rhubarb crumble. As I put it in the oven Elizabeth responded to my query regarding a sunday trip to castle hill: "yup we're going, I wana leave around 8:30 and you can stay here or we can pick you up in the morning." I had a crumble in the oven so couldn't head over their just yet, but I replied that I'd check if people were still awake when my crumble was done and then maybe head over. At the prospect of crumble the response was: "yes, we will definitely be up! :-) ." Suddenly I was energized with purpose: deliver a crumble to friends.

Throw things in a bag for climbing at castle hill the next day, some other treats, and my hard drive of music and movies. I removed the crumble and delivered a large portion to Braeden to share ("three spoons? oh thanks nick I always wanted three spoons for my crumble." "I know you get over excited and eat the spoons sometimes so I put some extras in," I replied"). Then I carefully packaged it in my puffy jacket and placed it into my bag before grabbing by bicycle to race the 12k in nick style, making every light along the way!

Saddly Elizabeth was, as I had theorized, asleep on the couch. But Abby and Morten were chatt'n away and welcoming as ever. Liz did wake up, the crumbled was unveiled still steaming and sweet smelling and yoghurt was found. We all proceeded to nomnom on the scrumptious midnight snack. Tonight was the night we would loose an hour for daylight savings humdrum so movie thoughts were quickly rejected, especially once I realized my hard drive had not made it into my bag. The full tummy hilarity's subsided and people began to drop off. Liz found the couch and my lap amazingly comfortable. The couch alone was apparently more cozy than the bed downstairs even once I had extracted my no longer circulating limbs from under her. Thinking it silly, and smiling I sat down to do a bit of studying. Then Rosa woke downstairs and made sounds of distress. Those sounds only got worse when I went down to comfort her, and not wanting them to get too shrill I aroused mum who had quick success in easing Rosa back to sleep. The night was late, the moon was high, time had jumped and yet everything was the same, just now all of us were asleep.

Morning came to groggy faces, sleep deprived we slept through the alarms we forgot to set the night before. Our friends in lincoln were almost all assembled and ready to go to castle hill by the time liz had showered and I had prepared crepes n compote. When we heard no one in lincoln was needing our assistance to get to castle hill our motivation to drive the distance faded and the urge to soak in sunshine and catch some catnaps kept us from acting on our urges to travel.

With warm crepes wrapped around compote - leaving sticky fingers and smiles - we began sunday. The sweet smelling rhubarb accenting the primarily strawberry mash that filled the soft tortillas laced with bits of lemon, and lingered in the lounge long after they had settled in our tummies. There had been no spectacular sunrise, but the sun was high, the weather warm and a refreshing wind was blowing. We made our way around the house from sunspot to sunspot. From soft carpets, to cold glass. Onto soft wood, resting heads on shoulder, lying in the grass and smelling the fresh wetness of the evening's dew. Liz dozed as I tried to keep Rosa occupied and off her mum. Rosa summoned us all to sit on cushions that were a car and took us for a drive. A silent one because Rosa shushed Liz's and my boisterous singing of wheels on the bus go round and round. Lions were spotted en mass of course and chased us out of the car. Later when more lions were spotted I changed the theme. When using long straws to go fishing off the cushions that were now a boat I became a sea-lion when Rosa conjured up a lion. I dont think she quite understood what a kind of blubbery creature I was, but was entertained by my flopping and odd *roughing* noises non the less.

I decided on a shower. When I got out Rosa found all my scratches from bush and climbing adventures and proceeded to apply many plasters. Even as I write they still cover me as I am afraid of the pain that comes with removing plasters from hairy places. I remained in my towel, and Rosa seemed determined to remain nudiescaboody (a term my cousins and I used but which I have no idea how to spell) for the day and refused clothes. Plasters reminded me of my aches and pains. I retrieved some frozen fruit and a towel to ice my bothersome ankles. Rosa I think imitated me when she had me wrap some toilet paper around her arm as a bandage.

That 3 year old little girl has a little red push bike that she enjoys riding, and we went down the driveway to the quite street to ride around. It Reminded me of my bicycling on a wooden deck long ago. I kept her from zooming off down the hill by pushing her up and around on the culdesac. Walking back up the driveway we picked some flowers for mum and then discovered a secret path. So I picked up the barefoot Rosa and off through the woods we went on a little adventure. dodging branches and vines, I'd dip Rosa close to the flowers and delicately we would tiptoe around trees growing on the path. We came to thrones in the jungle, surrounded by light foliage, and enjoyed spotty sunlight. Still holding Rosa close to keep her warm in the shade and wind. She spotted a cool stick (when she says stick it sounds like pen) and used it to clean the armrests. Then we hollowed out the middle of the stick and stuck a flower in it. "oh! a lion!" Rosa spotted lions, I beat some of them off but then had to weave my way back along the trail to escape them. When we were back on the driveway I picked some interesting yellow blossoms off a tree. The blossoms swirling on the pavement became lions and we chased them off, or blew them up in the air to watch them drift away. We went back down the trail a few more times before returning up the driveway with the bike and some more flowers.

In the house rosa opted to ware a red princes dress for a time and we quietly prepared the flowers in vases and then presented them to Liz at her computer. "Ah, Tak." Then some skyping with family, and Rosa diving off the couch onto the big red beanbag with many a hard whomp. One whomp may or may not have been a bit too hard an impact but without crying and just a bit'a pouting Rosa wanted some ice. Rosa liked the way I had tied a towel around my knee to hold the ice in place earlier and had me fix her up the same way. Soon things were " aw bettah." Lions were spotted but Pete the talking hand puppet parrot chased them off. until Pete got caught and then the kick boxing kangaroo came in with her joey and beat off the lions. Then they both got their feet eaten by lions and Rosa had to rescue them!

We prepared some lunch snacks: buttered toast for rosa, odd sandwiches of sprouts, humus, tomatoes, butter, compote, this and that... and the last of the crumble. After that Rosa had to be chased around the garden for a bit by us lions trying to catch and gobble her up! With Liz as the lion we ran and hid in the bathroom. But the lion didn't come to get us, so we sneaked out quietly - only to have the lion JUMP out at us and send us SHRIEKING! back to the bathroom closet! Rosa and I made a few more attempts that always ended in shrieking giggles as we ran back into hiding. Then I became the lion and surprised them a few times before deftly maneuvering to chase them upstairs. Then no one was a lion and Rosa shed her red dress to devour two large apple icepops without making a mess.

And somewhere in between Rosa thoroughly buckled up my back pack and put it on. she looked like a turtle!

Rosa and I again made our way outside, following Liz as she explored the photographic possibilities the flowering garden inspired. Large white wrapped up blossomes didn't interest rosa who opted for More biking instead. doing so we discovered odd hard fruit like blossoms perfect for throwing. We found a ball and kicked that around for a while starting on the terrace behind the house and ending up on the street below. Very interesting to watch Rosa follow and respond to the ball; kicking it, or trapping it awkwardly to then pick it up and throw it. I played warden and kept the ball from rolling too far down the driveway, but I think Rosa learned many interesting things watching the ball move on the incline. And later when I bounced it up and down the stairs, sometimes bouncing over her, sometimes stopping on the step before her, and sometimes bouncing between outstretched hands and off her head. Rosa was slowing down, the sun was getting behind the hill and I think her birthday suit was a bit cold. But she still wanted to be outside, so she picked the last of the tulips in the front bed.

Standing on the bench of the lower terrace, which had some sunlight, we reenergized. Then warmed into movement and began to dance around. A coffee table was our center and In an odd ritual involving the waving of a small batton we orbited around. Stuttering in halting motions, shaking arms and uttering odd grunty-whiny chants. Putting the batons down - pausing to open eyes clearly and observe each other soft smiles stretching cheeks - then picking them up and resuming. Occasionally we would flop down on the ground, sitting or on our backs, then hop up to keep shuffle-chanting. We moved back onto the bench that serves as railing about the terrace to soak in some of the last rays of sun. And rosa gathered some rounded river rocks and I naturally began to stack and sculpt with those she brought to the table. My balanced creations were admired, but had to be moved to a frisbee and were destroyed in the process, but Rosa was confident I could remake them.

And it was time to sleep a bit. Rosa helped me carry out her little mattress, then helped me retrieve the larger single so that I would have a place to rest too. But the sleep was short lived as lions soon snuck up and had to be chased off. The ball reappeared with Morten who told us dinner would be ready soon. I threw the ball up onto the roof to watch it roll down. Then somehow Rosa needed to be thrown up there - so I picked Rosa up and twirled her about, tossed her up and then flopped down on the mattresses to rest my arms. I promised Rosa three more tosses and after the last one twirled and flew her around and upstairs to dinner and hugs from mum.

Dinner of mashed potatoes and a interesting tomato carrot bean something dish which was tasty. Also a bit of sauerkraut that they made and had been ripening for a few months, I of course didn't much care for it. full bellies conceeded to chores, and we all danced each pirouetting and bowing to the rythms as I cleaned up the kitchen and the others cleaned up the lounge. They then set up an amazingly comfy space to watch movies using mattresses, pillows, couch cushions, duvets and blankets. I got some popcorn ready and we dimmed the lights for a feature film! Love Actually was chosen, and Abby was distracted from getting her studing done. After the movie, during which Rosa fell asleep full on dinner, popcorn, and milk, Liz in her usual 'I don't feel like moving downstairs' fashion decided to stay put in the nest of pillows blankets and such. Even with the heat pump and the day's summer heat it got cold in the night, leading me to grab an extra blanket from downstairs. Something was bothering Rosa and she slept fitfully. And with the time change I realized a bit late that the additional light filtering through the curtains was sun and not just the strong moon. So ended a sunday of Being - with a kiss for sleeping Liz and a murmured salutation as farewell, I sped off on my bicycle into the dawn light.

Ciao