Son John $pencer talked about Sadie’s liking water. When he and Rose would hike near streams and waterfalls, Sadie was always eager to get wet. We found that she liked the run-off from a neighbor’s French drain. I would not have wanted to splash through that cold water barefooted.
It was amusing to watch the dog run through the stream. She would go two or three steps and dip her head to take a sip of water, without breaking her stride.
As we neared home, I took a shot of John and Sadie with neighbor Joyce’s tree. Those leaves turned orange and began to fall almost immediately. There is never enough time to get tired of fall foliage.
Perhaps Sadie saw it first, but I became aware of a cricket hopping across the bedroom carpet. I like crickets. I like singing crickets, but not at night in my bedroom. I picked up a small paper cup I keep on the computer desk for catching unwanted critters. As I moved toward the cricket, Sadie jumped off the recliner and lunged toward it. I couldn’t have said Jiminy Cricket before she had it in her mouth. Maybe it tickled her tongue, because she spit it out. In a split second it leaped out of sight. Sadie sniffed all around but couldn’t locate it. An hour later I saw the cricket again, and Sadie beat me to it a second time. When she let it out of her mouth, I swooped in with the cup. A political flyer was within reach, and I slipped that under the cup. Apologizing to Sadie all the while, I opened the door to the deck and flung the cricket into the night. She looked longingly into the darkness. More than likely, the cricket fell to the ground, since there is no floor on the deck at the moment.
I decided to take Sadie for a walk late in the afternoon, hoping to add another mile to my total. Walking, even at my pace, would be good for this high-energy dog. It might have been a humdrum outing, but I heard running footsteps behind me, and there was Logan (10)! He asked if he could go with me as he pulled on his jacket. Sadie was very excited to see her two-legged playmate. In an instant she rushed at him, jumping for joy. After passing two leashed dogs at the top of our street, she began to play roughly with Logan. I don’t like her jumping on him like that. As I held her tightly, she backed out of her collar! When I fumbled getting it back on, Logan clicked the collar easily. Sadie escaped again. I am so relieved she didn’t run away. Who knew an afternoon stroll would turn into a wrestling match? Thankfully, Sadie calmed down, and we walked to the stop sign without further trouble.
The sunlight was fading quickly as we headed home. Logan agreed to hold Sadie and pose, because he knows I love taking photos of him. You can see the golden light of a fall afternoon surrounding boy and dog. We got home as dusk deepened, when it would have been dangerous to walk on the road.
Yesterday was son John $pencer’s birthday. I used several of the photographs from his first birthday 40 years ago in a blog post, but I didn’t use the one showing him with his birthday cake. I liked the-deer-in-the-headlights pose.
John $pencer on his first birthday
He agreed to a non-flash photo this time around, and his smile was my reward. I was amused to find he still has only one candle on his cake. He was fun at one, but his stories have improved dramatically.
The cake was put together with things I had in the house. The layers were devil’s food cake, chocolate moose tracks ice cream, and whipped topping. M & M’s were sprinkled on top, and we had just-made hot fudge sauce to ladle over it. The sauce would have made cardboard taste good.
Sadie has been training me quietly and effectively. I used to put pillow shams and a bolster on the recliner at night, but no more. That is Sadie’s favorite place in the bedroom. When she tried to get on the pillow-filled chair, either she fell back on the floor, or the pillows scattered. This morning, she had her arm possessively on the armrest. Would you argue with a dog over recliner rights?
You woke me up!
One of Sadie’s favorite activities is playing with her blanket. Son John $pencer throws the blanket over her head, and she charges at him and bites at his hands. Usually the dog lasts longer than the human. I learned NOT to play that game, because I didn’t get my hands and arms out of the way quickly enough.
I was standing near Sadie when she wanted to play. She took the blanket in her mouth and shook it, depositing it at my feet. She looked at me and said with her eyes that it was my turn. I didn’t move. She nudged it with her nose until it covered her eyes, and then she began to lick my toes. Ugh! She won, but I don’t think she played by the rules.
I saw something I don’t think I’ve ever seen before this week. With the sun shining, blue sky showing, and only fluffy white clouds overhead, I saw and felt rain! I was tempted to ask the first person I met on the street if I felt what I thought I did, but I chickened out. Drove on home and saw a lovely rainbow arched across the sky. I wasn’t dreaming!
One night John was late running for a train, didn’t check the board carefully and went to Gatwick Airport. I was helping Kate with her preps (homework) and went out to search for him in the car when I realized how late it was. I was in time to save his walking up the steepest hill, anyway.
The day before my parents arrived, I whizzed through the shopping, going to a supermarket, the freezer center, and a green grocer with a quick time out in one parking lot to take off the nappy next to John $’s skin. There was a reason for that, as you can imagine, and he didn’t seem to mind having a half-wet one put back. All of that was accomplished on a one-hour parking ticket. One can’t always move that fast because sometimes there is no hurrying an Englishman.
Thursday the folks arrived. John had called the airport to check on the flight and discovered it to be an hour or so early. He rushed off to be there, waited until almost time for the girls to go to school, drove like mad to get home, and had me drive the girls to Micklefield while he played with John $. The driver’s seat wasn’t cold before he was back in and on the way to Gatwick. He waited and waited – nothing compared to the 2 ½ hour wait the folks had going through the passport peeking line. Their feet found it hard to be civil when they got here! The girls were so excited that they were in the car in a flash when I went to pick them up at school.
We keep telling people what a large house we have. It was so large that Dad lost his teeth. He made no mention of it, so I was a little surprised to draw bathroom curtains and find a grin lying on the sill. I exclaimed over them, and he said, “There they are!”
“How did you eat dinner?”
“It was terribly hard!”
Later I heard Kate telling young friend Marianne, “My Granddaddy has teeth he can take out.” We persuaded her it wasn’t proper for her to ask him for a demonstration.
John $ has had a cold, so we didn’t go much of anywhere Friday, since he seemed to need extra sleep. Both Lisa and Kate were invited to the Hull’s across the street for supper, so I quickly revised the menu to include all the things I know they’d love to miss.
Yesterday we saw Stonehenge. [No photo this time around.] I was shocked to see it just out in a field by the side of the road. How tiny it looked! I expected huge things visible for miles because of the photos I’d seen of it. It did appear much more impressive close up, which is the view everyone is used to. The weather was not the best, nor did it help that Dad had no protection and Lisa had forgotten her raincoat. We went to see the stones in shifts! Forgetting the rain gear was nothing compared to what I forgot – John $’s food and bottles!
Thanks to John’s spotting of a chemist (drugstore), I was able to sprint across a busy street and purchase a training cup, lonely and dusty, high on a shelf. That did the trick. We stopped for lunch at a family restaurant where baby food was served and poured the milk into the cup. That evening we found another chain that also served baby food, and John $ ate high off the hog.
After Stonehenge we went to a big house called Vyne. Never did discover the reason for the name. Anyway, it was an old thing that had survived the rebellion because one of Cromwell’s right-hand men had bought it. It was elegant. In a long gallery there was scheduled a flute concert for later in the evening. I thought I’d heard snatches of melody drifting around, and sure enough, when we got to that gallery, the young lady was practicing. Sounded lovely. As we were going out, the lady manning the ticket desk asked how we’d liked the house. She answered one of the girls’ questions as to who lived in the house, and she said she did, with her husband and two dogs! When she realized it was suddenly pouring cats and dogs and we didn’t have enough rain-proofs to go around, she told John how to bring the car from the lot right near the door. Wasn’t that kind?
So many of these old homes have art hanging on the walls. I wish I knew more about it. There was one verified Holbein and one they thought by Holbein of Henry VIII. Dad loved the huge table, and I liked the chapel. One of the stained glass windows was supposed to have Catherine of Aragon, who had stayed in the house at some time. Kate loved the acoustics in that chapel and made the most of them with her clogs. The rather disapproving elderly lady showing that room said, “She’s a noisy so and so, isn’t she?”
My parents in Vyne.
This morning we went to St. Mary’s, which turned out to be the family service. It was so terribly informal that I said it out-Baptisted the Baptists. Dad said, yes, he felt right at home. They even sang one chorus that he knew, and I heard him sing in church for at least the second time in my life!
All over England it was the Harvest Thanksgiving service day, according to the sign we saw later while driving. At St. Mary’s the vicar called the children forward, and they filled the aisles carrying home-grown vegetables, store-bought fruits and canned goods. I think they were piled up before the altar. There were huge bouquets of flowers on every pedestal and apples piled on the ledges. They called for volunteers for the next day to dismantle all the food and deliver it to needy families.
After sandwiches at home, we drove to Brighton. I had wanted to see the Pavilion, which we did – twice driving by. Couldn’t find parking nearby. That was OK; I understand the outside is much more interesting than the inside. We did park near the beach and wander for a while on the promenade. The girls got their feet wet, and Granddaddy got his pants wet chasing the waves!
John $, John, Grandmother, Lisa, Kate, and Granddaddy
G’mother and I were fascinated by the little enclosures that lined the walk that people evidently rented for long periods of time. Some were wall-papered, and all must contain chairs. Many people were sitting half in and half out of the sheds, reading.
Brighton
Drove on to Alfriston to see a clergy house that was built in the 14th century. It had the most beautiful thatching on the roof. The village itself was most picturesque, but we were too late to take pictures of it or to have time to wander around. Thought we saw three hang gliders hovering above the hills as we left the village. I’d love to go back there some day.
We’d carefully warned the folks not to drink the water upstairs. Dad took a cup of water up with him, and he caught Mother drinking from it. He hit on the perfect way to ensure she wouldn’t drink any more. He said, “My TEETH are soaking in that!”
I was proud of myself for sitting by the side of the road when GrAnne told me to. The grandsons call her Gran, but she’s GrAnne to me. I like to put a little growl at the beginning of her name. They say, “SADIE! CAR! SIT!” I don’t know how to car-sit, but I’ve figured out they are pleased if I sit down when a car goes by.
Today I sneaked in GrAnne’s room before she got out of bed, and I settled down in the recliner.
Why on earth was she doing getting down on the floor? That’s my territory!
Was she sick? I touched her face with my paw.
She told me it was OK, that she was doing her stretch and exercise routine. I tried to lick her face to show my approval. She recoiled and said “Eyywwww.”
I decided it might be best if I supervised her from a distance.
In a little while she was on her feet where she belongs, and we walked to the creek. I looked for the squirrel I jumped at yesterday, but it was hiding. John and GrAnne wondered why I pulled so hard the last quarter of the walk. I wanted to get home to breakfast. They haven’t realized yet that food is more important to me than it is to them!
Our conversation turned into a contest, which I lost. I was laughing at myself and shared what I did at the bathroom sink. I used a hair band to keep hair away from my face. After washing my face, I raked the band off and tossed it in the waste basket instead of putting it back in the drawer. It had served me well for several years and did not deserve that treatment. I quickly retrieved it and almost apologized to it.
John said he had done something similar. He opened the garbage pail to empty the coffee filter. After shaking out the grounds, he threw in the permanent filter, as well.
The clear winner was son John $pencer. He broke his silence at the mention of coffee. He was taking care of two chores at once – putting away clean socks and emptying coffee grounds. You can imagine where this is going, can’t you? He threw his socks in the trash and realized something was not quite right when he dumped coffee grounds all over his clean t-shirts.
Have any of you carelessly tossed away something by accident and quickly retrieved it? We can’t be the only ones!
We finally met John’s sister Chris and husband Steve from South Carolina to celebrate all our birthdays. Four times a year we plan to get together, but many things intervened this past year. Chris arranged to have the other sister, Barbara and husband Thom, join us with a video call from New York. It was like old times to have the six of us chatting.
Steve, Anne, and Chris
Rain was pelting the area when we were ready to leave, so we waited for it to let up. This is the only picture I took of brother and sister together.
I always try to take a photo of people when they walk to the creek with us. Today was debut day for Sadie! We were testing her new leash, and it worked well.
Sadie and John at Jonathan Creek
Logan came over after going to school on line. He was here when John $pencer gave Sadie a bath and could see the peanut butter trick firsthand.
I got tickled when Logan said he was going to balance a balloon on his nose. The flash worked for the first shot and not for the second. I was lucky to catch the moment, even if the lighting was not good.
Daughter Kate and her boys spent the afternoon with us. It was almost unbearably humid, so I retreated to my air-conditioned bedroom where Nathaniel (7 months) was sleeping in a portable crib. Before long David (5) joined me on the bed. I read three books to him before he began constructing a tent with blankets. The baby slept for an hour and a half, then began to whimper. David kindly handed him a toy and put the pacifier in his mouth, a process that was repeated many times before Nathaniel began to protest earnestly. I wasn’t ready to give up the cool air, so I jotted a note to Kate on a scrap piece of paper I keep beside the bed.
I wrote, “Kate, Nathaniel wants his mommy,” and asked David to take it to his mother.
This is what the boys looked like that month as they played in the Narthex at church.
David returned, saying he had given her the note, and resumed his cycle of playing and trying to keep Nathaniel happy. After a while I scooped the baby up and headed downstairs. Kate was sound asleep on the sofa. Between her thumb and forefinger was my note. When I told John the story a day later, he laughed and said someone had probably warned David not to wake his mother. He had delivered the note, alright, but it had no visible effect on that sleeping form.
My name is Suki, my human is a writer, and this is about my world. The world according to Suki The Cat. My humans smell funny, look weird, and I can't understand a thing they say, but they feed me, so hey, what are you gonna do?
Mehrling Muse 