Three quarters of an hour later, and with the imminent arrival of the Tuesday Girls, I had yet to get the cakes made and in the oven or lunch unpacked and placed in the fridge or various cupboards. So setting to, I put things away, mixed the cakes and put the kettle on, MIL complained about the 'noise' and "Just what was I doing?" At this very point, Amanda arrived with apologies for being early. Now, I do get on very well with MIL so appreciated her saying she would speak to me later, and at least she was laughing by the time the conversation was finished, so with the promise that I would speak to her later, that was that. Phew! One miracle pulled out of the bag! The muffins were in the oven! The brownies soon followed after adding some pecans to the mix. Thank goodness for Betty Crocker! I just didn't have time to experiment... far be-it for me to be organised!!! The word is just NOT in my personal vocabulary.
Feeling just a tad stressed, Amanda encouraged me to take a moment to go and sit in the garden with her as it was very warm and as the cakes were fresh out of the oven and Janet had rung to say she wasn't going to come until nearer 12.00, we did just that. It is amazing how soothing a cup of tea is, accompanied by a plate of cakes, especially warm chocolate cakes. :-)) We chatted about family dilemas, how we might overcome them and just how pleasant it was to sit outside, where it was at least 5 degrees cooler due to a slight breeze. Amanda was quite content to just play with the dog, who kept dropping a perfectly grubby tennis ball on her lovely fresh, white-linen skirt! Hmm! Not sure I would have been so accepting.
It was unfortunate that the only reason I could host the day was that I had a doctor's appointment slap bang in the middle of the day, so as Janet was going to be later (she was awaiting a delivery), Alison was busy and Chris travelling back from a visit to her sister's, Amanda 'had' to come to the doc's with me. She is very good company and the hour wait flew by. My visit lasted less than ten minutes and soon we were on our way back.
During this time, the sky had darkened considerably and soon the lightning was flickering across the sky and the thunder resounding. The rain deluged. Needless to say just as we arrived home and eased just enough for us to dive into the conservatory where we hold our gather when it is my turn. At this very moment, Janet arrived and more tea and cake (small portions as it was very close to lunch). Conversation and much experimentation followed as Janet had brought her new arrival (and reason for being late as she was waiting for it to be delivered,) to play with. We all have cutting machines for our scrapbooking, but Janet is queen of the die cutters. So the Cricut machine was the newest addition to her collection of die-cutters. We had a wonderful time experimenting with the new cartridge she had bought for it. Such a pretty set of words and cut outs... it will be a must have for anyone who has one of these machines! The cartridge name was Paper Lace!
The rain eased and returned with gay abandon throughout the time the girls were with me. It did nothing to subdue our enthusiasm for lunch; herbed, garlic salmon with prawns, salad and a variety of 'extras'... followed by meringue nests, creme fraiche or greek yoghurt with mixed berries. Of course more tea followed that plus the brownies. Soon it was time to break out the sewing... Amanda made a quick needle case and I cut out a few more blocks for the Farmer's Wife quilt. Janet, who carried on experimenting with pressure wheels and speed of cut, had brough me her templates, as she knew I will be working for the next few weeks, so won't be at the next arranged FW cutting out session, planned in a few weeks time.
Before we knew it, it was time to pack up as Janet had some fabric to iron ready for cutting, at work (and wanted to get it done as the two of us were meeting up with our Scrapbook group for dinner later) Amanda had some bits and pieces to do. Me, I carried on cutting out until I realised time was getting on and that I too had to clear up.
So with dilemmas all safely forgotten or averted, another successful day was over.
No comments:
Post a Comment