I don’t exactly love tea, but I missed it on the weekend when Sue absconded to her sister’s in Toronto. Après lunch and dinner tea has become part of our cadence of living, so there was a bit of a void when Sue was gone and when my routine became a non-routine.
While it is within the realm of possibility that I can brew tea, I didn’t. Then, the problem became what to drink in its place, especially with that stabilizing routine temporarily lost. So next time, I will do it differently and make tea, but I will still be out my routine and rhythm and a little bit lost. Or not lost really but just a wee bit untethered.
When she got back home on Monday afternoon, we had tea at supper and watched tv during and after dinner, and it seemed right.
Sue brought back some photos from the collection that Heather inherited from their mother. This, below, is of Sue’s grandmother, Alice, and her mother, Pearl. It was early in the war when Sue’s dad was off the fight the Hun, and of he who was in the womb was destined to later become Sue's big brother.
I had hoped to recover grandmother’s shadowy face and instructed AI to do so as I had in a previous old photo that I posted some time ago. Unfortunately, AI just made new faces, so I discarded that attempt. I then tried to fix the face on my own, but it was beyond my ability, so I was only able to touch up the old photo in my usual ways.
Before I switch from my tablet to the computer to find the photo, I will add that Sue’s family lived with her grandparents until they passed on. Her dad kept adding to the house to make room for everyone as Sue and her three siblings began to fill the space, but for awhile, Sue and her two sisters slept in a little room that wasn’t much more than a narrow passageway
I had a farmhouse that would have been like that. A huge closet was Grandma's room. The open hallway upstairs was the boys' room and the two bedrooms upstairs were the parents and brother's room.
ReplyDeleteThe master bedroom downstairs when we purchased it ... was the sitting room.
It was an old farmhouse with some of the funniest additions on it I've ever seen. But I still loved it.
Is that the house behind them? They look bundled up for a cold wind.
ReplyDeleteThat was the house across the street.
DeleteHa ha, I think you missed Sue more than tea-time?
ReplyDeleteI think there was a Sue shaped gap in your life there for a couple of days. Or years, depending on how it felt.
ReplyDeleteCherish Sue my friend!
ReplyDeleteIt's sweet that you missed Sue and your routine so much. I don't think Larry misses me at all---he enjoys doing just as he likes when I'm gone. I have to admit, I am the same. I enjoy the peace, not having to constantly get things for him or cook big meals, having the bed to myself, etc. However, it is always wonderful when he gets back!
ReplyDeleteI wouldn't have the foggiest clue how to make tea, not being a tea drinker. I did enjoy my choice at the High Tea I recently went to. But generally I'm a coffee drinker. In the winter, I sometimes have decaf in the evening with my favorite Belgian Chocolate Toffee creamer. Fancy! My grandfather's house had much smaller rooms. One bathroom was microscopic. My other grandparents had one bathroom for 5 people; at one time the house was a boarding house too. They must have had some kind of schedule!
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