4 April 2026

Saturday

 
They all went down to the park while I vacuumed the entire house, put a week's worth of washing on the line, mowed the lawn and prepared the evening meal. There was a meat chilli, vegan chilli, basmati rice, grated cheese  and soft wholemeal pitta breads.

They were having fun while I slaved away. A man's work is never done.

Ian is up from London with Zach and of course we had Stew, Frances, Phoebe and Margot round for the welcome home feast - followed by cream cakes and fresh fruit. Fortunately, Shirley helped out by setting the table. I was so grateful for her kind assistance. After all, I am sure you know how lazy some women can be around the home.

After finishing my ironing and washing up the pots - or putting them in the dishwasher - I slumped down on the sofa. Cousins Margot and Zachary were playing on the carpet. Zach loves little cars and other tiny vehicles. Ambulances and police cars are particular favourites.

On the other hand, Margot likes her dolls and shows nascent maternal qualities as she pats them or pushes them around. She speaks very sweetly to them.

Nobody consciously encouraged these stereotypical behaviours.

Margot and Zach's "due date" was just the same - in late October 2023 but Zach arrived on October 24th and Margot waited until November 2nd to pop her little head out. Just nine days separates them and it's interesting to observe how they are developing.

In the picture, Zach is holding my desk calculator. Phoebe has taken a shine to this helpful mathematical aid and recently she has asked for it as soon as she steps in our house. Because of this we decided to order her her own calculator and it arrived this very evening courtesy of Amazon. She was thrilled to bits.

Maybe I can now reclaim my own calculator which she taps away at as though it was a little laptop or something. She is usually oblivious to the random strings of numbers she churns out. She just likes the object's tangibility  and it is the same with my little magnifying glass and the foam wrist pad I use with my mouse.

Now I mustn't hang about any more. Shirley has her feet up watching a chick flick on the TV and she has yelled that she needs a cup of tea and one of my homemade scones. I also have some cucumber pickling and sock darning to do before I can hit the hay. Roll on Sunday!

10 comments:

  1. I can tell you are so put upon.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I bet it's pretty much the same with your long-suffering husband Kelly.

      Delete
  2. Shirley seems to have things worked out just right on the domestic front, unless of course you are telling little fibs?
    Nice photo of Zac and Margot.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Fibs? What kind of a bloke do you think I am?

      Delete
  3. Sock darning I could almost believe, because I do it myself (also here) but I draw the line at cucumber pickling.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. The art of sock darning is in decline. Do you use a wooden mushroom?

      Delete
    2. I do. Previously my father's.

      Delete
  4. In retirement you are condemned to a life of household drudgery.
    Phoebe is already calculating her inheritance figure from her generous grandpa.

    ReplyDelete
  5. You are really hard done by with all the work you have to do. If I was there, I'd come over and help you.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Sock darning! I haven't done that in years! I do have a wooden mushroom still and have darned small holes in knitted garments with it, but not recently. I have never pickled anything. You did a lot of work there, so I order you to take tomorrow off and relax.

    ReplyDelete

Mr Pudding welcomes all genuine comments - even those with which he disagrees. However, puerile or abusive comments from anonymous contributors will continue to be given the short shrift they deserve. Any spam comments that get through Google/Blogger defences will also be quickly deleted.

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