tea for three

I made two little dollies, not much bigger than my hand. One had a bun on her head. A little ballerina bun. My ballerina granddaughter was the inspiration. Then I made another with a side ponytail. Two little golden haired dollies. I think they were sisters. There was a family resemblance for sure. I dressed them up for the important first meeting. They were quite nervous. My little granddaughters came. I hoped that someone would like the little side ponytail dolly. I hoped she would seem as cute as the little ballerina bun dolly. 

My granddaughters gasped with joy, just as I had hoped. But, their eyes were on one doll. Oh, oh. Their hands reached out in unison for the same little dolly. Oops. 

Bun Girl still lives with me. Another side ponytail friend may be arriving any day. 

In the mean time, here are a few of Bun Girl's favourite things. 

 A warm bubble bath....

A hot breakfast...

 New boots and vest...

 Sky blue coat...

Then tea for three...

generously serve

The air outside is as hot as an oven.
Time to make a fake cake.
Something I can stitch in the cool, dim living room.
Something using felt and thread instead of a mixing bowl and wooden spoon.
Maybe a little vanilla cake.
The kind dolls dine upon.
One that rises up out of the pan, triple tall.
A drizzle of chocolate glaze.
Some pink roses and it's time for tea.

P.S. The roses are resin and will have velcro on their backs.
The cake is almost six inches across and will generously serve a dozen dolls, two little girls and one gramma.

wooden garden

golden key

Having grandchildren is good for your marriage.
Not, as you might think, because you are united against a common foe, but because your patience becomes  a finely honed thing and the key, the golden key to any good marriage is patience.

much much closer

This is not the Von Trapp children posing in the Austrian alpine.

It's a picture taken high atop Mount Cook and includes my mom and dad perched on the edge of splendor.

Isn't the composition of this photo a rare and wondrous thing?

Aren't the teenagers framed just right?

Don't they look like some lifestyle photographer had a vision?

Doesn't my dad have a bad case of hat hair?

Maybe it's just because my mother is smiling warmly from the center of the photo's foreground that it occurs to me the photographer got the focal point just right.

And, I noticed something for the first time tonight.

My dad is holding my Mom's hand.

He hasn't turned to face the picture taker.

His thoughts are somewhere else.

Somewhere much, much closer.

birds come

We have a plum tree smack dab in the center of our front yard. It was a slender slip of a tree when we first planted it a decade ago but now has branches stout and aplenty. Birds come.
"Look," my husband says, pointing. A house sparrow twitters as it scrambles higher in the branches.
"Is that a Vireo," I ask incredulously as a slender olive-grey bird flutters on a low limb.
"A Tanager!" we gasp in unison.
And then, out of the top of the tree like a girl from a cake, pops a Robin.
A United Nations of birds.

can't live without

My four year old granddaughter began to cough one evening last week and by morning, was struggling to breathe.
She couldn't draw in a breath.
She couldn't even cry.
The Hospital Emergency Ward rolled out the red carpet.
She was ushered right in and given a bed and oxygen.
Breathing is one of those essentials.
You can't live without breath.
My little granddaughter had her own list of things she couldn't live without.

My daughter recorded her settling down to sleep with her phone;
A comforting picture for those at home.
They lay snuggled together on the hospital bed, mommy and little girl.
"I love you Mommy,' Little says sleepily.
"I love you too. Try to go to sleep now," urges my daughter.
"It's not dark enough," Little laments.
"And I can't live without all my toys and stuffies........and I can't live without......" Here she taps thoughtfully on her lower lip. "And I can't live without my lipstick." (AKA Chapstick)