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Thursday, August 18, 2011

Just like mum used to do...


Yesterday I had morning tea with some friends of mine. We didn't meet at a cafe, instead I went to their place. I brought along a plate with some of my homemade 'Hikers' Cakes' and we sat on the back deck drinking tea ( poured from the teapot ) and chatting about 'anything and everything' for a couple of hours! When I accepted D's invitation, I warned him that I was planning to cadge cuttings of his geraniums which grow so well at his and M's place. So before I headed home, we walked around the front veranda and the front garden getting cuttings of geraniums, nasturtiums and some bromeliad 'pups'.


My 3 bags of cuttings!

Lovely coloured and large nasturtium flower



It was all so like the way my mother used to socialise with friends in the 50s and 60s when I was growing up. You went to people's places not cafes and restaurants, you took a contribution of homebaking usually, and , finally, you got cuttings and seedlings from friends' gardens to plant at home. I loved reliving that yesterday! Was it the 1990s when we started meeting in coffee shops and cafes? I honestly can't remember.


Talking about my mother...she always used to say that the appearance of ants in the house meant rain was on the way! In the last few weeks we've had ants appear on the vanity unit surface in the bathroom, the plates' cupboard in the kitchen and then yesterday in the saucepan cupboard, this is what I found when I opened the door! Just like the other infestations, the ants disappeared within 24 hours. There doesn't seem to be any food residue for example to attract them or a spill I've missed mopping up. :-0

4 comments:

Tanya Murray said...

Maria that is so true. There was also a lot more visiting after dinner too. I really miss the visiting and the teas.

Claud said...

Sounds like a lovely time! I hope we are going back to those customs that made us more caring, brought us closer to neighbors and friends over a cup of tea, sharing food and plants.

Now I know too why I've been getting a lot of ants here too right before rainy days. Once again Mom was right :-).

Cheryl (aka Kayly) said...

This was so much like visiting my Grandmaother's side of my family. They were all great cooks and gardeners. No visit was complete without a walk around the garden. There were some store bought goodies though. While changing trams or trains, there would be a quick visit to the Shingle Inn (the original of course) or the The Gumnut Bakery at the top of Adelaide Street. My Mum still walks around my garden every visit.

Lynn said...

I remember visiting with my Mum too. Most of the mothers in the street where we lived knew each other very well and were often at each others homes visiting and having tea and discussing recipes and life in general. That doesn't happen anymore...what a shame!