magic madge

back in march jane wrote a post about mothers day. in response i wrote a post not just in memory of jane's mum barbara but to acknowledge the prod jane had given me about taking your parents for granted. it took three months to find a weekend we were both free but finally this weekend we spent time. leaving the working week and the grey manchester skies behind i headed to wales to embrace the "micro climate" i am constantly told about. it rained but i'm sure not as much as it did in manchester.


i arrived on friday evening clutching peonies as a present. mum loves flowers but tells me that she has never bought peonies herself and was only this week looking at them. i explain that going to buy flowers i thought it was fitting that i bought peonies as it was jane and barbara that inspired this visit and peonies were one of barbara's favourite flowers. i have bought peonies for both jane and barbara before, i have obviously never bought flowers for mum when peonies are having their three week window at this time of the year.

over dinner our plans for saturday were concocted. we had an idea to board a stream train and take a journey. plans were changed when not only was i not old enough nor male enough to pose as graham for the rail card but they were out of date. by three days. plans were rearranged. 


mum and i opted for a spot of antique rummaging 

followed by lunch

followed by a drive through conwy to head down the conwy valley.

once we had had our fill of the welsh air we headed home to have a well earnt cup of tea and a slice of homemade carrot cake. sitting down with graham in front of the tv wimbledon was on. we were set for the evening with andy murray giving us a performance that kept us glued to our sets until the 11pm curfew. night matches from wimbledon, a whole new concept i could easily get used to for a fortnight a year.

a new day. sunday. today, time for graham. mum and graham have been married ten years this year. that has gone fast. with his dry sense of humour and love of music he was an easy fit for us. he loves boats. model boats. passed down through his family. sunday morning brought a trip to the boat club and an opportunity to talk to people from all walks of life, the housewife, the retired gent, the breast surgeon. 

after lunch thoughts turn to heading home. not without checking out the garden first. it is a cacophony of colour. i posted my photos of mothers day showing that i bought mum a pot containing bulbs, anemone bulbs, my mum's mums (my grandmas) favourite. she wanted to show me that flowers were beginning to come.

mum and graham love the garden. theirs is built into a hillside. graham had given himself a fright while we were out on saturday; he had been gardening and some of the rockface had given way while he was on it. concerned wife and step daughter told him to be more careful next time, his face said it all whilst telling the tale, i am sure next time he will be.

preparing to leave, talk turned to what a good weekend we had had. we had laughed and joked and chatted for a long time around dinner tables. we had tested each others musical knowledge and how up to date we were on current affairs. we had reminisced and shared current stories. we had enjoyed each others company. we spent time just being together and taking an interest in each other not just taking each other for granted. it was good. thank you jane.

Emma