MOTHERING SUNDAY - AND DOES SHE LIKE BUTTER?

This has been rather a strange day - in more ways than one.  First of all, it’s my first Mothering Sunday without a Mother - and that feels quite odd.  I used to like to find a card that said “Mothering Sunday” rather than "Mother’s Day", and that was always a challenge but I often found one in the Christian Book Shop in our town centre or if I couldn’t find one, then I would make one for Mum.  

In her latter years, it was always difficult to find something that Mum could enjoy on the day, so if it wasn’t Violet Creams then it might be a pot plant or perhaps some special cakes that she enjoyed - and she loved Marks & Spencer cream slices - but this year, of course, she isn’t with us - so we are just remembering her on this special day.  As my bother, Paul, would often pinch eat her Violet Creams, I bought him some for his birthday at the beginning of March!  

I looked through some old photographs, and this is the only one I can find of me with Mum - I must have been about 9 or 10 years old and had forgotten I even had this one.  It's good to have the photograph Mr. HCB took just a couple of weeks before she died, with my sister, Karen, brother, Paul and me with Mum as I don't think there are many others with us all together.

Of course, we have also missed and talked about Mr. HCB’s mother, Joan, today - our Mothers were very different and we miss them in different ways, especially on this special day.

Our son, Martyn and his wife, Dawn, came over yesterday to bring my card and present, but in a rather surreal way, they stood outside the door and we stood inside, to ensure that there was at least two metres between us - especially as Martyn had been feeling under the weather the day before.  We chatted for a while and then they left, leaving a bag of goodies on the doorstep so today has just been a FaceTime chat and a couple of text messages but no hugs! :-(   

This morning, our son in Vietnam had messaged to say in his now inimitable way “Whoops I think it might be Mother’s Day, so ‘Happy Mother’s Day’!”   I tried to call him a couple of times, but there was no response, so gave up and wouldn’t you know it, just as we were about to listen to our live streaming Church Service, he rang, so we will listen to the service later.

As it was such a  beautiful day, we decided to go out for a drive in the car, but Mr. HCB was careful not to go anywhere where there would be a lot of people.  We went “off the beaten track” to a little hamlet called Winterbourne Bassett and from there walked along a deserted road - we did see a few cyclists - but still managed to keep the required two metres between us.  Looking with his binoculars up to White Horse Hill, Mr. HCB said he could see at least twenty cars - so it was a good job we didn’t go up there.  

Not your usual selfie today - and this has been consigned to the extras - Mr. HCB trying to see if I liked butter by grabbing me and putting the buttercup or lesser celandine under my chin to see if it made my neck glow.  I wonder how many reading this used to do the same thing when they were younger?  We were amazed to see lots of bees on the celandines - no doubt enjoying the nectar and the sunshine.

Mr. HCB was happy because he saw several small birds and also a red kite and a buzzard, both of which he wouldn’t have seen with his naked eye, so it was good that he had remembered to take his binoculars.  It was lovely in the sun, but the wind was very chilly, so we were glad to get back to the car after we had walked for about 45 minutes.  We are now back home and have enjoyed sometime in the conservatory - in the sunshine but out of the wind - we are grateful that even if we do have to stay at home, we have plenty of room and are able to enjoy our garden from the conservatory.

“Death is nothing else
     but going home to God;
the bond of love will be
     unbroken for all eternity.”
Mother Teresa