Enticements

I am quickly learning that the brain starts seeing potential Blips everywhere. I'd already been out with my camera while pottering in the garden this morning and taken shots of a cute ladybird on some netting, the peas which have suddenly gone from flowers to a proliferation of actual peas (literally my least favourite vegetable, so of course we have hundreds) and a HUGE first courgette of the season (worry not, it looks like there will be courgettes and accompanying photos for some months to come...)  

Then myself and the wife escaped the carnage of the house (Bo  - #1 son - had 2 friends to stay last night, and the lounge was full of testosterone...) to our favourite coffee place in West Kirby: Mother Deli.  If I had to describe the vibe of Mother, it would be - it's basically the real life version of Blip.  The deli is is an old bank which was on a corner plot, so it's got so much character anyway - the beer and wines are in the old safe, the brickwork on the external wall is stunning and beautifully pointed (that's surely a photo for another day!)

But the best thing about Mother (and the reason I compare it to Blip) is that it's at the heart of the community in West Kirby alongside one of our other favourite places on the planet, the West Kirby Bookshop.  We go to both places multiple times a week, and at Mother we drink their fabulous coffee, and often I do an hour's work in there in the week if I'm WFH, and we frequently buy far too much cheese and hummus*.  The reason it's our favourite is because we are always so warmly welcomed in - the owners James and Chloe have done a fabulous job of both curating their stock but also ensuring they get to know their regular customers.  They know what we drink, how we like our croissants, and try to keep up with where we are up to with the house renovations... in return we always try to remember the names of the fabulous team who work there, know who has got kids to ask after, and make many jokes about James' slightly obscure stock-labelling system for the till.  It's a wonderful part of local community life.  As I sat staring off into the middle distance enjoying my coffee this morning the beauty of the curved display caught my eye, and I took advantage in a very rare moment of quiet at the back fo the shop to take today's main Blip.

*there's clearly no such thing as too much cheese and hummus, although some medical professionals would probably have you believe otherwise.

Extras - Mother coffee, always made with love, and the view from one of the window seats.