Today we were going to meet John and Marion’s new granddaughter, Erin.
In the morning I did a bit of more mundane work and ordered a replacement bus pass after the last one failed to connect on the bus. It’s supposed to arrive within 14 days.
Scamp was really excited about it and I must admit I was looking forward to see the new baby too.
When we got to Hamilton, the star hadn’t arrived, so we sat and talked to John and Marion about how their lives were going to change over the next year. They seemed perfectly happy to be stand-in parents. I expect we would be the same.
We had lunch while we waited. It was home made Veg Lasagne and it was lovely. I must get Scamp to coax the recipe out of Marion. I din’t used to like veg lasagne, but now I prefer it to the meat version. Dessert was Apricot Trifle and it was very, very good, with crushed amaretti biscuits on top.
Just as we were finishing, Laura arrived with Erin. I’d forgotten quite how small, new babies are. I’d also forgotten about the little details like tiny little nails on her fingers and how bright blue her eyes were. I tend to forget these things after forty odd years. Scamp was obviously desperate to hold Erin and as soon as she had her cradled in her arms, she went straight into ‘Mother Mode’. The room was totally silent too, everybody’s eyes on that baby. Not long after that, the spell was broken when she started to cry. Laura did the thing every parent does and put her knuckle into Erin’s mouth and said “Yes, she’s needing fed.” Even I remembered that feeling of a baby’s gums trying to suckle your finger. So off mum and baby went to feed her and change her nappy.
We sat and talked with the new grandparents while this was happening and heard about their plans for holiday this year. Aruba sounds very exotic and it’s just a bit north of Trinidad. They are meeting up with friends there but it’s a long flight.
Erin was much more relaxed with a full belly and a clean nappy and John was having a great conversation before it was time to mother and baby to drive home. It was a great experience, but I’m glad we could hand her back when it was time to go. Did I have a chance to hold her? No, not me. I’m of the the Kevin Bridges group. More “How you doing mate?” than Goo Goo. I’d be terrified I’d drop her or something similar.
Soon after Laura and Erin left, we did too. Back home I changed into walking clothes and went for a walk in St Mo’s which is where today’s PoD came from, a pink Bluebell. Is that an oxymoron? On the way back home I stopped at the chip shop in Condorrat for a small fish supper that would be our supper. Very nice it was too.
Today’s prompt was for a pencil sharpener. This is my pencil sharpener. It’s a Swann Morton scalpel holding a Swann Morton No 11 blade. I used to use a standard sharpener with a built-in tub to hold the shavings, but the scalpel allows me to shave a much longer and narrower point on the pencil which doesn’t need sharpening quite as much as a standard rotary sharpener.
The only problem with the scalpel is that changing blades is difficult. I use a fine pair of pliers to twist the blade out and carefully twist a new blade into place. Oh yes, and remember that these are surgical quality steel blades. They are liable to cut more than pencils if you’re not careful!!
Tomorrow we may go for coffee with Isobel. It all depends on when a coffee delivery arrives for me.