Coffee and Cake, Cats and Carrying On
Monday, April 24, 2006
So the weekend had been like the others. Saturday saw several hours of collecting and organizing junk at Green Gables for the rummage sale while another crew hung ceiling tiles in the foyer of the church and raked rocks into buckets over bagels and cream cheese in the heat of the late morning. Then while OLeif took Susie and Rose to Pizza Street for lunch, Collette helped set up Evangeline’s wedding shower in the hay barn, dusting down old chairs, setting lace and flowers and mints on the tables and eventually rushing through an hour and a half of cake and gifts. Although a cool breeze did manage to fly through by the time the ladies were gathered in their circle of chatting, which was pleasant.
At the end of the gathering, the older ladies decided to pat Molly’s fuzzy head, a prerequisite to singing Happy Birthday to her. And afterwards, once Rose had spray-painted a box gold and added various stickers to the outside, OLeif dumped in a bag of beanie babies confiscated from the rummage sale and they brought it with them for Molly. Off it was to coffee (where Joseph served) for Mom, Roo McCrae, OLeif, Collette, Puddle-Jumper, Jo-Jo, Ben-Hur, Rose, Bob B., Molly, and Linnea (who played four rounds of Clue with Collette). Even Ecclesiastes and Aubree showed up later unexpectedly, the very evening before her due date. And Magnus arrived quite late on his way back from work, parking his car full in the grass. Molly was delighted with beanie baby additions and she and Rose worked on writing a concordance of who was who within the confines of the gold box.
Sunday saw the usual, although Augustus was at home with the stomach flu. It was Bassanio-Ignace’s last Sunday before leaving for the Navy that day… There were seven baptisms, including Nacchianti and Creole and Julia Poach, lunch back at the house (including Wally and Joe (who was just back from OA camp), minus Carrie who was at work), youth meeting, youth (where the forum was discussed), and it was all the end of a long weekend.
Meanwhile, back at the ranch Monday morning, Collette arrived to find Rose preparing to ride over to the St. Charles Coffee House to pick up a work application. Rose did not, however, like the shirt selection Carrie and Collette had recommended for her – a long-sleeved pink collared shirt.
“No!” Rose exclaimed, running into the bathroom to hide in the shower.
“Look, Rose, it’s happy to see you!” Carrie shook the arm of the pink sleeve at Rose. “Hello, Rose!”
“Aloha!” Collette added – Rose’s latest phrase.
Later, Collette saw a streak of black cat run through the living room, engulfed in an ash cloud. Collette looked up to see a very guilty-looking Rose sitting by the wood stove (not currently in operation) with a fan of gray ash spread over the brick hearth. The tortured cat had been pushed inside the fire stove, it would seem. And so Carrie decided that it was necessary to sit on top of Rose on the couch and squish her while she screamed for help.
“Oh, Elcid Barrett cried the town,
How I wish I was in Sherbrooke now!
For twenty brave men all fishermen who
would make for him the Antelope’s crew
“G~d ~~~~ them all!
I was told we’d cruise the seas for American gold
We’d fire no guns-shed no tears
Now I’m a broken man on a Halifax pier
The last of Barrett’s Privateers.