Of Rice and Roses!

Hello and welcome to this week's story and a Sunday selfie!

       A link to part 1 of the mini-Valentines adventure story called 'My Sweet Valentine' can be found HERE.

     A link to part 2 of the mini-Valentines adventure story called 'As fit as a Flea' can be found HERE.

     Mrs H's January Foto Failures, then click the link HERE.
     Mrs H's February Foto Failures, then click the link HERE.

     A link to last week's selfie can be found HERE

     OK, so nothing much happened around the UK this week. Well, not unless you take into account the panic buying of toilet tissues, nappies, hand-wash, headache tablets, beer, crisps and baked beans! Interesting to see where some folks priorities lie.

    So, being the 'on-trend' and the curious cat that I am – and not wanting to miss out on a good thing – I sent Mrs H out to 'panic-buy' something for the palace. Being the lady of frugality, as well as not one to panic unless it involves an invasion of the British shoreline by the Mongol hoards, she panic-bought two bags of rice. . . .

    "Two bags, Mrs H, that does seem a rather frivolous piece of panic-buying." Erin stood watching Mrs H had offloaded the two half-ton sacks from the Indian elephant that had lumbered up the drive. "Are you sure you're feeling OK? I mean, TWO bags."

     "Oh, quite alright, dear. The offer was 'buy one, get one free' on the Jumbo-sized bags of basmati. Plus one is white rice and the other brown – browns very good for the bowels, you know."

    "Hmm, well that may be so, but best we don't give any to Jumbo, else poor Ned, the gardener, will collapse from the size of the muck heap he'll have to make! Still, the rhubarb and the roses should do well this year!"

    "Quite so, Erin. Another advantage is we can sell some of the rice to the vicar."

    "I didn't know the Reverend Prayhardy was into curry?" Erin smiled at the thought of the villages erstwhile prim-and-proper priest who usually shunned anything spicier than Mrs H's Chelsea Buns. "Next you'll be telling me he likes tinned larger wears his hair long at weekends and watches the Walking Dead! No, the latter could be in his contract. Maybe he watches something surreal and comical, like Prime Ministers Question Time."

    "Oh no, dear, not for himself, for the weddings."

    "Instead of cake? Seems a bit cheapskate if you ask me."

     Mrs H sighed. "No, dear, it's for the guests. Guests like to through rice over the bride and groom when they leave the church after the ceremony."

    "As a gift – are they curry lovers too?" Erin asked, thinking it would be easier to have some delivered ready-cooked, though to be fair that would probably stick to the happy couple's clothes.

    "They may like curry, Erin, but it's not that – well not usually anyway. No, it's a tradition that symbolises wishing them prosperity, fertility and good fortune."

    "Seems like a waste to me, though I dare say there'll be many a happy bulging sparrows and pigeons when the guests have gone." Still, thank goodness they don't throw anything more substantial, like onion bhajis, or samosas — one of those could take your eye at twenty paces!"

    "I do wonder at your logic, sometimes, Erin dear, really I do. But, you do have a point about safety, and many folks prefer rose petals instead. Of course, they can be dangerous too."

    "Yes, I can imagine the thorns would put a dampener on things. And then there's the risk of tetanus, greenfly, wilt and rust! Just imagine having to spray the happy couple down mid —"

    "No, dear." Mrs H interrupted, "no thorns or stems, just the petals; which can get very slippery in the rain. They are very expensive to buy so most folk stick to rice — and before you say anything, I don't mean literally!" Mrs H smiled at Erin and waved a finger to prevent the question she knew was forming in Erin's mind.

   Erin got one of her looks. It was a look that was calculating pence, pounds and potential profit. "Mrs H, how expensive did you say those petals were?"

    "Well, last time I checked they were £10 for a bag of freshly picked. You're not planning on getting married, are you?" Mrs H gave her best inquisitorial stare, aware that Erin was still yearning for a black and white wedding of own.

   "Oh, nothing – no reason." There was a short pause, and Erin stole a look at Jumbo, who was busy syphoning water out of the moat and squirting it over himself and a nearby flower bed. "On another matter, you know how we – you – get plastic bags to carry your shopping home in, and they're reusable."

   "Yes. 'Bags for Life' they call them. We keep reusing them, and once they get broken, they replace it with a new one. Why do you ask?"

    "Well, seeing as Jumbo there carried the rice back for you, that means he is like a big bag for life, and thus reusable too."

    Mrs Hudson looked quizically at Erin. "I am not sure I like where this is going. It's not another of your schemes, is it?"

    "Oh, no. Well, actually yes – but it is a winner for sure this time!"

    "Hmm. Well, the track record on these schemes isn't that great, Erin. You recall the great anti-pancake ceiling paint fiasco? The kitchen is officially a 'hard-hat only' area till the last dozen experimental tossed pancakes decide to fall!"

    "Ah, well that, Mrs H, was what they call am mere trifle of an issue. Talking of trifles, have you managed to get the last of my 'quick-set trifle mix' off the sink?"

     "Alas, no. Ned has tried his trowel on it, but so far it's not budged. Shame really as that is our best sink." 

     "Not to worry, I'm sure it will erode with the flowing water! On the plus side, I was thinking of repurposing the mix and marketing it as decorative and lickable tile adhesive and grout. What do you think?"

     Erin spotted Mrs H's concerned look and then shake of the head. "OK, maybe not then. Moving swiftly on, Jumbo looks a tad peckish. I just remembered that elephants DO like rice, brown at that. Hows about you go and rustle up some boiled brown rice with peanut and banana chips, for Jumbo. Being an Indian elephant, I'm sure that will go down a treat." 
     
     "Very good, Erin, though I am not sure we have a pan big enough." Mrs H frowned at the prospect of the task ahead and pondering if elephants really did like rice. But if it was what Erin wanted, then who was she to argue? "And what will you be up to this afternoon, Erin?" 
     
     "Oh, this and that. I have the sudden urge to check with Ned about this year's floral display for the Horticultural Show. As head of the Horticultural and Nip Planters Association, I do have standards to maintain and be the setter of trends. Maybe we need to up production.... er... the display of roses for the 'Summer Open Garden' visitors. I hear red roses are all ways well received."
     
     Mrs H just nodded and smiled. At least boiling of rice would her only worry. The rest, for once, would be down to Erin and the gardener to sort out. She made a mental note to nip off later and panic-buy some air fresheners, just in case.

       
To be continued. . . . .
                                                                   ***

    Well enough of this week's organic elephantine frivolity, here's this week's 'buy-one, get-one-free' rose-scented selfies! Amidst the chaos and rattle of Ned moving wheelbarrow loads from the lawn, I found a moment to grab some much-needed rest and relaxation in the potting shed. In between stirring the basmati, Mrs H grabbed two shots – evidence, she said – one in colour and one in black and white. Do tell us which one you prefer.

Colour image is Mrs H's favourite.

Black and white image is MY favourite.

  And Finally, I have to advise that no harm came to Jumbo whilst making this post, and no air freshener, be they spray or the hang on style, were inflicted upon this noblest fellow-creature. We do not advocate any such things for any creature, (well possibly for Ned the gardener who now pongs something rotten) as the chemicals, packaging and string can be fatal. Play safe and enjoy your companions as nature intended.

   Thank you for visiting us this week, and we hoped you enjoyed our frivolous fun feline floral fancy.

     If you have any composting tips for old and now slightly inundated, Ned, then please do rush them to him post-haste, c/o the Potting Shed, The Palace, Upper Much-Mousing. Should you be passing, we have a limited supply of best quality Indian fertiliser, available at the non-corner corner shop in the village. Part of the proceeds of which will be going to fund the treatment of Ned's newly slipped disc!

 

Spring Cuttings. . .

Hello and welcome to The Sunday Selfies! 

     We are joining The Kitties Blue, from The Cat on My Head blog, for the weekly celebration of blogs and bloggers from across the world, and across the species.

     To join in, get the Linky-Link code from their website, add it to your page, and enjoy the hop!

     A link to the first part of this mini-adventure story called 'My Sweet Valentine' can be found HERE.

     A link to the second part of this mini-adventure story called 'As fit as a Flea' can be found HERE.

     If you want to see some of Mrs H's January Foto Failures, then click the link HERE.

     If you want to see some of Mrs H's February Foto Failures, then click the link HERE.

     Hello, and welcome to the 7th selfie of the New Year — but first an update.

     As feline week's go, this last one, like most since my birthday, have been pretty much a letdown. Whilst we have had a few days of absolute sunshine, it has stayed cold. Other days have just been rain, wind, and flood. At one point the local shepherd thought he'd have to give up his flock entirely and send them to the used cotton bud recycling plant!

     That said, when the sun was out, we here at the Palace had a glimmer of summer. I say 'we' but it was actually just me. Mrs H has not been as attentive to her attentiveness duties as I would like. In fact, she has spent many days and some nights fretting over the edits to our new book.

     "My dear Erin," she said one day at 4am, as I batted her around the ear for falling asleep whilst preparing my early breakfast, "books, and those cotton buds you like to chew and play with, do not grow on trees, you know!"

     I looked out the window at the nearby willow and sighed. There perched up high, and away from the floodwaters was a small collection of multi-sized and bedraggled sheep, flicking their tails in a light morning breeze. "Strange," I muttered to myself, "we usually have catkins at this time of the year?"

      I turned to look at Mrs H. I didn't have the heart to break the news to her that she was likely labouring under a misapprehension re. the origins of cotton buds, as it was plain as the hair on my face. As to books, well, where do all the gardening books come from if not the trees, flowers, and shrubs we plant?

     "I think, Mrs H, you have that wrong. But on another note, I do think if we play our cards right, we won't have to worry about decorating a Christmas Tree this year! By any chance do you know what how to feed and prune sheep?"


     Well enough of the frivolity, here's this week's tastefully decorated 100% organic, plant-based (mainly NIP) selfie of me!

     Thank you for visiting us this week, and we hoped you enjoyed our cutting of frivolous fun feline fancy.

     If you have any gardening tips re. potting up cuttings of willow based sheep (Mrs H suggested grafting or layering – sounds far too painful!) or how to support over cropping willow branches, then please do rush them to me post-haste. 

     To see what our international blogging pals have been up to this week, be it tonics lotions or potions, or just neat nip brandy, then please click the links below, and enjoy the Hop!