What a day! First off this old bird had to get up and get presentable to the world - no longer a simple task. Then off to pick up my granddaughter at school to go for a counselling session, then to MacDonald's to pick up lunch, because she'll miss the school lunch. She eats her lunch in the car and in the counsellor's office. While Mimi waits for her, she reads "People Magazine". Who are these people? I see right away that I'm woefully out of touch. I suppose I should subscribe, just to keep up.
One picture story featured the two English princelings, Will and Harry, and revealed to the world where the boys hang out to get drunk. MadPriest, are you reading this? In lieu of stealing the magazine, I hand-copied the names of the night spots in the event that you travel down to London town and want to hit the cool spots. See the trouble I take for you. I was going to post this in your comments, but I thought, why give all the good stuff to you? Here's the list:
The Pig's Ear
The Cuckoo Club
Archipelago
Boujis
Mahiki's Lanai Lounge
Back to school with my granddaughter. Come home, eat lunch, answer a few emails and post these details of my life which will, I'm sure, captivate all of you. Then at 3:15, I'm off to pick up my son's two children to take them to the dentist. Oh, joy. A six-year-old with ADHD at the dentist. I have my son on stand-by if he gives trouble. You may ask why I am doing all this. My son had to take off a lot of time from work for the custody fight in court, so I'm trying to help. Mimi gotta hold this shit together, don't she? Or she thinks she does.
I know your grands have been through a difficult time, but what a blessing to have their Grandmère with them through it all.
ReplyDeleteBlessings,
Mags
hang on, Mimi, Mimi, hang on....
ReplyDeletegreat stuff you do.
have had to delay my trip and stay an additional night in atlanta because I over did it - hope tomorrow is better.
My friends, today was the kind of day that I really didn't like when my own children were growing up, and I was much younger. But I did what I had to do with a willing heart. And then I went to Evensong and the Alpha course tonight.
ReplyDeleteI am experiencing an abundance of grace and strength to help my son and his family through this difficult period. Thanks be to God. The doing is not as hard as the suspense and the courtroom shenanigans, and that's over for now.
Thank you all for your good wishes.
A propos of nothing, perhaps, but I thought you'd enjoy this from the NY Times:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/16/books/16anno.html
I'm always of two minds about whether these things help. Part of the charm of older literature is the foreigness of their world.
What is surprising, and perhaps comforting, is that what Jane Austen says about the heart still requires no footnotes.
[...and, perhaps to come back to your topic, one of the relatively un-remarked-upon effects of the divorce revolution has been the massive re-taking of parenting duties by grandparents. My mom did it for my older brother, and she would often remark how many of her contemporaries, often widows, were changing babies.
Maybe I should say it's not entirely new...I remember an elderly priest I knew, born and raised in Ireland, remarking that it was there the norm for grandparents to care for the youngest children, because both father and mother typically had no choice but to labor in the fields from sunup to sundown. I don't doubt that he was right, but I am surprised that we, in a relatively affluent culture, have replicated a pattern made necessary there by grinding povery.]
Rick, thanks so much for that link. I really enjoyed the article. I thought I was steeped in Jane Austen, but I don't know if I'm that steeped. The annotated version of Pride and Prejudice might fall into the category of too much information.
ReplyDeleteI attended one of the national meetings of the Jane Austen Society in Santa Fe. I came to the conclusion that I was not devoted enough. Certain of the membership wore the costumes of the times to the dinners. Their lives were consumed by Jane Austen. This description in the article fits them to a "T":
Austen is a special case. Certain writers create worlds that readers do not want to leave, ever. Extreme devotees of Austen do not simply enjoy the novels, they want to sit in the living room at Longbourn with the Bennet sisters, drinking tea and analyzing Darcy’s behavior.
In the end, though, I will probably buy the book.
As for the grandchildren, I'm pleased to do what I can for them, plus I get to spend time with them.
"The annotated version of Pride and Prejudice might fall into the category of too much information."
ReplyDeleteI think I tend to agree with you on that. I used to have copies of the "Annotated Alice" and the "Annotated Sherlock Holmes." Eventually the explanations were too distracting for me.
Still...I used to say that I learned two delightful things in law school: how to tie a bow tie, and how to rhumba. Maybe I should add a third. Thanks to my one-time proficiency in English land law, specifically the mysteries of the "fee tail male," I have always been able to explain to puzzled fellow Americans why the unctious Mr. Collins was heir to the Bennet house and property.
Rick, "fee tail male"? I thought it was the entail. Two labels for the same thing?
ReplyDelete((((((((Mimi)))))))))
ReplyDeleteGod goes strongly with you.
Pretty much. A "fee tail general" will be restricted to any heir "of the body," male or female. Blackstone even mentions a "fee tail female," a form of entail which excludes male heirs.
ReplyDeleteI think most American jurisdictions came to outlaw the fee tail for the reason that the English encouraged them: they tend to keep large estates together, and cut off younger sons and daughters to fend for themselves.
Eileen, thank you for the hugs and the prayers. I'm also taking the medication that you recommended.
ReplyDeleteRick, that "fee tail female" could get the mind going in a naughty direction.
busy day for you...
ReplyDeletewhen I was a kid it was my grandparents who held our family life together... I never really realized all that they had done until they were gone and I could no longer say how much I appreciated what they did...
my God, though, reading about your day as a busy grandparent just makes me wish so very badly that there was some telephone I could pick up and call my grandmother and grandfather and thank them... just one conversation across that barrier to thank them. just one.
your grandkids will remember. they can't help but remember.
Dennis, you will tell them one day. Perhaps, even now, within the Communion of Saints, you could tell them and they'd hear you.
ReplyDeleteI'm going to post my Celtic "Death Is Nothing At All". I've spread it around on other blogs, but never on my own.
"naughty direction" sounds promising, Grannie Mimi; perhaps, if you were more specific, some might be led to emulate.
ReplyDeleteYour stories brought my own dearest Granny, Edith, to my awareness; peace, Granny: I love you.
Johnieb, peace and love to you. I will not be more specific about the "naughty direction". I'll let your imagination run wild.
ReplyDelete