Whoops! Getting There

Still kind of babying ourselves, resting up, relishing the peace and quiet that has descended upon our household in the wake of having two big little girls around for half of the week. They're only eleven years of age, so they're little in that sense. But standing beside me, I'm the physically 'little' one; they tower over me, so in that sense they're big. Little wonder, given the food they shovel into their eager mouths. Not the food per se, but the amounts, the gargantuan amounts of foods of every description.

For the most part the description was in the healthy category. At least while they were in our care, eating the food available in our house. Our granddaughter, accustomed to the kind of wholesome food available herein, eats lustily and with great pleasure. Her girlfriend, a trifle more cautiously, wanting to know the whys and wherewithals of all before she partook. The macaroni and cheese lunch I prepared and baked for them was not of the variety of which she has been accustomed. It didn't come from a box labelled "Kraft".

I've had my granddaughter stand beside me at the stove, as I cooked the pasta, then set about preparing the choux, peppering it, adding the grated cheddar, powdered mustard. Then combining the hot milk and cheese sauce with frozen greenpeas, chopped green onions, and smoothing it into a casserole. Over which is then sprinkled breadcrumbs and grated Parmesan. Looks different than its commercial counterpart. Tastes different.

The chocolate milk was a hit, and while our granddaughter ate every last morsel on her plate, I had to scrape half of her friend's portion into the garbage afterward. But the fresh raspberries went down fine, as did the coconut cupcakes with coconut cream icing I'd baked the day before. Later came chocolate-covered ice cream bars, given additional substance with chocolate chocolate-chip cookies fresh out of the oven.

The barbecued salmon drizzled with lemon juice, alongside sliced potatoes turned in butter, and corn-on-the-cob from our nearby market gardener was great. Next day's dinner where the chicken breasts were smoked on the barbecue served alongside onion-potato gratin, and a tossed fresh vegetable salad, gave me lots of leftover chicken for our little dogs' dinner.

Taking them to view the thundering Rideau Falls was a fine thing, as we hadn't ourselves been there in many a year. Hauling them off to Gatineau Park for a long trail hike off the MacKenzie King Estate proved to be a great experience for all of us, enabling them to illustrate their prowess in navigating rock-strewn, root-jangled trails while availing themselves of grilled cheese sandwiches, apples, orange juice, pizza, chocolate-covered cereal bars.

Visiting the local Sally Ann in its newly-renovated quarters, bright and clean and bursting with offerings enabled them to acquire novels and comics, videos, large stuffed animals and small, flowered hats and colourful tops all of them later laundered so the fresh-washed bear and the loose-limbed kangaroo could join them in bed later that night.

A trip to the local office supply store offered irresistible deals in colourful pens and pencils, soft textured and kids-designed calculators, perfect to add to the children's new backpacks just in time for a new school year. And we blessed those occasions when it occurred to them that they would take a nice unaccompanied walk down to the two recreational parks at the foot of our street.

But the girls are healthy and they glow, as they prowl about looking for things to discover, activities to occur, promises to come to life. And we watch agape as they leap about, as they indulge in catty little competitive advantages, and listen, fascinated, as they dissect events and individuals, then whisper and giggle after showers, until they finally fall deeply asleep.