Sunday, February 03, 2008

Cakes, Mice and Tricycles

It is good to feel slightly more human. I will take small improvements any time! The snow never materialised, and the winds died down, and so it was business as usual by Friday. Sigh. A long weekend would have been perfect. But I can now say that half-term is NEXT WEEK! Well, on Friday next week. At the end of next week. Soon!

Meggie asked about the mouse and the fridge incidents ........ Yes. A real mouse! Mum's friend, Auntie Myra, made us the most amazing birthday cakes as we were growing up, and so help me, I can still see that cake up high on the cupboard as I speak. Marge had a "Sing a song of Sixpence" cake one year, complete with the four and twenty blackbirds etc, most beautifully iced. Or was in Humpty Dumpty? I can't remember.

(My own favourite was Swan Lake, with flood-iced ballerina doing an arabesque in the centre of a mirror, standing on her toe, with 4 swans around the edges, all 3D and stunning, and cascades of 3D flowers all over the sides, but I digress....) The cake. After the party, it was put in the kitchen as only about a third had been eaten, and a few days later, when we went to get it down to have some, a tunnel had been eaten out all the way round the cake. The icing and marzipan held the shape in place, but there was no cake inside. A mouse. That cake went into the bin. I don't actually remember the culprit being found, but that could have something to do with my lifelong aversion to rodents!

And the tricycle..... There was a table in the centre of the kitchen, and we loved to race round and round it. On foot or on wheels, as in those little tricycles. Mum was busy getting something out of the fridge, and lost her balance as we whizzed around, and grabbed onto the fridge to stop herself from falling. Unfortunately, she fell, and took the open fridge with her, and the whole thing landed on top of her on the floor, with the contents all over and around her. We were both under 5 at the time, and I can't remember all the details, but I do know that we were not happy to see Mum under the fridge, and understandably she was not thrilled to be there either. She wasn't badly hurt, but I think we were banned from creating racing circuits in the kitchen after that. I have a feeling that the homemade gingerbeer exploding might have been linked to this event too. Just thinking about it, I am very thankful that in those days the fridges were not as ginormous as they are nowadays!

Yes. Tricycles were rather different back then in the dark ages. And from the photo, I am QUITE sure that it was Marge's one that was whizzing round the kitchen, as mine was clearly far too huge to fit in there, and most probably far too slow and cumbersome to do any whizzing! But it had a bell. It was hi-tech.

9 comments:

Barbara said...

A nice bit of nostalgia and interesting to read. Glad you are feeling better Lindsey.
I see you are still answering questions which are interesting too.

Pam said...

Thanks for answering my questions. I love your horse. Yes, I've done the forgetting to go to a class thing too. I feel that doing it once is just about acceptable but twice would be... a bit worrying.

Susie said...

Hi Linds,
Glad to hear you're feeling better. Goodness, the fridge falling on your Mom must have been a fright for all of you. What a blessing she wasn't badly hurt.
xo

Vee said...

Now this is the first time I've read of childhood pranks that were responsible for a refrigerator toppling over on mother! I'm tempted to laugh, but it wasn't funny then, I'm certain. Does your mother still tell this story?

Hope you get a jammie day soon. Nothing like them!

meggie said...

Thank you so much for the answers! I love the Humpty Dumpty Cake. I had an Aunt who made the most beautiful cakes like that. She once gave my Grandmother a basket of flowers,cake, & it was just incredible.
So glad the fridge was not too large!
Your Trike looks a very swish affair!

Unknown said...

I had to study the photo for a while before I realized that one was not a bike but a trike as well... Now that is quite a set of wheels!

Carole Burant said...

Hello dear Linds,

Finally catching up with your latest news...I'm so enjoying reading your answers to the questions:-) Oh dear, your mom is very lucky to not have gotten hurt badly when the fridge fell on her...as you say, these days you'd get crushed by one! lol As for the mouse eating the cake...he had good taste! hehe If you want some of our snow, I can send you some??? lol We've got so much of it right now and we're expected to get another 5 to 10 cm of it tonight. I want SPRING!!!!! xoxo

Needled Mom said...

It was such fun to check your blog after being gone for a few days.

I'm glad that it appears you have turned the corner on feeling "under the weather." Perhaps the upcoming school break is the best medicine.

You were a lucky gal to have an Auntie Myra to bake you such memorable cakes.

I loved the photos of the tricycles and the story of your mum. Thank heavens she was okay.

Susan said...

Fun adventures and memories from your childhood. Love the picture!!
Susan