An uneasy truce.

We are all back to being polite again. Maybe.

In the morning I delivered a basket of laundry to her door and did basic Goodmorning/weather chat, without much real communication and without asking to go in and check the carpets. We were both happy to get that over and done with.

Last night's dinner was pretty stressful. But we managed. And today lunch was a little better. But I'm still not welcomed into her place to check the carpets.

Last night I cooked flat fish, rice, soup and spinach. Basic and easy.

We waited until it was almost ready before inviting her in. I served it up and sat quietly while mother and son chatted.

When I'm angry with someone I find it almost impossible to look them in the eye. So I kept my eyes down and made my voice sound neutral. He thought I was a bit quiet. But we got through dinner ok. A kind of low-key dinner.

Okaasan only stayed 40 minutes. I didn't offer to check the hot carpets.

Later he and I watched Brokeback Mountain on DVD. In the scene where Jack shouts at his bossy father-in-law: "I'm the man of this house you old */\`@%" - I know EXACTLY how he felt! I identified with the emotion so much...

Lunch today was better. Okaasan told us the same story 15 times of how her boss wartime spoke English because he'd studied in the US...and when US airman parachuted into the neighborhood people came to get him to interpret.

Maybe we are back to sweetness and light again.

Oh? and the lilly bulbs? I put them in the food blender, threw in pumpkin and garlic and milk and made a soup out of them. He and I will eat it sometime. I'm hoping never to get into lilly bulbs with Okaasan ever again!