It's BBQ time again :-) :-(

Yup.
That time of year folks - when the house is full of rude, nasty people who out-stay their welcome and make a noise and disturb the peace.
Our friends. Our BBQ.
Okaasan hates it.


But before we get to THAT - tomorrow.

Just finished the book Still Alice. Liked it a lot. You know when you can't wait for work and stuff to finish, so you can get back to reading? That feeling.
I loved the attention to detail of every day life and how from Alice's perspective she was doing fine - and then a small comment showed us, the readers, that she probably wasn't.
Better than the film - more details. More depth of character.
But still a bit preachy. Got a message to impart in this book and YOU WILL READ IT!

But - again - it made me stop and think: how does Okaasan view her world. How does she feel day to day about herself.  We should help her do things to make a her day easier. To make her feel unstressed. I'm sure she knows all is not well in her mind - but she covers it all well and allows us (mostly) to help cover the holes.
Good book. I recommend it.

So. BBQ tomorrow.
We went off early today and bought everything in Costco. Everything  for our party - but it felt a bit like "everything in Costco". An obscene amount of money. But somehow about 35 people have said:"Oh BBQ? Oh yes! Can I bring friends too?".
Maybe the weather has been so bad that people are keen to get out and start doing summer things.

So. We got home from a massive shopathon about middday. DS said he's unload the car, I went in to get lunch cooked and on the table.
First thing I noticed was Okaasan's slippers in the middle of the bathroom floor. Between the washing machine and the sink.
Strange.
She was in her room watching TV...

I went and picked them up.
Soaking.
The slippers, the floor, the carpet tiles, the mat, the washing machine, the cabinet....
Swilling in water!!!

What on earth had she done?

Grabbed lots of towels, papers etc etc to mop up.

Okaasan came worriedly to the kitchen. Professed to know nothing about it all. 
"I didn't do anything wrong, did I?"

Well, she'd obviously done something. A pair of wet pajamas were on the sink and there was water in every direction :-))

But, newly fortified with understanding from the Still Alice book, I remained all upbeat and reassuring: "No! NO! You didn't do anything! Maybe it's the silly old washing machine! Must be that, no problem! Only water!" Chirp. Chirp.
Dear Son and I peered around the bathroom at pipes and connections trying to work out what had happened. We couldn't find anything wrong. The machine still works. Did she use the sink extension cord and panic with the spray pressure? Did she fill the sink and leave the water running?

have no idea. But now the bathroom floor is cleaner than it's been in years! That's good.

Okaasan fussed around. We all sat down to lunch. She was quite stressed. We were all chirpy and happy.

Mystery.

The hall is towering high with boxes of food and BBQ sets, beer cases and charcoal.

BBQ 2015 here we come.
Okaasan is NOT going to have a good weekend.
We'll do our best to make her calm, and try to enjoy our one big party of the year with friends.
Altogether: we'll try.