The Best Mother's Day Ever, Bar Many

Eloise and I put a lot of effort into Mother's Day this year. I even thought about booking somewhere for a special breakfast, though I soon came to my senses on that one.

I said to Eloise, as she packed the money she'd saved for Mother's Day presents into an envelope which she then stapled closed and decorated when she really should have been getting ready for school, I said: 'You don't really need to take all that money to school for the Mother's Day stall. All they sell there is overpriced rubbish that nobody actually wants.' She resolved to spend just the ten dollars and to take the rest to the shopping centre where she had decided candles should be bought.

After I had dropped her off at school I noticed her stapled, decorated envelope which had mysteriously failed to make the complete journey from concept to bag. Lyra and I were therefore forced to deliver said envelope to school to avoid Eloise embarrassment.

Another bloody Chermside episode later in the week, after Tuesday's car-repair traipse-and-film saw us stomping purposefully around the Cathedral of Crass where not only did we purchase Eloise's candles but also I allowed myself to be talked into buying a shiny in-the-wind thingy like a big shiny metal sun which catches the light just so and will hopefully scare away the chickens' breakfast-time arch-nemeses, if nothing else.

Anyway all this effort might illustrate to you the hopes that young Eloise, maturing bit by bit, had for the day when she would spoil Mum.

She had a not-too-specific checklist if things that we would do: Mum likes a bike ride, Mum likes a walk in the woods, Mum likes to do a barbecue.

It all foundered on the rocks of sisterly rivalry as Eloise, for whatever reason, spent the day shouting at, bossing at, and generally being obnoxious to Lyra. Not without provocation mind you, not by a long stretch, but by the end of the day we were all (both) mighty sick of the bleeding bickering. We ended up not going for a bike ride or for a walk in the woods, but tidying the house and rearranging some furniture. Nicole did appreciate her presents, though she questioned the suitability of the candles given the adventurous young hands we have around, and as we picnicked up at Mount Coot-tha, heavy with hayfever, allergy and fatigue, she laid back and thought of England while Lyra pulled Eloise's hair and Eloise sent her into the undergrowth to think carefully about what she had done and I raised my eyes to the treetops and watched the breeze ripple gently among the leaves.