"Looks like she's just standing there looking at the ground." Phyllis was puzzled. "What is there to look at this tim of year?"
"It's just about time for some of the early bulbs to be sprouting," Maggie said. "Some years I'd be raking the old leaves off by now, but I think we're going to have a late frost the next week or so. I wouldn't think they'd be up very far at all yet ... oh, I bet she's met Bubba."
"Bubba? I don't see anyone else there."
"Well, he'd only come halfway up to her knees. Bubba's the cat that showed up a couple years ago to adopt me and the garden."
"Oh my lord, according to Pearl, that's your familiar." Phyllis plonked her coffee mug on the table. "Bubba? You named him Bubba? Shouldn't he be named something more glamorous?"
"Like?" Maggie raised her eyebrows.
"Oh, I don't know. What's the Egyptian goddess? Bast, Bastet. No, that would be for a female. Pyewacket or Grimalkin. Or something Lord of the Rings-ish. Nightstalker. Windwhiskers."
"Frodofur?" Maggie tried to look serious but couldn't manage more than a few seconds of a straight face before she joined Phyllis in her giggles. "Guess I'm not up to naming him. When he came mooching around that summer, plopping down to show off his gut while he watched me work — well, I just started saying hey buster, hey bubba, when I noticed him. It never occurred to me to give him a name, glamorous or not."
Phyllis wiped her eyes. "Pearl really needs to spend some time with you. She'd be so disappointed."
Maggie grinned. "No one could possibly live up to the stories spun by a twelve-year-old."
"Oh, here comes Abbey. I'm surprised she isn't playing with your cat; she loves cats and kittens. Look, I really want her and Pearl to make some kind of amends for pushing down that section of your fence. They need to have consequences."
"It really was about falling down by itself," Maggie said. "But maybe it would do this Pearl some good to rake a few leaves or pound in some stakes, and meanwhile see how ordinary I am."
KitchenMidden
KitchenMiddenTwo
ThingInTheMiddle
MeanwhileWithAbbey
AbbeyStillInGarden
ProposedConsequences
PearlAndAbbey
BackToMaggie
KitchenMiddenNotes
"It's just about time for some of the early bulbs to be sprouting," Maggie said. "Some years I'd be raking the old leaves off by now, but I think we're going to have a late frost the next week or so. I wouldn't think they'd be up very far at all yet ... oh, I bet she's met Bubba."
"Bubba? I don't see anyone else there."
"Well, he'd only come halfway up to her knees. Bubba's the cat that showed up a couple years ago to adopt me and the garden."
"Oh my lord, according to Pearl, that's your familiar." Phyllis plonked her coffee mug on the table. "Bubba? You named him Bubba? Shouldn't he be named something more glamorous?"
"Like?" Maggie raised her eyebrows.
"Oh, I don't know. What's the Egyptian goddess? Bast, Bastet. No, that would be for a female. Pyewacket or Grimalkin. Or something Lord of the Rings-ish. Nightstalker. Windwhiskers."
"Frodofur?" Maggie tried to look serious but couldn't manage more than a few seconds of a straight face before she joined Phyllis in her giggles. "Guess I'm not up to naming him. When he came mooching around that summer, plopping down to show off his gut while he watched me work — well, I just started saying hey buster, hey bubba, when I noticed him. It never occurred to me to give him a name, glamorous or not."
Phyllis wiped her eyes. "Pearl really needs to spend some time with you. She'd be so disappointed."
Maggie grinned. "No one could possibly live up to the stories spun by a twelve-year-old."
"Oh, here comes Abbey. I'm surprised she isn't playing with your cat; she loves cats and kittens. Look, I really want her and Pearl to make some kind of amends for pushing down that section of your fence. They need to have consequences."
"It really was about falling down by itself," Maggie said. "But maybe it would do this Pearl some good to rake a few leaves or pound in some stakes, and meanwhile see how ordinary I am."
KitchenMidden
KitchenMiddenTwo
ThingInTheMiddle
MeanwhileWithAbbey
AbbeyStillInGarden
ProposedConsequences
PearlAndAbbey
BackToMaggie
KitchenMiddenNotes