Day 095 – Power in Litany

Welcome to Day 95!

Another rainy day, in “sunny” Queensland.  Today, we thought we would go out for my mother’s birthday lunch, unsure how the rest of the week will play out.  The decision was made to head to the Mount Coot-tha Botanic Gardens Café.  The location was sheltered and even in the rain the view is beautiful.  Since it doesn’t get really cold in Brisbane even in the rain at this time of the year, there’s also the ability to go for a lovely walk.  The walk could be as long or as short as you’d like to make it.

At the café, the meals were amazing (the meals were on the expensive side of reasonable).  The coffee, chai and hot chocolate weren’t hot enough even after we took them back and said they weren’t hot enough.  They were hotter, but not properly you could drink through the chai (which was my order) in less than 30 seconds if you were pushed for time.  The cup was hot, the contents flavourful but the temperature lukewarm.   

As a treat, I wanted to show my mother, brother-in-law and nephew the Japanese Gardens.  The gardens were a ten-minute walk from the restaurant by direct route but as a treat I thought I would walk them around the first man-made lake.  There was no rain, but it was drizzling.  To my mind, still quite pleasant. 

It appears that it was only me that thought that this might be a treat.  My nephew, who had been detoxing from the game controls five minutes after having left home, had been reciting his litany of the day of, “can we go home?”.  It’s amazing how incessant it can become.  Needless to say, that my mother, who has a love of classical music, relaxation music and all things peaceful and slow found the litany grating.  Initially, it was fun to watch the two play out.  The litany increased once lunch had been eaten.

Convinced that the beautiful surroundings and the unique atmosphere would help the nephew’s detox, I persisted with a walk to the Japanese Gardens.  I had seriously underestimated the power of addiction and the power of his litany.  By this time, my brother-in-law had had enough too. Despite always laughing when Queenslanders complained of being cold, had himself discovered a cold patch in Queensland.

My mother was over the litany, she simply wanted to enjoy the gardens, there was a beautiful fern house on the way and being a fan of ferns wanted to stop in there instead of seeing the Japanese gardens.  So, the group split with my husband going with my mother to ensure she was safe, and the rest came with me the additional 30 metres to the Japanese gardens.

Regardless of how picturesque and explaining that at everywhere you look was designed to be a painting.  The litany continued and suspected it had begun in my brother-in-law’s head too.  My sister was being supportive and appreciative of the walk but with fifty per cent of our tribe wanting to go home, I too longed for the peace of home.  Dejected and saddened that my plan had been dampened by the weather and were usurped by litany.  Oh, for a slightly warmer day!  The worst part was I felt guilty for not taking them straight home, after lunch.  However, from past experience, this would have worked.  Past experience didn’t include rain.

Luckily, my mother and husband being away from the litany were able to enjoy the fern house.  As we were heading toward the car my nephew even managed to start to engage by talking about the cacti the curious nature of the Pitcher Plant.  The device detox had begun to work, just a little too late.  Usually, I find it takes about two to three hours of being away from the device before assimilation back into the real world begins. So, there was a minor success.

Let’s see what the cards have to say!