Spa Day

You never know what is going to happen here at The Soul Café. Today, our house 'morphed' into The Spa Café. My cousin Mary (the Pirate's sister), and Aunt Helen arrived, with a massage table in tow, to offer me and a few friends a 'non-surgical facelift as seen on Oprah.' At 10:30, the activities started with coffee and muffins in the kitchen.

Natalie was Mary's first client in the music-room-turned-treatment-room. She also got treated to a neck and shoulder massage. I made sure I took pictures of everyone as they received their facelift. Each treatment took an hour. The rest of us did manicures in the kitchen. Then it was time for lunch. Sandra brought her panini machine and she churned out tuna paninis, while we served up salads, vegetable dip and fruit salad with frozen yogurt.

Mary took a bit of a break for lunch, but then it was back to work for the afternoon. The OT Director was next to enjoy the face treatment, then off she went to York Manor to serve communion to the old folks, coming back later in the afternoon for another visit. Sandra almost went to sleep during her treatment. And on the afternoon went, with Mary doing treatment on six of us by day's end. The afternoon was spent in the living room, which had turned into Pedicure Central. Natalie and Cheryl worked on feet for the afternoon, with occasional help from Aiden. My mother and Aunt H. were treated to pedicures, and Aunt H. had her toes painted for the first time in her life. Janet White #1 stopped by and Max arrived shortly thereafter. I took one look at Max and said, "You're next." She'd had a hard day at work, and she was well rested after Mary's treatment. There was lots of laughter and conversation throughout the afternoon. My treatment included a shoulder massage. Mary finished up the day giving Cheryl a treatment, although her session was interrupted somewhat with us all watching a video of Britain's Got Talent on the computer. (Like I said, you never know what's going to happen here).

By this time it was time to eat again, so I set the table with leftovers from lunch, and whipped up a frittata to serve the girls who remained (plus Doug). We said good-bye and thanks to Mary, Aunt H. and Cheryl. Doug went outside to rake our lawn and Sid's lawn, and Natalie, Aiden, Max and I went for a walk. It was a full day, and I thank Mary for her selfless efforts in giving us her time and energy for the day to make us all feel a bit younger.

Yes, we do have some strange things happen here at The Soul Café, but we do have fun. It was a fun and rewarding day for all.