Lavender

About 20 miles from our home in Harrogate was a retail park called Clifton Moor. Our reasons for driving there were usually the cinema and the Frankie & Benny’s restaurant. Frankie & Benny’s served almost American/Italian dishes (they’d have been more convincing without all the rocket) in a friendly, casual atmosphere. The best thing about the restaurant was the music. They played Wake Up Little Suzie by the Everly Brothers, Sixteen Tons by Tennessee Ernie Ford, Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow by the Shirelles, and Mack the Knife by Bobby Darin. We didn’t even mind if our order was slow; we were having fun singing along. One day, while listening to Papa Loves Mambo, I realized Dean Martin could just as easily be singing about me: Mom Bowe. I was still smiling about that a few days later when I opened this blog and needed to come up with a name.