Cones? What cones?

So, we're driving to my uncles for Christmas dinner... my Dad and grandma in the front, me in the back, my sis and Mum either side of me. We're heading down this long road, which is lined with traffic cones. So, I comment "What's with all the cones in the road?". My mum pipes up... "cones? what cones? Where?". I turn my head and look at her, slightly bemused... wondering if she's forgotten to wear her glasses today, or genuinely can't see the mass of day-glo orange cones lining the road as far as the eye can see. "The cones Mum, in the road...". She peers over the head rest in front of her and says she still doesn't see any cones. I'm beginning to wonder now if she is genuinely losing her marbles and say to her in an exasperated voice, "Mum, how can you not see the traffic cones? They're ALL along the sides of the road... look behind you, they're stretching out all the way back!"....

..."ohhhh... I thought you meant pine cones..."

Seriously, I really do not get my mothers twisted logic sometimes...

Post Christmas dinner and we're in the car on the way back. The pine cone / traffic cone dilemma crops up again in conversation. Mum tries to explain her reasoning. "Let's say you mention cakes... I'm thinking of cream cakes and I think you're talking about chocolate cake. See? Easy mistake to make..." Dad throws to the back of the car, "no, you'd be thinking of a cake of soap!".

She tries in vain to reason further... "you know those ink blot pictures where some people see a candle stick, and some people see two faces? Maybe you'll see one and I'll see the other...". I do one of my orbital ocular rolls... "No Mum, you'd see neither, you'd see pine cones!".

I guess some people's brains just think differently to others... and Mum's in the 2% that are kind of off the wall... which unnerves me... I'm my mother's daughter. Is that what I have to look forward to? Oh dear...

(love you really Mum! I've accepted I'll one day be a mad as a hatter as you are. It's ok, it adds character.... HAHA)