A Spring In My Step

Photo Copyright: Maggie May

I think we've probably had rain practically every day since before Christmas and I'm sure that this winter will go down as one of the wettest ever. However, today was really sunny and I was able to go out in the garden and do some weeding and general tidying up. It was good to take stock of what is growing and what needs to be replaced.

There are still flowers that are blooming out of season, though not as healthily as the fuchsia  that I snapped last summer. The weather is still quite extraordinarily mild, though.

Last Saturday my odd job man put up a section of trellis between my neighbour's and my garden where I'd had my Eleagnus cut back and greatly reduced. The small section behind it now looks bare and I want to train a Clematis over the trellis if possible. 

After I'd done the gardening I decided to go out for a walk and get some exercise. It was really pleasant and I found myself on the High St where many of the shops were open even on Sunday. I browsed round the Charity Shops and found a double jigsaw that looked in very good condition so I snapped it up. Harry groaned when I came back with yet another one. I always recycle them back into a cancer charity when I've finished with them though.

What things can't you resist if you go round a Charity Shop?

Compulsive Reading?

A few weeks ago, I was lent a book *The Various Haunts Of Men* by Susan Hill, an unknown to me, authoress.

It was, I suppose, a detective story and I don't normally go for this type of book. However, this was a detective thriller with a difference. By the time I'd finished it, I was completely hooked and found out that this was the first of a series of the detective, Simon Serailler, books. I had to have the next one and to read them all in sequence because each book had reference to the last and many of the characters were the same.

So what was it that made this book different from the usual detective stories that I'd avoided up until now?

I would say that I was urged to read on in a tantalising way. There were several main characters involved and different chapters told the perspective of one or other of these people who all had a communal part in the story. So I was whizzing through to find out what happened to each of these characters and the book was teasing me on all the way through.

There was something about Simon Serailler that was very human as he was a family man and was very involved with his sisters, niece and nephew and his mother but was a bit estranged from his brother and father. By reading these books, his family became very much a part of the stories and I found I could identify with a lot of the family storyline.

Apart from the huge amount of crime in the small, fictional cathedral town of Lafferton, (and there has to be an exciting story line to keep the reader happy) much of the portrayal of Simon's life style was credible and the stories, though some of them were a bit gruesome, came under the thriller title and made compelling reading, I thought.

Anyway, I'm well onto my fifth book in the series and still feel I want to read more.

Anyone else hooked?

New Year's Resolutions?

Photo Copyright: Maggie May

What better way to start the New Year than with a photo of my brother, Eddie and his grandchild, Peter?

Our daughter met up with her two cousins and my grandsons met their new great cousin when Harry and I went to visit just after Christmas. Now that is getting quite complicated...... cousins and great cousins and Peter being our great nephew. Anyway, it was lovely to have the reunion whatever we are all called.

I decided not to make any rash New Years resolutions this time round such as going on a diet and doing more housework as I mightn't be able to keep to the pledge.

However, I do want to get all the jobs that need doing in the house and garden fixed this year. Things that I cannot do and I have started the ball rolling by hiring a friend's husband who does odd jobs. He came today to do a few of them and to at least tell me the things that are too difficult for him.

He will be back again in a fortnight to put some trellis up.

Some of the jobs that I need to do would require a qualified plumber and I'm working on getting somebody to give me a quote but it is good to have an odd job man to do the simpler things. Yes, I think this will be my New Year's Resolution....... to keep the place from falling into total disrepair.

What are the things you have decided to do this year?

Happy New Year

Well, this year has had its ups and downs, the worst part losing our lovely sister in law to cancer as well as my elderly friend dying (but dying is more acceptable in your nineties somehow than in your early sixties).

Then there was baby Peter being born, which was a lovely diversion for Eddie, my brother, being a Grandpa for the first time.

I enjoyed recently cuddling Peter in a family get together where
Eddie unexpectedly had a funny five minutes and dressed as Father Christmas, using shaving foam.

You can find a picture of Eddie and Baby Peter here.

Harry and I have had our ups and downs too, health wise and some how or other, we've come out of scares. I had to make the decision to re-home my rabbits and have worried about them everyday since, not knowing how they are getting on.
One of the good things was Sam and Sandy's wedding at the end of August and our Golden Wedding in December celebrated the day after Harry was discharged from hospital.
We had an exceptionally good Christmas that we shared with our daughter and grandsons.
Dean, the youngest Grandson, is a dab hand at tuning in televisions and assembling things from a flat pack and he did this for us the day after Boxing Day when our new TV needed tuning in and a stand needed to be put together.
So there seems to be a balance of good and bad things in any year.

Here we are on the brink of 2014. I am always a bit twitchy as to what is in front of us. However, I'm just going to trust that whatever things do happen, that I'll be given the strength to cope as I have done up till now.
My daughter says, "Mum its only a number." I guess she is right. Taking each day as it comes is the best way forward, no matter what the year is.

I'd like to wish everyone a very Happy New Year. Hoping that 2014 will hold special things for all of you.

Merry Christmas

Just a quick update.

Things seem to change from day to day here.

Harry is slowly getting better after his chest infection that he tried to give to me. However, I'm shaking it off as it has presented itself as just a heavy cold and cough.

The drug trial is back in existence because we were told, after research into the situation, that the collapse was to do with the chest infection and was most unlikely to be due to the medication.

He is taking things easy and I'm watching him like a hawk!

The house is at last decorated and there are goodies coming in, though I'm really behind with the preparations this year.

My daughter and grandsons will be coming to stay at some point on Monday for the Christmas holiday.

The granddaughters will be  home on Christmas Day but from Boxing Day they will be spending two weeks in Japan with their mother and her partner. We will all be a bit twitchy until they return safely.

So all I can say is....... have a very Happy Christmas everyone.

We Got There

Well, in spite of all my good intentions, my post got held up last week.

Three days before our Golden Wedding Anniversary, Harry collapsed in the early hours while going to the bathroom. I was awakened by a loud crash and then silence.

I rushed in, still groggy from sleep, to find him on the floor face down and unconscious. I checked his breathing, which seemed heavy and laboured and ran into the bedroom to phone for an emergency ambulance. I really thought he was going to die.

They ordered one straight away, while keeping me alternately talking to them and running to check on Harry. Why hadn't I taken a cordless phone upstairs?

The paramedic arrived within five minutes and when she realised that Harry had been unconscious for two minutes, they said they'd have to take him to Accident and Emergency in the heart of our city.

To cut a long story short, he was seen by several teams of doctors who, in the end, decided that it was the drug trial that was responsible for the collapse and they ordered him off it straight away.

He was discharged from hospital the day before our anniversary.

We had a very quiet time, as he wasn't up to going out at all. So you see, we were able to celebrate it together in the end.

I did manage to get the decorations up and most of the cards sent in between all this chaos.

If I don't manage to post again before Christmas, I hope everyone has a very happy time and look forward to hearing how everybody spent theirs.

A Mixed Bag Of Events

Photo Copyright: Maggie May

I can't believe that a whole fortnight has gone by since my last post. It seems to be a busy time of the year and now Christmas seems to be really looming ever closer.

This little canine, Poppy, came round to see us last week. She belongs to my brother and sister in law and is a very intelligent and energetic little dog. It was probably the first of many visits to come, as I was not able to let her in before because I had house rabbits and she is a natural predator, being a Jack Russell Terrier bred to dig out small furry creatures.

Not long ago, the lady from the small animal rescue centre where I signed over my beloved pets, rang me to say that they had been adopted, after being in her care for about 9 weeks. I should have been over the moon, but the fact that I would never hear about them again which meant complete closure, sent me spiralling downwards into a depression.

At the time, I really felt it was for the best, letting them go, because of our uncertain health problems but I really did start to question whether I'd done the right thing and I just hope they have gone on to a good, loving home that will be permanent.

At least they haven't gone as a Christmas present to small children. They are with a mature couple with a grown up daughter with no dogs or cats to frighten them. However, they will be living as outside pets. The weather has been mild enough for them to grow thicker winter coats before the really cold weather comes, which is a blessing.

I hope I'll eventually get over this but it is very difficult and I feel I've made a great personal sacrifice by giving them up.

On a brighter note, it seems that Harry and I will be definitely celebrating our Golden Wedding very soon. It didn't seem very likely a short while ago with all our health issues and scares etc.

To mark the occasion, we have decided on a lunch time meal in a restaurant with our brother and sister in law who own Poppy and who will be celebrating their own Golden Wedding in March.

Fifty years seems a very long time....... doesn't it?

This is the time of the year when the children have concerts at school and the younger ones have Christmas plays and festivities, that I'm looking forward to going to.  There are also Carol Services at church and Christmas dinners to attend.

This all helps to get me into the festive spirit, though I feel that the shops all start decorating far too early. None the less, once December is here, then I start to get involved with practical things and expectancy, never forgetting the real reason for Christmas in the first place.

I won't be be putting up decorations just yet though. When do others trim up?