Month: June 2024

The last few days have been lovely – full of friends and family – but a bit wobbly.

On Thursday afternoon, Margaret came round and we put the world to rights over a bottle of Prosecco and a slice of cake. It was so good to see her.

The following day, Nev and Jane travelled up from London and we went into Solihull for lunch. It was another opportunity to put the world to rights, this time over a nice meal and a glass of wine or a cocktail. It was so good to see them, too.

On Saturday, it was the Beer Festival in the village and Paul had bought tickets, so we toddled a long. The weather held and we were able to catch up with friends who were also keen to sample the drinks on offer. I mostly ‘people watched’ – one of my favourite hobbies – but the family was attentive and I chatted to one or two people I knew, so it was nice. Freddie ate his bodyweight in sugar, putting away a fizzy drink, a massive milkshake, sweets, popcorn and candy floss. He was very happy, bless him! As always, it is so good to be among the family.

We trundled back home just after seven o’clock and ordered a Tamarinds take-away. I must say, since Tamarinds has changed hands, the food is lush. Really tasty, well-spiced and tender meat in every dish.

Paul and Harriet stayed over and went for a trial session at the tennis club this morning, while I went to church to listen to the new Bishop’s sermon. It was a great service and I really enjoyed it.

I nipped up to Pete and Dawn’s at lunchtime to drop a ‘Congratulations’ card in for Liz and the new baby and, guess what? I was able to cuddle baby Flo there and then!! Oh, gosh it was so lovely to see them – and I know I am biased, but Flo is really beautiful.

The day was polished off with a good old Roast Beef and Yorkshire Pudding dinner at Paul and Harriet’s and then we tortured ourselves watching the England vs Slovakia football match. I don’t know how England won – I thought they were dire.

So why a ‘wobbly weekend’? Hmmm…… because ever since Wednesday, I feel overwhelmed every few minutes, and there’s a bit of leakage from my eyes. Honestly, you’d think that with the lovely weather and the grand company of everyone, I’d be OK, wouldn’t you? But no, I have managed to embarrass myself in several locations this week. Argh! The blues come on when you least expect them, don’t they? Ah well, I tell myself to be patient and it’ll pass. Liz, being the wise girl that she is, says it’s OK to lament – after all, the Psalms are full of it! Righty-ho! Advice taken, I’ll lament when I need to.

For a good while, we concentrated on ‘middle earth’ for the latter part of John’s life. No time for getting into corners and proper spring cleaning, tidying up or sorting out. We focused on what was in front of us and ignored the edges.

Sadly, I now have time for such things and, although I couldn’t face anything much for the first six months after John died, I now find myself mending things, tidying and sorting (well, a little bit anyway).

And goodness me! What a lot of corners our house has – with most of them being horror corners. Honestly, the spiders in the front bedroom have had a party!

After Christmas, we just dumped all the Christmas boxes into the front bedroom, ne’er to get up into the loft. The bed, laden with boxes, creaked at the seams. The boxes, spilling the decorations out all over the bed and onto the floor, giggled with glee at their freedom. I shut the door and ignored it all.

Until the last few days, that is. I side-eyed the boxes; they looked glumly back at me. Their party was over and they knew it. I tipped them all out and carefully slotted the contents into the relevant places. I sobbed over some of the ornaments – the fairy for the top of the tree – dainty, battered, bruised and in tatty taffeta – had belonged John’s parents; a beautiful glass apple we’d bought together as a memento from a holiday; and so many of the decorations having been the Quasar ones. I had intended to sort them all out and give half away to the charity shop. But, guess what? They are all back up in the loft now……

And the horror corners in that particular room are now swept clean. I can hear the decorations and boxes grumbling up above me in the loft though, with the fairy trying to keep them all in order. Hehehe – that’s my girl! That’ll do.

After the previous two days of excitement, I was ready for a day of doing nothing very much yesterday – which is what I did. A little bit of yoga, a little bit of TV, a little bit of gardening and a little bit of housekeeping – but ignoring the dishes that were still to be stacked into the dishwasher….. couldn’t quite face that! Plus, I had a visit from eldest son, whose company I so enjoyed as we sat and drank a cuppa in the garden together – lush! Lucky me.

The weather, of course, being so lovely and warm, contributed to the feeling of, ‘oh, let’s just put me feet up’. I enjoyed it so much I thought I might repeat the idea today. However, I already had other plans in place, so there was very little room for putting my feet up.

A trip into Kenilworth to drop off some dry cleaning and some boots for repair, then off to the hairdressers for a haircut all before 9.30 a.m., and then on to Pete and Dawn’s for a lovely natter with them, Alison and Sally. Guess what we talked about? Babies and politics!! Liz has just had a beautiful baby girl, now named Florence Dawn – such exciting news – so naturally, we chatted about the new addition to the family and what love that brings. Here are the very proud grandparents….

I nipped back over to Kenilworth this afternoon to collect Oliver from the childminder’s house, while Danielle collected the boys from school. It was such a hot day that it felt best to restrict the amount of time Oliver would be sitting in the heat and the sun. Ah… it was lovely. I think everyone needs a daily dose of Oliver – he’s such good company.

Then, this evening, with it being a Wednesday, it was Quiz Night, of course! Thank goodness for everyone else. I knew next to nothing…. ah well, there’s always next week!

And the Blog seems to have a mind of its own. I thought I would just write a paragraph this evening but, being a wordy person with lots to say, just look at how much I’ve written…….hehe.

Here’s my haircut by the way….

On Sunday morning, Freddie (having slept over) and I got up at a reasonably early hour, to ready the house and garden for Thomas’s 4th birthday party in the afternoon. We’d been busy overnight baking cakes and doing a spot of gardening, so what was there left to do? “Grandma, can you draw some more buttons for our space ship (aka the Harry Potter cupboard), please?” Freddie pleaded. Clearly, the highest priority for when the Kenilworth Newbies arrived. I obliged, of course!

The Newbies arrived later that morning whereupon they, too, busied themselves to ready the house and garden. Danielle, laden with trays of food, bustled about in the kitchen. Michael, laden with tents and toys, bustled about in the garden. Paul and I were willing helpers while the children ran around, very, very excited.

Here we are, still prepping and waiting for the guests to arrive…..

The garden looked smashing, especially once it was filled with children, including cousins Alexander and Nicholas, plus all the things to do, games to play and food to eat. And oh, what a blessing that the weather held. The kids had such a marvellous day with water fun in that Pirate Ship!

Today was Thomas’s actual birthday and a picnic in the park in Leamington was the agenda. Uncle James and cousin Connor were coming too, and Uncle Andrew. Not only that, but it was going to be a train ride there and a bus ride back. How very exciting!

With the weather warm and balmy, a wonderful day was had by all. The rocket launcher Uncle Andrew had gifted was the favourite game of the day as Thomas sent each rocket ‘into out at space’.

I believe Thomas’s birthday celebrations were complete once Daddy was home from work and the family went to Abbey Fields for pizza in the park. Lots of fun and lots of giggling on the videos that we received…… I think Thomas had the best birthday ever!

Just before Christmas, my granddaughter, Catherine, came back to live in Kenilworth with the Kenilworth Originals. Feeling for me in my bereavement, she boldly declared, “I’ll come every Friday and cook your tea,” upon which declaration she has made good. Almost every Friday evening, when she or I are not off gallivanting somewhere, she arrives straight from work, laden with all kinds of goodies with which to cook my tea.

Last night it was a lovely chickpea curry. I thoroughly enjoyed it and, of course, enjoyed Catherine’s company, too! How fantastic that my beautiful granddaughter should be such good (and willing) company. We nattered our heads off!! Great times.

This evening, I had a babysitting evening scheduled at the Kenilworth Originals. Harriet is off on a yoga retreat with her sister, and Paul and Lily were taking in a Kings of Leon concert in Birmingham. With Catherine going to bed before Freddie, as she’s up at an ungodly hour for work tomorrow, I was all set.

Mid-afternoon, Paul phoned. “Would you be up for Freddie to sleep over at yours instead?” Well, of course! I don’t mind at all. “He’s keen to sleep in the cupboard……” Well, I had to laugh. Honestly, that ‘Harry Potter cupboard’ is seeing it all!

Not only have I been enjoying the grandchildren over the last couple of days, but on Friday, I also enjoyed the company of my cousin, Janet. She came over for lunch and we had a really lovely time chatting, settled in our armchairs in the garden – in the sunshine – before she went off to play ping-pong with the U3A in the afternoon.

Janet had the privilege of meeting Thomas and Oliver, too, as Michael had called in with some bits and pieces ready for tomorrow. Thomas will be four on Monday and he’s having a birthday party. “Grandma,” he said to me, “We’re coming to your house for my party!” Hehe. Danielle looked worried. “Is that alright?” she asked. Of course it’s alright. What an absolute privilege that my grandson wants his party here. Wish us luck!

Back in January, I promised myself that I would plan at least one thing each month to give myself something to look forward to. As the year has rolled on, I have found I have had lots of things to look forward to, so I have done well, thanks to dear family and friends.

One such outing ‘to look forward to’ was the Rothesay Classic Tennis at The Priory Club in Edgbaston. I had texted Linda C and asked if she fancied a day out. She had said ‘yes’ and so there we were today, in fabulous sunshine, in a very civilised location, making an impact on one of the ushers (!!), sipping Pimm’s while watching some exciting women’s tennis.

We had a really lovely day, enjoying each others’ company, with every single thing going smoothly. I didn’t even get a ‘numb bum’ from the hard seats as I’d had the forethought to take a cushion with me! Whoop! Whoop! More like this, please.

The sun shone today. How good was that? So excited by it that it prompted me to toddle into Kenilworth to do a spot of shopping – an activity that I have been avoiding for months. I came home laden with goodies which sprang a few endorphins into life.

I stayed on in Kenilworth because this afternoon it was Freddie’s Sports Day. Given our knowledge of previous sports days, we said all the right things like, ‘It’s the taking part that counts,’ and ‘It doesn’t matter where he comes, as long as he enjoys himself.’

Imagine our surprise when Freddie, warming up on the start line and missing the required sprint start, managed to overhaul all the others in the race and go on to win it! Gone were all thoughts of ‘just taking part’ as we whooped and hollered with joy at his achievement. Hehe!

He, too was delighted, as he excitedly showed off his ‘I am First’ badge to his class mates, and to us when we got home. Nice one, Fred! Ah… the sweet smell of success!

Quiz Night tonight – and it was lovely to see my friends. I didn’t know any of the answers though and just grinned inanely like a Cheshire Cat all evening.

Nevertheless, I have counted today as a good day. Another stitch to patch up the broken fabric. Fingers crossed for more to come.

Emerging from the gloom of winter (actual winter), winter (supposedly spring) and winter (supposedly summer), I find myself wanting to mend things. Something is broken and immediately I must set about the task of putting it back together again – or ask someone else to do so.

So far, in recent weeks, with a little help from my friends, family and (shock, horror!) a workman, plants have been planted and pruned; electric lighting has been repowered; the water butt has stopped its leak; a little wooden chair has been re-assembled; the reclining chair now reclines; an old eiderdown no longer sheds feathers; and a window can now be opened and closed.

Each act of mending or having someone else mend a broken item, is a stitch, piecing together the jagged tear of my new life. Lots and lots of stitches to make yet, of course, but it’s almost as good as stopping to smell the roses.

Ha! Who knows? The Writer’s Block continues and the Blog is generally dormant. However, George and Sue came to stay this weekend to do some more fiddling with the electrics – thank you very much – and, as we sped towards B&Q for the second time to collect supplies, Sue suggested that I do a paragraph to get me going again. “Just a paragraph,” she said, gently, “no need to go mad.”

So here we are – just a paragraph, as I gaze upon the photo of John which sits in front of the computer. He’s grinning at me – not sure if he’s saying, ‘It won’t last’ or ‘Come on, have another go’. What do you reckon?