We were at the hospital this morning.Two appointments. Firstly, it was the review of John’s Pulmonary Rehabilitation Course, which entailed him going, doing a few exercises to prove he could, and then being signed off. ‘Yes, Mr Sleath. You can now progress to the next level.’ Boom! Result!!
“How long will you be?” I asked. “About half an hour,” he replied.
While the ol’ man was doing that, I shot to Morrisons in Solihull to see if I could get the one or two items I thought I needed. Then I was distracted. Oooh…. there was a car wash in the car park. As our white car was nearly black, I thought it opportune. I left my keys with the car wash chappie, who wanted to know how long I’d be. “20, maybe 30 minutes?” I replied. “30 to 45 minutes”, he said sternly. I considered for a minute and then agreed. John had said he’d sit in the café if I was going to be longer than him, so all OK.
Before I’d even got to the supermarket, John phoned. “All done,” he said. “Oh, dear,” I replied, “I’ve just left the car in the car wash for half an hour…..”
Anyway, no worries, John happily sat in the café, drinking a coffee and reading the newspaper while I meandered around Morrisons, before collecting the car, all sparkling clean.
I arrived at the hospital just before one o’clock. John was nowhere to be seen. He was in the loo. I sat and waited. When he arrived, two minutes later, I asked him what time his appointment was. For a moment, he looked puzzled. Weren’t we going home? Then….. Oh, yes, the cloud cleared, and he remembered that he had an appointment in the eye clinic. Maybe at one o’clock. or was it half past?
At one o’clock on the dot the optician came and called his name. Phew! Just in time.
We had a good consultation and John came away with an appropriate prescription for new glasses. Well, we think it’s appropriate. Time will tell….. the optician, however, was very through and very reassuring, so we’re hoping for a good outcome. Second Boom! of the day.
Home again and we watched a spot of TV before getting ourselves ready to go out for the evening. The tyres may have been flat on the scooter, but the evening certainly wasn’t. We had a fabulous evening and Margaret and Chris’s. The conversation flowed, as did the champagne, prosecco and wine……hehehe……. We listened to Christmas Carols on their record player, too, and were generally very jolly. After all, ’tis the season, isn’t it? Lush, eh?
Take care everyone. Look after yourselves. God bless.
The weekend was certainly full-on and it ended with great excitement on the football field, didn’t it?
We watched the football round at Michael and Danielle’s. Danielle’s Mum and Dad are visiting from Jersey so it was an opportunity to invite their Coventry rellies round for a festive meal and an afternoon of telly goggling. Opinions were divided as to who would win the World Cup Final – who we wanted to win; whether it would be sealed in the 90 minutes; or would Extra Time be required? Or…. horror of horrors….penalties? A little bit of betting went on with a pound here for a 3-2 victory to Argentina; or a pound there for a 2-1 victory to France; or maybe another pound for Messi to score first, and so on.
Mid-way through the second half, I was bored and I said so. I think the French heard me because from that moment on, they picked up their game and scored two goals in quick succession. How thrilling it was when it went to penalties, and we were all thanking goodness that it wasn’t England in that situation – none of us can bear to watch that!
Anyway, an Argentina win, in the end, with tears all round on the French team.
However, for me, the highlight of the day wasn’t the football. Oh, no. The highlight was seeing Santa in two different guises today…….. Here he is as a baby….. little Oliver all dressed up in his Santa suit, that Grannie Morrin had brought over from Jersey. Ace!
And here he is as a grown-up with his sleigh to take the children’s orders from their Christmas lists. The children were too shy to talk though, of course, so he gave them a sweetie and told them to be good instead.
Meanwhile, leading up to today’s excitement, we had had the thrill of hosting Freddie for a sleepover on Friday night. It was lovely. He was a delight and such good company.
When he arrived, I wondered whether he was up to decorating the Christmas tree which had been waiting for him to arrive. “Not just yet,” he said thoughtfully, “maybe after tea.” I wasn’t convinced he’d remember or really want to do it after tea, but yes, he did. So we set on and hung all kinds of baubles – those made of glass or plastic or…. chocolate, of course! “Oh, look! This one doesn’t have a bit of string on it, Grandma. What shall we do with it?” Well, eat it, of course!!!
Here is Freddie, pleased as punch with his handiwork……
On Saturday, we were up and at ’em early because Freddie had a swimming lesson. “Will you come and watch, Grandma?” he pleaded. “And get in? They have floats to play with afterwards!!” I promised to go and watch. We were going out for lunch over to Dave and Chris’s in the afternoon, so I didn’t think I had time for a swim beforehand.
But, boy, was I impressed with Freddie’s swimming. He listened attentively to the swimming teacher and tried to do exactly as she said. “Can he swim?” I had asked Paul when we arrived, and the reply had been ‘sort of’. Well, Freddie could certainly swim yesterday. For the first time, he swam a whole length on his back – without a float. Absolutely brilliant.
Paul discussed Freddie’s progress with the teacher at the end of the session, and she explained (and demonstrated) to Freddie he just needed to include the action of his arms. The lesson over, Freddie jumped straight in and promptly executed the best backstroke I’ve seen in a long time. I was a very proud Grandma.
John and I hopped in the car at mid-day and drove over to Dave and Chris’s. What a wonderful afternoon we had. Chris cooked the most delicious roast chicken dinner, with all the trimmings and, most important of all, lots of veg and gravy, and then an apple crumble and custard for pudding. We were in heaven.
It is just so good to be among friends and to share food together before an afternoon of chat. We are very blessed.
Just after five o’clock we said our goodbyes so that we could be across to babysit for Freddie again. Paul and Harriet were booked to see the Peter Kay show in Birmingham. John was weary and thought he’d be better off at home, so Paul and Harriet dropped him off on their way and left me to another pleasant evening in Freddie’s company.
We watched TV for a while and then I suggested we switch it off and play a game. “What shall we play?” I wondered. “Let’s play Poo Bingo!” Freddie replied, his eyes shining. Made me laugh. I’d not heard of that one before. But it was a really good game and we had some fun. Freddie won. Ha! I shall be back for my revenge…….
After I’d put Freddie to bed and seen Lily off out to her friend’s house, I spent the evening filling up party bags with sweets and toys ready for Freddie’s birthday party today. Apparently, the party was loud (20 screaming 6-7 year olds) and William said he’d had to put his hands over his ears, but it was very enjoyable, with a scientist showing them all sorts of experiments. Sounds cool. Lucky, lucky boy.
And, like a whirlwind, the weekend is over. It’s been full-on fun. Lucky, lucky us – we have such a lot to be thankful for, even among the struggles of all the health issues we face.
Take care everyone. Stay safe – there’s a lot of sniffles about. God bless.
It’s been one of those days when we went from one enjoyable activity to the next! Brilliant.
Our first bit of enjoyment was to stay in bed for a while this morning, not wanting to get out of snuggly, warm duvets. We were finally up and about by 10 o’clock and ready for action. John’s plan was to entertain Peter, here at our house in front of a blazing open fire, while I went round to Dawn’s for a cuppa and a chat with her, and Alison and Sally.
We both had a lovely time at our respective social gatherings. It’s so good to chew the cud a bit with your mates, isn’t it? And that’s exactly what we did to our hearts’ content. Fabulous.
I was back home by one o’clock, whereupon we had lunch and then chose to doze a bit in front of the TV…… well, I did, anyway! I finally woke up and, in desultory fashion, started to wrap a few gifts, before putting on a festive film. By then, John had fallen asleep, too, but the film sparked him awake and we watched it together, enjoying its saccharin/schmaltzy theme. More ‘Love Actually,’ than ‘Love Actually’ itself…..
We prepped and ate our evening meal before it was time to quiz. We hadn’t quizzed for a couple of weeks for one reason and another – and it was good to be back with dear friends who always make us laugh. See below to see what I mean?
It was a great quiz – which started a bit late, waiting for John to join in, and then finished late because we were debating and chatting so much in between the quiz questions that it prolonged the evening. Eventually, someone called a halt to proceedings, protesting that it was now nearly 11 o’clock and bedtime!
Once again, I thank the Lord for good friends and family. People are what keep us going despite all ills.
We are slap bang in the middle of Advent. Not that I had thought much about it really, just accepted that’s where we are. But I went to my prayer group this evening and we shared our own ‘takes’ on the season running up to Christmas. Some shared a story – for example: ‘Twas the Night Before Christmas’; others music, ‘Mary, Did you Know?’; or poetry: ‘Christmas Bells’ by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow – all of which I thought were brilliant and made us stop for a moment to reflect.
I shared a poem that was introduced to me by my tutor of my writing class, ‘A Winter Blessing’ by Jenna Griffin, as well as some irreverent prayers from a collection by Steve Chalke in his book called ‘Oh, God…..’.
‘A Winter Blessing’ includes lines like these, which have a tenor of Christmas that resonates right now and have set me up for the coming celebrations ahead:
'May you burn candles and log fires and a little bit of food to remind you that things can be good without being perfect.
May you start a new tradition with people you love. May you start a new tradition all alone. May you step back into traditions that make you think of your childhood.
May you bundle up and go on walks. May you return with pink cheeks and full lungs.
Blessed are you when you endure the growing pains of compassion. Blessed are you when you bless the snow and do not curse it. Blessed are you when look at the gray of the sky and see angels.
Blessed be the Winter. Blessed be the world. May peace reign.'
I am particularly keen on the last sentence…..peace, that’s what we’re all looking for isn’t it?
And talking of pink cheeks……here’s Freddie bossing the look when he visited Santa last week.
Anyway, changing the subject: what about our day? It was exciting this morning – the chimney sweep came!! We worked out that it is probably about five years since we had the chimney swept….. oops! We are pleased it’s been done of course, because there is no longer a horrible smell of smoke wafting into the lounge when we have a fire lit. Boom!
John has spent the day trawling the internet, researching odds and sods and ordering bits where he could, before labouring over installing a new socket in the hall this afternoon. I think it was a fairly difficult job as he had to get the old back part out of the wall and insert a new one. But when I got home it was as neat as a new pin, so I was delighted!
I had been to visit Mum this afternoon. Last week I had been distressed at how she is deteriorating and was keen to get things in train to improve the situation for her. I had a good chat to the manager of the care home, who told me she was unaware of some of Mum’s difficulties, but she immediately spoke to the staff to get things moving. We’ll see how it goes. Meanwhile, I will have to return the brand new slippers I bought for her because they didn’t fit. Disappointing really, but there we are. Another trip to town!!! Ah, well, no peace for the wicked. What was I saying about peace……?
And here are my prayers for this evening, taken from the ‘Oh God….’ book. First, shared by Roger Gale, MP, a grace he heard during a meeting of the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association:
'Lord, make me not like porridge: hard and heavy to stir.
Make me rather like cornflakes: quick and ready to serve.'
And second, shared by Linda Nolan, the singer:
Yesterday is a memory, tomorrow is mystery, and today is a gift - that's why they call it the 'present'. Thank you, God, for the best gift of all: life.
Yep.
Take care everyone. Enjoy the advent month, with chocolates in calendars and candles burning down as we count the days to Christmas. God bless.
There are certain times of the year, aren’t there, when you just feel like you want to clear the decks? Well, now is the time for Michael and Danielle, it seems. And so it was that I went over to the Kenilworth Newbies today to give Danielle a hand so that she could have a good clear out.
Made me smile, too, as item after item came downstairs for the chop, including a couple of vases and a plant I’d offered them a while ago. But, let’s face it, if it’s outlived its usefulness or the pleasure it offers, get rid!!
We had a good day. I mostly looked after Thomas and Oliver while Danielle beavered away, rummaging through drawers and cupboards to have a jolly good old tidy up. Of course, it’s no hardship looking after the children. It’s always delightful and they were very well-behaved. Although it has to be said, that whatever Thomas is playing with, Oliver wants, often eliciting the indignant cry of, “Oliver!” as the game/toy/item is quickly whisked away from his grasp. Bless him, Oliver doesn’t seem to mind and just moves onto the next thing.
I left the Kenilworth Newbies at coming-home-from-school time, to nip into town before going over to the Kenilworth Originals. Today was an important day. Freddie is seven today. Here he is, bowled over by the presents he’d been given this morning!
I spent a lovely hour with them to wish the Birthday Boy a happy birthday. He was playing on his new Star Wars video game which looked incredibly complicated to me but which he was mastering with ease.
A cup of tea and two delicious mince pies that Harriet had made later, and I said my goodbyes to get back home to John whom I hadn’t seen since 9.30 this morning.
John had been to his Pulmonary Rehabilitation Class, doing all the exercises except the walking one because, after the stand-ups and the weight-lifting, his legs were like jelly. However, he did his walking this evening, insisting on going up to the road to collect a couple of pizzas for our tea.
Contrary to expectations, he spent his afternoon faffing about on the computer and generally doing a few jobs. Not falling asleep in the chair, where I’d expected him to be, after all…..marvellous.
In other news, Gail has now succumbed to Covid, presumably picking it up from Graham, no doubt. Whether they will now make their cruise on Saturday remains to be seen. It’ll be a miracle if Gail tests negative before then, I think, but fingers crossed. There’s a lot of it about, it seems.
Took a little time out today and toddled up to church this morning. Lovely service, taken by Chris P, one of our Lay Readers, thinking about expectation versus reality. Food for thought.
Thoroughly enjoyed the hymns, too, and generally took a few minutes during the service to gather myself and to think of all those among family and friends who need prayers right now. I went over to the church hall for coffee and spent a good amount of time nattering to people I hadn’t seen in a while, too. It was all lovely.
I called into the Co-op to spend the remaining money on my loyalty card in buying a couple of croissants which I took home for our elevenses. John was just getting up so we made tea and coffee and sat companionably on the sofa eating our croissants and slurping our drinks. Smashing.
We were just debating on how to spend the day – mostly planning to wrap Christmas presents or buy a few – when we got a text message from Paul inviting us for a roast dinner. Naturally, we said ‘Yes please!’ – I mean, we didn’t want to look a gift horse in the mouth, after all.
We pottered on for a little while at home with some bits and pieces and then went over to Kenilworth for about three o’clock.
We had a lovely time. The roast beef and Yorkshire Pudding were spot on and the company was fabulous. The wine was flowing, but I took it steady, mindful of needing two cars tomorrow morning and not wanting to come home in an Uber, as is our wont when we are at Paul’s. John partook of the delicious wine and really enjoyed it, but thought he might go straight to bed once we were home…….
It was good to pause on our normal activities and to have a meal cooked for us. Refreshed (I hope) for the week ahead.
When I expressed regret at the football result this evening, John shrugged and said, “Well, that’s life!” I know this, but it doesn’t make it any easier to take. I have always found disappointment a struggle to cope with and it doesn’t get any easier no matter how many times I encounter it!!
Ah, well, I suppose one has to dwell on the good things in life instead. And we have had a couple of those today. This morning we were up reasonably early and logging onto Skype to chat to Graham and Gail. We were excited and wanted to wish them ‘bon voyage’ for their planned cruise which starts next weekend. However, the first thing Graham said as he leaned back in his chair, was: “I’ve got Covid.” Oh, nooooo! Our excitement evaporated a tad.
They are hopeful that they will still be able to go if Graham tests negative this week and Gail doesn’t succumb. Fingers crossed. Despite Graham feeling poorly, we had a lovely long chat to them and we were pleased to have been able to do so.
After we’d finished our Skype session, I took Mac for a walk. It was another fabulous day. Freezing cold at minus something-or-other, but the sun was shining and it was crisp underfoot. I took a little bit longer on the walk just to enjoy the sights and sounds of such a glorious day.
There was a hoary frost that bejewelled the leaves, the hedgerows, the trees and the grasses…… so pretty!
Mac bounded along, his paws making a soft pat-pat-pat noise in the frozen grasses, turning to me every so often to check I was still following along. We paused just past the oak tree for a selfie…..
Home again and I found John a-snoozing in his chair. I laid a blanket across him to keep him warm and went to make us some lunch. He woke up for that.
This afternoon I finished all the Christmas card writing as we watched the Morocco v Portugal match. All preconceptions were overturned, with Morocco unexpectedly winning that match.
We were done then with football for the moment, so John went to see if he could dig any plates out in the kitchen ready for our evening meal. The boy done good and even managed so far as to finding the dishwasher…..
In between times, the Kenilworth Originals were home from their trip to find Father Christmas and they took Mac home. We had enjoyed his stay – it had been uneventful save for a moment this afternoon when something spooked him and sent him, shivering, to crouch behind John’s chair. We have no idea what it was, unless it the Christmas lights John had taken out of the box to examine. But bless him, he wasn’t half frightened.
When you look back on the day, you realise that all of life is there. The humdrum as well the exciting stuff. Elation and misery. Fear and hope. Heart full and heart empty.
After all of the festivities for my birthday, there has been a a bit of a lull in proceedings. The lull, of course, is dangerous. It leads to self-pity with regards to the ageing process; reminiscence; lounging about in comfy chairs; and an attempt at re-capturing one’s youth.
I mean, it was only yesterday that I was in my sixties and fighting fit. Now that I am in my seventies I have lots of aches and pains and fatigue….. John, too, being in his seventies, bemoans his aches and pains. Mind you, he does have a proper reason for moaning, I suppose.
However, we are harking back to our youth. We are living like students again. We are staying in bed as long as we can; leaving our beds unmade and clothes all over the floor; leaving piles of papers in the study – ‘Don’t touch! I know just what’s in that pile!’; scattering our purchases all over the place – in the hall, in the lounge, in the kitchen; and leaving the washing up in the sink until we’ve run out of plates. Howzat? I think we’ve hit the bullseye of student living, don’t you?
When we thought about trying to recapture our youth, this sort of living wasn’t exactly what we’d envisaged. No, we’d more thought about embracing freedoms, driving along an open road and drinking and eating exotic foods and travelling to lesser-known destinations. But, you know? I think you have to be careful what you wish for……….
Anyway, in the meantime, when we’re not living like students, we are still behaving like grown-ups as well. Examples below.
We had gone to bed without putting the bins out last night. I heard the bin lorry commotion in the street this morning, so hot-footed it downstairs, still struggling into a pair of jeans, to put the bin out.
Ha! Made it! Well, I thought I had. It transpires that it was the green bins they were collecting. You know, the ones that are no longer actually on the list? And ones we didn’t put out? Not sure if they ever collected the general rubbish. When I last looked, our bin was still embracing the rubbish we had so lovingly put into it…….
After the bin-a-thon, I tottered back upstairs to get into yoga kit. Having missed a few sessions recently, I thought I ought to attend class. When I got there, Jaime was surprised. She’d thought I was doing something else this morning. My first thought, given my weary self, was that I could have stayed in bed…..hehehe. It was a good session though and I thoroughly enjoyed it.
Home again, and John was up, watching TV. “I’ll just take the dog for a walk,” I told him. He nodded and resumed his TV watching.
The walk was fabulous. The air was clear, the sky was blue, the ground was (mostly) crisp underfoot and the dog was a good boy. Here he is, waiting for a treat.
I can’t quite remember what John was doing while I was out but, once I was home again, we thought we’d sit for a few minutes and watch Bargain Hunt before I popped up to the shops to buy bread. John raised an eyebrow at me. “That’s if you don’t fall asleep,” he grinned. Well, of course, I fell asleep. Dozed all the way through Bargain Hunt. Didn’t see much of it at all……
I did eventually get to the shops and we did eventually have some lunch. It was at that point that we started discussing the preparations for Christmas once again. “Let’s not put the Christmas Tree up just yet,” I suggested, “I’m letting Mac out through the patio door into the garden (to avoid the cat….) and it’ll be in the way.” OK, John agreed, and simply put the thing in the new stand we’d bought for it and shovelled it into a corner for now.
“What about gifts then?” said John, “have we got a list? Can I photocopy it?” Hmmm……. sort of. I squirmed. Normally, I am right up there on the organisation stakes and have my list all sorted. But not this year. It’s still a bit of a muddle. (I blame all those festivities….. silly of me to so enjoy myself, don’t you know?).
John photocopied the scrappy list I’d got. He couldn’t make head nor tail of it. He closed his eyes and had an afternoon nap instead. Feeling guilty, I thought I’d better do something about it and promptly set about ordering gifts on the internet and writing up what I’d bought/ordered/thought about buying…….. nearly there on an organised list – and there’s plenty of time anyway, isn’t there?
In other news…… there is a Father Christmas! Proof right here…….
It was a cold and frosty morning today. And we certainly knew about it. John was off to his rehabilitation class and had to scrape the ice off the car before he could set off, while I took Mac for a walk across the fields. Here he is, looking dapper and picking his way through the frosty leaves.
We are looking after Mac for a day or two while his family take a well-earned break in Lapland to meet Father Christmas. They have snow there apparently……. Looks nice, doesn’t it?
After the walk over the fields with Mac, I was off to yoga. For one reason or another, I had missed out recently so I arranged to go to the ‘Gentle’ class this morning, It was lovely – just suited my mood and my elderly bones.
Home again and I did a spot of ironing while I waited for John to come back from his class. We had some lunch and then slobbed in front of the TV for a little while. “This afternoon, I am determined to go and get the Christmas Tree, John. Do you want to come with me?” Yes, he did, which was nice. But not before both of us sat a little longer in our comfy chairs……
We made it to the garden centre and chose ourselves a lovely tree. Paid. Loaded it into the car and got it home. “Have we got a stand for it?” John wondered. I nodded. “There’s one in the loft. Shall I run up and get it?” I said. Yep. Great idea, but why is it that you always buy a tree that is too big for the stand you’ve carefully put away from last year? We had two stands in the loft. I dutifully brought them both down – neither of them were right. Back to the garden centre to buy another.
“Did you get your tree put into your car?” the sale assistant queried, surprised to see us back at the checkout. “Oh, yes,” I replied. “We’ve been home, realised the stands we’ve got are no good and come back again….” Bless her, she laughed. Well, you would, wouldn’t you?
In times gone by, of course, we’d have rummaged in the shed for a suitable plane or saw to thin down the thick trunk on the tree, and spent ages beavering away until the darned thing fitted. Now, we just look at the job, think twice and take the easy option. Sigh.
This evening, there was a half-hearted attempt to Zoom chat the College Crew. Some WhatsApp chat threw up the reminder that it was the regular Thursday evening offer. As it turned out, only three of us made it. A couple of the group are away, one was at choir practice and one was doing housework…… hats off to her!
And there we are, another day done, with thoughts going out to besties Carol and John who have been poorly with Covid, and Dave and Chris who have been battling with Dave’s nasty cold. Not much sleep apparently …… oh, dear, they have my sympathy!
Take care everyone. God bless. Christmas is a-coming so let’s try and stay safe so that we can spend time with our loved ones, shall we?
Yesterday was one of those days…. you know, when you are busy from end to end!!
Last week, the care home had phoned to tell me that Mum’s dentures had developed a crack in them and would need a repair. So, off I went, first thing in the morning, to winkle them out of Mum’s mouth and take them over to the dental laboratory.
Bless her, Mum wasn’t keen. The care worker tried and failed to get Mum to take her teeth out. Resolutely refused. “You’ll have to have a go,” said the care worker ruefully. “She won’t do it for me.” Right.
It took some cajoling, flattery, hugs, laughs and threats but eventually, out they came and I was able to get them to the repairers. “I’ll bring them back soon,” I said.“Well, make sure you do,” said Mum, grinning goofily.
I popped back home and got on with a few jobs. One in particular, was the establishing of whether we had all the ingredients necessary for the Christmas Cake. A little late in the making, I know, but better late than never, eh?
And here’s the rub. The local Co-op has had a change round. Modernised, don’t you know. Ha! I say again – Ha! What an absolute joke. The store no longer stocks what I would call ‘family food’. I may have mentioned this before……. sorry to bore you with it. But did it have any glace cherries, or mixed peel, or currants, or raisins? No! Of course it didn’t.
I popped along to Oakes’ where I was able to source some mixed peel; I rummaged in my cupboards and managed to source most of the rest. There may be fewer currants than the recipe calls for and a few more sultanas, but hey-ho.
I started the mix-up of the cake and then realised that I wasn’t going to get it into the oven before I had to go back and collect Mum’s teeth, so I abandoned it half-way through. Who knows? It might taste better for having rested? We’ll see.
Dentures successfully collected and a return to the care home to pop them back in Mum’s mouth. She was delighted to have a full set of gnashers back in.
Regrettably though, she was confused. She wasn’t too sure who I was but knew she knew me somehow. She wasn’t sure where she was going; where the bathroom was; where her clothes were and initially, refused to change the clothes that were a bit grubby. Almost every touch resulted in a yelp. “Ow! You’re hurting me!” she cried, as I dried her hands after their wash.
I felt saddened by her loss of memory. The care worker had asked me to note down her likes and dislikes, who was important to her and so on. She couldn’t think who was important to her, but agreed when I suggested it might be me and Graham. She rolled around in her mind for a long time where Graham might be. She couldn’t remember that he was in Australia at all. But, on the plus side, she is not unhappy, so that makes it feel a bit better.
The cake was finally mixed and cooked by 9.30 at night; cooled on the wire rack by 10.30 and….. oh, where are my tins? I had round ones and tall ones but no square ones. In the end, I wrapped it all up in foil and thought I’d check with the kids if I’d given them out previously with goodies in. Eeeh, I can’t remember anything either!!!
And how about today? Another busy day but one which was wonderful. A marvellous morning at Freddie’s Nativity Play in which he played Joseph. He was so gorgeous, playing his part very well. Here he is, thrilled I’d gone to watch and pleased as punch with his performance.
A visit to the hairdresser’s later and a session of wrapping Christmas presents while John wrote Christmas cards, before we both collapsed in a heap to watch the footie this evening. There’s clearly no peace for the wicked!!
In other news, it’s been a very busy day for Christiana, too. Baby number two made his appearance this afternoon! So thrilled for her and Mike, who couldn’t be there unfortunately, because he’d tested positive for COVID. So disappointing, but it won’t be long before they are reunited, I am sure. Gloria stepped into the breach and supported Christiana, which must have been a relief for her. It’s always nice to have someone’s hand to hold, isn’t it?
