Another year, another
letter and how the years fly by!
As
always, we are busy planning Christmas – but instead of Frank and I, this year
Andrew and Kathryn will organize the turkey and Kevin and Sue the trimmings!
We will enjoy
the time with some of the family, but four grandsons and their families live in
Australia which means that Lizbeth and Pete will be going over there for
Christmas to join John, Julia, Chloe and Emma.
Ella,
Leo and Lucas will have to hold the fort in Devon and look after the 2 horses,
2 dogs, 2 ducks, 4 chickens, 3 cats, a guinea pig and fish in the pond…it
amuses to hear tales of all these animals (for instance the ducks cannot be
persuaded to swim yet – they immediately jump out of the paddling pool!)
Kevin
and Sue spent October in Australia visiting their family.
At
least, however, I will surely have a better Christmas this year, than last.
Absolutely out of the blue, I became suddenly very ill in the evening of
December 23rd. I went into hospital during the night and had a
serious (so I was told) operation (for a perforated bowel) in the early hours
of Christmas Eve. I spent Christmas Day and Boxing Day in Intensive care. I
moved into ‘Step Down’ for the next 10 days, missing New Year celebrations too.
Our family took over at home, caring for Frank and still having Christmas
Dinner for 13.
Frank
has his ups and downs – as do I – my good leg has become my bad leg with a
flare up of arthritis! Frank has carers three times a day and he is never left
on his own. He does the best he can but he has been rather poorly throughout
November with Laryngitis, followed by a chest infection, but luckily he is OK
again.
He loves to have
visitors as it is almost impossible to take him further than the garden or
maybe to Sue and Kevin’s, but now with winter, it is too cold for that. He is a
good listener, still has a sense of humour and enjoys music. When Andrew comes
round, they watch You Tube videos – ranging from Vera Lynn to the Mikado.
We
have had a very quiet year having to ‘stay put’, but as Sue and Kevin have
taken over the allotment, we have still enjoyed great fruit, vegetables and
flowers. Frank has loved seeing all the crops as they arrived and I have made
all the usual jams, jellies, pickles and chutneys for my harvest baskets –
these will be distributed to the ‘Golden Oldies’ on Thursday when they will
come over for lunch. It has become quite a routine for my brothers, sisters and
in-laws to come over each month for champagne and a light lunch! In fact ‘fizz’
has been quite a feature of our celebrations this year. In particular, in March
we celebrated Frank’s 90th with the GOs, and in May, my 86th.
Ella and Leo both were 40 this year – more reasons to celebrate!
I
must admit Kevin has done the Crisp Mustard Pickles and peeled the onions for
pickling to help me out this year. He has been in Egypt on and off for much of
the last year so Sue has been our constant companion and a great help.
However
all our family have done as much as they possibly can, with Lizbeth ‘to and fro’
between here and South Devon, and Andrew always on hand – especially on a
Wednesday when Sue takes me out to have my hair done, visit the Cathedral to
light candles, go to Sainsbury’s – my trip out of the week! He is also first to
sort out handyman jobs.
Kevin and
Pete have both stepped in when maintenance work needs to be done, as one crisis
after another worries me no end! I can always rely on Kathryn too, and Sophie
and Caroline when they are available.
Michael comes to visit regularly – and
over the last year we have enjoyed visits from Ella, Leo and Lucas and some of
the ‘Australians’ – Dan, Tom, Aiden, John, Julia, Emma and Chloe. You may know
that I am a keen ‘facebooker’ – keeping an eye on all our family and friends.
It is lovely to see photos of Matt, Nikki, Jasmine and Isabell over in
Australia – and Dan and Lizzie. Dan and Lizzie appreciate the races as much as
I do – and Dan and I often put bets on the big races between us…
The
family are still all keen sailors…Lucas now has Frank’s Mirror…
Michael is a keen fisherman, and Sophie has
just put her hand
to Am Dram - taking part in Sister Act in St Neots.
She also had to make the plot toffee and toffee apples this year as I was
‘hopping on one leg’!
Andrew volunteers at the Wollaton Museum - here he is in his workshop there:
So there you have it – I
keep saying it – Old Age is not for wimps!
With lots of love and
wishing you the very best for Christmas and the New Year – 2018
Marg and Frank
xx
No comments:
Post a Comment