Wednesday, May 06, 2009
Wisteria Day
This time tomorrow we should perhaps be close to the time of boarding the plane.
We won’t actually leave home until about 4 o’clock. So it will be a long day of feeling like there is nothing to do – except pass the time.
I don’t really feel nervous – after all, we are merely going to visit our son and his family. Our friends do that sort of thing frequently. But 6,000 miles is a long way to travel.
And I do feel that my body is reacting to nerves perhaps – a headache and some disturbance in the gut area.
When I was a child, the journey to camp on the South Downs was a major journey. It was perhaps 30 miles. We hired a lorry for all that we would need to set up home on the side of Beddingham Hill for three weeks – we had our bikes and even had the cat with us.
If only we could take George and Harry tomorrow. I feel guilty at abandoning them.
The very first time we left a cat when we went on holiday, I cried. Jasper was booked in at a cattery for a week.
I hate goodbyes and weep very readily at partings.
That was then – and this is now…….6,000 miles to loved ones, warmth and new things to explore. It is both routine and yet I have a feeling of unreality.
It seems kind of impossible that today is a normal day here in Monkland UK (safe in our nest) and tomorrow we jet off to Monkland Thailand, where we will be cherished and safe in somebody else’s nest
Back to my childhood for a moment……. I had a stamp album (didn’t we all?) and I was fascinated by all sorts of stamps. I remember the plainish square stamps in lovely colours with the fresh faced portrait of the young king of Siam (as it was then known by us). How amazing that his head is still on stamps – old and frail he is now.
Siam seemed to be such a place of mystery – certainly not to be experienced by an ordinary girl from Sussex.
It has indeed been a normal day for us. Bill has cut the lawns for us and the neighbours.
This afternoon we walked at Nymans and we have later dealt with photos of the wisteria and other beauties – pictures below.
We then spent rather longer than we planned with Marion and Robin (no, not Robin Hood and Maid Marion!). Bill must have felt sort of out of things with no dramatic health issues. Marion and I both wear bags and Robin sat there with his stump on display. He had his leg amputated just below the knee and just now his artificial leg is causing problems.
We won’t actually leave home until about 4 o’clock. So it will be a long day of feeling like there is nothing to do – except pass the time.
I don’t really feel nervous – after all, we are merely going to visit our son and his family. Our friends do that sort of thing frequently. But 6,000 miles is a long way to travel.
And I do feel that my body is reacting to nerves perhaps – a headache and some disturbance in the gut area.
When I was a child, the journey to camp on the South Downs was a major journey. It was perhaps 30 miles. We hired a lorry for all that we would need to set up home on the side of Beddingham Hill for three weeks – we had our bikes and even had the cat with us.
If only we could take George and Harry tomorrow. I feel guilty at abandoning them.
The very first time we left a cat when we went on holiday, I cried. Jasper was booked in at a cattery for a week.
I hate goodbyes and weep very readily at partings.
That was then – and this is now…….6,000 miles to loved ones, warmth and new things to explore. It is both routine and yet I have a feeling of unreality.
It seems kind of impossible that today is a normal day here in Monkland UK (safe in our nest) and tomorrow we jet off to Monkland Thailand, where we will be cherished and safe in somebody else’s nest
Back to my childhood for a moment……. I had a stamp album (didn’t we all?) and I was fascinated by all sorts of stamps. I remember the plainish square stamps in lovely colours with the fresh faced portrait of the young king of Siam (as it was then known by us). How amazing that his head is still on stamps – old and frail he is now.
Siam seemed to be such a place of mystery – certainly not to be experienced by an ordinary girl from Sussex.
It has indeed been a normal day for us. Bill has cut the lawns for us and the neighbours.
This afternoon we walked at Nymans and we have later dealt with photos of the wisteria and other beauties – pictures below.
We then spent rather longer than we planned with Marion and Robin (no, not Robin Hood and Maid Marion!). Bill must have felt sort of out of things with no dramatic health issues. Marion and I both wear bags and Robin sat there with his stump on display. He had his leg amputated just below the knee and just now his artificial leg is causing problems.
But it wasn't just a health convention - there was lots of other chat too.
We got home with just enough time to cook a roast dinner as I planned – chicken breasts wrapped in bacon and lovely roast potatoes. I would not want to boast about anything really – but I do make exceedingly good roast potatoes!
Well, I think The Apprentice is on tonight so I will go and watch the silly young upstarts trying to impress.
I will write a brief blog tomorrow during the day – there will be little to say except to report that time is passing!
And now for the wisteria.......
We got home with just enough time to cook a roast dinner as I planned – chicken breasts wrapped in bacon and lovely roast potatoes. I would not want to boast about anything really – but I do make exceedingly good roast potatoes!
Well, I think The Apprentice is on tonight so I will go and watch the silly young upstarts trying to impress.
I will write a brief blog tomorrow during the day – there will be little to say except to report that time is passing!
And now for the wisteria.......
This picture shows the pathway to the woods in the valley beyond Nymans Garden. Next time we visit we will explore.
This next picture is, I believe, a work of art from Bill. He called is Screen of Many Colours. Enlarge it and see it in all its glory!
This next picture is, I believe, a work of art from Bill. He called is Screen of Many Colours. Enlarge it and see it in all its glory!
Slender branch of the "handkerchief" tree.
Close up we can see the flowers but from a distance the tree seems to be filled with white handkerchiefs hung out to dry.
And now three pictures from a garden very close to home - ours.
Bill took them whilst out mowing lawns this morning.
When I first saw this one I wondered why Bill hadn't cropped off the top bit of the picture.
But we need all the reminders we can get of "our" field and "our" trees.
The peonies are just starting to open. Good - we feared we might miss seeing them this year.
The peonies are just starting to open. Good - we feared we might miss seeing them this year.
The peonies are important flowers because these plants had been Bill's mother's and Bill dug them up after his father died and the Monks would leave that house forever.
I have some lily of the valley in the back garden that had been in my Granny and Grandad's garden in Bexhill.
These are more than just flowers - they bloom with the spirit of their previous owners.
