So here I am, in the week that marks my eldest granddaughter Honey’s 10th birthday, wondering where in heavens name the last month has gone! It was lovely to hear from you and thank you for bringing me up to speed with everything, but so much has happened my end since then I hope you’ll forgive me for not having been in touch. It’s probably easiest if I compare my life to the news headlines – nothing much happens, and then everything happens at once, but, in between the stressful moments, there have been a lot of positive meetings, celebrations and time spent with family and friends so I will tell you about those things first.
Easter came early this year, and it was lovely to have our granddaughter Honey to stay with us. We planned a whole lot of activities, including going to the cinema to see Minecraft The Movie, which while I have to admit to not understanding most of it, Honey thoroughly enjoyed it, so it was well worth the visit to our local Odeon. We also went on a nature walk and collected all these things before making our own birdfeeders out of pinecones and seeds! A bit messy to make but the robins particularly loved them.
I took Honey home and then Sam, Elise and little Florence came to spend the rest of the Easter weekend with us. It’s the first time they’ve stayed since Christmas when Elise was still pregnant, so it’s quite difficult to believe that Florence is now almost three months old and changing each time we see her. She’s even started smiling at us now, which is wonderful and I’m keeping my fingers crossed, but she’s slept through the night this last week and that’s made a huge difference to her parents! I remember all too well that feeling of exhaustion in those early months full of broken nights, when I could almost fall asleep standing up. But it is so gratifying to see them grow, and be able to last the night without a feed.
a couple of days later, I was in Sussex visiting my godmother Edna for our once monthly catch up. We chatted nineteen to the dozen over lunch, compared the merits of a Charlie Bigham’s steak pie, as opposed to Aldi’s own brand and put the world to rights. Colin had business on the south coast so he dropped me there and then came back to have a cup of tea
before bringing me home. He arrived just as Edna and I were comparing blood pressure readings! There might be 25 years between us, but clearly our blood pressure is on a par! I thought this might make you laugh – I hasten to add that both of us are perfectly healthy and the readings were very random!
Something else I’d been very much looking forward to was a visit to Cambridge with my sister Jenny who very kindly bought tickets for us to attend the Cambridge Literary Festival luncheon to hear one of our favourite authors – Anthony Horowitz – speak. If you’ve watched either The Magpie Murders or The Moonflower Murders, he is the brains behind both of these television series, but the books came first! The final book in the trilogy called The Marble Hall Murders has just been published, and it was inspirational hearing him explain his thought process behind mapping these extraordinary thrillers. We stayed overnight in a lovely hotel and then spent the following day exploring the city of Cambridge. Not just the Fitzwilliam Museum, and Kings College, but so many other fabulous buildings that house the seats of learning. We enjoyed ourselves so much that we are hoping to attend another literary festival in September this year and hear Sarah Winman speak – she is the author of Still Life and A Year of Marvellous Ways – two of my all-time favourite books. Jenny is on the case, so I’ll let you know if we’re lucky with tickets for that.
Wish I could say that the entire month has been as positive, but we were all shocked when Lucy was admitted to hospital several weeks ago with a serious spinal condition and was rushed to the John Radcliffe Hospital for emergency surgery. This was carried out, and after five days in hospital she returned home. Luckily, Oxford is a straight journey for me up the M40 so I was able to visit and stay over. We all hoped that this would solve the ongoing problems she has had over the last three years, but unfortunately last weekend due to excessive pain and her inability to walk properly she was taken back to the John Radcliffe and is now awaiting further and even more extensive surgery later this week. It’s been very hard for her daughter Honey, and for all of us as a family, but I’ve always believed in the power of collective thought and we are praying that this time, the surgery will be a success… It doesn’t matter how many years pass or how old our children are, they will always be our children, and I just wish I could “kiss and make it better” for them… I will let you know how things are in the next blog.
But to end with some positive news, we have Honey’s 10th birthday party which is themed on the film Beetlejuice, and will include a visit from Steve the reptile man! Not that I’m a huge fan of snakes or lizards, but the kids are very excited! And it gives us every reason to celebrate.
I’m going to leave it here, but I will try very hard to keep in touch a little more this month, not just here but on Instagram and Facebook. Here’s hoping that you had a great Easter and enjoyed the fabulous sunny weather we had last week. I felt it was very much a promise of a good summer to come so I’m going to hold onto that.
With my love,
Ali xx
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