It seems like years since I was blogging on a regular basis. It has been months since my last confession blog post (8th July 2016).
In the interim… life has been busy, fun, and family filled.
I/we are fortunate that our sibling circle is still intact.
We may be hovering on the upper shelf, but we are blessed that our families are now increased by two generations! For my part, I have one daughter, a son-in-love, seven nieces, three nephews with a younger generation of nine and counting! We are indeed blessed.
The highlight of our month of sharing in July was a gathering in the house where we were born and the garden where we were reared, still the home of our youngest sibling: my sister. Special thanks must go to her for allowing an invasion of over thirty wonderful, talented & colourful characters. We each contributed by providing the food, booze and soft drinks for the day, from the oldest to the youngest grand niece, who stirred and tasted the chocolate for the making of Krispie buns! The boys were not left out: Sean’s guacamole was a great hit with everyone and now world famous!
The little people were a happy bunch, playing and chatting while showing their talents using coloured chalks on the pathways. It allowed the grown-ups to natter and banter at will. Plenty of space to wander and catch up with folk we have not connected with for a few years and too meet some new additions to the circle.
The gathering in our old family home and garden was so much better and more relaxed than if it were held in an hotel. We ‘six’ were back in our childhood…days when the sun was always shining! We did have a day of glorious sunshine despite a spell of much cooler and wet weather in the weeks leading up to the special day.
The singing from all six of us in a group or as individuals provided great amusement for the younger generations, some of the ‘littl’uns’ stood open mouthed as they saw their elders in a totally new light. Each song had a story, or a memory of a previous generation now long gone, who on dark winter evenings (pre-television or central heating), found entertainment sitting around a turf fire and raising the rafters with song, laughter and cups of tea! Days when we sang our way through the thirty two counties of Ireland and each song had a verse for every county. These were intermingled with songs from Musical shows… we grew up knowing them all.
A time of memory making that will stay with us all our days.
)*()*()*(
By contrast, for me the last month and a half was dull, frustrating and painful. Things are improving. My taste, interest and appetite for food and cooking have returned, though the painful problem has not yet been resolved. I no longer feel the need to sleep the days away, though a good uninterrupted night’s sleep would be welcome!
With no energy for gallivanting, visitors, house chores or blogging, I distracted myself with some sewing and crochet.
Over the next few weeks I hope to share some of the projects I completed and of course I have not yet shared properly my wonderful week in London and the bloggers I finally met in person even though we have been friends for years in Blogland.
I did find a little energy along the way for a spell of one-to-one crochet tutoring with a very attentive student!!
Buffy learing to crochet
Oh, welcome back! I trotted over to your blog from time to time to see if you’d posted and I just missed it, but no… I was beginning to worry a bit, but I’m glad the absence was for such an excellent and happy reason. And I wish you the good night’s sleep I’d rather like myself… xx
Kate, You have been through far greater wars than I have over the past year, mine are all in my head. Literally! I am still awaiting results of tests and a plan for the way forward. May the secret of restful sleep be sprinkled on our pillows for the days, weeks and months to come.
Amen…
Glad you had a chance to get together with your extended family.
Sorry you’re not feeling well.
Hope things start looking up soon.
The early summer was wonderful, but I seem to have lost the past six weeks in the blink of an eye. Now as the days are cooling and shortening, I am beginning to look forward to some outings.
Welcome back Grannymar!
Thank you, Ina. The plan is to take it slowly at first, maybe three times a week and see how it goes.
Sounds like a plan. Sometimes its good to just get your thoughts down on text in black and white. Looking forward to more posts from you. You must have done a lot of crochet over the past few months from all the pix that were posted on Facebook….
I just need to sort through the hundreds of photos taken in the last three and a half months and then find the words to go with them.
Sounds like a wonderful reunion. So good to hear from you again. Cannot believe myself that his summer has come and gone so quickly. Seems like we were just packing to come see you!
Al, maybe August was the price I had to pay to bring me back down to earth again after a couple of months of excitement fun and wonderful friendship. A real treasure of memories.
Glad to see you back. I wondered about the long absence. I thought you’d given up blogging altogether! I’m not up to date with the “painful problem” but I hope you sort it out.
Nick, it has been a long time and I seem to have missed out on so much. Soon Jenny, you and I will catch up once more and fill in the gaps of the time I have missed.
So glad to have you posting again. Sounds like you were blessed with much family, friends, and love, can’t ask for more than that.
Brig, I am glad to finally add words to the page, hopefully the inspiration will begin to flow on a more regular basis.
Welcome back and wishing you the very best
Thank you, Gerlinde.
Welcome back, for sure. I had seen you post a few times on Ⅎacebook, I believe, but your blogging was missed. 😉
Mike, posting on Ⅎacebook keeps me connected with the younger generation across the world and handy for the one line posts!
I am glad to see you back blogging and hope that you will continue to do so regularly in the future too. While I am also glad to read about your family reunion, I am disturbed to read about your health matters. I send you best wishes to get back quickly to normal.
Thank you Ramana. I am taking my time in the return to blogging and reading blog posts. Alas ageing is not all sunshine, hurdles and health issues are par for the course. So long as I can remain independent and drive my car, I will not complain.
Glad to see you are in the blogosphere writing again. Welcome back!
Mercy, I am glad to have the interest once more even if I am slow to acknowledge comments.
Been checking often, so glad to see you back. Looking forward to the stories, hope you are feeling better soon. Laura
New medication today, I am hoping it does the trick this time, Laura
That gathering sounds wonderful, and so does the UK visit!
Methinks Buffy would take more to unpicking any mistakes you made. I know our kittens certainly would.
Col, The gathering was powerful and a delight on many levels. When I see what Buffy does to her plaited rope toys… her crochet might not stand a chance! 🙁
Lovely to have you back! Family gatherings are so precious, very glad you all had a good one. 🙂
Sally, this one was really special and watching all the gran nieces & nephews playing happily together was a pleasure.
It’s lovely isn’t it seeing the new generations get along so well – very satisfying. xx