Dear me, I see it is two months since I wrote anything!
I see from my calendar that March was quite a dull month, only enlivened by Paul returning from Colorado on 7th, and by my having various meetings and a few days of work. One of the work days was cancelled because of the snow! March was bitterly cold, and the snow was quite deep on a couple of days. I could probably have reached the place I had to visit - I seem to remember it was Watford - but heaven knows how long it might have taken. And I wasn't at all certain I would be able to get home again. The colleague with whom I was supposed to be travelling lives in Hastings on the south coast, and she was snowed in and had no trains at all! Fortunately, the snow didn't lie for long, only a few days - though it killed off all the lovely spring flowers which had been poking their noses out of the ground.
Paul went up to Manchester on the 22nd of March to help with DIY, and I followed on the 26th, and we stayed for Easter. Unfortunately, our grandson had tonsillitis which we both caught, so then we took it in turns to be quite ill. The doctor in Manchester said our grandson only had a virus, so of course we were too intimidated to dare to consult our own doctor when we became ill for fear of being sent away with a flea in our ears for having the temerity to turn up at the surgery with a virus.
We returned from Manchester on April 2nd, neither of us feeling at all well, and had to unpack, wash, iron and pack up again to spend two weeks in our London apartment, which was between tenants. Paul wanted to do some minor repairs there, and I wanted to visit various galleries and exhibitions. Neither of us achieved what we wanted. Paul wasn't well, and anyway went back up to Manchester to give more DIY help. I was so ill I ended up at an emergency GP centre, had to be given antibiotics, and spent the 10 days from the 5th to the 15th ill and in bed.
Our daughter-in-law and grandson had been to France and came back on Eurostar, stopping off in London for a weekend visit on Friday 5th. My son came too, so they could have a weekend in London, but I was too ill to appreciate it and Paul wasn't much better. My sister had to come and help out!
I was finally more or less better by 15th, and Paul had returned from Manchester in time for us to pack up and move back to Oxted, as new tenants were arriving at the weekend. Paul had lots of DIY back in London before the new tenants moved in and I had to concentrate on unpacking, washing and ironing as we were due back in Manchester for our grandson's birthday on April 21st.
It doesn't seem long since he was a tiny baby, but now he running everywhere and chatting away nineteen to the dozen. Thomas the Tank Engine is quite a favourite at present, and even has to be taken to bed, which cant be particularly comfortable. His speech isn't always entirely clear though, which makes for some interesting misunderstandings - he told Paul he had been playing with Thomas, but Paul heard Tennis rather than Thomas, which resulted in a conversation that became progressively more incomprehensible to them both until I put them both out of their misery by explaining what he'd really said.
We finally returned to our own home for a few days on April 22nd, though I still had a couple of days of work. Thank goodness the weather at last started to improve, and we are starting to see more signs of spring.
This is the big white Magnolia near our south-facing windows just an instant before it started to shed its petals. There's a pink magnolia just a little further down the garden, but it's difficult to catch it at quite the right moment, as some petals have already fallen before all of them have opened.
The Rhododendrons will be flowering soon, and we'll have been here a year - though it only feels like about 5 minutes because we never seem to stay in one place for long.
One lovely sunny day we paid a quick visit to Chartwell, which used to be Winston Churchill's home. It's only a short distance away, so we had a nice walk in the gardens just before they shut. They are absolutely lovely. This is the view over the lakes he created - he was quite a landscape gardener.
Close to the lakes, there's a statue of him and his wife Clementine
I felt I would quite like to sit on a bench there myself, it was so beautiful.
When Churchill got older, he preferred to stay closer to the house - the lakes are at the foot of the hill. Many photos were taken of him beside one of the fish ponds close to the house.
If your screen isn't too small, you should be able to see the chair where he usually sat. It's always left in that position, where he liked it. The tree in the background, smothered in white blossom, is far better than anything we have in our garden.
What we do have in our garden is a visiting fox! Here he is, on the lawn outside our windows.
I think he's quite young. And I'm not sure what he's staring at in such a bemused way.
I've finally upgraded my iPad and the wonderful BlogPress is working again, so I hope this will post!
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