My house is a mess........

.........of unbelievable proportions. Mind I haven't been here much - which is just as well as it's doing my head in now I am! The back room is now nearly finished - the 'nearly' bit seems to be a common occurrence in this process!

We have not had the computer at home until tonight (and it's still not working properly) - hence no blogg - however the back door is now fitted - eventually - but not quite finished of course - just surrounded by mess!

I was away in Wales last weekend - which was wonderful - discovering on my return - for four hours on Sunday afternoon - before going to Strasbourg - that there had been no back door for two days - just a space! Jimmy copes remarkably well with all this and because he felt he couldn't go out - he just invited all his friends around - so they had a good weekend! I just can't wait for it all to be finished - the mess is just so horrible.

Today has been full of news of death and illness and tomorrow is our big day in London - so feeling very wobbly at the moment.

All of these things are the chaos and change of life - I know I must enjoy them with beauty - that's made me smile and I feel better for writing my blogg!

Baby Showers and being home

Arrived home on Wednesday evening, back to work on Thursday and Friday, which I found quite hard to engage with - still lots going on - with a strong element of change and a personal under-current of chaos!

Yesterday Jimmy and I got up early and blitzed the house for Becki's Baby Shower - which given decorators and me being away - needed it! The party was absolutely lovely - it was Gilly's idea and I don't think any of us knew quite what to expect - but I made an afternoon tea and Gilly found banners, balloons and a couple of games off the internet and everyone brought a present for the baby - and the soon to be Mum and the two great Grand-mothers, the shortly to become Nana and Aunty plus the Great Aunties and friends had a wonderful afternoon! Jimmy stayed in to say hello to his Nan - which he did - but then hid upstairs - not a party for an 18 year old boy!

Busy again at work this week, Jimmy has his mock A levels and the decorator starts on the downstairs and a new back door should be fitted. Not going to do too much today though - apart from sort out the back room ready for the decorator! Life's good.

Being in Gigon....

...........is so extraordinarily special. I asked Hector if I could practice talking about Chris in the past tense and complicated things like "he would have liked" and it was a really good thing to do. As I knew I would want to talk about Chris to Juaquina and Tano and I have been able to do so which is great.

I felt the Chris wave really strongly when I was here last year and have discussed it since with Alex, and even though I expected it this time, it has still hit me very powerfully. Chris would have just loved Gigon, Tano, Juaquina and Lara. Over breakfast I have just had a discussion with Tano about the need for shopping lists, just one tiny example of how Chris and Tano would have agreed. I have also talked at length, and in Spanish, to Juaqui about family values and the importance of little things. I even quoted, over dinner last night, my current favourite saying: " Disfruta la vida como un flujo de cambio, caos y belleza." "Enjoy life as a flow of change, chaos and beauty." Which I think shows how far my Spanish has come and just how lovely these two are to let me talk so freely.

I was very tired when I arrived but the joy of being so well looked after, fed wonderful food a minimum of four times a day and a siesta is really working and I already feel that I have more energy to take home with me.

The boys have gone camping with Greg and his daughter and the incontinent dog, Rob accidentaly phoned me last night and I had a lengthy voice message which was them trying to put the tent up, with the banter between them, it was very funny.

So how lucky am I to have found new friends in Spain and how lucky is my middle son to have found someone as gorgeous as Lara. I am enjoying my life as a flow of change chaos and beauty.

Things going on in my head!

And there are lots of them! Feeling quite confident but also quite worried at all the uncertainty and change going on. House progressing slowly - stopped last week but hopefully to continue next week. Lots and lots of changes at work - well more uncertainties than actual changes.

Am going to Lara's parents next week for a few days and I'm so looking forward to it - I will have to focus so hard on speaking Spanish that I just wont have time think about work or the house - so that's good.

Boys taking incontinent dog camping - not certain if they realise how slowly he walks these days - went over to the sorting office to pick up a parcel yesterday and he really struggled walking back - made me realise that I will never go running with him again. Lovely old Kipper, he is special.

My parents are due back today after nearly three weeks on a cruise in the Artic Circle - Mum will be 89 the following weekend - I have been thinking about them a lot - I do hope they both had a wonderful time _ I know my Dad was very anxious about it - but holidays at 91 are a rare treat! Back to my mantra how lucky am I to still have them in my life.