Postcard from a friend and a bit of a ramble....

I heard from a good friend today in the way of a postcard.   This is from Carol who is originally from Scotland and who is part of the group of dear friends I have mentioned before.  To recap we're all British who met at a small British shop where we worked years ago.  Even the owner whom we all became good friends with and who moved down to Alabama to be near her family we're still in contact with.

Carol goes back home every summer.  She is Scottish and she and her American husband have a home in a hamlet at the foot of the highlands not far from where she grew up.  We miss her during the summer but would not begrudge having the best of both worlds, in that she also has a very active social life and has a lot of friends over there.  She recently spent a holiday in Majorca with her sister and other ladies they know, who all left their husbands back at home for an all girls holiday.

When she returned and with her husband and a couple of friends, she went to the Isle of Sky where this card is from.  So thanks Carol if you read this as you know how much I love my postcards.  The British always send them and I'm wondering how many other cultures do this as part of the norm.   In my family we were brought up sending postcards to grandmothers and grandfathers, aunties and uncles and friends, and even as a small child I remember sitting at the table in the caravan, penning a few short lines to them on our trips down to Devon before we actually moved there.

It was a fast weekend.  Gregg drove down to see his Dad leaving around five a.m. Saturday and coming back late on Sunday.  His Dad continues to heal I am very happy to say and each time he sees him there is noticeable improvement.   Last Saturday Gregg was able to get him home for several hours and this week another trip home, with the permission of his doctors of course.  As you can imagine he enjoyed that tremendously.  Hopefully it won't be too long before he is able to return home permanently.

Son came over yesterday on his way to work and I gave him a breakfast of poached eggs on toast.  It's something I have been giving him since he was little.  The only thing different now is that I add a side order of grits which we both like and a grilled tomato.  We always have a lovely chat and I shall look forward to next time when daughter-in-law comes with him and Gregg will be here of course.

What did I do while Gregg was away?  Well, I've been trying to clear up my old craft room and oh boy, is it ever a challenge.  I haven't used it for crafts in a very long time.  I have made half-hearted and aborted attempts before but what spurred me on is that we have English friends coming to visit in September and I wanted to make it into another guest room.  The way things are around here  I don't think I am going to have time to strip the old wallpaper and paint it like I intended.  Going through all these boxes upon boxes of paraphernalia is a major challenge and is taking all my time. I got a great cardiovascular workout dragging those things around.  Basically over 20 years of things I probably won't ever use again, which should have been turfed out long ago.  So a lot of it is going to the Goodwill or Recycling and hopefully there will not be too much left for the local refuse center.  Family and friends will get the first look-over.  There are old wildlife magazines that would be a shame to throw away and I am wondering if the local school can use them for children's projects.  With that in mind I am going to take a box up to our local elementary school this week and see what they say.

Gregg is working from home more and more.  His company actually encourages this for everyone in their employ and unless he has to go out and see clients - like today he is in Washington DC- he sets the kitchen table up with his laptop and has conference calls sometimes several times a day.  I have to remember to zip my mouth as when he puts the ear plugs in and I don't hear the voices on the other end, and I occasionally forget and say something like, can I get you anything?   He's had one person say, "Who is that?"  I am adjusting and registering how to be quieter, a major achievement at times.  We say this is our in between time preparing for retirement and we are counting the days.

I haven't been out in a while to take any photos but the summers always seem to keep me busy and to tell you the truth I don't enjoy going out in the heat and humidity, wimp that I am.  I had said to Gregg that I might pop over to my favorite gardens but remembering the last trip where I just about keeled over with the heat  and humidity - I kid you not - he asked me to promise him that I would go in the early morning or later towards the evening.  Well, truth be told I am not a morning person being the night owl that I am, and I don't enjoy going out on my own towards the evening, unless I am meeting up with family or friends.  So, I ended up diving into the craft room instead.   Once at my busiest time back in the days when I painted wooden ornaments from dawn to dusk, I remember tidying up in there and Gregg remarking, "Wow, I can actually see the carpet!"  It became a family joke for a while. Well, I had deja vu because guess what?  I can actually see the carpet and yes I am smiling from ear to ear because I know I am finally getting somewhere.  It had become a room where we would store not just my crafts but anything and everything.  After this one my next project is son's old bedroom but as he still has a lot of stuff stored in there, I'm going to have to get his okay on what I can turf out on that one  Time's ticking.....

Ramble over with....

 and wishing you all a great week ahead.