December 22nd, Cotherstone

Well, the world didn’t end, mirabile dictu… but it has been a rough few weeks.

Mum had another op, 7 more tumors removed by local anesthetic, and I thought for a few days afterwards that she was checking out – it really took it out of her (no ghastly pun intended) – that’s the last time, I reckon. But she has finally rallied somewhat – the doc gave her a course of steroids to see if she’ll eat a bit more and get enough strength to enjoy the holidays and Brendan (youngest grandson)’s visit from CA in early January – after that, who knows? Meanwhile she is pretty high maintenance, god bless her… soon time for help, I reckon… But enough of the doom and gloom… the weather is doing plenty of that, thank you very much…

It is absolutely MISERABLE out there – dark grey, cold and unbelievably wet – thank heavens we live high up above the river, it’s in full spate, has been for several days, and there’s flooding in all directions… We did have a fabulous cold snap earlier in the month, with plenty of snow and ice and some blue skies, and consequently some good hiking, and hopefully the sun will come out again, if not tomorrow, then sometime soon – meanwhile the full length, caped and lined mac that I picked up secondhand has come into its own (it even has straps to go around your legs so it doesn’t blow open in the wind!) The short dark days put both me and my sis on a short fuse, which is not so good, but we are still walking together, in between spats, it is the only road to sanity… I caught a cold just before mum’s op (that 3-gig weekend did me in, I think, plus hiking in the snow), and tho’ I’ve got it under control, I’ve had a wretched cough ever since that I can’t shake, so have not been singing with the choir, tho’ I did go carol singing around the village here, stupidly but bravely – community spirit is important – but oh for a week in the sun with no obligations…. the good news is that my aunt was getting new carpets in her house, so I got her old stuff and have lined the studio floor from one end to the other – I miss the beautiful old floorboards, but tho’ not exactly salubrious, it sure is warmer! And the tree is up in the house, and decorated, and we light lots of candles morning and evening to chase away the dark and gloom…

At least we have passed the shortest day – even if you can’t tell because of the dark clouds and pouring rain, there will be more light every day, and we are heading back towards summer – hooray… a WONDERFUL SOLSTICE to one and all, and here’s to the return of the light. And a very merry to one and all, also. See you next year?