The week disappeared under paper.......

The failure of summer to show up around here this year is my fault. I just knocked over the sun umbrella which has been propping up the corner of my kitchen wall ever since I bought it, and remembered that it has not seen the light of day since I took off the wrapper. We had sun in April, so I bought a new sun umbrella - remember the old one was gnawed on by something with teeth in the shed??? And ever since I bought it, the hot weather and the sun has gone awol.

I should never have bought a sun umbrella.

I wonder if it is waterproof?

I am still here. I had a call from the lawyer asking for a paper. Hahahahaha. And there I was, relaxing thinking life could be getting a little less complicated. 2 days later and the filing cabinet has been emptied, I have been buried under the contents, have sorted and tossed out, and I have MOUNTAINS of papers waiting to be shredded.

I also rediscovered a running away letter from my youngest, written when he was 5, I think. "Dear famelliy I am running a way becos you all hate me. " Well. I get distracted easily, you see, and in a flash, I was back in 199something, remembering the little one marching out the door with his backpack. I showed it to him when I found it, and we laughed. He says he remembers getting to the Knoll round the corner. I seem to remember offering to make him a peanut butter sandwich to take with him........

And then there were all the letters to Father Christmas. The letters I had received over the years. The bills from 19whatsit. The rubbish. And WHY DO I NEVER THROW AWAY THE ENVELOPES WHEN I OPEN LETTERS? Do you have any idea how much room 49,349,723,625,729,040,478 letters in envelopes use? I never learn. So now I have umpteen bags of papers to shred, but I am too scared to do it until the legal thing is really over, just in case there is something there which someone needs. Like a gas bill from 1992. Well, maybe not. But you never know. I am absolutely NOT sorting the shredding pile into need little categories. No way. My home decorating is enhanced by piles of shopping bags filled with papers.

So it took a little time. And I never did find the paper. However, a call to the lawyer yesterday resolved the issue. She can live without it. Hmmmm. Breathe, Linds. Oh well. The filing cabinet is done. And I'm still playing with the scanner slide thing too.

In the evenings....oh, around 10pm, after the paper searching,  I have crawled onto the couch and done a little sewing, only I forgot to tape my fingers on my right hand, so now they are sort of hole-y and swollen and sore. I forget so many things. Sigh. I have found the micropore stuff. I will use it. Leaving copious quantities of my DNA on the things I sew is not exactly part of my plan.

And just before I go to bed, I make myself knit 6 rows of my knitting project. I am not thrilled with the colour of the wool (I had it in the stash, so I used it) and it is not my greatest delight. Actually, maybe I should knit today and forget the sewing. The hands may heal a little. And I can't (won't) start the next wool project until this one is finished, so it needs to get done.

So that is what I have been doing. David's laptop misbehaved during the Great Paper Search, so there have been quite a few dramatic moments around these parts. However, after 2 days of copying and backing up and a million other computery things, he restored it to factory settings and life is all peachy again.

And talking of peachy things, that brings me to the fruit glut I am now in the middle of here. Friends with orchards deposit huge bags of apples, plums, damsons, blackberries on my doorstep....... my kitchen is full of them. And I have no freezer space. In fact, I looked at some freezers after aqua on Thursday with Jean. That was hilarious. Neither of us remember to take wallets or bags with us, so we hobbled into the appliance shop and really did "just look" at everything. I even played with an iPad again. It is slowly climbing up the dream list.

So today, Saturday, I have to do something with the fruit. And the washing machine has just beeped, so I need to go and hang that outside.

Wasn't I cute? I emailed this to my kids - Missy is exactly the same age now that I was in the photo, and the obsession with bags is obviously genetic. She adores bags. So, it appears, did her Moregranny. I haven't really cleaned the slide thoroughly yet, or edited it. But it is such fun to see the images of my very distant childhood here on the screen.

Oh - I meant to say - I wish you could have seen me skyping with her a couple of days ago. She had made a "choo-choo train" with her Duplo, and we had all the sounds as well as we skyped. Then she put her two little chairs in front of each other, and I said - oh look - a train! Well. We played trains. Just like I used to play trains with her Dad, and all his little friends. We had long trains back then. The dollies were lined up - the train was lined up in front of the TV set so I was in the back, or driving, depending on which way she wanted us to go. We had whistles, chugging actions, doors opening and great fun.

Even if I was many miles away.

I did tell her Mum how I used to turn the play table upside down and make boats too. Broomstick, paper sail....... Memories trigger more memories.....

Yes, washing machine.. I am coming.