In which we discuss garden chairs and other things.....

You know, there is not a day which goes by without me being eternally thankful for all of you. Your messages, prayers, comments and emails have been the sun during the bleak days. Thank you all so very much. You have NO idea how much they have meant to me.

Well, enough of that for now. There is so much I am not able to talk about, but just know that we will be fine. We always are. Faith is a wonderful thing. Optimism is a wonderful thing. Plodding on is a wonderful thing. Why? Because they all involve looking up, ahead and at the path in front of me, and not behind. Yesterday is gone. And it is time I stopped rattling off all these old sayings. (They are old and wise because they are right, of course!)

This morning, Jean and I went to aqua with a stand-in teacher as ours is sunning herself somewhere warm. That would not be in the UK, because we are having the coldest days in March since 1986. Believe me, they are COLD. Anyway, the new teacher was a lunatic, who moved like greased lightning, and we were the slow ones, like ailing whales, trying to emulate her moves in the water. We managed, but oh heavens, do we creak now. There will be a repeat of this on Thursday. I may have recovered by then.

And then we popped in to see a new store close to the gym. If I had had £330 I may have bought some large garden furniture and a doll's pram. I bought neither. But it was fun looking!

About the garden furniture......

I bought some really expensive, built to last, white resin French garden chairs, hmmmmm....... about 30 years ago. It is still alive. It will not die. In fact, I do believe it will outlast me. They. There are 4 of them, and a table and another 2 chairs. And as long as they are capable of holding me when I relax on or in them (the ones you and Barry sat on, Becky) they will stay. I cannot toss out things which work, so I just make funky cushioned seats for them, and ignore the mottling of the white plastic resin. Alibert. Great endurance. And great irritation, because I have no room for any new sofa and chairs when I have the white ones. Not that I have the money to buy them, but you get the general drift.

Linds is clearly muddling her way through this post. Groan. (I am waiting for smoke from the Sistine Chapel, and no, I am not Catholic, but I love all the anticipation and speculation.) Multi-tasking has become a bit of a challenge.

So to summarise, I am tired of my old outdoor chairs, but they will stay forever because I am frugal, and I am just going to have to sigh dramatically every time I see a nice new garden seating arrangement. Or make new funky cushions. That would help bust the fabric stash, of course.

Good grief, I do go on.

After setting Mum's hair, I had the most wonderful chat to my friend on the Isle of Wight. Our oldest boys (they are around 36 now) started kindergarten together and spent the next 12 years at the same schools. There is so much to talk about every time we chat, and she is such a delight. Catching up and hearing familiar accents, and discussing the children we knew as little boys who are now men in their prime. Hmmm. Sons. Prime? I suppose they are entering the age where their generation is ruling the world, so we will have to get used to it. We also agreed on the fact that, forget their age, we are still their mothers and reserve the right to scold/voice opinions and suggestions if necessary. Oh how we laughed at ourselves. You just can't take the mother-part out of us, you know, try as you might.

No pope has been elected today, so the wait goes on. Does Pope have a capital "p"?

And tonight, I have cooked a complete dinner with one hand, while talking to my friend in Scotland on the phone. You know life has not generated much excitement when you write about cooking dinner with one hand and phone conversations, and on that note, I am off to watch some TV. I have no idea what is on, but it will help me sleep..............

I will be back.