Sunshine

We have been blessed on Saturday and Sunday with a lot of sunshine and it was really nice to stock up on energy.
I feel the next 2 weeks are going to pass by very quickly. Tomorrow I go back to the specialist with Rhea, on Wednesday we pick up my parents from Gatwick and then will stay with us for 10 days. On the week-end, my Brother in Law+wife  and Father in Law will come down to celebrate my birthday. Sophie will be here of course and because David has too much work to do, we will bring my parents to Bath so they can see him during a lunch.

So next weeks will be speed of light again.

Lucky Snapping : May Quotation Challenge

It's Lynne's turn again and this time, the quotation is : 

“ The best way to find yourself is to lose yourself in the service of others”

 I love that quote and it fits me pretty well too.  My father in law calls me Sister Charity, that says it all.

There is one story I can tell you because it was a very important for me. I always loved old people, there is something about them that I find touching. On one side, I feel that a lot of them have all the knowledge, on another one some of them become very frail and I feel like I need to protect them.

Many years ago (but still in England), I needed a job and I applied at the local Post Office. The job was far from fascinating compared to what I was able to do with my brain, but I worked on a Monday/Thursday and on Monday, it was pension day, so I was in contact with a lot of old people and that made me happy.

One of my favorite customers was 86 or so. He had the most beautiful blue eyes ever and I was looking forward to see him every Monday, for our little chat. It went on for many months, may be years, I can't remember, but one day he didn't show up and I was upset. My boss told me he might have a cold or so, so I waited. But the next Monday, he didn't show up either. I knew in which street he lived, so on that evening, I started knocking on all the doors of that street, starting with NR. 1. 

 In our society, knocking on people's door and asking " do you know an older guy with blue eyes... " doesn't go very well, but I found a couple of helpful people, and after an hour or so, I knocked on the right door. A very old and small lady opened the door. I didn't know her and explained who I was and why I was there. She eventually invited me in, after realizing I was who I said I was and she explained her husband was in hospital. She didn't drive, had 4 kids ( my age) but living pretty far away and was kind of distressed about how to pick up her pension. Because she lived on my way to the PO, I started picking her up very early, bring her to the PO, opening the PO earlier for her , give her her money and drive her back home. 

It was a funny situation because she was very short and I have a 4x4, so getting her into my car wasn't the easiest thing. Once I was alone at the PO and couldn't drive her back, Dennis came to the PO and drove her back. 

After a month or two, she called me to say her husband had passed away. I really would have liked to see him before, but she had said he didn't recognize anybody, so it wouldn't have helped.

She then found another way to go to the PO and I was still seeing her once a week. She was only calling me if she needed a drive. On that Wednesday my phone rang and I recognized her number but there was a different voice at the other end. The man said it was her son, she had passed away in the morning. He had found my number in her papers and because his mum was constantly talking about me and what a difference I had made for her, he wanted me to know she was gone.

It was a very sad moment for  me, but knowing I had made a difference in her life, made me warm. Later on, we continued seeing a lot of old people leaving us, one after the other. One passed away the day after I had brought him and his wife some fish they wanted from the big supermarket. I was so upset, my boss sent me home.

This quotation is so true, helping others makes you forget your small or big worries and seeing people happy because you made them, is a fabulous way to be happy too.

Take care everybody, xxx

   

Dull weather . . .

What a miracle, blogging again after only 7 days, what happened to me LOL ?

All fine here. Dennis is in Seattle for a couple of days, flirting with the enemy (Microsoft) while I work hard on Apple.

Murphy left us pretty alone so far, keep fingers crossed. Only my computer screen froze this morning but the tech department was able to resolve that pretty quickly.

The girls are both fine, Rhea walking far or less far depending on the days, but still walking, so nothing to complain about.

OHHHH YES, something to complain about. It's 11 degrees. Who on earth stopped doing his season's job properly ? They must have given the job to  a french guy and of course, he went on strike . . .


Lucky Snapping- Nostalgia Challenge :March - Party On !

After my week of Enjoy, Kathi is into parties.

After thinking hard, I concluded I am not a party girl. In fact there was no need to think hard to conclude that. BUT there is ONE party I organized that was really fun. It was for my 31 years (way before Dennis' and the girls years). At the time I was living close to Paris. I had bought a house since only a couple of weeks and I had a new job and I was getting 31, so I wanted to celebrate.

I had decided on a party theme : punk. I was working for a big American Software company and everybody accepted the challenge, even the boss. It was really funny, because as I said I was very new where I lived and people hardly knew me, so on that evening when they saw all this amount of punks arriving, they got so scared that we were dealing drugs that they called the cops who came ringing at my door. It was only after showing them all our IDs and business cards showing we all worked for the same company that they eventually laughed and left.

Firstly, let's make Kathi feel guilty. At home we have a small room, let's say it's a closet with a window where I keep all my craft stuff and all what we don't know where else to put. To find the party photos, I had to risk my life and climb over all that and on the right you can see that blue ball, the photos were behind that. So who says I don't go through anything for our challenges ?

So I eventually got the photos, but I must confess, scanning them was above my available time, so I just opened the album and took pictures. I know terrible, but at least I have something to show now.

This was me as host. The little doggie was my Peanuts at the time.

Then the some of the guests

The cake

These I kept for the end as you know these guests, not quite this way though.

Yes, my parents, with 26 years less. Doesn't my dad look cool ? I don't think my French Auntie knows these pictures, she certainly never saw her brother that way. 

That's it for my contribution to Party. May be you will see me again, I think I got another idea . . .

Take care everybody, xxx
  

Where were we ? ? ?

LOL I haven't been here for so long, I can't remember.

Al fine here, nothing special to mention.


Let's reflect - May : Enjoy

You can find my challenge here.

There are so many things I enjoy, what is missing is the time, but I guess we all have the same problem.

I enjoy having hubby home and watching him do his crazy experiments on the robots. He certainly put a mess everywhere (this is my living room, hopefully I have an office I can work in on the 1st floor)

but it's really nice to share his enthusiasm and sometimes he needs me to help, so that increases the fun.

This is our conservatory, note the cardboard hat just below the ceiling fan. Don't ask . . .

I also enjoy going to our park

I am thankful everyday to be so lucky living that close to such beautiful nature.

Last but not least, spending time with the girls is especially enjoyable.

Bubbles is learning new tricks everyday and she makes us laugh so much.

A week ago, the weather was beautiful and I spent some time in the garden to clean a bit. I was going back to the kitchen now and then to check the clock in case it was time to feed the girls. I don't know how she did it, but she made a relation between one of the walls (where the clock is) and time for food. One day, I was going around, I wanted to exit the kitchen and she was in the middle of the door so I asked her to move. She didn't. I asked what was going on. She looked up behind my shoulder so I turned and she was looking at the clock. It was 10 past 6 and time for food. I couldn't believe it !

Rhea is doing well. We go to the park everyday, sometimes she walks a bit more or a bit less, but she walks and I think the antibiotics are working. We need to go back to the specialist at the end of the month, I think he will be pleased with her.

Take care everybody, xxx

A short one again

as we get ready for our 3am tomorrow.

Rhea had her 2nd MRI. It was worse than the 1st one. The kind of " good " news is that they found an infection between 2 vertebraes and on a disk but they think that with very strong antibiotics for a couple of months she should pick up and start walking better. We also put her back on meds for her arthritis. As my grandmother used to tell me : Don't get old, that's not nice . . . .

When I got her back home and for 48 hours she was ignoring Bubbles and her toys and she freaked me out again, but yesterday morning she eventually started sucking her scooby-doo nose and played with Bubbles, so the world was almost back to normal.

Here she is on our morning walk, still on lead, but happy to sniff around.

Guest Host on Lucky snapping - April's week : Birthday

OK, I give it to you, I am pretty late for that challenge but hey . . . I am still on time.

Saturday was Dennis' birthday. A special birthday, not due to the number of years but to the guests. We had one cousin from Australia as well as my brother in law and my father in law. He passed 91 and every additional birthday and Xmas he is attending is a real gift ! David had too much work to do for his coming exams at Uni so he stayed in Bath but of course Sophie was there. We tried a photo of all of us with extended arm.

Lucky snapping - Jen : The View-May

Oh and you know what, I've been naughty. Tomorrow is Jen's challenge about the view . A long time ago, I used to always be the first one to post, well I am going to be again at least this time. As who knows what will happen to me tomorrow, I made sure to take my picture today. My view really changed this time and I was pretty happy about it.

Here it is :

Oh and I promise I will go and comment on your blogs soon.

Take care everybody, xxx