Well, another year has raced by in a heartbeat. We’ve had some stupendously great moments and some not-so-great moments. We’ve both kept well and Penny continues to be as busy as ever. I try to do as little as possible and occasionally succeed in not being too great a hindrance.
The garden, Garden Club, croquet and bridge provide Penny with much-needed distractions and welcome escapes from Greg. As usual, there is no holding her back. She erected a pergola up the garden path, planted a new grasses border, excavated a garden pond (which can also serve as a double-wide burial pit if the pond idea doesn’t work out) and has planted well over 300 spring bulbs in the orchard. The wild flowers in the vegetable patch were a great success.
The Garden Club has once again been responsible for keeping the village relatively sane. They organised a number of garden outings, village gatherings via Zoom, a witches coven for the youngsters on Halloween and, of course, the annual village horticultural show. We made a clean sweep of prizes this year – Greg captured first prize in the sourdough category for the fourth year running (and this year there were two other competitors!). Penny won a cup for the best front garden (much to our surprise as we hadn’t realised we’d entered) and Annabelle won two prizes, one for a collage constructed of twigs and leaves and a gigantic glass cup for having submitted the best Spring photograph for the whole village.
Greg continues to do as little as possible but does at least hop on the exercise bike most days. This year he clocked up enough miles to (virtually) ride the length of the Pacific coast from Vancouver, BC to the Mexican border and now is just over half way along Route 66 riding from Chicago to Santa Monica.
As Covid and lockdown eased we’ve been able to enjoy those hugs and cuddles with the grandchildren that we missed so much last year. Penny got her first hug with Annabelle in over a year on her birthday in May. What a great birthday present and it cost me nothing!
Once again, no overseas expeditions but we did get away for a few short breaks – a few days in Wales with some very good friends in June and a week in Devon with Nick, Lucy and Annabelle and Adam, Ava and Jessie at the beginning of August.
We’ve also enjoyed a couple of cultural outings. We took Annabelle to her first Shakespeare – an outdoor production of the Comedy of Errors which was terrific as you would expect from the RSC. We also took Jessie to her first ballet, The Nutcracker in Birmingham. She was so taken with it that, at one point, her eyes welled up and she announced, “I think I’m going to cry. It’s so beautiful!” Normal service was resumed about ten minutes later when she asked, “How long is this going on for?”
Our week in Devon was excellent in just about every way. We had reasonably decent weather and spent a number of happy days on the beach at Sidmouth. The kids loved running in and out of the waves and exploring the rockpools under Penny’s expert guidance.
Then, as if things couldn’t get much better, when the UK government announced that travellers from the US could come again Ben, Brex-Anna and Max were on the next flight over. Max is big into Teslas and trains – he spotted every Tesla within 200 metres and we visited just about every train-related attraction in the vicinity.
A splendidly wonderful time – our three boys, their beautiful and marvellous wives and our delightful and highly intelligent grandchildren all together in one place at the same time – absolutely priceless.
The big news is that Adam and Ava are expecting again – we’ll be able to welcome a new granddaughter in February. Thankfully, Jessie has already produced a portrait of the new and enlarged family.
The somewhat less than stupendous moment came when Nick was diagnosed with rectal cancer at the end of October. Absolutely devastating for Lucy and Annabelle and everyone who loves him. He had surgery at the beginning of December and everything went as well as we could have hoped. He’s now on the long road to recovery and we are all optimistic for a positive outcome. He has managed everything exraordinarily well and we are so, so proud of him.
So, it’s been a roller coaster of a year. Ups and downs, highs and lows but things are trending in the right direction we hope. (I wish we could say the same for our poor benighted country). We’ve missed you all and think of you often. Keep yourselves well and safe and make plans to visit as soon as you can.
Much love to you all.
Penny and Greg