And so, another year sprints by in the blink of an eye. We’ve had some good times and some even better times. Mustn’t grumble.
Certainly, one of the highlights of the year was the arrival of our newest grandchild Julieta, courtesy of Ava (with some assistance from Adam) in February. She certainly had healthy lungs from the start and has developed into a delightfully cheerful young thing. Thankfully, Christmas will be easy for her this year – disused wrapping paper should suffice.
Jessie adores her younger sister and relishes playing the role of Jiějiě to her Mèimei. Meanwhile, Jessie is rocking it in school and is as busy as ever – Rainbows, Drama and Dance classes, football, reading, you name it.
In the early spring we went mad – we bought a VW campervan and a Golden Retriever puppy – not actually on the same day but near enough. What were we thinking? The campervan has been great fun – we’ve been away a couple of times and each of the boys has borrowed it for their own little adventures.
Daisy (the Golden Retriever, not the van) is a delight. To be fair, various parts of the garden had to be “protected” with chicken wire and the lawn is ridden with numerous ankle-breaking holes but we’ve survived that stage and so has she. She really is beautiful and very sweet. Naturally, she worked out pretty quickly that Penny is the alpha dog in this household and, while she’s usually quite pleased to see me, the sight of Penny sends her into throes of ecstasy.
We’ve had some great outings. We had a week in a remote farmhouse in the middle of nowhere in Wales at the end of May. Nick, Lucy & Annabelle and Adam, Ava, Jessica & Julieta joined us for Penny’s 70th birthday and, perhaps more importantly, for Jessica’s 6th. The weather was pretty decent and we had some good walks, some great meals, a double birthday celebration and a couple of nice days on the beach. Very nice.
Penny, Daisy and I also took the campervan off to Northumberland for a few days in June which was absolutely splendid. Again, the weather was mainly decent and I don’t think we’ve ever visited such a dog-friendly place. The scenery is stunning, the beaches outstanding and the castles magnificent. We’ll definitely be going there again.
In the summer we had a visit from Ben, Brex-Anna and Max which was great fun. We took the opportunity with them to dash off to Paris for a couple of days during the blisteringly hot weather and we had a great time. Brex-Anna had organised a couple of tours, one of which was a food tour of Montmartre. And Max, bless him, was magnificent – four hours pounding the sweltering pavement while the adults waddled from one culinary experience to another couldn’t have been much fun for a four-year-old but he was outstanding.
A great summer! All our boys with their marvellous wives and our gorgeous and highly-intelligent grandchildren – absolutely priceless.
In November Penny and I celebrated our Golden Wedding anniversary. Fifty years! Are you kidding me? Some of you were present at that occasion in Connecticut all those years ago and you are probably considerably more recognisable than I am. (In fact, I know that most of you are.) This photo hangs in our kitchen/pantry and our grandchildren always find much amusement in spotting a much younger Grandpa with hair.
Penny’s gardening activities took a dive this year thanks to the heat and drought (but hey, my lawn-mowing duties were also significantly reduced so it’s not all bad). She’s still involved in a myriad of village activities as well as the challenging task of trying to keep me in order. Me? I muddle along trying not to do too much and mainly succeed.
Perhaps the most “exciting” moment we shared this year came at the end of June when Penny was stung by a wasp and went into anaphylactic shock! She’s been stung many times in the past including only a week previous. But this time she started struggling to breathe, had considerable difficulty speaking and was on the verge of losing consciousness. WTF! OMG! 999! Thankfully, the ambulance arrived in about twenty minutes and the air ambulance crew about five minutes later. The village hasn’t seen such excitement in ages. The paramedics stabilised her and blue-lighted her off to the hospital in Banbury where she spent a couple of hours being prodded, tested, and medicated before eventually being released into my capable, caring hands. Lord help her! To be honest, that’s the kind of excitement I do not need to repeat.
Our biggest and brightest piece of news by far is that Nick, after a pretty grim year dealing with his cancer and chemo, has been declared cancer-free. He had his reversal operation in November and is slowly, slowly getting back to some semblance of “normal.” It’s been a very tough year for him, for Lucy and Annabelle and for all of us who love him. His positive attitude has been a tonic and we are all so, so proud of him and his incredibly supportive girls.
Lucy and Annabelle have taken their challenges in their stride. Lucy has started up her life coaching services and it’s going well. Annabelle is still involved in everything. It’s her final year at primary school so she’s been shopping around inspecting all the local secondary schools. She’s done really well and she’ll do well wherever she goes – whichever school she ends up attending they’ll be lucky to have her. We’re very proud of them both.
We’re looking forward to another visit with Ben, Brex-Anna and Max before the year is out – they’re coming just after Christmas for just over a week. I’d be grateful for any suggestions on things to do with an almost five-year-old on a cold, dreary, damp winter’s day in the UK.
And so, there we are. A romp through the highlights of 2022. 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 – the Guest Wing has had a revamp!
Much love to you all,
Penny & Greg