It’s been a good year – we’ve enjoyed some wonderful excursions, had various guests who have written five-star reviews on the hospitality and accommodation available in the Guest Wing and visited with numerous family and friends. Between us we still have a reasonable quantity of our wits about us and manage to hold things together some of the time.
At the end of last year you may remember we were planning a grand excursion to the US to see family and friends. We’d not been since before the pandemic and were looking forward to visiting with all of my siblings. We were all booked and ready to go, house/dog sitter in situ only a few days before our scheduled departure when I had a visit from Mr Sciatica. OMG! Sadly, that trip had to be cancelled but we made new plans to visit in October and it all worked out well.
Instead of the US, once I was able to hobble a few steps at a time, we went to Cornwall, Padstow specifically which gave me an opportunity to eat at almost every one of Rick Stein’s establishments. They’ve asked me not to come again too soon so that they can restock.
In Cornwall Penny and Daisy walked miles along the Coastal Path – sadly(!), my lingering sciatica prevented me from joining them but I was well enough to drive to a convenient location and set them free. I’d then cruise down the road a piece and wait to collect them at the other end, usually in a delightful coffee and pastry shop. Hey, it worked for me!
We also had a lovely outing to Ireland with good friends. We visited Inistioge, which happens to be the small village near Kilkenny where Penny’s father’s ancestors came from. It seems that Penny’s great-grandfather, as a young man, was somewhat too familiar with some of the local girls. His family decided to send him to Australia in hopes that he would settle down. Happily, he did and sent word that he was engaged – to a Protestant!!! Naturally, the family were horrified and sent his sister and the parish priest to dissuade him from such foolishness. Unfortunately, the sister fell in love with the brother of her brother’s fianceé and they ended up having a double-wedding. Double Protestant nightmare! We don’t know what happened to the parish priest.
As the sciatica continued to ease, we took Camilla/Cosmo/Clarence the Campervan to Ross-on-Wye in July for a couple of nights, mainly to test whether the cranky, feckless and feeble-minded Greg was still physically capable of contributing anything to a campervan holiday. Thankfully, we passed all our tests with flying colours and thoroughly enjoyed poking around the area. Daisy had a wonderful time chasing and petrifying any number of small animals but thankfully caught none.
In early October we set out on The Sibling-Quest Express II, our re-arranged trip to the States to see all my siblings and some good friends along the way. The trip was even more fabulous than we might have imagined. We visited two of my brothers and a sister in New Hampshire at the perfect time to be astonished by the fall foliage – the trees were on fire!
Then to Utah for a few days to see my elder sister and then on to LA to spend some time with Ben, Brex-Anna and Max and my last “missing” sibling, my sister Susie who kindly flew down from Portland for a few days. LA is still as wacky as it ever was and good fun. All is good in their household – Ben is still working for Activision (Microsoft) while Brex-Anna is heavily involved in school-related activities with Max as well as all the other activities in which he participates.
Brex-Anna was a sweetheart and kindly organised outings, activities and restaurant reservations which kept us busy and well-fed. She knows how much I enjoy eating and thankfully Ben is of a similar inclination so, the dining fare was outstanding. Max is thriving in school and keeps us all amused with his insights. He recently received a commendation from school for his work in Maths. Like father, like son.
The final leg of the tour was a visit to Hawaii to catch up with some very dear friends – they’ve been pestering us to visit and we eventually ran out of excuses. We were on the “other” side of Oahu where the beaches were glorious and relatively deserted. And the weather was great!
Hawaii for a week put a bow on the excursion and, after another week of fun in LA (including Halloween), we retraced our steps back home.
We’d been gone almost five weeks by then and Daisy went ballistic when we arrived home – a neighbour three doors away heard her “singing” in excitement and guessed that it must have been us coming home. Our thanks to our wonderfully delightful house/dog sitter Aleks who was an absolute joy.
Nick, Lucy and Annabelle are happily trundling along in Leamington. Nick still works for Raging Bull but has reduced his commitment there to take on a handful of other consultancies. He’s very good at what he does, apparently, and regularly gets invited to appear on panels or speak on the topic of e-commerce and digital engagement. Don’t know that we’ll ever understand it all. Lucy, meanwhile, continues with her successful well-being counselling and Annabelle just keeps rocking it at school. She plays almost every sport available, is heavily involved with drama and music on top of all her regular commitments – go Annabelle!
Soon after we returned from the States we had to say “good-bye” to Adam, Ava and the girls. They are off for perhaps up to a year travelling in China, Cambodia, Bali, Vietnam, Thailand, et.al. We’re hoping we might work out a trip to visit them somewhere. Jessie’s school has been very supportive and is sending work for her but the adventures she will experience along the way will be priceless. I suspect we’ll notice a significant change in Julieta next time we see her – when they left, she was just at the talking fluently and engagingly playing with Grandma and Grandpa stage – they grow up far too quickly.
Meanwhile, the most important member of the family, Daisy, continues to be an absolute joy – easily one of the best decisions we’ve ever made. She gets us out every day and spends the rest of her time either chasing squirrels in the orchard, sleeping or “singing” and wagging around trying to rouse us to some game or other.
And so, another year slips away. It’s been wonderful to have seen so many of you and sorry for those we’ve missed. The renovated Guest Wing is proving exceedingly popular with visitors so please get your bookings in early – we would love to see you.