Sisters of Mercy...

Today we were up early - it was the Droushia Ladies Lunch at the Hotel and Mum was coming and Dad and John were going to Fitos for lunch.  It was a glorious morning and the sun was streaming into the conservatory, showing off my dust collection and dirty windows but rain is forecast so there is little point getting upset about the windows and I am allergic to house dust so I try and leave it as undisturbed as possible!

We were getting ourselves sorted when I had a phonecall from Mum.  Something had happened to her eye during the course of the night and she couldn't see which must have been pretty scary for her so she was going to see Mrs Metaxa early and would let us know what was happening.  Whilst we were waiting I made the decision that John and I would go down to Paphos and pick up some lunch on the way and spend some time with Mum and Dad rather than them come up here.  It was the right decision as Mum had to go back in for more surgery this afternoon - the lens had slipped and they needed to secure it back into place.

By the looks and sounds of things the hotel went all out to make the lunch a really special occasion.  I dropped off the Santa Sack to Sheila and donated my gift and mum's gift to the staff as they always look after the ladies' group really well.  It was a shame that we would be missing it but with plenty of people going there would still be a good crowd which is good.  I also gave Sheila a new jigsaw for them to tackle and a pot of my homemade marmalade.

We spent a few hours down with Mum and Dad enjoying some Paps roast chicken and potatoes and coleslaw followed by some muffins - at least we knew they would have had a good meal and it meant that during those few hours mum could forget about the surgery she was going to have.  As she didn't know how long she was going to be she declined the offer of us taking her and bringing her back, Dad was happy to do that so we mooched off back home and she phone later to tell us that all had gone well so fingers crossed this will be the case this time.  At this rate I think it will be a while before she contemplates having her other eye done.

When my sister was over we decided that we would dispense with exchanging Christmas presents, to be fair it isn't that easy to source something and get it delivered with us being in two different countries and we don't always know one another's likes and dislikes!  However having heard her speaking on Radio 4 at the weekend about the kindness of a stranger when Richard was first diagnosed with his brain tumour I was so moved by her dignity and calm that I wanted to send something - not a Christmas present but just something to let her know we love her and are thinking of her.  Good old Bunches they never let me down except this time my card went missing so Kaye had to guess who these were from and she guessed correctly.  A beautiful little arrangement to brighten up her lounge - I know Christmas's are difficult when you have lost loved ones because you can never forget (not that you would anyway).