Sunday

So we all seemed to get a bit of a lie in this morning before Charlie's continuous whinge-bagging got the better of me and I relented and fed him.  Shortly afterwards Nicky appeared followed by John and Mark and before the Kirbys left to enjoy the remainder of their Sunday together we had breakfast of buttered crumpets, orange juice, tea and coffee.  We penciled in our next 'sleep-over' which will be in December and will be a bit of a mini Christmas celebration for the four of us but we will be seeing them again next week when we meet up with them and Dip and Karen and we also have to organise a night at Thanasi with Nicky's mum Liz and her partner Bill along with my Mum.

On her return to the UK my Aunty Joyce had sent me a recipe for Star Gazey Pie - it is a standing joke that this is what we are going to serve mum for her lunch one Sunday - apart from the fish element it doesn't actually sound too bad and who knows - one day we just might sample it!!!  In the meantime we always joke that is what we are going to have but today I had made a sausage casserole to be served with the potatoes and veg left over from yesterday along with the red velvet cake.  Mum said I must have been reading her mind because she quite fancied sausage and mash and what she had was pretty similar.

We had a text message from my Aunt who had been checking out her photograph skills and sent us a picture of their Sunday Morning family gathering with my Uncle, cousins, their partners and offspring all in attendance.  It occurred to me that if Aunty Joyce and Uncle David were serious about returning next year it might be nice for them to come in the Spring and maybe time their visit to coincide with Mum's birthday - I have suggested it and they are considering it.

 Mum and I went down to drop off Di and Rob's post and to check their house and garden - particularly as we had some heavy rain yesterday.

All was well but the chili plants out the back which are well protected from any rain certainly needed a little watering and I removed any of the chilies that were ready and will put them in a sunny spot (weather permitting) to see if they turn colour at all before handing them over to Di on her return.  I am not sure I will need to use any before she comes back.

We then made our way up to the cemetery - I had thought it might be a bit messy after the rain but it was fine and the beautiful plant which Aunty Joyce and Uncle David bought is now in full flower and looks absolutely incredible.

I did not know then, but I do now, that this was to be the last time we would visit and Dad's would be the last grave in the graveyard but he has been in that position since the beginning of March and that was bound to change.

His flowers look beautiful.  I dead headed and removed some bits that were not looking so good - I will shortly have to replace the plants in the two pots and I am not sure how well the African Violet that John's mum placed there will survive but it is still ok at the moment.  I know I say it every week but it is thanks to Klaus's daily visits that the plants survive so well and we are exceptionally grateful to him.

Once we had heard that Mum had returned home safely we kicked off our shoes and slobbed out in the conservatory and settled down to watch one of our all time favourite films - Love Honour and Obey - an oldie but a goody!!!

Next weekend the clocks change and it will be dark earlier so we will need to review how we deal with Sundays in the future so that Mum is not driving in bad weather or the dark, next Sunday is not an issue as we are going out for lunch with Mum, Mick, Anne and Postman Pat.

We are thinking that the work John did to the conservatory roof is paying dividends already.  I found it exceptionally warm in there last night and the temperature is dropping quite rapidly at night.  In fact the weather forecast is quite grim for next week and it is likely to be down as far as 10 degrees midweek.  At this rate it is going to be a long winter - it was certainly much better than this last year in October.  I shall have to try and stop John from lighting the wood burner.