Catching Up

 

Who is that fellow sitting (some time ago) with all those young women? These days he is a retired solicitor, and two of the women are his sisters. I'm the one in the middle wearing a red dressing gown, my favourite outfit back in the day. I'm sitting next to my youngest sister who was always up for a night out. One girl I don't remember but the friend who took the original photograph will know for she knows everybody and everything.

These past couple of months have found me reconnecting with old friends.  First, it was Vee who I've been taking out a bit for she had to give up driving for a while. We get our goods in, go visit garden centres, cemeteries and coffee shops. We even went to Ikea! Just like regular old ladies. I'm finding it all most enjoyable. There was a lot of catching up and lots of stories to be told. 

Then about a week and a half ago I got a call from another old friend Cici. I'd bumped into her about a month before and we'd exchanged numbers. It was the usual thing. Must get together, the sort of thing that is often said and then not acted upon. But I was delighted to hear from her. She suggested meeting up with her and another friend two days hence. I was so excited. Thought about what I was going to wear even! Obviously not the red dressing gown for even though I still have it it doesn't fit too well these days. Our mutual friend, Ari - I've known her since she was twelve. She was London Sister's friend in first year at grammar school but after LS left town we became closer. 

As life goes on we take different paths, meet other friends, develop new interests and I hadn't seen Ari in nineteen years. I was nervous. I needn't have been. The craic was mighty, the catching up began. We had all changed so much yet it seemed we hadn't changed at all.  There will be a next time. I'm looking forward to it.

Cici took the original photograph and Ari is sitting next to me. It must have been taken in the latter half of the 1970s. Cici will know, she knows everything.  

A Bit Of A Catch-Up

First of all, Woody has responded well to the magic juice provided by the vet. No more coughing and he's eating tremendous amounts of food and... he loves everybody. Especially Hannah, Evie and Martha, and even Nellybert.

Then there was the matter of Bert's book choices. Strumpet City was turned down because it was too big and he fell in love with David Sedaris. Bert never ceases to surprise me.

On the subject of books, First Daughter was laid low with COVID-19 for a week and has since made a full recovery. I asked her if she'd filled her downtime with books or streaming. She told me she'd just sourced a book, a dystopian novel set in Ireland that she'd hoped would fill the hours. But, because of current real-life events, the novel proved to be a tough read. If only I'd known I could have loaned her my small collection of Eva Ibbotson romances.

Speaking of which, it was Ganching who alerted me to Eva Ibbotson's adult fiction which, as Ganching informed us, Ibbotson wrote for 'very intelligent women with the flu'. It just so happened I'd already found three of those novels in a charity shop and hadn't got round to opening them as I thought they'd be a bit saccharine. I'm on the third one now and finding it and the previous two quite delightful. 

Zoe getting the Covid spurred me to book my free jabs, flu and the coronavirus. That happened this morning and straight after I was off to Antrim to breakfast with Jazzer. We had a quick look around the charity shops to see if we could find a particular kind of knee-length boot that Martha needed to complete the Buffy the Vampire Slayer costume she wanted to wear at Halloween. Unfortunately, we did not find them except we did but three sizes too small.

Then we went to Dobbies. I was quite excited about this as the last time I was in a Dobbies (somewhere near Lisburn) I got the most gorgeous crocus bulbs and some  Nasturtium 'Phoenix' seeds . Nothing appealed to me at Antrim Dobbies apart from a new pair of cuttings snips. The prices were sky-high. I discovered that the monster deliciosa I dismantled (because it got too big) and turned into six new plants would have cost me £120. We could not wait to get out of it. I won't be back. At least until the spring of 2024 if the world still exists then. 

Back at Jazzer's, I gathered nasturtium seeds from her plants. Mostly Phoenix. Funnily enough, she has a lot of them in her garden because I grew them from my collected seed and accidentally gave her all the seedlings because I'd neglected to label them. 

So that is my catch-up. I will try to get a few posts in over the weekend as I am going to Norfolk and London next week and Will Not Be Blogging.

And speaking of London, I heard the sad news this week that an old friend from Ballymena had died there at the start of the month. Kevin was one of the people that sent my life spinning in a new direction. And that's a story on its own. 

He was a good bloke. Too good for Ballymena.

Getting Things Done

• Booked flights to catch up with Katy and her growing family. Yea! Seeing James again and meeting Emily for the first time. I don't really mind (much) missing the first couple of weeks. It gives everyone a chance to settle down before I come crashing in.
• Cleaned the Hillbilly Hen House. Hosed it down, made it very nice. I'll do the Orchard Hen House on Friday. Two in one day is way too much.
• Got into the polytunnel for the first time this year and started getting sorted. It will be Spring before we know it!
• Sorted out some financial matters, the pension (at last!) and something else as well. I will not be scrimping when I go to Norfolk. Emily needs dresses! James needs trains! Everyone else needs wine!
• Got my tooth fixed - the pretendy one that Jess nibbled. Bad Dog!

Now with all that taken care of I can relax and tomorrow I'll enjoy the company of my two older grandchildren. Can't wait.