September Hankerings

I'm a great one for hankering.

Any spare few minutes and away I go.

Hankering.

For places, feelings, people and emotions that grip the reins to my sanity.

A rather bad habit, I suspect.

But.

It does provide an escape route from the mania and mayhem that passes for "normal everyday life", around here, anyway.

Right now, I'd like to be back in the mountains, with all my worldly goods on my back, and nothing to contemplate except the wonders of creation.

With blue skies and crisp, pure air.

And no work. Or queens. Or incontinence pads. Or wheelchairs.

We all have bad habits.

Don't we?

Resurrection

A miracle has happened.

The dinosaur has been resurrected.

Long live the dinosaur.

Help! .......please?

After months of phone calls and nasty letters and nose-biting to spite my face, I am now giving up the good fight.

The stinking, rotten multi-national has won. I concede defeat.

Most ungraciously.

I am now in the market for a new laptop.

And as I haven't the foggiest as to which ones are good, bad or indifferent or wonderful machines, I need help. Desperately.

I am a COMPLETE technophobe, so any suggestions from all of you seasoned bloggers will be greatly appreciated.

My needs are simple. Easy to use, enough storage for photos.

Thats about it.

Daughter No. 2 is back to college this week and, as a result, I am computerless for most of the time. I feel like an addict going through cold turkey.

Help, please.

Time Flies ...

Its been a long 3 weeks.

My mother-in-law, the Queen, often cites the old saying "The road to hell is paved with good intentions". This little nugget accompanied by a knowing look and some serious nodding of the head.

I must be well on my way then.

When I returned from my rambles, which were absolutely wonderful, I did have plans and schemes to do this and that and catch up on all the projects that lie semi-dormant from September until June each year.

I made endless lists.

All to no avail.

July and August flew by .... the days filled with offspring, laughter, tears and black dogs lurking.

And now its September again.

Time to get my act together.

Life Goes On .....

Things are returning to normal here. The emotional intensity of the last week is starting to ease a little.

Life, indeed, goes on, with or without us.

Life in blogland will have to continue without me for the next 3 weeks because I am off to walk around the mountains for a bit.

France, Italy and Switzerland.

Smallish bag (have to carry everything we bring - 2 pairs of knickers - 1 to wear, 1 to wash - 2 pairs of socks ... )packed, famille organised to survive very well without us, checked in, waiting for boarding call. Hope the weather is a little better than it is here right now.

There will be limited internet access I'm sure in some of the villages we pass through. I shall try and keep up. I can hear Molly snorting derisively, I can't keep up at the best of times!

Stay safe everyone.

Unbearable Pain that I cannot Fix ..

Beloved No. 1 son rang me this morning at 10.30. He was crying. He was incoherent. He kept saying "Oh Mum, oh Mum, oh Mum ....."

And then he hung up.

This frightened me more than anything has ever frightened me before in my whole life.

I frantically dialled his number. No reply. I kept dialling until he answered.

He was still crying.

He told me one of his close friends had committed suicide last night.

There were no warning signs. His friend wasn't depressed. He had a close, loving relationship with his family. He had spent the last year studying for his Masters in Engineering. He played a soccer game with No. 1 son on Tuesday night. They won.

And now he is gone. Leaving behind such grief. For his parents. His family. His friends.

I wish I had answers. For my heartbroken boy.

But I don't.

A Little Slice of Heaven

Words cannot describe how wonderful it was to watch this man perform on Sunday night.

He's now 74 years old.

He's frail and tired looking.

But he hasn't lost it.

He was ABSOLUTELY MAGIC.