Blogs and A Belated Happy Christmas

One of my New Year Resolutions was to make sure I regularly posted on the blog in 2013. And 26 days on I'm not doing very well! So I thought I'd better do something about it.  Also our Christmas was all a bit rushed and had taken second place to other events.

Unfortunately, late last November Rosie's Mum (Di) had a mini stroke, although she seemed to recovering well from it, things did not quite go as hoped. Rosie had already planned to go and see her Mum plus some other friends so she extended the trip to stay a bit longer with her Mum.  I then went to the UK for a few days to work and just after I returned we were called to say Di was being taken to hospital as she was not very well.  This was mid December. The Doctors had found a number of things wrong but the main cause of concern was pneumonia, but they said to Rosie not to rush over until they knew how things were. So, having packed a bag ready to go we got on with things here.  Then Di got worse and we had a call, just before Christmas, that she was in intensive care with breathing problems. Rosie obviously rushed across to the UK see her mum.  A "well done" to Brittany ferries here, as not only did they get her on the ferry at the last minute but they also left a lane clear to load her at the front of the ferry, so she could be first off in Portsmouth.

Di made good progress so Rosie came back home for Christmas and New Year before going back to the UK in the New Year.  This time Rosie said her Mum had made a huge improvement and things were being put in place for her going home. Between Rosie and her sister, Jane, they sorted a lot of things out (carers, meals, etc) and although Di is not fully recovered she came home this week (slightly delayed due to the weather). So wishing her all the best for a full recovery.

Ben and his helicopter

In between all our trips to the UK we did manage a very pleasant but quiet Christmas. Sally, my sister, came and stayed for a few days, which was a great help. Once again we moved into the gite for Christmas Day. The boys had a lovely time and got some great presents and one of their favourites are the remote controlled helicopters.  For New Year we headed west.  Our friends, Tim and Sue, have a 'holiday' cottage in Brittany, and invited as down to see in 2013.  We arranged an animal sitter (thanks Nicola) and had a lovely evening and New Year's day with Tim and Sue, Richard and Sue and Colin and Janet.  It was great to catch up as we don't see so much of each other this days.  It was just a pity that the windscreen wipers failed on the way home so we had to stop every time it rained: a journey that should have taken just over 2 hours in fact took 3½!

So please accept our apologises for not sending out any Christmas wishes - time just seemed to rush pass and here we are now, almost at the end of January.  We therefore hope you all had a good Christmas and wish you all the best for 2013.

Happy New Year!