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Hi! Anybody still there.  Sorry I've been away so long. 

I didn't mean to be but it's been almost a year since I last wrote anything. 

 A lot has happened in that year. 

I took voluntary redundancy; I had my first ever sabbatical from paid work; I had my hair cut short (well above my shoulders short); I gardened; I sewed; I made cheese; I grew veggies; I preserved a lot of veggies; I crocheted; I taught a crochet class for the local WI (possibly the scariest thing I've ever done - scarier than speaking at a European conference}; I read - a lot; I made a courtyard area in the garden and then sat in it and drank coffee - a lot; I joined an art class; I got menopausal; I got depressed; I doubted my sanity; I got/ am getting better - whatever that means; I went to Crete and fell in love with the wild flowers and herbs; I watched my country Brexit whilst sitting in an airport preparing to fly to Europe (and my heart sank); I watched Donald Trump become President of the USA amidst concerns about foreign influence on the election race, email hacking, concerns about conflicts of interest between his businesses and office; his links to the KKK; his attitude to women, people of different races and people of different sexuality; his aggressive stance to international conflict; his behaviour on twitter - in fact concerns about everything; we bought a log burner and we paid off our mortgage - it took us just over 2 1/2 years and some strong budgeting and saving to get there. 
It was a weird year and not what I anticipated when it started.

Yesterday was my 53rd birthday and today was a new day.

 

The sky was blue.



 

The magnolia is in bud.

 

Spring was in evidence.

 



And the Nu and I got out into some sunshine to do some gardening or in her case enjoying some sunbathing and of course supervising works.  The lawn has finally dried out a bit and we didn't have to wade through a swamp to reach the veggie beds.

 

 

In the meantime Jean-Luc has been enjoying his new shed and has built this wonderful bookcase/ linen cupboard in our bedroom.