England is lovely and the birds are singing!

Its a week already since I arrived in Cambridge and its been a great week - so lovely to see my dear Mother again and of course her neighbours, brother Peter and Katy, Ana and Alec.  I have of course been totally spoiled and am having a hard time imagining a time when I am going to have to settle down to "normal life" in fact I am choosing not to think about it but just enjoy these great moments!

Getting back to Canada from NZ and Oz was fun too - seeing old friends - thank you Cindy for picking me up at the airport and Ian and Isabelle for the comfy bed and hospitality - and for storing my bike - 

After dentists and hair appointments I headed over to Courtenay to stay with Gillie and Murray and recovered there from my jet lag - helped a bit in their garden - lucked out again on finding a treasures at the Sally Ann - more clothes and at the Restore a brand new push lawn mower - $25 - oh lucky me!

Also rescued railings from G&M's old deck to be used in my new garden - somewhere - not quite decided where yet!  My timing was perfect and of course G&M spoiled me again!  The weather was fantastic the whole time I was in BC with Perth temperatures in Courtenay!

Came back to Vancouver and got together with friends for supper and cycled over and had a lovely visit to "work" - so nice not to have to even have to think about the problems to be sorted or work to be done but just to enjoy saying hello to everyone and having some great visits.    As usual some amazingly creative things being done by the amazing Recreation staff!  Also had a lovely luncheon on Josephine's beautiful patio and really felt like a retired lady "doing lunch" - I liked it a lot!

Got to visit the open gardens in the local village here last Sunday but other than one that had a real windmill in it the gardens here at Peter and Katy's and Ma's are superior to the others we visited!  They really are lovely - so I am trying to be helpful and am searching for weeds to pull etc.

The only not so good thing is that Rosa's husband Joe was rushed to hospital on Thursday night having had a heart attack - he is still there and weak but now seems on the mend so we all have our fingers crossed - He says he is tough and anyone who has met him knows that is the case so hopefully he will pull through this as he has all the medical challenges that have gone his way.

Alec returned home today from university having completed his first year of medicine at Cambridge - he has been celebrating this last week and went to a "May Ball" on Tuesday so I went to see them all lining up in their finery - lots of different fashions to be seen - Alec spotted me and actually came out of the line and gave me a hug - acknowledged his aged auntie in front of all his friends - I thought that was pretty amazing - and special!   He promises to take us all punting next Friday.  Anna is swatting for important exams next week as well as taking a course to become a qualified diving instructor so she is super busy.

I am still sorting photos and my dear Mother is still claiming to be interested in seeing them all!  I have selected "the best of NZ South Island" and now have it paired down to 253!  Perhaps I shall have to do "the best of the best"!   Now I am reconnected to Mac so there is no stopping me!  Don't say I didn't warn you.

Best wishes on this the longest day of the year - somehow because I have had summery weather since February the solstice doesn't seem so bad this year!    I love sunshine and warm temperatures, flowering gardens, Pims, new potatoes from the garden, fresh strawberries and all the other wonderful things that summer brings - and next week is Wimbledon!  How amazing life is!   How lucky I am!