the most wonderful sunny sunday

Already it is 16th of August and the days are winding by.. Already in a few weeks, we shall celebrate our twenty fifth anniversary.. I cannot believe we have been married that long, and I never thought I would pass the first year!! To say that first year was difficult would be an understatement... we have had to mingle two families and two sets of children, not the easiest action in the world. Now here we are almost 25 years later, all the children grown , some with their own children, and living in a huge house, which we could have used at the beginning when the kids were at home, but we live in alone.. rattling around a bit, it is true, now that we are semi retired.

Over the last 8 years I have been in and out of hospital for one thing or another, and ended up with a new hip two new knees, and also two spinal operations. My energy levels were caput for a very long time, and I fretted about being able to manage such a large house and garden.

However this past month, I have found energy I didn't know I possessed, and have been in the garden almost daily to cut and weed and redesign the beds.. It feels so good to be able to have time out there and to see the results of a few hours together working on the garden. We have also had to deal with my husband's COPD which affects his breathing and lung capacity. He is still running daily, but his breathing is much harder to do than before..

So to share our times working together has become a real joy. As I sit here overlooking the garden, I see the leaves of the trees shaking gently in the breeze, the sunlight reflecting on them, and the sturdy vegetable beans climbing up the stakes by the hedges lining the whole garden. It is so peaceful to see and watch in the sunshine. I like Autumn, when the nights start drawing inwards, and the weather turns cooler, but only after having a hot summer to generate strength in my bones*

In ten days I start a course of radiotherapy, which will make certain that the lumpectomy was totally effective. I must say I did  not take it seriously when I was called back to see the doctors at the breast clinic. I had only by chance attended a mammogram appointment. I had not wanted to do it, because it is  usually so uncomfortable, but this time it was much gentler. I was surprised when I got the letter to attend the breast clinic and talk to a specialist. I went and had my talk and was shown the mammogram which appeared to show small cluster of white spots under my left nipple.

 I was shocked as I had had absolutely no symptoms at all, no lumps, no irritation, no indents, nothing... so that mammogram showed this in time, as they were pre-cancerous cells. Which could develop into something much worse if left alone**

 So, now I just have to do the radiotherapy course and it is over 3 weeks, one every day except the weekends.. I am so thankful that I have caught this in time, if I had not gone and done the tests, I could be in a really awful situation, a few years down the line.. At 70, I shall now have these mammograms every year to keep an eye on my body.. Thank goodness for the NHS here in England, so hardworked but still a life saver..
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Whilst I was visiting in Canada, we went to the Beach at Coburg, which was utterly gorgeous, but the weather decided to be inclement so it was far too cold for me to take a swim there.. This, didn't however put off more stalwart people who managed to ignore the cold breeze and take their pleasure in the sea anyway. My daughter and her husband and family emigrated to Canada almost 14 years ago. They started off in the Vancouver area which was lovely, and then the work took them to Toronto where they lived outside a short train ride away. Then, two years ago, they decided to move out further into the country and found a marvellous place just a few miles outside Coburg in Ontario The low bungalow sits in its own three acres of land, surrounded by more country land. The neighbours although spaced apart are very friendly and have welcomed my girl and her family and include them in their gatherings at the weekends and holiday days. She holds down a very senior job in Toronto, whilst her husband is a stay at home dad since they moved here. The children attend school a bus ride away and are doing well. Well that is, the girl who is 11 is doing well, the boy who has Aspergers, is not living any more at home, and is a source of constant worry as he discovered how drugs could ease his chronic anxiety.. that has been a nightmare for the last few years, and they thought that moving into a more rural area would let him find another way to be happy and relaxed.. unfortunately even in the rural areas you can get hold of the Weed.. so that plan backfired... Added to that, the way that the parent's hands are tied as far as discipline, and you get the picture... Despite all that, they love where they live and would never think to return to the UK despite not having any family close to them. We keep in contact with Facetime and the Telephone, so I am there for my girl should she want to relate her fears or her successes.. I spent two weeks with them in this summer and it was the most wonderful holiday I have had so far. I had a marvellous one with my son earlier in the year, but on this holiday, I just read and read and read, what a luxury that was... the weather was a bit iffy but managed to get a bit of a tan, but I was so relaxed and ready to find out what the lumpectomy I was scheduled to have a few days after my return, would show..

  I am sad that all my other posts are there online at Sawley Express Rosiedayze, but not able to post anything further myself... so if you are directed here, please feel welcome, and come back anytime soon..

my screen name is Janzi and so I shall use this one to be identified online for this blog..

I live in the middle of England and with my second husband,live in a Georgian Rectory. It is a lovely house that needed a lot of work done on it, which is why we were able to buy it on the open market. We moved here in 1998, the longest I have ever lived in one house. During my first marriage, I loved moving, and despite having five small children, managed to move over 20 times, each time the houses got better and better. So with this second marriage with two children left at home, we have moved much less, this time only 5 times in 25 years, which is a huge drop from the 23 times in 22 years**

I love the whole experience of cleaning the house, decluttering, and renewing items that will be saved in the house we are moving to... When we moved here , I only really planned staying two or three years, and then planned to move another time afterwards and ending up in a serviced flat which could provide security and safety in old age. However, we have now been here for over 17 years, and I don't think my husband wants to move again, which has rather stymied my plans!  This house is late Georgian/Regency period and has loads of lovely features that we have kept and renewed. Having been used by Church Families over the years since it was built in 1823 and relied on the parish people to help them maintain the house and its gardens. This resulted in all sorts of different things that happened, the most dangerous being the fact that the metal sink was live with electricity and meant the house had to be rewired immediately we moved in.  The shutters were all painted in place, so that was my first job, to free them and see if they still worked... which they did, then I got the flooring to be stripped back from carpeting to the original Georgian wood floors. Lovely, but needing to be varnished again soon. With dogs of course the floor does get scratched from their claws. We have noticed now that we have one dog left, life is a lot less dusty and difficult to keep clean. We have 8 bedrooms, but three of these are sectioned off into an annexe with its own front door and totally separated from the main house. This was done in the late forties of the last century to accommodate the Curate who assisted the Vicar.  When we moved in, we renovated next door, the annexe, so that my husband's parents could live there... which was a godsend when they both became ill in their last years and we could look after them closely. which we did until they died several  years ago.. now we have a little family living there and renting from us.With the five bedrooms, we have ample space for us to have guests stay over, which is so useful at Christmas with all the family coming to visit. With 8 children between us, this is quite a full time of partying...