Saturday, March 27, 2010

That was the week

It's been a bit of a week. Our lovely, kind Daughter 2 went down to London to visit her once-more-unemployed actor boyfriend (sigh) and gave me these tulips and daffodils before she left. While she was down there, she learnt that she (together with all apart from the most senior architects in in her office) is about to be made redundant because, with the slump, there is hardly any work for them. She'd seen it coming, but all architects are finding the same, so getting another job in this field will be very difficult. I'm so proud of the philosophical way she's taken it: sympathising with her bosses, thinking positively and telling them how much she's enjoyed working there. The boss that broke the news to her told her that she'd made him feel better at the end of his terrible day of sacking people by what she said to him when he phoned to tell her.

On the same day, our son-in-law's grandfather died.

Spring has come to the garden.

The office building near us that I wrote about the other week - the prizewinning one that was being demolished - now looks like this.


I visited my friend and her kittens again.

Our cats sat on our neighbours' garage roof.


Sirius lay in the sun.
We heard that our son has been offered a job (he's a junior doctor and there's a strange, rather random system for giving out jobs) for July onwards for the next two years, but it's not where he wants to be - and his girlfriend wasn't allocated one - so he's going to turn it down. There will be more jobs on offer at a later stage but who knows if there will be a suitable one? Or indeed two. They may decide to do locum work for a while.
My mother fell down on getting out of the bath twice this week and couldn't get up for a while. One of these nights, I was in the house with her but she didn't call out because she didn't want to bother me.


I went up to the U....r Hall this afternoon, walking past Edinburgh Castle, to rehearse for my choir's concert. I'm not putting the full name of the hall in case it comes out on Google because I took a couple of forbidden photos at the afternoon rehearsal. I'm such a rebel.


They're terrible photos but this is looking towards where the choir was about to sit, in the organ gallery.


This is our view looking out at the audience. Can't imagine what the ectoplasm is - the Big White Worm of the U....r Hall? The concert was this evening. Our choir is attached to the school that our children went to, and it was wonderful: beautiful music from the wind band and the orchestra, and then my adult choir and the massed young people's choirs sang "Carmina Burana". It was a fantastic experience.
So. A week of mixed emotions. One day, life will be plain sailing. You think?









19 comments:

  1. Hi Isabelle,
    What a week! Here's hoping next week brings spring sunshine and good news for your kids. It's rough out there in this economy, but I'm sure work will come through for them soon. In the meantime, thank goodness for cats and choirs.
    I love Carmina Burana.

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  2. the flowers are lovely ... the cats and kittens are lovely ... the Hall is lovely ...... and smooth sailing for a bit would be a pleasant change, wouldn't it?

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  3. Oh Isabelle! I'm so sad for DD2 -- I hope a new job will be found in a hurry. Boy, a mixed week -- I'm happy you had the concert to pick you up a bit. The kitties look very happy to be out in the sun and your flowers are beautiful.

    And now, I'll send you off to a quote that you posted awhile back, but that I wrote down, as I read it often when I need a bit of comfort with the children. (Except, I don't know how to find it -- but I'm hoping you remember it!) It's the one that says how much we only want our children to experience good things, but what boring children we would have if we got our wish.

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  4. I'm thinking, with a loving family like yours, your children will cope with whatever life throws their way.

    I wish Daughter 2 and Son all the best with their next moves, and wish Daughter 1 all the best with her life too.

    Hugs and best wishes to you and to Mr Life. This must be a worrying time for you as parents.

    Take care of yourself Isabelle. xxx

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  5. Nah...that will never happen.
    What lovely children you have. Relish them, when you can.

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  6. Labour pains go on for ever, don't they?

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  7. Anonymous12:48 pm

    I hope you see rainbows every day next week! You deserve to after this week.

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  8. Bumpy times. I sympathise, and thanks for the patchwork post.

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  9. Welcome to my life.

    And no, I don't think it will ever be "plain sailing", until the boat is a pine box.

    Grab hold of something that's nailed down, keep your hip flask full, and scream "BRING IT ON!".

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  10. Wouldn't a bit of plain sailing be nice, just for a change. Life is so tough at present especially for those in the job market - a constant round of wishing, hoping and gritting one's teeth if my daughter's anything to go by. Hope something turns up soon for your daughter and son.
    Little black and white kitten is very like our occasional cat visitor - he's packing his bags to come for Easter. Concert sounds fun, such a great piece to sing with lots of others.

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  11. That's a lot to digest in one week. I'm sure you're up to the task and hope your mum is ok.

    Enjoy the flowers, cats and music to balance out the rest.

    Lesley x

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  12. It is a good thing the week is over then. Waves - it seems to all come in waves, doen't it. I do hope your daughter finds another job nearby soon, and that your son and his girlfriend don't have to move too far away either.
    Hopefully, my friend, this week will be somewhat cheerier!

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  13. Oh, do I ever sympathize with the job anxiety. What a week! Hoping the next one will be much better.

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  14. What a bumpy ride for the week but what a strong and lovely daughter you have! All the very best to her and your son and son-in-law, not easy for them. I expect a bit of adversity is good for us all at times but it's never much fun going through it, especially when it's your children rather than yourself. (And that is also awful grammar!)
    Thank heavens for cats and flowers and concerts. A beautiful hall.
    And, yes, my mother would do exactly the same thing not to bother anyone!

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  15. Anonymous9:08 pm

    I've just stumbled across your blog, via 'Anecdotally Yours' from California I think it was, so it was a rather roundabout way to discover a fellow Scot. Anyway, having read what you say about lurkers, I'm just saying hello! And that I am really enjoying your musings and hope to be back. Thanks.

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  16. What a bumpy week! Your daughter's attitude is admirable. See what lovely young adults you've raised? They'll survive the struggles and be stronger for it, as hard as it is for both you and them to go through it now.
    I'm glad you had the concert to give you a great boost. It's a wonderful spirit booster, isn't it? Our choir's Easter concert is two and a half weeks away. Your Hall is magnificent. Ours is in a high school auditorium. Not nearly as impressive as your hall, but we're lucky to be able to sing Christian music in a public school these days.
    Do hope your mum has a better week and that life smoothes out for all the family.
    Those bouquets are glorious. What a sweet girl DD2 is :) Very thoughtful.

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  17. P.S. Those crocuses/croci are the prettiest, softest colour! Lovely.

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  18. An entire week of smooth sailing? Never. Your week was a good snapshot of this tragic and wonderful thing called life, wasn't it? I'm glad you "got it down," not just for you, but for us.

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  19. So much sad news, but so many lovely photos. My dad used to quote "I cried because I had no shoes, then I saw a man who had no feet". Whenever I feel life is getting me down, I remember Dad saying this, and it puts things into perspective. D2 is young and intelligent; something else will come her way.
    Was that a sensible decision for your Doc. son to knock back a two year tenure? He's got the rest of his life to find where he 'wants to be'...Anyway, it is his life.
    On top of all this, you must be worried about your Mum...falls that become frequent are not a good sign in older people.

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