Daughter 2 and Littlest Granddaughter went away on Wednesday. It always takes me a few days to become less sad when they go. Yesterday we went to the Botanics, which as always made me feel slightly better.
It's been a very mild autumn. I know that this is global warming and thus a bad thing, but actually the effects so far on the Scottish climate have on the whole been very pleasant. One feels guilty at enjoying it, but all the same, one does, a bit.
The colours are still lovely, though the leaves are beginning to fall.
I've been worried all week because Big Grandson has been away on his first school trip at an adventure centre. He was a bit anxious about going. The centre has things like climbing walls and treetop rope walks and waterfall-climbing, and though he likes cycling and swimming and running about, he's not physically adventurous when it comes to being high up. (Nor am I.) And he doesn't need much sleep, so I've been thinking about him wide awake while the other boys in the dorm were asleep. I was always the one at Guide camps who couldn't get to sleep, lying in the dark on the cold, hard ground amid steadily-breathing fellow Guides. (He wasn't camping, though; he got a bed.) However, he got home today and though we haven't seen him as we usually do on Fridays, he appears to be cheerful. His Dad's brother and family are visiting at the moment, so we'll see him later in the weekend.
At 5 o'clock this afternoon I wondered what the date was - oh, the 28th. That's our engagement anniversary. When did we get engaged? 1972. So that meant that it was, so to speak, our golden engagement anniversary. 50 years. That went past alarmingly fast. It was a bit late to do anything to celebrate, so we didn't. And I actually felt quite nostalgic - 50 years ago we were young, with our lives before us, and our parents were alive, and various sad things that happened later were still undreamt of. But really I shouldn't feel sad because we've had lucky lives compared to many people. And Big Grandson is home, safe and sound.
Happy 50th of your engagement! Mine would have been sometime in the summer of 1984. I would have been nervous too--being away, having to sleep in a strange place and HEIGHTS. Don't like them at all! We had such a glorious and long summer which I know isn't great--but as you said, it was enjoyable.
ReplyDeleteI'm with you on the heights problem. Not keen at all. And our grandson (now 7, nearly 8) would enjoy a "Book Reading Camp" much more than a Risk-taking-Adventure type one as well. School camps are a rarity now in New Zealand, because of the expense, but also the myriad of regulations around protecting children from harm... and the inevitable blame-game if someone falls out of a tree (or whatever). Sigh.
ReplyDeleteOver here, Global Warming is bringing more severe storms, and damage to coastal areas. Certainly it is something we're all going to be affected by.
I hope you feel happier this week - I just love having our grandchildren so close ... even if it does mean they come overnight when their parents want a night out (and getting Miss 4 3/4 to SLEEP is pretty impossible - it was after 9pm last night, and I'm a rag today as a result!)
I am back visiting after another prolonged absence, due to caring for my husband in his final months of illness, but he passed away last week, so my time is now my own. I will miss him for the rest of my life, but he was so ill, his death is a blessing for him.
ReplyDeleteI feel quite peaceful after spending half an hour on your blog, Pam. You have a lovely family life, even if you don't see your grandchildren as much as you'd like! Some of my friends don't see their grandies at all, because they are estranged from their children, which I find very sad.