Return of the Native*

I'm here now because Mum is recovering from an operation - a hip replacement. Dad has been a great chauffeur, nurse, cook and general dogsbody but I thought he could do with some moral (and practical) support. We did a big shop early this morning - Mum had written a list for each of us. A week after the op, she's graduated from a walking frame to two sticks and is doing her daily exercises. Onwards and upwards..

This afternoon my sister and two nieces came to visit. They are off to Exeter tomorrow for my nephew's graduation (congratulations, Nur!)

*I never have been a native of Uckfield, or any part of Sussex. In the town I feel like a stranger, but oddly enough I feel very at home in the countryside -walking on the Downs, and especially in the woods, I feel at home. This morning I walked through Hempstead Reserve and View Woods to Buxted. On my last visit I was squelching through mud but this time I was in sandals on bone dry paths. I saw a slowworm, a vole and lots of butterflies, including a Marbled White which we don't have in Scotland.

I also chose this title because I'm reading the book just now :-)