Crocus

A much more relaxed drive down the A12 today than yesterday’s scary journey, to see my sister in Canewdon. A good catch up and some laughs, but far too soggy to walk across the farmer’s field to the wall along the River Crouch.

My photo is a bit of an Emergency Blip taken before I set off this morning, as I noticed this lone white crocus had popped up. It’s the only survivor of a pretty outdoor spring arrangement given to Mum on her 90th birthday, seven years ago, by her friend Gwyneth. I have a picture in my mind of our friend Hazel (who I now visit in her care home) sitting with Gwyneth on our sofa at the afternoon tea we gave to celebrate Mum’s 90th, with Gwyneth giving my nephew what for and telling him off for being cheeky - all with the usual twinkle in her eye. Sadly, Gwyneth died recently and I shall be going to her funeral on Friday. We also have the funeral of another of our church friends, Pam, tomorrow. She lived on the corner of our road, and it was always nice to stop for a chat if she was in her front garden weeding or just sitting by her front door. I shall miss both of these ladies, as I miss dear old Ken who died last year. They were all from the older generation at church who knew both of my parents, and I feel sad at their passing - they were all such lovely people. Alas this is the way life goes, and all we can do is to be glad we had the pleasure of knowing them. I have had such a lot of loss in different ways over the past decade, and I was really hoping this year would be a bit more positive - maybe it still can be despite the fairly poor start so far.