Walking with Friends

It's been a busy old day.  It was my turn make breakfast so that done and a load of washing in, there was time to sit with my coffee and puzzles before Hobblers S and R arrived for a walk.  S had a training day and it was too nice to stay in and do the cleaning.  R and I were all too happy to join her on a walk across the Moor and through the Estate ending with cuppas and snacks at the Ivy Cafe.  Much catching up and discussion of everything from Strictly to earwax took place.

Back home I had some of my homemade tomato soup and did a bit of recorder practice then Tony and I moved some of the more delicate plants in pots up to the greenhouse to see if they can be overwintered.  Tony is pretty impressive at collecting and germinating seeds.  It was still very sunny so I decided to mow the grass at the back of the terrace.  It was hard work and I may well be reaching that point of hoping our neighbour will take the bulk of the work in future.  

My Mum passed away twenty years ago today with cancer of the oesophagus.  In one of those quirks of fate, Tony and I were holidaying in Scotland that summer and we invited her to come up and spend a few days with us with Brother Bob.  During that week she mentioned she had backache and had made an appointment with the Doctor.  That lead to a hospital appointment which I accompanied her to, when she was given the news that the choices were chemotherapy which would give her a few more months or pain relief to manage the condition which would mean less time.  Having supported Dad through five years of cancer she chose the latter so she could remain at home and see her family.  I still find it hard to believe that we lost her in the October.

Mum and Dad were of the era of the traditional relationship.  When Dad died he had labelled all the equipment she might need to access/use and he passed a tin containing all the indexed paperwork to me.  Mum was a seamstress in a sewing factory when they met and she had to give up work when they married because that's what you were expected to do.  She continued making a little extra money by turning the dining room into her sewing and fitting room.  She was a fine baker and cook, she made all my outfits as the fashions changed - that fabulous twisting dress for my Junior school Christmas party and the 'Emma Peel' outfit complete with a cape with a flashing orange lining and a jaunty cap for Barbara's party (we all went to see St Trinians at the Odeon and had Neapolitan ice creams). Mum was also an accomplished ballroom dancer, a 'Come Dancing' fan, she would have loved Strictly.  She regularly went to the Bradford Mecca with friend Joyce and I recall one story when she was bored by a chap who asked her to dance and went on about football - that was Eddie Gray of Leeds United.  She had no idea who he was.  Love you Mum xx