|
We are still here and have now reached our second anniversary.
The past year has been very busy and eventful with a number of family changes.
Jane’s mum was installed in the London Nursing Home in time for Christmas and was visited by the family on and around the day. She is pretty much settled there and Graham and Jane (Jane’s brother and s-in-l) are looking after her.
In March we managed a short break in England followed by a week in Tenerife accompanied by our good friends Tony and Mavis. It was great to have warm sunshine, away from wet Normandy.
Also in March, Catherine, Jane’s sister, and William were married in Jordan at the embassy there. Unfortunately we couldn’t make it.
The next key event was the arrival in April of Grace Jane Morris, our first grandchild. She arrived right on time but gave Tracey a bit of a hard time. We went over after a couple of weeks to help Tracey when Paul went back to work.
At home, we had decided to have oil fired central heating installed which was done in April/May. It worked well for a couple of weeks then the weather warmed up and we turned it off for the summer. It is, however, successfully providing us with ample hot water. How much oil is consumed remains to be seen and, of course, the price has rocketed since we decided to go that way. C’est la vie!
On with the kitchen. Having spent much time talking, thinking, and hesitating, we finally made our decision and started changing the kitchen. The first thing was to build a new stud wall, then install a new ceiling. All the units are installed and most of the tiling has been done but there is still some work to do.
Carey, Tracey, Paul and Grace all came to see us in July and we had a great time with some fine days out. Grace was gurgling fluent French by the time they left.
More pride followed when we went off to Northampton to see Carey awarded with her BA Honours in Teaching. After a really hard year, with much hard work, she achieved a well deserved 2/1. She has obtained a post in a school in Sheffield so has moved to Dronfield in anticipation.
July was closed with a bit of a do. We had offered Catherine and William the opportunity to have a wedding party at our place. They took us up on the offer and lots of people came over from the UK to celebrate. All our friends helped and the ladies prepared a magnificent spread. The only spoiler was the weather which was not good enough to have the party in the garden.
August is proving to be extremely busy. The season has been slow to start with very few paying visitors during June and July. Now, however, we are having some great weather and number of visitors.
It is hard to believe that these two years have gone by as they have. We are still enjoying life and, although we miss the family we enjoy being with them all the more.
|
