December
2013
Dear
Family and Friends,
doesn't
time fly! As usual we grumble that the summer got a little bit too
hot and the winter is a little bit too cold, but there are beautiful
things in every season. We're enjoying watching the slow motion
firework display as the leaves on the hillside and the river bank
turn up their tones as they turn up their toes. We're still in the
same flat – mercifully having to move got delayed again. I've
managed to get rid of my huge collection of cardboard boxes that took
up so much space. I'd been living in constant anticipation of having
to move. I've enjoyed making a place to live, not just a place to
dump stuff and sleep. :-)
We
celebrated Ruth's 30th this year. We like celebrating. In
June I was grumbling that someone had got the Tour de France on
rather loud on their TV, then discovered it was actually happening
just down the road from us. We watched from our balcony and saw it
happening live. Well, actually we saw the circus that goes by first,
but Joanna missed the cyclists whipping past because she was enjoying
watching the TV helecopters going overhead. She won a helecopter ride
at an airshow once and has been a fan ever since.
This
year has been a bit more stable helper-wise. We've 3 hours a day from
the local authority but had a lot of difficulties with our old
agency. Two changes of agency later (we're on to helper N°40!) we've
now got a much more settled team who've been able to get to know us
and our needs and who are much less judgemental. We even, believe it
or not, have a helper who lived in the UK for 27 years and speaks
fluent English – with a Welsh/French accent! With our M.E. having
settled into a chronic but stable phase, the girls have had the
strength to be able to get to know the helpers a little bit too. We
miss friends Byron and Sondra who came to visit a couple of times a
year, but our loss is Mongolia's gain.
Tommy
and Ginger, our faithful fluffy friends, keep us company. They do
hugs when we need it (except when they got fleas, yuk!) and keep us
entertained. We've had the help of someone who lives locally to walk
them morning and evening since Easter – yay! And yes, in the pic
Ginger has a banana peel on her head. Daft dog. Tommy is attempting
to smile to cadge more dog biscuits, or any thing really.
Ruth
still repairs dolls when she's up to it; for a while she was doing a
couple of commissions a month for re-roots – she's world famous in
a very very very small circle. Joanna was able to do some crochet and
made me leg warmers and a lap rug for Ruth. The forum she ran has had
it's day and youngesters use other media now, but it was great fun
while it lasted and will be the last one of it's kind to close. I've
carried on learning embroidery this year and I got the sewing machine
out for a few months till I blew it up. I also love the ME parents
group on Facebook.
Wishing
you a very happy Christmas, and all God's blessings for the coming
year.
Love
from Liz, Ruth and Joanna. XXX
