I just got back from a very pleasant visit with my daughter and her family. It was the first week of the two week winter holidays so the weather was cold, sometimes wet and sometimes windy but who cares when you are with the people you love? I was able to spend some time with my two grandchildren, Chris (12) and Naomi (8), join in their games and sit down and enjoy watching them do those things that kids love to do like Nintendo, Wii games etc.

I always feel guilty the first couple of days as I feel as if I am leaving Mum and Ray behind, silly I know as I took breaks with Ray when I had Mum with us and put Ray into care the last couple of years for a week's respite while I took a break. Maybe that feeling of guilt never goes away, just gets easier to handle? I was also tired too as it is a six hour train trip all told.But it is the right thing to do, grandchildren grow and it is important to spend time with them, keep up with their doings etc. And if it can no longer be Pa Ray and me that visits then it had better be just me.

I am partly unpacked, have nibbled my way through something like dinner and am typing this while listening for the phone to ring. I have a guest coming for a week, she is catching a train, or several of them and will arrive at our nearest staion about 10.30pm tonight after being on her journey since early this morning. I am looking forward to our week together. She is a little older than our daughter but has had bouts of ill health since her early twenties so will be unlikely to want too busy a time so it will just be a pleasant stay and not too much fuss. I will still be able to fit in visits to Mum and Ray but probably they will be for less time than usual.

I hope chat went well on the Tuesday evening I was away. I am confident in the other hosts, Sally and Sarah, and know that I am welcome there whenever I want to be there, but my hosting is no longer essential for the chats to go on. That is a nice feeling. I was always told "A good leader trains leaders" and I think a good chat host trains other chat hosts so there will always be someone here to faciltate the chats and keep the traditions of chat going. I know the support supplied so willingly by that group has kept me going and I would love to see other caregivers find that same support by becoming a part of that caregiver chat online support group.

I caught up with some of the caregivers in Shirley's Salvation Army Corps that I have spent time with on previous visits. Two of them are dealing with husbands who are close to having to go into a sheltered facility and two are just at the stage where their husband really can't be left alone any more. I do what I can to encourage them and it is good that we can have some laughs together. I love the Sallie ladies as they are so kind and good and dedicated to the task of helping others and not selfish in any way. Like us all though they tend to be so busy being good to others that my daughter sometimes reminds them to look after their own welfare too. Sound familiar?

They had the P55 group lunch while I was there with 65 "over 55's" attending and the following day a large gathering of "Home League" ladies with a few husbands along for the lunch, so there were two opportunities to catch up with lovely people I have met in Shirley's two and a half year stint with the Shell Harbour Corps. The craft ladies had excelled themselves with some of the table decorations and all the ladies received lovely hand crafted bookmarks as thank you gifts. It is those small touches that mean so much.

On Saturday we went as a family to a small tourist village called Berry, and a berry good day out it was. Craig loves Antique shops, Shirley and I love Craft shops and the sweet and toy shops were magnets to the two grandchildren.It wasn't warm but it was a blue sky day and we walked and walked and walked. It was the kind of day Ray and I once would have enjoyed together. I miss him so much when I go alone on that kind of day out that once would have been our pleasure to do together. I was a good girl and didn't buy anything, well just a small present for each grandchild. It was a lovely time for us to spend together.

Yesterday (Sunday) was a busy day of course , as Ministers Shirley and Craig do three services and the kids and I were there for all three. Probably explains why I was snoring my head off watching television at 8pm, eh? I loved the Salvation Army band playing, the hand clapping and foot stomping for one of the livelier hymns,followed by a friendly morning tea a contrast to the earlier solemn Prayer Meeting. For the evening Youth event, as most of the youth were away a mostly adult group enjoyed some of the adventures of "Mr Bean". Now slapstick isn't for everyone but even one young lady who said she never enjoyed "that sort of thing" was caught laughing at a ridiculous short film about how a kid can outsmart you on a diving board.

I always enjoy my stay, it is a pity they are so far away and I only go a couple of weeks each year, but it is better than nothing. Children grow so quickly and the time I spend with my grandchildren is precious.