I have just been away for just over two weeks with rather a complicated itinerary but all worked out well. It has all been a while in the planning phase and I mostly got things right but I was not to know that it would rain for the first ten days of the holiday, the temperature would drop and it would be suddenly wintery. Hot and dry Broken Hill was unseasonably cold and wet but I survived.

First I visited my son Trevor and family, it was lovely to be with them again. I think the move has been hard for them as Trev does not have a job yet so he is looking after Alice and Edie's Mum is only looking after the children when they are both busy. We managed to see a lot of the sights, not many in a small city surrounded by semi-desert country but interesting in the nothing-like-here way. It was greener than I had expected as they have had just about their annual rainfall already and more predicted. The mining history of the town is interesting and we went to a good museum as well as out to the Living Sculpture Park which I really enjoyed with its carved stones and wild hinterland backdrop.

I was to fly to Adelaide for the convention but Trev finished up driving me the six hour journey. I shared accommodation with another widow whose husband died of cancer nearly three years ago and another married couple.There were only a few widows and single people there, it was mostly couples, but there was no melt-down, just a sigh of regret from time to time when I saw couples dancing. Luckily with 18 others from our Club there we had many cheerful moments and some of wonderful manic laughter. Laughter certainly is the best medicine. I am glad it is acceptable to dance alone with the new modern dances so we danced alone and smiled and laughed. Above all we were in company and having a good time.

We did a bus trip around the Barrossa Valley, one of the great Australian wine areas, yes I did take a sip or two, not a lot as I can tolerate whites but not reds but there are a lot of lovely wines out there and our companions more than made up for me. We also did a River Cruise and visited some interesting places. Sometimes I wished Ray was with me as we had been to some of the places before and he and I would have renewed our memories together but that is easier to go through now than it used to be. I did have some people express their condolences as they hadn't seen me since 2009 but had known Ray and liked him.The Club who helped me when he had the strokes at their convention in 1999 almost reduced me to tears with the nice things they said about him. It is good he is remembered with affection.

After the convention I flew back to Sydney and went down to my daughter's place for Mothers Day. It was a quieter trip on the Saturday train than it usually is when I go mid-week. I had a nice time there, visiting with the grandchildren, enjoying the things they like to do, it was lovely to have someone else do the cooking. They took me out to lunch yesterday (Monday) as they are busy all day Sunday and we had an enjoyable lunch at a restaurant overlooking the ocean. I really love to do that. There are certainly a lot of wonderful places to see and experience and I mean to add some more to my bucket list.

I got home this afternoon and was sooo glad to be in the peace and quiet of my own place. And it goes without saying how good it will be tonight to sleep in my own bed once more.