I am back here this morning courtesy of Trev who has been at this computer for four hours trying to get enough drivers etc on to get me into chat. It has been a marathon and hopefully will work when I need it to when it is my scheduled time to host chat. What a nuisance when technology lets you down. One moment my good old computer was up and running just fine, next I had a message to say it could not recognise some segment or other and I was off the air. Wahhh!

This is just an old computer which he was "gunna" rebuild for a while, now it was get it up and running so here it is, just the bare bones of a computer. And here I am again, like the boomerang I have done the full circle and come back. Now for some super glue to keep me here.

So what have I been doing in real time? Well, the northern family came last Tuesday and it was just bliss to have them here. So good to catch up on the news, that sort that never comes across in phone calls, what they had been doing, where they had been going, people they were interested in etc. Those long talks don't seem to happen with kids around but it is during the walk on the beach, or while you are both pushing someone on the swings that each conversation takes place. Just so good to have the time to talk to my daughter again.

And the kids have grown and are each a special personality. Both have put on inches and we had a lovely time getting to know each other again. Christopher knew immediately what he wanted to do and soon had it all worked out while Naomi was a little shy at first. The big success was having Tori as well on the Friday and we shooed off the parents and Granma and the kids did a round of visits to our favourite playgrounds and parks and we swung on the swings and crawled over the jungle gyms and played in the play areas etc. It was fun to watch the three of them together and to have them to myself.

All too soon the visit was over and we were waving a tearful goodbye and then there was the clean-up to do, and so life goes on. But Ray is booked into respite starting next Monday for two weeks and I fly off this time next week to spend a week with them and get to know the area where they live, what they do daily etc. I am so excited. So wish me luck with flights etc. I haven't flown alone before and I am a little scared. Shouldn't be with all the new things I have had to do since Ray's strokes but still a little of the small town girl in me that is scared of the city, the thought of doing things alone etc.

Last Sunday was Mum's 89th birthday so I went for a visit to her Dementia Lodge and took cakes and candles etc and we had a special afternoon tea for her. I "helped" blow out the candles and looked at her beloved face and thought of all she means to me and got teary again. Such a shame that she is present but not here, if you know what I mean. But it is still my dear Mum and that is what counts.

And so life goes on, doing the best we can with each day.