I had a lovely ten days with my daughter and her family. I was “obedient” and stayed at home and read and relaxed and didn‘t worry about anything. I talked to the two grandchildren before and after school. I ate breakfast, lunch and dinner which someone else had prepared, I watched television and played on the Wii with the kids. Everything was nice and easy to do this time around.

Trevor watered my plants but some of them went “crispy” on a day where the mercury hit 42 (105 degrees). At Shirley’s on that hot day we went to the Municipal pool at 4.30pm with half the population. At least we were all staying cooler together. As the nearest city depends on steel, or used to, and attracted a lot of migrants to the area we were a United Nations all cooling off together.

I told Trev it was okay about the tomato plants and I will replant again when it is cooler. It was a great pity that the tomato plants had just started fruiting but that is what happens when you go away in summer. The rest of the garden is okay, nothing a good drink of water won’t fix.

One bit of sad news I came home to was that my Mum’s step-brother John who lived in Queensland, her only relative outside of us girls now, died last week. He was aged about 74 but had had much sickness the past couple of years and he died of a massive heart attack in his wife’s arms. They gave him a private family funeral, I would have loved to have been at the funeral to represent his only sister and her family but it was too late by the time I found out. I did ring his wife tonight and caught up on all the news, his wife seemed fine but we all know that can change for a caregiver as the reality of the loss takes hold.

I had a lot of phone and email messages so I will work my way through the return phone calls tomorrow morning and the emails tomorrow afternoon. I did miss a few meetings so will have to put in late apologies there too. I try to notify a few people before I go away but don’t want the whole world to know that my house will be empty for that time. I guess I am starting to worry about that kind of thing in my old age. I have just about caught up with the blogs and will eventually write a report. Thanks to all who wrote them, you are my treasures.

Next week Ray will be back home and our life will go back to what passes for normal here. I have had a good break and hope that that will make caregiving easier to cope with for a while. It is true absence makes the heart grow fonder and so in a way I miss Ray while in another way relishing the peace and quiet I hear around me. The crickets are singing, the wind is whooshing and I am not lonely, just happy to be home.

I am having dinner with an old friend tomorrow night. We might take a dip in her swimming pool in the late afternoon, as it will be another hot day. She has finally got back into her pool, the first summer since her husband died seven years ago. She says she is enjoying the water and can’t think what was holding her back. I guess we all change after a bereavement and feel “guilty” about doing things our partners once enjoyed. I think that is the way it was for her.

So…I’m back….did you miss me?