We have had a proper summer this year. I hope I’ll remember this when in November the wind is howling and the rain comes sideways. Pity we don’t have a means of storing the happiness producing warmth and light for winter.

I had a holiday. No 1 daughter and family came too. We went to visit my mother. She had intended to visit us this summer but had a wee hiccup with her health and decided not to travel. At 84 you never know what might happen so I thought I had better visit her. As we arrived it was a pleasant 23-25C and then got warmer. Towards the end of the holiday it was 36.5C, in shade. Who needs the Bahamas! It was too hot to go to the beach. Pity, because it is an ideal beach for children as there is no tide, the sand doesn’t shift and you have to walk fifty yards into the sea before the water is up to the knees. I even had my new swim suit with me. Apart from the heat and no shelter on the beach, what was putting me off going to there was the fact that the annual big jazz festival was on and I suspected the people who weren’t in town were on the beach.  And the thought of two hot sun cream smeared children covered in sand, looking like walking sand paper wasn’t attractive. Luckily mother has an air conditioner in the house so we got some relief from the heat. We made daily trips to the open market which is one thing I miss from home. They are common on the Continent too but our weather just perhaps isn’t suitable for them, too windy and wet. We spent a small fortune on peas and strawberries, fresh from someone’s little market garden. Amusingly, I heard that at the presidential palace during the Big Meeting the Press were supplied with pea pods! We are now a whole family of pea eaters. Even wee Lucy chomped her way through bags and bags of peas, kept her entertained. The wild blueberries were the smallest I have ever seen. Finland has had a very long dry summer as well. Trips to the shopping mall were popular as they had air conditioning.

Just how clever is the No 1 Grandson. I’d almost say his vocabulary and intelligence is on par with a certain world leader. Driving him home the other day he was telling me about a dinosaur, stegatricerasaurus – combining tricetratops and stegasaurus – and then stated it was a hybrid. What?? We have a budding genius in our hands. I must get out Husband’s old  Meccano set and see what he makes of that. Then it will be time for Quantum physics and the Ripple Theory.

Work has started again in a small scale. I have been assembling lots of single birds on beach stones, called Beach Burds. The first fun bit was to make the birds, in various colours. Walking on the beach choosing your rocks is good fun, very therapeutic too. You’d think it’s easy to find a rock on a rocky beach but to find just the right shape size and colour amongst the millions of rounded rocks isn’t as easy as you think. It is almost the needle in a haystack. The third fun bit is to choose the bird matching the colour of the rock. These rock expeditions take the form of dog walks. Poor dog gets usually fed up with waiting and does her own thing, wandering elsewhere on the beach, and being a sociable dog I don’t worry too much.  She hasn’t been known to maul anybody, just give a friendly sniff. 

Another birthday gone and I went again with my neighbour to Stobo, the health spa. Health Spa – I know I know, I do remember what happened last time…and it was great fun! 

While checking out this time a chance remark behind me set me thinking, silly thoughts, of course. The man said to somebody, jokingly I think, I hope, that he is looking for a new wife! Ok… That sounded like an advert. Wanted : New Wife. Low mileage, full service history, must have all original parts and a smart chip. Must be MOTd, taxed. Preferably with no baggage and hopefully low to medium maintenance costs. I just turned around and grinned. Mmm. Maybe I should use the advert to find a man!

I am now going to hang my liver to dry. I’m aiming for three days to start with. Make it two.