Summer

I did promise to write up a review of the month that was,just to keep up with my failing memory and to count my blessings. All to often we focus on the negatives,the things that went wrong and in the daily grind of day to day living it's all too easy to forget the good times. It seems May and June and gone by and for some reason I haven't made a single note of these months so let's club them together.

Every year the advent of May is not a happy time ,for those of us who live in this city it spells dog days ,blistering heat and untold misery as we sweat and tire ourselves out coping with the heat. This may our prayers were for courage and fortitude to be able to face it all despite growing older. It's also a scary time when one has an old person to look after (though the old person in question just gets on with it and can't understand what the fuss is all about. However we were in for a surprise. Not only did the temperature not cross into the 40s ,we actually had some rain and pleasant weather. My guest in May was the nephew who stayed for a week. Normally I don't entertain guests in May and June but thankfully he came with good weather following in his wake,so it was a good visit with plenty of good food which didn't give us heartache or rIse our blood pressure. The mother was glad to have her grandson At home and we were glad of the company. All in all a good month. 

June I am happy to say was one of the better June's in a long while. An unexpected visit from my sister was fun for us and after a break we were invaded by my neice and her brood. Having four children in a house that is essentially child free,meant that we had to child proof the house. Off went cushions ,table cloths (small children have a habit of pulling at tablecloths and bringing everything crumbling down) indoor plants were sent out and all breakable so were kept out of reach. Menus were drawn up,entertainment rosters dealt with and we got down to business. All children were read the riot act as soon as they arrived (in the past they have broken a few things so rules were framed to prevent such disasters)... They arrived and in a small flat four children and two adults kind of filled the place so in five minutes gone was our well planned child safe environment. Mercifully these are by far, well brought up children who actually understand the meaning of no and yes (in my limited experience most kids think these are words to be ignored especially coming from adults). Our neighbours dogs kept the youngest child entertained though at one point I was worried that the dog mistook the child for his dinner (not that he looked anything like the dogs dinner). The husband was official child minder while I retreated to the kitchen which is my place of refuge. My mother ofcourse simply got down to enjoying her grandchildren and her great grand children and basked in it. Ofcourse snacks were her doing so banana fritters which are a favourite with the kids was very much on the cards. All too soon three days were over and our guests were ready to leave and a few days later the month ended but not before I got myself off for a few days of swimming which thanks to the mild weather was possible.

So despite all the gloom and doom in the world two of the worst months turned up to be by our standards,not bad at all.