Sun 25 Feb '18

..... and so we have come to the end of a busy, if not hectic. week ... for me, at least.  Today the weather is cool and the moisture from last night's storm still hangs in the air.  So too is the genral mood in the house.  Tiredness has caught up with them and not even a cosy sleep-in this morning has helped to soften the frowns and groans of the day before.  

Rosie is particularly quiet and moody because John is getting ready to travel back up-country for another week's work on the building site and baby is raggedy around the edges.  Something  I can relate to very welll as I had an absent husband for 17 years of our marriage while he too worked around the country on various big construction contracts.  I was both mother and father to my boys, teaching them to ride their bikes, catch fish, dive from a high board, play cricket and flick-flack down the gymnastic mat.  Memories captured in snap shots, cheeky cards, pressed Mother's Day flowers, sea shells, award badges and such like nick-nacks are my priceless treasures mothballed deep inside my kist.

And my nephew is also packing up to go back to Iraq where he works in the military security detail.  He is loud, raucous and entertaining and his personality overwhelms a room like a tsunami.  He is nature's original rolling stone and carries his worldly goods in a kitbag and a surfboard on his shoulders.  His only ambition is to live each day as it comes, good or bad, and to die knowing that he gave life his best shot.  His work routine is 4 months work and 2 months leave, so when he's back on leave he goes couch hopping with his kitbag and surfboard.  He sure knows how to make himself at home wherever he finds himself  and although is pays his way, he is exhausing company.

I have a very soft spot for him, but in small doses - a sentiment both Rosie and I share.  She is somewhat pissed off that he parked off here on the same week-end she was hoping to spend with John, so I felt the chill on the front door step and opted to watch iTV's re-runs AGAIN.  At the moment I'm entranced by Dancing on Ice - how anyone can be so elegant and graceful on those wafer thin blades while completely out of their natural element inspires me to adapt my own attitude to living on the edge of the rainbow..... Bye for now