Over A Gin

My initial meeting with the Irish psychologist led to another later meeting over a gin and tonic.

He was at the stage I was when I came on holiday last year 

When his relationship break up was raw and ragged and pain filled.

He talked and talked and talked 

and then he cried for a bit

And I found myself holding the hand of an almost stranger in a bar on the beach

" Do you know what the worst emotion is in all this?" he asked finally

" It's shame" I told him and he nodded a cried a bit more

After a while I changed the subject a little and told him the story of my recent mastectomy patient who got her bra rubbed around the wrong way causing her prothesis to perch on her back like Quasimodo's hump.

It lightened the mood . 

We have arranged to meet up again for coffee

Despite his emotional mess , he is bright and interesting .

I think we both made a new friend yesterday.

5-2

Playing cards 

Under the Mediterranean moon of St Tecla 

Breezy and Warm

Breezy

It's warm

Candlesticks

For years I polished a pair of silver candlesticks that sat on various fireplaces at home.
I polished them and I loved doing so as I listened to the radio with silver polish on my knee and a pile of silverware at my  feet.
It was a ritual that I now miss
My husband took the candlesticks when he left
He bought them
I cleaned them for going on twenty years
I doubt they are shining now
The two squat Georgian candlesticks that shone in the firelight of the fireplace

A couple of weeks ago my sister threw out a load of antique stuff  and bric a brac and gave me first dibs on her stuff as she knows that we have the same taste.

The first things I saw were two charming pressed glass candlesticks sticking out of the pile
And cleaned up they glint with their own special glow on my mantle in the firelight
And they don't need polishing!!!

The View From My Garden

The cockerels are crowing  somewhere in the trees on the left.
They are chattering too as Albert stalks a rabbit in the shadows of the small bell tower
The crows above the sycamore are surfing the wind again and will crow a three crow warning when they see me in the garden with my bucket of coffee

Somewhere in the village, a dog is barking

A55

I'm tired tonight
Didn't get home until 9pm
Traffic bad along the coast
Even Wales has gridlocks
Nothing more lonely than a commute home
I'm not depressed
My new best mate at the hospice knows about my next "date"
"Leave me a note on reception stating 👎 Or 👍🏼 She asked as she left duty today
People love to know things about you!

Face

I met my friend Mave for coffee the day before yesterday
He told me I looked rough and my skin was dreadful
I listened to him and hit the moisturiser while soaking in the bath that night
That is where I sent this photo to my friend Kim !
" That's a lotta cream!" She texted
" I have a lotta face!" I replied

A Gap In The Trees

Most people now know  that I live down a small lane which leads out of the western edges of the village and down into a small shallowish valley.

The lane is bordered by steep hedgerows, which are gapped by five Bar gates leading into a succession of fields on either side.

In these fields are sheep, cattle and horses.

At the site of the last house in Trelawnyd, the lane turns sharply and narrows and at that corner you can gaze over the fields to a line of hawthorn, hedge dotted with trees and bramble in the near distance. That line of greenery is perhaps two hundred metres away and it is set against the sky which extends far over the sea

Towards one corner is a gap in the trees. That gap is illuminated by a bright grey sky today.

Last night, it was illuminated by a glowing night sky, which sometimes resembles the silhouettes seen in a Hollywood movie. 

It often reminds me of the countryside around Tara in Gone With The Wind.

Looking back up the lane into the village

Down the lane towards the fields

Last night the dogs and I with Albert in tow wandered down the lane in the dark.

The gateway into the field is a favourite wee spot and Mary often gazes out into the darkness in order to watch the flag white flickers from rabbit tails as they turn to run back to their burrows

It was perhaps eleven thirty when our group congregated at the gate.

And as I looked over to the gap in the trees I could clearly see a silhouette of a man standing still against the night sky.

The figure didn't move

There is no house or even a footpath at the gap, just a break in the vegetation leading to another field beyond.

But there was a figure of a man standing against the sky.

I suddenly felt rather vulnerable and exceedingly unnerved by the whole thing and moments later I was hurrying for home, hissing at Albert to follow.