Birthdays, birthdays and birth days

No prizes for guessing what the reason for this evening's post....and my apologies for bloging again so soon after Thomas...I hadn't realised he was writing something...and it had occurred to me the other day that neither of us had uploaded anything for some time.

As Tom has already mentioned, it's Jack's 30th. birthday today....another milestone for a member of the family. It was Pops' birthday last Thursday the 29th...it was his 83rd. birthday...I guess when you get to that age then any new birthday is a milestone! Pops came here for supper....and received various cards and presents. Jack and Stephe gave him a card...they wrote this inside...."Pops, we didn't have time to buy you a present, so we decided to get you a great-grandchild instead". I suppose that's as good a way of telling people you're expecting a baby as any....

Jilly would have been absolutely over the moon with excitement to discover that grandchildren were on the way. Knowing how much she was looking forward to the patter of the tiny feet of another generation of Luces has tempered my own enthusiasm, but I'm sure that by the time we get to next June I'll be fully engaged.

I've discovered that grief for the loss of loved ones has been a little like worry about children. The amount that you worry doesn't change much...the things that you worry about change.... but the level of worry is about the same. I've found things a little like that with Jilly's passing....the levels of grief haven't changed much, but the reasons have. In the first few days it was all those things that happened on a daily basis that were challenging. Getting used to those "very regular" things being different has taken time, but the upset has reduced....to be replaced by the upset of doing things that only used to happen occasionally. Being with friends on an infrequent basis has its own challenges....where we used to be 4 (2 couples) it's now very obvious that we're only 3....it's VERY obvious. That's proved a surprise for me....I hadn't seen that coming. Strangely, I'm not sure if things have been more difficult lately...that might be because I've tried to get back into normal mode....who knows. Certainly writing Jack's birthday card was a little thought provoking...the first time I've had to write a card with only one name at the end. Strange isn't it....I didn't see that coming either. I wouldn't make much of a palm reader!

Reading back over those last couple of paragraphs has made me have a word with myself....as the missus would say, "man up". Enough already...

We keep having to cope with bloomin' Alexa. Yesterday we were asking her to play seasonal music....Pogues and Kirsty McColl....Bing Crosby...Chris Rea...and then we got bored and starting asking for "other things". the most obscure request was "Alexa, play Land Rover exhaust noises"...unsurprisingly she didn't have a clue. She did however know have many miles it is to Mars and how tall she is....and...did you know where we would end up if we started digging hole in the garden and just kept going? Here's the answer.....

For tonight's final photo(s) I've decided to show our reader some of the "stuff" we still have around the kitchen here at Seaford. Photos that Jill put up on and in cupboards that we haven't taken down....no need really....they're quite amusing and make us smile.

 
Yes...we've still got Poldark stuck on the fridge...and here's the selection from the inside of the cereal cupboard....

Three of me (two with dark hair!!).....three of Jill.....Jack abseiling down Mount Bingham...and some friends added for colour! No Christmas decorations yet......but soon.....keep watching for more updates.