Yesterday I also received bad news from France where my brother was playing in a tennis tournament, reached the finals, and then badly injured a knee - has to wait almost a week for an MRI - and is hardly able to move with a lot of pain!
Meanwhile, Bob went for his annual physical - it seems all is good despite his recent AFib diagnosis and having to take a blood thinner from hereon out. He looks amazing and will turn 81 on July 5 - following the fireworks displays of July 4th which his mother always said were in honor of his impending arrival!!!
I didn't do much of interest yesterday. . . . . . . but was happy when the postman delivered another long overdue UK Country Living magazine, this being the April issue! They are so late arriving due to shipping now by sea rather than air from England since COVID arrived. This is my favorite magazine and keeps me up to date with all I need to know about my far away home. Even after traveling the world there really is "no place like home." I usually don't stop and literally put my feet up much during the day. . . . . .yesterday I did!
. . . . . .and today? The sun is trying its best to come out this morning but it's obviously struggling. More showers later, then a five day spell of very hot, dry weather which will require time back in the garden to keep things in check.
Summer in the south is not easy to deal with but somehow we manage. Would I like to live somewhere else? In all honesty, yes I would, but it's not going to happen this late in life. I used to dream of returning to an English village and living in a pretty 'chocolate-box cottage' ~ now and then a seaport town in New England calls ~ or, if we'd gone wild and moved to the French village some years back, I would at least be there to help my sister-in-law care for my brother. As active as he is I'm betting he's currently a force to be reckoned with!
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Dearest Mary,
ReplyDeleteSad to read from your comment that your brother needs to wait one week on an MRI; sounds similar to The Netherlands—socialized medicine...
We are fortunate for living here in the USA and I doubt if my dear husband would have been still alive when we'd stayed in The Netherlands.
Can't complain about the climate here as both of us love the warmer regions. Having lived for about three years in the tropics, without any air conditioning (mainly the lack of extracting moisture from the air!) indoors we missed that.
Personally I hate the cold seasons and would never want to move back to any such area.
Bronchitis and asthma have not bothered me here... so it speaks volumes.
Yeah, mail is RIDICULOUSLY slow the final years!!! We are receiving magazines months late and it makes no sense. Often Pieter gets reactions and we have not 'yet' read the article.
On May 21 I've mailed a parcel to my youngest brother and it has not arrived there. Strange as it showed up on the tracking in the ISC in San Francisco on June 23 and it was in Miami on May 31... Can't follow this but know that next time I opt for the more expensive but far more secure UPS!
Hoping that Bob can manage his medical condition and above all, steer clear from stress. Guess this is still the best place to live for medical help. Expensive but reliable and above all FAST.
Hugs,
Mariette
Hi Mary :) Put those feet up!! :) I love Country Living and didn't know there was a UK version! I hope your brother heals quickly, ouch on the knee injury. Been through that and unfortunately I still feel it on humid days. I love your Wellies tea mug!!! :)
ReplyDeleteI am sorry to hear about your brothers knee. Glad to hear that Bob's annual went well. I am adapting to the humid summers here in Naples, Fl, but I will gladly put up with them to have the most beautiful winters! I am also enjoying just having an herb garden on my lanai and no other plants except a few indoor plants to take care of.
ReplyDeletesorry to read about your brother's injury. I think you can get an online version of country living - not quite as nice as ruffling those pages but would be a lot more up-to-date. Also there is a digital online magazine facility on our UK library - I would think it's likely your library has one too (you select magazines to read free - we can get magazines from other countries to a limited extent - maybe you can?)
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ReplyDeleteDearest Mary,
ReplyDeleteBy the way, love your Roman feet: https://mariettesbacktobasics.blogspot.com/2013/10/what-type-of-feet-do-you-have.html
I can think of nothing better than putting feet up and enjoying the latest edition of Country Living. What a shame it takes so long to come.
ReplyDeleteWhen I first went to a little seaport town in New England it struck me how like an English village it was.
ReplyDeleteI'm having a day today like you did yesterday! I think a lot of it is the weather here. We were in a severe drought and now we're having nothing but rain every single day. It's getting depressing. It's so humid and gross out that it's hard to breathe outside. I'm sure you're more than familiar with that feeling, with where you live!
ReplyDeleteI am so sorry to hear about your brother and Bob being diagnosed with A-fib, too. He's the same age as my mom - she'll be 81 at the end of July.
Country Living British edition is my favorite magazine, too. I haven't been to Barnes and Noble in a long time since the closest store went under. I now have to travel 1/2 hour in a direction I rarely go, just to get to a B&N. But I need to go there to get my magazine fix!
It's never too late to move...you could still do it. :-)
Thanks for sharing. I found a lot of interesting information here. A really good post, very thankful and hopeful that you will write many more posts like this one.
ReplyDeleteRegards,
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Sorry to learn of your brother‘s injury. I often think that the most difficult thing about many illnesses and injuries is patience - having enough of it, that is. I can see it in myself; I feel mostly fine after my operation but my body knows it needs time to recover, and then the next op is in just over two weeks - back to square one!
ReplyDeleteHow lovely to have your paper as a reminder of home; I have a subscription for The Dalesman to keep in touch with all things Yorkshire. Same as you, I receive it rather late, and more so since Brexit became effective, but usually still within the month and not months later.
Good news about Bob‘s health! How are you doing with your strict food regime?
Beautiful blog
ReplyDeleteI hope your brother gets better soon. The weather is crazy- hot here but there's always a thin layer of cloud and dust. Have forgotten what a blue sky looks like. Praying we get a strong wind to blow this all away before we plunge into the dog days.
ReplyDeleteDays like those can drag one's spirits down. I hope your brother gets his MRI more quickly. Glad to hear that Bob's checkup went well for the most part.
ReplyDeleteWe are in the midst of a sweltering heat wave - it's really incredible - and temperature records are falling everywhere. There's a lot of sitting with my feet up as we (like many here) do not have air conditioning.
My Country Living UK magazines are arriving late, too, although not as late as yours. I don't have the June one yet, but the May one arrived the first week of June. I hope some time for yourself lifted your spirits.
hugs,
Lorrie
Oh what a day! Days like that come and goes...
ReplyDeleteLove that magazine too and I find so much inspiration there!
LOVE from Titti
Hope your brother heals well.
ReplyDeleteI know I won't move to someplace of my dreams, but I still love dreaming of a sweet cottage in France or England. I love that magazine too and sometime pick it up at Barnes and Noble. The Christmas issue is always my favorite, but they don't usually get it until right at Christmas day or later. Shipping costs from the UK these days are crazy expensive.
Mary, yes, living in our summers is not easy. I listened to a news cast this morning about the heat wave on the east coast. They were talking about highs in the 90s, and I thought to myself, our summer norm is triple digits. 😂😂😂 Role reversal - our winter storm took us to extended days in single digits. This has been a strange weather year!
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