Well the last two weeks have been busy busy busy and a bit frantic. Kathryn arrived from Oz and off I went to meet her, hit the usual crapola on the M25 and took three hours to get there. Then another three coming back so by the time we got home we were both exhausted, Kathryn with jet lag and me with M25 lag.
The first part of her visit Kathryn was with her dad and family and I took a backseat as the other half of the family were all meeting up in Garda for the second week, and after all my long haul flights over the last few years it was a delight to have a mere hour and a half on the place before landing in Verona. I had arranged for a pick up for us and off we went and, guess what, there was an accident and the trip took two hours to get to the hotel instead of one. Doomed Doomed I thought.
Anyway we had a wonderful time and words cannot describe the grandeur and beauty of Lake Garda. It was breathtakingly beautiful and quite overwhelming at times. Hotel was excellent and we all spent a lot of time in the pool with the children and Kathryn had a great time with Florence and Beatrice. We went into Riva one evening for a meal and sat in the main square for over three hours eating, drinking wine and just watching the comings and goings, just one of those great times where you sit back and think gosh this is just perfect.
It was hard parting with Kathryn on return. She had to go straight to Heathrow where she spent the night in a hotel as her flight was fairly early the next morning and I will admit to being very tearful and felt bereft. I am planning a visit to Australia next year so will keep that in mind throughout the winter.
Here are a few random pics for you all.
I did find while I was away that the swimming every day really helped my back which has been very painful over the last few months, getting out of bed in the morning has been a tad difficile, and I decided to see if I could find a swimming pool in Colchester I could use. I will not go to our Leisure Centre as it is huge and impersonal and the pool is always full of swimmers ploughing up and down who seem to think they are training for the Olympics (well they may be...) and charge past anybody doing a nice genteel breaststroke. So I found a Health Club just a few minutes drive away and I have joined, not for the gym I hasten to add, I loathe workouts but they have a great pool, a sauna, steam room and jacuzzi and my membership which is for weekdays only, also means I can attend Pilates and Yoga if I wish. I went in for a swim the other day and, as it is a day time membership, all the other swimmers were ladies of a certain age and chatted and talked and made me feel welcome. Half an hour in the pool and my back was functioning beautifully so am determined that I do this regularly.
Took my Kindle on hols with me but was so buy with the family that I did not have time to do much reading, but I really enjoyed a book called Wintercombe by Pamela Belle which I first read when I was a teenager. A historical novel set in the time of the Civil War and I had forgotten how much I had enjoyed it and I loved it all over again. I managed to download the second one and read that too, so more of than anon.
It is odd being back home and all quiet. I had looked forward so much to all these events and now it is over and Kathryn has gone and it takes a bit of adjusting. I will admit to a few weeps this week.
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