Highs and Lows

My husband loves the sight of Wind Farms - this one in Northumberland on our way to Scotland last week.

Crossing the border into Scotland where we stopped for a cup of tea from the refreshment van.

In the beautiful gardens at Crathes Castle near Banchory, Aberdeenshire.

Crocuses already... isn't it too soon for them?

  Fibonacci spiral in a begonia leaf in the glass house there - it never ceases to amaze me the mathematical beauty of the natural world.

 The photos are just a little glimpse into the beginning of our break last week which was lovely and awful in not quite equal measures......but I'm not going to write it now.

In the Saturday Guardian newspaper a woman writes a column called A Marriage in Recovery. Her husband is alcoholic.  This week she writes about an exercise they were given to do to record five highs and lows in their day - the best and the worst  - and then tell them to each other.

These are my highs and lows today  - 3 of them anyway.

Highs.

1.  This morning using my shiny new printer ( early birthday present from my dear sisters) to photocopy the invoice ( which I think is very moderate considering the amount of work and they do) from our accountants.

2.  This afternoon finding a novel I want to read in a second hand bookstall in the street market for £3.00 instead of buying it from Waterstone's at £7.99 or downloading it  onto my ipad for £4.99.

3. Ringing the Residents Parking help line to order more Visitor Parking Permits ( only allowed 60 a year which is not enough for us) and discovering I can get an Essential Parking Permit for visitors who come to see my husband in their caring/support capacity - like our lovely Age Uk be-friender -  instead of having to use our book of visitor permits which are running out.

Lows.

1. Phoning a friend who is an ex policeman about the likelihood of a court summons for my husband because of his speeding offence. He doesn't know if he'll have to go to court or if he'll just get a penalty  or a ban but the thought that my husband could lose his licence makes me realise how our lives would change totally if he couldn't drive any more.

2. My jeans are horribly too tight. Don't know if it's because I'm still bloated from the after effects of the colonoscopy I had on Saturday ( nothing serious) or if I've put on pounds in the last few days. Either way I hate it.

3. At lunch, my husband's distress when he can't remember where Topsham is - a place we go to often and walk by the estuary and which has happy associations for him - even though I describe all the details I can think of. He recalls it in the end ( he has painted a picture of a view of the river there) but he goes into a dark place about it.

One more high....my husband brings back 4 huge Conference pears from the allotment. They aren't ripe but they will be and there are 18 more on the tree. Last year the whole crop was stolen before we could pick it.

 So we are winning on the pear front at least.