Atopi!!

The dreaded atopi....excema in English... has struck. Years of living in Japan with so many sufferers always made me think how lucky we are that none of the family have it. Until now and I am the one who has it!! Of course there are no answers as to why or where it came from, but there are no rigid food regimes to follow and only a cream to use. Simple care will improve it and life goes on, only it is a bit more itchy than usual.

Rye

While the girls have been in Japan, John, Adam and I have had a good time as smaller unit of three. Adam studied for his GCSEs during the day and in the evening we all chilled together. One night Adam and I went to the local pool where I perfected my walrus imitation in the aqua-aerobics class while Adam dodged the tidal waves sent out by the ladies. It was fun and oddly he did not seem ashamed to be seen with me. A friend tells me this is because I am not his mother, sons get embarrassed about mothers, not step mothers...well not as much.

On Saturday I did my first solo viewings of a property, which remain unlet, and after work John and I headed for the south coast town of Rye. http://www.visitrye.co.uk/ Highly recommended. It was once the home of what seems like most of England's smugglers as well as the author Henry James. His former residence, Lamb House, is now a National Trust property. Lamb House was later the home of EF Benson who wrote, among other things, the Mapp and Lucia books. He used Rye as the setting for many of his stories, and having just finished one of the novels, oblivious to this fact until we got there, it made the place even more appealing.

We stayed at Durrant House (rhymes with currant) http://www.durranthouse.com/ a five star B&B which was lovely. Being on the coast, we went out for a sea food for dinner and had superb English mussels followed by grilled whole sea bass and plaice.

Ever since we moved to England, John has talked of driving through Kent, the Garden of England, and as promised, it is very beautiful. We walked along the cliff tops at Hastings Country Park on Sunday, where there were many happy dogs sniffing for rabbit holes and chasing balls. The sea was calm and blue. There is nothing I like more, water, fresh air and lots of space.

We took Adam back for his last term at Ardingly last night, after the ritual meal out on the way back to school. It was a big moment for him with exams looming and the end of his time there not far away, and a big one for John who remembers the little boy who waited outside with his suitcase packed for his parents to take him away, just days after joining.

A touch of empty nest syndrome last night. The girls have not called other than to say they arrived safely, so I phoned them today and it will be so good to have them home again on Friday. Although I do not want to detract anything from their valuable time in Japan.

Women of a certain age

The week after Easter we were visited by our good friend Francoise, from Belgium. Now that I am working full time, we had to leave her alone some of the time, but she sewed, read and did some of that mountain of ironing that never seems to get smaller!!
(John, rather cleverly, decided to take our queen sized bed to Whitley Bay that weekend, so that we could have 'girl time'. He rented a truck and between the two of us we got it all loaded up...HA! Only to discover 10 hours later that one rather significant bit of the bed was still in our garage!! )
The weather was horrible, but we managed to get to the garden centre to stock up on vegetable seeds for her garden. (She lives in a converted barn and has vegetables and an orchard).
On Sunday we went to a flea market to discover that maybe the English are not so stoic about their weather....there were only three stalls! We then went to Wakehurst place, part of Kew Gardens where the Millenium Seed Bank is housed. http://www.kew.org/msbp/index.htm The gardens and house there are wonderful, and we were blessed as the sun came out and allowed for a very pleasant walk.
In the evening on Sunday, the girls' grandmother arrived from Japan, so we had two grannies in the house. John returned and we had to ask Adam to stay away as we are now one bed short! Em slept on a mat on the floor.
Francoise left on Monday and the girls, with their grandmother fly to Tokyo on Friday.
A sad time for me, but vital for them that they see their dad and get back in touch with all their friends.

slipping away

I am letting time get away from me and doing little about it. Tomorrow (18th March) we will have been here a year, and what a year. I am glad we did it the way we did, but do so want the next year to be different. Better. We had lots to contend with, job wise, at school, at home and of course personally. They never complain, but we think that the kids have coped with all that has come their way brilliantly, not effortlessly, they have all had to work hard to adjust, but they seem content and positive about what is to come. I hope that this year John and I find things here that give us joy (apart from each other!) and make it feel more like home.
My feeling at this point of time is ' we made it' and this time next year I hope it is more like 'that was a great year'. Up to us really.

February in short?

We have been to Richmond, near the home of Kew gardens, a lovely town on the Thames River. Virginia Wolf once lived here, as do now, other well know writers, actors and musicians.

We spent the day with friends and took a walk along the Thames, which when out of the city itself, is a very lovely river. There are lots of small islands, boats, and of course birds, many ducks and geese to feed, herons, egrets, seagulls and naturally, pidgeons! (I really want to cook and eat a wood pidgeon one day...more on that later.)

John and I really enjoyed the company. We feel a bit at a loose end here in the UK. As beautiful as it is, we have not really found our feet yet. It has proved to be somewhat hard to make new friends, odd for a pair like us, who will talk to anyone! My volunteer work has at least given me the opportunity to meet more like-minded people, but John has been immersed in work and apart from the very welcome, enjoyable visits from old friends, it has been a bit flat socially.

John has however, found a choir to investigate, I am toying with a couple of local groups to join, or at least look over. (They will need to look over me in return too!). One is the local allotment group, another the local bee keeping group. It has always been a dream to keep bees. I will let you know how I get on. Keeping them now is not really possible, but maybe one day?

Other news is JOBS. I have a new one at a property management company. At the moment my days off from the garden centre are being spent at the new office with the two other women who make up the company. There is a lot to learn and it will be some time before it is under my belt, but so far it is interesting. I will really miss the garden centre. It has been wonderful. The days off during the week have been a big bonus too. Now the hours are a lot longer, the pay is better but there is some flexibility. My days at Standen are not yet over.

The girls had their grandmother here from Japan two weeks ago. She brought the sun with her and it has been shining since. It has also been extremely cold at night, but all over the countryside there are flowers blooming, birds and other wildlife are stirring and the days are getting longer.

Now it is half term and the girls are in Whitley Bay, John's home town with his parents, who have stepped into the grandparent role wonderfully. They spoil the girls, who love visits up north and who now have three new 'cousins'.

Between us, John, Adam and I have been painting and the living room is almost done. It may be that we never really get this house feeling the way we want to, but we are getting closer.

January

With only days to go it is hard to summarise all the events of this month.
John has adjusted well to the commute to London and we are considering having only one car...
Hannah celebrated her 13th with a party at home. Way too many girls, mobile phones, squealing and dubious music, but it was a hit all the same! We are aiming for a small intimate (quiet) gathering next year.
I have been busy job hunting and am still reasonably bouyant about the total lack of interest in my skills in this town.....it just all seems to take so long and that includes being told, 'no thanks'! John is the one who helps here. Lots of boosting. He is good at that.
The weather has been dismal. We both look at the garden all the time, but even after a dry weekend, it is too soggy to dig. Still, we have selected our potatoes for this year....very conservatively we have gone for Maris Piper.
Em and Adam are both well. Em is not playing in the orchestra this term as it clashes with netball....and she is thinking about moving on to clarinet after many years with the recorder.
Adam had his GCSE mock examinations with good results. It bodes well for the summer.
We have had the kitchen looked at for a major renovation to be done mid year. It will be costly and messy, but we think worth the effort.
The girls' obachan comes from Japan next month and we have all sent our wish lists. We now tune into the online TV news every morning and get all the updates. It is good for our Japanese.

Happy New Year

Happy New Year to one and all. The holiday is over, the Christmas decorations put away for another year and the children back at school! We celebrated in Whitley Bay, John's home town on the north east coast of England. A lovely place with long beaches to walk on and lots of countryside. It was a short trip. We drove up on Dec 30 and were back here on January 2, which is in fact, John's birthday. The few days away were spent walking, eating, drinking and talking to family and friends. The perfect holiday.
Back to reality and I am on the hunt for a new job. I love the garden centre, but it is not very viable financially. The weekends are not a problem for me, in fact the weekend is not a bad time to be working as we tend to be busy and time flies, but it makes it a bit harder to organise family life. As we are only ever all together at the weekend, I see a lot less of everyone.
So I will be peddling my CV around town and will let you know how I get on.