Packing up and the memories

We have had an interesting time since I last blogged; both YD and I were made redundant, we have just sold the old house and have to be out by the end of the month. This brings a rake of memories with it such as the day I first walked through the hall door, a new bride of one week, full of ideas, plans for redecoration, and hope. The day I returned from hospital two years later after we lost our first born child, and the safehaven the house became then. The joyous days we shared bringing ED and YD home from the maternity hospital. The storms that rolled down the mountains behind, the floods - particularly the one that threatened to make a swimming pool of the kitchen.

The times of tears, fears for the outcome of exams, times spent in hospitals, the laughter and joy all year round and the extra merriment at Christmas when the entire family of OH and I, ED and YD, Sister in Law and Mother in Law and my own beloved Mum gathered round the table. Mum who made Christmas extra special for me as she sat down to the table clasping her hands together, big brown eyes wide like a childs, and her compliment after dinner when she told me "you make Christmas Dinner just like my Mother". High praise indeed, she lost her Mother when she was ninteen years old.

Mother in Law passed away on 11 June this year in her 92nd year. Thirty two of those years were spent being my Mother in Law and it was not an easy relationship. I was not the daughter in law of choice, a Dubliner I was somewhere between earwigs and inert matter. Unfortunately for her I am resilient by nature so it all rolled off like water off a ducks back. I feel sorry for OH; she was not a hugely loving Mother, but she was his Mother and did one thing right in her life...gave birth to the best husband any woman could have, and a gentle but firm father to the girls. My pity lies with sister in law. Single and having shared a house with Mother in law for the last five years, she will miss the company. Ar dheis Dé a anamh.

We moved here immediately after Mum died, and we have loved the past three years building the extension, recovering the garden and now we look forward to having one daughter live with us as the other emigrates. Such is the way of life in Ireland now she must head for foreign shores like many before her, and it is likely that YD will head in the same direction next Spring. My heart breaks at the thought, but our children must do what they must do. "Thank God", my Grandmother used to say of my father "that Liam only emigrated to Dublin from Kerry". Wasn't she lucky.

We are now in the process of discarding furniture that we have no need for, sorting all the stuff for charity shops, all the stuff for the skip and thanking God that most of what we want has already been moved here.

My new build is a huge success. The most frequent word used by all who come to tea is "WOW!". Tiggywinkle joined me for afternoon tea two weeks ago, and hers was an opinion I valued deeply. Her own home is so elegant and the lady has such style that her WOW! hit the right spot.

I am now hoping that I will have more time to blog; read my favourite blogs and get the house sorted...yet again.

Baby blue tits flit past the new side door, Mother calling anxiously to them that Mme Pounce is in the vicinity. She is like a shabby tiger, we think she has that word beginning with C; the vet cannot confirm it, but we watch her with some anxiety. If there is any sign of suffering she will go to sleep permanently; until then she is free to sit on the new balcony and insult all and sundry as they fly past. The magpies sit on a nearby elder tree and make fun of her, she just flicks an impudent tail and stretches out to bask in what passes for a sunny day in an otherwise unsummer-like summer!