1st November: Long weekend

I managed to spring Simon from Rehab on Friday evening, and we have spent two whole days and nights together. This was fantastic, although I will not pretend that it was easy. We don't have an accessible bathroom at this house which makes life very difficult. We improvised quite well, and Simon has returned to rehab this evening in good shape. It was good to wake up together and just be able to potter around in the morning. Lazy breakfasts on the patio, and no hurry to get on the road which is our usual story on Saturdays and Sundays. Our neighbour, Jan, came over on Saturday afternoon, we cooked up some burgers and snags with some salad. This evening we had tender roast lamb with rosemary, roast spuds and three veg. Very good to see Simon eating his veggies.

We had to do a bit of sun-dodging this weekend, temperature over 30 and some wicked UV rays. I dipped in the pool several times today to cool off, but never in front of Simon - I so wish he could get in the pool with me. I know it can be done, but it will take four strong lads.

Simon spent a lot of time listening to his music, we raided the music room several times for long forgotten CDs. My pick was Prince "The Hits 1" album - that took us back to our youth, and we were dancing.

I mowed the lawn today and fear that I have already lost the battle. With just one week of hot, dry weather it has started to turn brown. I have raked and forked it, and plan to get some water on it this evening, but I fear it is not going to flourish. We have had so much rain here, but it never seems to be enough, I guess the ground water is low. At the new house we have a massive rainwater tank, it is almost the size of an apartment that I once lived in. That should help with Si's gardening plans.

Feeling good,

Love Marian xx