SETTLING IN

I woke early on the first morning in my new home having slept much better than usual. Twice during the night I had gone to the open window and look out on to the moonlit garden marvelling at the silence,no cars, no planes,no police sirens;nothing but the hooting of owls and the snuffling of a badger digging in the border under my bedroom window.

At dawn the sound of pheasant calling from the newly cut wheat fields and the chirping of sparrows cheered me as I drank my morning coffee.

Weary from my journey and  still sleepy I climbed back in to bed and from there I surveyed my room. Two windows looked out on to the garden ,the ceiling slopped almost to the floor as my room was in the roof of the house.

My son had filled the room with the sort of furniture I love and on my arrival I found piled up on my bed a heap of gifts,pretty ornaments ,cushions and all manner of treats placed there as a welcome ,it was a lovely thought.

A long landing runs the length of the top floor,opposite my room Pa was still asleep in a cosy own room of his own . A bathroom,a shower room and the guest room with their ancient wooden floors lead off the landing and at the end of the house my son's room spacious, sunny and commanding some of the best views in the house.

At this time I was still in considerable pain and was obliged to hobble about on crutches,even indoors though even this could not spoil my pleasure in such beautiful surroundings.

It has taken time to become accustomed to the size of the house,the large rooms and the luxury of space,even now,three months later I still marvel at the changes in my life and my good fortune.

Within days of our arrival there followed a spell of illness for me and exhausted as I was I had nothing with which to fight the pain and the dreadful weariness,thankfully I spent my afternoons wrapped in a rug on one of the huge reclining chairs in the library,while the last days of August drifted slowly away, with gusty winds and squally showers.

With the arrival of September my health improved and I once again took up the reins of the house. We had begun to know our neighbours,I had a gardener,and a cleaner to help me keep things in order and this I found very odd indeed.

I had once been a housekeeper to a lord and his lady and had also earned a living as a gardener when times were hard,so having “staff” felt very strange to me.

As the weeks passed I grew stronger,thanks to a new treatment regime and my new G. P's care. In the two months that followed our arrival I lost two stones in weight and it seemed like a miracle.

The operation that was cancelled in July will now take place in the spring and this will,I hope go a long way towards my rehabilitation, and for now the pain is under control at last and the medication which was making me so ill has been changed,it's wonderful to feel the strength returning to my legs and arms.

Well I think that's enough catching up, it would take far to long to tell all and besides there is a Halloween party to prepare,pumpkins to carve cookies to ice and creepy skeletons to be made form old news papers,in fact all the fun of Autumn in the country.