Bright, crisp and clear February morning in Derbyshire. I have shaken off the winter sloth and resumed my story telling! Sorry to my few friends who were following the blog before and wondered what became of me,  and welcome to any new folk!

To bring you up to date, my mother’s sudden death in August last year changed the landscape to such an extent that it took until Christmas to sort everything out.  I also travelled to California, Utah and Wyoming in September, and then the Christmas concert season was upon us.  David and I have just had a week’s break in Madeira to celebrate my 60th birthday- and I am soon to make a trip down to Uruguay to visit Chris who is still working there.  I have written to myself  some stuff about losing my mother, and rethinking through our long and complicated relationship.  The overall sense was that at last she is at peace.   Suffice it to say here that the sudden gust of free time and renewed sense of self her passing gave me  is making me ponder what to do next! 

The cold snap has put aside my good intentions of finishing the winter digging on the allotment. The ground is hard as ice, – well it is full of ice!  waiting for the Zephyrs to take over and bring in some Spring balm.     I have some stories from Madeira which may appear soon.   But, we are definitely back in action!