All the best laid plans.....

Firstly I would like to wish everyone who reads my blog, a very Happy New Year!  I hope that 2020 is a great year for all of you.

Secondly I would like to apologise for not wishing you all a wonderful Christmas, but the truth is everything went pear shaped for us here just before the holidays and I never got the chance to post on my blog as planned.

I mentioned in one of my previous posts that I was going to the UK on the 14th December to meet up with my mum and my brother John and travel back with them to Spain on the 15th for them to spend Christmas and the New Year with us.  The journey to the UK was uneventful and although we had a slight delay on the way back to Malaga, all went well and we arrived home to my place at about lunchtime.

We had lunch and chatted for the afternoon, I think, if I remember rightly, my mum started to knit a woolly hat for one of my dolls.  Then my mum went to my friends place (she was away and offered my family her place to stay in as since moving we haven't a lot of room), just a minutes walk away, to unpack.  

A little while later my brother came running back to tell me that my mum had fallen over and he couldn't get her up.  I ran with him back to my mum and she had fallen backwards down a small step......

The ambulance came and took her to hospital, she was in a lot of pain and having a panic attack because of this pain.  

To cut a long story short, my 83 year old mum was hospitalised with a broken hip and was operated on the following day.  Here in Spain, you're more or less expected to stay in the hospital 24/7 with your person, so I slept in the chair next to her bed for four nights.  We went home on the 19th and from that date on I looked after my mum at home, she was encouraged to walk using a walking frame, and has been doing really well, thank goodness.

My mum needed a lot of help at first, especially with her personal care, and I stayed with her at my friends place whilst my brother stayed with Brian and the dogs at ours.  My brother John has learning disabilities so he needs a certain amount of supervision too.

Christmas Day was nice though, if hard work.  We had our dinner outside on our deck as it was such a lovely day.  I didn't get time to wrap the presents until late on Christmas Eve, the Christmas cards remained in the box, the proper linen napkins and table cloth remained elusive and we had to resort to a paper tablecloth and paper napkins....the prawns for my seafood starter were uncooked so we couldn't eat those, and I had to substitute them for some crab sticks that were in my fridge that were barely in date.....and it wasn't until halfway through lunch that I realised I'd forgotten to put glasses on the table and wine in the fridge...but apart from that the food tasted good and there was plenty of it!!!!

After Christmas mum's insurance company sent a nurse from the UK to travel back with her to her home on the 3rd January, I had planned to go with her for a few days but decided to stay for just over a week so that I could help her in her home as well as get a care plan in place for when I came back home to Spain.

I arrived home last Saturday, 11th January, and slept in my own bed, with my husband for the first time in almost a month!  I have never appreciated my own bed so much! 😊

In the meantime my mum has a carer visiting each morning and a physiotherapist has been each day this week to help her to regain a good level of mobility.  She seems to be doing well and hopefully when I return to the UK again next month to visit her, she will be able to go back upstairs in her house as so far she has had to remain downstairs.

So today I got back to my Christmas present doll from my husband Brian.  She is a Zwergnase Junior Wentje and she is 55cm tall.  Wentje is one of a limited edition of 50 dolls worldwide, she is handpainted and has a human hair wig.  I haven't had time to sew her anything yet but hope to do so soon.  

Here are a few photos of her.  I think she is one of those dolls that really benefits from being photographed in natural light as she looked quite plain inside my doll room, but I think she came more alive when I took her outside this evening just as the sun was starting to set.

So there you have our Christmas.  My mum falling was a horrible end to what had already been a really awful year.  I am hoping that 2020 will be better for all of us.  I'm very glad to see the back of 2019 to be honest and am going into this new year with a positive attitude. 

I hope 2020 is great for all of you.  Thank you for continuing to visit my blog, please keep coming and commenting as I really appreciate it.

Big hugs to all of you

Sharon xxx  



 

And so back to sunny Spain!

I'm home again now from my week long trip to the UK and have to say that on the one hand it feels like the week flew by, but then on the other, I feel like I've been gone from the 'blogging world' for ages and ages!

I had a lovely, lovely time in England, visiting with my mum and brother and then the three of us going down to the south coast of England to spend a few days with my son Brendan and his fiance Virginia, in Worthing, West Sussex.

The weather was mixed, I arrived in soft drizzling rain and left in a downpour but in between it wasn't bad at all!  In fact apart from the Monday when we visited Brighton, I was able to go without my coat during the day (as long as I had my thick cardigan!) but Monday wasn't so nice and I ended up buying myself a couple of woolly scarves which helped a lot!!

I enjoyed the Chat n Snap, so perfectly organised by Dee of Sasha Village,  thanks so much Dee for everything!  I have to say I did a whole lot more 'chatting' than 'snapping' up of bargains, or snapping photos, as I actually forgot to take my camera out of my bag.  In fact, my poor dolls, having got all ready for their visit to their Sasha/Gregor cousins, never left the table in front of me as I was so engrossed in my conversations with the lovely people I met last year, or have met since on the internet!!  However, I did manage to spend some money at the event and will show those off on another post as I've not got the right accessories here at the coast to take photos of them  now.

So I thought I'd share some random photos of the Sunday when we arrived in Worthing, Virginia was in London with a friend over from Spain, so they are only of my family,  but hope you'll enjoy them.  I will put dolly photos on another post, another day!

My brother John and my son Brendan on the beach...

My mum on the promenade in Worthing, it must be warm, she's undone her top button ;) 

 These very curious young seagulls were strutting their stuff on the pebbles!

There were a lot of people enjoying a stroll on the pier, including us of course!

Oh gosh!  Is that me in front of the camera for a change? 

Worthing beach from the pier...

Looking east towards Brighton....are those the White Cliffs of Dover in the distance?  

Brendan was thinking "Now why didn't I bring my fishing gear with me from Spain?" 

I'm told the domed building is the newly refurbished cinema complex.  I like how they've blended it in with the surrounding buildings.

Now one minute my mum's head was in the hole....and then it was gone!!!  I have no idea what happened! LOL

I don't know what this sport is called but there were several pairs of people doing it!  It was a bit like gondoliers without the gondola or the Venetian canals!!  But it certainly needed a flat sea like it was that day!

The seaweed covered uprights of the pier...

I guess some people have to be told!!  

Children seem to enjoy playing on the beach regardless of how cold the water is, don't they!

I had a lovely time in Worthing, I was so happy to see my 'boy' and to know that he and Virginia are happy and content there.  I don't like that they are far away from us but it's their lives and they must live them to the full!  But I do so miss them!!! 

Thank you for looking, I hope everyone has a safe and happy Halloween and a good week ahead!

Teddy visits the Bioparc.....

On Monday I took Teddy to the Bioparc in Fuengirola.  I have blogged about the Bioparc previously, here when I took my blond Sasha for a visit to celebrate my birthday back in June 2013.  This time though it was my brother's birthday, yesterday (7th April)  he turned 50!  I can hardly believe that my 'little' brother, well my ONLY brother actually, has now reached 50!!!

So off we went to the Bioparc and I took Teddy along because he'd been such a good boy whilst my family have been visiting from the UK.  As is normal for me, many of my photos were rushed in case I was spotted 'playing' with a doll.....I look forward to the day when I have a grandchild who I can drag around with me, pretending the doll(s) belong to her/him!!!! ;)

Teddy wasn't overly impressed with his 'mode' of transport....he had to snuggle inside a large holdall wearing a thick bedsock on his head to protect his hair and face....but once he got out in the restaurant and sat with his 'nana' he was happier, especially when she gave him a drop of her hot chocolate!

My mum is a good sport, bless her, holding on to my dolls for me....but my son Brendan wasn't too keen to be seen with me holding a doll! 

Teddy wore his lovely new striped boat motif jumper knitted by the very talented Rosie Laird, shorts and socks quickly made by me, and nice navy blue sandals by Lisa Hartley...he looks incredibly smart, doesn't he? :) 

Teddy particularly liked looking down into the many water features of the parc, but I was always very wary of letting him do so....those fishes are pretty big and he'd make a nice snack for them I'm sure!

"Hold mine hand mamma, I wants to lean over to sees the birdies better!"

Teddy just loves to CLIMB!  My heart was in my mouth several times when I caught him climbing on the fencing......the hippopotamus looked very expectantly at the little striped morsel precariously perched above his enclosure!

Teddy loved the pinky coloured Flamingoes, wanting to take one home and keep it as a pet....he wasn't convinced when I told him that these pretty birds might prefer to give him a nasty peck on his little fingers or knock him flying with their large strong wings!

"But I wanna keep mine fingers mamma!" 

Teddy really enjoyed the fish.....maybe a small goldfish would make a nice pet for him?  

The Buddha didn't have much to say to Teddy .... but appeared to be listening intently to what Teddy had to say! ;)

A little rest....well it was a lot of walking for such a small little fellow!

I think he enjoyed himself, and he got back in the back and into his bedsock 'protector' without a word of protest...and slept all the way home!!!

 

Happy Mothering Sunday!

Although it's not Mothers Day here in Spain today, I'd still like to wish all my lovely friends, whether they be mums or not, a very Happy Mothering Sunday.  But in particular I would like to wish my own mum, who incidentally is the BEST mum in the world, a lovely day!  I know she won't read this because, in her own words she's not into "all that new fangled stuff!" but I wanted to say it all the same!  She really is the best!!!

My mum, with my son Brendan (left) and my brother John at our wedding in Gibralter.