Thursday 31 December 2015

The pictures that made 2015

Like many other people on Blog-world at the end of each year  I go back and look for some photos that tell the story of our year.


 Here are just a few from 2015 


Crocuses in the kitchen early in the year

March and our first holiday for nearly 3 years, we climbed to the highest point on Exmoor
My 60th Birthday
Fresh from the poly-tunnel and garden in April

The arrival of the skip to clear the rubbish ready for putting the smallholding up for sale




Our eldest getting married in May



We bought a bargain caravan - off ebay for cheap holidays
Real frog meets stone frog in the garden sink-pond



The pest who pinched the walnuts


Townend my favourite NT house in the Lake District
End of an era, after 23 years, the very  last things that we put out for sale
The article in the East Anglian Daily Times that found us our buyer
The early Christmas family get together and our son-in-law and eldest daughter who are the parents to be next June


That was our year.

This year I found looking back very difficult, life seems upside down, so much has changed, there is much unknown ahead. We didn't know at the start of 2015 just how many health problems were going to appear or how serious they seem to be.
Financially it was a good year, my unexpected pension payout, the campsite income, selling our surplus at 3 car boot sales and the yard sale all boosted our income in a year when Col wasn't able to do the odd jobbing.
The garden was good in most parts and I have made a store of jams and chutneys to see us through the next couple of years.
We will have a new member of the family in June 2016 when our first Grandchild is due, which is exciting but I'm sad that we will have moved away from the smallholding and future grandchildren will never know what was here  and  that we kept goats and sheep and had all the fruit trees etc.
Then  our son and fiancee will be getting married in December  so that's another thing to look forward to
but we thought we would  have an opportunity to travel once we moved, but with illness - who knows. In March we climbed Dunkery Beacon on Exmoor but at the moment Col hasn't got enough energy for more than a short walk on level ground.
We don't know how we'll like living in town or if it's too big a change. Strangely our living costs will be more for a 2 bed bungalow in Ipswich than for our 4 bed home in the country - will we manage? Will our savings last until pension time.
As I said- upside down, topsy turvey and unsettling.

I'm struggling with blogging at the moment, there isn't much to write about here, whatever I mentioned over Christmas seemed to need justifying to someone in comments which gets a bit tedious or perhaps I'm feeling particularly sensitive.
So maybe I'll take a short break from blogging, perhaps for just a few days or maybe until  we know what Col's treatment will be. He has a bone marrow test mid month to confirm the diagnosis of  C.L.L ( Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia ) and then we will know what happens next.

Expect me when you see me!
Sue













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