A Puppy Christmas
It’s been a good Christmas weekend with my parents, where I have had the opportunity to meet with the majority of my immediate family. Indeed, I don’t think I’ve spent this long with my brother in about ten years so it was good to catch up with him and discover that we have almost identical opinions on the major issues of the day, particularly Brexit. Indeed, his job is more imperiled than mine and he doesn’t know what the future brings, so I do hope that things work out for him. It’s a shame we’re having to go through this uncertainty though.
I met up with my grandparents on Sunday morning, and both seemed pretty lucid, at least for the opening half hour of our visit. They are 89 and 88 years of age though and although generally well, they do get tired quite easily. I tried to turn the conversation onto talking about my recent trips, what with my grandfather once being in the merchant navy, but there were few bites, meaning my brother and I largely just talked to each other. They still liked us around though and it was great seeing them, particularly my grandmother who was far more engaged than usual, perhaps due to the earlier time of our visit. Towards the end of our visit she did keep asking the same questions over and over though, but ultimately it was a pleasant morning.
Yesterday I went with my sister to my mother’s house for a meal, catching up with my stepfather and mother in the process. Both are well, with the former now largely having recovered from the eye operation he had to undergo during the summer. He had a detached retina and needed an eye patch, but it seems to have healed. I also got to meet their two dogs again - Wilma who is now 21 months and Henry the Puppy. Henry has calmed down somewhat since my last meeting with him in October, but he still sometimes hurls himself towards you to lick your face. He also gets quite jealous at times when you pay attention to Wilma, with him pawing your hand out of the way. In the end, I had to be a little secretive when greeting Wilma, with whom I have developed a rather strong bond. She certainly seems to love me as much as I love her, and she’s always a pleasure to be around. She does treat Henry a little more harshly now as he’s no longer little, but she’s still incredibly tolerant and docile, and always great to pet. He also likes “shuggies” where tit stretch his belly, but sometimes her gets excited and you see his lipstick. We took both dogs for a short walk while the lamb was cooking, after which we had a splendid three-course meal of celeriac mashed with mustard, roast lamb and all the trimmings and stick toffee pudding with cream for dessert. I was feeling impossibly bloated afterwards.
It was a shame we had to leave my mother’s at 7pm as she had to go to Marks & Spencer to pick up her Christmas shopping at 8pm. She’s hosting my grandparents, uncle and aunt so this was important, but it enabled me to head home and spend time with my brother and father, like I had done on Friday night too. We chatted about many things, including my potential move to Sweden, which I ran past him for its viability. It certainly seems doable and I thought of other angles as I explained the plan, so I do hope it happens next year. At 10:45pm on both nights, my brother headed upstairs for a bath, leaving me with my dad, with whom I shared some beers and conversed some more.
The only other thing we did was on Sunday afternoon, when we went for a walk around Richmond and Easby Abbey while my brother cooked a roast beef coated in cheese and mushroom (which with full trimmings and Yorkshire puddings was exquisite). Richmond was quite melancholy in the darkened December skies, with the countryside lacking the life you would see at other times of the year. The walk along the banks of the River Swale was quite beautiful despite the glumness and Easby Abbey was beautiful in its twelfth century intricate stonework. Sadly Christmas Eve is one of the three days of the year when it’s closed, meaning we could only look at it as we walked along the path skirting it rather than actually exploring its ruins. The window frames in particular were your striking in shape, with the stonework wrapping around where the glass would have been. It must have been quite stunning in its day and I hope I get to have a closer look in future. Further of interest was the last mile of the walk was along the old railway leading to Richmond Station, which has now been converted into a cinema, cafe and arts venue. We entered the town over an old stone bridge which once carried the tracks over the river, with the station building itself about a mile further down, having being restored to how it once looked pre-Beeching. It was a nice bit of heritage, as was the railway worker’s cottage which is now part of a farmhouse, next to the track near the bridge about one mile from the station. The track here was particularly muddy and skippy so it was good my father let me borrow his sturdy gardening shoes. On the way back through Richmond, we also saw an art gallery selling sheep paintings that my father particularly liked and a DIY place selling carved animal statues out of tree trunks. The fox was my favourite.
I’m heading back down to Leeds now to spend Christmas with Wolfie, largely because I have to work on Boxing Day and Wolfie’s parents are away. It’s been great spending time at home and it has boosted my confidence a bit, particularly after a rather rough week. I’m off tomorrow, and looking forward to it, but Tuesday to Friday is largely a working as normal affair so I’m hoping to make the most of it.
I met up with my grandparents on Sunday morning, and both seemed pretty lucid, at least for the opening half hour of our visit. They are 89 and 88 years of age though and although generally well, they do get tired quite easily. I tried to turn the conversation onto talking about my recent trips, what with my grandfather once being in the merchant navy, but there were few bites, meaning my brother and I largely just talked to each other. They still liked us around though and it was great seeing them, particularly my grandmother who was far more engaged than usual, perhaps due to the earlier time of our visit. Towards the end of our visit she did keep asking the same questions over and over though, but ultimately it was a pleasant morning.
Yesterday I went with my sister to my mother’s house for a meal, catching up with my stepfather and mother in the process. Both are well, with the former now largely having recovered from the eye operation he had to undergo during the summer. He had a detached retina and needed an eye patch, but it seems to have healed. I also got to meet their two dogs again - Wilma who is now 21 months and Henry the Puppy. Henry has calmed down somewhat since my last meeting with him in October, but he still sometimes hurls himself towards you to lick your face. He also gets quite jealous at times when you pay attention to Wilma, with him pawing your hand out of the way. In the end, I had to be a little secretive when greeting Wilma, with whom I have developed a rather strong bond. She certainly seems to love me as much as I love her, and she’s always a pleasure to be around. She does treat Henry a little more harshly now as he’s no longer little, but she’s still incredibly tolerant and docile, and always great to pet. He also likes “shuggies” where tit stretch his belly, but sometimes her gets excited and you see his lipstick. We took both dogs for a short walk while the lamb was cooking, after which we had a splendid three-course meal of celeriac mashed with mustard, roast lamb and all the trimmings and stick toffee pudding with cream for dessert. I was feeling impossibly bloated afterwards.
It was a shame we had to leave my mother’s at 7pm as she had to go to Marks & Spencer to pick up her Christmas shopping at 8pm. She’s hosting my grandparents, uncle and aunt so this was important, but it enabled me to head home and spend time with my brother and father, like I had done on Friday night too. We chatted about many things, including my potential move to Sweden, which I ran past him for its viability. It certainly seems doable and I thought of other angles as I explained the plan, so I do hope it happens next year. At 10:45pm on both nights, my brother headed upstairs for a bath, leaving me with my dad, with whom I shared some beers and conversed some more.
The only other thing we did was on Sunday afternoon, when we went for a walk around Richmond and Easby Abbey while my brother cooked a roast beef coated in cheese and mushroom (which with full trimmings and Yorkshire puddings was exquisite). Richmond was quite melancholy in the darkened December skies, with the countryside lacking the life you would see at other times of the year. The walk along the banks of the River Swale was quite beautiful despite the glumness and Easby Abbey was beautiful in its twelfth century intricate stonework. Sadly Christmas Eve is one of the three days of the year when it’s closed, meaning we could only look at it as we walked along the path skirting it rather than actually exploring its ruins. The window frames in particular were your striking in shape, with the stonework wrapping around where the glass would have been. It must have been quite stunning in its day and I hope I get to have a closer look in future. Further of interest was the last mile of the walk was along the old railway leading to Richmond Station, which has now been converted into a cinema, cafe and arts venue. We entered the town over an old stone bridge which once carried the tracks over the river, with the station building itself about a mile further down, having being restored to how it once looked pre-Beeching. It was a nice bit of heritage, as was the railway worker’s cottage which is now part of a farmhouse, next to the track near the bridge about one mile from the station. The track here was particularly muddy and skippy so it was good my father let me borrow his sturdy gardening shoes. On the way back through Richmond, we also saw an art gallery selling sheep paintings that my father particularly liked and a DIY place selling carved animal statues out of tree trunks. The fox was my favourite.
I’m heading back down to Leeds now to spend Christmas with Wolfie, largely because I have to work on Boxing Day and Wolfie’s parents are away. It’s been great spending time at home and it has boosted my confidence a bit, particularly after a rather rough week. I’m off tomorrow, and looking forward to it, but Tuesday to Friday is largely a working as normal affair so I’m hoping to make the most of it.