Sunday

 Good morning.  No rain this morning and yesterday afternoon the sun came out.  Two reasons to feel cheerful.

Yesterday was a funny old mix of sad and happy with some pleasant surprises thrown in.

The first very nice surprise yesterday was that  I opened up my mailbox first thing to find a message from the Premium Bonds people to say I had won.  Of course, they never say what one has won so I went online and it was the basic win of £25.  I'm certainly not sniffing at that.  It's £25 I didn't have before the draw and it is great.  I always reinvest the money rather than withdrawing it.

Before Beth woke up, I attacked the airing cupboard and some of the built in cupboards in 'my' room.  I think it is fair to say that Mum kept pretty much every bit of bedding that wasn't actually in holes.  I found blankets at the back that I remember having on my bed when I was a little girl!  It is now mostly out and on the long window seat on the landing and I just have to go through to make sure there's a quilt and some sheets, etc, for each bed in the house.  Dave and Anna are coming later on to take the rest for a local animal sanctuary.  Mind you, I wonder if they realise quite how much there is.  They are also planning on taking a load of old magazines and a nest of tables and I don't think their car is big enough.  We will see.

The second very nice thing was the arrival of a lovely bouquet of flowers from Diana, Mum's much younger sister.  It was good to take a bit of time out of sorting and clearing to get them into a vase.

Beth and I worked hard and get everything done that we had planned to do.  All Dad's clothes are now in black bags in the car port for collection, the photos have been sorted and, mostly, chucked.  In these days of digital photography, it is easy to forget how many duds one took to get one half-nice photo.
Finally, we wrapped nearly all of the china in newspaper and into bags and Beth now has it at her home.  I can bring the rest with me when I set off home this evening.
There's still a way to go but we'll get there.

And the third very nice thing was the best of the lot.  Alex (grandson with autism) got confirmation of his finals results and he's only gone and got his Masters in Mathematics with first class honours, that's all.   Blimey!  What a total star!  Things have been so very difficult for him since the whole covid thing, he hasn't coped at all well with all the uncertainty and disruption at times and . . . well, it's just fantastic.  I wish I could tell Dad - he supported Alex all the way through his four years at uni, both financially and in other ways too.  

So it was quite a day and I was shattered by the evening.  Today, as already mentioned, Dave and Anna are coming.  I have a chicken to roast for lunch and bedding to sort out so I'd better get going.
Have a good day and take care.  xx