I’m sorry but today I can’t actually speak or write anything.  I have nothing.  It has been terrible.  We are moving Mum to a private nursing home tomorrow.

The garden is changing all the time. Tis the season.

I have a gardener coming tomorrow to do a bit of a tidy up.  Mum has told me to tell him what to do – basically make some order in the chaos.

Sometimes, I after a morning in hospital, I come home and wander around looking at the last of the flowers.

It is all a bit bleak now – garden and life, in general.

Still, Ted is always around for moral support.  It’s his garden too.  Therapy for us both.

Today was a trip to Wokingham in the pouring rain which came and went very fast but was very wet.

First to Robert Dyas – possibly one of the best shops ever. It has everything and we wandered round in a mixture of awe and happiness, quickly found and bought what we needed.

Floss and I then made a hasty dash in the rain to Waterstones Bookshop. We both walked through the doors, stopped and sniffed the lovely smell of new books.  What heaven.  I treated Floss to a couple of books as she saved the day looking after Ted.  The least I could do really.

To Boots, almost next door, for essentials.  It is lovely to see what we can’t and don’t have in Shetland. Our Boots is about the size of Mum’s downstairs loo (a possible slight exaggeration!)

The rain returned but I wanted to look at the local market.  We were on the way back to the car anyway.

And then in the afternoon, while organising various things for Mum in absentia, I made this little chap. When I have spare time, I either transcribe the diaries or make sheep. It is good therapy.

Dear Daisy,
Please can you send me some photos of Haakon so I know he is doing ok.
Thanks, Mum xx

(so she did – these are from this morning, I think)

And the photos kept appearing, which was lovely. And I thought well, this is the same photo but it isn’t. A small arrival was busy arriving.

The most perfect of photos.

Begging. Pepper has no morals.  She possibly left them in the house.

And I adore this photo too. Pepper looks like a queen, happy to be carried around by staff.

It didn’t take long!

A have had a day spent running around (for Mum) as well as arranging various logistical stuff so it was lovely to come home to the Ted (and obviously Floss who has been holding this particular fort nobly).

When I saw Ted’s photos yesterday, I decided to give Ted the mother of all haircuts – those greasy whiskers had to go, as well as his claggy tail and some side hair.  After I had finished with my scissors there was a huge pile of Tedward fur and a small pile of actual Ted!

I think he looks are vastly improved and Ted was much happier too.