Long Ago and Far Away

That is the title of a song by James Taylor that I used to play over and over and over again...way back in "the days".

It came into my mind this morning as I awoke and looked out my bedroom window and thought about today.Here we are with the grass cut in the paddock and Ian making baylage when he used to make hay.

The same view and the same activity thirty years ago to the day when my Mum was told she had a tumour the size of a grapefruit lodged in her brain.

Her future wasn't certain then but Mum was determined to live.

Tomorrow we will be celebrating her 80th birthday here in the garden...the weather forcast is for rain and winds...not nice...but we shall have it anyway, the forecast isn't always what we end up with , a bit like a dire medical prognosis !

I have been baking cakes and Mum's favorite foods all week and just want the day to be really special for her.

Tonight our youngest daughter Sarah is flying to Boston. She is spending three months over there caring for three little girls. In February she will have a few days on her way home with her big sister ( tiny happy ) in Norway.

Alexander flew to London last night from Auckland, so my thoughts are with him as well.

I am FULL up with different emotions and such strong feelings today. I wish my Dad was here to give me a hug and a smile.

Yesterday I was in the car and stopped at an intersection not far from where my parents lived when Dad was alive. A car drove past with an elderly man that had such a similar profile to my Dad that I gasped, and for one brief second I believed it was him. He was wearing a knitted vest and a vyella shirt that could have been my father's.

Yesterday was Tristan's ( eldest son) birthday and he will be here for Mum's birthday, if he isn't making silage on his farm ( nothing waits for haymaking and silage...not births or deaths and certainly not important birthdays !)

I will have a birthday surprise for him too. I finished the Cobblestone Pullover last night.

It feels so good to have this finished, actually it has been rather a marathon to make. I had to make it very long and the sleeves are much longer than the standard size, because Tristan has very long arms. I can't wait for him to try it on.

Now I can think about the Tangled Yoke Cardigan for me. I have had this lovely felted tweed wool for a year and have been longing to start.

Maybe a few rows of this and James Taylor, will make me feel better.