May 28th, summer weekend over and now we're back to four layers of clothes and freezing.

Here is a list of things I meant to talk about.

1.  Ben's blog is wonderful  www.gordybennett.com .  We follow him everyday and admire his wit, his observation, his courage and his adventures.    How did he get it all together so well?   I now think his next career should involve a) project management, or  b) tour guide writing.  
Clearly he can do anything he wants to.

2.  Life reshapes.  40 years ago I read novels and poetry  eagerly and constantly and listened to lots and lots of music, being profoundly moved by everything from Bach to Beatles via Brubeck.  Now I spend my non dedicated time to listening to news, science programmes and to doing puzzles and playing games.  Is this a function of getting elderly?  Or the invention of the internet?  I am never without my ipad/phone/pc.  

3.  Having said that I am getting into music again.   What is it about music?  How does it get inside you and make you understand truth and beauty and misery and hope and despair and having a good time?   Why can't we all write in music?   I look at musicians and think of them as sacred people, filled with a spiritual awareness unfathomed by us ordinary people.   But then again I know a retired violin player from a national orchestra and he is just an ordinary bloke about Malmesburg.

4.  Thank you, Happy Birthday, Miss you.   There are many people in my life to whom I owe debts of friendship, awareness, kindness , good times, shared experiences and other pleasant things.  I have not written enough thank you letters, kept in touch properly, remembered enough birthdays, send enough appreciative bunches of flowers.  I'd list my guilty conscience now but I'd be sure to miss people out and it would make things even worse,

We went to Malmesbury this evening to celebrate Sarah's birthday with Piers Hector and Toby as well as with Cara and Reuben.    Amazing how time flies- imagine Sarah being 38 already.    We are all lucky to have her as part of our family .xxxx  Happy Birthday Sarah

We are in a state of domestic calamity.  Our drains have been removed and for tonight we unable to use our bathrooms, dishwasher, washing machine. Dudley has just driven 12 miles, ostensibly to fill up my car with diesel, actually to have an opportunity to empty his bowels and bladder.  Tomorrow I have to be at an event at 8am.  I think I'll be able to hold out till then.   Dudley may have to go to Tescos (which has, I understand, been renamed Fortnum and Masons)   Alternatively he has the key to P&S's house.

Happy Birthday to Gabriel.  A Magnificent 11 years old, handsome, witty and good fun.  If only we could see him more often.  Here he is this morning- with his brother  whose leg, out of sight, is in plaster.

If you were visiting us you could be playing with the goats in the adjoining field-  except you couldn't because two of the kids disappeared yesterday and now the owners are scared they will all be stolen and are moving them somewhere else.

The house is very quiet now- it's a week  and a day since Ben flew away.  But it is extraordinary how closely we are in contact.   When I spent time in California and then crossed to Florida in the 1960s my parents knew nothing.   I phoned them- a big deal- on birthdays and wrote to them once a month or so, maybe.   But when Ben gets on his bike he starts up Garmin and we can follow him wherever he goes in huge detail (see left)  Then we go to sleep and when I wake up I read his blog and find out the details of his journey and am reassured that he hasn't been eaten by bears and has found somewhere to eat supper and spend the night.
I feel a bit guilty now.  My poor mother, in the end my father wrote to me and told me she was mad with despair and could I please tell let them know what I was doing and where I was.  I came back to the UK after that (and after meeting Larry and everything).  Thank you Ben, keep biking.  Read it yourself here.

On Sunday Sue Coe and I walked the 26 mile trail from Avebury to Stonehenge.  

Once home it was all I could do to walk to sofa.  Dudley kindly did what he could and today, Monday I can walk ok, albeit as if I was 90 years old.  

It's very beautiful countryside.  Cara and Jake and Reuben did the first part of it too, but an hour behind us so we never met.  She took some good photos though which you can see on FB   The picture below is a distant view of Stonehenge- the tiny blocks on the horizon.   It was a long walk, especially the last 5 miles.....

After a short bicycle ride and a beautiful walk across open fields and landscaped meadows and woods I came across these dogs (and a few thousand people, a few hundred shops and a few dozen horses)

I bought Dudley something as a present before I came home.