In the Beginning .....and up to 2021!

So ... not quite so 'Quick' .. as it's now 2nd January 2021 ... and SO much has happened!

This is a first blog, and being officially 'ancient' now, I rather think this is why it's taken me so long to actually START writing.  

My husband is called David and we've been married for since 1977. We met 'On the mat' ie training in Aikido, a Japanese Martial art.  Later we also practiced Tai Chi Chuan. We have two children, Vicky and Robin. We now have four grandchildren too! 

A quick timeline since 2007 !! 

Our first granddaughter arrived in 2008 ~ on our Wedding Anniversary! (This family seems to love to do things together.  Our children were born the same day, just four years apart ! lol! )

We lost my husband's mother later that year too.  She was 84. 

In September 2009 we finally managed to sell our house in Scotland, and moved lock, stock, barrel, car and dog Bracken to northern Portugal where we still live.  

We found a tiny black and white kitten that we named Dax just across the road from our house (after our housewarming party) ... but couldn't get near him or entice him to come over and stay with us and one day he disappeared.  We prayed someone else had managed to catch him ! 

In 2010, our son came for a visit and as the temperature was up around 44ºC we all went to a local Praia Fluvial - River Beach.  We were captured by a very small female Siamese cat and forced at whisker point to take her home with us ! lol!  She has the most amazing blue eyes so we called her Safira or Saffy for short, Safira meaning Sapphire in Portuguese. 

In spring 2013 a black and white cat turned up.  Adult ... male ... and suddenly we realised it was Dax!  Same markings, same calling back and forth with me as he'd done when we found him all those years before !  He was healthy so we didn't feed him or make much fuss of him, and he was still timid.  We felt that someone was taking care of him so we weren't going to entice him to stay.  However a few months later very late one night he visited again.  This time he was so scrawny, his fur a complete mess ...and he was obviously starving.  We fed him, and after a day or two took him to our vet who checked him for a chip and as he didn't already have one .. he chipped  him for us and gave us antibiotics, wormers etc ! So we now had two cats ! About a month later we had to flee our rented house that was in the middle of a forest with just one neighbour due to a forest fire!  We were very lucky as it burned for about 5 days or so, but the bombeiros or firefighters fought very hard and although the fire got within 60 m of the house (and our neighbours), our house was kept safe and we lost nothing.  It was pretty traumatic having to pack up suddenly in the middle of the night and transport our dog and two cats plus any worldly goods that were important to us or family heirlooms to stay in a friends apartment!  To make it more difficult, my sister and her partner plus his son and his girlfriend were visiting ... so it was pretty awkward !! 

On December 4th on our dear friend Barbara's birthday our son's partner and he gave us twin grandchildren - a girl and a boy! So now we had FOUR grandchildren.  Two of each flavour which is nice ! 

2014 arrived ... and in May Bracken our beautiful white, silent dog started to go downhill, until one Saturday morning it was obvious she was choosing to leave.  David and our friend Rosa stood by as I held her in her basket until she passed.  She was about 17 years old.  We buried her in a friends garden as she owns her house whereas ours at that point was only rented.  

Later that year Scotland had the Referendum.  My father in law, who lived in his own house in central Edinburgh was annoyed by the result and rang us to say "... btw .. I've decided to sell up here and come and live in a new house with you two in Portugal !" We were shocked as he had never been abroad, save during the last war, and had never even visited us either !  So .. we insisted he visit first.  In October he arrived, and fell in love with the country, the food, the way of life, the people and especially the double hug/kisses ... and didn't want to go home !  He HAD to, however, to sell up and empty his house (He sold it in a record FIVE days!) as he'd found the house he wanted to move into within about 3 or 4 days !

December 2014 came and Dusty, my father in law, didn't know that we'd already booked to visit as he was to celebrate his 90th Birthday .. three days after the twins' first birthday! However, as he'd sold up and needed to be cleaned out and up and moved out ... and over to Portugal we had to tell him and we extended our stay.  Had a great first birthday for the twins, a great 90th birthday/Goodbye party for Dusty and spent weeks clearing out over 50 years of junk and packing up.  We all moved into a hotel for the night the day the removers came : after all the house was empty and we had no beds there! As we had dinner late that night in the hotel near the airport, it began to snow .... fairly heavily.  It was beautiful, and ethereal in the street lights as we watched the snowflakes fall faster and faster through the restaurant window.  David and I were also a little worried that the plane the next day might be cancelled .. but we were lucky and had no problems! 

We flew to Portugal in January 2015 and moved into our present house in Amarante in March.  We had a fair amount of remodelling to do to allow Dusty to have his own area etc ... and this took time of course.  Dusty loved the house and seeing his grandchildren and great grandchildren enjoy visiting ... and swimming in the big swimming pool!

2016 arrived and life went on as usual, until one day in April Dusty; who was fit as a fiddle despite his age of 91; didn't feel too well.  He had an upset due to eating too much roast dinner the night before ... or so he thought.  Unfortunately, it was much worse, and despite him having no pain whatsoever he had a ruptured stomach ulcer.  After being rushed into the hospital he had it stitched up - but the following day as large ulcers have a tendency to do, it opened again but this time they doctors were unable to save him.  We were very shocked and upset of course, but tried to console ourselves with the fact that he was a very strong independent man, who'd been a Royal Marine in WWll and was very proud of it, and who never wanted to burden folk.  He was fit .. and went out fit .. and not after getting weak and frail which he would have hated. Later that year, we took his ashes back to the town and country of his birth Edinburgh, Scotland and put them with those of his wife Joan and young daughter Ann. We also had a big celebration of his life in a local hotel with all his neighbours and family and it was actually very special.  

2020 -  BLOODY COVID 19 arrived. Lockdowns, curfews you name it.  We've all been in the same or a similar boat I know. Most of us have lost someone. 

Meanwhile after many tests I was told I needed a total right hip replacement which is still hanging over me as Covid obviously slowed things down.  Which actually was helpful as I suddenly had terrible pains in my hands .. and needed surgery on them both!  Heck!  I need them for after the hip replacement surgery !! Typical !! 

I finally got my pension !  Being one of the Women Against State Pension Inequality (WASPI) I'd had to wait until being almost 66 before receiving my State Pension, instead of being 60 as expected! 

In October we noticed that Dax hadn't been eating for a couple of days.  Took him to the vet who found that in those few days he'd lost almost a ⅓rd of hise bodyweight.  He was 7 kilos originally and now was only 3 kilos 9000 grams! Many tests later he was discovered to have FIV ~ a form of feline HIV.  He might have been born with it or got it from a bite or scratch from some random cat in a skirmish over the years but now his kidneys were slightly damaged and apparently cats with damage to their kidneys often refuse to eat.  Despite the vet keeping him for weeks and us visiting and bringing him all sorts of treats nothing was working and he was still losing weight.  He didn't want anything but seemed happy enough. The day came though after I'd been in hospital for my bilateral carpal tunnel surgery, that it became obvious that he'd had enough.  He had decided it was time.  You could see it in his beautiful bright yellow eyes.  We brought him home, and cuddled and made a big fuss of him.  He slept in our bedroom - something we don't usually allow - and we made more fuss the next day.  Close to dusk we called the vets.  Two arrived a while later and while in my arms he was sent gently on his way over the Rainbow Bridge.  Believe me, we ALL were in tears.  He was buried next to Bracken in my friend's garden.  Dusty loved him a lot so I'm sure he's getting a lot of cuddles up there in heaven !! 

2021 ~ Due to the blasted virus, no family could visit and we couldn't visit them either of course.  Hopefully in 2021 we WILL be able to visit one another ... after the vaccine is given to us perhaps.  That will be two years since we've seen our family and that is a heck of a long time in those grandchildren's lives!  

I'm still waiting for my hip replacement and my hands ... still hurt post surgery and are very numb.  A reminder to self ... ring the neurosurgeon next week ! 

That ... is my catch up !  

17th December 2022 

So we've been married 45 years today!  Our little granddaughter celebrated her 14th birthday today too.  However, we lost Carol, our daughter's mother-in-law,  on 30th November 2022, completely out of the blue.  Her funeral was on 13th December and we watched it live on ZOOM.  New technology.  

Going back a bit, I got my right hip replacement in spring 2021 ... and it went very well.  I'd been sent to a private hospital, paid for by the health service, as the waiting list was so long.  My hands ... well my right hand is not good.  My middle and ring fingers are still numb but not as completely dead as they had been after surgery.  Still having treatment.  A complete pain as I am finding it difficult to type, to crochet and to do my handmade card making.... To say I'm not happy re that surgery would be an understatement.

My sight got very poor, in 2021 ... eventually being sent to see an opthalmic surgeon in the hospital.  (I'd been told I had bad cataracts and they were getting so bad I couldn't recognise a person across a desk, or read a number plate standing 3 feet away!) THIS guy was an arrogant idiot and said I was ok that the cataracts weren't very big! ........... I went private, a really great surgeon who did both cataract surgeries in January and February this year (2022) and I can see again!  It had been so bad, I felt cut off ... and couldn't see to work with small items.

Tomorrow ... in the evening we are hoping to go to a Carol Service at long last!  In St James Anglican Church in Porto ! I miss singing so very much.....