December 2020

We always try to look on the bright side, but on the face of it there didn’t seem much to laugh about in 2020. A global pandemic was raging, the British pound kept falling as Brexit loomed, and Donald Trump continued to trample his neighbours, the laws of the land, and all norms of decorum and decency. We should have realised that we were in for a rough time when, for the first time in twelve years, we decided to spend a winter at home and we had a foot of snow followed by weeks of cold rain.
The snow was pretty enough, but the rain dampened our spirits so we hopped a plane to sunny Mexico and spent a couple of weeks in the warmth of Oaxaca...

We were happy to return home in February knowing that we had three big events to celebrate. We were off to England in the middle of March for a special reunion and to visit the grandchildren. Then Covid 19 struck Europe. But at least we still had the 100th birthday of our dear friend Eileen to look forward to in April. We brought a suitcase full of finest Oaxacan chocolate from Mexico to make the birthday cake for a hundred guests and began work on the decorations - then Covid struck deeper and we ended up sharing a large chocolate cupcake with a few friends in the parking lot of Eileen’s home. Here she is in April proudly showing off her letter from the Queen…

In May we should have been attending a splashy wedding but Covid put the skids under that and when the event was re-scheduled and downsized we got bumped off the guest list.

Just when we thought things couldn’t get worse, our longtime friend Keith died in Mexico. But at least we were able to use some of the chocolate for his “Celebration of Life” cake.

Our stock of Oaxacan chocolate was going down when centenarian Eileen tripped over her new walker, broke her hip, and decided that life wasn’t fun anymore. At least she got to enjoy the last of the chocolate in a special cake a couple of days before she chose to die.

Despite all the disappointments it wasn’t all bad being locked down because of the virus – until the roof starting leaking! We finally had a new roof. And then we got up to date with technology and ended the year with a house full of electronic gizmos - although we are now worried that our life is being controlled by Google.
However, with nowhere to go we had plenty of time to catch up with U.F.O.s (Un-finished objects). James finished the Japanese Teahouse…

And we celebrated with a traditional Japanese meal...

Sheila finished cushions, table mats and a quilt as well as continuing to learn Spanish in preparation for future trips.

And together we have turned our 685 blog entries from 71 countries into a series of books for the day that the internet collapses. Eight books finished - seven more to go...

So that’s our year and we are so looking forward to the day when we can safely venture forth into the wide world and take you with us on more Blissful Adventures. It won’t be soon – but it will happen.
In the meantime – have as Merry a Christmas as you can and let’s hope that we all have a Happy New Year.