What a difference a year makes.....

As the light fades on a Sunday evening, I go round the house closing the curtains, the fire is lit and candles are burning the house is cosy and warm, we are snug against the cold outside.  As the weekend draws to a close I try hard not to dwell on where my husband has flown off to work for the week, but instead on the wonderful weekend we have had.

I asked for you to send me your spare sunshine in my last post, but it seems I should be careful what I  wish for.  My weekend started on Friday morning with a drive via a couple of places and ending up in the late afternoon at my brothers house.  I was heading east into the beautiful and low winter sun, not the easiest of driving conditions.  Our second stop was at the rather wonderful Eureka!, a museum for children, big and small.  This was our second visit and we still haven't really 'done' the whole musuem, it is a huge place which is just as well as there were seven school parties sharing the space with us.  The noise in some of the rooms was a little over whelming but it was worth it.

As a child I remember going to visit an aunt and uncle who didn't have any children, they lived in a huge rambling house which was the perfect place for my brothers and I to play.  I had to remind myself of those wonderful memories the first time I took my children to visit my brother and his partner a few years ago.  After that first visit they kept asking when they could go back again.   It made me so happy to know that they wanted to spend time with them, my extended family were so important to me when I was growing up.  This time last year our visits were tinged with sadness and relief after a horrendous cycling accident my brother had one early morning in October.  If I see a cyclist without a helmet it always makes my stomach flutter, my brother would not be with us if he hadn't been wearing a helmet and whilst I know that not many of you are likely to be cycling in the early morning dark on a city road with an unlit skip, please wear one when you go out on a bike, wherever you go.

Living in a back to back on four floors is not the ideal house when you have a huge scar on one leg, extensive damage to the other knee and two broken fingers on one hand.  A year on none of those injuries are visible and my brother is back cycling his six miles to work each day.  So this visit felt different, all the sadness at the loss of mobility was gone and we spend many wonderful hours building memories, with a visit to the rather wonderful Saltaire.  Sadly I forgot to take my camera with me so I am not able to show your any pictures, doubly sad really the light was perfect........a good excuse to return again another time.  It was everything I imagined it to be and more.

We had two late nights sitting chatting and playing many of the board games my brother and his partner own they are not usual run of the mill ones and this one in particular was a great hit with us all, so much so that I think we will find a copy in our house by the end of next month.  Those late nights meant that when we returned home and I tried to write a menu and shopping list it seemed to take me forever.  We usually shop on a Friday but with being away it got shuffled back a few days, I really should have written it earlier in the week when I was less tired.  The supermarket was the last place I wanted to be on a Sunday afternoon but needs must, if we want to eat this week.

We closed the weekend with a bath, a story by the wood burner and an early night, we have some sleep catching up to do with as we have a week of lovely things to look forward to.  I hope you had a lovely weekend too, enjoy your week ahead.

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We woke on Saturday to a dusty of snow at my brothers, it seems it did the same at home although it is still hanging around....... 

Joining Karen