Dedicated to Sheila Woodhams – my biggest blog fan

The journey back seemed easier than on the way there, with spectacular views and instead of stopping at the horrible overcrowded gas stations, we stopped at the rest areas which are like the French rest stops with green areas to walk the dogs and loos – so much better!

I had been writing and published my blog on the final night of our trip and as usual I published it and sent a message to my usual readers, including Sheila – my mother in law. Normally she reads it straight away and sends me a message commenting on it, but this time nothing. Mark had texted her while we were on the road, but also no response. On Saturday we arrived back - It was lovely to be back in LA and it really does feel like home now. It was dusk, so we just took everything out of the car and relaxed that evening in the jacuzzi making plans for the next few months and planning to call Sheila the next morning . The next morning Max my oldest and his wife Dani went round to the house to see if she was OK.

Shockingly, she had died earlier in the week and we made plans to return to the UK. Luckily WTR - our boarding kennel, were kind enough to take Lulu and Daisy the next morning and we flew.

We had to wait 3 weeks for the coroners report because she had been considered in full health by her doctor. Finally it came through with the conclusion that she had a heart embolism so thank goodness it was sudden and she wouldn’t have known much pain. I’ve had talks with friends about losing loved ones and the difference between a sudden death compared to long drawn out illness…. It’s a emotional rollercoaster of being able to say goodbye and prepare yourself for the goodbye, but seeing the pain and suffering of the loved one over the shock of a sudden death without being able to talk to them again, but knowing it was painless. I guess the better one is where you know they haven’t suffered.

We were lucky enough to celebrate Bonfire night, with fireworks and a guy on our bonfire at home which brought some fun to an otherwise very sad time and it was also Max and Mark’s birthdays.

We finally had the funeral at Basingstoke Crematorium and the wake at The Queen at Dummer – which we can highly recommend. It was lovely seeing all the family and meeting the Scully family (which are Sheila’s side originally coming from Ireland and then Lambeth in London.

We travelled back exhausted and Poppy travelled with us and then went back to Mount Pleasant, South Carolina to see her finance Reagan.

We had a fun evening with our neighbours, Marla and Alan at the Lightscape at Arboretum, which is like the lightshow at Wisley. It was made extra interesting as Marla decided to give us a cube of special chocolate – it certainly made the lights interesting.

In all the disruption and chaos of travelling around, we thought we’d add more and wanted a change, so we started looking at different houses to rent. Mark wanted a view across the valley and I wanted to be closer to the sea. We looked at a number of houses online then found a realtor and saw 3 houses in the flesh. Here, you find one realtor who then scours houses for you from other realtors. They get a percentage of the sale and a monthly percentage of the rental – no wonder it’s a sought-after profession. The houses were really dirty and not great for double the money, so we decided to improve what we have and I had the brain wave to walk up our slope to see if there was a flat area for a deck – which is exactly what we did. We found another Jose (JosC – a recommendation from a friend- JosA is our gardener and JosB is the pool cleaner) and we now have a wonderful valley viewing area with a swing seat.

I had another Dentist clean - horrendous and expensive… the Dentist was rude – so I’ve now changed to a lovely family run one down the road.

We had thanksgiving at Mark's golf club and had our 4th vaccine booster.

Poppy and Reagan came to LA after she had stayed with him for 2 months in Charleston and we had a fun day out at Griffith Observatory. Then we flew back on Dec 17th.

It was weird being back so soon, but this time we were more relaxed and less stressed. Arthur was now chatting away – often incoherent, but we played along – he is an absolute darling – so loving!!!

I had booked Moulin Rouge in London but it was cancelled as one of the cast had tested positive so I devised a Moulin Rouge themed evening where we made cocktails, decorated teashirts and did each others makeup, then watched the film – great fun!!

I also saw Dad playing his first proper gig since covid when he gave up his trumpet that he’d been playing since he was 16! He actually played it – I was so proud!

Back home to LA on Jan 9th and despite Omichrome – I was determined to see West side story at the cinema -fully masked of course- it was wonderful!

We went to see Icons of Darkness, which is collection of horror and sci movie memorabilia in Hollywood and we celebrated Burns Night with our neighbours (I love it when they get in the spirit and recite Burn’s poetry in a Scottish accent which sounds better than mine for sure!)

The Rosebowl Flea is back on and a must if you come here – 2 football sized areas of antiques, car boot and crafts – too much!!!

In the next few months, we visited the Mission Inn and Glenview spa near Riverside in Orange county which is a wonderful Spanish style town, we went to see Kaleo in concert which was fantastic and I made my way back to the UK to celebrate Arthur’s second birthday and finally got to see Moulin Rouge with the girls and visit my brother Tim and his girlfriend Ruth in the beautiful Rochester, whilst Mark stayed at home working and looking after the doggies. Jake had organised a seat to be installed at Black Dam ponds, with the help of Max and Poppy to commemorate Sheila and Henry, which we visited and both Mark and I were very moved by and thankful to have such loving children.

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I had stopped writing this blog as my main audience was Sheila and its taken me this long to start to write it again, but I’ve had contact with a dear college friend of mine recently who has been sending me emails, telling me stories of his life, which are lovely to read, so this has inspired me to write again. You will see that I’ve missed a chunk of time out in the early 2022 spring, but trust me, it was pretty boring, taken up with me painting, playing piano and dog walking…. Blissful really…

I just wanted to finish by saying that Sheila would always send me a message about my blogs and I will miss that and many other things. She always gave unconditional, quiet love that we all appreciated. She will be sorely missed....