I feel a little like Sally Field in the series ‘Brothers and Sisters’. These last couple of weeks have been like a stormy sea and me in my little boat have been tossed about in the most clichéd manner.

Wedding plans have gone well, and I have Gerry now safely under my roof, the spare room looks like a bomb has hit it, and the bathroom is amazing! I get to try about 3 different shampoos, a whole lot of cosmetics and lotions that I only look at when I go shopping. I love it! Sadly my carefully preserved nails have let me down and the middle dagger of the left hand has snapped, so that does not look good.

So Natasha, Nick and Gerry have been chattering on the phone, I have been hovering listening to the latest developments and John has been building shelves in the wardrobe! Then Dave rang to say he isn’t coming as he is on a boat going to Angola, so now I am in a major panic about speech writing. Oh Lordy…the last speech I made was at a Burns Night in Hanoi and I broke into song at the end, and sang a verse from ‘A man’s a man for a’ that’. Wonder if it would be appropriate for a wedding!

I got my hair scalped and I am suffering a severe case of the horrors. My friend’s daughter is getting married on the same day and is getting a hat specially made for her day…I think a Frank Spencer beret might be the thing for me, worn at a tilt of course.

Gerry took me to see the Caves the other day, and it is quite amazing…it has won the best wedding venue, so that can’t be bad. It is very ancient, vaulted stone ceilings, thick walls and flag stones, yet it’s very cosy… and Robert Burns, Robert Fergussan and David Hume all drank there in the 18thCentury. Hope it survives the gathering of the Irish from County Kerry! This time next week it will all be over. In the meantime I have the groom arriving tomorrow, the bridesmaid on Wednesday, Natasha and Leo on Thursday and then I have to cook a feast for my new In-Laws on Friday. And in the midst of all of that, poor John had a call from his sister and he had to fly south to see his mum. She is 97 and it sounds as though she is not so good. And the snow has come.

My bird feeding has taken off, and we have quite a little gathering out there now, blackbirds, robins, tits, magpies, pigeons and a squirrel. It is just a delight to watch, and it will be sad when we fell the holly tree, as that seems to be a great hiding spot for a few of them.

Enough for now, I must make a Black Bean Chilli and avocado salsa for tomorrow’s dinner, as Gerry and I are gadding off to Glasgow  in the morning for a facial!!! Such pleasures!