Family time

Quite mixed emotions over the last few days in the Weathers household. Last weekend SWMBO and I took number one grandchild, Ava, to visit her cousin, Sofia, in Switzerland where number one son and partner have recently moved to.

There was no snow which was  a shame, but the girls went skating, something Ava had never done before, and they thoroughly enjoyed that. Grandad tried his best but was pretty second rate really!!

We had a fine time at the Geneva Christmas market, and a very enjoyable meal in the local village restaurant. We all tried frogs legs and some excellent Swiss wine, before going up a cable car the next day, over the border in France. Again weather conditions were against us, so there was no sign of Mont Blanc above the clouds. Everybody had a good time and we returned home in good spirits to get ready for Christmas.

That, though, was when things turned. Last Monday my mother rang to say she was unwell, dizzy and a bit disoriented, so we had to ring the paramedics. We kept her out of hospital only because SWMBO was prepared to do the night shift and sleep on the sofa in her apartment. The next day after we had left she phoned to say she had had a fall so the paramedics were called again.

This time we took her to our home but it became evident we could not provide the care and support she needed over a 24 hour period. Through one of SWMBO's friends we were able to book mum into a nursing home for two weeks restbite to see if she could regain enough confidence to go self sufficient again. I was shocked how quickly she degenerated after having the fall. The first spell of dizziness was as  a result of her taking the incorrect amount of medication but she is now confused and vulnerable.

I saw her today and she seems to be resigned to some time away from home, it will be difficult when we need to tell her it will be more permanent if she cannot fend for herself. An old peoples home is her worst nightmare, and I had always promised I would not let her go to one, but two days trying to care for her showed us it was impossible either at her flat or in our home.

We are hoping she can join us for Christmas Day, but, if not, at least she will not be alone, she is getting three meals a day, has the company of the staff and can choose whether to join in the activities which the care home arrange for them.

It's not the build-up to Christmas we had anticipated but we will make the best job of it we can, as the challenges of young and old all have to be catered for. Talking of catering, I feel a mince pie coming on, ho! ho! ho!

Old Year reflections

SWMBO and I reverted to our traditional date night in for New Years Eve. I get the privilege of cooking, and we reminisce the year past. My speciality this time was weeping lamb with boulangere potatoes with French onion soup to start, and it was all yummy.

So what did we see as the years highs and lows?

Starting on the family front, we were blessed with our fifth grandchild, Alexander, who has now maintained the continuity of the Weathers line, blending a bit of Bulgarian into the Irish and English gene pool. A welcome surprise on Monday was the news that my cousin Mike and his long suffering partner Valerie, has finally tied the knot and were officially Mr and Mrs Weathers. SWMBO's mum also got over a major health scare which we were all delighted about.
SWMBO and I both lost relations towards the end of the year. SWMBO's Uncle Kevin died after a troubled few years, in his early sixties, and my Auntie Betty passed away on Christmas Day morning after a short illness. She was 92 so had had a fair old innings.

Domestically, the years highlight was the redesign and construction of a new bedroom for SWMBO, in less than two weeks while she was in Tanzania. We had a good family barbeque and both Tim and Kieran moved into new homes in the later part of the year. Kieran's move left us rattling around on our own in Chateau Weathers. Maxine survived a full year without working!

It was good to be involved in Wally's stag 'do' in Portugal and to be visited by friends and family from London, on a regular basis, but an acrimonious holiday in Turkey meant we have lost Lou, one of SWMBO's long term work colleagues, as a friend.  They say love is blind, and in her case she is the only one to be able to see any good in her new partner, Martin. Pity.

On the sporting front, I was delighted to break 80 on the golf course for the first time. I also fired a 82 around Southport and Ainsdale which was pretty special, and I am chuffed to be Chairman elect of the Seniors section at Wallasey next year.

We saw the year as routine when we started discussing it, but as you can see a lot happened.

So now we are into 2015 and I have 23 blog entries to try to beat to allow me to reversze the downward publishing trend. what can you look forward to then?

We are off to the States for a month in March going from Las Vegas to Hawaii and back to New York. There are two trips to Ireland, one for the Causeway Classic golf festival and one to coincide with the rugby world cup. I will be attending some of the world cup games too.

I end the blog as I started, with news of grandchild number six which should arrive sometime in February. So do stay tuned it will be another exciting year.

...I wantmy baby back.....

Race has become the hot topic at the dinner table, overtaking house prices, second homes and the physical attributes of the Swedish Au Pair. This is all due to Black being the new White, a metamorphosis for which Barack Obama has become the catalyst.

I thought I would test this out using my IBM worldwide employee directory. There are seven Weathers in our organisation, me in London, a no relation in Leeds, and seven in the USA. Its strange, but the two of us in UK are white and the five in the USA are not. I thought I would test this a bit further, and test out our roots. Sure enough all our Irish cousins are white and have been for generations.

Carl Weathers, the actor is black, as is Clarence Weathers the ex-American football player, but research in Wikipedia indicates there is a diversity and dilution of my transatlantic theory, with Weathers even being tracked to Australia.......strewth, and Beck Weathers is worth a look at too.

Not sure what this proves, but it would be fascinating to trace the Weathers roots from Ireland to American and where the Afro-Carri bean influence first came from. A project for old age me thinks. Here is the Wiki Weathers list

Whats in a name

Well I am off and running, but have I got an audience, and how does one build up such a following? I supect a good name might help, and I have plumped for The Philanderer for historical reasons I will come onto. A few were discounted though.

'Stormy Weathers' was the first to spring forward....

All very well having a play on words I thought, but not really the oldie playing young theme. That name conjures up Victor Meldrew images, and goodness I have been accused of having those moments in the past.....

Le Limacon was another consideration.....

Le Limacon is the nomenclature used on my annual barbecue invites. Its an event which has been cancelled for the past few years, so resurrecting it as blog title may put the 'fluence on the regularity and consistency of the page.

So The Philanderer it is then.......

While this photo does not do it justice, this brass plaque, listing me as said philanderer, has adored the front of my house for 25 years, so for continuity of product, it seems the right choice. Whether I still am still practicing or not is, however, open to conjecture.

As for spreading the word on the web, that's my next challenge. Hopefully good content, interesting anicdotes and a certain sauciness will all contribute. Stumble!, Google and other techno stuff will help as well.