Is she in and Is he going?

Last night I tried to phone my brother Tom to arrange a visit after church. We knew that Newark will be packed with tourists and a big parade and wanted to avoid it by heading a different direction for a few hours. He didn't answer the phone but we decided to go anyway. He's almost always home on a Sunday.

I also tried to phone David and Wendy so we could drop by after church to check on a few of the wild flowers she wanted me to paint on the panels. There was no answer but we decided to drop by anyway on the way to my brother at Harston.

First stop after church...David and Wendy are out for the day in 'Matilda' (their VW retro camper).

Second stop...Tom and Lesley not in. They had just left to go to an 80th birthday barbecue.

My nephew Robert served us chilled Schloer to go with our picnic in the sun drenched garden . We chatted and ate and eventually said goodbye to Robert and headed home.

We missed the tourists and procession...and just about everything else we planned today.

We are enjoying a relaxing evening with the patio doors open and a welcome cool breeze gently blowing as we idly chat about this and that.

We noticed that Tom has a new transit van and was planning to come over this year to France. Dare we imagine he'll be able to bring anything over? There's chairs to go with the table the Flynn's bought us. Also mirrors, artwork, another rug, wardrobes, tiles, skirting boards, plants, shelving etc! etc! etc!

Yes, I know I've spelt Flinn wrong. If Eileen reads today's post, she'll smile and shouldn't take offence.

She took the gospel doctrine lesson today partly about high principled apostates who abandoned their religion through taking offence at the slightest provocation. One of them was as a result of having his name spelt wrong. Hard to believe, but true! Good lesson Eileen.

My mind is buzzing with the worldly possibilities of my brother's first visit to Bel-Air. Even if he can't bring anything, it'll be great to see him there. Out of all the family, I think it's Tom who would appreciate most about what we are doing with the place because renovation is his job.

I'll call him in an hour or so after speaking with my sister who I haven't heard from in weeks. I hope she's at home and picks up the phone!