Planning a surprise visit

Last week was a bit quieter, husband was complaining that his throat hurt, so on Sunday he did not come to church. We had a speaker who used to pastor a church not far from here. After the morning service I spent some time chatting with his wife. They are officially retired, but still go to places like India and China doing the Lord's work.
I must confess that I am missing a regular ministry with consecutive sermons, and series. My brain is often a bit disjointed, and sometimes I find it difficult to concentrate.
Husband was able to eat and we had a nice bit of West Country lamb. I'm afraid I spent part of the afternoon asleep, didn't get out for a walk, it's been so cold lately, I added an extra layer in the form of a cardigan to go to the evening service.
Monday was a very ordinary day nothing much to record. Tuesday, after lunch we set off for the big garden centre near St Albans. As the daffs are finished I needed to redo my pots. The Amaryllis which I bought 2 years ago, which didn't produce any flowers last year, suddenly produced stems, and I have had two flowers on one and now there are 3 on the other. As usual we managed to spend more than planned. In addition to my plants for the containers out at the front, and the sand and soil which husband wanted to use to level the bottom of the lawn, I bought a ready planted container as everything except the hebe has died off in the winter planter which I bought the winter before last, and it was looking tatty. We also found a bird bath similar to the one we have. The old one has a loose top, and one of Nat's favourite tricks is to push it off. This could be dangerous for him, and for his sister when she is on the move.

Big Ceanothus

My newly planted pots

Honeysuckle

 pre planted pot

I didn't go to Weightwatchers on Wednesday, I know that my weight was up after our Wales visit. I did the usual Sainsbury's trip, and also picked up some stuff at Homebase. They had some small spreading Ceanothus, so I bought a couple. The big one has been leaning to one side, husband blamed the weight of the snow pushing it down, but he has now managed to put a stake in and pull it more upright, so it is less hazardous to come down the front steps. No one seems to have busy Lizzies this year , apparently they are still being affected by the virus which blighted them last year.
The honeysuckle is out, and the rhubarb has at last taken off. I spent time tying raspberry canes which were waving wildly in the breeze, and tried to tie back the currants so that it is possible to get down the path to the back gate.
My throat was beginning to get scratchy and felt thick, husband had reached the sneezing stage, but not as much as with a normal cold.
On Thursday, Mum in Law was going into hospital for her shoulder 'op'. We didn't get a phone call to say it had been cancelled, so much prayer went up. At around 2 pm I phoned the hospital to be told that she had gone to theatre at about 1.20.pm, she would be transferred to another ward on recovery. I estimated at least another hour and a half, so decided to ring back at 3.30. Husband went off to get new front tyres put on the car. Hopefully now that he no longer commutes to work we will not have to replace them so often. As  he came back in he met Daughter who had decided to pay us a visit with the children. Lydia had just had the last lot of her jabs for the time being. I had rung the hospital to be told that Mum in law was not yet back from theatre.
Nathaniel soon found the toy box, and was having fun. He broke off from playing to accompany me to post Mum in Law's Birthday cards, I put him on reins, and it was one, two, three, four, five, jump, all the way to the post box. I lifted him up to post the card, then he seemed to want to continue, so we crossed the road and up the little side road which runs parallel to ours. He stopped jumping, instead dragged his hand against walls and fences. We chatted, examined leaves, smelled lilac, and did what curious 2 year olds like to do. It was just like old times having him to myself for a few minutes.
We went in the back way and I bolted the gate as a precaution. I remember when my two were little. Daughter had her cane chair in the garden, stood on it, opened the gate then came in to report that her brother had gone out of the gate. I rescued him, then gave Daughter a lecture, then phoned husband and asked him to pick up a bolt from the DIY store on his way from the station.
At just after 5 I rang the hospital and yes, she was back from theatre, comfortable, having had some water, and awaiting some toast. I duly conveyed the news to all interested parties.
Later Daughter decided to go and fetch her husband from the station, I diverted for a few minutes to take Lydia to meet my neighbour whom she had never met, the others joined me and suddenly the heavens opened and it poured, then hailed, so we had to take shelter in D's hall. I had quite forgotten my washing, which had almost been dry. Daughter left, the rain stopped and I left the washing out for a while longer, it dried off again, not completely; so I allowed a few minutes in the tumble dryer to finish it off, and it didn't need ironing.
On Friday it was all systems go. Husband and I had been intending to visit his Mum for 2 nights over her Birthday, but the operation had put the kibosh on that. However, after chatting things over, we hatched a plan to go down without telling her and stay elsewhere. Daughter wanted to come too, and she actually was on the road before us. We had made a late booking at the beach hotel, and got a chunk off the price, daughter had booked a B&B in Battle. She didn't think that the beach hotel was quite ready for Nathaniel yet. We caught up with them at Pease Pottage services, where they were having an early lunch. Husband queued for the coffees, and someone came in and stood just two  behind him in the queue. I'll swear it was Jack Shepherd, who played the lead role in the detective series Wycliffe. I had a quick whisper in husband's ear, and he thought so too. No one else seemed to notice him, but  I suppose it is a long while since the series was on. I watched a rerun the other day.
We bought lunch from M&S to eat when we got there, and some flowers for Mum in Law. We arrived at about 1.45 pm. and found the bungalow empty. I found the hospital number and rang them and was told she was waiting for someone to pick her up. I rang the lady who was to pick her up, but she must have been on her way. Daughter arrived, she had been over to the other side of town for something, and she reported that traffic on the Hastings side was very slow, a Bank holiday weekend. We made the decision to go indoors as we had a key. We ate our lunch, then sat and waited. The road was very busy with cars, there is as school nearby, and it was raining. The parents had started arriving at 2.30! Eventually most of the cars had gone, and it was getting on for 3.30 when the car eventually arrived. She was a bit bewildered by the cars in her drive, at first, but then when she saw us all the penny dropped.
With hindsight, we could have rung the hospital on the way down, and diverted to collect her. The hospital had said she would be discharged at around 10, but then told her friend to collect her at 2.30. She was very pleased to see us all, and when I explained I had booked a table at the nearby restaurant, she said she did feel up to coming, and wanted to spend as much time with us as possible.
The Hospital had been unable to get anyone from social services to visit her that day. We left at 6.30 to book into the hotel and change out of our travelling clothes, then went back to collect her. We lit the candles on the chocolate Birthday cake, and when we had sung Happy Birthday, temptation was too much for Nathaniel and he blew one out.
This time we were on the second floor of the hotel, right under the eaves the room was slightly smaller than last time, with sloping ceilings, and as our room was on an end bit, the ensuite sloped even more. It was quite adequate for one night though.
We arrived at the restaurant, but had to wait for Daughter, who had gone to collect her husband form the station. His train was late.
There was a fair choice on the menu, we skipped starters, and Mum In Law and I opted for a chicken with bacon and mushroom sauce with boiled potatoes. The others had a beef and stout pie,and Nat got a huge plate of chicken goujons, chips and beans. Lydia sat in a high chair and was spoonfed mush from a jar. Not her usual diet I might add, but useful when away from home.
Later there was a duo singing in the bar, fairly noisy, but the waitress helpfully shut the door, which made it bearable.
Some of us had profiteroles for dessert, others crumble. Mum in Law just had an apple juice to drink, and Nat had 2 scoops of ice cream, which he thoroughly enjoyed. We skipped coffee,as it was getting late but were still given choccy mints. Daughter and co left for their B&B, and we took Mum in Law back. I offered to help her get ready for bed, but she thought she could manage. She had a very thin sling, more for the carpal tunnel release which they had also done. She had also had a shoulder block, which they hadn't told her about, but she knew about from me. We went back to the hotel where we  had  a reasonable night. We had a glimpse of the sea and the moonlight on the water was beautiful.
We got up at about 7.35, and went down for breakfast at about 8.30. Still the same buffet, but with the cooked bit only one slice of bacon and one of tomato, I remember praising them for the anount of bacon on my trip advisor review last tome we stayed.
We loaded the car and went back to Mum in law's. She had slept well and had already had a visitor. There were more cards for her to open, and more flowers for us to put in a vase. We spent a pleasant morning chatting, then all had some Birthday cake, which pleased Nat; but had to leave at around lunchtime. Mum in Law seemed to have enjoyed our visit, and we had seen that she was recovering quite well. I'm sure it's because she had a lighter anaesthetic. We arrived home at  about 5.30, having stopped for lunch on the way. We were tired, but pleased that our surprise visit had gone well. I'm only a week behind with my blog!