Friday, July 25, 2008

My Sisters come to visit

Down at Lighthouse Beach looking for dolphins! Rose, Dymp and I.
This has been another special week experiencing the joys of retirement. Time to enjoy visitors, time to do some special things like entertaining friends, time to plan for other visitors!! My sisters came to visit this weekend– after a lot of planning and cancellations due to my erratic behavior! Finally we were all free for the same weekend.
Rose arrived first on Friday evening and we had lovely spaghetti bolognaise supper and sat and drank our red wine until late. Caught up on things and celebrated my birthday AGAIN! Rose was first so she got the Wallbed and the very nicely appointed visitor’s room. We slept in Saturday morning and then we picked up Aunty Dymp and went for a walk along the Lighthouse Beach wall. We saw some dolphins but the whales were in hiding that day. BEfore Ret arrived Rose and I took the opportunity to have a photo taken with Aunty Dymp so we could compete with a lovley one she has on display with Ret and Sha!! Nothing competitive with us... !

Rose and I with Aunty Dymp

Ret arrived mid afternoon, loaded up with goodies from the markets on the way down from Southport. She had some delicious cakes for afternoon tea and a beautiful jade tree in a white pot with such a friendly elephant to stand guard. These were housewarming gifts that came with well researched feng shui meanings! We experimented where to put them for a while and finally they have settled into very auspicious positions where they are loved and admired.
My lovely Jade plant
We had a quiet afternoon, picked Dympna up for evening Mass and then we three Ryall ‘girls’ piled into my car and headed for a Chinese Restaurant which we had not visited before. It was a great menu and we had fun deciding what to order. As the nominated driver, I drank my lemon squash while the others enjoyed some good red with their meals. We laughed and talked and had a great night. Then we dropped Dymp home about 10pm and went to bed…..no we didn’t! How sensible that would have been. We thought we should have a nightcap and we put our pj’s on - and the heater - and we sat and talked and talked and laughed until…..2am!

We were very subdued next morning but we all agreed it had been a very special night. We all slept well.
It was sad to see them go again.
Party girls before we changed for dinner.

Ret left Sunday morning but Rose and I had another day exploring Ballina and having some quiet time together. She left Monday morning after another good sleep and I appreciated again how good it was to be so much closer to my family. Rose called me from Mum’s on her way back and I was able to have a little chat with my mother as well!! What a great little sisterly interlude it was. Every day we missed our sister in America and we kept sending messages to her about the great time we were having here and that she should hurry back and join in!!

Sha responded by accepting an offer on a unit just down the road which she will rent for six months from October. I can see some fun times coming!!

2 comments:

Trish said...

Ret said she had a lovely time down there with you and Rose and from your blog, I can see why. Lots of laughter, nice walks, restful sleeps and good wine! I'm nearly on my way...Your sister in America! xxxxxx

Anonymous said...

Wow - how lucky!! Loved the photos of you and Billy on the boat. Hi to Aunty Rose - looked lik eyou all had a lovely time.