Yo-Yoing

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 I would truly find it very hard to properly explain my absence for so long from this blog. Indeed I can do no better than to attribute it to yo-yoing where: we have travelled to and from family in London. I have traipsed in and out of the garden striving to get everything sown and planted between an assortment of weather conditions and temperatures. I have been constantly to and fro to my mother who is of increasing concern to us all. I have tried not to neglect my exercise routines and coffee socials, so it's been backwards and forwards to the gym. 

My positivity suffers and my muscles ache. It's the hardest period of retirement so far.

Can you believe too that Little Sister has just had her first birthday? It enabled an excuse for squeezing in another trip to London. Sometimes I wonder what life would be like if they lived locally but then it would just be another place to yo-yo to daily. I take my hat off to those in retirement who find themselves caring for parents and grandchildren day in, day out. At least our time with our granddaughters is such a complete distraction from my other family responsibilities that it almost feels like a holiday. It's no spa break or luxury destination though, not with the running noses and the pesky germs that I always succumb to.

On the plus side, MisterE and I are both well (unless the latest cold from the grandchildren counts). I have had some great days out and the garden is slowly getting back under control after 3 seasons of neglect as a result of that oil leak. (Thinking about the price of central heating oil now, we really should have considered setting up a nodding donkey and saving some of the underground puddle in barrels!)

The forecast says temperatures will climb this week and I think I can finally say goodbye to moving plants in and out of the greenhouse in an effort to protect them from the air frosts that have been persisting. The arrival of fine weather and summer sunshine is going to make everything feel a lot more under control. My optimism is restored and blogging regularly should resume.





Comments

Treaders said…
Sometimes life just seems to get away from you doesn't it!!! My weeks are often pretty full (mostly with good things thankfully) and I'm then so glad of a week to crash, do nothing and just bounce back. Long may it last too (the bouncing back bit)! It is a shame you have to go down to London to see your grandchildren but then I suppose it feels more like a complete break too. And don't talk to me about heating oil. I just paid 80% more than this time last year!!!
20 May 2026 at 08:51
Caree Risover said…
Yes, a week full to the brim with good things can be exhausting but uplifting too. It’s too much of the other stuff and pressure we put on ourselves as a result that overloads.
20 May 2026 at 09:19
Never Quite Enough Time said…
It’s great you’ve got your mojo back, though it sounds like your positivity and optimism, you thought were lagging, were just waiting in the wings while you were focusing on core priorities.
20 May 2026 at 13:23
Caree Risover said…
I’m resolved to work harder on sorting those priorities better.
20 May 2026 at 13:29
Never Quite Enough Time said…
Resolve away, I wish you luck but birthday cake with walking Petri dishes is a win in anyone’s book!
20 May 2026 at 23:04
Caree Risover said…
Haha, it was blowing out the candles that passed on the cold! The bugs lingered long after the taste dissolved.
20 May 2026 at 23:25
The Old Grey Thinker said…
The "hardest period of retirement so far" — there's an honesty in that sentence that most retirement writing carefully sidesteps. The idea that it just gets easier once you stop working doesn't survive first contact with a mother in decline, grandchildren in another city, and a garden with opinions of its own. The yo-yoing you describe is what I've started calling the new schedule — it has the same weight as the old one, just without the title at the top. Hope the sunshine holds.
23 May 2026 at 08:00
Caree Risover said…
Thank you - your succinct description (“first contact with a mother….etc…”) is better than my own
23 May 2026 at 08:21
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