The postman delivered a couple of gifts from friends lately. Last week we received a box of cocoa sent by a friend on the other side of the world who read of our difficulty in finding some to make chocolate icing, thank you. Yesterday, our former neighbour, who now lives on the other side of the country sent two pages of paper dolls to cut out. The dolls are from eight different countries and have two national costumes each from different time periods. A10 has already cut out quite a few and mounted them on cardboard. Thank you for continuing to think of us just as you did when we were right next door, we miss you.

In a week’s time a friend arrives from the other side of the world to stay for as long as we can keep her here. She and I have known each other since 1975, I can’t wait.

Today I am enjoying a birthday gift from a friend. I know my birthday is long gone, but the gift is today. The gift of a day. She said, “I have a gift for you that I have quite a bit of, but you do not. I will have your children for a day and you can spend the day however you wish.” Yesterday L12 mentioned that she thought her day (today) sounded more appealing than mine. After all, she would be spending the whole day with friends (and math books and violin) whereas I would be spending it alone. B6 was also a little surprised that I wanted to be by myself all day! But I think it is a wonderful gift and now I just need to narrow down the hundreds of possibilities into a few realistic ones and get going.