It has been a lovely – chilly – spring day, I sat out on the step for a bit, while Helen trimmed my roses. We’ll have an expedition to a garden center soon after she returns from next week’s visit to Greece, which should be at its most wonderful. And also, of course, we have a visit to a care home already scheduled for that week.

 

Knitting has progressed well.  I’m knitting and attaching edging to the Shetland hap, and am currently half way along the first side. Maybe I will have it finished in time to hand to Rachel to take back to London after all. I have about a fortnight, I think, before she and her husband are here. And my careful counting and slight adjustment of stitch numbers has paid off, on this first side, at least. It’s going to come out right.

 

Thank you, again, for your helpful comments about my future. Lisa, Helen’s house doesn’t have a full bathroom on the ground floor – but getting in and out of the bathtub here is getting more precarious every week and I’m sure Daniella would be able to switch to an efficient sponge bath. Like all British householders, I want to be able to leave the value of this flat to my children. There is a special inheritance tax allowance for a family house left to descendants, and I think it applies even if the house has been sold under circumstances like mine, but that would have to be carefully investigated. On the other hand, Helen’s career in mosaics is blooming, and the burden on her would be heavy if this house had to be cleared and sold. Will be heavy, when I die. It’ll have to be done one day.

 

On the other hand again, we’ve got Daniella, strong and intelligent and willing. The house can be left ticking over expensively on its own when I first leave, in case I want to come back. But not forever. I think a family conference involving Rachel’s cool intelligence could be useful, as mentioned yesterday.

 

Wordle: I’ve remembered what I wanted to say from yesterday! My starter words are TRAIN and HOUSE. You’re welcome to them, with my blessing. And the principle I have adopted is, whenever those starters reveal a brown U  (as they did yesterday) (or even a green one), to explore the possibility of QU. Yesterday I had T and U and E as starter-browns, and I put QUIET as my third line. It couldn’t have been right, because “I” had already been eliminated, but it was very useful like many a Jean-word before it. I now had ???, U, ???, E, T and from there to DUVET was but a small step.

 

Today was a quick-and-easy three. I do like the days when I don’t have to leave Wordle behind for a while and go on to the morning papers. And it looked as if Mark and I, the early birds, were going to be the only threes, but when dawn reached the Eastern Seaboard, Theo logged in with another. Fours elsewhere, but Ketki needed five and daughter-Rachel the whole six.