This time last week Merry and I were making our way to Heathrow for our eagerly awaited rendezvous with the wanderer, my cherished partner, making her way back home from her month away in New Zealand. I reckoned that if the hospital welcomes Merry as a daily visitor, then the airport could have no objection. And I was proved right. So we waited in the glass arrivals area , and managed to miss P altogether ...well a few seconds anyway ! Happily the day was blue and bright and the homecoming sweet. She had had a wonderful family time in Queenstown, South Island , but was pleased to be home ...I was completely delighted to have her back !
At the Royal Academy a marvellous reunion has been created with the generous and inspired bringing together of a Monet triptych. This is the crowning glory of a lovely exhibition, Painting the Modern Garden , celebrating the garden as an inspiration for Monet, Matisse and so many others. And it marked the start of a real treat - a spontaneous arty weekend courtesy of my brother the polymath, Piers Ottey. I should mention thanks to our very good Hailstone friends for giving Merry a weekend break too! The win win arrangement of us lending, and them delightedly borrowing, Merry, is brilliant.
Artists garden at Vertheuil 1881
Poppies - a study for carnation, lily,lily,rose - John Singer Seargent 1886
I don't think I've ever stayed in fashionable Chelsea before, nor indeed been treated to supper ,bed and breakfast by my brother . What a treat it was - a delicious meal and great company. And it meant that we were on the spot for sung Matins at Westminster Abbey on Sunday . This was a cultural and spiritual experience rather than a religious one; we enjoyed the singing and surroundings more than the sermon.
In the afternoon, we took our final chance to visit Wapping Hydraulic Power Station and to see the final day of the Annie Leibovitz exhibition , Women: new portraits . The building , an industrial archeological site in its own right, fascinated us. I hear it will soon be developed . The portraits were often outshone by those looking at them and my artist brother got a number of group shots which he found inspiring. It will be interesting to see if they end up on canvas. We all thought the split screen projection of images rather irritating , though many of the portraits were very interesting.
Wapping Hydraulic Power Station
On Monday , we were reunited with the sea. It was a stormy , hurricane Imogen day of huge waves and the beach stones crashing onto the promenade. It was rather wild and wonderful , if all you had to do was look and wonder...like us. Not so good for travelling, clearing up , or using the leisure centre.
After a brief break at the weekend , my hospital visiting of dad in the stroke ward has continued , with steady progress being made . He is now getting close to being able to move on and is clear that he wants to be looked after , now that his mobility is compromised . So we have been searching out the right place . We can't praise the stroke unit and its multidisciplinary staff too highly, and are determined to find a residential nursing home, that can continue the good work . We hope we may have found the right place; this thought and the embers of sunset brightened my journey home last night.
Going home
This morning it's been lovely to be reunited with the sun and blue sky , even just for a while , before heading off to Tate Modern for art and work and seeing my no2 son for lunch .
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