Today it is Dani’s cousin’s birthday. Susana is seven years old and I think that Dani is a little upset that he can not be there to celebrate with her.

Birthdays and mid-year “Christmas”

I think Dani will miss being there. Especially after we have made a video call to say happy birthday. He has already said that he doesn’t want to spend his own birthday down in Australia with nobody to celebrate it with him. So much for his mum and me then eh? But I understand what he means. It will probably hit him harder after speaking to his cousin and wishing her a happy birthday.

Hopefully this weekend will soften the blow a little. We are off to the Blue Mountains (again) for a mid-year “Yulefest”. As it is winter here in Australia various places in the mountains put on a kind of Christmas celebration. Usually in July but they had so many bookings the one we booked on runs into August. Of course the real Christmas is in the height of the southern hemisphere summer and is well known for being celebrated with a dip in the ocean and a day at the beach. So to get that winter wonderland Christmas feeling they have Christmas meals complete with entertainment and carol singing – but in the Aussie winter.

They call it a “Yulefest” and depending how cold the winter is they can even have snow. But not this coming weekend. At least not according to the weather forecast. Still, it should be fun.

Letter from Madrid – Great Timing

Yesterday we arrived back from school to find a letter in the post box from Madrid. The post mark said 1st July, so it took our full weeks to get here but at least arrived just before her birthday. Along with a hand written letter from Susana were some photographs of the birthday girl and her little brother Roberto plus a couple of us holding Roberto not long after he was born.

In the letter Susana says that when this coronavirus thing is over she wants to make a film. Ambition is a great thing eh? Let’s hope she does it. If we can help, then we will.

Even in this age of easy computer and mobile phone video calls it is always nice to receive a handwritten letter. Perhaps even more so now than it used to be…

Old phone

Coincidentally I managed to get some old photos off an old phone today. Dani and Susana appeared on most of them as you might expect. Here are a couple…