2011 Newsletter
Wow, what a roller coaster of a year 2011 turned out to be. It started much as normal, but the at the end of March, my mother passed away suddenly. Three days after Mother, Rhian left us and then in May, Oliver also went to the Rainbow Bridge. As you can imagine, all these happenings knocked me for six. Fortunately, there was some good news along the way to balance everything out.
I am not sure if it was a good thing that Mother had appointed me as her executor, but it certainly gave me plenty to keep me busy over the following months. Nearly every day there was at least one letter that I had to deal with. I got probate in September and we were fortunate enough to sell her house very quickly and the whole process went through without a hitch. Now there are just a few loose ends to finish off and hopefully the estate will be resolved by the end of 2011.
Hursley House
My (shared) office is behind the three windows above the central door
As if all this wasn't enough, while I was on compassionate leave I got an email to say that a job I had been interested in for some time was now available. I was fortunate enough to get the role and started on 1 July. I still work for IBM, but am now organising and running bespoke customer briefings. It is wonderful as I am now involved with and learning about all the software that IBM has to offer.
It has been rather a change having to work in an office after ten years of working from home, but the wonderful people I work with have made it an easy transition. Luckily the office is only a 30 minute drive away through the lovely Hampshire coutryside. I have always enjoyed visiting customers, especially those from foreign climes, now they come to me. So I get the benefits of interacting with other cultures without having to sufer the jet lag.
As if this wasn't enough, I have the pleasure of working in a 18th century country house with astounding views of the countryside out of our windows. All good things come to those who wait!
The "Amateur Gardening" photographer hard at work
We opened the garden again under the National Gardens scheme. We are getting a lot more used to opening and it is no longer the traumatic experience it was in the first couple of years. The weather wasn't wonderful this year and we finally got to use the gazebos that we acquired a few years ago for this purpose. Still we had some wonderful visitors (including Germans and Dutch) and collected quite a bit of money for the NGS (mostly cancer) charities.
Next year we have been persuaded to try a new way of opening and will openas a group with three other local gardens. We will also open for two weekends. This is a bit of an experiment and the whole group will have to see how they feel about these new arrangements.
That wasn't the end of the fun for the garden as we had a visit from Amateur Gardening magazine. Each week they feature a different NGS garden and ours was put up for consideration by our local NGS organiser. They came along on a lovely sunny day - a reporter and photographer - and were with us for almost three hours. Whilst the reporter and I chatted, the photographer never stopped taking shots - I think he took over 500 of our little garden (and its canine inhabitants). We aren't sure when it will be in the magazine, but I did have an email recently from the journalist as she was just ready to submit the article and needed a little clarification. We don't yet know when it will be published, but I will put a note on my blog when we have a date.
Things have been pretty busy on the canine side of life too. I went to a few Championship shows with Ruby where she continued to be placed consistently. However the main focus was always going to be toward the end of the year.
Almost two years ago, I was invited to award Challenge Certificates (CCs) for the first time at Gundog Breeds of Scotland in November 2011. This is a great honour and requires that a number of criteria be met, not least approval by the Kennel Club. Dogs need three CCs to become a champion and being allowed to award them is a recognition that you have reached a status where other exhibitors might value your opinion of their dogs. I had a wonderful day up in Edinburgh and the pleasure of juding some lovely dogs.
Ruby and her pups
Then a week later, Ruby gave birth to her first litter. She has five puppies, two dogs and three bitches. We have some lovely families waiting for the pups to be old enough to leave here and join them.
Hopefully one of the puppies will stay here with us. Not only am I looking forward to the usual fun of having a puppy around and training it to fit in with our family, but this time around, there is an extra dimension to savour. The pup will be featured in my Gardening and Dogs blog and hopefully will give readers even more of an insight as to how to cope with a puppy in the garden.
It is actually quite amazing that I have now been doing these online newsletters for over 10 years. It is lovely to be able to look back on our family history whenever we want to :).
Best wishes to you and yours for 2012.
Finuala & Brian