We got up bright and early to make our way to Erskine to visit Peggy and Oz. Peggy is Pat's older sister (second in the family after Hamish) and Oz is her husband. They live on a large farm in the countryside near Erskine, but they don't do the farming themselves any more, they kind of share it with other people. Oz is also suffering from Parkinson's, and Peggy is his main carer. They have a big family, here's a quick review of their five children, as we don't see them that often (probably not in age order):
Peter (aka Big Peter): married to Evie, children Michael, Little Peter and Kayleen. We visited them last year on their acreage.
Patsy: children Teagan and Danielle. Teagan has just had a baby who I think is called Grace. Danielle was at school in England for a while.
Grant: married to Norma who is Mexican, children Delia and twins Lettie and Lupita.
Christy: children Jonathon and Jeremy. They live in Australia.
Susan: children Claire and Mcgill. Susan is an artist and does amazing pencil drawings.
We made another stop at Glenn's where mum got her epic cinnamon bun earlier on the holiday. This is part of Pat's official routine - a stop at Glenn's for a nice big brunch means Peggy doesn't need to cook lunch. The other bit of routine (according to Pat) is that she pays :-) Mum and I had most tasty breakfasts with pancakes, sausages, eggs, bacon and maple syrup. None of us were tempted by the cinnamon buns, but we did have bottomless coffee. Suitably fuelled up we continued on to Erskine. It seemed to have moved further away than last time we visited.
Susan, Claire and Mcgill happened to be at the farm so happily we got to see them too. Oz was sleeping when we arrived and we started off having chats in the sitting room and catching up on each other's lives. Mcgill has been given a set of proper bagpipes by Big Peter, who used to play but had to give up learning because he has MS. Mcgill is only young (I think about 9) and is quite slight, so can't use the drones yet because it would take too much puff, but did a very good rendition of a couple of songs including Amazing Grace which Earl really likes. They are so loud he went to play them outside while we sat indoors. Apparently Claire does scottish dancing too, and usually does it to bagpipe music, so when he's a bit better maybe they will be able to do it together.
After that we went for a walk around Peggy's garden. We were on a mission to pick some crab apples, which turn out to be sweet tasting midget apples rather than the hard, sour things that we call crab apples at home. We got about half of an ice cream pail. The garden is really lovely there, with lots of nooks and crannies, all kind of flowers, fruit and veg and sweeping bits of lawn. Although they are lovely, Peggy can't spend much time tending them because it's hard to leave Oz. Her kids have done a lot of the work to keep them nice, but even so I think she is sad that they are not what they used to be, and us planning to pull up some things, like all the raspberry bushes, which are getting overgrown with grass. As well as picking the apples (some of which are for us), we also picked 4 corn on the cobs to eat for our dinner. Susan showed me how check for plumpness first and then to peel down the leaves a little to see if the corn kernels are starting to go pale yellow.
We all sat around the big table for a cup of tea and some chocolate chip cookies that Lettie, Lupita and Delia had made when they were visiting last week. Peggy had got Oz up out of bed and he was sitting at the head of the table. He is quite bowed over and while he is eating the soon stops half way and Peggy had to encourage it on its way. He said hi when he first got up but didn't say anything else. Behind him on one of those photo frames that plays pictures were lots of scenes including Oz as a fit and healthy, active man. The disease has been a cruel thing. It seems he can understand a lot if what is being said still, but just not respond. I suppose that means he is aware of his own condition too, which is even crueller.
The rest of us had a really lovely visit sitting around the table and the time passed too quickly and we had to head back at about 4:00, complete with a bag of Peggy's provisions for Pat and Earl (jam etc) -where does she find the time and energy?! She is over 80 herself. I drove home too, being entertained by mum and Pat chatting and a repeat if the car numberplate game. Earl was my navigator.
We skinned and de-haired our super-fresh sweetcorns, boiled them for a few minutes and had them with butter, salt and pepper for our dinner. For afters was ice cream, and I had some of Peggy's raspberry syrup which was delicious.
After dinner we had a visit from Tom, Beth, Stuart, Bethan and Emily which was lovely. We chatted in the sitting room for ages, ate all the mini eggs that Beth had got especially for Tom, distributed our Cath Kidston mugs for everyone and checked in for our flight tomorrow evening. Earl showed me some of his favourite YouTube clips and they all agreed to come back again tomorrow afternoon, so no sad goodbyes were necessary this evening which was excellent.
Peter (aka Big Peter): married to Evie, children Michael, Little Peter and Kayleen. We visited them last year on their acreage.
Patsy: children Teagan and Danielle. Teagan has just had a baby who I think is called Grace. Danielle was at school in England for a while.
Grant: married to Norma who is Mexican, children Delia and twins Lettie and Lupita.
Christy: children Jonathon and Jeremy. They live in Australia.
Susan: children Claire and Mcgill. Susan is an artist and does amazing pencil drawings.
We made another stop at Glenn's where mum got her epic cinnamon bun earlier on the holiday. This is part of Pat's official routine - a stop at Glenn's for a nice big brunch means Peggy doesn't need to cook lunch. The other bit of routine (according to Pat) is that she pays :-) Mum and I had most tasty breakfasts with pancakes, sausages, eggs, bacon and maple syrup. None of us were tempted by the cinnamon buns, but we did have bottomless coffee. Suitably fuelled up we continued on to Erskine. It seemed to have moved further away than last time we visited.
Susan, Claire and Mcgill happened to be at the farm so happily we got to see them too. Oz was sleeping when we arrived and we started off having chats in the sitting room and catching up on each other's lives. Mcgill has been given a set of proper bagpipes by Big Peter, who used to play but had to give up learning because he has MS. Mcgill is only young (I think about 9) and is quite slight, so can't use the drones yet because it would take too much puff, but did a very good rendition of a couple of songs including Amazing Grace which Earl really likes. They are so loud he went to play them outside while we sat indoors. Apparently Claire does scottish dancing too, and usually does it to bagpipe music, so when he's a bit better maybe they will be able to do it together.
After that we went for a walk around Peggy's garden. We were on a mission to pick some crab apples, which turn out to be sweet tasting midget apples rather than the hard, sour things that we call crab apples at home. We got about half of an ice cream pail. The garden is really lovely there, with lots of nooks and crannies, all kind of flowers, fruit and veg and sweeping bits of lawn. Although they are lovely, Peggy can't spend much time tending them because it's hard to leave Oz. Her kids have done a lot of the work to keep them nice, but even so I think she is sad that they are not what they used to be, and us planning to pull up some things, like all the raspberry bushes, which are getting overgrown with grass. As well as picking the apples (some of which are for us), we also picked 4 corn on the cobs to eat for our dinner. Susan showed me how check for plumpness first and then to peel down the leaves a little to see if the corn kernels are starting to go pale yellow.
We all sat around the big table for a cup of tea and some chocolate chip cookies that Lettie, Lupita and Delia had made when they were visiting last week. Peggy had got Oz up out of bed and he was sitting at the head of the table. He is quite bowed over and while he is eating the soon stops half way and Peggy had to encourage it on its way. He said hi when he first got up but didn't say anything else. Behind him on one of those photo frames that plays pictures were lots of scenes including Oz as a fit and healthy, active man. The disease has been a cruel thing. It seems he can understand a lot if what is being said still, but just not respond. I suppose that means he is aware of his own condition too, which is even crueller.
The rest of us had a really lovely visit sitting around the table and the time passed too quickly and we had to head back at about 4:00, complete with a bag of Peggy's provisions for Pat and Earl (jam etc) -where does she find the time and energy?! She is over 80 herself. I drove home too, being entertained by mum and Pat chatting and a repeat if the car numberplate game. Earl was my navigator.
We skinned and de-haired our super-fresh sweetcorns, boiled them for a few minutes and had them with butter, salt and pepper for our dinner. For afters was ice cream, and I had some of Peggy's raspberry syrup which was delicious.
After dinner we had a visit from Tom, Beth, Stuart, Bethan and Emily which was lovely. We chatted in the sitting room for ages, ate all the mini eggs that Beth had got especially for Tom, distributed our Cath Kidston mugs for everyone and checked in for our flight tomorrow evening. Earl showed me some of his favourite YouTube clips and they all agreed to come back again tomorrow afternoon, so no sad goodbyes were necessary this evening which was excellent.
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