Dear Gow,
AT LAST ! A big hello, again from wintry England!
I am so sorry that I didn’t reply to your last e-mail which I read many times. I started with a ‘flu virus before Christmas which lingered and then really upset my digestive system. It made me feel very poorly and tired, so I concentrated on the day to day routine – walking Seren (who looks SO cute in her winter scarf, much admired by other dog walkers) and exercising Roo who is at last back on track and moving well, provided he has lots and lots of exercise and regular visits to the horse vet and horse physio. This is costing a lot, so I have more recently been very busy with some renovation of the house, which I have completed myself, and preparation for having a paying guest, which will provide a little company in the evenings as well as helping to finance the animals!
The trips sound quite amazing and I would love to join you. I have just had a phone call from Tom to say that he is heading home today and will stay with me for most of the coming week until probably Friday, so I shall be able to talk with him about the logistics etc. I promise to come back to you as soon as he leaves and then there will be time to look into arrangements for travel and so on.
I was fascinated to hear all about your meditation experience. We do something called Mindfulness in this country and this was introduced to me by a teacher from the nearby Buddhist Centre, when David was so very poorly and I was meeting up with other full time carers. However, it was quite different to your experience, which was so rigorous, particularly when it was so cold. Tom had told me that everyone has been searching out warm coats to wear in Bangkok. I shall make sure I bring a warm woolly sweater and cardigan with me, just in case!
Seren has been very naughty this morning and chewed the palm off my new leather riding gloves which I bought in the post Christmas sales! I think she realises that she is in the ‘dog house’ as we say in England, that is to say, not the most popular dog at the moment! She is still very young and has so much energy to burn off and I hadn’t hidden my gloves as I usually do in my zip up handbag, so there they were available for chewing! I am going to take her with me down to the stables and she can play with the other dogs and then have a good run over the fields, in the rain and the mud!! Our temperatures are far lower than Thailand, but we’ve only had a handful of days at sub zero degrees.
Take care of yourself – you are very special - and love from Helen xxx