This is the first time I've signed in to No Kidding in NZ for over three months! As I mentioned on Monday (here) on A Separate Life, I've been away on an extended trip. Unfortunately, security issues required me to be quiet on the blogosphere about my travels, given that I’m open about where I live, I’ve posted photos of my house, and, unlike many years ago when we travelled for six months, my real name can be associated with this blog. So I didn’t want to advertise our absence too much. Unlike previous long trips, our friends are no longer working in the city, so couldn’t drop in and stay for a night or two every week, so we were a bit more concerned about security this time. I wrote and scheduled all my posts in advance, because I knew it would be too hard to do so on the road. I also find it horrible to log into blogger on my phone/ipad, so I really apologise that I haven't been able to respond to comments etc, even though I have been reading them. I am going to go back now and read them and comment! If you stuck it through to December with me, then I am very grateful.
I'll reveal much more about our trip in due course. We had a wonderful time. I got to meet up with some old ectopic-messageboard friends, unfortunately missed Bamberlamb due to scheduling, and got to meet former blogger and author Lesley Pyne in London just before we flew home.
We arrived home last Monday, giving me plenty of time (or so I thought) to clean the house, decorate my tree, do all the seasonal baking, write some blogposts, and be ready for Christmas. Unfortunately when we got home I began ailing, quickly tested positive for covid the following day, and have been laid up ever since. Today is the first day I've even made it upstairs to my laptop. So much for plans.
Though on the bright side, if I was going to catch covid on the trip, coming down with it as we arrived home was the best possible time.
It will just be the two of us. That was always the plan. I'm pretty miserable, and need another nap on the couch, so unless I improve rapidly in the next day or two, there'll be little celebration here. That's fine. It's the end of a long year, and I hope for you it passes peacefully whether you celebrate or not. I'm looking forward to the rest of summer (having missed the start of it in Europe), and health returning.
Sending love
Formerly-absent-but-now-returned Mali
PS. Here are some previous seasonal posts to help anyone who might be struggling:
Reclaiming
Christmas – written way back in December 2010, only my second month of blogging
(though my seventh year of No Kidding Christmases)
Holiday
Season: If Money were No Object
Four Rules of Surviving Christmas for No Kidding women
FLUIDS and MORE fluids. AND more rest than you can imagine for longer than you expect. NO PUSHING YOURSELF. Want you back in normal good health and look forward to hearing more. in the meantime.... take meds and get better but ALSO KEEP RESTING. Covid is nastier than is most people understand and the long run impacts are unknown as they have not manifested yet. Think Shingles and Chicken Pox time frames.......... Right. SO REST and take careful smart care of yourself!!!!
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