{"id":19615,"date":"2019-01-27T21:07:34","date_gmt":"2019-01-27T21:07:34","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.thesojournseries.com\/bavaria\/?p=19615"},"modified":"2019-01-28T10:43:32","modified_gmt":"2019-01-28T10:43:32","slug":"365-miles","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.thesojournseries.com\/bavaria\/365-miles\/","title":{"rendered":"Sunday Photo – 365 Miles"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Stockbridge<\/p>\n

Not completely picture perfect thanks to the blue van, but a gorgeous spot nonetheless, and a picture I posted on my IG feed and wanted to include here as well…<\/p>\n

Taken on Friday in my Grandparent’s beautiful village.<\/p>\n

My lovely Gramps is slowly succumbing to Alzheimer’s, and whilst it’s heartbreaking, I am determined to spend as much time with them as I can after being away for so long.\u00a0 \u00a0 Being away from family and friends is the hardest part as I have always said.<\/p>\n

I joined my Gran on her daily walk around the village – a mile a day at 93 isn’t bad is it? 365 miles a year!\u00a0 \u00a0We tend to laugh a lot together anyway, but this time we spoke about serious things too, and still found ourselves laughing.\u00a0 Her route takes her through the churchyard where she pointed out the joint plot that the pair of them will eventually occupy.\u00a0 \u00a0A slightly morbid conversation perhaps, but we English don’t tend to talk about death, and as she’s not English (she’s Dutch) she tends to be very matter of fact about such things…\u00a0 Anyway, she instructed me that under no circumstances were we to put any artificial flowers on them when the time comes.\u00a0 In fact she said we should plant aconites as she has always loved them, instructing me to do it soon or they won’t flower next year.\u00a0 \u00a0When I said that I very much hoped that she would still be here next year, we laughed and she said she would chuck them on herself instead…\u00a0 \u00a0Whilst she might not be English about a lot of things, she definitely has a very English sense of humour!<\/p>\n

On we went around the village, passing the things she greets along the way, from flowers to animals to houses to people, she says a lot of hellos!\u00a0 She strikes quite the figure with her walking stick and red hat, and people often stop to talk to her.\u00a0 We laughed that maybe they thought she was Miss Marple which happened to be filmed in the neighbouring village.<\/p>\n

And after climbing the familiar hill (that I thought was the steepest in the world as a small child) that leads back to the house I missed so much whilst we lived abroad, we went back to spend time with my Gramps.\u00a0 I am not sure if he can hear me much of the time, but I read to him anyway just in case.\u00a0 \u00a0He recognises me when I leave though and kisses my hand every single time – for now at least…\u00a0 \u00a0And its times like that that I am<\/em> grateful that we are back for now at least…<\/p>\n

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