Cousins

 The theme for today has been cousins. After breakfast, I had my regular call with my second cousins, the Empsons. Chris was over from Turkey and staying in Leicester, Cate called in from Craigellechie in a snowy Scotland, and the rest called from their disparate homes. Nobody had been too badly affected by the weather, but there were warnings for this weekend.

After the call, we got ready to head out.  We planned to meet with Jane and Trevor (not cousins), and Ellen (first cousin) for lunch at The Refectory. Ellen was over from Canada and scheduled to talk at a conference in London. She had come early so that she could see us all.

It was 2016 when we last saw her, though we had chatted with her prior to Di's heart operation last year. She is the MD of Heart Valve Voice (Canada), an organisation which helps support, educate and advocate on behalf of people with heart valve disease. It was so nice to catch up and relate Di's experience and her recovery. It was also nice to catch up on all of the family news... with Sarah now living in New York, and Matthew down in Miami. She was able to share some recent photos of them with their partners and of Michael and Laura, who are expecting their first baby in the next few weeks.

Unfortunately, it was all over too soon. Ellen had to get up to Canary Wharf and register for the conference during the afternoon. We said our collective goodbyes and she headed off with Jane and Trevor to pick up the train in Richmond (stopping to see Mark on the way). We headed back down to the coast for a quiet afternoon. We'll see Jane and Trevor again on Wednesday... down in Sidmouth.