#johnhenrywatsonholmes

We are all very well.  It feels as though summer is properly coming at last.

Watson has started an art class for children her age in Seaford.  She goes three mornings a week, and the wall over our sofa, which we reserve for her art, is growing very full indeed.

John has opened the surgery.  It is open Tuesdays and Thursdays, 9:00 - 16:00.  He has been very tired on the evenings after he’s had to work, but they don’t have many patients yet, nothing like the London surgery, so he says it has been a good way to ease back into running a practice.  He has also started taking many of our old case notes, and his blog entries, and working at setting it all down in book format.  He seems to be enjoying the process a great deal.

The bees seem to be doing very well.  I spend any free time I have in the evenings tending to the hives, I will still wait until next year to harvest any honey, but they seem healthy and productive.

So yes, we keep very busy, and are all very content.  

Mrs. Hudson contacted us last week, and asked us if we would mind if she let 221b to to Connie and India.  They have been living in the basement flat all this time, and John and I are rarely there anymore, and likely will not be permanently returning to London.  I must admit, I felt more than a twinge of sentiment at the thought of letting it go, but it probably is for the best, and we feel great peace of mind with Connie and India there with Mrs. Hudson.  We told her that she could go ahead and let them have it.  Both John and I have been ridiculously emotional about it this week, but I’m sure it will pass.

Mrs. Hudson will come to us in early July for a two week visit.  Watson is already very excited about it, and has been drawing her a great many pieces, and has also been taking her favourite plush toys and leaving them on the bed in the guest room for Mrs. Hudson to have when she gets here.  I do believe that Watson sees Mrs. Hudson as more of a grandmother than she does my actual mother who Watson has only met a small handful of times.

Poor cat was wet, and miserable, and cold, and John is sure he is now more traumatised than every, and is going to get ill.  He’s been coddling him all morning by the fire.  Being ridiculous with Cat wrapped in a blanket, held in the crook of his arm like a child, feeding him bits of tuna.

I told him that perhaps if Cat would stop wandering off and hiding himself away he wouldn’t keep re-traumatizing himself, and he snapped and told me that I used to wander off in the middle of the night, and wake up terrified, so I should use this great brain of mine and try to learn an ounce of empathy.  Rude.

We’re not speaking at the moment.

I hate it.

I’m glad you had such a pleasant dog encounter.  Ada and Cat are beginning to get a long quite well.  I believe that they have accepted one another even if they may not quite be friends, quite yet.

Today has been--quite a lot.  We had to go back into London, because this is the week that John has to get caught up on his certifications for work, and I promised I would go with him.  However, the weather has been abysmal, both in East Dean and in London, and the roads are terrible, so we decided to take the train.  That meant getting a toddler, a dog, and a yowling, crated cat all the way from East Dean to Eastbourne by 6:00 to catch the train.

Fortunately, the train was all but empty until we got to Lewes.  It filled up a bit then, and there were a couple of children who had no concept of personal space or manners.  They kept running up trying to pet Ada, when I told them not to, and then they took Watson’s crayons, which led to Watson hitting the one boy across the head with her colouring book, and then John and the boy’s father had a bit of a tense confrontation.

I’ve never been so glad to get off a train in my life.  Now we’re all fed and settled at the flat, and Cat is beside himself, still yowling, crawling all over John, and John is exhausted, so I think he is losing his patience with that.

She looks like she’s having a good time

Apologies, I did not see this until now.  We have been very busy doing a great deal of nothing, and so I have not been here  much.  

Cat is starting to hide away less.  I believe he is becoming more confident that John will not leave him permanently, mostly due to the fact that the rain has kept us confined to the house a great deal.  With the exception of our excursion to Brighton to see the Aquarium, and our visit to the shore on Friday, we have mostly been indoors.  Cat is learning that John is not leaving him, even when he has to go out for a little while.

Ada has not done anything particularly entertaining.  She continues to be a fine dog, though I believe that she is getting as restless as we are with all this rain.  It will be good to be able to let her loose in the garden again.

Spring does appear to be here, finally.  This coming week even promises some sun, so John is eager to get out to his gardens, and I need to complete my last minute preparations on the hives, as my bees arrive in two weeks.  I believe that John wants to return to his morning run schedule, as well.

John has been very brave, of late.  He has been dealing with some very difficult things in therapy, and as a result has had some days where he has been very low.  I’m sure that the poor weather is not helping.  But then there have been days where he has seemed happier than I’ve seen him in a long time, as well, so I suppose that his dealing with those things is necessary, and having a beneficial effect, despite the difficulty.

It has been hard to see him struggle, and wonderful to see him so happy.  I’m very proud of him.  He works exceptionally hard to be the sort of man he wants to be, and I’m still not sure if he realised quite how remarkable he actually is.  The very best of men.  I am very fortunate in him.