Squeezed in greetings

The last few weeks have been hit by Carol's ill health,  with an eventual diagnosis of Diabetes 2 which could explain her dearth of energy and life force. However, I must squeeze in before Christmas my greeting to kind readers.  I know who some of you are though many are unknown.  I really want to wish you a wonderful Christmas at this very significant time of the year. For us the birth of Jesus marks the beginning of the best news this world can ever see. That there is a God, and we can see his Son in flesh!  In this dark world we need to celebrate this glorious news and that’s why we wish you a very happy, meaningful Christmas!

I try to issue a lighthearted summary of Quicke happenings at the end of each year which I send to unwitting friends. This latest epistle assured readers that we are both still alive. 

Bouts of pestilence and plague have kept us local this year with Carol’s Long Covid living up to its name.  The decline in sprightliness has mercifully seen matching clumsiness, memory mishaps and hearing loss which has kept our marriage together for another year. 

Sometimes one major theme dominates a year. As in the past it was a book, but in 2023 not mine! Contracted to produce 120k words, £170 in hardback, titled: Finding your Voice, Rob was facing his final final deadline for manuscript delivery this Summer. Events had conspired to frustrate his writing as he moved from a highly unsatisfactory University (putting it mildly) to a completely new role as Director of a large journalism and media department at Marshall Univ. in W. Virginia. He had good ideas with a mound of raw possibilities. Underline raw!

Memorably he said to me: Dad, how good it is for a father to be able to help his son!’  On Jan 7^th my journal records ‘3 hours on Ch 1 Rob’s book.’ Thus began daily fatherly duty. On Jan 12^th he arrived via Iceland for an intensive week’s work in my garden shed which thrashed through three chapters. A further exhausting week in March bashed onwards. You need to be spared the intervening daily grind with zoom and google doc. keeping me umbilically involved. Carol mourned my long absences with patchy patience. However, Routledge accepted the ms. and promised speedy publication.  Astonishingly it arrived several days before its Dec. 19^th.publication date.  Carol’s frustration with the process communicated with so many friends and neighbours that complete strangers would call out: How’s the book?

Long-suffering readers of my posts will be aware of this saga. It's happy conclusion is a great cause for celebration.  Now, we move towards 2024 I hope to have some fresh thoughts to share.

A joyous Christmas to you, wherever you are!