16th February

In the midst of Storm Dennis, I really feel Vicky is having some quality of life in this final phase.  She had some heavenly nurses looking after her today and she smiled her lovely smile often when she wasn't asleep.  Tiger showed her some jolly photos on the iPad and I read her some Wordsworth and some Dylan Thomas "Under Milk Wood."  We also drank coffee and played scrabble while she slept, and she listened to Private Passions on Radio 3, which was about Brighton and death; the music on it was interesting.  We also gave her hand massages at the same time as listening to a Buddhist monk in Penang do some chanting for her.  He kept saying "Vicky Darling" but my mum thought he was saying Kitchen Garden as her hearing is not good and his accent is strong.  It was a beautiful moment.
I keep driving through great rivers on the way to the hospice, and I wonder if we will all be washed away.  I am having a day off from my acupuncture clinics tomorrow for the first time ever really. I hope the patients are not too put out but I can't do normal life at the moment.  I am picking up my long lost son from Gatwick at around teatime; it will be great to see him.  My three daughters and my niece and my American lodger are all here at home with me now, we are having leek and potato gratin for supper with vegetarian sausages and Yorkshire puddings.  I hope Vicky has another comfortable night.
Josie