Beginnings & Endings. Actually Just Endings

I said goodbye to Anna and Yara today. Tomorrow they are flying to Mexico City, then Amsterdam, then Moscow, then Omsk, to visit Anna's family there for the next two and a half months. They're off to the minus 20 degree temperatures! Maya and I will definitely miss them and, given that it would be unimaginable that we are still here when they get back on the 31st March, I don't know when we will next see each other.



Anna has not only been a wonderful friend, but she was also our witness for the court process, so played that important role in Maya's adoption. And without her I'd have been lost when Pepi's car got towed away. In fact without her, I'd have been generally lost and extremely bored. Thank you Anna!!

Another 'ending' this week was volunteering at the Red Cross thrift store. Since June last year, Maya and I have spent our Thursday mornings sorting through donations, putting them out in the shop, tidying up shelves and in Maya's case, chewing on the clothes hangers & charming all the other lovely volunteers there. Not sure if I can say the same for myself, though of course I did my best!! It's so much easier when you weigh 9kg and have the world's cutest grin. Despite weighing about the same as my carry on luggage usually does (!), Maya is getting just a bit too big to lug about in the front pack for two hours straight. Maya's also now in level 3 at Gymboree (who'd ever have thought?), and that's on Thursday at 11am. I will definitely miss the Red Cross as well. Lovely & quirky Oscar, Julia, Dawn, Efren, Lucia, Tom, Frances and Helga.


Here's a sight for Playas that I'm sure caused a few double takes: Three (obviously foreign) women and their four (quite Mexican) babies trundling down the street in their various strollers/buggies/pushchairs. We're having gorgeous weather these days, and it's a crime to stay indoors.