You'd never guess that this post was going to be a high would you?
One of my twin nieces (the other is working hard at uni) had her first child late last night - a baby boy! It's be the most anticipated baby I've ever known Mother and baby are doing well, baby was six pounds, foueteen and three quarter ounzes. Not had the opportunity of seeing him yet, but soon I hope. My niece and her boyfriend live about ten minutes from us (Me and Mum, and my sister and her hubby) so we'll see at lot of baby. There's no name for baby yet, but I am going to make sure he grows up to love books

Lovely news, Jane(does that make you a great aunt?) I can see another avid Agatha Christie fan emerging!
How frustrating that must be Gats. I wish I were near and could translate for you.

WOW, Jane! That's fantastic news .
Congratulations to the pround parents and to all the other members of the family.

And I suggest you start his reader training with Harry Potter .

That is thrilling news, Jane, and you are obviously quite excited, which tells me you will be a fantastic great aunt. Glad to hear that all is well with your niece, too. Best to you and your family. Sandy

Denni, sooner or later, he'll be introduced to the wonderful Potter books. However, starting him off easy with the traditional fairy tales, and rhyming books - some which belonged to my nieces.
Baby's name is William Patrick (Patrick after Dad). I haven't seen him yet, as I've got a head cold but Mum has
Baby

My niece is staying in hospital tonight, he blood pressuse is still slightly high. But William is doing well, except he has to be kept warm

Awww, he is beautiful and yes, you can say that about boys when they are babies. (I threw that last part in because a lot of males tend to question me on that when I say it. )

What a Sweetie. I can see Great Aunt Jane will have her hands full with this bundle of Joy.
I bet he will grow up to be a great lover of books like his Great Aunt.
Congratulations to everyone.

He looks great.

Aww, Jane, he is adorable! Congratulations to your niece and everyone in the family!

Jane, he's gorgeous! You're one proud Great Auntie, aren't you ?

Yep ! A fine-looking young man there, indeed, Jane! Congrats!

Congrats to you, JM. He is cute.

Congratulations Jane (and to the parents) he is adorable. Just don't spoil him too much.

Congrats Jane! Wonderful news!

Happy news, Great-Aunt Jane! (Now where have I read that title before?)

Not only does it make her a Great Aunt it makes her a great Great aunt

Highs and lows all over the shop here .. the other half hurt himself last week falling off a motorbike which kept me busier than I've been in a long time. It's all good - he'll survive although with a limp for a little while and it gave me the chance to step up around here.

Then my son had his first motorbike race on the weekend - such a good day out and he got three trophies. He was so proud of himself and even slept with one that night.

Aw bless him Jillian, he is a really great kid.

Congratulations, Jane, to you and the happy parents! And may I say, what a wonderful avatar you have there.

Wow, Jill, three tropies, that's great! No wonder he's proud. And I hope your other half is feeling better soon.

Congrats JM. The high of the week was spending time with a friend. The low was work, and cleaning out the rock garden. 2 years ago I told Mom that I'd like to get some strawberry plants. Two weeks ago, mom bought over 75 plants and said the rock garden should be cleaned out on Saturday. It's a 3 tier garden, about 10 feet around on the bottom tier, that hasn't been cleaned out since we lived there, 15 years ago. It was a good time. (sarcasm online is impossible)

Congratulations to you and the parents, Jane. And congrats to Conor, Copago: he seems to be a great lad who's up for anything.

Oh, lovely, Jane!

And be advised: my great-aunts were among the most beloved and influential members of my family. I adored them, not least for their libraries.

For the first time in 10 years I gave a private lesson in law, and it was fine. And a few more now coming in the month before the exam, it's good when you can use something again when you need it.

Lovely news about William Patrick's arrival Jane, and nice that it made the head of the page
I'm feeling a bit low and melancholy, after learning of the death of my sailing friend Doug, whose image I posted in photo-a-day a couple of days ago. Earlier this week, I also had an e.mail telling me of another friend's demise; Tina el-Assal, a Dutch woman married to an Egyptian professor, both of whom were very good friends when I lived in Libya and stayed in touch with afterwards. Last week, it was the funeral of our neighbour next door, and there've been several other deaths of people close to us in recent months, and of course our cat Aramis.
Whenever death occurs, it leaves a gap which is difficult to close; something has gone forever it seems. It's natural of course, that as we get older more of those we know will pass away, but it still hurts. All those mentioned above, died quite suddenly or after short illnesses, so at least there wasn't much suffering, and my friend Doug had a heart attack while working on his yacht, so he was doing something he loved.

Picqero, it is for sure a very very sad time for you and I am really sorry to hear about your losses. Of course it hurts terribly. Please know that we are thinking of you at this bad time.

Thanks for that; just posting something helps to ease the melancholy.
Some of you may recall I recently posted details of the death of a young man, age 29 and just got engaged, called Daniel who was a friend of ours. Daniel was a landscape gardener, and had done quite a bit of work for us. Although we didn't know his parents personally, we sent our condolences on the sad and premature death of their son, and recently received a reply. Some of you had asked me to pass on your thoughts and prayers, which I did and received this reply from Daniels's mother:

"This is just a line to thank you so much for your email. It was a real comfort. I do remember Daniel talking of you both and we asked Anthony if he could somehow let you know. I'm glad Dan’s memory lives on through the work he has done.
Thank you for taking the time to read over our website and to pass on our address to others. That means more than I can say. I always feel people have visited our home when they write and tell us they have been looking over the site.
Yes, it is true we know that God's Way is perfect and we can trust Him implicitly even though He leads us along pathways we do not wish to tread.
Hoping you are both keeping well,
Love from Julian and Cilla".

If anyone would like to contact Daniel's parents, this can be done through their website and as Cilla says, they are delighted to hear from anyone!