Outside the night is silver full moon and shadow light.
We sent her off to hospital again to visit Mr Griffiths and he seemed well, She said, and fed up, in a quiet way of being there. They talked for a while and he asked of the house and Nadolig and they spoke of nursery rhymes and he smiled when he remembered his teacher at school. Jack and Jill was his favorite. And there are rhymes that are from the Welsh language too, he said, though none came to mind at the time, so now She wants to find those. And when She left She asked him to see if he could find them, buried far back in his childhood memories.
His house, bathed in the glow-light of the full moon seems to float on an island, out of time. Almost, if you opened the door now and stepped inside it would take you to another place. Star shine in the darkened windows, secrets shine behind them.
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"Almost, if you opened the door now and stepped inside it would take you to another place."
I have no doubt that it would. [sigh]
ginger darlings...do we know when he might be returning home yet? i hope soon ^..^
your mom is so kind to spend time with mr. griffiths. i am sure he enjoys her visits ^..^
good thoughts to all.
It sounds as if you had a good visit, sorry though Mr Griffiths is not yet ready to leave, sounds as if the moon light is soothing his waiting home. I stepped outside and spent a few quiet moments looking up. The moon was bright and sky still and clear. You can buy a beautiful moon chart from www.llun.net Even though mine is on the kitchen wall i would have missed it's light if I hadn't read your words. Thankyou
I hope the magic of the moonlight will help Mr. Griffiths remember those childhood rhymes. They sound like something a Ginger Cat might enjoy hearing...
A house empty and waiting for someone is a strange place. I wish that Mr. Griffiths could be at home--and someone there to help when he is not quite himself.A hospital is a lonely place to be--no cats allowed.
Thank you for the update on Mr Griffiths - She is so good to visit him!
I do so hope he will be home in his magic house soon!
Yedid seem a little better again, very pleased to see me as he was wondering where I had been. He is very understanding about me being busy, and doesn't remember one visit to the next as whatever it is that has caused his illness has led to an increase in his short term memory loss.
He looks well, is warm and is also, I think, very fed up. His house is cold at the best of times, in great need of repair, bu there is something so rare and so special about the bond between the two. In the hospital he is surrounded by people, mostly men in his ward, so old, so very old and some seem to get no visitor at all, but sit locked inside their tattered minds. I can tell that he is better as he can see them now.
He begins to feel like he is in prison, waiting for a release date. But the nurse did talk to me about Glyn leaving.
And after visiting and talking with him, and being tired and so much lost in the land of nursery rhyme myself, the house in the moonlight looked so very much alive with magic. It was if you could be like the boy in Tom's Midnight Garden in reverse, this time by stepping into the house and falling back through time to when the walls were new and the windows shone with candlelight and a quite voice sang lullabies to restless children.
I cannot begin to imagine the joy he will feel, the relief, to once more sit quietly, alone, by the fire in this house that has been a home for a long lifetime.
Glad he is a lot better and that there is finally the promise of coming home.
I remember as a kid in hospital wishing I could be home too. It's like a deep ache inside as if you were cut away from it.
But will Nadolig come back? I hope so, I am sure he must miss his old friend.
The Welsh rhymes would be great to find. An illustrated book of them? Possibly? Perhaps?...
Sometimes in order to remember it is necessary to go back to the earliest of memories... the rhymes, stories, poems... links with the past.
My husband and I once went on an adventure to see a Roman amphitheatre up in the Welsh mountains, imagining its use as a recruitment tool to get people to take assignment so far away from Rome...(yeah, yeah, I know, it didn't work like that). We took the A470 south from Betws-y-Coed, through Fflestiniog and Gellilydan and onto a very small track. Couldn't find it. Drove back and forth on the road looking for it—driving past it the whole time. We saw a man and his dog out in the field, so we stopped to ask him directions. He kindly paused his work and leaned on the scythe he was using to clear the thistles, cleared his throat and apologized for his English. He told us we were parked right next to the amphitheatre.
Every time I read one of your posts about Mr Griffiths I think about that old Welsh guy and his dog and thistles. I hope he goes home soon.
We are glad you are so kind to Mr Griffiths. We will be pleased for him when he can come home.
Mom likes to read about him because he reminds her of her beloved grandfather who died on 10th December 2008 aged 100 years and 4 months old. She misses him a lot and it helps hearing that folk are kind to Mr Griffiths. She said old age is no picnic and it helps having folk around her care.
I do feel that hospitals are no place for recovery, as they can't give the comfort & security of your own home. However, knowing you have friends who care & miss you is a great comfort, so well done for being such a good friend to Mr Griffiths.
Have you seen Nadolig recently? It would be good to know he is alright in this awful, unforgiving weather. Snow is pretty in photos, but no fun to live in!
Always a nice bit of writing happens here.
Glad you do as you do.
Glad you got to visit Mr. Griffiths.
I hope he can come up with some wonderful old Welsh rhymes.
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