Mending with marmalade and talking

Lisbeth appears to be on the mend. She pretty much lost her voice yesterday but it isn't too bad today. She has been doing some cleaning (which I know she hates), and I note that there is another batch of marmalade on the go in the kitchen. Both activities are good signs of recovery.

However, she's very anxious about getting all the outside projects finished before she leaves for Christmas in the UK, but you can only do what you can do, I keep telling her. She says she really needs to finish digging out small trees and roots from near the good neighbour's fence so that she can plant some shrubs before it gets too cold. This involves more work with a pick-axe and an axe (to chop out bamboo roots) and you can't do that if you're not well.

Anyway, this afternoon we had a visit from a friend who was passing and we did lots of tea and talking by the wood burner. You know: men, religion, Enneagram (don't ask!) and stuff. Then we had a visit from her French neighbour to ask about an English carol that she is learning. She had some interesting questions re English pronunciation, which I will probably be asked to discuss in my next formal talking practice.