China Girl blog 20th December 2017

Dearest Mother often says “The Glory of Cothay lies not only in its remoteness; hidden and preserved for centuries, but in its great age, an age stretching back in time thousands of years.” This ancient land is full of wonder. The distant mist of the past has recently brought to light hidden treasure, buried for over three thousand years in one of our fields, found recently by a member of a metal detecting club. Initially they thought it was a piece of metal from a plough. On further cleaning and scraping, they could hardly believe their eyes when two iron-age knives and an axe-head, beautifully carved came to light, about three and a half thousand years old, lay before them. They are classed as treasure trove, so have to be declared and checked. Hopefully we will get them back, unless a museum wants to acquire them. We feel they should remain at Cothay where they were found; we will have to wait and see,  the process is slow and can take many months.

Ma and I have been Christmas shopping, the pile of goodies makes my eyes water, presents for all the family and Team Cothay. Thirty parcels to be wrapped and distributed, we are tired out!

We have just had some lovely new as Charlie, Ma’s youngest daughter is getting married to James, tall, good-looking and kind. We are all thrilled for them, now they have to find a house.

The garden is frozen; in the early pearly light of morning when the frosts cover the earth and cling to the trees, the whole world looks like Fairyland. How easily the year has slipped away and is just a memory – the distant mist of the past year gone forever.

Mother says life is a challenge and I must learn to be obedient, but adds I am her little Christmas Wonder!