My recovery from the activity of 2015 is on day eight.  I forgot my resolution to quit drinking on New Year’s Day when I accepted a rum laced hot chocolate by the hot tub.  BD kindly reminded me other wise I would be enjoying a glass of red wine right now with my mango Stilton and ginger snaps. My temperance was not meant to be a permanent commitment but at day seven I am happy to continue the cleanse.

Since our return from the big city and the grand New Years celebration our life has settled down to a very dull routine indeed. I quilt, I read, I walk the dog..we watch the last season of Downton Abby together then I get up the next day and begin again.. It is a very welcome pace. I am starting to catch my breath.

Our Bridge games had taken a break since I can’t remember when. The R’s have been even busier than we have and we struggled to pin down a night when we were all free.. This week we found time. As proof that I have started to mentally relax,  I actually accepted the challenge to play our hand a couple of times…. I didn’t screw up too badly but will never be able to play as well as my partner JR… She pulled a baby slam out of my mess of cards… She is very kind to let me be her partner… 

We didn’t know the R’s when we moved here or the W’s or the Y’s or any other members of the alphabet. We had been coming for thirty years and only visited Papa. He introduced us to his friends when we met them on the roadside but when we moved here they were acquaintances at best. There were quite a few properties for sale. Long time residents were leaving and the island seemed to be emptying. We expected and weren’t unhappy to think that we would be pretty much alone here during the winter. Since we moved here there have been more than a few properties sold with new couples retiring to the island.. There are several couples who have changed from vacationing to full time residents.. There is a lot of life here on the island and it is surprisingly welcome.

In previous years Sunday coffee shop was cancelled during the winters when AW left because there was no one to attend. Not much of a coffee shop with only the Y’s, E and I. This winter we have soooo many people still here that coffee shop is rotating from house to house.. Tomorrow the B’s are hosting… Of the twenty people on the island we might see eleven. We will have coffee and visit for an hour and then return to hermiting by the fire.

Everyone  is comfortable with my need to hermitize between social flurries. Indeed, I think most of them are of the same mind.. You don’t come to an island like this if you don’t welcome a fair bit of solitary entertainment. I did enjoy giving up my solitude to play Bridge this week.. We don’t take the game very seriously at all. There is a lot of laughter… My favourite line of the night was just before MR laid down his cards in his role as dummy when in a discussion that perhaps we had all bid wrong and we should consider rebidding… E, his partner considerately added “I’m not married 

to two hearts”