My mother-in-law comes for a visit

Fred's mother in Paris, July 1987

Summer at last, the little plastic pool.

On the 6th July 1987, I was loving the long, wonderfully hot and sunny French summer days, throwing open the French doors, Shawni was running freely in the garden and Barry was happy to play in the little plastic kiddies pool that we bought for them.

And my mother-in-law, Greet Kersten was visiting.

Fred and I have a delightful image of her using a ladder to scale the fruiting cherry tree in our garden just outside the summerhouse, she was so happy and Fred so alarmed that he was going to miss out on the warm, ripe cherries.

She did enjoy making the summerhouse her little home and popping into the house to use the bathroom. She was strong, loved going into Paris but I do see from the letter that I was tiring her out
'we walked the length of the Champs Elysees and Rue de Rivoli'.