Lucky Omen, we pray

Angie has been pretty depressed about her father's state since yesterday's visit. Today her eldest sister who had been to see him an hour after we visited reported that the positive "event" that first happened when we were there was repeated and that along with her daughter and the nurse they had been able to do quite a bit of making him more comfortable, changing linen, doing some massage and creaming of his back and getting him to eat a few solids.

However, the call she expected to tell her of this morning's doctors rounds did not come and Angie was very unsettled. Because she is herself suffering from a cold and is pretty run down and as both elder sisters were due to visit father today, she had decided to take the "day off" and tried distracting her thoughts by cleaning the pool and generally tidying up the garden around the terrace, including deadheading the somewhat straggly petunias which have survived the last few nights touches of frost.

Late afternoon she even managed a ride taking Luna for a good exhausting runout - she has "come short" as the Germans say the last few days with Angie not having time for a ride. While they were out, I sat on the terrace enjoying a cup of coffee when I saw the Hummingbird Hawk Mothwhich I haven't seen for a while. Beautiful Creatures. These are a different genus to the type known in the US as Hummingbird Moth.

"Hummingbird hawk-moths have been seen as a lucky omen. In particular, a swarm of the moths was seen flying across the English Channel on D-Day, the day of the Normandy landings in the Second World War". (wiki)

I very much hope so but in the evening Angie got a call from a sister that today's visit had been anything but good. I don't know exactly what the picture is as hours later Angie was still on the phone and in bed. I didn't want to disturb her and later saw the light was out. In a very early quick whispered aside she said to me "there is little chance of him surviving the weekend".