Fading

Snowdrops are fading, just as irises, daffodils and hellebores are going from strength to strength.
One of Richard's oldest, closest friends, in Denmark, is dying. She has had cancer for some time. Fortunately she is receiving really excellent care and pain relief from her local hospital.  For a while now, she has not had the energy to speak on the phone or even to email or text much. But today R got a long email from her, with a vivid and moving description of her day-to-day experience at the moment.  In professional life she's been a steadfast and award-winning local newspaper journalist, and in the message we can hear her stroppy and determined voice unmistakably.  We know we won't see her again, though we hope to spend time with her husband later in the year. As R says, it is indescribably difficult to imagine the world without her in it.