Time where has it gone?

I have been away again and when I came back I caught the flu so the time has flown away suddenly. After the flu I have felt so lethargic and uninterested in things. I hope it will pass soon as believe it or not I have to be away again and I need my strength back to deal with all the travelling I am doing. In the meanwhile spring has come here and the weather has been so lovely. I love this time of the year with the plants beginning to wake up after their long slumber.

Our pond is at last up and running. But I have got to do something about that vile green stuff that keeps appearing. Have to do some planting around it too which will have to wait till I get back.

We did a lot of work with our driveway patio and foot paths around the garden and I find that we have lost many plants in the process. 

I am sad that we lost a couple of our rhododendrons also. I guess they did not like the ground being disturbed around the surrounding areas.

However these bushes survived. A splash of colour in our somewhat sparse garden this year. 

I found this cute little clay pot in a fair during my last visit. I will have to plant something in it after I get back.

One of the best things that happened during my last visit home was I found 2 very close friends from my school days. I have been searching for them for a long time and I could not find them. I searched FB again and again over the years and still drew a blank.  I had almost lost hope and then  I thought of searching one last time a few weeks ago. While searching I suddenly came upon my friend's page. I knew it was her but also noticed her page had not been used at all for a number of years and also it said she lived in Germany. I sent her message with little hope of getting a response and I did not. I sent messages to several of her FB friends but still got no response. Then I searched for the place where she had worked in India. I found her university where she had worked. I thought, if she had returned she just might have come back to her original place of work. So I contacted her work place who were either not bothered to give me information or did not want to give it. However after another search of the university website I found her! Wow and actually spoke to her too. I still cannot believe it! 

After finding my first friend I renewed my search vigorously for the second friend. Finding her was again just luck. I came across her sister's page on FB. Since I knew her sister only briefly I was not entirely sure that it was her so looked into her friends photos and I was pretty sure I was on the right track because of family members resemblances. Again I found that this sister did not use FB even though she had an account. But again I sent off a mail not expecting a reply. After waiting several days I looked into her profile a bit further and lo and behold there was a phone number. What luck! Finally I got in touch with my friend through her sister. So it has been 7 years since I have been on FB and searching them but before that I have tried other ways but FB won in the end.