Tonight we celebrated my son's birthday. It's a special one: he's turning 18 next week, but he will be away at university by then so tonight my husband, his sisters, their partners, he and I gathered on the deck and enjoyed a BBQ and cake together...It was grand.

My gifts to him were simple but I think he liked them. One was something special I've been keeping for him since he was born. The other was his baby blanket, from which he was inseparable for his first four years. I figured now that he's a grownup, and leaving home, he should have these remnants of his actual birth in 1990.

It's very interesting for my husband and me, this empty nest business. One daughter still lives close by. The other two children, as of the weekend, will be at some distance. I am glad that I am occupied with writing, which fills my thoughts, so that I don't notice the silence of the house.

That's all I have to say about that.