Chapter 10 The first section finally has a garden

At this point, my family and I lived comfortably in a large detached house in Farnborough, Kent.Rents were rising out of control at the time, and we feared it would be much more expensive to continue renting the Swan Apartments, so we decided to buy the Domas house after seeing an ad in Country Living.Regardless, we felt the children needed a garden where they could play. Our new house was originally a good house.Now although the structure is fine, the previous owner failed to maintain it properly.The house had no central heating and the one-and-a-half acre garden was overgrown with weeds.I like to get my hands dirty and transform it all right away, especially when it comes to gardening.I've always wanted a garden since I was a kid, but when my parents finally moved into a house with a big long garden, I wasn't home anymore.So the garden at "Domas" gave me the first opportunity to put on thick gardener's gloves to uproot the bramble bushes, to improve the soil with barrow molded leaf mold from nearby woods, to create several flower beds) and to see The cultivation requirements of rhododendron and dahlia are met.The chairman of our party in Bodebrach happens to be an excellent gardener, but although he taught me many tricks, I can never grow roses as well as he does.

"Domas" became the blissful place for my twins.The thrill of new gardens, new neighbors, and walks in the woods (although they are not allowed to go alone) are new experiences for them.Our house is part of an estate with no traffic crossing around it so it's safe for the kids.To keep them from falling into the pond, I filled the pond at first and turned it into a rose bed. Mark and Carol were six years old when I started as an MP, an age where the slightest carelessness could get you into a lot of trouble.Dennis often goes abroad due to work, so he can't spend as much time at home as he hopes.As my work in council prevents me from being home every day before the children go to bed, I insist on having breakfast together as a family every day.We also take advantage of the long parliamentary recess and weekend reunions when Parliament is in session.I am very grateful to Barbara, the children's nanny, and Abe, who succeeded me, and later married a local gardener who supervised my gardening, and Abe, who became our family's best friend.They were in charge of the kids and I used to call home from council every evening before 6pm to find out if everything was ok and the kids would always tell me what was wrong.

I learned from my mother that it is important to make the home feel family.I especially insist on having a warm kitchen as the center of the home, big enough that the whole family can sit and eat there.Although I like to be clean and tidy everywhere, I don't want to be too simple for the sake of neatness. A home should be both comfortable and attractively decorated, and the combination of the two is not so difficult and expensive as it is sometimes imagined.I love mahogany furniture as much as my mother.There's nothing like silverware on a dark mahogany dining table, so Dennis and I have a small collection of silverware.

Antique stores used to be a dangerous lure for me.Antique prices had already multiplied astonishingly by then.While I'm careful not to look at the big, expensive pieces, I still take advantage of the breaks between shopping or political work to see what's new.Antique or replica furniture has always been my favorite because I think they are not only beautiful but also functional.After I lost a sapphire scarf buckle in Richmond Park one Friday (Dennis bought the gem on a business trip to Ceylon), I used my insurance to buy an antique piece of furniture for a cocktail cabinet.Dennis thought I should buy more jewellery, and I was mad at myself, and I said to him, "At least I don't lose the cocktail cabinet in Richmond Park." And so we gradually got the furniture together.

I don't have many paintings in my house.Apart from a few photographs and a few drawings and portraits that were added later, Dennis and I agreed that a good painting is too expensive and a poorly hung one is pointless.I started collecting porcelain.The china plates hanging on the walls and the china figures in the display cases are a great addition to our home.And buying a single piece is sometimes not so extravagant.Purchased my first set of Crown Derby china while visiting my sister Muriel and her husband's farm in Frington.Another time, after a night's lobbying in Finchley, I discovered that one of our branch presidents possessed a modest collection of china that showed impeccable taste.From then on, whenever she saw something she thought I would like, she would tell me.

My childhood experiences in Grantham convinced me that the best way to create a happy home is to keep it buzzing and active.This is not difficult to do.My own life was already too busy.Before becoming an MP, I was busy with legal work, running for MPs, and being a mother and wife.The pace of life became more tense after being elected as a member of parliament.The family hired a helper to take care of the daily housework, but I insisted on doing some things by myself.Whenever Parliament adjourns, even early in the morning, I drive back to Farnborough to prepare breakfast for Dennis and the family, and also get myself some fruit or a cup of coffee.Then I would send two children and sometimes another local child to school, and we mothers took turns sending the children to school.Afterwards I usually go out to do some shopping, and then drive 45 minutes to Westminster, where the parliament leaves at 2:30 pm.

Despite the constant constituency work, Weekends had the opportunity to clean up the house and do as much baking as in Grantham.During the summer months Dennis, I and the kids work in the garden and the kids play while they work.But on Saturdays during football season, Dennis was likely to officiate or watch a game, a strict, unshakeable arrangement that had been in place since the early days of our marriage.Sometimes, when he went to referee an important match, I went with him, but my attention was often distracted by something that was not a compliment to the referees, which British audiences love to criticize.Every Sunday we take our two children to a family service at Farnborough Parish Church.Dennis is Episcopalian, but we figured the kids would be confused if we didn't go to the same church.Fortunately, our local church is low church, which made the conversion easier for me as a Methodist.In any case, I don't feel like I've crossed any great theological divide, just as John Wesley called himself an Anglican until his death.

Weekends are an invaluable tonic for me.The same goes for family vacations.I still remember the good and the bad of my vacation to Skegness.My conclusion is that there is nothing better for little ones than buckets, shovels, and lots of activity.So we lived for a month in a house next to the beach in Sussex, always surrounded by other families with young children.Later we went regularly to a family hotel in Seawi on the Isle of Wight or rented a flat in the village.Taking the ferry across the Solent is an adventure for the kids, and like all twins, they love to play and compete with each other.On the way to the beach, I passed a place called "Four Marks". I couldn't answer Mark's question about who these four people were, and I couldn't think of a satisfactory answer to Carol. , she thought it was so unfair that there should be a place called "Four Carols".Not to be outdone, Mark points out that A Christmas Carol doesn't have a masculine title, which is equally unfair.

In 1960 we planned to take the children abroad for summer holidays in Bripenny.But before departure Mark develops chickenpox and the trip has to be canceled, much to everyone's disappointment.To make up for it, we decided to go skiing in Lenzerheide, Switzerland for Christmas, which was even more adventurous.Neither of us had ever skied before, so we joined a ski club at Sloane Square and took a ski lesson at Lilywhites before heading out.It was such a great vacation that we went there every year and stayed in the same hotel.I love the sights and the exercise, and I've grown to love the hot chocolate and pastries there.

It may seem a cliché that people can have both pleasures and pains in family life, but it's true of everyone.Having a family behind them can make a politician feel great strength.On the other hand, the torment a family member suffers can hurt feelings.I was always worried about Mark, he seemed to be susceptible to all kinds of germs, and one winter he got pneumonia in Lenzerheide.Once he had appendicitis and I had to rush him to a nearby hospital and it was the worst time of my life.I spent a lot of time with him over the next few weeks, worrying that Carol would feel left out.So I bought her a very nice teddy bear and named him Humphrey.Whatever Carol thought of my new friend, I became so attached to him that I took him to Downing Street.But afterward it displeased me with its filthiness, and I washed it, and it fell to pieces poorly. "Humphrey can only be brilliant so briefly".

I don't know when a man worries more about his children, when they are near or when they are far away from him.I asked my two children to stay at home when they were young, and I later agreed to put them in boarding school. In 1961, the nearby elementary school where Mark went to school was about to close. Dennis persuaded me to let him go to Belmont Preparatory School, at least Belmont is right next to Finchley, and I can often take him out to lunch.I also knew that in case of any emergency, he wasn't too far away.Of course, Carol was not willing to be left out. She decided to go to boarding school too, and two years later she got her wish.The house seemed empty after they left. At this point there was another hole in my life that would never be filled. In 1960 my mother died and I lost her.She has been the rock of stability for the family.She ran the house, helped out in the shop when needed, entertained guests, supported my father's work, did a lot of voluntary social work for the church as the mayor's wife, and also displayed a range of practical domestic skills such as sewing , we never heard her complain about anything.Like so many who live only for others, she made her husband and daughters so accomplished.Her life was not easy.Although I spoke more about my father's political influence as an adult, from my mother I inherited the ability to organize and combine the many responsibilities of a busy life.Although her death did not come suddenly, I was deeply shocked.We were at my sister's house in Essex when my mother fell ill, and Dennis and I drove her to Grantham for emergency surgery.She never made a full recovery and died a few months later.Even young children were in mourning.After my mother's funeral, my father came to live with us at "Domas" for a while.When I was making his bed one night, I saw a little note on the pillow that Mark had written: "Dear Grandfather, I am so sorry that Grandma died." It was heartbreaking to see.