Now here's a tough one.

My friends keep a guest log, a handsome journal with a special pen beside it for visitors to write their impressions and thanks. What can I say? This has been a difficult time, waiting and worrying. If you've read the last two days, you'll know why. And my absent hostess still hasn't had her surgery. It's been a limbo time, a twilight zone, and the weather hasn't helped: on and off rain, more on than off, inadequate sunshine and warmth, dreary, in fact, though one cannot overlook the beauty of the surroundings - lake and sky and trees. Mostly, I've admired it from indoors.

And today I must leave, still not knowing what happens next. Well, of course, we never know what's going to happen next but we make educated guesses and take calculated risks. Today, this week, it's very clear that we don't know nothin'.

I swam only twice and I was cold. I cooked for my host, who can't cook, is a picky eater at best and not too keen on food at all right now because he is so worried. He's not really here; he has spent his days on the phone, checking with the hospital and doctor, or phoning and e-mailing friends to report. I brought work with me, and finished it, not much because I was planning on vegging out in the sun. So I cooked, using mainly leftovers. I could take a little longer and clear out the fridge, but I have other commitments. You do know I'm the Leftover Queen. My first cookbook was about leftovers. I used to make house calls. Well, I guess that's what this visit was: a house call. I hope I helped.

I hope all goes well.