I'm nervous about answering my New Zealand phone here in Turkey, as it has mostly been the bearer of bad news, so it was pure delight to get a text telling us that Richard McLeod, of Searle Lane, has got engaged to his lovely Sonya.
Congratulations to you both, and thank you so much for such good news!In other circumstances, living with 12 other people in a house the size of an average two-bedroom apartment would have resulted in me being put away for murder.
Instead, we couldn't be happier squished in with my darling's brother and his whole family, plus all but one of our own five children and our oldest son's incredibly beautiful Japanese girlfriend (not to mention a great cook and excellent card player).
Of course, overcrowding does come with its own special problems.
Our holding tank seems to be just holding its own but does give out some vile burps and belches. Emptying it is today's priority as we don't want to get a reputation for being the stinky boat to avoid.
There are massive fines for polluting the water here, which is why the sea is so very beautiful. Even the busy sea-lanes of the Fethiye Harbour are crystal clear, with huge turtles swimming around.
We drop a big, round fish basket into the sea each night and after a few experiments, our boys seem to have worked out that chicken bones are the dream bait.
The first chicken bones we used came from the restaurant in the tiny bay we are moored in.
My property developer darling and his real estate agent brother were just itching at the undevelopedness of it all.
While there are fantastic mooring rings on all the cliffs, and a great jetty for boats visiting the restaurant, the rest of it is basic beyond belief.
In spite of that, the man running the restaurant has cooked 12 of us some delicious, mysterious meals. Mysterious in that we had no idea what "hair roasting" was, or "tile on the dumpling" - even the dish called "soy sauce" baffled us.
But our chef/waiter/dishwasher/maitre d'/cashier ran, ran, ran back and forth and brought us enough chicken casseroles, grilled chicken and chicken other things to bait the fish basket for quite a while.
We noticed suspiciously less noise from the hen-yard behind the restaurant the next day.
Our daughter finished her exams yesterday and is soon to make her way here.
We have meanly skyped her most days just for the fun of hearing her shrieks of rage when she sees the lavish and lovely breakfast laid out on the big table and watches her brothers dive into the still and silky turquoise sea.
Once she gets here, it's hard to imagine being any happier.
Having all five of our children together with us is our greatest delight and one that gets trickier and trickier to co-ordinate.
The book I have just read is Anne GiArdini's The Sad Truth About Happiness.
So many of you send me recommendations - thank you, and I have discovered some absolute treasures.
MaryAnn Dickie was in a shop in Arrowtown last month and told the lady there she was coming to stay with us. Whoever the genius was told her to take me a copy of this book, so she did. If it was you, please email me so I can pick your brains about more suggestions!Maggie is the good girl of the family and she starts to wonder if she is happy when she takes a magazine quiz to work out how long she is likely to live.
Things change fast and furiously - it's not a particularly believable story but it all ends up fitting together with a very satisfying "factual" ending.
As in real life, we learn that the things that make us happiest are friends and family, satisfying work and a feeling of belonging. Face-lifts, fast cars and more money never do it.
So, the lesson of the week is "be happy".
And if you see Malcolm Price on Wednesday, give him a kiss - how dare he turn 40 while we are away?
My darling loves going to 40ths - he calls them "kids parties".
Have a wonderful winter festival and I am keeping every bit of myself crossed and hoping the magic white stuff will start bucketing down.
