Tuesday 31 December 2013

Re: treats

Mmm...I give thanks for another day of dozing and contemplation. I'm particularly grateful that everyone else in the vicinity has been having a relatively quiet time too (so far!)...or being boisterous elsewhere!

Apart from sleeping and watching beautiful Norway and Alaska being backdrops to a couple of things on TV, I've been reading a book that is partly in a language quite foreign to me (sailorly talk about nautical things) and partly in the language it sometimes feels as if only I know - the one that goes on inside a head uninterrupted by human conversation or contact for swathes of time. I give thanks for descriptions of water and sky and creatures and light, for appreciation of subtleties that can get nudged aside by natter...and I resolve to appreciate this solitary perception more as, though in our crowded connected world it becomes rarer and less intelligible to those involved in joined up thinking and being, it is (literally!) unspeakably precious. 

I give thanks for putting the Christmas leftovers in my beautiful Christmas tins, and taking down the tinsel that's been trying to fall down for a while. For the smell of a baked potato, and that the bin men have been. I give thanks for all the parties I've danced at, for new years that started with a kiss. For Sidney's fireworks (always awesome) and for the folk who put them on Youtube, and that later, if the wind and rain are kind, I'll hear the cheer from town and maybe see a rocket or two...


Monday 30 December 2013

Bouncing back

This morning I was grateful I'd laid those wanderlust notions aside when I woke up first thing and heard the wind and rain...and then all over again when I woke up once more much later! I seem to be needing a lot of sleep just now, so am very grateful when I can get it.

The place I most wanted to go (within the bounds of bus routes and common sense), I most wanted to go to because there are big un-built on headlands and not concrete down to the sands and you can see miles of waves breaking which I thought might be a nice distraction from the pain, and make me forget I'd rather be with other people too...so I decided to go down to the seafront here instead even though I knew it would be very busy with families and couples and accentuate the Wilhelmina without companions mood. And I was rewarded with the most awesome sea...fairly calm away from the shore but throwing thundering lines of surf against the sea wall, which then bounced back and hit the ones behind in giant fractal plumes, just the way I like it best!  And yes there were lots of folk in twos and threes and fours but they were all gawping at the water so I didn't feel left out at all... 

It's a shame for you guys I didn't get any of the biggest splashes in a picture (despite several attempts) but for me I'm grateful because it's good to be focused on the experiencing rather than trying to capture the experience to share...beautiful blues tho, plus beaten egg white white!


I give thanks for exchanging a few words with people I knew to get a brief sense of actually being part of the human race, and that I hurt a lot more after going out, so a) I know it was a good job I didn't go further and b) I know I wasn't in that much pain earlier after all! After grabbing a non-Christmas cake bite to eat I'm also particularly grateful all I have to do for the rest of the day (heavens, maybe for the rest of the year!) is vary the horizontal between sofa, bath and bed and get some more sleep. Also there's an early seeason CSI I seem to have missed before - or totally forgotten - you wouldn't think that was possible, would you?

Sunday 29 December 2013

Twiddling my thumbs

Today I've been grateful for the still and sunny weather...ideal for some convivial activity for those for whom conviviality and activity are options, fine for staying in bed with a good book and a bad attitude as well, I'm pleased to report! I gave thanks for hearing neighbours chatting outside, and watching some testing a remote control helicopter toy, and that eventually the rubbish insisted on being taken outdoors so that I had to get up and dressed myself. I was grateful my knee was so painful and stiff on the stairs confirming going out anywhere hadn't really been an option anyway...

I'm grateful my spirit is willing even if my flesh is weak and I've devoted a couple of hours to wandering up and down cul-de-sac notions searching for inspiration enough to get me moving tomorrow, even briefly considering the Christmas exhibition I'd love to see before it closes for another year here http://www.geffrye-museum.org.uk/ Common sense has prevailed of course, but leaving home for a few hours somewhere might mean my diet improves...I'm giving thanks for the Christmas cake but given the alcohol content it'll be rehab I go to next if I don't make an effort soon!

I'm grateful the rather rambunctious children who've moved in next door are not indoors all the time, and that they weren't here at all while Bob was! Also for learning the 'thumb method' of casting on last night after following a pattern that called for it...and that I've decided I need to start again in the smaller size so that I'll be able to practice it later...

Saturday 28 December 2013

It's a gift

I was grateful I decided to have a long lie in this morning, but also that at lunchtime the sunshine was at an angle to dazzle my eyes too much to stay in bed any longer. Not that I've done a great deal with the rest of the day...and I'm grateful for that too!

Waking in the night for more ouches I was grateful to see Bob had finally made it home after an epic and eventful journey, and even more so that he seemed to maintain good humour and a sense of his good fortune throughout.

When I've been spending some time with someone and then they're gone it can feel a bit miserable to be on my own again afterwards, but being in rather a lot of physical pain it's been an ideal time to just to snuckle down under a cuddly throw, and read and snooze and catch up with films and TV. It's several days before anyone would expect to see me anywhere so there's no rush to get anything done (even my hair, so much gratitude for that!). Sometimes the days between Christmas and New Year can seem an awkward limbo but I'm grateful for this time to reflect on various matters, and rest and recuperate quietly...

I'm giving thanks for my Christmas present from Laura too, which I think is meant to be a chopping board but is far too prettily grained for that. I could serve myself some of the cracker and cheese mountain on it later maybe... I've just found the leftover Mars bar cake from the cafe yesterday though, so I won't be needing that for a while.


Friday 27 December 2013

Pleasantries

Mmm, last night I didn't keep waking up and going 'ouch' - that was certainly something to be  grateful for! I still gave thanks for a leisurely start today though, plenty of time for the storm to blow itself off elsewhere for one thing.

I was grateful to Bob for making me bangers and mash for tea, and bacon butties for lunch...and washing the grill pan afterwards! My taste buds certainly enjoyed the change though I feel a bit like a snake with an animal shaped lump in the middle now and think little but fruit will pass my lips for a while...

I give thanks for very pleasant weather for a potter round the shops before he got the train, pleasant folk encountered and a cafe table with a pretty view of the pale waves and the headland darkening with tinted clouds behind. It's been a lovely few days for which I have much gratitude, but I'm also grateful for nothing much planned for a few days more other than making inroads into the leftover food, the pile of books and films we recorded but didn't get round to seeing.

Thursday 26 December 2013

Mods and rollers

Last night I was very grateful for the mildness and stillness (even the tinnitus was quiet!) so  that I could focus on the soothing sound of waves through my open window rather than my grumbly old bones.

This morning waking up and getting up was most unappealing, so I gave thanks we'd arranged to go to watch the walk into the sea with Laura and Chumba and had to stir ourselves sharpish anyhow to join the streams of dogs and people converging on the beachfront. Gratitude for the incredibly mild and brilliantly sunny weather which meant there was a huge crowd watching (so huge that a few extra inadvertently almost joined the walk as tide kept trying to reclaim the little strip of sand we were standing on!) but still just about small enough for everyone could stop and chat to people they knew.

There's always a lovely jolly atmosphere down there and this year even more so, and I gave thanks the swimmers looked like they were actually rather enjoying it, and though we are all grateful for the work the RNLI do,  I particularly love it when they do a display of skids, jumps and handbrake turns for our entertainment each side of the dip... And when a tanker slithers through the sand bank gap afterwards.  I give thanks for Laura and Bob braving the queue at Eastcliff and Chumba helping me guard an unexpectedly empty table in the bright warm sunshine for a cuppa afterwards, it was so good to see them doing such a roaring trade and hear some proper mod scooters (almost) roar up afterwards to add to the Bank Holiday seaside atmosphere.

Wednesday 25 December 2013

It's a wonderful life

Well, first thanks for today has got to be for having power and being warm and dry. We should always be grateful for those of course but this Christmas there have been so many stories of people not very far away from here affected by bad weather it's a timely reminder how good being in your own home with everything working can be...

I'm grateful for a long lie in and leisurely bath to bring those pesky joints under control, and for a leisurely late lunch too. Much thanks to Bob for finding the film we wanted to watch online after discovering Sky had removed access to the channel I thought I'd recorded it on.

And thank you to Son Christmas for my many and well chosen presents too! I've never had so many from one person ever I think...and as I've so few from anyone else it's particularly welcome this year. I'm grateful he liked his as well, as it's good to feel you've given the right things as well as received them, as your own taste and opinions influences your choices so easily. Gratitude too for finding out two things I thought were urban myths are true: first that you can use the contents of a tube of cream without checking it's correct (Jointace on an itch...ouch!) and second that you can receive back a gift you've given (see above: with embedded gratitude for choosing something I thought was nice in the first place!)

I'm grateful I've finally cut myself a slice of Christmas cake. It just didn't seem right when I was here on my own, even if the other person says no thanks you have to have someone to ask! Oh and for managing a whole small bottle of Crabbies by myself...it's an even more wonderful life now!

Tuesday 24 December 2013

Even now

Weather? What weather? I give thanks for the beautiful bright blue sky this morning, the varied array of commercial shipping sheltering in the bay (one of them a Vogun craft I'm sure, cunningly disguised by blue and white paint, but at that size not cunningly enough to fool me!) and stunning views of the moor. Also for the Green Day and US Air Force Band for playing what is basically the same tune in such different but deeply pleasing ways. Basket Case and Pachelbel's Canon in case you're wondering...

For reading various local news reports of mayhem and mishap and realising how fortunate we've been, particularly Bob not getting the later train that terminated at Taunton where the passengers had to spend the night...

I'm grateful for a delicious lunch at the friendly tapas bar, with leftovers to bring home and an afternoon of idle delights. And for being too distracted with more of the same to write any more tonight. Wishing everyone who reads this whatever they'd wish for themselves on a Christmas Eve evening...and a little bit more besides!

Monday 23 December 2013

It's an ill wind

Hmm...today I give thanks for the glorious weather. Each to their own, I know! To me it's a great treat to be out in the wind and rain and know you can come home to the warm and dry. And I love the churning sea...


I give thanks that Kostas has his sister coming for Christmas this year...not least because this means he doesn't have to eat the usual prison food but can have something nicer in the visiting area...

Gratitude too for Greig Trout realising you didn't have to be dying...though like most actual bucket lists it presupposes you're well heeled, well supported and, well...well!
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/health/healthnews/10533463/Cancer-bucket-list-101-things-to-do-after-twice-surviving-cancer.html
For most people, with or without cancer, learning to enjoy the amazingness of where you are and what you're doing even if isn't obviously wonderful, privileged, adventurous or fine is the biggest challenge and the greatest reward.

I'm grateful for twisted sifter's art pages. Check out the embroidery
http://twistedsifter.com/2013/12/grandma-shares-30-years-of-embroidered-temari-balls/ and the crochet coral reef. http://twistedsifter.com/2013/04/the-crochet-coral-reef-project/
Or indeed any other bit that takes your fancy, or not if that takes your fancy too!

...and for starting Bernard Moitessier's The Long Way. Tracked down at the library to savor in the ocean of my bath...

...and that, so far, the bad weather has meant that Bob is likely to get here quicker as Cross Country has let budget ticket holders travel on speedier earlier trains!

Sunday 22 December 2013

Getting stuffed

I give thanks for...

*warm bright sun flood in my flat this morning and pretty clothes hanging on the rack (instead of in heaps on the bed and the floor!)

*my Dell Streak...precursor of many a fancier and more functional tablet phone but still a great companion when you're short on non-virtual ones and even a laptop seems too much like hard work. I give thanks the desktop BBC site working on it again, and for the stories they don't count as news ie. the interesting and uplifting ones...

*putting the new wool and needles that have been waiting for a quiet time into my new knitting bag. It's made from remnants and leftovers and finally finished after eighteen months at the bottom of the to do basket!...Just gotta wait for the pain to be quiet now; it's very LOUD at the moment so I'm being grateful that this isn't always the case and that I now know there's a reason why I feel like I've been beaten up sometimes and that I don't have to beat myself up about it any more...


*a humungous dinner of assorted things needing eating up, including parsnips and potatoes that looked a bit limp but tasted fine after roasting. I'm writing this between courses, in a minute I'm going to finish up the pudding I made with wrinkled Bramleys and out of date marzipan last night. Just chop them up together, add any odd dried fruit you have and top with some pastry or crumble. That's all there is to it as I was very grateful to find out. Well, you do have to cook it and eat it I suppose...but neither of those stages should be particularly taxing!

*cramming a few things into Bob's stocking - though they all seem much bigger than I imagined them to be so not as many as I thought! Also that his business going well so he's asked me if I'd like an extra Christmas present. This gratitude is both for his good fortune and mine, of course! I've less cards and gifts this year than for a very long time so I'm working on not worrying I've been naughty, because I really don't think I have...oops, there I go again!


Saturday 21 December 2013

School's out!

If someone asked me to sum up my feelings about this year, I'd have to say ‘It’s been an education’. I certainly didn't consciously sign up for some of the courses of study involved (and in some cases staying ignorant might have meant a whole lot more bliss), but hey ho, even when you’re willingly being taught, what you learn often has little to do with a curriculum or lesson plan... From your mother’s knee to dreaming spires you’re as likely to find out about people (yourself in particular) and what makes the world you’re in at the time go round as how to tie your shoelaces or get a degree or whatever. I give thanks for more knowledge and understanding. Also for quiet contemplation of these matters as the year really ends and starts again, no matter what the calendar date may be.

I give thanks for a very pleasant time last night at Laura's, meeting some lovely people including the cab driver who turned around when I realised I'd left my key behind...and back when I found it again! Gratitude too for gauging how long staying would be a pleasure before pain and exhaustion kicked in...I was in bed fast asleep an hour after I left her house even with the key confusion. 

Today I've been grateful for quiet and unpressured but gradually productive hours, making tasty things to put in the freezer (and then take out again in a few days!), cleaning, tidying and prettifying the things that rarely get attention and finishing a sewing job that's been hanging around for a very long time in order to put my sewing machine away for the season and fill the table by the sofa with nibbles and snacks instead...

I give thanks for my cards and gifts, especially a pretty handmade card from Pat and vegetables from Rachel!


Friday 20 December 2013

Treasure chest

Um...hum...I'm grateful my ice cream last night wasn't mouldy. I'd just served it with the same spoon I'd used for pesto earlier so it looked green and furry in places!

I'm grateful everything I ordered from Tesco was in stock...and fits in the fridge and freezer and other places it should go...

I'm grateful I've come up with an idea for 'Christmas boxing' the drivers (I have many different ones so it doesn't seem right to give the one who comes before Christmas the tip.

I'm grateful it's Laura's birthday so I have to go out for a couple of hours because otherwise I wouldn't because I'm sleepy and hurting, and another beautiful morning weatherwise has turned into a tempestuous night...

I'm grateful I've just tried on my new tights and not only do they fit (you never know with tights sizes, do you?) but they look and feel wonderful, so if I struggle with social and voice failure I can gaze at my ankles in awe! They are 'polished', so slightly shiny and very soft...and deep peacock green...and I shall be diving head first into the bargain basket of that shop when I'm next there again and seeing if there's any more such treasure!

Thursday 19 December 2013

Chasing rainbows

Gratitude today for the glorious sunshine...and the rattling hail and thundering rain! For the waves breaking so slowly I had to check the speed of people walking by to make sure I wasn't having some sort of hallucination.

For the yacht club getting a defibrillator installed outside...in case people have heart attacks at the prices I suppose!

For a good acupuncture treatment to set me up for a couple of weeks...it's already set me up for a couple of hours' doolally dallying so I'm grateful I've checked in at my half written post and realised it's time to check out and get supper and a hot bath...and finish last night's Columbo...

For the incredible, breathtaking changes of colour late afternoon. I'm always waxing lyrical about weather phenomena, as you know, but quite normal folk were stopping in their tracks and gawping at the darkest grey clouds, followed by a bright yellow light (check out the houses in the background glowing with it!) as the setting sun broke through a layer...then lilac...then pink. And rainbows. I've chased a few of those in my time...in all senses of the phrase!


Wednesday 18 December 2013

Little star

Weyhey...that's almost all the Christmas knitting done, the bit that needs doing for tomorrow anyhow! I'm grateful it turned out so well, but I can't show you because you might be the person who it's for...

I'm grateful I've finished the mini heart garlands to go on my mini mistletoe tree as well and that that is now both 'up' and decorated, and that I've put some LED and fibre optic lights in the kitchen/dining room too. It can be hard to get into decorating when there's no one around to see it but you, but I do like twinkly things...


Talking of up...I'm grateful the workmen upstairs were late starting this morning as I was too. I'm grateful they are happy in their work and enjoy each other's company but sometimes I'm really not in the mood for seven hours of banter, burping and song...on top of the banging and drilling and so on. That's one reason I stayed out so late yesterday, not just to try to shrug off the black dog but to get some peace to do it. I'm grateful my appointment wasn't today as, though from what I can see from here I'd say the sea is well worth a visit, even I wouldn't want to stay very long! Actually today I've given thanks I've had no cause to go out, not because of the weather but the aching aftermath of yesterday's exertions. As soon as this is finished I'm going to be grateful for stretching out on the sofa with a groan and a Columbo! Oh, and I'm grateful my cough is much better and my voice partially back so that I can groan!

Finally gratitude for finding my reading glasses in a crevice beside the sofa and a lost pair of gloves in a boot in the hall...and to Sheila for looking in some more obvious places for me!

Tuesday 17 December 2013

Brown study

This evening I'm grateful for making it through a nasty bout of seasonal missery - pining for people who've wandered off over preceding months (or years). You can tell me til you're blue in the face if they were real friends they wouldn't...on my side it's never unreal. I give thanks for remembering this and realising however little love there's been in in my life there's always loads going out, and the more you give the more you have so I'll never actually run out even though it feels like it sometimes... Gratitude too for a relative lack of 'duty' visits this so far year - where those who'd really rather not squeeze an hour or so of you into their schedule and you have to remember they think this is a charitable act...and remember to be charitable in return!

This week's hospital visit (yawn!) took me down some literal memory lanes, streets and roads which, of course, added to the mood of nostalgia but I gave thanks for the sight of others enjoying lunches and drinks with partners and colleagues and chums, and that folk on the whole seemed to be cheerful and having fun.  And shopping...my, were they shopping too! (This is another reason I get wistful - I don't have nearly enough presents to buy!) From the bus I was grateful for the sight of one golden leaf on a bare twiggy hedge and postmen delivering parcels...and on the way home I gave thanks for deciding to have chips on the beach as darkness fell and the rain began to fall. Not the most obviously cheerful thing to do but it put off coming home alone and making tea for one...


Monday 16 December 2013

Delicacies

I'm grateful a non-sticky situation remained stuck not only during the night, but until after that vital first cup of tea as well! Also that I've been asked to do some more 'patient reviewing' for Cancer Research. It's good to be able to be useful whilst patiently sitting at home...

I give thanks for a delivery of non-standard foodstuffs (well, by many people's standards I'm sure - 'original' Sosmix, dark chocolate chip oatcakes and black garlic) and for stocking up with the more mundane but necessary teabags and mince pies at the Co-op too.

I give thanks for some vigorous cleaning by Jenny, some cheery driving by the taxi men and some wimpy walking by me! And for shops that I went to having the things that I wanted to go to them for...


I'm grateful the sea, though less wild than yesterday, was still hurling its edges enthusiastically at the defences this afternoon for the 'Oh wow!' factor (from everyone but Network Rail)... and for the rolling breakers, starting as an almost imperceptible dark stripe on the green grey water before building and breaking cleanly topped by a surfer or two.

I'm grateful my tea's in my tummy...and for making it and putting it there! For optimism that, if I fall asleep shortly (as I feel I may do), that I'll wake up enough later a) to go to bed and b) to do the things that need doing for tomorrow (though not necessarily in that order). I give thanks that the window garlands are up as a start to seasonal sparkle, for words squeaked and croaked now and then as a change from only whispers, and for some cards and kind thoughts from friends old and new.

Sunday 15 December 2013

It's my party

Hmm, another 'quiet' day! I was grateful that despite sleeping late after waking in the night for coughing, I was in time to let my lift to the choir gig know I wouldn't need picking up...and that she could make out what I was whispering down the phone! Not being able to sing or talk there didn't seem to be much point in going, but I was very disappointed to miss a rare opportunity to join in something seasonably sociable, and in such a scenic spot as well...My horoscope said I'd be the life and soul of the party, so I guess I should be grateful everyone else had a lucky escape from that!

Though inconvenienced, I'm still not feeling ill with the symptoms and the rest of me's relatively healthy right now so of course I'm giving thanks for this good fortune, but feeling a bit in need of sympathy, comfort and companionship I was flummoxed as to where to find them on a wet and windy pre Christmas Sunday and I'm grateful I thought of going out in the weather a while instead! Much gratitude for the big waves crashing and the fine mild rain cheering me up for a while.

I'm grateful I've performed the tricky manoeuvre of getting the Christmas decorations down from the high shelf. Who knows? I might even get round to putting some up about the place some time...what with it being party season...

Saturday 14 December 2013

Silent night

It's been many years since I've lost my voice, so I give some thanks for the novelty of it happening again after a fit of coughing last night (and probably far too much talking during the day!). And even more for still not feeling unduly ill with this development and being perfectly capable of pottering about with household tasks, and some crafty and Christmassy ones also.

I've been very grateful I've not had much actual talking to do, but surprised how often I normally use my voice when home alone...wittering, muttering, ouching in pain, bursting into song or poetry or commenting (to myself) on this and that. Without this habit, of course, I wouldn't have known the condition was coming on and today all have been in whispers, with the occasional croak or squeak, which is rather comical I find and I gave thanks I encountered two people I knew when I went out to the postbox so I could share the fun with them. Gratitude too that one is in the choir and can vouch for my incapacity.

Much thanks for the change in the weather, the roaring wind whipping up waves and hurling diagonal rain at the windows as darkness fell, making me feel particularly cosy snuggled on the sofa with mince pies and a Columbo or two...

Friday 13 December 2013

Doubly delicious

I was grateful for a long deep sleep last night, though a bit perturbed to see how late it was when I awoke and realised how much I had to do in a short space of time, including hastily making and eating some breakfast before my pre scan fast.

Much gratitude to Peter for helping turn the trip into a pleasant pre Christmas outing, driving to the hospital via the prettiest rural route, stopping for me to gasp in awe at the still golden trees and keeping me company while waiting. I was grateful I've perfected dressing for the procedure so I now don't have to undress at all, and that it didn't altogether take very long because (just between you and me) I'm getting a bit bored with being at hospitals. Ready for some refreshments when we emerged, we were umming and aahing where to go, as though on the edge of the city neither of us wanted to venture in, then Peter thought of one of the pubs on the canal just outside. It's an old local favourite, one of the nicest pubs I've been to ever in my life anywhere, but that neither of us had visited for some years so were unsure if it would still be as delightful as we remembered...and it was, only even better!

It's old and low beamed but large with big French windows looking out onto the terraces by the water, and this time of year has log fires. We weren't sure if they wound be serving food as this has changed from time to time in its history but I was hopeful there might be a sandwich even though I don't actually eat sandwiches that often...however we found an extensive restaurant menu available so added to the great position and ambiance there are now delicious things to eat as well...even for fussy non meat eaters like me! More thanks given for the opportunity to discover this and while away the sun down hours there.


I'm grateful for stopping to knock on my neighbour's door on the way in to make sure they got some mail in the pile I thought they might have missed, as it turned out they had a parcel that had come for me too. Thanks for this not only because it's neighbourly, but because now I can have an extra long lie in tomorrow and not get up to wait for it!

Thursday 12 December 2013

Not snow

I give thanks for realising the need for negative ions exceeded the need for resting my aching joints and for going to town via the sea, where the tide was high and being delightfully splashy. No, it's not snow...

I give thanks for the exceptionally mild weather that meant I didn't mind a bit of a dampening to get the shot!


And talking of high...I give thanks for an excellent acupuncture treatment that left me in a very laid back but creative state so that I tackled decorating the cake and being inventive with one of my make-it-up-as-you-go-along knitting tasks without wobbling at the sight of potential pitfalls...such as no icing sugar to roll out the marzipan. Much gratitude for discovering you don't need it if you roll it out between greaseproof paper, and there's less mess on the worktop too! I'm sure it's what Nigella would have done, aren't you?

Finally I'm grateful that, despite the fact that someone in the house next door seems to be trying to tunnel through the wall with an electric drill I've not only been able to have a much needed nap but that I've woken up and remembered to finish this before I possibly drift away again...

Wednesday 11 December 2013

Not pink

I give thanks for a Floating Island bath melt for floating me away so fragrantly last night...and for the gorgeous pink sunrise this morning as the light was diffused by mist...much gratitude for that and various other 'Oh wow!' meteorological moments today. Not so sure about the gorgeous pink mini LED lights I picked up by mistake the other day, thinking they were clear or multi. I couldn't remember which I'd thought they were when I bought them but it certainly wasn't pink!

I'm grateful for some progress on the Christmas related crafts and some of you will be receiving hand made cards in due course...Remember it's the thought that counts folks, and I think of it as a compliment if I give someone something I've made myself! Also, this year, you can maybe appreciate the idea if not the execution. Coming up with a new design with readily available materials and rather limited skills is always a craft in itself. If you saw these in a book you'd go 'Hey, that's a good idea!' Well, maybe you wouldn't, but I would have done...


Talking of cards, yesterday one came with a printed label and M&S embossing on the back. Ooh I thought, looking at the size of the envelope, an M&S voucher! There's no particular reason why I should have received one of those but I filled in one of those interminable customer service surveys the other day and well, a little optimism never goes amiss. I don't shop a lot in there but it's amazing what you can buy with free money! Well, it wasn't a voucher...but a very nice card from some very nice people for which I was very grateful and I forgot all about vouchers...until today when one turned up in the post that was nothing to do with the survey but a thank you from a medical company I can't help but do business with. Hmm, maybe I should revisit that idea of the visually impaired perfect partner?

I give thanks that Bob has inherited the creative genes...both the making things with your hands kind and the making things with your mind!

I give thanks for Potter's Vegetable Cough Remover for removing my cough without turning me into a vegetable. Have you seen the stuff they put into 'normal' cough remedies? Seriously, some things in life are not meant to be pink!

Tuesday 10 December 2013

Out in the wash

Hmmm...let's see...where did I put my rose tinted glasses? I'm grateful I went to choir last night where we all worked hard to sing some notes in between the coughing and sneezing, and that, so far, my version of the bug going round seems fairly manageable. I gave thanks for someone to walk down the hill with and sometime else to drive me up it afterwards!

Today I've been grateful for a bit of communicative synchronicity with Bob in the morning and a cheery communication with the Tesco man in the afternoon, and for dealing with a plethora of frustrations in between with reasonable good cheer. I give thanks for the application of calm practical problem solving and for some eventual progress with both ongoing projects and letting go of goals...

Much gratitude that whatever it was I defrosted for my lunch (certainly not the lentil stew I thought it was!) was so delicious...and that the sweet pastries I bodged together from bits of this and that for afternoon tea were rather yummy too. And for a lovely nap despite the nasty pain and noisy drilling upstairs. As everything has taken so long today I'm also giving thanks for giving up on considering what I might accomplish this evening, realising it's here already and running a warm soothing bath bath instead...

Monday 9 December 2013

Cupboard love

I give thanks for the Teignmouth Oracle Facebook page for mentioning the beautiful mist on the river this morning and making me get out of bed and stick my head out of the window to see it!
I give thanks for the mist on the windows - in the middle of the panes so it looked like 'Victorian' snow spray in reverse...

I give thanks for the glorious sunshine and mild(ish) air so that even tho there was no way I could manage all the things on the to do list for today, I couldn't resist some of the ones needing going outdoors. Gratitude too for the Post Office not being closed due to industrial action, which it was last time I went, and would have been tomorrow if I'd put off going another day.

I'm grateful for the sky and sea for looking so blue, and the white houses on the hill behind me looking so pink in the sunset. Also for the Christmas decoration displays...I think! There are some very er...'enthusiastic' ones this year...

And I'm grateful for finally getting another plate rack for my cupboard. These lightweight but sturdy wire constitutions have revolutionised my life as it's so much simpler and less painful to get crockery in and out. If you know anyone with stroke damage, arthritic joints or fybromyalgia in the bits in between get some for them immediately. If you know anyone unfortunate enough to have all three be much nicer to them...it's not much fun even with wire racks to stack your plates on!

Sunday 8 December 2013

Singularly satisfying

Following on from yesterday's theme, I give thanks I don't have a partner either. A partner might expect me to get in the kitchen and make some lunch instead of fiddling around with yarn and beads and sequins. Of course an ideal partner might have made the lunch, then come through to tell me it was ready and exclaimed with delight at what I'd done...but I wouldn't feel comfortable with someone that visually impaired working in my kitchen! I give thanks for my sense of humour, and for the intrinsic pleasure I get from my crafty pursuits even when the results are less lovely when my hands have done with them than they were in my mind's eye!

I'm grateful for echinacea and Ricola and tiger balm for helping my immune system deal with the local lurgy, and that there's no one else around to tell me how much they're suffering, as that can be not only tedious but as catching as germs are too!

I'm grateful for staying in bed all morning and for taking all afternoon to watch a two hour programme stopping and starting as it suited me and what I was doing... I suspect these could be rather irritating if there was someone else around too!

I'm grateful the relatively mild weather continues and I can have the windows open now and then...and for the sounds of the bells from the many churches nearby...

I give thanks for the sight of the sea and the trees and the light of the golden hour just before the sun sinks below the hills...


Saturday 7 December 2013

Cheers!

My main gratitude for the day has to be for not having a social life! There are people I would love to see but as long as seeing me remains low on their lists of priorities there's all the more time for rest and recuperation between those boringly exhausting chores like housework and hospital appointments. I'm grateful to Peter for showing me you can warm a mug before you make tea like you would a teapot...useful for people who get distracted whilst brewing or sipping as well as those who live in draughty lairs! Much gratitude too to him for offering to take me to my afternoon hospital appointment next week as he’ll be over this way in the morning for a dentist appointment of his own. 

Apart from the arduous journey to and fro yesterday I had to walk much further than was comfortable to get to the restaurant (though I enjoyed this wall art on the way!). There was cafe right by the door where I had to wait forever for the bus but half the seating area was taken up by a stand promoting a carers' association. I'm grateful I resisted the temptation to tell them I cared for myself and to move the bleeping display so I could sit down!


Not only tired but in a lot of pain, today I've been grateful for even the tiniest achievements beyond the absolutely essential. At a time of year when there are so many extra things we may want to get done it's good to appreciate just getting washed and dressed, washing some dishes and putting some laundry on. I'm grateful for piped water and electricity, for a variety of teabags and tasty nibbles and for things to eat in the freezer that needs a clear out anyway to make room for the (metaphorical) plumped up baby cow!

I've been grateful the winds last week blew off enough leaves for me to be able to see more sea but the bus and train rides yesterday revealed how many trees round here continue to have autumn coloured or even still quite green leaves on their branches and I'm grateful for that too as it's making the winter seem shorter already

Friday 6 December 2013

In between

I'm grateful for an extremely early night last night and, by my standards, quite a sleepful one too!
I'm grateful for a pretty sunrise to wake me, and pretty light on the clouds and the water before it got dark this evening.
I'm grateful for reading my horoscope first thing and thus being warned about the day there'd be in between...and for forgoing reliving its more trying moments to share with you...
I give thanks for getting to where I was meant to be, and home again, and for doing the things I meant to in between these rather arduous journeys. I'm grateful for thinking to pack a crochet hook and tiny ball of wool to use some of the waiting time usefully.


I give thanks to Rachel for her acupuncture yesterday which helped me get through today and for this view I shared with a pigeon and a mince pie while waiting for that...

Thursday 5 December 2013

Method in the multiverse

Woohoo! I’m very grateful I’ve (at last!) managed to download the correct drivers for my printer and clean the nozzles. Now I’ve run out of ink but hey ho…it’s progress! I’m grateful to Pat for sending me a virtual advent calendar which I think I may have finally succeeded in downloading too after several failed attempts, but I’ll avoid testing it for now to avoid any possible further frustration...

I give thanks I did manage to stay awake for my bath last night, but only after nearly falling asleep in a bowl of soup for my supper, plus that I got most of the shopping on my list for today before deciding I just couldn’t carry any more. I’m grateful for a much needed nap when I got in, and for optimism that a) at some point I’ll be able to get up and get some tea and b) tomorrow I’ll be able to get up and get to my hospital appointment...

I’m also grateful for finding some eco cleaning products that don’t have that awful industrial smell of e(run for)cover – lovely lemon fragranced Naturally Powered anti bac and Method’s ‘Fresh Air’ Laundry Liquid that smells a bit like being up a Swiss mountain!

Wednesday 4 December 2013

Hammered home

It always surprises me when I remember that there still is a world in which people do something in the morning, something in the afternoon...and then maybe even something in the evening as well. This morning I gave thanks that whatever the workmen upstairs were doing they were doing it so quietly I could sleep on and recover from the shock to my system of doing something on a Monday and on a Tuesday! My body had woken me up several times in the night to complain that this just wasn't right and I was very grateful when it gave up moaning about it and let me get some healing zzzzs instead!

I'm grateful I managed to get up and going before it started getting dark...always a challenge this time of year! I'm grateful I managed to get some of the things done on my list of things I really wanted to do do, the ones that seemed most important to me at the time anyhow. I do find my feebleness exasperating sometimes but when that is the case I remember to be grateful that no one's saying any of those even more exasperating things like 'Pace yourself', 'Leave it for another time' or 'Can't you get someone to help you?' Valuable energy can be expended on pointing out the pointlessness (or restraining myself!) when platitudes like that are trotted out, however well meaningly!

I give thanks for the pretty sunset and the pretty tanker still in the bay. Pretty is subjective, I know, but I love the way the look of it changes as the light does, or it moves position in the currents.


I'm grateful my Hammerong jobs have come out OK (in the soft light of the bathroom anyhow!)... Hammerong? Putting Hammerite paint where it's not really meant to go, of course! My aches and pains are meant to go in a deep hot bath later. I'm grateful I have the bath and the medical permission, just need to make tea...and stay awake after eating it!

Tuesday 3 December 2013

Lights, camera, action

Wow...the light was the same strange pink when I opened the curtains this morning as when I drew them last night...gratitude for a rather unusual coincidence. I give thanks I didn't have to get up when the light was still that colour and for the internet because it helps you get a lot done without leaving your sofa or even your bed!

I've needed a lot of sofa and bed today after going to choir yesterday evening but they were very grateful I did as there's some sort of bubonic cold going round to which sopranos seem to be particularly susceptible and we were vastly outnumbered by the altos, and even the baritones for once! I was grateful I went because I love to sing in company anyway and being besieged by deeper notes added an extra camaraderie to our little trebling clan. And an extra sense of camaraderie meant I couldn't say no to singing carols in Morrisson's this afternoon at a time when the majority of the singers were unavailable, especially as Sheila kindly offered a couple of us a lift. I'm grateful for discovering wearing reading glasses to see the score means that everything is a comforting blur beyond. As I can't stand up for long and can feel rather self conscious in a seat at the front, the blur effect helps a lot...in a similar way that footlights hide the audience when you're on stage.


I give thanks that I have no human interaction likely now til Thursday afternoon and can eat garlic in copious quantities which it seemed rude to do before!

And lastly, I know it's wicked, but I have to give thanks that an old workmate posted a pic of himself with Tom Daley on Facebook earlier this year. He's a great one for teasing and joking others so he's taking the endless gibes in good humour...

Monday 2 December 2013

Strange days

Some days just don't work properly do they? Some days, if you'd bought them, you'd take  them back and say 'This day is faulty! Can I have another one please? Oh well, good job you can't or you could be there for ever trying days that weren't right and missing your life in the process...

I'm grateful it's coming up three quarters through anyhow! And um...I give thanks the workmen weren't too noisy this morning and for nattering with Linda at the knitting group this afternoon. I give thanks for some curious synchronicity with Chris the cabman and his tricky schedule today...especially as he forgot me earlier so I couldn't give him his birthday chocolates! And I'm grateful for the strange pink sky this evening...not a sunset, just all the cloudy sky strange pink...

Sunday 1 December 2013

Diversity

Oh, great gratitude for the misty murky weather today! I love being in the countryside in that too but there's usually plenty of it to come in a winter so it's easier to stay indoors (and bed!) for, unlike the bright mildness of yesterday...

I'm grateful for discovering there's the sport of chess boxing where there are alternate rounds of each. I don't have any desire to participate in anyway but I just like the idea it exists...

I'm grateful for all the random ingredients needing eating up in the fridge and freezer...all the less chopping, slicing and stirring for me! More time to dabble with various craft projects, though, as they're to give to people, I can't actually show you anything I've done...

I'm grateful for a TV series where compulsive cleaners try to encourage those who hoard most things including dirt make their homes spick and span. It sounds like a bandwagon programme proposal but it's rather illuminating and moving how the opposing natures and lifestyles can learn from one another.

I'm grateful for these wonderful images of other ways of being beyond the ones we know - eye opening!
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/in-pictures-24917850

And for the heart warming ones of cross species affections in a couple of programmes about 'Animal Odd Couples'. I thought this would be something supercute and sickly and almost missed them so I'm very grateful I did not!

Saturday 30 November 2013

How much?

Usually if I get a voucher from Tesco saying if I spend £80 I can have £12 off, I think 'How much?' They're having a laugh!' but this time of year it buys the Bailey's so a big thank you to Mr and Mrs Tesco for their early Christmas gift! And to their delivery driver who had to carry so much stuff I had to offer to help him

Still feeling less than good, I gave thanks for a Plan A for today was to say in bed until an hour or so before my delivery...but then the sun came out and scuppered this scheme. I was grateful for a Plan B which was to take the cardboard recycling to the big skip just a little way down the hill as from there it's only a little way to the pretty park and the sparkly sea, and I knew whatever my joints and general stamina might say my head and heart would insist on going that extra couple of hundred yards at least.

The only problem with a plan like this on a day like this is how tiring and painful all the little normal tasks for getting ready can be - putting toothpaste on the brush or garments on your body, washing up a cup or slicing some bread to make toast are all accompanied by grimaces and groans, and punctuated with sitting down for resting in between whilst trying not to snooze. I'm very grateful that, mostly, I manage not to get disheartened or exasperated (as neither state helps at all) and that, mostly, there's no reason to try to rush as slow speed me is actually me rushing anyway!

So in the midst of this process I gave thanks for a message from Laura asking if I'd like to go out with her in the car...but not just yet! And when we eventually did we went here, a favourite spot I was delighted to visit again because even though I couldn't manage more than a short part of the path today the views from any part of it are glorious! Lots of pain but lots of gain for which I'm very grateful...and Plan A for tomorrow is to stay in bed...


Friday 29 November 2013

On the up

Yay, I give thanks that yesterday is over! Not that there was anything intrinsically wrong with it but some days it feels as if anything other than lying down under the covers is a cruel and unnecessary punishment. I'm grateful I managed to get by with only eleven and a half hours of (relative) 'upness' and that today, though I've 'risen' to a few challenges I haven't had to go out anywhere or do anything very demanding.
It can get very boring to feel so rough so often but I'm grateful for all the people doing their best to keep me on my feet at least some of the time. The latest idea is to take me off some of my meds as the side effects were in danger of causing me more harm than the original condition. Kidneys can be tricksy little things...
Much thanks to kindly Lee the delivery driver for bringing my parcel of medical supplies right up to my flat door. It's potentially annoying the workmen leaving the main door open but it does have its advantages. It was good to avoid a trip down and up the stairs and I'm grateful I don't have to go down to the woods to see some autumn colours too!

Wednesday 27 November 2013

Spirit Recovery Service

To be honest I don't always feel particularly grateful for everything, nor even equanimous which is, of course, the state to strive for. Undoubtably 'religiously' practising gratitude helps to maintain a background state of healthy attitude but I can still get sick at heart over specifics like anyone else. And when I do, despite aiming just to accept sorrow and to remember it will pass like joy does, there's a tendency to want to turn the feeling round temporarily by tried and tested means. At this point I should be grateful these means are not illegal, expensive or detrimental to body and mind, but as my long term favourite mood enhancers are impossibly inaccessible in other ways, wanting them to cheer me up is a sure way to get sadder!

Anyway, I was a bit of a saddo this morning as I set out to get a couple more balls of scarf wool and a circular needle for someone at the knitting group and the real mission was to find the treasure of good cheer. I was grateful for a letter arriving on the way out with an appointment for a scan. They'd booked me in for my cancer check up chat without one beforehand and I had to remind them that's not how they check... It was touch and go if they could find a slot before my consultation but it's on Friday 13th so maybe they had a cancellation!

I was grateful for the way this news concentrated my mind as one more hospital outing to find the energy for meant I had to make the most of today's just for pleasure trip. And I was grateful that I did, most energetically! I was grateful for the beautiful autumn colours where usually there's bare branches by now, especially the trees reflected on the still water of the river...and my mp3 player playing music I loved. I was grateful for being able to get somewhere, even if nowhere I specially wanted to be...and then I got hold of a bus table book and realised I could go somewhere else it would be feel like a treat to be...so I did! I went to the town where it's always Christmas in my head (because I rarely go and it's usually winter and the shops are full of lovely things) and told the lady in the chocolate shop and she said understood because she only comes here in the summer! I was grateful I had a couple of people to buy gifts for (including me!) and was grateful not many so I didn't shop for long and could see more trees on the way back...but the bus didn't come and it got dark. But then I was grateful it was a small rural town in Devon so a teenage boy, an elderly lady and myself could feel perfectly OK about chatting to pass the time!

And on the way back, in the dark, we passed a landrover parked facing out onto the road...and on the front it said Spirit Recovery Service. I wrote it down to look up on the internet when I got home and find out about the unusual name this local breakdown company has...and I can find no reference to it at all. But I did realise I'd cheered up and it would be grand name for my blog post today!

Tuesday 26 November 2013

Last of all

Well now, let me see...I'm grateful I was mostly cosy in bed last night, and for the pretty sky as the sun came up this morning. I was grateful that I had to get up myself for a medical delivery otherwise, very weak and sleepy, I'd probably have stayed snuggled under the covers for hours. I'm grateful for discovering the delivery wasn't coming too...so I could stay snuggled on the sofa for much of the day instead...and of course, I'm grateful the supplies weren't desperately required. Gratitude for the noise of the work going on upstairs to stop me from actually falling asleep deeply asleep but thanks also for a couple of light snoozes to the sound of the scraper knife!

I give thanks for getting clean bedding on my bed at last (a two day job this time so I'm grateful for a sofa that's really a made up bed as well). Gratitude for my washing machine to put the laundry in, and for my body for putting itself in the kitchen and doing the stack of washing up too!

Lastly I was also extremely grateful for getting the proper BBC website back on my phone this morning, instead of the excruciating web version. I don't know where it had gone - nowhere as obvious as the desktop site link at the bottom of the page that's for sure - but it was very pleasing to have it back. For a while. Nothing lasts forever does it? Well, not without changing anyway...

Monday 25 November 2013

By and buy

Today I gave thanks for my new hat being so comfy and cosy to wear. It's one thing to design things that look OK but if they're for you they have to fit and feel good too, something you can only find out by wearing them for a while. I was grateful for all the praise at the knitting group as well, it's nice to have knitters admire your knitting...

I gave thanks for getting the shopping and other odds and ends done that needed doing while I was in town, plus one cheery cab driver and one who made me appreciate the cheery one even more! Also for pausing by the sea as the tanker lights came on in the twilight, and the little birds squabbled over the best perches in the tree in the triangle with the most leaves still left on it.


Much gratitude for a gallon of tea and two M&S mince pies on my return. I wouldn't normally buy M&S mince pies but I was in there the other day with a voucher I got for testing some urostomy gear and they were on special offer by the till going 'Buy me! Buy me!' and I'm rather grateful that I did!

I give thanks they restored me enough to have another go at a small but scary paint job where the rule 'test in an inconspicuous area' really would apply...if there was an inconspicuous area. Previous attempt was a complete fail and it's too soon to tell how this one will turn out so I can but be grateful for perseverance and optimism at this stage. I'm also grateful I'm optimistic at some point I'll find a bit more energy to get some supper and tidy up one of the rooms with beds in enough to go to bed...

Sunday 24 November 2013

Big head

This weekend I've been giving thanks for the simplicity of the catering. Every time I've opened the fridge or a cupboard there's been something that needs using up so there's been less brain power involved let alone woman power! This has meant the little energy I've had has been free for other things...including emptying, washing and refilling afresh some of my herb and spice jars the contents of which were beyond using up!  Much thanks for the satisfaction this gave me, and for having a proper health food shop locally where you can buy 25g of just about anything weighed and bagged in the spot.

I've also been getting stuck into one of my make-it-up-as-you-go-along knitting projects which, I'm grateful to say, has turned into another beanie style hat suitable for wearing with long hair up and tucked in, and much gratitude too for this being a consideration as well, of course! There was a vague idea in my head but it evolved organically as my knitting often does. If any of you think 'Ooh that's nice!' and want to do something similar I could remember what I did and make a pattern of sorts I'm sure...just let me know.


After the reverse stocking stitch bands I went up another needle size to make the crown quite loose and drapey. I was using a circular needle as it's easier on my hands and wrists but knitting backwards and forwards as I've never knit in the round...after a couple of rows of this though I thought 'I'm knitting a circular thing flat on a circular needle - how daft is that?' and just carried on round on the next row. So there I am happily (and gratefully) knitting a tube with no purl rows or seam to sew up when it dawned on me it'd have to get smaller in a few inches and I didn't know how. I've never knitted on double pointed needles either but I did have a set of the right size still in their packet so I thought I'd have ago at that too for the decreasing at the top. Clearly this is a skill you learn in nana school along with making Shreddies. I'm not a nana, my manual control is limited and, of course, it never crossed my mind to put the tangle down and go and find some instructions...I'm far too in touch with my masculine side for that! When I'd finally finished - the hat, and beating myself up about it not being 'perfect' - it dawned on me that actually it's a pretty good attempt. It would actually be quite good if I'd known what I was doing and had been following a pattern by someone who knew even better. Better shut up now or I'll need a bigger size!

Saturday 23 November 2013

Snap

Heavens, that was a nippy night! Gratitude for all the sparkly stars revealed in those heavens though, and also for the emergency layer of fleecy throw I keep close by the bed for when my body temperature plummets in the black iciness just before dawn...

I'm going to have to go back on my no more yarn pledge because I really need some more now (I do, I do!). Having bought 'just one to play with', thinking I might put it with some other oddments, I have played and now wish to knit myself a whole scarf in its fluffy deliciousness (before I next go outdoors for preference though that might be a tad tricky to pull off!). Look how lovely it is though! I give particular thanks that has to be knitted on the largest needles I have, and loosely on them too, as it makes a muscular antidote to a hat I'm making from a couple of irresistible yarns from other days that are finer and need narrower pins. The hat in progress can be glimpsed in the top right corner behind the scarf in progress so, you'll see, they'll be co-ordinated too. This is not particularly planned...I just seem to have a bit of a thing about burgundy with bits in at the moment and these are not the only yarns I've bought lately that might fit that description...


Today was the first day all week that I haven't had to get up for something so I was very grateful for that weekend feeling this morning with a long lie in and a long hot bath to follow. Also that there's an empty flat upstairs so I didn't have to listen to what other people were doing while I did nothing at all! I've been very sleepy and sore after the busyness of the last few days so I've been rather grateful for little bits of non-essential progress here and there...not only in knitting myself some accessories but also in re-instating the bathroom bits and bobs. It's a slow process as everything that goes back in there has to be not only spick and span but also justify its inclusion and position. It's been more than five years since the room was first decorated so a sort out not excessively before time!

Friday 22 November 2013

Click

Today's hospital appointment was at the one with extra wide chairs and I decided to combine it with my semi annual visit to Asda to buy a new thermal vest or two...not that I'm implying the size of the seating has anything to do with a 24hr superstore being nearby! Asda do the prettiest and cosiest vests I've ever had and I give great thanks for discovering this unlikely fact as, of course, they're at a great price too. Also for learning to buy them 'Click and Collect' and not to be tempted by anything else in there, as though they've lots of attractive bargains, the tedious journey through the tills is enough to put you off whatever you've purchased for good!

I give thanks for several other serendipitous retail experiences. I've even bought a couple of Christmas gifts (something I've been so far unusually unenthusiastic about this year), plus a large box of favourite chocs much reduced as non Christmas present for me. I also give thanks for my kindly neighbours taking in some packages the postman brought (note to self: I need NO more knitting yarn for the rest of the year at least!)

I was grateful for the slightly surreal experience of being shown some Tai Chi by a heavily tattooed Physio who shared his name with a rural 19th century poet...in a brightly lit hospital consultation room! I think I shall like it a lot, especially as in the therapeutic circumstances there's no pressure to get it exactly right or to do it for any particular length of time. For someone of my persuasions it is therapeutic in itself just to hear someone employed by the NHS taking about Chi.

Gratitude too that so many people I encountered seemed in good spirits and of good cheer, perhaps due to the delightfully blue skied and sunny winter weather, for the bus driver having the Red Dwarf theme tune for a ring tone on his phone and the incredibly awesomely scenic journey to and fro...sea, countryside, river and moor, a pretty sunset and Christmas lights twinkling in the towns as darkness fell. Right now though, most of all, I'm giving great thanks that I'm home and warm and fed and soon to be horizontal...that was a very long and very busy day!

Thursday 21 November 2013

Warm and fuzzy

Yay! I managed to get my bathroom mirror back on the freshly painted wall! The fixing design was as much a whimsical make-it-up-as-you-go-along idea (courtesy of Clive) as the shell pattern on the front by me, and (clearly) came from stronger, nimbler fingered times so I'm very grateful it only took a couple of attempts. The rest of scene in there and the bedroom next door is one of post decorating chaos so I'm giving thanks I can now gaze at my unblemished reflection instead...before I put my glasses back on again...
I'm grateful too that Bob has said he's up for exchanging mini stockings...and finding things to put in them of course. This is mine...sparkly and fluffy and quite stretchy too! Since I started making them there's been some great suggestions for suitably miniature contents including a memory stick, make up, stationery items, condoms and a keyring...plus I've seen two women get ring signs in their eyes like some people get ones for money! Already I've two things for Bob that are none of the above...
I give thanks for finally getting round to trying some new Korma paste I've had a little while, ideal for livening up some tired veg, but I think perhaps I could use half the quantity next time. Whooff! Definitely lively!
This morning my feet were cold eating in the kitchen so much gratitude for finding a little offcut mat the right size and colour for fitting under the table in one of the carpet shops in town. There's been no further progress this week upstairs or on the landing so I was also grateful to find a cheap doormat to wipe the debris off outside and a long strip of bubble wrap to make an extra door curtain liner as a barrier to the icy air creeping in from the broken windows.
Finally, I'm grateful I wrote most of this before I went out because the acupuncture fairies are gathering now to whisk me away...

Wednesday 20 November 2013

Finest hours

This morning I meant to spend in with my aches and pains in bed, but Laura had the opportunity to come and finish the painting of the bathroom walls so I gave thanks I had to get up and get going in the end. It'll be a while before I can get all the thises and that's in place again but much gratitude that corner's been turned...

This afternoon I was extremely grateful to be a little less wilfully weary and wimpy for a couple of hours.  I even took something to the postbox at the end of the terrace without my scarf and hat! Hardcore or what?

I gave thanks I managed to re-sew a couple of armholes on a dress that had sagged on a hanger in a high street store while waiting for me to come and rescue it...then I sagged and had to settle back on the sofa before rescuing myself with hot food. I give thanks for Tesco's Finest cauliflower cheese - almost as good as the real thing and far less energetic! Sometimes it really does feel as if it must be someone else's turn to cook tea, or maybe even takeaway night...but of course it never is, so I'm grateful for a ready meal now and then.

I give thanks for this story of incredible enterprise and invention:
http://m.bbc.co.uk/news/health-24524027

And for choosing to watch a foreign subtitled film this evening...that way I can't do anything else!

Tuesday 19 November 2013

A little bit me

I've been a mite on the fatigued side today...just for a change, ha ha! I'm grateful for finding some things to do that didn't need much doing to amuse me when the pain was not amusing at all, and for getting done the few things that really did need doing...

I'm grateful for simple things to eat that really just needed heating. I'm always amazed by how much washing up they can create so I'm grateful I've done that too!

I'm grateful for the changing colours of the leaves outside...and of the bathroom walls.

I give thanks for the beautiful sunshine...and for not having to go out and feel the biting wind!

Monday 18 November 2013

Pick me up

Last night I was grateful I remembered to fill a hot water bottle before bed. I keep forgetting until I get under the covers and it's cold, but it would be even colder getting out to make one! And though it wasn't the chilliest of nights it means the bottle's around and about ready to remind me again...

This morning I gave thanks I had to get up for one or two things because otherwise I wouldn't have done and though exceptionally painful and slow the day's not been without benefits. I give thanks for remembering the tasty Earl Grey tea loaf I'd made as it was the thought of that that tipped me over the edge...of the mattress!

I'm grateful for picking prescriptions up from the doctors just as the cloud thinned and the light made pretty patterns with the pier and the water...


...and for picking up from the Post Office a parcel of wire racks and shelves for inside my kitchen cupboards so it's easier for me to get plates and dishes out when my hands are very sore. They're very sore today so I can't fully install them but I can see what a difference they'll make when I do...

Gratitude too to Laura for coming to do a couple of hours painting and picking me up from town in the process. She also helped me make up the bed on the sofa so the heap of things put out of the way from the decorating in the bathroom and hall don't have to be re-organised tonight. I've been very grateful for the last of the lentil stew for my supper too...just what I need to pick myself up before some very important snoozing!

Sunday 17 November 2013

Horizons

The colours of the leaves are changing so quickly now I swear if you sat still and watching you could actually see them do it! I give thanks for the views I have from here...and for those on 'Autumn' on the Great British Year series I watched this afternoon. As usual I was mesmerised by what water looks like on a 'modern' TV screen (mine's 5 or 6 years old) - had to put the iron down and pick up the camera!


I gave thanks for the way the sea and sky have been almost indistinguishably the same shade of grey or blue all day - very atmospheric! And for the sight of the lights of the tankers manouvering in the bay as darkness fell. I'm aware some people might think this is a batty thing to like but it's a rare treat when high tide and sunset happen at just the right times...and there's shipping around to play its part. I always give thanks for the fact they do it in front of my window too...

Not having a lot of energy today mostly I've been getting stuck into the sedentary task of catching up on TV programmes recorded or downloaded over the last few months so I give thanks for the wherewithal to do this...and my excellent taste of course! Oh yes, and talking of taste I give thanks for the tasty tea bread I hastily assembled too.

One of the things I watched was a Horizon episode about personality, particularly changes that can be made to something we tend to think of as being just the way we are. There was some troubling stuff (especially if you're a rat who hasn't been licked a great deal!) but it was encouraging to see how much could be done to deliberately remould even the physical manifestations of miserable personality traits... especially encouraging if you're a human who does this stuff anyway!  And though there was the obligatory shot of a Buddhist monk in an MRI scanner it was even better to have someone new to meditation and interested in those pesky hard facts have their brain changes looked at after a few weeks. The programme's expired on blink-and-you've-missed-it-yet-again BBC iplayer but you can read all about it here http://www.rainybrainsunnybrain.com/bbc-horizon/  and even do the non non-attachment exercises the researcher did to try to alter his attachment to the negative. Go on try them...I promise you won't turn out like me! Well, only in a good way...

Saturday 16 November 2013

Huh?

Well now, let's see...I've been grateful for the visit from my mojo last week. She's wandered off again now, but that's probably all for the best - wears me out, she does!  I give thanks for the yummy lentil stew she made before departure...

I'm grateful that this week none of the links I wanted to read on the BBC's '10 things we didn't know last week' took you to pages where you had to log in or subscribe...

I particularly enjoyed this snippet about language use and confusion
http://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2013/11/-em-huh-em-means-the-same-thing-in-every-language/281359/

and these the QI 'facts' http://www.telegraph.co.uk/men/the-filter/qi/10432383/QI-facts-women-spend-16-months-of-their-lives-crying.htmlDVX\   ...though best not read it just to grumble about some aspect of it like people who leave comments on articles usually seem to do!

I give thanks for a pretty handwritten card from the cancer centre I took those mini stockings to thanking me enthusiastically for my contribution...

And I'm grateful that Laura agreed to accompany me to see the choir perform at the Jazz Fringe late this afternoon as I would have been too tired to motivate myself on my own. They did so well, and I was so grateful I wasn't doing it with them! Lovely to see churches used as venues for secular events, and to use those wonderful acoustics too. We both gave thanks it was such a mild and dry evening and but the stew still went down well on return...

Friday 15 November 2013

Of mice and women

Today I went shopping and spent all my energy! It's a shop I haven't been to under my own steam for years because I always think it's too far to walk to for me these days..and yep, can't argue with my estimation! I give thanks that they had just what I imagined they would do though, at the right prices and the right weight to carry (just about!). I give thanks for the helpful and friendly shop staff, and for friendly and helpful Laura for picking me up at the station on the way up here to put another coat of paint on a couple of the bathroom walls. Only two of them are being done at a time as she can't come every day and it's tricky to have nowhere to put anything in a bathroom in between...

I'm grateful for the chilly but clement weather and that the trees are turning at last - it's been odd to have it winter cold when the landscape still looks like summer. I gave thanks I couldn't get a sea side seat on the train so I could give the countryside my full attention...

I'm grateful for a Tesco delivery including some quite non essential things that were tasty and on special offer...and for getting the ones it's essential are kept in the fridge inside it. The rest are strewn about the worktop and I'm grateful it's a bit high up here for mice! I'm grateful for leftovers for my tea (nutty bake and fruity crumble) and that an early night and a long lie in are on their way...

Thursday 14 November 2013

Do look back!

What a lot to be thankful for today, including...

For being as effective a weather god as ever: I step outside and the rain clouds part...a much more useful attribute than having the sun shine out of your behind, I reckon!

For thinking to ask people I knew if they were interested in the contents before taking a bag of fabric bits to a charity shop...Laura grabbed the printed ones and Rachel was in need of the plain!

For two people who haven't seen me for a little while exclaiming how much my hair has grown. If you've had alopecia you never forget your hair today may be gone tomorrow and you never stop being grateful for however much you've got...

For my first acupuncture piercing for three weeks. How lovely to see Rachel and feel the heal...

For the chaps doing the clear up upstairs being so good natured and pleasant to have around. It can't be easy, apart from the six flights of stairs between the flat and the ground today they started on the roof over the porch, wading knee deep in piles of decomposing food, sodden clothing, used drug needles and broken glass. The rotting window frame gave way in the process so they improvised an amusing little screen to help keep me cosy tonight!


And finally for two brilliant BBC4 documentaries about early British jazz and rock and roll. For some reason the rock and roll one was on first so obviously I watched them in reverse but they were both extremely entertaining, informative and funny and full of remarkably well preserved characters and fascinating film footage. It's almost all way before my time of course (of course it's 'of course'...don't be cheeky!) but I've danced many hours away to music that came into being about the same as I did, and basically anyone who has danced since in fun rather than formality owes it great homage. Without rock and roll, ravers, you'd still only be able to dance in the aisles...and someone would probably try to stop you if you did!
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