Accumulation

I've been writing this blog a few years now, but several times over the years beforehand I tried to keep journals of things I'd appreciated without managing to do it regularly or sustain the process for long. Often people say to me now 'Oh I'm thinking of doing what you do' and though it is, of course, entirely up to them whether they do or not, I can't emphasise enough how different doing it regularly is from just occasionally having a go. The process soon becomes a whole lot more than the sum of its parts, so that you gradually begin to think differently, and when you think differently you feel different too (and different things go on in your body too, because it's changes going on in your body that make you feel...)

Nowadays I often have more daily experiences of gratitude than I can remember to tell, let alone find the energy to type (and correct!) and some 'old' unmentioned ones came into my head today such as:

* The patient way (most of) the bus drivers in the Lakes deal with passengers who little sense of direction/grasp of the language/understanding of how to read timetables... Plus the marvellously simplified timetables they have at many stops often in large print too

* The waft of something someone else has cooked coming out of my kitchen...

* Realising that what I thought was some rich folks making life better for themselves (again) ie. the pension 'death tax' changes, can actually affect the not so affluent and their even less so kin

I also give thanks for overriding pain and fatigue and going out in the deliciously warm sunshine today, getting to the shops and to watch the sea for a while. For Eastcliff being busy, but the seawall workers being gone so that I could take my refreshments a little way away from the crowd and not have to stare at Portacabins instead of water.  For this accumulation of bright coloured vehicles in amongst the many (50?) contemporary shades of grey...Two yellow cars and a van within a few yards (plus the car between the two vans had a yellow ladder on top!) - most unusual, though this is the same stretch of street that had all the spring greens too earlier in the year.

Much gratitude too for this film of a superpod of dolphins recently spotted...
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-south-west-wales-29418014

...and for all the lovely leftovers waiting to be my tea!

Not watching paint dry

Phew, I'm grateful I've remembered to write my blog after coming through the door all ready for a full on flollop - there's been more interacting and participating this afternoon and evening than I'm involved in most weeks! I'm grateful for a soothing Roobosch brewing...a comfy bed calling.

I give thanks for a very nattery knitting session and some jolly banter with some chaps painting garage doors at the end of the terrace. Someone had sprayed a tag on the undercoat while it dried overnight and they'd left the top coat off around it for fun.

I give thanks for a thorough and much needed acupuncture session and for Rachel part making our tea AND washing up after. I was sharing my experience of cars of similar colours tending to flock together (even though other people don't seem to see it that way) and my accompanying theory that drivers consciously or unconsciously chose to park closer to ones like their own, or to let them into streams of traffic... And sure enough a car exactly like hers was in the next space when we came out of choir, even though it was dark and there were loads of other spaces!

I give thanks for an excellent choir practice with a huge turn out and an amazing swelling sound. Plenty of collective effervescence too...

Every little helps

Wow, what a lovely comment from a new reader of my blog a couple of days ago! I'm so grateful when people get why I try to be publicly grateful every day... Sometimes I wish I could do more to make the world a cheerier place to be in, but better a little than none at all, or indeed the opposite!

Although I couldn't stay upright I'm grateful I've managed to stay awake today - so far... I'm grateful no one wanted me to go out and play, and that most of the neighbours have been out to play away from here or simply out to lunch :-)

Talking of which, I'm grateful for part making some nice things to eat with some help from Mr Tesco this time, though Mrs Booth had a finger in the pie, so to speak! Half of that bread I've been enjoying went in the freezer to save, but the odds and ends of the chunk that was out I made into crumbs and mixed with cheese and seeds for a topping for some assorted limp and elderly veg. I'm grateful for what a very versatile purchase that has been...

I'm grateful for a Columbo so old that William Shatner was so young I had to look him up in the cast list as I wasn't sure from the face it was actually him!

I'm grateful for finding Arts Anonymous's Facebook album of photos of the artworks that now decorate a hoarding in town here, though their normal website seems to be out of action so I can't share a normal link. I'm hopeful that I can be there soon to look and take some pictures myself, but in the meantime here's a similar idea from the track side in Windermere.

Sat today

I'm grateful I've mostly sat today... interspersed with a little light lying down of course! I'm grateful for the times I stood up and moved around partly because it moves the pain around too, but also because there's always things to be done. I'm grateful for cups of tea, and for the Co-op's Fair Trade Earl Grey which I think is much tastier than the 'leading brand' (as they say). Also for finding out scrambled eggs goes very well on that Booth's bread toasted...and for actually cleaning the pan afterwards (eventually).

I'm grateful I'm so good at looking after myself when that's pretty much all I can do - it must be horrid to be one of those folk who think they need someone to do it for them when they don't. And though I know people who seem to need to think someone needs them, I'm not convinced that's an enviable state either! I'm grateful for books to read, being able to save and watch the few worthwhile things on TV for days when a lot is required, and for doing a few rows of knitting.

Back to the grindstone

I give thanks for a quiet start to the day on the terrace; for stretching my legs gently in bed before trying to get out which seemed to help with the morning wobbles a bit and for the lovely views out of the windows of turning leaves, dark sky, a fuzzy rainbow and the finest misty drifting raindrops. Sometimes I wish I didn't live in a flat surrounded by sounds of other dwellings but I love that I don't have to see a lot of others, so until I get somewhere with its own grounds this (plus earplugs) will do nicely, thank you!

I give thanks for finding out how delicious Booth's cheese and onion rye bread is toasted. Heck of a long way to go to get some more but I might just have to...next year! Oh and for finding a fish pie without prawns (yes, Co-op chefs, that is indeed truly irresistible to me!) as well as a reduced toffee cake so I don't have to do much in the way of cooking tonight.

Apart from that most of my movements and dealings today have been to do with medical matters, sorting out prescriptions and filling up the calendar with appointments again. I give thanks for the NHS and that the nurse, despite being rather incredulous that I didn't know where in the surgery my vaccine might be, and that I reported a sore arm after the last one (has she never had a jab?), agreed to look at my still poorly toe, This saved me phoning for an appointment to tell to a doctor about it and arrange to see them so they could see if they needed to see it, and I was very grateful she said she didn't think they did...nor a chemist as I was wondering about that.

I'm grateful I've partially unpacked, that the washing machine has washed a load of clothes and for pleasant memories stirred by uploading my photos. Got to love this floor at the mill...

Injecting some humour

I'm grateful for an encounter with vivacious vegans in Booths and finding some nice bread and marmalade to bring home.  I'm grateful for a journey without too many delays and inconveniences... just enough to make me very glad I've got here! For the luxurious amount of luggage and leg room on TransPennine Express trains, the cheap and cheerful humour of Virgin including open unbooked seating in carriages F and U, and the upholstered squeeze sardine tins (but at least it's one less change) on Cross Country. I'm grateful for a book to barricade myself into, and a message from Bob when I needed further distraction... And the tide being in on the last stretch so that the sea seemed to fill the windows.

I'm grateful the water's heating up for a bath and that there's no reason why I shouldn't go straight to bed after that,  with some more to read and some catch up on your tablet TV. And I'm grateful I have to have another jab lunchtime  tomorrow, partly so I can get some fresh veg and so on at the same time, and partly because after the last one I needed some extra rest afterwards and I've a feeling that is going to be fine by me.

Packing it in

I give thanks for someone to make the bed, to cook and wash up, vacuum and keep the bathroom clean - I'd have made a good husband, eh? For me these days a holiday is half about feasts for the eyes and half about ease for the rest of me so, delightful though four days adventuring have been I really appreciated a lie in today with no dashing to catch a train or bus. That meant I missed seeing the low jets I heard flying over but I'm grateful I didn't know they were going to or I might have got up specially. I did spot one later, and the little plane Lynn and I saw on Monday too... almost an airshow round here today!

I've been grateful for a slomo potter here and there with a bus pass and relatively amenable hips and knees after two mostly sedentary days, finding a few flat paths to explore a short way and some comfy scenic seats. For finding places I'd like to come back to, ills and bills permitting. It's good to have a carrot sometimes to stop life beating you.

I'm grateful for the gorgeously warm sunshine which made being indoors, even cafe doors, unappealing and for subsisting yet again on take away or take with me odds and ends. And I'm grateful I tried to do a bit of souvenir shopping and that I was as disinterested and unsuccessful as usual...though I also give thanks for going into a particular shop for a particular thing and finding it, as it's not a shop I've been to before, nor something you often find!

I'm grateful for getting in and out of the bath before my joints seize up and for making a start on the packing...

Fields of vision

I've a fairly well stocked vocabulary but I'm grateful for a day which has left me a few appreciative words short of an adequate description... and surprisingly tired! I went on a Mountain Goat 'High Adventure' tour because I do love to get high, and can quite see why intoxication was named after altitude!

I'm grateful for going on roads with views that were worth gazing on despite the low clouds. There was so much to see nearby you didn't need distant backdrops too, the kind of rugged wildness I hardly ever get to see as there are few negotiable highways let alone willing and able drivers, reminiscent of some favourite railway lines in Scotland. I'm grateful for enough window sears to go round on the minibus, and for what I though was tour guide humour in a high pass lay-by - 'Oh, it's 11 o'clock... must be time for coffee,' preceding him making us all hot drinks and handing out biscuits! Open air tea... my favourite!

There was lovely lowland scenery too and I'm grateful I took off to munch an apple and wander round and watch the oldest working water mill in England instead of sitting in a pub eating lunch. I'm grateful I tried to find the owner of some money I spotted in the doorway too, but after asking around and failing I'm quite grateful to keep it too. I'm grateful one of Britain's favourite views was a bit murky round the edges and thus not too full of thronging gawping - wonderful Wastwater - not been before and will probably spend the rest of my life trying to get back and staying longer though there's no service bus or hotel so it'll be a challenge...

I give thanks for the glorious swooping vistas across farmland to the Irish Sea... and the astonishing variety of owls I saw at the trust. They all seem to have such a presence whether, they'd fit on the palm of your hand or are as big as a badger!

I'm grateful I'm staying here B&B so I don't feel I have to go down to eat tonight but can snooze in the bath with a book and a Food Doctor couscous pot before an early night and a long lie in, as tomorrow I have nothing planned...yet!

As nice as pie

This morning I was very grateful I'd arranged to meet my friend from up Norther because only something as nice as that was worth winkling my worn out self from out from under the covers for! I give thanks that though sad circumstances formed our friendship it's lasted to share good times too...

I give thanks for a late bus causing a missed connection because (and yes, it took me hours to come up with these!) otherwise a) Lynn wouldn't have had a chance to check out where we were supposed to meet and decide we probably didn't want to and b) and c) a couple of disconnections wouldn't have happened in such relatively opportune places! I give thanks for dipping my toes and drying my clothes in a sunny lakeside spot...

I also give thanks for Lynn's relatively limited sense of direction so that she had taken us most of the way up Kirkstone pass before she realised that was where she was... And down the other side before she could change her mind. This was helpful for her confidence as well as helpful for my return journey! Oh and I give thanks for the unexpected fly past. No, I don't know what kind of plane it was but it whizzed past us low down over the lake while we're still wondering if it was a motorbike engine we could hear.

I give thanks for Booths for servicing the needs of those passing through  Lakes transport hubs so well.. And for serving such sweet and tasty pear and almond tarts that they can be shared... And room can be left for baked camembert suppers! Also for the bus I meant to catch back being late so I caught the one that stopped nearer the hotel and the view of the pretty light at the end of the boating day.

I give thanks for the coincidence of seeing this article this evening - I was just thinking about this man yesterday and I am humbled just as I was when I read about him first many years ago http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-devon-29307830

Passing places

I try not to waste too much of the life I'm living thinking how much better it would be if... Well, if anything, really. The serenity, courage, wisdom prayer is a fine motto to live by whether you think a god grants those things or not, so at the moment I'm not dwelling on places I'd like to go up here if my legs or a car could carry me. However, having caught a rare bus up an awe inspiring pass, as we passed the top of it I couldn't help thinking how much I'd love to stop and get out and sniff the air and not be stuck there for an hour or two after. And on the way back the bus driver, having made good time stopped at the top to be back on schedule and was amenable to me disembarking for a few minutes as she was having a smoke! I gave a lot of thanks for that, both audible and inward...

Earlier in the day I'd been a bit frustrated at not being able to book a Mountain Goat tour on line like I did before. It seemed to be tablet related and I thought of trying to call them and wondered if anyone would answer on a Sunday morning or whether there'd be some palaver with exchanged voicemail and lack of signal in the mountains and shouting credit card details down the phone... so, as I was up in good time and would be changing buses near their office I decided to pop by. They were open and a lady was very busily answering several phones dealing with bookings and late passengers and buses and so on and we kept getting interrupted, but in the process of waiting in between I spotted a 10% off if you 'liked' and 'checked in' on their Facebook page so I didn't mind waiting at all! In face I was very grateful, as though their trips are darn fine value per smile, they are pricey enough for that kind of discount to be handy for some other treat.

It isn't the cheapest of areas to stay and my eyebrows have been raised a couple of times already, so I was grateful to find an astonishingly reasonable take away hot drink and snack spot in a real tourist trap. It was far too nice to be indoors anyway and munching a flapjack date slice in the sunshine was perfect. Well, except for my diet - sorry, nutritionist. Tasted as if the dates had been cooked in orange juice and coconut with the oats: so, yes, very sorry indeed... And so grateful!

I give thanks for the beautiful weather and scenery, for going somewhere I'd never been... For a pretty ride on a long lake and for unexpected sights like a woman on a big red glittery motor trike and another on a horse, riding on the pavement to keep out of the traffic and having to duck under the trees. My photos are never going to do it justice but I give thanks for the blue remembered hills on here...

Moving mountains

I give thanks for the rare delight of going out in the really dark of the morning - no street lights, no stars and the sliver of crescent moon obscured by low cloud... And for seeing fields full of sheep asleep in the dawn.

I'm grateful for getting here with some day left despite several delays for signal failure...but nothing so drastic as to stop me going 'the long way round' which is the way I intended to come earlier in the year when the delays were very drastic and did. It takes longer because instead of arriving at the edge of the mountains and seeing them tantalisingly further on you get more in a bus or train window full than you can shake a Zimmer frame at! It's not just the mountains I love here... it's the lakes and streams and dry stone walls, the changing light and the winding paths the rocky outcrops and the glorious grass and trees. And I give thanks for it all and I really should wear a hat with a chin strap to stop my mouth dropping open with awe, but it's the mountains that make me cry, mostly in a good way... It's so hard for me to get to see them these days, and they move me even more when I make the effort and do.

But of course, having got here, I wanted to be somewhere else - not far but far enough away from all the other folk enjoying a mild September Saturday in scenic surroundings and I executed a cunning though painful plan and climbed little way up a steep wooded hill where I was sure there ought to be a seat with a view somewhere and there was! I give thanks for the extra angle of mountainsides seen, worth every creak and groan of joints and muscles and tendons. And after a few abortive attempts at capturing what I saw and felt in a snap I gave thanks for realising I could actually take one particular picture better than anyone else could right there right then - a selfie of me in the woods alone and happy! It took forever to upload it to my tablet and it won't let me rotate it. Never mind... I could do with a lie down!

Travelling light

It'll be travelling dark when I set off tomorrow (unless I over sleep of course!) so there's been plenty to do today to be ready for an early night beforehand and I've been grateful for a certain amount of dedication. The holiday mood set in on the way back from acupuncture yesterday though and I do keep getting sidetracked...I even got off the bus instead of coming straight back here because I'd some crusty bread and a sweet apple in my bag and thought getting a lump of smelly brie and having an impromptu picnic seemed a fine idea!

I'm grateful for the great storm last night and the snuggly feeling of listening to it in bed...

I'm grateful I've worked out a scenic high pass bus I planned to take one day could be combined with a boat trip part of the way back which seems a suitable use of lakes and mountains to me, 

I'm grateful I'm almost totally packed - these days there's an increasingly difficult distance to cross between what I'd like to to take and and what I'd like to carry. And I'm grateful I've almost totally finished making something I mean to wear since maybe I'm cutting it a bit fine there...unless I go along with the bondage look on the cuffs! 

I'm grateful I've managed to complete most of the pre-departure chores like cleaning...and managed not to eat most of the sosmix sausage rolls I've made to take (just around half of them).

Time lapse

Well, I'm very grateful for a very good acupuncture treatment but it's a tad tricky to concentrate on writing my blog now! I'm half watching some old footage of some 'classic' guitar riffs - mostly hairy, heavy and psychedelic and adding to the fuzzy feedback feeling I'm sure, but I'm not complaining. Most of them are the expected relics or gems (according on your taste and age) but I've never heard or seen this guy and his awesome finger picking before so much thanks for encountering that www.youtube.com/watch?v=zqTLkgImAdU

I'm grateful I made some notes earlier and can also record my gratitude for...

another lovely hazy day with sunshine marbling blue sky through the clouds...

the fanciest nimblest microlight looping around over head...

a butterfly on the bus getting the most out of its day and

and exchanging whizz by grins with a rather mature lady in unexpectedly brightly coloured dungarees freewheeling down the hill on a bicycle

Look both ways

I'm not a great fan of smaltzy American dramatisations, nor of divisively organised religion, but I give thanks for watching a film last night about the gracious Amish reaction to the shootings at their school a few years ago. It was testament to the fact that living in accordance with the right parts of a testament is OK! Good folk doing it right, and Channel 5 got it right and didn't put in any ad breaks either...

I'm grateful I worked out to try collecting my post from the Post Office as the sorting office still hasn't realised they're not meant to be holding on to it any more. It took them a couple of weeks to realise they were supposed to be doing so in the first place so I guess it's about right. I'm grateful that although it was much warmer out than I imagined (and I was grumbling to myself about carrying a heavy cardi) down on the front it was breezier and haary. No, not something from a Steve Martin film - a touch of sea mist in the air. And I was grateful for meeting a lady from choir at the cafe to idle away a few minutes with. I usually see her from the side or behind so I wasn't 100% sure it was her at first!

I give thanks that the management company for the block here has confirmed they are getting quotes for the broken window and will be cleaning monthly. 'What management company?' I hear you ask. 'The one I made happen,' she replied smugly

I give thanks that the car that bumped into my little boy didn't hurt him very badly and that he's being so 'laid back' about a broken leg...

Changing your mind

I give thanks for persuading some very biased binding to come round to my way of thinking and comply with my demands, and for meanwhile catching up with my favourite neighbourhood soap...there's plenty of plot recaps if you miss a bit getting on with your life!

I'd begun to wonder if maybe the fact that I'd only had two acupuncture sessions in the last six weeks might be a contributory factor in what seemed to be, even for me, an unreasonable amount of pain in my muscles and tendons and joints for the last half of that time, so I've been very grateful to be able to potter about my day today more comfortably. You might think this was due to Rachel's intervention but I just started to feel better for no obvious reason around a few hours before she arrived, and as she didn't have time to treat me and my next session is not til Thursday, who knows, maybe I'll feel even better after that! The one thing you can be certain of in life is that no matter whether you're enjoying a particular part or not, it will always change...

It was lovely to have a non needling catch up anyway and to have someone to cook and eat with - always a joy! I was grateful she enjoyed her first experience of our quirky choir, and that the lady I used to work with years ago was there so I could tell her about the bag of veg, as the place we worked together was the same one as the man who sent it me did.

I was also grateful for Rachel reminding me how much I changed after reading the book Why Kindness is Good For You and starting writing this blog...so that I can remind you to read it too! Then today I gave thanks for a clever cousin becoming involved in this project, for his sake as he's chuffed about it, but also for my own as I'd not heard about it before and now I have and am moved by the man and the images made of him. It's worth remembering you don't have to wait until you're formally told your life is running out to change the way you use what's left ;-)
www.youtube.com/watch?v=hd4jOWzMyx8

In the midst of it all

I'm grateful when I knocked over a glass and it rolled across the worktop I managed to catch it in time before it hit the floor ...and that it was already empty too!

I'm grateful for completing the first round of crochet border round the blanket I've been making for a year or two...and I'm grateful I didn't make it any bigger!

I'm grateful for a lovely patch of stillness here this morning when all was quiet within earshot for an hour or two...

I'm grateful for a Jenny letting me know she'd be able to give me a lift home from knitting so I could do some shopping on the way, and for Rachel saying she'd bring some bread for tea as I couldn't find the sort I like.

I'm grateful for another Jenny coming up with lots of helpful and well thought out suggestions for someone who was feeling very negative and as if nothing could be done. I'm hopeless at dealing with people who get in that mood of 'Oh, but you don't understand how awful my life is...let me tell you about it some more'. I do know the feeling and I do know you want to tell people how horrible it is but in my own experience the more you do the less it goes away because you don't redirect your energy into trying to change what you can and being more accepting of what you can't...and enjoying the present moment as much as you can. I'm so grateful I'm learning to be grateful and for all the difficulties in my life that have helped me so far...

I'm grateful I've finished making my new 'mid season' top because my mid season jumper has turned out a bit too cosy for today!

Behind closed doors

I give thanks for all the little cloud symbols on the weather charts at the moment. It's nice to be outside for a while in almost any conditions, but when it's not sunny it's easier for me to resist and stay indoors and rest which has been very necessary today. I think if I had a door like this one to the outside bathroom at the workshop in the sculpture garden yesterday I might just stay inside there..isn't it beautiful?

I'm grateful that I managed to drink my morning cuppa without spilling it everywhere. Yesterday I'd just put a big mugful down on the bedside table when, back in bed, I tried to put an extra cushion behind my head and ker-sploosh - tea on the carpet, tea on the rug, on the wall, the paintwork, the cushion on the chair and all the layers of curtain and lining. I did my best to sort it out and today it looks OK though the carpet could do with a bit of a shampoo and/or steam to make it look even better...another time maybe!

I give thanks for my TV reminding me of times when I didn't have to stay home watching it! For an excellent documentary about Victorian maverick Flinders Petrie working at his excavations in his underwear (which looked like skin from a distance) and helped deter the pesky Egyptophile tourists from coming any closer, and the series about newly qualified pilots flying in Papua and the people and places they encountered. 

I give thanks to Mr Tesco for helping me make a nice lunch, including potassium diminishing peeled and pre leeched roasted spuds. I stopped peeling veg in my twenties and it's strange to be starting again and not something my hands seem to be designed for these days but worth it to taste potato... I'm also grateful I made too much crumble mixture so when the top got burnt I could scrape it off. 

I give thanks in anticipation for supper too which is fresh corn on the cob bubbling away on the stove. It was a gift from a man I used to work with more than twelve years ago who I've not seen for at least eight, but who now works with Laura somewhere else and sent it for me!

Sticking point

Looking for something on the internet this morning I discovered it's Fibromyagia Awareness Week and I give thanks for the fact that it's nearly over! I know I shouldn't mock the afflicted (unless it's me) but I chortled out loud in reading a forum post about someone's 'severe spams' in the back of their throat. I'm sure it's a horrid affliction and they didn't mean the mis-spelling or typo which made it seem funny but laughter is always the best medicine for me so I had to be grateful, I'm afraid.

I give thanks for an afternoon out with Laura visiting a couple of 'open studios' nearby to see, in particular, pretty pottery and clever driftwood sculptures which would have been lovely anyway but being surrounded by gorgeous gardens and countryside (and cake and tea!) made even more so.

I'm grateful I managed to make some progress with an internet problem she's had for a while as I'd offered to do so while she cooked me some supper afterwards. It's ages since I've had my tea cooked so it was good to feel I deserved it! And now I'm grateful I'm home again and can soak my aches and pains in the bath...

Snooze operator

I'm grateful I've been awake enough and able enough to do the things that needed to be done today... And I'm grateful there weren't many to do. I'm grateful I had nowhere to be and no one to see and could be mostly silent and horizontal, though I'm grateful too for the entertainment of some of the snatches of conversation I overhear round here. No wonder people watch soaps - some like to star in them too!

I'm grateful I got up in time to have an afternoon nap and that over boisterous neighbourhood children woke me in time for tea but weren't my concern to calm down... Oh, and you know the old story about the little girl who wouldn't sit still and did badly at school until someone realised she was a dancer in the making (and, in fact, became a famous choreographer too)? Well, I'm grateful I've realised the screaming one next door is an opera singer in the making!

I give thanks for finding out love can be both heart warming and complicated no matter how old you are...

http://news.yahoo.com/marriage-newlyweds-ages-96-95-questioned-081446668.html#

Dawn to dusk

Heavens, that was a lengthily strenuous day for me! I give thanks for Amor de Dias melodically tuning me up for the last long travelling hours which have felt perhaps a couple too many. I give thanks for the little delights of the journey and destination - the spray view seat on the sea side train, the peaceful glide for a while through hazy country sunshine in a carriage with only solitary silent passengers aboard... For a log that looked just like a dog, another that looked like a carved raised hand and something that looked like a young deer that actually was! For friendly and funny staff in various capacities (and dealing with some incapacity too!), a very good voice on an unlikely looking busker just off Quiet Street and some very good food including a ginger and lemon polenta cake that came not from the veggie restaurant but from the very rather picturesque museum cafe. The museum itself? Oh, it was great I'm grateful to say - bigger and better than I imagined. And Jan? Much the same, only smaller and better! 

Once more unto the beach...

...dear friends, I have set you a little puzzle! Fill in the missing word:  Today I wanted to spend a few minutes contemplating not being a *****, so even though I was very sore and *****, and there was a ***** breeze blowing, I went down to the back beach for a cuppa and cake. 

The cafe I expected to be open there was shut so it would have been rude not to take the ferry over to the other side for one, and I'm very grateful that I did. I'm very grateful to still be here and pottering about six years on, despite the frightful odds and sometimes less than user friendly aftermath.

I was puzzled as to where the strange platform thing that's been in the docks had gone but then I came home and found it! http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-devon-29138060

On the same section of the website I also read that a mud and straw house had collapsed and Uncle Tom Cobley and all had enjoyed Widecombe Fair and gave thanks for the slightly surreal juxtaposition! I was also grateful for this collection of gems http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-29082338 - I'm not struck on the architecture but I adore the retro images. Spot the town centre Ted!

It was proper photogenic here today too... but just as lovely to my eyes was a clean and tidy flat to come home to (thanks to Jenny!) and, just as pleasing to my soul, a fish finger sarny and a much needed flollop on the sofa. 

Living on the edge

Just after I turned my bedside light out last night I had a brainwave, turned it on again and took a Paracetamol. Then I turned the light back off, had another one, and took one more! I've never been very lavish with my drug consumption and they don't really do much, but I thought they might take the edge off enough to help me to wake up and groan less... and something did so much gratitude for that!

This morning everything was so sore again but it's only fibromyalgia, nothing fatal, so I gave thanks for that... and for the internet so I could get on with some of my life lying in bed.

I give thanks for some respite this afternoon so I could take the scenic route to the hairdressers and sit on the beach in the sun for a bit of 'heat treatment'. As usual I'm grateful I live so near the edge of the land and this is still so relatively doable.

I'm grateful for twice baked goat's cheese pastries. No, not some fancy pants recipe, just crisping up some limp two day old ones in the oven again!

Class action

I'm grateful for all the parts of me that are not in pain. There don't seem to be many today - I could probably list them if my hands weren't hurting!

I'm grateful for the moon. It may not be classed as super but it looks pretty good to me, bright in the hazy night sky and shining on the sea. Also for the mistiness of the sunshine this afternoon so that the bay appeared an isolated outpost, unconnected to the rest of the barely visible coastline.

I'm grateful I went to Knit and Natter and that whilst Linda and I were nattering the other ladies showed some of the library staff the bits I've started making for our project. They were very enthusiastic - we can't get out of it now!

I'm grateful for the money for cabs up and down the hill, and some of my favourite nattery drivers too... And for deciding, now I'm lying on the sofa, not to get up again for choir tonight. Sometimes saying 'no' is a very positive action to take.

I'm grateful the brie hasn't run away.

Sunday munch

I give thanks for breakfast, lunch and dinner... well, lunch and tea and supper anyhow. I give thanks for the strength to make them and that in the long run they should give me some strength back though it's not worked that way so far today. I give thanks for all the help I had in producing palatable food from folk in shops and factories, on farms and on the roads... and to the goats for the milk for the cheese!

I give thanks for hot water and washing up liquid and that I've put them to partial use, likewise for my washing machine and for a day to have the windows open to help a done load dry. I give thanks for attempting, then leaving other activities by the sofa side - vegetables may be rationed but vegging out is most necessary from time to time...

New trick

I was so sleepy when the phone rang yesterday evening I nearly didn't answer it, let alone answer in the affirmative to Laura's suggestion that we meet up for a little potter with Chumba this afternoon, but it's been quite a while since I've seen my old dog friend (and I do mean the one with four legs in case you're wondering!) and even though my joints kept waking me up in the night to tell me they didn't think it was a good idea in the end it was fine. I was grateful for some company and conversation and for getting out on the common above the town away from the common hoards and horizons commonly seen...

I gave thanks for a bit of a snooze after they left and for watching some long un caught up with TV including the final of Shed of the Year. Lovely to see a bit of Bearded Theory in the process...

It's been a rather unproductive day in many ways but I'm grateful for beating the growing pile of washing up into submission and for discovering the smelly thing in the fridge was some ageing goats' cheese that proved in the eating to taste a lot better than you might imagine, making a very nice pasta sauce with some leftover veggies. 

And I'm also grateful for working out how to proceed with the stripey strips I started making last week when I wanted something small and simple to make for the library project whilst watching subtitled TV. I've never crocheted knitting together before and with no instructions or photo wasn't sure how it would turn out but I'm really pleased with the effect and think it's a trick I may try again.

Tala chameleon

I'm grateful I had a hospital appointment today and had to get up and out which meant I got to see the almost whiteout sea and sky and the mirrored boats on the water - awesome! It wasn't anywhere I wanted to be but I was grateful in the frightful Friday traffic to be a passenger on a bus, not next to someone I know morphing into the Hulk with frustration.

I was grateful to find a couple of things I wanted in the shops on the way, including a lampshade to replace one mangled by various mishaps and match its twin that so far has survived... tho the base on that one got smashed and is held together with glue. One likes to make do and mend where possible! I gave thanks for discovering Peacocks leggings (of which I'm very fond) now come in purple (likewise!), and for spotting a buzzing bronze dragonfly. Also for coming across a Tala measure, which I only remember how much I want when I want to measure or weigh things but not get the scales out. Very retro - prawn cocktail and Black Forest gateau should be served I'm sure!

I'm grateful my eyes proved no more chameleon like than they were a few months ago, that they managed to stay open on the second bus home... and that they then stayed shut for quite a while when I got home!

Use and ornament

This morning I was surprised how tired and achey I was until I remembered just how much walking I'd done yesterday between various places along the route of my day. I'd been grateful for all the sitting and lying down between the legs of the rambling journey (which made it possible) and to make recovery possible I gratefully spent a long time in bed today doing a little light consumer therapy and planning some other largely sedentary excursions. I give thanks for finding out some of the laptop problems I was having yesterday were actually website problems and are thus resolved though it's still been up to its 'no, I can't save this document at the moment' tricks...and equally annoying 'no, you can't use your bank account just now'!

I give thanks for finally getting up and getting it together to use the iron, the vacuum and the sewing machine (in small doses!) and to finish off this decoration...

I give thanks for a little bit of clotted cream left and edible which meant I just had to make a little scone for my tea...and for tang of autumn in the air which made staying indoors for it most acceptable. I give thanks for a peaceful phase in the immediate neighbourhood.

I give thanks for the friendly and efficient service offered by the Regent Hotel Ambleside. It's one of the more expensive places I've stayed in and I originally chose it because it was near a bus stop and a boat stop and served breakfast til noon; but having been there once I know it's worth every penny and have been saving up mine to go back. Today I sent them a message saying I have to have rice milk on morning cereals now and asking if this is something they could provide or if not whether they'd mind if I brought my own. Within the hour this is what they replied...

Thank you for your recent enquiry - we're looking forward to your stay.

Of course we'd be more than happy for you to bring your own and use that. We do have mini fridges which can be provided in the room, otherwise we can store the rice milk in our fridge and have it in a jug on the table for you when you arrive for your leisurely breakfast. If you struggle to get hold of the rice milk I can see if it is possible for the chefs to order some for you.

Taking it in

I was grateful for remembering I'd done the washing up last night (when I got up this morning) and also for deliberately not doing it before I went out this afternoon - I'm such a rebel sometimes!

I gave thanks for the gorgeous greyness at the start of the day, for the beautiful blueness later as the sun dissolved some of the cloud and for the diffused sunshine finding white things to make glow in the between times. Also for the astonishingly good composition of today's pot luck moving vehicle shot...some lovely lines and angles there.

I'm grateful for making another pair of trousers that's become too big fit better again...and that it's easier that way than when they become too small.

I'm grateful for acupuncture and for Rachel and I agreeing maybe it was the hepatitis jab that's made me so unusually crabby and cross these last few days. Liverishness, you see. No? Well, it makes sense to us - you make your own arrangements for comprehending the world and its ways if ours are not to your taste.

I'm grateful I've finished my blog without throwing my laptop across the room - it's got to be one of the most annoying pieces of computing equipment I've ever laid my fingers on, and the more annoying my fingers become the worse the combination!

Bathroom break

I'm grateful for the uplift of a sing at choir, and the uplift of a lift home afterwards. For Linda agreeing to meet me at short notice this morning for a bit of a natter and chuckle. For the post office rediscovering my Lush parcel they managed to lose on their own premises last week.

For finally being in the right place at the right time to get on a bus home again afterwards instead of letting one go by. For making a pair of trousers I seem to have shrunk out of fit once more.

For Ms Tesco arriving just as a neighbour did so that I didn't have to go down and let her in. For lots of yummy things to eat like stir-fry and hummus, and fresh cream apple turnovers.

For news about loos...

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-india-29008713

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-highlands-islands-28954439

And for the precious peaceful moments when no one in the vicinity is banging, scraping, strimming, power washing, angle grinding, allowing their dogs to bark or children to scream, or shouting at them for doing so, or even just having annoyingly loud conversations in the garden below! When it's quiet here it is so wonderfully soothingly so, but earplugs and bath plugs might be the best plan tonight...

Not urgent

Phew! I was grateful this morning when I realised most of the things I couldn't imagine finding the energy to do really didn't need doing anyway... After giving in to the urge for sun on my skin for a bit of yesterday I gave thanks for giving in to the one for sheets on my skin for most of today. It was worth it on both counts: look at this blueness I wore myself out getting! I give great thanks for the greyness of today as well though, for making getting nothing more arduous than a tuna sandwich a good plan to stick to.

I give thanks for a page turner novel, and snoozing, and listening to the soap opera of my neighbours' lives. I'm often struck, when I overhear people's conversations these days, how lucky I am not to have very many! 

...and for finally deciding to get up and dressed and wander off down to choir practice!

I give thanks for these diverse and beautiful images from Scotland
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-28967043