Bag lady

Well here it is. Nothing to get over excited about but very pleasing for me to come up with a quick project to improve my quality of life (no more struggling to keep old carrier bags in the kitchen drawer - or get one out when required... plus more room in the drawer!) by using what I had to hand including a blank area on the wall. The hook was bought years ago for something else and never used, the fabric, thread and light green tape left over from making a table cloth last year, the brown from making the curtains and the bright green was part of the packaging of the throw Bob bought me at Christmas.

So great to use up things I've kept because they 'might come in handy one day'. Just shows I'm not a hoarder...well except of carrier bags, ha ha! But they do tend to come in handy too...



I give thanks for finally getting myself up and dressed and ready for the off...it was quite a challenge today. I give thanks to Sarah the stoma nurse for sending me some things like c-shaped plasters to try for extra security...and tried one. Nonetheless, I express deep gratitude for changing my mind at the fourteenth hour and choosing to wear black linen mix trousers as, whilst waiting at the at the PO counter to collect some packages, I had the kind of wardrobe malfunction that makes you very glad you chose dark and absorbant lower garments. I was very grateful I was on the way to acupuncture where I could use a clean light loo to shut the stable door and for Rachel being there to listen and spray me with Oust afterwards, and give me tissues for my eyes that were leaking by this time too.

I give thanks for the nice lady (me of course!) who plied me with tea and biscuits when I got home. I opened all my favourites, not just one sort to finish before you start another. I promised myself a long weekend of all the safe indoors comfort and treats I could think of and gave thanks I had no places to go and people to meet planned anyway. I had years of cancer destroying my bladder muscles and self esteem and I kind of thought I'd be home and dry in that department after having it all removed. I may not be very talkative for the next couple of days, I'm going to be busy fixing my eyes...I give up on the other bit for now.

Getting grounded

Yes, the Murray match was perfect for a doze here and there and when I started watching the Williams one after my attention was wandering...So I gave up and put a slice of veggie pie in the oven and munched that during the 'season finale' of CSI NY recorded on Saturday when I hadn't been able to keep my eyes open either. Frankly that was pretty yawny too but when I turned back to the tennis oh my goodness what a final game! Thank goodness it was at the end of play for the day so they could show us some of the other highlights from the match there and then... I'd never heard of her opponent Razzano though she has a bit of interesting history it seems and I hope she carries on providing such good sport! Did anyone see the match where a player had to concede at match point? And then there was 'luck of the draw' that pitched the only two Colombians against each other. Mmmm...I love a bit of random! Or was that tidy? Ha ha! I also found out earlier that after their daily warm up session the ball boys and girls lie down and meditate en masse. Gold star for Roland Garros!

I give thanks that the reason I'm feeling crap today because I went out and 'pushed myself' yesterday. It's not my favourite term...like 'overdoing' it, it has a hint of wimp about it. I'm recovering from stuff that challenged me...that's more my style! As long as you don't examine the level of challenge too closely and (never recommended) compare it to anything else then it's all good. Having only met Judith briefly in hospital it was a strange coincidence to find she too used to be a 'serious' walker until recently and also finds the lack of long, vigorous, away from it all tramps not only disappointing and frustrating but also actually claustrophobic. You can sympathise with anyone, empathise or offer counselling with appropriate skills, but you have to have been there and be unable to be there again to understand how unpleasant this feels. I've not been able to explain it to anyone before as I only know people who still do or who never have. The guitar thing also. I was never a great player but it still felt great doing it. I do genuinely give thanks for the opportunity to explore the flip side of loss...appreciating it is better to have had something to lose, cherishing memories and learning to experience sadness without getting sad about being sad (some of you will get this more than others, I know) and also, of course, being more mindful of the privilege of now without getting too attached to it. All things must pass and all that!

Meanwhile I give thanks for remembering to roast my beginning to get wrinkled peppers so they look like a tempting ingredient again. For still being able to knit...I have two sleeves and four or five inches of back done now. Casting on requires full concentration and a lot of luck but then it's OK as long as I don't drop or do a stitch the wrong way...that wiggly thing you do with the needle tips to sort it out is absurdly hard for me these days. To the taxi driver yesterday afternoon who was approached by me and another regular at the same time from different angles so took us together as my home was on the way to hers. We were all quite happy with that! And to Ivor for inadvertently reminding me how fortunate I am to have a tree outside my living room window. Yes, this time of year the leaves obscure much the sea but what a treat to see tree leaves and wildlife activities going on a few feet away but many feet off the ground!

Sunshine Superwoman

I give thanks for a lovely afternoon with Judith who was in hospital the same time as me and swapped email addresses. For good conversation, delicious cake (she was happy with an Eastcliff takeaway so clearly a kindred soul!)...lots of gasping in delight at glorious views including inside the new 'bijou' beach hut style mini holiday homes on Shaldon foreshore. And of course glorious sunshine...she was surprised at that, not yet being familiar with my weather goddess powers.

I give thanks for collecting my parcels from the Post Office and finding my replacement accoutrements and my Mother's Day gift from Bob...Lush and Botanics bath stuff. This was delayed at my request until I was ready to enjoy them thoroughly! Lush stuff in a gift box by the way...now there's Lush! Good 'flavour' and colour choices too...

I give thanks for remembering to get myself weighed and to buy some eco laundry liquid and getting home in time to watch the start of the first Murray match of the tournament. It shouldn't be very exciting. I should be able to doze off after my redbush tea without missing anything. Don't mind either way really...good tennis or happy nap, either is fine by me!

Like a dog needs a bicycle (race)

Yippee, I've run out of soap powder so no washing for me today! I'm grateful, of course, that I haven't had any urgent laundry needs so far as well... Almost caught up with the ironing too so am appreciating that temporary illusion of completion like that brief period when you've done the washing up but not got hungry again yet...

I give thanks for some brief periods of good tennis on TV too...often, for a viewer, it can be just a soothing background noise in the first rounds but an Italian with a name the commentator said sounded like something you'd order in a restaurant (deeply politically incorrect but meant in good spirit and slightly true) took Djokovic to a tie break in the opening set. Deep gratitude too for the brilliant Exeter stoma team who are so helpful to me and so pleasant with it. I'm so glad they were willing to have me back from the 'others' across the bay! And I'm grateful for remembering there's a set of scales at the doctors' as I need weighing before they can work out how long my IV iron treatment will be and I've never owned a set and am not about to get any now! Haven't you noticed? People with scales tend to be heavier than those who don't so clearly stepping up on to them is the wrong sort of exercise! They tend to drink diet Coke too...so my top gabilogical tip is to avoid that too...

This is the link to the story in the post title. I'm sure you've come across it already but, if you never look at the news or only the important newsy bits, click here as they say...
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-china-18218878 plus this 'You in 52' is rather fun for anyone who wasn't there and doesn't care too much about historical accuracy http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-18152914

Open season

'Tis the season to be...well, to be floppy it seems! Fell asleep before CSI last night and during this afternoon's Grand Prix and haven't been what you'd call exceptionally active in between, nor feeling exceptionally well. Fingers crossed the intravenous iron sorts that out at least to some degree eh? I give thanks that I have an appointment booked for this and managed to change it to Exeter from the 'local' satellite renal unit which is so new it's not on any maps...nor, apparently, bus routes...doesn't even have directions on it's own section of the trust site. I'm grateful I haven't got a car and a sat nav and the possibly misplaced confidence I'd find it on the day!

I give thanks for the start of the terrestrial TV tennis season. The French Open is on ITV and I wasn't sure how that would work, but they have 'mini breaks' (appropriately enough) just an ad or two long mostly during changes of ends so no complaints here though if you're someone who likes watching changes of shirts you might be disappointed!

Gratitude, of course, for a cloudier, slightly cooler, damper day so I don't feel I'm missing out on summer. And that though the guardian angel I mentioned yesterday obviously dozed off during the night, they gave me a wake up shake up before they did so that I was awake when I turned over and disconnected my tube and I could effect hasty repairs... and not have to do laundry til morning. Gratitude too that I got my sewing machine out and threaded up and have actually cut four pieces of scrap fabric and sewn them together to make two! This is the start of a bag to hang on one of the new hooks and hold old carrier bags. Little things eh? Actually it's quite a big thing for me. There are a few iconic objects of the 'old me' that are effectively useless now and can, on a bad day, make me feel a tad so too. I've hung up my walking boots and my guitar (literally!) and given away the beads I can't turn into anything but beads on the floor nowadays...so even a simple sewing project, like a knitting or crochet one, soothes my soul especially if it pleases my eyes when completed though it's the doing that does it as well as the done...

Space and light

Wow! They meant it when they said the wind would get up didn't they? Lots of white flecks on the sea when the breeze began yesterday late afternoon but so many and so well defined against the deep blue sea I had to watch for a while just to be sure they weren't actually tiny boat sails! Delight in the sight and in the a weather report being accurate...I always read them but in a similar spirit to horoscopes, you know? Gratitude too for the wooshing sound of the wind during the night. It doesn't howl so much in the summer as the leaves 'soften the blow'...well that's how it works in my logic anyway... And it was both pleasantly warm and pleasantly empty when I spent an hour in the gardens this afternoon.

I also give thanks for...Peter taking a big bag of cardboard to the recycling for me (forgot to mention that before). Hate throwing things away and love it when people help me dispose of them sensibly...

...and the 'seed art' jar. This might seem rather odd, but I like to have mixed small seeds around to use in food...sunflower and sesame, poppy and linseed...they make a great topping for veg for instance mixed with cheese and melted in the oven. When the little jar I keep them in is empty I put the new ones in in layers and they look so pretty! Actually Carol is not alone in thinking I'm strange for liking things neat and tidy although I'm far from obsessive or fanatical and love shaking the seed jar up too when I first go to use them again! I really do get a kick out of things being 'in the right place', a curious and very individual concept that in my case is a mixture of aesthetics, practicality and common sense with the odd whiff of feng shui in the air...The hoarder disorder (rather poetic name for it!) therapist currently on Channel 4 with his clients calls mess, muddle and chaos 'visual noise' and for some of us it's not a pleasant one. We prefer more harmonious sight-sounds.

I'm grateful that the unexpected bag leaks I've had happen in the last twenty four hours have only happened at fairly convenient times(ie. not in bed or in a public place) but I'd still rather they didn't and will be on the phone for some more advice on Monday. I'm also grateful, in the circumstances, that I have nothing outside and sociable to do...as I'm finding it hard to trust the incontinence angel to constantly *stick* by my side.

Gratitude too for clean after-shower skin on a hot day... and the rainbows scattering across the surfaces of my living room when I open the curtains on a sunny morning and the crystals hanging in the window spin...I give thanks that Carol's been getting high so to speak...Oh, and though I'm not a rampantly patriotic sports fan watching the British men's gymnastics team polish off their first European gold ever beating other countries you would be convinced would win....well that was pretty special too. French Open starts tomorrow...shorter posts will be resumed!

Look behind you!

This was going to be yesterday's post but yesterday got too complicated. I give thanks for a quieter day today though lovely to spend a few hours drinking tea (of various sorts!)and nattering with Peter. Great gratitude to him for drilling four holes for hook attachments. Mmmm...more things hung up!...Mmmm...more tidy! Much thanks for letting myself off going out tonight...it's so easy to feel one 'ought' to when really there's no need apart from the need for an early tea and an early night! So grateful that Laura had another companion already booked though...I wouldn't have stayed home if not...

Gratitude for a glimpse last night of a very pretty crescent moon and for 'finding' this picture I took on the outing with Jared last week. For a moment I couldn't understand why there were windows with curtains on a steam locomotive....

Wearing

I've been spinning out the last episodes of The Bridge. I don't want it to end but I'm grateful for the entertainment it has given me... Something that puzzles me in both that and this week's CSI is people inside at night with the lights on and nothing covering huge expanses of ground floor glass. I feel vulnerable without the curtains drawn in the evening and I live on the second and half (high ceilinged) floor. Mind you if there was a thirty foot person outside then I might well be at risk!

I give thanks for the 3D greenness of the really rather near young tree outside my window now covered in almost full leaves and the bigger older trees on the other side of the lawn showing in the gaps between them. I give thanks the for the wonderful range of iris colours in a garden nearby...all the blues and purples you can think of plus white, yellow and a sort of pinky green.

I give thanks for another sunny day though am a little wistful that various things kept me from being out in it more. I'm very grateful that one of those things was acupuncture and I feel slightly less frazzled by life.

I give thanks that despite the courier ignoring the delivery instructions and letting some random person take in (and keep so far) my medical supplies I still have some bags I can use and don't have to walk round wearing a washing up bowl. And I'm sincerely grateful that the bag I was wearing today didn't decide to randomly start leaking til after I was home and had relaxed with an ice cream.

I'm grateful that the Tesco man has been and I can just have biscuits for tea if I like. I'm so tired I might well do so!

Buoys and gulls

I give thanks for the glorious weather and for getting down to the gardens to enjoy it for half an hour or so yesterday afternoon - a perfectly timed interlude between the operation of some noisy but unseen machinery and the arrival of some other residents to drink beer. The grass was due for a cut but I love it like that, green and springy and a forest for little buggy things to wander through. I also enjoyed seeing a seagull nesting on the apex of a nearby roof. I KNOW what a nuisance they are and understand what the spikes are for on the many of the buildings round here but seeing one sitting on a rather precarious looking wreath of twigs reminded me that they are actually wildlife! Sometimes the local ones supplement their diet of chips and ice cream with shellfish they hurl on hard surfaces to break open and you get a similar curious sensation that they are actually creatures of the sea shore!

I was still not ready to bare a lot of flesh in the outside world but managed a sleeveless top and skirt without causing any road accidents by white skin dazzlement. Maybe a strappy one and shorts if the weather continues and my vigour returns. I decided to start sorting out the cupboard under the stairs and just when everything was strewn around decided I hadn't the strength to put it back! So that was dragging on for the rest of the day...literally! It's an intricate 3D jigsaw with some hefty pieces that can be arranged in several ways but which I aim to feel is better arranged each time I do it... Heavens what a lot of muscles are involved in the process!

Digging out my summery clothes and putting away the thickest woolies, it was the first time in years I've not thought it would probably be someone else who unpacks them, though who knows eh? I've not replaced many things that that have become shabby or grown out of and where shoes are concerned have been wearing them away to nothing. So yesterday I looked in the 'posh' shoe shop in town and they had a sale with a pair of light green leather granny-goes-roman ones in my size reduced from £58 to £45. If you think that's extravagant I then went down the road to the cheapy shop and bought some pumps for £2.99 so that evens it out! Great gratitude for being able to find just what I wanted just where I wanted to shop! They both came from the 'ladies' section which is unusual for me as I quite often get footwear from children's ranges, not because I have exceptionally dainty feet but because I'm a cheapskate who can't be doing with heels!

I can't take credit for the title of this post...it was on a collage type picture on a card in a local shop. I sent it to someone for their birthday and do you know they never said thank you? How shocking is that...I hope they are blushing with shame as they read this. Much love to friends who are not as well as they hoped to be...especially to Tony. May you be up to having the French windows open today... and to Carol, may you find a whole load more lovely things to do and the strength to enjoy them.

The Anthropology of Turquoise

Thank you for kind leg related comments here and on Facebook. Clearly they and the bag disguising costume will render me acceptable to public view when I'm ready to exhibit more in 'real life' than a rolled up sleeve or trouser leg.Yesterday I was only up for a T shirt and combats but still felt rather revealed without my winter layers. It was lovely to sit in a selection of scenic spots on the sea front and even on the beach itself which meant getting down to floor level and back using muscles still a little tender. Perhaps down to a sunny patch beside the shrubbery later? We'll see. I'm on double rations of Magic Medicine at the moment to try and boost my energy.. Before someone tells me I shouldn't this is is just Dr Udo's Beyond Greens and I'm not even taking the suggested dose...you'd have to be really be landed gentry for that (and be willing to sell off the land). I am grateful for discovering this potion nonetheless.

I give thanks for this week's Simon Reeve's Indian Ocean which I caught up with properly last night. Apart from the aforementioned dump there were some very heart warming stories of conservation and cultural integration. I was rather struck by the little settlement in Oman only reachable by sea (always a favourite access restriction!) where there had developed some ways of their own...including using the English word for 'door' and 'star' rather than the Arabic ones! And seeing Muslims coming for blessings from Ganesh in Mumbai...that was right up my street too...

I'm reading a book called the Anthropology of Turquoise. I chose it for its name first of all...well I would wouldn't I? Grateful for the beautiful writing... and grateful for the smell of shampoo when I went to the plastic bottle recycling bin yesterday. Better than sour milk!

Yes Lynn, though much chopped about over the years the terrace I live in still retains some grandeur. You know my address...I'm sure you'll have seen on google that we still have quite extensive communal gardens to share as well. And yes Carol, the town I live in is wonderful in many ways and I literally shake my head in amazement and shed tears of joy sometimes at being here. When I first moved and had to spell the name for people I'd say 'that's H...E...A...V...E...N'!

Floating Islands

No...not the Maldives refuse sort...this is a blog of gratitude not sorrow, horror and shame.

Back when proper baths were banned, if someone had asked me what my favourite Lush products were I would probably have said Dreamtime and Ceridwen's Cauldron. But in there last week I saw a pile Floating Islands and remembered how wonderful they are. Perhaps I'd buried the memory to save the suffering! You don't need a whole one...even half is a generous amount of silky sandalwoodness. Wonderful. So many thanks for that!

The stoma nurse suggested maybe essential oils in the bath were causing the occasional surprise 'coming unstuck' I've suffered, but since it sometimes happens when the only oil I've been near has been olive in a pan, and she also used a soothing wipe on my skin she said had tea tree and lavender in, I'm not sure it's her area of expertise. I've decided to embark on a programme of extremely unscientific testing of all the bath delights I like... (Naked do good ones too)

So grateful I didn't go down to watch KATE KWIDZINSKI's uncle carrying the torch in Shaldon. A 'popular beat combo' took over from him on the bridge so yes it was very busy down there. I didn't realise any of these celebrities were involved and if she hadn't casually mentioned it on Facebook... (You have to know Kate to know quite how un-casual but can you blame the woman for being proud? She's such a shy retiring creature I hope she doesn't mind a mention here...) I was delighted to watch local heros in local scenery as, I'm sure, people will be throughout the land.

I've booked a bit of sunshine for this afternoon as I have some chores to do in town. I give great thanks as always that back when I was fit and strong I chose to live somewhere where 'town' and sea are paces apart...

I give thanks that I'll be ready when summer really begins...and yes I'll turn the TV off before I go to the beach!

Cutting corners

Well I solved the dinner question by consulting the woman in the ministry of bright ideas...the one with the curly hair, you know! She worked out that as I had made enough quorn mince for two meals I could do the mashed potato topping for the next serving. And she also reminded me I had pre made crumble mix in the cupboard which, with the addition of a few almond flakes went very nicely on top of the rhubarb. Top tip if you've got them...put some Lexia or other extra large raisins in with your stewed rhubarb. The natural fruit sugars leak out and make it extra yummy! I was very grateful for my tea! And relieved to find out Lynn does unusual things with scissors too...great for pizza folks!

When I heard the Olympic torch was being carried over the river here I had a yen to go and watch but finally twigged that thousands of other people will be doing the same thing, especially as all manner of entertainment has been laid on nearby. Even if a magic chauffeur arrived to take me to a vantage point I can't think of any where you wouldn't just get a view of the crowds so I'll wait for the local news. You can pause and rewind it on that as well. I'm grateful for the miracles of not especially modern technology... and give thanks that the weather has turned out pleasant for those who will actually be out and about in it.

I give thanks that I've been up for a couple of hours getting on with a backlog of paper work, recycling sorting, emails and ironing and am looking forward of more of the same after some lunch...Nah, I'm kidding you, I'm looking forward to those chores being done (for now) A woman's work and all that...

I'm delighted I've finished the first sleeve of my cardigan and have started on the second. Really am looking forward to more of the same with that! I altered the shaping somewhat so I hope I can remember what I did and make a second one to match... I've also finished the scarf I started knitting on my North Cornwall trip earlier this year. That's for a charity sale but chilly though it's been it's not really seasonable so there's plenty of time for me to work out how I want to trim the hems...some sort of bobbly fringe I'm thinking...

I'm grateful that in imagination we can go wherever we choose, and if I could choose I'd be in a secluded sheltered country garden, reading a book while someone else makes lunch!

Sleeping duty

I continue to be silly sleepy and am grateful all over again for peace and cosiness to doze away my day. A lot of the time I'm on auto pilot and was astonished when I went back into the kitchen with my plate after my evening meal yesterday and saw the clean pots and pans and work surfaces. I remember grumbling to myself whilst cooking that if I didn't sit down soon I'd fall down but I didn't actually remember getting all that done. I was certainly very thankful too!

Spotted these whilst browsing earlier... something to make you go 'Aw!' http://www.break.com/index/cat-plays-with-dolphin-2041695?utm_source=scribol.com&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=scribol.com

And something rather awesome, not often heard let alone seen...http://www.environmentalgraffiti.com/news-sonic-boom?image=1

I'm grateful for a very tasty lunch of pasta, veggies and cheese and for something for tea that seems as if it might be if I can get back at that chopping board again. Plan A involves mashed potatoes if I can summon the energy...There's also rhubarb which would make a nice dessert but there's the effort factor to consider again... I give thanks for finding out big kitchen scissors are easier than knives on that. I'm grateful I've downloaded a film to watch and will be even more so if I can stay awake til the end...with my tea on a plate and pudding in a dish. It's important to have goals I think, don't you?

In brief

Apologies to anyone expecting a personal communication from me today...I've been in an advanced state of zombie since I got home from my hospital/shopping trip yesterday. I tried to keep the walking around to a minimum...the two stores in Exeter and the three here were practically within shouting distance of each other and not far from the stations. Clearly some limits were reached nonetheless...

I give thanks therefore for tea and toast, fish fingers and other low effort comfort munchies...for having nothing very urgent or demanding to do but make them appear and disappear. I give thanks for a TV to keep me company...nothing like a lie down with Hathaway, um sorry, with Lewis I mean! I give thanks for throws and heaters to keep me cosy (it can't just be anaemia...surely it's actually cold?) and (when I finally got round to picking the packages up from the floor and unpacking them late this morning) for a bit of light pampering with Lush-ious goodies and a trying on session of new 'accommodating' garments.

Gratitude too, of course, for news I've been referred to the renal day case unit for intravenous iron. The thought of another trip to hospital just now is not appealing but I haven't any date(s) just yet...plenty of time to mull over the phrases 'day case', 'intravenous infusions' and 'possible side effects'. Anyone with experience of chemo will know what I mean...

Thinking especially of Tony and his family and friends this evening. Of Estelle, may her complications be solvable, and of Annette, who doesn't read this and doesn't have cancer but something genetic, progressive and without any cure. May she remain strong in spirit, lovely lady.

Late bloomers

Gratitude to Helen today for picking me up from home and delivering me to the hospital for my post op appointment with the surgeon. Gratitude to the twist of shift pattern fate that meant she actually had to be travelling at about the same time as me! It's very kind of her nonetheless and a much more therapeutic way to travel, putting the world to rights together. Also thoughtful of her to bring me some books I might enjoy...

I give thanks that the delayed spring means there are still late lambs, primrose banks and bluebell woods to enjoy the sight of on journeys in the countryside...clematis and lilac in the towns. I give thanks for collecting what appear to be acceptable nether garments from M&S ordered on line, and yesterday evening trying on the retro styled cozzy I chose from the Very catalogue when surgery was planned, but which had been out of stock. More than acceptable...I might well have bought it even if I didn't have baggage to conceal!

I'm grateful for several pieces of promising medical news though they are tempered by hearing others are not doing so well...warm thoughts to sufferers and loved ones suffering too. I give thanks for the wonderful homey feeling when the train arrives at my little town after a few hours in the city. For the friendly banter in the shops and doctor's...though to be fair I had a bit of that in Lush and on a medical supplies customer care line just now too. Mmmm, all ready to be a hermit again for a while now...lovely!

Superb

Gratitude for finding that Pentel Superb pens are still widely available...both shops I used to but them in were running down their stocks last time I did. One's since shut and the other is in a place rather inaccessible to me now so I hadn't been keen on checking. Now I realise I can buy them by the dozen on the internet. Oh deep joy...they are by far the best 'every day' ballpoint pen I've ever found. I've discovered the company also makes a range of products including recycled plastic...files and folders, pens and pencils. When I was a small girl taken to look round big shops the one I always wanted to go to was the stationers... and I still get a bit of a kick out of new office supplies. It sounds a bit odd when you write it down but I've met others who feel the same, so not uniquely so!

Also, slightly this side of weird maybe, I'm delighted to discover that balsamic vinegar makes a great substitute for brown sauce. I only fancy brown sauce about twice a year on some eggy breakfasts so I never keep at home but I had a yen for the taste of it with my brunch the day, and as I have balsamic vinegar (even though I hardly ever use that either) I gave it a try. Mmmm, hmmm! Looks much posher on the kitchen table too!

Some people say it has health benefits but others would say this a load of old twaddle, and me...I can always see a bit of both sides and think life's too short to waste arguing. So I'm not going to tell you that this 93 year old lady is superbly fit and happy because of yoga either... but I challenge you not to watch it and not a) feel a little humbled and b) have a smile! http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-18068548

I give thanks for this week's episode of CSI which had an unusual twist to the storyline (yes, there are still a few they haven't tried before!) and was rather funny and poignant too. Also for Co op Taste the Difference Fair Trade Earl Grey tea bags (takes almost as long to type the name as to drink a cup!) I had several servings of various very acceptable teas yesterday but not one of that particular brand, so particularly appreciated one this afternoon with the aforementioned recorded TV.

Maybe you're thinking I should get out more? Well I did! I also had a grand day out with Jared yesterday travelling on the West Somerset Railway with interesting old coaches pulled by gleaming steam engines. What a treat... we had excellent weather to enjoy the delightful scenery and broke our journey at Blue Anchor where neither of us had spent any time before but which looked to have such splendid views on Google Streetview it just had to be visited for a bracing walk along the seafront and a cakey refreshments to top up our picnic lunch of samosas, a selection of hummous with bruschetta bites, stuffed vine leaves, real ginger beer and Bournville biscuits. I give thanks for all the tasty treats you can get from supermarkets these days by the way!)

Five nice things

Tiny bubble patterns on the skin of a samosa

The scent of clean hot cotton

The first sip of a cup of warm morning tea

Clean Hair

The prospect of going out of the county today...nothing the matter with the one I'm in, but a change is as good as and all that...

Happy Birthday!

Happy Birthday to my 'favourite' son Bob...who shares this personal anniversary with Cate Blanchett, George Lucas and Thomas Gainsborough (I'm thinking you'll have heard of them) plus Talking Heads founding member David Byrne, social reformer Robert Owen and social media tycoon Mark Zuckerberg....Make of that what you will! I'm just eternally grateful I didn't produce someone normal by others' standards...

I give thanks for an item in the news about attempts to make rail announcements more cheery and humourous. We get that on the local trains here sometimes and it really does brighten the mood hearing light hearted comments about the weather or the places we're going through...and for an episode in the Indian Ocean series about people in Kenya recycling flip flops washed up on the shore to make toys and gifts to sell. Some of them were amazing and I looked on the internet for somewhere to buy them over here but they seem to be out of stock everywhere. If you know better let me know!

I give thanks for eggs, flour, milk, lemon and sugar...yes, pancakes for breakfast today! I give thanks for the energy to my cooker and to my body to cook them. I've done the washing up and a bit of ironing and knitting too and I'm grateful if not overly impressed. People sometimes remind me that I can overcome all manner of physical ills with my mental strength...and I'd like to remind them (and myself) that this is me doing that very thing, it's just that I have a way to go. Well you wouldn't want me to be too perfect would you? Might make you feel inadequate, ha ha!

And with ref to my earlier post Oh bum!: I give thanks for discovering I can get big pants on prescription now. They're not things of great beauty but they are specifically designed for the job and at least I don't have to fork out my own cash for them...

This isn't my most enthralling post, I know...even my mind's wandering, but guess what? I've just remembered that not only have I've only watched one episode of the Bridge so far this week but the Girl with the Dragon Tattoo is on Sky Box Office. Wow...now that's as good as a birthday present! When the Tesco man/woman has been (I mean it could be either, not that I'm expecting a hermaphrodite) I think I should get a plate of food and exercise my right to rampant inactivity...

Under pressure

Oh what a beautiful morning! Even more delightful when I went into the kitchen to make a cup of tea and remembered an almond croissant in the freezer! Gratitude for the splendid sight of power boats streaking through the sparkle of the sea...but no noisy jet skis yet, ha ha!

I give thanks for a pretty good day yesterday despite various pains and health problems. Extreme gratitude that my hands and wrists, at least, were functioning quite well and I was able to finish the block of squares and stripes for the cot blanket that I was working on last week and also make a start on the amended sleeve pattern for the cardigan. I think my version of the hem looks much prettier than the original...but pride may well come before a dropped stitch or two...

I give thanks for remembering to check for news on this year’s local air show as it turns out it will be in June this year not August and it’s just over the headland I’d have probably thought we were under airborne attack if I’d not known... I thought I might have been active enough to go in August but June’s a bit soon... How about we start a petition for the display to start with a rescue helicopter picking me up from my flat window and gently dropping me down on the hillside above the Smuggler’s? I’d be up for it... literally and metapohorically and I’m sure the crowd would appreciate the personal touch! We could even recreate the Solvite ad by means of those supergluey pouches I’m recovering from... well, maybe not but I give thanks, as ever, for my best memory of the show, up there with Bob watching a Red Arrow apparently about to impale us on its pointy nose before swooping up over our heads.

I give thanks for seeing the humour in wearing out the batteries in my blood pressure cuff and, after an hour or so scrabbling around, finding that I have none up to the job. To begin with it was a tad frustrating but then you just have to go with the flow eh? I’m already suffering from divine retribution/karma/sod’s law (delete as appropriate according to your spiritual tendencies) for feeling slightly superior to overweight overindulgent people for years, as I’ve discovered you can get high blood pressure through the malfunction of your kidneys as well as your willpower... I’m supposed to be on a programme of timed measurement to help them decide how best to treat it but that will have to pause until the Tesco delivery tomorrow. I’ve kind of run out of self help ideas as I already do all the things you’re supposed to...including eating so much garlic that the GP actually didn’t take my blood when I asked her not to!

I give thanks too for the ‘late running’ in my day that this has caused (indiscernible to the untrained eye!) as I by the time I’m washed and dressed and ready to do something it’ll be time to watch the Grand Prix.

Limelight

First thanks of the day for the lime light of low slung early sun on newly opened leaves...

I love the town where I live. I don't think there's a day goes by when I don't give thanks for just being here. I give thanks for the friendly hairdresser down the hill where they don't make me feel inadequate for being dishevelled, or ask me to use the back door! I give thanks for the warm welcome at the dry cleaner's/therapist... hugs and a mug of tea and a chat even though neither I nor my clothing was being treated. I give thanks for tasty treats from the Swiss patisserie eaten on an almost empty almost evening beach. The helpful happy staff in the fruit and veg shop, and the taxi driver waxing lyrical about life in a rural community set in folds of Devon fields three miles away.

I give thanks for my new GP. Well she isn't really new...she's been with the practice for years and has recently been made a partner. Dr Galli said he'd like someone to take over my care and asked if I had any preference and I chose this woman, although I'd never met her, as I'd heard she was good at seeing the whole person and the whole picture. I need someone like that. The latest buzzword on my case is 'complex'...I have 'complex' medical issues, apparently. Oh well, better than having a complex I'm sure! She said that Dr Galli came and sat with her and talked her through all that had gone on since I registered at the practice in 2007 (at that stage in blooming health) which seemed delightfully old fashioned and caring...like the gentleman himself! She was suitably impressed by how well I seemed for someone who had been through so much and still had all those complex issues and we talked about various courses of action for the various things that currently threaten to carry me off. Something that particularly put me at my ease was that when I told her I'd been using turmeric for joint pain (I can't take anti-inflammatories) and Manuka honey for fungal infection she wasn't just OK with it, she was downright keen! She said patients should be supported in their health choices...which in an ideal world she wouldn't have to say, but which seemed ideal to me!

Anyway, I'm grateful for all of this and more...and most of all for staying home for a few days knowing it's all there when I'm ready to go back to it. My tummy muscles in particular are protesting loudly at all this gadding about...an hour on a bouncy bus on Thursday...followed by walking my sorenesses down to the shops on Friday because I (mistakenly) thought that might limber them up. I have a weekend of knitting, crochet, reading, eating and TV planned and feel very grateful for that. May you all have pleasant pastimes too...

Sticking at it

I stand corrected...apparently people (well one person, at least) does actually like going to the gym. Everyone else I’ve ever spoken too, even if they like the feel of using the machines, the afterglow, the long term effects, or even, in one case, the opportunity of displaying a fit male body to other ones...does not particularly like the gym per se. I’m grateful I’ve been to one or two and know what it’s all about and can safely save myself the membership fees and return to housebound activities (both yoga and dancing can be done at home without audience or critique), or better still something in the fresh air. At the moment it's hard to imagine doing any 'activities'...I've still got to master getting the vacuum out and moved appropriately across what I think are carpets, though it's getting hard to tell!

Yesterday I had a few 'wardrobe malfunctions' and was extremely grateful the last one happened just before I had to go for the bus (Just after writing my last post actually...before I even got to post it). I was positively thrilled it was pouring with rain to conceal my dampness and confusion, and gave great thanks for the invention of Febreze and similar products... Gratitude too that I had an appointment on arrival with the stoma care nurse and that she was so helpful in so many ways, including revealing a different problem regarding excessive adhesion on the bits that do stick...which I thought was just something patients had to be stoic about (and thus why never mentioned), was an apparently unique chemical reaction between my skin and those particular bags but easily solvable by using different ones. Duh! I came away with a bag of assorted samples and left her with a still-in-its-box night bag stand that I left hospital with but had no desire whatsoever to actually use and for which, it turned out, she was desperate for supplies.

The kidney chap was lovely and attentive and interested in discussing with his various colleagues how best to steer a safe path of symptom alleviating medication through the minefield of my contra-indications... and decided he should start with some fresh blood tests all of his own (yawn!). I have an appointment with a GP later and if she thinks she'd having any more she'd got another think coming. She's anaemic, take more blood! I know it makes sense but it doesn't sound like it really, does it?

I give thanks for Peter coming to meet me and driving me home via an excellent tea at the Coombe Cellars...a very old and shabby chic modernised hostelry right on the banks of the estuary where you can see a variety of water fowl, boatmen, tidal movements, sunsets and Dartmoor according to the weather, time of day and year. Lovely spot to be and lovely to see him...

Today I'm grateful for a long lie in and slow start. I don't have to be anywhere til...oh, my ears and whiskers...time to get dressed!

Northern Soul

Yes, not Nordic Noir this time...but news of the craze sweeping Swedish cities for alcohol free lunchtime disco dancing to 60s hits, mirror balls and all. I like this...energising, sociable, warmer than a walk in chilly northern climes and more fun than the gym (surely anything is more fun than a gym?)...

Much gratitude this morning for sleeping fairly soundly during the night and waking before my alarm. I gave wistful thanks for the comfort of my bed as I left it! have the most physically demanding day today since my operation and though my appointments aren't til this afternoon there are many things to be done first, some of the sort that take longer the more you try to hurry up...and then there's the bus! I give thanks that I'm nearly ready to set off for it now...well, I think so...no more mishaps I hope!

I'm grateful for hot water coming out of the taps, free range chickens laying eggs and whoever it was in Eccles who came up with the idea of wrapping currants and raisins up in flakey pastry... I'm grateful, on reading the start of my blog the other day, to realise how much better I've become at being grateful! El exercicio hace el maestro...

Creation

Can't remember the last time I had my hands on a knitting pattern...I think it might have been when I did some machine ones for a magazine coming up twenty years ago which doesn't really count! I picked something easy, not knowing how my hands would hold out. There's no button bands and the pattern's just a variegated rib with some k2tog and psso holes in the wider columns. If you're a knitter you'll agree, very basic, if not it's all magic to you anyway! What I'd meant to do was something even easier but I couldn't find the kind of yarn I wanted on line...This one is a very comfortable and economical cotton acrylic mix in a natural colour and I bought a bit extra so I could incorporate a little frill on the bottom of the sleeves to match the one the design has on the body. I'm going to start with the sleeves and then if I find it too tiring I can come up with a plan B for the rest...

I'm hoping it will be easier to access my big embroidery stand to do a bit more Tree of Life soon...everything got piled into the cupboard under the stairs when the living room was decorated and not everything came back out before another lot went in for the bedroom to be done. It would be great to have it finished and hanging on the wall, especially now the patch of wall it's meant to hang on is stained from the leak. On the other hand it would be nice to have it hanging on a redecorated wall...perhaps they'll end up finished at the same time...

So...gratitudes... I'm grateful for watching an episode of Come Dine with Me last night where one of the contestants had a pet rabbit living free in her house which just goes to show that Pat and I weren't talking poo!

I'm grateful it's been so chilly at night as I was wondering how to get my winter duvet under the bed where it lives in the summer (especially as the bed still has some moving around to do before the decorating on there is done)

I'm grateful I've had an email from Peter who is picking me up from the hospital tomorrow but I wanted to hear confirm...

I'm also very thankful to see 'Hothead' Von back on the forum...in this line of work you do tend to fret if someone isn't seen for a while. I love her idea of creating with a collaborative poem and hope some others join in soon.

I give thanks that I got off my bum and took this picture of 'piering out to sea' yesterday as I thought it would be worth the effort if I did...

And I rather like this one too...shame about the grockles wandering into shot... and the pier come to that too! Sometimes I think I should get a 'proper' camera and photo editing software...sometimes I think I should just get over myself!

Breakfast in bed

I had breakfast in bed this morning. I don’t mean I took my breakfast back to bed (although I did) I mean I then proceeded to tip it all over me and the covers. I am, as you can imagine, extremely grateful it was Ryvita with sultanas on rather than just about any other thing you can imagine on a breakfast menu!

On Sunday I gave thanks that Clive didn’t want to go out for fish and chips after all as I have a hospital trip on Thursday and a doctor’s appointment on Friday and it seemed a good idea to get some other things done locally today...and I figured four times out in one week would be a tad ambitious. So I ordered lovely weather for this afternoon. I was so sure it would be warm and sunny that I was worrying what to wear as it’s been jumpers and scarves and hats for so long (don’t forget I was in hospital for that springlike weather in March). So I put a short sleeved T shirt on under a jumper to try it out when I went down to take the rubbish but it was still quite chilly and I had to put a fleece on top when I went to get my cab an hour later...and by then it was glorious. Still a nippy breeze but out of that just fine with jacket on/off as required.

I was very grateful to walk straight up to a Post Office counter to send and collect packages. I was delighted to find all the ice-cream places open and start the season with Kelly’s strawberries and cream variety and close to ecstatic to find a long embroidered and beaded Monsoon tunic in the Hospice charity shop. It’s in turquoise green if you know what I mean, a sort of peacock colour and I tried it on when I got home and it fits!

One of the packages turned out to be yarn I’d ordered on Friday, sent out that afternoon and delivered next day (just I’d not been there to receive it). Beautifully packaged too, with cardboard to keep the pattern flat and bubble wrap round the needles. I’d decided I might like to knit myself a garment...not something I’ve done for a couple of years although I used to make loads of my own clothes even after I no longer had my market stall and did for at least some of my living, and not something I’ve done following a pattern for decades! This is a slightly lacy cardigan in double knitting on 4mm needles which after years of chunky stuff seems rather like knitting on cocktail sticks with a piece of thread. I think I might get it finished before he summer is out though...the tension sample that is! I’m extremely grateful for thinking I’m up to the challenge anyway and will live long enough to wear it out (in all senses of the phrase!)

Great to hear from Pat, and to hear from Ann that I did the right thing re Tony...

Still finding those sultanas...good job I don’t have a pet rabbit or I’d be thinking twice before eating them!

Pleasures of sensibility

Have you ever noticed how many different patterns of raindrops you can get on your window panes? Sometimes there’s just a few big splodges, sometimes diagonal streaks, sometimes – like this morning – a pattern of many little isolated drops and this evening lots and lots of tiny tiny ones. If you’re out in it enough you get to know the different feelings of it landing on you too. I give thanks for the many opportunities I have to notice this... I know it’s not true that ‘Inuit have (however many) words for snow’ but we should have a whole load more for non-frozen wetness falling from the skies!

I give gratitude for Tesco’s Finest potatoes dauphinoise...finest I’ve ever tasted not made by Bob or Jo’s fair lily white hands...

I am also overwhelmingly grateful that what the hospital tells you about it taking six weeks to get back to where you were before this operation is absolutely spot on. Where I was before was kind of up and down but hey ho, it’s so much better that down and downer.

I give thanks for Fats Domino and Fatboy Slim...though I’ve just realised I’ve been singing along to my mp3 player with the windows open. Oh well, they can’t see me pretending to drum along to Green Day...there is something deeply basket case about that, ha ha!*

Hmm...we’re missing gratitude for an aroma here are we not?...Oh, Nag Champa every time.

Buddhist teachings are very hot on not indulging in sensory pleasures, not hankering after those which we perceive as enjoyable or letting the pursuit of them become a habit but equally it is suggested that one must avoid self denial and mortification. The middle ground, the moderation is where I try to be where one can appreciate but not cling or yearn.

*Oh, and I think our ‘sixth’ sense should actually be a sense of humour... what do you reckon?

" "

Today I sing the praises of

...the uncluttered surface, the unspoken words...the gaps between the gusts of wind, the pause between the waves, the moments when you're not breathing out or in...the emptiness inside your body, the spaces surrounding it....the stillness of your mind beneath your thoughts...

I might pop back later with a list of things apparently solid, concrete and completely there that I've been enjoying seeing, tasting, smelling, feeling or listening to but for now I'm going to dwell on the ineffable experience of emptiness.

Baby steps

I’m grateful that yesterday I managed two journeys down the building stairs and back...all in less than an hour! This was because of an unexpected La Redoute delivery before I was ready to take a letter out to post and some recycling down to the bins. But some of their clothes on sale actually fitted so much thanks for that! After all that exercise, writing my linky blog, washing my hair and having a big lunch (mmm...I can be grateful for cauliflower cheese three times if I make enough!) that meant a big afternoon nap but I give thanks for that too. How lovely to be able to sleep safely and comfortably when you feel the need. The rest of the day was mostly sedentary but I did a bit of ironing and finally got to the bottom of the laundry basket – woo(extremely)hoo!

And was grateful I had this crochet project to do a little more of whilst lounging around. It's not fuzzy yarn by the way, I just find it hard holding the camera and clicking the button as well.




It will be a cot blanket when it grows a bit more...it's a good job there's not a specific baby waiting for it as it would have grown larger and almost had children of its own at this rate!

This morning I was grateful for the Sunday sun brightening up the place although I know it’s rather chilly outdoors and gave thanks for a warm shower and feeling clean skin without the complicated contortionist act that used to be part of my ablutions. I gave thanks for hearing that Clive is still on his way even though he’s had a few hiccups and delays on the way...not an expert at public transport yet, bless him, and allowed one of those people stations employ to make travelling more difficult to misinform him about departure times!

May you all have something you find pleasant to do, or at least something you don't enjoy that you can avoid this long weekend...

True colours

Good morning! Check me out posting before the sun is over the yardarm! I thought I'd share some natural wonders with you today. I derive a particular joy in things that hard headed reason tells us cannot be real, 'lost' tribes, 'new' species, irrational theories that turn out to be true. They make me grateful, they make me giggle with delight! So I start with this gorgeous toad...not two words that often go together maybe but seriously, Faberge could not have done better! http://www.bbc.co.uk/nature/14151541
And if the way it looked wasn't amazing enough then the fact that it's been seen again after going missing for almost a century just tops it off...

Then there's what this caterpillar does to ward off predators...no not garish colours, or spines or tastes or smells... http://www.thenighttour.com/alien2/hemeroplanes.htm

And how about this...I thought from the first pictures that it just looked like a hybrid...but no, it really is an animal that does what plants do...kind of the opposite to a triffid, but non-fiction too!
http://www.darkroastedblend.com/2012/04/impossible-plant-animal-hybrid.html

Anyway...I'm getting sucked into my laptop screen and I want to have some real life...or what passes for it nowadays... so maybe talk to you later. Yes I know I haven't actually listed five things I'm grateful for but, I assure you, I have gone 'wow' at least five times in collecting these gems and if I write any more now I'll go 'ow' which is not the same thing at all!

May the fourth and all that...

May your lightsabers of...well, lightness, I suppose...be brandished in the cause of peacemaking and tolerance in your hearts and beyond. And may I talk a lot less drivel you may be thinking... in which case you're not as tolerant as you might be!

I give thanks first of all great acupuncture treatment...much gratitude to Rachel! She also made me a cup of tea when I arrived which is not traditionally correct practice but therapeutically very welcome, so gratitude for that too...

I thanks also for my delicious dinner of that cauliflower cheese served with mini jacket potatoes and sauted red onion and tomatoes and wilted spinach. Dessert was rhubarb stewed in dark muscovado with Ben & Jerry's maple syrup and caramelised pecan ice cream. Not restaurant food but if I hadn't paid for it already I would have, if you see what I mean...

Slightly gobsmacked gratitude too for the CityLink call centre operative I spoke to yesterday doing what she said she would, and then the driver doing what I'd asked her to ask him to do ie. phone when he was here so I could come and collect the package. My experience with random courier deliveries hasn't always been entirely unfraught so I'm particularly delighted to have a happy experience of this nature to share. It was only an item of the 'surgical appliance' variety but I was even less keen to chase one of those round the county than if it had been some treat or gift.

Thankfulness as well for all the caffeine free hot drinks there are available to enjoy between 'brewing up'...Caro, Rooibisch are my favourites tho the fruit and herb ones make a refreshing change. I know they might not be everyone's...ooh er...if I'm not careful this sentence will descend into a bad pun? Ha ha!

May the fourth be with you one and all...and only the sort with truncheons if that's actually your sort of thing...

Pretty good

You've heard, I'm sure, that regular housework is considered to be helpful in staving off dementia... http://uk.lifestyle.yahoo.com/household-chores-prevent-alzheimers-disease-dementia.html well, how about farm work? I found this article rather humbling at first, decrepit as I am (though young enough to be many of the contributors youngest child!)...however, don't be put off scrolling down and having a look at the swimming cows at least! Yes, large domesticated bovines swimming between Hebridean Isles! http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-17537153 I was very grateful for the memory of what feels very much like my region of origin even though I wasn't actually born there.

I give thanks for a pleasant evening with Jared yesterday. The food wasn't as spectacularly good as we had been led to believe but we were both well aware of how very fortunate we were to be in the position to a) eat out at a good restaurant and b) be picky and leave some of the food even though it looked so good. Pretty countryside too...

I'm grateful I've made cauliflower cheese for later. I've avoided making sauce... but by drawing up a chair and sitting at the stove I managed the tiring standing up and stirring. I'm grateful I thought of that even if it seemed a bit sad... Not as sad as no cauliflower cheese ha ha! I'm grateful for my little red curvy spatula, designed for getting the last scrapes of jam out of the pot I'm told, but also excellent for making sure all the sauce gets onto the cauliflower...

I give thanks for the sound of children squealing with delight and terror on the rope swing outside...and do not turn this round to a complaint you moan mongerers! The more families living round here the better as far as I'm concerned. I'd rather hear children playing than a lot of sounds you get in a residential area and having communal gardens with a big old tree for a rope swing is pretty good to my mind...

On the plus side

Well I'm extremely grateful the sun's not made it through the clouds yet here...was worried if the weather were as glorious as they hinted it might be I might have to dig a folding chair out from the cupboard under the stairs and drag it down to the communal gardens. Nothing against the idea in principal, just that in practice I feel far too floppy today! Should things change dramatically weatherwise I might be persuaded to reconsider my position positionwise...

I give thanks for Tesco's Finest fruity cookies with coconut and big chunks of apricot. The Co op do something very similar in their Truly Irresistible range. Don't mind which...as long as they are on special offer they are!

I'm grateful that I've managed to get my stoma care area changed back to Exeter and district. Technically I'm over the border but it's about the same length journey for me by public transport to either hospital just the north east version is easier than south west. Plus if I feel up to it I can route it via Lush or Primark. Plus sometimes the appointments can be timed to fit with the other ones I have over there. Plus the team seem friendlier...though maybe the fact that I wanted to be 'sent back' made the other ones want to get rid of me anyway! Anyway, yesterday it looked as if it couldn't be done but now it has and I am very pleased...

I'd also like to give thanks to Charles and Maureen for their very excellent and thoughtful catalogue courier service...

And...although I really prefer not to give thanks for things that haven't happened yet...expectations and anticipation and all that...I would like to thank Jared for his intention to take me out for a drive and a meal later, to Clive for his intention to come and fix some sockets (and be treated to fish and chips) on Sunday, and for John saying he and Jo hope to be down to visit mid month...

Keep taking the tablets

Mmmm, I give thanks for the lovely weather today. Proper May day weather! I hope you're all enjoying it some ways even if just looking out of windows like me... My washing is looking out the window too, on a rack in the sunshine so it will smell almost as fresh as if it had been outside.... Lovely jubbly!

I give thanks that Jenny has come to do some chores, vacuuming especially necessary...almost needed stilts to negotiate the debris! Enjoyable to talk to her too...

I give thanks to Tesco for having a delivery service...and for having the internet and a credit card to place orders with them. I give thanks for all the scrummy things that were on special offer...and that they were in stock! I give thanks for ready made favourites like roasted mediterranean vegetable tart and new ones to try at reduced prices. The potatoes Dauphinoise turned out to be a serving for two...it's a tough life eh? And Green & Black's chocolate bars were full price so I bought myself a bargain box of Thornton's chocolates instead. I'm so grateful I hardly ever indulge in fags, booze and dead animals (nor drive a car!) so my budget can stretch to cover such delights. Baby spinach and feta sheets too...bet you know what I'll be making soon!

I give thanks for the very brown sea today, full of sand and weed and general debris... And for phone camera/smart phone tablet thingies so I can show you it with just one piece of kit...




I give thanks for some very courteous and helpful people on some helplines today... And I give thanks I'm up to date with the day's chores for now and can settle in for some slobbing...er, sorry, I mean therapeutic rest and relaxation don't I? Actually I probably mean a sleep!