Before the lines

I'm grateful I was early(ish) to bed last night and up before the crowds today so I could take a cuppa and pan au chocolate back to bed with my book and write the start of this post. It's hard to find time to write anything at all with so much going on and to do, but I give great thanks for the opportunity to spend days very differently from usual... 

Today we planned to visit Carnac but in the end only saw one impressive alignment and a bit there because in the beginning we went to a beautiful ria beach for a picnic lunch and in the middle we spent some hours at some wonderful stones not fenced off or only visitable via guided tours. Great thanks to David for showing us them in his guidebook as they were the best stones I've ever seen and touched and walked around. I gave thanks for the sunny day with light dappling through the trees onto their surfaces, and for my camera to take lots of photos of the strange shapes they made and markings on them...this giant was one of my favourites, towering above me but looking quite benign...and the bright butterflies and dragonflies in the woods between the groups, one of them a glorious electric blue.

I've tried to post this over and over again tonight and am too tired to see straight now so I'm grateful for your patience too! 

Pottering about

I had great difficulty getting out of my bed today...I'm very grateful for all the adventures and experiences I'm having but they are very tiring too!

Today, grey with rain, we went on a quest to find an exhibition of pottery we'd seen advertised earlier in the week and found ourselves in a beautifully lush and surprisingly alternatively orientated valley (for France) with solar panels, polytunnels etc in evidence. There we met an animated Breton activist who showed us photos of the druid wedding ceremonies he performed and the accoutrements of his calling, and were served tea and home made Breton cake (all organic) by his friendly wife in their fascinating tavern/gallery/shop/home. I give thanks for a very special memory made!

Later, back on the road more travelled we went to a place renowned for its artist inspiring prettiness, and were delighted to discover it really was as picturesque as it was supposed to be! I was grateful there were only a few spots of rain by then but that it remained still cool and overcast as this, I'm sure, kept the crowds down and meant we could enjoy it all the more. Special mention to the gallery showing embroidered art beyond compare and probably the most delicious patisserie cakes ever. True.

I'm grateful for a design your own pizza tea, a great idea by this evening's caterers, a warm bath...and, when I've finished this, some much needed sleep!

Senses of place

I'm thankful for the sight of swifts skimming through the air, and a lone bat as dusk fell too

For the sound of a roomful of people laughing together including me

For the smell of the air drawing close to the sea

For the feel of rain and wind and sun on my face

For the taste of tarte au citron

Rest of the day

It's very unusual for me to spend so much time not alone. And with so many other people for so much of the time...um...never? Certainly not for thirty years or so anyways. I give thanks for being invited, for being with such pleasant folk and for finding it such a pleasant experience sharing experiences. Particularly for me the sharing of responsibility for planning and preparation of food has been a joy...and the communal eating and clearing up that follows! I give thanks that the meal Laura and I made went down well despite being meat free, and that the dessert we provided for others to create was a great success as well...

On arrival I was much taken with this sign outside from my window and it seemed as if today would indeed be a rest day as it was so wild and wet first thing but by evening it transpired we'd all had adventures to suit our tastes and the weather had been fairly kind. I'm grateful for some serendipitous ingredient shopping despite so few places being open and all the wonderful music Laura and I heard, the dances we watched and fabulously embroidered traditional costumes we saw on the last day of the festival de Cornouaille. That something so utterly to our preferences and interests was scheduled to happen while we were visiting was a piece of incredible good fortune and I give great thanks for the coincidence and all the memories to treasure. Also for a much needed early night!

Best laid plans

I'm grateful I'm having an attempt to write to write my blog despite degree of some social lubrication in a crowded room, listening to music and taking part in a quiz...another episode in a delightfully unpredictable day that began with a visit to to a jazz festival during which we somehow failed to actually hear a note of music! I give thanks for all the other experiences we happened upon along on the way instead... including the baker with the (unexplained) display of many and varied crochet doilies in the window topped off with several full bags of flour, the delicious samples of chocolate in a shop where it was made, the beautiful 360 degree views from the top of the little hill we climbed and for tea being ready when we got back.

Pipes and drums

I'm grateful for the glorious weather we've been enjoying today. For the luxury of having someone to drive me places in a car. For a festival in the town we visited with regional music, food and crafts on the old and pretty pedestrianised streets. Not all pipes and drums, there were harps and things too...like guitars and fiddlers. These guys were amazing! For some things to eat at the barbecue that aren't meat, and that the shower is working now!

Look here

Bonjour my little cauliflowers! Comment allez-vous?

I give thanks for a smooth journey, good food, good company, an internet connection and a pretty sunset

Getting closer

I give thanks to 'Aunty Fay' at the children's home who initiated me into the delights of Columbo. She'd often do night duty and would sit with me in the evening watching TV if she hadn't anything more urgent to do and though she chose a variety of things that's the one that stands the test of time for me. Last night I got to watch one I hadn't seen before with all the classic features I love so much, lovely jubbly!

I also enjoyed watching the loomy moon, and zooming at it with my new camera...

I've been half asleep for much of the day and totally asleep for some so I give thanks that I'd mostly done the things I urgently needed to do myself, no doubt contributing to tiring myself in the process...but all the more appreciating the stillness and slowness that followed.

I've been grateful for another excellent Anita Shreve to finish and a backlog of catch up TV to catch up with, including a programme on Uri Geller, which after watching Columbo last night made me feel as if I'd slipped back into the seventies!

I'm grateful I decided to send a card to someone I hadn't heard from for a while and chose one I thought was blank inside until I opened it and realised it was a birthday card...and then remembered that I'd forgotten to send them one for their birthday last week!

There may be some interruptions to service over the next few days. I'd be grateful if readers who know me personally could resist the urge to text/phone/email or send messages on Facebook asking if I'm OK, as if it's awkward to update my blog other means of communication will probably be affected too...and fretting is bad for your health! In fact if you could try to imagine I'm having a wonderful time rather than there's something wrong I'd be extremely grateful!

Garden of earthly delights

Phew! Another busy day...I'm grateful for all achieved and for not beating myself up for what has not been! The charity shop dress was washed last night and I give thanks it's still mild so it dried and could be assessed for re-modelling when I'd finally persuade my creaky joints to prepare launch me upwards out of bed and then on to my knees for grovelling with pins and scissors. As the bodice and button panel were beyond redemption, I went for the simple option of creating a waist and elasticating it and now have a pretty new skirt for which I'm very grateful as the print I find very pleasing.

I also have some lovely new earrings courtesy of Jan's patient interpretation of the design ideas that still flit around my head even though I have neither the beads not the manual dexterity to make them myself any more. I'm very grateful I bought some materials from her when I was still able to use them and found out what a very kindly and helpful soul she is. I'm grateful to Laura too for coming round at the right time to make enthusiastic noises. We all like a bit of validation no and then don't we?

I'm grateful the ear drops prescribed yesterday are doing the trick and my ear is becoming less painful. I read about a survey the other day regarding people's perceptions of the trustworthiness of doctors according to what they wore. Suits with shirt and tie were preferred by many for the men, as you might imagine, but I've had some poor judgement calls from medical males in authoritative dress and am cautious of the false claims of formal attire myself. I knew of a gynaecologist who wore cowboy boots who went down well (no, that doesn't sound right!) whom his patients appreciated, and a female oncologist who I complimented on her summery dress one fine day explained she'd rather not wear dark glum colours as she often had to give bad news and felt a pretty print lightened the mood. I give thanks for those who know there are more vital things to adhere to than a dress code!

Although it may seem strange (me? strange?) I give great thanks for all the times that pain and fatigue make me stop. Stop what? Anything! Yes, I'm sure you could challenge me on the precise accuracy of 'anything'... but I've been rather aware lately of the essential littleness of all our lives and how caught up we become in the illusions of bigness we get from objects, actions, outcomes, and association with others. When you cease your efforts to gain, achieve or win or do, even for a little while, what's truly magnificent is easier to recognise...

That's lucky!

Gee, I'm grateful I know it's a full moon today as there's definitely been a touch of the lunatic about it! As I write this I've half an eye on a Come Dine with Me best bits compilation (meaning a lot of pretty bad bits of course!) and the chaos depicted seems to fit in quite well. Over three thousand people have taken part they said at the beginning and I give thanks for the hours of pleasure they've given me.

I'm grateful for a rather droll but efficient locum doctor who investigated and agreed my own diagnosis regarding a minor health condition was correct (that's how I know he was efficient, right?)... and for using the unscheduled trip to town to get a few other tasks done that I'd originally planned for tomorrow. I give thanks for finding a pretty dress full of holes in a charity shop and that when the holes were pointed out getting it for a pound! As it's too big I'm hoping I can make something from the fabric avoiding the holes. They're mostly around the button area as if it were taken off at high speed. A 'lucky' dress then maybe?

I give thanks the thing I was hurrying for this evening isn't happening now as hurrying has been particularly hard work today...but also for what I achieved in the bit when I still thought I had to! For a yummy piece of carrot cake and a mug of tea in the sunshine earlier on when I had to slow down when I was out. For a single clap of thunder and flash of lightening last night followed by a brief and delicate shower of rain. I enjoyed the reminder that there is other weather I enjoy apart from hot and sunny. Most of all though, right now, I'm grateful that when I've posted this there's nothing else I must do...as far as I know!

Shape shift

I'm grateful I remembered to use a tea towel as a bib while I ate my tea last night. I look quite young for my age sometimes - maybe two years old when I eat!

Kate Atkinson does make exceedingly good tales. I am grateful for that. And, contrary to the way these things often seem to be, the BBC do make exceedingly good adaptations of them with soundtracks to haunt your soul and excellent acting and Edinburgh being its stirringly beautiful self... So I was seriously grateful when a new series started recently, and supremely thankful that although I'd missed the first episode on TV I could download it on catch up on Sky. But an evening with Jackson Brodie is not a delight to be squandered so I saved it until just the right time...by which time either the BBC or Sky in their league of ungentlemenly behaviour had decided I'd had that first episode long enough and gobbled it up. And it was long disappeared from iplayer of course. So I give huge thanks for the wonder that is the internet and my own perseverance in tracking down this gem.

Remember I made a skirt from a dress not long ago? Well, I saw a long tiered skirt for £5 on a sale rail in a shop in town a couple of weeks back and decided to try making a dress out of it. The top tier became the bodice and the waistband the straps...and I lined the bodice with the lining from the dress that became a skirt. I am greatly grateful for both the idea and the end result... and once again that I live alone as I'm smug now to the point of being somewhat unbearable!

You talking to me?

For anyone who read my previous post and thought 'She doesn't know what she's missing', well no, I guess I don't really...and better not to don't you think, whatever the saying may be? I'm grateful I love myself, and that I'm not in an unloving relationship...without these you are seriously missing out!

I'm grateful I'm getting used to the fact that a little girl has moved on to the terrace who shares my name. She seems to be a mischievous little thing so I often hear requests that she/I come here now or stop that immediately. Like I say, I'm getting used to it!

I'm over the moon grateful that I have managed to tweeze out an eyelash that's been growing in towards my eye and been irritating it for a couple of  weeks. My lashes are pale and hard to see and my hands not particularly steady so I didn't think I could manage it and was rather scared of trying, so I'm giving thanks for the bravery as well as the result...

I give thanks for listening for twenty minutes or so to a lady on the sea front who really wanted to talk. The fact that I had little to add to the discussion didn't matter as it was largely a monologue with just a few half phrases on my part when she took a breath. I was extremely grateful I managed to find a quiet bench on my own afterwards and recover by watching the sea sew lace on the sand instead!

I'm grateful that, before fatigue and ferociously aching thumbs and wrists beset me, I managed to do something similar for a while this evening myself...

Loving alone

I give thanks for all the solitary time I have for quiet thought and contemplation...and non-thought and meditation too...

For being able to eat odd combinations of things at irregular times with no one needing to concur

For being able to leave tasks part completed if tiredness or mere whim overtakes me

For more of this deliciously hot and sunny weather and particularly that I don't share my life with someone who doesn't enjoy it and grumbles and groans! I understand it's not to everyone's taste but it is to mine so it seems a shame to spend it listening to others raining on the sunshine parade...especially as it will not lower the temperature by even a fraction of a degree!

For the sound of the man next door playing his acoustic guitar in the garden. I overhear a lot I'd rather not but that's a precious treat as I can't do it myself any more and don't have visitors who do.

Stone walls

...do not a prison make, but stone walls in your heart can incarcerate you! I give thanks for all the opportunities I have had lately to let down the drawbridge in mine. Often we save our kind thoughts and feelings for those who seem to be kind to us, so whenever people seem not to be it's a great chance to feel more compassion. I admit I find this a great deal easier in theory than in practice but even being aware of the idea that it is possible to react differently is a step in the right direction. Imagine if everyone in the world was aware in this way...aware that you don't have to condemn what you don't admire, or hate back, hurt back, argue back at the slightest slight or imagining of difference...

I was very moved today to discover how young so many soldiers are when they sign up, and how low their literacy and numeracy often is. For once I was grateful to  hear 'MPs are concerned'...I think we all should be!  http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-23346693

Of course, if you're not happy with the world in your teens (or beyond...) going out and killing it might seem a reasonable alternative to shutting it out http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-23255526 I know this feeling very well. What world are we making eh? I give thanks that in my own small way I'm trying to change some small things here and there
Anyway, enough with the philosophy already...I'm grateful for these glimpses of the very varied mix of architectural projects up for the Stirling Prize. Stone walls, and other sorts too, can be very beautiful. Love the chapel and well done Sheffield for turning something round! http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-23249129

I'm grateful for breaking through the pain barrier yet again and not only getting a load of washing on (fairly easy) but even some of the previous lot ironed (not so!). I'm grateful for completing the other most necessary in house chores and that I just have to do the pressing out of house ones now - prescriptions, acupuncture et al. There may be photos ahead so I'll not actually hit post for now though I'm too tired to focus my eyes let alone a camera. Good day for practice with the 'smart' feature I'm thinking...

Later...much later: There you go. though nothing to do with stone walls of course. I give thanks for the zoom capabilities my new camera has...excellent for bypassing those teeming humans who are always wandering into shot!

Light night

​OK, hands up who noticed the image of me in the front view finder in the photo yesterday? Be honest now... Hmm, not many of you, eh? Never mind I was grateful for finding an opportunity to be creative with my new camera even though I couldn't take pictures with it yet!

I gave thanks it was cooler last night for those of you who suffer with the heat. For me the heatwave is causing more of a mental suffering because although I love this weather, I am no more capable of going out and about every day when it's hot and sunny than when it's windy and wet. I miss being grateful for rainy days to contentedly stay indoors! I was grateful all the neighbours stayed indoors in the evening though instead of holding their usual rather raucous 'garden parties'. Sometimes it's enjoyable to hear their banter but I enjoyed a night off as well! Maybe that's one reason I narrowly avoided falling asleep with my face in my dinner as toddlers sometimes do. I'm very grateful I managed to put the unfinished food to one side before I keeled over for a long nap!

Just before lights out I looked at Facebook on my phone and was grateful to witness the bizarre coincidence that the last three status updates I could see all included black and white photos. They were from three completely different sources, different images taken at different and posted for different reasons. And yes I did have to scroll down and check for pictures in colour in case it was a problem with my eyes or the machine!

Today I've been pretty feeble but by lunchtime I was able to stir myself to make some veggie sausage rolls and fruity buns and by late afternoon I felt strong enough to go to back Argos and change that pesky card. After the latter I was extremely grateful for the former! I give thanks for another quiet night in with Mr Wallander...

Purple patch

There was no point going to bed last night til the chattery neighbours in the gardens below and the shouty ones upstairs had quietened down, so I ran a bath to lounge in with my reassuringly thick Wallander novel...and as I stepped into the water I realised that at some point during the day the kidney pain that had been causing me so much grief first thing had stopped. I was grateful of course but I could have been so much earlier in the day! It made me smile though the way we focus so much on physical discomfort when it's there and then when it stops sometimes we're completely unaware and just get on with stuff without the moans and groans...unless we've found something else to grumble about in the meantime, of course!

I'm grateful for a play with my new phone, finding out what happens when various buttons are pressed. Not progressed to taking photos yet because the card Argos recommended you buy to go with it didn't fit! Of course I'm grateful this meant I didn't have to go out today to try it out as I was much too tired after yesterday. There's no other possible reaction to the situation, is there? It's a pretty colour anyway as you can see...

I give thanks for realising a little storage box I've had for years unopened and unused would be just right for keeping bobbins in. Mmm...tidy! I was very grateful that when looking for a bit of iron interfacing to help mend that torn new top I discovered a mislaid and much missed scrunchie that had slipped into the drawer when I wasn't looking. Mmm...not lost after all! I'm grateful I noticed how grubby the inside of my ear phones are, and that now they're not. Mmm...clean! I'm grateful I made potato salad and fruit salad this morning - my summer staples ready for my tea. Mmm...tasty and mmm...organised!

I give thanks that Steph seems to be enjoying my blog...

And the rest

After a couple of busy days I was ready for a rest today so I give thanks for finding a little more get up and go to get up and go on needs must journeys today. I'm always grateful when I can get to a hospital appointment without recourse to the dreaded volunteer transport but although it's often an effort I haven't actually travelled as far today as I have seemed to, passing a piper playing a medley of tunes from my infancy including the Skye Boat Song and Donald Where's Your Troosers and later emerging from a strange building onto an equally unknown almost new but deserted scrub lined road in blazing sunshine to a strong sense of being in Spain! I give thanks for the illusion that I've been far and wide...

Socially it's been an adventure too, twice finding myself in waiting areas where the seats were clearly designed for those with a serious obesity problem and realising the unusual ankle wear of a fellow traveller was an electronic tag. I give thanks for the educational opportunities in my day...

I'm grateful I managed to fit in a low key retail opportunity or two as well and particularly that I found a market stall selling delicacies such as spinach and feta pie and chocolate raspberry brownies so I've effectively had my tea already and can have a thoroughly horizontal evening. My new camera is having a recharging lie down too...while I summon the energy to cut open the package containing the disk. I'm grateful to have it but it'll be a while before I can try it out and find out exactly how much!

Shelling out

You couldn't make this town up! Yesterday it was donkey rides on the green and stalls selling cakes and second hand books to raise money for an all female barber shop choir. Today it was a display of motor bikes and live rock music. If someone had told my fortune years ago and said 'in your fifties you'll get sick and not be able to get around easily and do the things you like to do...BUT you'll be live somewhere where so much goes on you'll hardly notice' I hope I'd have realised how lucky that was. I do now, and give great thanks for its diversity and divertissement!

I give thanks for more glorious sunshine in the day, a pretty sky after it set and a natter with Clive on the phone...

I also give thanks for mayonnaise and running water, essentials to contentment in hot weather and for an evening sampling the 'good life' of extra delights material wealth, social standing, property and comfort bring. Yes it's nice, and oh yes I covet the rug and admire the view but not to the extent of dissatisfaction with my lot I'm very thankful to say! Was pretty cool seeing the ducklings starting to break through their shells though...

Lacy days

Mmm, happiness is a long bath...with soothing oils and a brand new book. Well, new to me. It cost the princely sum of £1.29 in the YMCA and was sold to me by a man in a feathered head dress. No it wasn't, but I give thanks for my vivid and offbeat imagination. Laughter really is great medicine and you can treat yourself almost any time you like! I give thanks for knowing that despite the dark themes of the Wallander tales, the writing of their author (and translator!) is a delicate joy. It's the equivalent of the haunting music and scenery that appears in some of the film and TV adaptations.

I'm grateful I've had a bit more energy today, feeling up to a stroll in a small sunny seaside town that time forgot...luckily there was one to hand! Much thanks for bargains found along the way including ice cream and more coveted and even cheaper books - can't be bad eh?

Two siestas later I think maybe I didn't have quite as much energy as I thought, so I was particularly grateful I made my tea before I went out. Much gratitude for yummy lentils and for getting a few more sewing projects completed this last couple of weeks. Last night it was my Annie Get Your Gun skirt which you may remember from my Cheap Frills post a while back started out as a dress in a sale. The grey one next to it, a charity shop find, was a lovely shape but very plain and with a small but strategically placed tear. Now it has strategically placed lace instead! I'm rather partial to a bit of lace and you can buy a lot more of it if you love lentils too!

Watching the pennies

On Monday I've an appointment to see a consultant about my vision after a physiotherapist suggested a contributory factor to the wobble when I walk and failure to grasp objects successfully might be my squint. I've always had a bit of one but apparently they often occur after a stroke and certainly mine's got worse. One of the reasons I'm grateful I've made it to remission is that it means the physical problems I've picked up along the way mostly through treatment (my phone wrote 'torment' - can't argue with that!) are now having some attention paid to them...

I've not been to this hospital before but I give thanks that there seems to be a bus from the station at the other end. It goes by an Argos so I'm umming and aahing about getting off and getting a new camera since mine is still refusing to do anything but take pictures. It could be I could get prints from the card but that's not what I have a camera for. Nowadays it's mostly for illustrating my blog but people tell me they appreciate that so I'm grateful I have a little money put by for a sunny day and should be able to get something that'll do the job fairly cheaply there. I'm grateful I don't have a lot to spend because orthoptist or not I can easily drop a camera or smart phone no matter what it costs! Last time I dropped my Streak even the people who mend them couldn't fix it...we all had to sit around hoping for a miracle and, I'm grateful to say, one happened in the end! Oh, and I give thanks for remembering reading a Mary Renault book where someone sent for supplies to Argos and my brow furrowed for a moment until I realised what they meant...

I'm also grateful I don't base my diet around meat. I caught the end of a programme about eating on a tight budget yesterday and they were going on about chicken being the cheapest protein and talking as if lentils were a sort of insult to injury penance food for the poor and elderly without private pensions. I'm not going to rant. There's lots of places you can go to hear a rant (including inside your own head perhaps?) and that's not what this blog is for. I will say the thought of lentils made my mouth water though and I've some soaking for a dhal tomorrow. I give much thanks for that.

Today I've been very very tired and haven't done a lot at all. There's been some progress on a pair of shorts from bargain basement fabric. I thought it looked different in different lights but realised this afternoon it is actually darker near one selvedge than the other so the backs of them don't quite match the front. I'm grateful I don't care!

Sticking with it

I'm grateful it's been cooler today so I could wear a pair of my lovely linen trousers again. After all the effort I made to source the fabric, create the style and sew them it's a shame if they languish in the wardrobe! I'm grateful that I had acupuncture this morning as Rachel was booked up this afternoon. I think it's good for you to not to be stuck in a rut of routine and habit. I'm grateful for a fruitful (well, broccoli and stilton pasty full to be accurate) amble around the charity shops afterwards before meeting Jenny...finding a Henning Mankell story of Swedish people killing each other and a book by the Dalai Lama about how to avoid wanting to join in.

I'm grateful I managed to stay awake and purposeful for her visit, and even a short time afterwards making some food and progress on a sewing project...before sleeping with Columbo. It's such a warm safe feeling when Columbo's around isn't it? Well, unless you're the villain I guess...

Oh yes, and I give thanks for catching up with last week's episode of Family Fortunes where eight out of the hundred people asked to name something sticky said 'a stick'. My faith that the universe unfolding as it should is somewhat restored!

Just for laughs

​Last night I was laughing aloud overhearing (literally!) some neighbours in the garden trying to do a crossword after a drink or two. I gave thanks for the entertainment - some of the answers they came up with for the clues were so funny!

This evening it's been clouding over and very grateful I am too as it means it's cool enough to have the windows open less wide and reduce the risk of asphyxiation from barbeque fumes! I always give thanks for the endless salads and fruits of hot summer days but others seem to live on beer and burnt animals... Me? I see carrots when they aren't even there as this picture shows! I'm grateful Lynn was there to share the chuckle...

Particular vegetable related gratitude for making a big bowl of potato salad this afternoon and actually managing to save some for tomorrow...and having my own home grown parsley among the greenery on the plate beside it. My garden is three yoghurt pots on the windowsill but it just goes to show it can be done even on this small scale.

I gave thanks for finding a couple of Madras cotton tops in a nearby shop that needed no alteration - no taking up or taking in, no naff buttons needing changing, at prices I could afford and in colours I liked...a rare and special treat!

I wrote the above, had a long struggle to upload the photo and in the end gave up and went to put the kettle on, catching the pocket of one of the aforementioned tops on a door handle on the way and ripping it so now sewing will be involved after all. You have to laugh, don't you? No? Well, I do!

Staggering

​Often I reach a state of exhaustion when I actually feel unwell, so I'm grateful I'm quite sure that I am merely totally wiped out by tiredness today. I'm grateful for the slightly restorative powers (and relative ease of production!) of scrambled eggs on toast for a late brunch...and at the time of writing this sentence (2pm) I'm still optimistic that the application of clothing to languid limbs may ensue before nightfall...maybe even movement down the stairs after ingestion of analgesics, although the effort of coming back up has to be considered. I'm certainly very thankful we're in midst of a heatwave so that usual British sun worshipper's panic about 'missing it' can be subdued...

Between grumbling and groaning and nodding and dozing happy memories and images from the last few days are still playing in my head. Seeing all the news coverage I'm still in a state of shock that we were in the front few rows of that massive crowd in front of the balcony and could actually see what was going on as well feel the wonderful atmosphere, and much gratitude for that. On a less ecstatic note, some of the mishaps and muddles from the tour company were trying so I'm grateful we all mostly kept our cool and equilibrium - assisted in my case by yummy Yeo Valley yoghurt included on the hotel breakfast buffet and a dish of lush rhubarb Eton mess during the long lunch stop in Windsor!

Apologies to those who've seen this photo (or one rather like it) before but those who haven't may be grateful for the opportunity to feel envy...I'm rarely in any position anyone else envies so give thanks I have no shame in flaunting it one more time! My camera still refuses to upload any pics after trying all the straightforward fixes like changing the batteries, the usb port and even the laptop so I'm very grateful I had my phone with me and could capture anything at all!

Extreme

I am extremely grateful to be home at last.

I am extremely grateful to be so extremely tired for such an extremely good reason.

I am extremely grateful to Lynn for meeting me to share some of this extremely amazing experience and helping making it even more so...

I am extremely grateful to Laura for meeting me off the coach and driving me the last few miles home,

And most of all just now I'm extremely grateful that I am going straight to bed!

Well well well

I give thanks for a safe and astonishingly beautiful journey into the dawn, wreaths of mist in the valleys and around Stonehenge, bright poppy fields and rising sun, badger, fox and rabbit making it safely across the road.

For a glorious day, meeting the lovely Lynn (who really is lovely!) and helping Mr Murray to make some history by being two of the crowd, and for the amazing friendliness of the staff and fans and weather! I didn't think I minded too much who won until Andy began playing well and the incredible swell of well wishing from the spectators swept me up and along with them. There was a very tangible sense that that his success was what we were there for, not merely the hope of it! Being part of it was an incredible experience and I give great thanks for my good fortune (and a smidge of good planning too!) in being there. Oh and much gratitude to Clive for phoning me afterwards so I could gloat!

I'm grateful that eventually the coach took us on our way again, even eventually to the right hotel! For a bath to wallow in and that, despite my book having an unexpected wallow as well that it seems to have survived. For the forethought of bringing a lentil and couscous snack pot for my supper and that very soon I shall be in bed...

Picture this

A little earlier I started writing my blog on my newer laptop but something strange was happening and it wouldn't save. On my old one the photos wouldn't upload from my camera and during the fiddle the usb ports stopped working.  Fingers crossed for my phone eh?

It's been a tense and trying couple of days what with one thing and another so I was very grateful this afternoon to be living in a laid back sea side town where I could spend some time on the beach listening to the waves in the background while soothing music downloaded this morning filled my ears...and ice cream filled my tummy! You'll just have to imagine how pretty the wavelets were as the tide crept in until I can wrestle that technology into submission...

I gave thanks for finishing a quick and simple sun top to wear tomorrow and for a pair of little prop planes chuntering across the sky close by one another's side. For a cheery cab driver giving me the chance for some conversation in my day.

Most thanks of all to Laura for promising to take me to the coach in the wee small hours. Someone else did offer but then forgot and booked a holiday!

Cloud something

Mmm, fresh apricots for breakfast...definitely grateful for that! And fresh made potato salad chilling for my tea...

For a well timed read in the gardens, randomly coming indoors and settling down to watch tennis just as the first semi final started. Even if I'd not been a tennis fan it would have been good timing as someone started angle grinding across the road around then as well...made me grateful for double glazing too!

For unusual and pretty cloud formations of little swirly waves. My phone camera couldn't capture them but I saw on the Oracle Facebook page that someone else had spotted them too..

For Djokovic and Del Potro playing such an excellent and entertaining match. Rather fatigued and feeble myself this afternoon so something still and sedentary to 'do' between the chores much appreciated...

Nurturing nature

​I give thanks for a long chat with Bob last night. We hadn't arranged a time for the call and I'm quite sure he was quite unaware of the tennis schedule so when the phone rang about ten mins after the end of the Murray match so I was grateful for his extra special perception!

I never cease to be amazed and delighted that my son and I actually like each other and enjoy talking to each other, my experience with my own mother and older siblings being that they really only wanted to talk to me about why they didn't like me! It's perfectly natural to have social preferences of course, even within one's family circle, but one of life's challenges is to remember that liking some people better than others does not mean they are better than others! I'm also trying to learn not to take the wotsit out of those who take it out of you...that can be a toughy. Extra gratitude to Bob for sharing a giggle about my amusing efforts not to mock the afflicted!

I'm very grateful I wrote the above earlier as having no acupuncture last week seems to have made the effect this week extra strong and delicious incoherence has ensued! Much thanks to Rachel for patient ears and excellent treatment for her patients. I'm particularly thankful I've chosen her kind of needles not the ones those poor folk upstairs have done... Oh and for the hot sunshine on my skin and swooshy breeze in the trees as I came home!

Simply topping

​There's a few things I've always hoped to do on a summer's afternoon that (as yet?) have not been my fate...but there's something I do absolutely love to do that I'm very grateful to say I've achieved a few times and today was yet another. And that is? To spend a few hours watching excellent tennis with knitting and sewing on the side, reliable weather on the courts and pleasant enough where I am sitting to have the windows open wide...but not so sunny I yearn to be outside... Multiple gratitudes in one!

I give thanks for finishing off another little top in between watching the shots, while out of shot the local drummer's been doing his stuff, and the acoustic guitarist next door too. Both are very talented, and it's no hardship to hear them at all even when they're playing different things simultaneously! I've also learnt a new knitting technique - going straight on a circular needle. This is because I want a very wide piece of knitting, but I'd also heard (and can now confirm!) it's gentler on sore or stiff joints.

1001

What comes into your head when you hear or see '1001'? Do you think carpet cleaner? Arabian tales? Poems or fonts or any one of probably 1001 things that are sometimes grouped that way?

Today, in my own head, I have the wonder of one thousand and one blog posts as it's the thousand and first you're reading. Who would have thought it, eh? There's many folk might consider it's easily nine hundred and ninety five too many but hey, if nothing else, it gives the ones who don't actually want to talk to me a chance to check that I'm alive now and then discreetly from a distance! I'm grateful for keeping up the practice anyhow, acquiring the habit of accumulation of appreciation along the way.

Today I'm thankful also for that fine soft rain, just right for freshening up the greenery. For Flhair the hairdressers for being used to me, my unruly mop and my curious contentment with it! For the fact that they were running late so I could loiter in their new spacious and comfortable reception area with a cup of coffee brought to me - just what I needed after a busy morning getting bloods done and so on.

I've had gratitude for more stitching challenges risen to (whilst sitting down of course!) and for a man with a kind voice saying 'Leave it with me, I'll see what I can do' about another. One is not unaware of the dangers of false hope...but it's not false hope I'm giving thanks for rather the real feeling of simply hearing those words spoken to me.

I'm grateful to hear too that Bob's move has gone well and that it sounds like a positive change, and for news of Juanita in her comment. Not unmitigatedly good news but nonetheless good to hear from her and that she sounds well in spirit if not so much in body now.

Good day to lie

This morning I felt so well - much gratitude for that! This afternoon I felt pretty dreadful but on the whole I'd rather have it that way than my usual whole day of somewhere in between!

I'm grateful for the glorious weather and having to go out earlier to do some odds and ends so getting to properly enjoy it too -  hot sunshine and gentle cooling breeze. In fact, looking back, there was a great deal of purposefulness and productivity to go with the lack of pain and fatigue, so the copious lassitude and lounging later on wasn't too much of a dent in my plans. And due to a busy tennis schedule on TV, I gave thanks that it was a good day to lie!

There are many challenges for me to rise to at the moment concerning various slippery customers and sticky situations, but I give thanks for the opportunity to grow these bring me. If everything seemed easy for us what would there be to learn? Oh and I'm grateful for someone bringing me a fish finger sandwich for my tea! Everyone should have a fish finger sandwich brought to them when they feel rough...even if it's by themself!