Sight for sore something

Yesterday I promised myself I would get up and go somewhere this morning. It's easier said than done as all those things you have to do before you go out are challenging to my hands, knees and bumps-a-daisy ways and have to be done with little rests in between. Then there's the things I have to do that you don't! But it's still summer and this summer is too good to miss so I worked out somewhere I could go for a short flat walk a short pretty bus ride away so that the pleasure should balance out the pain and was very grateful that I was ready in time to go for the bus...when Laura called with an offer of a short car ride to a flat walk later in the day. One should never look gift horsepower in the mouth... so much gratitude for that. But as I was ready for the pretty ride bus I went on that anyway...or thought I did...but because I couldn't find my bus pass as it arrived I didn't actually check the number and ended going to the paint shop instead which was exactly what I needed to do, if not what I wanted, and I came away with some bargain paint for a couple of little jobs about the place. I give thanks for the reminder that the flow takes you where you should go!

It took me to a wood shop later too so Laura has the materials she needs to do the work for me. That was on the way back from here...one of the best places for a view in the county that you have to be very dedicated and fit to get to without a car (I know - I've done it when I was!) and that I'd never actually seen on a sunny day. I always forget quite how awesomely gorgeous it is but it was even more so coming out of the leafy woods to the blue of the bay beyond the folded fields.

I give thanks for appreciating the irony of saying to myself 'A couple of painkillers wouldn't hurt.' There's been a lot of pleasure today but there sure is a lot of pain! I'm grateful for having something easy to cook to eat and the rest of the weekend to recuperate...

And I give thanks PTFE tape. It's kind of the opposite of WD40: when things won't undo you use WD40, and when they undo when you don't want them to you use PTFE tape. I have two done up things in my bathroom now that were undone before!

Little by little

Pretty sky last night though camera shy, disguising its true colours or hiding behind dark clouds when I tried to capture it. I give thanks for seeing it though...

Thanks to Teignmouth Oracle for an explanation for the low flying helicopter in the middle of the night...it was very loud with the windows open but I was very tired and went back to sleep immediately after it had woken me up so thanks for that as well.

I'm grateful for my perseverance today as my body has not been half as keen as my mind, but leaving the discrepancy between aspirations and achievements out of the equation I've had some small successes in getting some small things done. You don't need to have health problems to put off little jobs like changing the vacuum bag or spending a few minutes windowsill gardening but you feel extra pleased with yourself if you have and you do!

I'm grateful there was just enough sun to make me want to go out today and just enough cloud that I didn't mind that I didn't. It's only possible to do things inside or out - not both! And I'm grateful I don't have a gripping book on the go just now or I might have done little but read it...

And I'm grateful that there's still enough leftovers for my tea...less cooking and less washing up. Always a bonus!

Blooming marvelous

And the thing is...if you can remember to notice and appreciate even the apparently little bitty things like I was doing yesterday, if you have a few moderately pleasing ones happen you're little short of ecstatic...

Like: Pancakes for a late breakfast, yep they make my tongue and tummy grateful even if my knees complain at the standing up sometimes! I've been surprised lately how many places are serving pancakes now, even a tiny caravan caff on a carpark with some market stalls. It's as if everyone has caught on at the same time...perhaps they've all been to France or know someone who has? It reminds me of a hot summer when I came back from Spain and in the space of a couple of weeks tables on the pavement seemed to have sprouted everywhere in Britain. Permission has to be granted for these but it was as if no one had thought to ask before! So I give thanks for us borrowing these excellent continental ideas...

or how about this story of a man's bequest to a south west seaside town
http://uk.news.yahoo.com/banker-millionaire-leaves-entire-%C2%A32-3million-fortune-to-coastal-town--sidmouth--on-condition-they-plant-a-million-flowers-160118835.html#B3d8BfB

And that the Co-op has decided to revamp its morning goods section including providing a fresh baked rye mix bloomer. Mine was still warm when I bought this lunchtime. Short of Paul Hollywood moving in that's about as good as bread can get!

While the eye clinic have been trying out some non-invasive ideas for my vision problem (stick with the non-invasive guys please!) I've been aware that I do still need to get some new glasses as a) my prescription has changed quite a bit which is another reason I can't see well and b) I've broken my close work ones. So I went to investigate what there was in the way of frames that were wearable but cheap in case they need replacing again soon, and came out with two pairs I liked which with my vouchers come to just ten pounds altogether I was very grateful indeed. One pair I looked at on the rack and thought 'Ooh, those are nice!' and then tried them on and still thought the same. I've been wearing specs for fifty two years and that's never happened before so am still in a state of bemused gratitude for the experience... Perhaps I just couldn't see them properly, ha ha!

I give thanks to Rachel for treating me so well, including giving me some basil tofu to try...wow, lovely stuff, like chewy pesto! I'm fortunate in liking the taste of many healthy things so it's not too hard to avoid the unhealthy but I'd never imagined tofu could be eaten straight from a packet with such glee. And while I was out I was grateful for the opportunity to exchange brief greeting with four separate goodly souls who live nearby, nicely reminding me that they are not all as challenging as some...

And this evening for sewing another foot or so of binding on the bodice of this top I'm making and want to get finished while it's still warm enough to wear. Adding darts to my pattern took a little while to get right. I understand the principle of making them pretty well but it's much easier to fit them to someone else's darty bits rather than your own!

Summing it up

Some days I find it hard work that so much is so much hard work, the pain becomes a pain and I get very tired of feeling tired! Paradoxically, apart from the physical effort of getting my fingers to land on the right keys, those times can be the easiest to find things to give thanks for, because moments of appreciation stand out brightly in the grey drudge of the day.

I'm grateful for the simple solace of a cup of tea: for the energy to make it (from my body and from the National Grid), clean water and mug, a kettle and tea bags and milk. It's easy to go through the whole process of brewing up and drinking a cuppa grumbling away in your head or out loud, completely oblivious to the good fortune in your hand or on the table beside you, so I'm grateful I'm grateful too!

Meanwhile I give thanks for validation that this kind of behaviour is good for feeling good!
http://uk.lifestyle.yahoo.com/formula-for-happy-healthy-life-revealed-103845295.html?.tsrc=lgwn

Those of you who remember your maths will recall that equations can often have their parts rearranged or subdivided, so if for some reason, it's hard to get your full quota of one of the above then make it up with more of the others if you can so, if you're lacking in willing recipients for N, then be extra nice to yourself...and do more of B if you can ie. buy best quality chocolate!

I'm grateful for leftovers for lunch so I didn't have to cook...and for cooking my tea so there'll be some for tomorrow. I give thanks for doing the washing up (again and again), and for the things that make this easier like an immersion heater and washing up liquid and bowl (I believe there are even easier methods involving machinery or other human hands but best not to dwell on those!) And I give great thanks for wanting to more than resting and short stints of household chores, that this doesn't fulfil a head full of creative ideas and aspiration. I accept that often I can't do the things that I want to do the most, or that they're too uncomfortable or tiring to be practical or even enjoyable now, but I'm grateful that my spirit is still nimble and runs on ahead, beckoning with plans and encouraging my body not to give up.

I give thanks for the Red Arrows managing a quick fly past on their way to Torquay...

Glass half something

There's been a music festival at one of the quayside pubs in town over the weekend that I totally failed to get anywhere near, so much thanks for the correct wind direction and quiet in the neighbourhood to appreciate the performers yesterday evening. There were some other performers nearby later who weren't nearly as much fun but I'm grateful to the police for coming to calm things down.

I'm grateful that Nutella comes in handy little glasses. I don't eat a lot of the stuff but just enough to replace the glasses I break!

I give thanks to Laura for taking me to the eye clinic and waiting patiently for around an hour and a quarter while I went through a barrage of tests to determine what might be the best course of action for my inward wandering gaze which is all very well at a metaphoric level but a nuisance in the real world(s). Plan A was to fit sticky back prism plastic on one lens of one pair of spectacles to encourage it to stay straight and to fit a kind of wide masking tape to the other lens of another pair to encourage the correctly working eye to rest when I'm wearing them at home. I'm very grateful to Jan for sending me the rest of my jewelry requests so that I have some things to wear that add to my beauty as well as those that add to my geek!

Also in my parcel post at Laura's were two lengths of fabric ordered on the internet which turned out to look and feel even nicer than I thought they might be from their picture, description and exceedingly reasonable price. I'm grateful for a gamble taken paying off...

And after all that excitement I'm grateful for a quick and easy tea made with goodies from my Bromley veggie box and some melted Reblochon...with some of Laura's left over crumble for dessert.

Excuse me

After that unexpected learning opportunity yesterday evening, I've been grateful to
consolidate my new skills in being horizontal and immobile with further
practice today. I give thanks for a long, long sleep and almost as long lie in,
but also that the irresistible sunshine eventually lured me out of bed,
and after a few false starts even out of the door!
 
I don't think I've ever seen so many folk around the town as there've been this weekend and
I'm very grateful on behalf the tourists enjoying the weather and the local
businesses for the all the extra trade. They haven't had a lot of money from me
the over the last few days but I do my bit to keep them afloat the rest of the
year and today I looked at the happy crowds on the beach and the water and the
sea wall walks and left them to it for the peace of the park instead. I'm
grateful it wasn't far away, and though I didn't venture far in there was a
pretty hazy view when I looked up from my book.
 
I've just gone to change that light bulb and I think the fuse has blown in the plug which is in a
rather inaccessible place so it might not get done until tomorrow now as I've been having a barney with blogspot for the last hour and dusk is beginning to fall. Must admit I'm grateful for another excuse...and if this post still looks strange after all my efforts please excuse that too!

Not so hot

I'm grateful it turned out less hot and sunny today as my knee and other parts of me had  been requesting rather more resting. Thanks to Jo for a quick trim of my fringe and for driving round across the river to see how impossible it was to park...before we found a handy spot for a spot of pottering before the showers.

I'm grateful the chunk of filling that fell out resulted only in sharp edges rather than sharp pain...and that this resulted in being able to play my part in finishing the trifle and other leftovers. I'm extremely grateful for all those lovely vegetables but gave thanks for snatch snacks and snoozes instead of cookery this afternoon.

I'm grateful that Ivor is doing OK and, by the sounds of it, found his recent hospital stay had more than health benefits...and that the bulb in the table lamp beside me has just blown as I really feel like an excuse to do nothing for the rest of the evening, and it would be much too hot to change it at the moment, right?

Wings

I give thanks to John and Jo for accompanying me to the Not the Dawlish Air Show where we saw a variety of aircraft perform a variety of manoeuvres in a variety of places that weren't Dawlish including: a comfy coastal spot at Sprey Point, the sea wall by Eastcliff, the hill opposite the golf course (where we had a private fly past from the stately Vulcan) and my kitchen window, outside which the performers about to display next were presumably tweaking their close formation flying in the stiff breeze before heading over to the waiting crowds. Either that or we're just very special...or both!

I give thanks for the wonderful sunshine and for the beautiful scenery it enhances, the Red Arrows extra red against the bright blue sky... I'm grateful also, if a little mystified, that once or twice I even managed to point my camera in the right place at the right time to take a photo or capture a video clip with moving aircraft in!

I give thanks for a tasty meal including home grown vegetables from my visitors' allotment, and help with the cooking and washing up. I give thanks for friendship...and for trifle.

Day of the trifles

I've been giving thanks that most of my joints are less painful today, but Rachel suggested resting my right knee which is still sore and swollen and I'm grateful this turned out considerably less challenging than I'd thought it might be. Physically, obviously, I can't lounge around with even one foot up most of the time but the more I tried to limit myself to only essential leg work the less I actually felt like doing...of anything!

Much gratitude for putting together a trifle during various necessary visits to the kitchen and having the opportunity and good fortune to explore my idle side and give all my joints a rest in between. Reading a novel in the daytime, microwave tea, watching TV without any craftwork - I could get into this, for a day or two anyhow!

I give thanks for deliveries of food and medical supplies, and for the grey yellow end-of-the-world-is-nigh light and rain as afternoon faded into evening adding to the 'Oh whatever, can't be bothered!' atmosphere.

Bar none

​Today I'm grateful

 for finding this article on decorative barcodes
​http://www.darkroastedblend.com/2013/08/japanese-creative-barcodes.html​

For the curious way both written and filmed fiction sometimes express the unsaid in our own lives...

​For those precious nights when all around is still and I can hear the s​ound of the sea from my bed...

For getting the lines straight in this image of the sand bar and pier...there were so many to pay attention to! For the little magic box that's a digital camera...

For the friendly and helpful folk I encountered in the doctor's, chemist, post office, bank etc today. Some of the pedestrians in between were rather more challenging but I gave thanks for the reminder that having compassion and loving kindness for everyone is easier when you're meditating than when you're in their midst!

And that the way you feel after acupuncture is actually legal...

Shades of meaning

I give thanks for remembering that supplements you actually swallow have a better chance of helping you in some way than the ones just sitting on the shelf, and getting back on the rosehip pills this morning. After a difficult night things have been less painful today and I've been very grateful for that, though taking it gently still, just catching up on a few household chores and doing a bit more of the projects. This one is clearly still a work in progress but it is progressing...

I give thanks for a patch of sunlit garden, a book by the Dalai Lama and some Imee Ooi music on my headphones; for folding chairs and digital music players! For the wasp that landed on my T-shirt covered navel and just rested there calmly for a minute or so while I calmly admired its markings. For the enthusiastic greeting from some friendly neighbourhood dogs and a few words pleasant words exchanged with a couple of humans...

And this evening, rather strangely, I had gratitude too for realising I didn't have as much tub salt left as I thought...because I was actually losing the will to dye!

Inflammatory

I give thanks for completing a few rows of knitting and crochet on my latest make it up as you go along project. It's at last beginning to look like a project rather than just some disconnected stitchery stuff! This was yesterday, and has meant movement of arms and hands today has had to be kept to the minimum as they are very sore, and I thought perhaps a bit of exercise this afternoon might be good for limbering up my lower limbs. Gratitude for practice in not being too attached to being right!

I'm very grateful to be home again anyway. It's not that it hurts less when I'm home but it's less hassle than being out trying to pretend it doesn't, disguising the grimace and stifling the groans!

Also yesterday I gave thanks for the sight of the moonlight lighting up the dark sea. Gets me every time! Gratitude for my good fortune in living somewhere I can see it so often... Also that the people upstairs went quiet and went to bed just as I was thinking I could do with an early night. There seems to be a lot of tension and dissatisfaction around and about at the moment so I'm grateful for those involved as well as myself when there's peace...

I give thanks for the usual round up of 'best' jokes from the Edinburgh Fringe though I wasn't that impressed this year, more grimacing and groaning really!
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-23753634

Much gratitude to Bob for sharing this though...
Two peanuts walked into a bar. And this is why Monsanto need to be stopped!

Not with a Quimper

Today I've been grateful for fragments of usefulness and pleasure here and there, for the opportunity to practise not minding when neither were easily achieved and for remembering the intrinsic insignificance of any achievement anyway...

I was grateful to Tom for bringing upstairs a parcel that had come for me... And to me for looking after myself so tenderly...

I was grateful for finding a comfy position to lie on the sofa in...though what I thought would then be a leisurely meditate turned out to be an extended nap, and for waking to the sound of children playing and little flurries of white butterflies rising past the window.

I give thanks for looking through my holiday snaps and finding this to remind me I am not always so feeble and a few weeks ago was actually walking through a pretty French town. 

Present perfect

Last night, in between sleeps, and this morning, I listened to the changing moods of the weather and neighbours on the terrace...and this afternoon looked at various kinds of articles on various places on the internet - 'news' stories to tug at your heartstrings, compilations of dimwitted quotes, curious classified ads and google searches to make you mock despite your best intentions, celebrity gossip to give you extra opportunities for arranging others into them and us...

...and curiously, instead of descending into a dark mood, I became enraptured by the perfection of this imperfect world. Much gratitude for that... And then for reading this and feeling even more thankful for the synchronicity of the pronouncement from the psychiatrist's chair...

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2395958/How-bubble-burst-Britains-jolliest-man-From-Countdown-Commons-relentlessly-chirpy-phone-GYLES-BRANDRETHS-world-fell-apart.html

I also give thanks that:

scientists have only just noticed a two and a half foot mammal that's been in plain sight for a few million years

it's getting easier for humans to fly

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WvhmUzvhpx8&desktop_uri=%2Fwatch%3Fv%3DWvhmUzvhpx8&nomobile=1

http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=GFmvMHPQ1k8&desktop_uri=%2Fwatch%3Fv%3DGFmvMHPQ1k8

my Co-op card turned out not to be lost, but on some secret business of its own in the fridge, on the underside of a litre of milk...

and for the crackle of a bonfire on the evening air...

Rest is best

Today I'm giving thanks for...

peach sky over pastel blue sea yesterday evening, and the windows in the houses across the river gold in the setting sun.

​laughing so much over some of the clips on Rudetube I had to pause and rewind​​...and for the facility to pause and rewind!

the windy, wildy weather. It would be refreshing to be out in it but it's also been great just to watch and listen from indoors as I've needed to rest my aches and pains today.​

doing as I would be done by - making myself small and tasty meals with serendipitous leftovers in the fridge and giving myself peace and space to meditate, snooze and cwtch on the sofa with a book.

Glory days

​

I give thanks for the mystery of the acupuncture treatment table. The needles go in and ideas flow from somewhere into my consciousness. Often it's stitchery related (maybe that's something to do with the needles?) but yesterday it was an inspiration about an appropriate activity for an upcoming occasion...sometimes you want to mark some right of passage, achievement or anniversary but a special meal or a party isn't always quite right is it? Anyway, thanks to Rachel too for her facilitation and enthusiasm and for helping me feel more healthy after yesterday's acupuncture too.

I give thanks for successful business busyness this morning, for falling asleep so soundly after lunch...and waking to find some more summer waiting for me to come out to play! Well, mostly I watched other people play but that was a laugh out loud delight as the back beach is a magnet on a hot holiday day for adults, children and dogs all milling about in and around the boats like a living Where's Wally picture. It's such a privilege to live somewhere where simple pleasures are appreciated. Today's sculpture was made at a Saturday group for families where at least one child has a learning difficulty. It's one of my favourites...and easier to photograph than the other one which won't stay still in the breeze. I give thanks for perseverance!

I give thanks for the big Co op not only having the things I wanted to buy, but many of them being reduced as no one else had done! And for my fridge having sprouting potatoes and out of date Elmlea waiting for a magic wand (otherwise known as a food processor I believe) to blossom into something Dauphinoisey that smells delicious and is ready for me now...

On the dark stride

Wow, in addition to the activities already listed a small load of washing done​ and a few rows of knitting completed - I excelled myself yesterday, even tidying a small drawer when I failed to find what I thought was in it. It's best not to give in to urge to regard life as a tick list but I always give thanks when I manage more than I've set myself, tangibly or otherwise. I give thanks for a long and mostly sound sleep and for getting up in time to attend to a few things before I go out for acupuncture and the things I have to attend to in town. I'm grateful it's cool and grey and my coverings can conceal unshaven legs and unpainted toenails...two less things to do!

I give thanks for having a choice of trousers to wear. For a lot of my life there's been one clean pair and think yourself lucky...apart from when I had my market stall and made clothes for a living. Now I don't think I could actually physically make clothes for a living again (unless ​it was a very small living or they were very expensive clothes!) but I'm very grateful I knew how to design garments to fit around my new bodily requirements (without looking as if that's what they're for!) and would like to find a way to share this good fortune with others. I'm sure I'm not the only woman in the world with difficulty gripping buttons and zips, or with a stoma bag, and that there's other reasons people who aren't otherwise especially large need extra room around their tummies, such as bloating or tenderness after an op. So if any readers know of someone who might be up for trying a pair of comfy straight leg linen trousers for just the cost of materials and postage please let me know as I need to do some customer base research before I go on Dragon's Den. (Only joking...mostly!)

I'm grateful I still think sometimes there might be something I could do with the rest of my days. I was fifty and quite fit when I became unwell with cancer, and there seemed to be so many possibilities still at that time in my life, so many bright roads yet to follow. Like many other travellers I was unprepared for the dark places my journey swerved to instead, and in some ways I've never really returned to the light with all the physical struggles that remain. So even though the most important thing is to enjoy your life right now, I appreciate the times when I feel I could appreciate the future too...

Poetry in stillness

Mmm, rain, rain beautiful rain...another reason urgent reason to go out yesterday was the sense of wetness on the way. I give thanks I went, and that today I've been able to recuperate listening to the downpour outside. I was very grateful I managed to get my blog written and some tea from the freezer into the oven and into my tummy before sleep overcame me last night. I am tired beyond the telling of it today (which is great because I hate to be a whinge machine!) so I give thanks there's nothing I have to do but take care of myself.
Oh, and re Pat's comment: it wasn't meant to be oneupmanship and I'm very grateful it wasn't a conversation stopper but a conversation enhancer! My life is incomprehensible to most of the people I meet, lacking so many of the usual points of commonality - house, garden, car, family, companions, pets, career and so on so often talked about. It's a rare and precious thing when I can bring some subject to the table other people don't have to feign an interest in or can easily relate to.
I give thanks for still having my hair (ha ha, a fine example of the situation above!). Whenever I pull strands from the plughole or my comb I have a moment's panic before I remember everyone finds them there. Still run my hands over my head to be sure there aren't any gaps though! And I give thanks I don't have a social life, even answering emails and messages seems too hard today - for once I'm even grateful I don't have many of those! Keep myself clean, keep myself fed, wash the dishes and back to bed...poetry in stillness, that's what that is!

Creeky

I've been feeling a bit creeky the last couple of days. No, I haven't suddenly forgotten how to spell...I mean I fancied seeing some of those places where fingers of tidal river creep into the countryside. I've been feeling creaky too, as in aching and stiff and tired, but if you've experienced remission, either your own or a loved one's, you'll know there's always a whisper in the back of your mind suggesting you shouldn't put off today what you may not have a tomorrow to enjoy. Mine's got a friend that murmurs 'dialysis' occasionally too...and this time of year they're joined by a summer timetable warning voice as well, as there are some places that soon will become inaccessible again as the autumn schedules start...

So I give thanks for my railcard and bus pass, for being quite canny where timetables are concerned and valiant in the face of exhaustion. I'm grateful for the many moving sights encountered as my seats moved across the land, including lots of calves and crias (yup, I learned a new word too!) and teams of little tractors cutting bracken on perilously steep hillsides. For the willow pattern teapot, cup saucer and plate on a table outside one of those ancient homesteads that nestle in a fold of land with a sharp corner of road winding round it. For the thresher making stripes of golden grain in a loop of silver water. 

I give thanks for the laughter of the passengers as the lush greenery on the narrow lanes fell on our laps through open windows as the double decker squeezed through. For stopping in a friendly town where several ladies of a certain age sported tangling curls in various shades of ginger - natural and otherwise (felt right at home there, wonder why!), and spending a train change wait time chatting to smartly dressed Londoners on their way back from a funeral. When they asked if I ever went up to town how much I enjoyed being able to say I was at Wimbledon on men's final day and briefly reverse the balance of social envy!

Cat naps

I'm grateful I'm so sleepy today because when I'm merely tired I tend to do crafty things and too much of those makes my thumbs and wrists so sore...
I give thanks for Cherrygood juice tasting so cherry good! For fish fingers and sliced bread in the freezer and mayonnaise in the fridge...and getting it together to take them out and do the obvious, not to be taken for when your energy levels are low. For having a cooker and power to power it, and money to pay for that. For the wonders of pausing, rewinding and fast forwarding TV.
I'm grateful to Google for telling me Erwin Schrodinger would have celebrated his birthday today had he been still alive...and thus remembering his cat that may or may not be...

Sun and hair

Woke up this morning feeling a little more lively and wondering where I could get to that wouldn't wear me out before I got there. Then Laura asked if I'd like to go to the RNLI open day in the gardens of a nearby stately home...so much gratitude for that especially as a bouncy castle was being erected in the communal gardens here for a children's party so it was set to be a screechy afternoon!

It's not the most colourful floral time for flowering plants but we admired the fernery before enjoying tea and cake by the lavender beds before a stroll round part of the lake...only part of it because it was a huge lake and had the most ducks on it I've ever seen in one place. We also saw a man with some of the longest dreads ever - past his bum - so an afternoon of superlatives!

I give thanks to Teignmouth Oracle for keeping us informed of local events. For the sunshine, still warm and enjoyable to be outdoors in. For the glorious coastal views on the drive home.  For a long flollop on the sofa when I got in and sorting out a small problem in my knitting caused by not paying enough attention last night...early to bed this evening for me I'm thinking!

Curled up

I give thanks the visitor pencilled a few weeks ago made other plans in the meantime as I'm still feeling rather unwell and have appreciated lounging about with organic mint green tea and occasional fumbling with crochet hook, knitting needles, keyboard and remote control. Heavens, if someone had come round I might have had to cook and clean and untangle my hair...a lucky escape I'm thinking!

I'm grateful it's been cooler and cloudier too so I haven't had the feeling I'm missing fun in the sun, and for the sigh of the breeze in the trees. I'm grateful for my Sky box and sedentary excursions courtesy of recorded TV. I've been to Alaska and Nepal today only leaving the living room to put the kettle on and go to the loo!

I give thanks for the sun on my face at the kitchen sink just now. For saucy fishcake and salad for my tea and strawberries for dessert. They said in the shop they were jamming fruit but I haven't heard a single tune from them yet. Do you think I should ask for my money back?

Thought you might like to see more from the sculpture trail. These looked like horses to me at first but then I read the sign and realised they were black swans of course! I'm grateful I live somewhere with so much to enjoy.

Jourrney's bend

My mind said 'Ooh, let's go out somewhere today!' but my body said 'You're having a laugh...' So I give thanks for the other kinds of journeys I've been on instead! You're always on a journey even if you're just on the sofa with a pot of hummous and some pumpernickel...in fact hummous and pumpernickel is almost international travel in itself, and although I know there are dark implications I'm often very grateful for the globalisation of grub! Gratitude also for the meanderings of my mind...

I give thanks for getting up now and again and wielding the cleaning materials so that the kitchen and bathroom have gradually journeyed from murkiness into bright, and for being taught when I wielded cleaning materials for a living that one of the best ways to make a room with taps in look pristinely cared is simply to polish the taps. I give thanks for toothbrushes because when you've finished using them to scrub your teeth you can use them to scrub in corners and crannies elsewhere.

I give thanks that there are scrap sculptures on the seafront again. I took a few pics yesterday and will try to get down there again soon to take some more. Isn't this beautiful?

Not nagging

Oh my ears and whiskers...I've found out how to get the virtual keyboard up on the new Blogger app! I'd managed it once before but couldn't remember what I'd done and it's a bit like the entrance to a secret passage in a black and white film - you can try lots of places that aren't the right one before you find it!

I give thanks that the 'social drinkers' along the terrace gave my ears (and presumably their livers!) a rest last night and weren't socialising in the garden til long after my sleeping time. For some new recycling bins in a carpark accessible on foot from here...and en route to the sea!

For acupuncture restoring my mojo, motivation and appetite...and a good catch up natter with Rachel. For another one with Chris the cabbie who I haven't seen for a while...

For Rudetube and rooibosch, and remembering to buy Nag Champa!

Life's illusions I recall

Mmm...I give thanks for the way the shafts of evening light make it over the terrace rooftops to gild the upper leaves of a garden tree, and the pretty pastel sunsets we're getting, reflected somewhat on the sea. I'm grateful I found a way to avoid those contentious plural forms of the word for the pointy bit on top of houses!

I'm grateful for a busy and productive start to the day and for an unscheduled but obviously necessary sleep this afternoon. Plan now is to stay awake for tea and TV and a bath and then more of the same...I'm still more tired than is useful for even my low key everyday life! I'm grateful for the feel of sun on my skin and the sight of the sparkly sea from the beach at lunchtime...and that this time last week I was experiencing something similar somewhere else! 

I'm grateful for canvas shoes you can clean with a scrubbing brush and washing up liquid and to Laura for helping me with some other jobs involving a drill, screw drivers and ladders - tools I struggle with these days.

Recently I've been feeling the after effects of a bit of deception in my personal life. I try to be open hearted, open minded and open handed and it's hard not to be hurt when people take what feels like excessive advantage of this. But I'm aware that the pain comes mostly from wounded pride and I'm grateful for understanding that pride is no more use to your personal development than perfidity, whilst responding to callousness with kindness is probably more helpful to both parties than responding in kind. And I give thanks for the bit where I fell for the illusion We always enjoy that part, don't we? When we feel some good fortune or bounty has come our way. But it's all illusion, the winning, the losing, the sunsets too...and that any of it matters in the end. I wonder though: people who take the whatsit...don't they just end up with more whatsit? Having been through the urological treadmill it's not a state I envy...

Not the end of the world

This is the view from Brittany's equivalent of Land's End. Actually, technically it's not as it was too hazy with sea fog on the Pointe du Raz so this is the slightly shorter headland just north of it, Pointe du Van. I'm grateful to the Bretons for not burdening their beauty spots with burger bars and theme parks but I give thanks for all the lizards we saw basking on the dry stone carpark walls! I'm grateful for all my wonderful memories of my week away making all the aching and exhaustion I'm feeling now seem so much more worthwhile...and that I don't have much that I absolutely must do for the next few days.

In a way I'm grateful the substance abusers and their friends have removed the downstairs door lock as it means the Tesco delivery drivers can bring me my order without me going down to let them in. (Yes of course there's other ways of looking at the situation but it's a gratitude blog remember?) And I give thanks for all the yummy things I have to eat especially fresh vegetables and Yeo Valley lemon curd yoghurt!

I'm grateful to Jenny for sending me a postcard from the Philippines...what a kind thought! And I give thanks for this inspiring story of a Brazilian man who has lived in hospital for 45 years. There's a lot you can do even when you can't do much!
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-23364127

I also give thanks in anticipation of uploading this post from my laptop. The new 'improved' Blogger app and I have yet to come to an agreement as to what exactly its improvement on the previous version may be...certainly not reliable functionality on my phone, which would seem to be the purpose to me. Never mind, it's not the...oh, I said that already didn't I?

Home and dry

I'm grateful for an early night last night and a long lie in this morning. For my own bedroom and bathroom again. For the fresh washed feel in the air after rain. For deciding it was time I got off my proverbial and went out on my own two feet (a bit of a shock to the system after being chauffeured and chaperoned around) and a sunny gap in the clouds to sit out on the sea front drinking tea and eating cake. For the rain on the way home - lovely to be out in the rain when it's not cold and you have a dry place to go to. For being home before the fight on the landing. For it all being quiet again now. For the smell of jacket potato. It smells a very done jacket potato - I must away and stuff it with cheese and beans. I'm grateful for those too!

Bushed

I give thanks for another quiet day lolling around as much as possible. For my flat which seems even more pretty and comfortable set against the current chaos of the communal areas, for the green and pleasant scenes from my windows and sight of the sea. For catching glimpses between the leaves of the rescue helicopter doing a display for the local regatta. For the rain and wind making me feel like staying indoors is a fine idea...

For my new camera doing its job so well when I was away. I finally got round to uploading the photos this afternoon and though I've yet to sort through them out this zoomy view of one of the bays near Roscoff through an opening in a polytunnel caught my eye and I thought you might enjoy it too...

I'm grateful to the new improved voucher and coupon system for Tesco on line shopping which shows you which offers you have qualified for and lets you tick a box to say 'yes please' - much simpler even than copying and pasting... and to Laura for bringing the rest of my things round and for clearly being almost as tired as me!

Crock chick

They say a change is as good as a rest, and I've been very grateful for the change but am giving much thanks for rest today. I cannot keep up an active pace for long even for pleasant activities and after all that exploring the French countryside exploring contours of the sofa, the view inside my eyelids etc has been most welcome today. I give thanks for a freezer of food to feed me, a washing machine to share the load of laundry and that my houseplants have survived the indoor drought.

As we got home so late last night many possessions are still with Laura so gratitude I've only had half the unpacking too...including cheap and very cheerful china from a second hand stall in a street market we passed on the way north to the ferry. We also stopped off at place with almost house size boulders, a glorious garden of sub tropical plants and flowers and a landscape that seemed to be from another country entirely (New Zealand maybe?). I'm grateful for another bumper harvest of experience stored in my memory... and memory card too, I hope, though that's more sorting out that will have to wait until I've rested some more. I give thanks in anticipation for a bowl of soup for supper...

Late post

I'm grateful this is the last day of my holiday...I need a rest before I have another grand day out! It's been wonderful not to have to be caught up in the usual round of chores and to have that energy to use for more pleasant pastimes but doing nice things is tiring too and fitter people than I are beginning to become somewhat zombified from all the travel, action and interaction. As the numbers decrease the nights are getting earlier and the mornings later and pajamas seen more in between!

I give huge thanks to Laura for all the driving, and to Chris for organising the accommodation side of this budget break.

I give thanks that, though protesting, my joints have held out and that I've managed to attend those matters that others don't have to deal without too much difficulty...

I give thanks to Roxy for rescuing my post and to Jo for trying to water my plants even though she didn't manage to do so... I give thanks to the clouds for thickening overnight and saving all our skins...

Ooooh and writing this this morning to save time later (and to wake me up a bit as I'm sooo sleepy)...I give thanks to Laura for also bringing me a cup of tea in bed! What a treat!

Later, much later: I wrote the above and then time ran out to upload, so can now add thanks for a wonderful day and safe journey home in just enough time to log on and post it!

Seeing red

I give thanks for finding ourselves when we got a bit lost on the roads this morning...and  for all the pretty places we found ourselves in along the way...

Even more so for not getting lost at all on the way home though taking a more daring cross country route!

For the stunning views we saw of countryside,headlands and beaches...and from headlands and beaches too. For the countless bright sails against the rolling grey stripe of fog on the sea and delicious crepes fresh cooked at a tiny cafe beside path to the heather hummocked cliff

For not being the only one caught out by mist and brisk breezes and being more red than intended this evening when we got home. Hardly any need for lights on tonight we're all glowing so brightly!

For soothing lavender oil!