Days of dine and dozes

My first thanks of the day was definitely not having to get up for anything in a hurry! And my second (eventually!) was for a mug of just right tea...

I was grateful for a tin of baked beans and some bread to make toast for some lunch, the taxi drivers for driving me to and fro and for being out in the wind and rain in between.

Much thanks today too for the breathtaking sea...not huge waves but so many of them, white topped and tumbling row after row. I could see them from here, and hear them from here but it was all the better for being right by them, and watching the surfers catching one or two. Much too wet to get a camera out though!

I give thanks for the kindly and communicative folk in the town so I can have a bit of banter and chat when I go out (extra important for a solitary soul you know), and that my tea is almost done so I can settle in to a couple of days of dine and dozes...

Memories we hold

Today's lyric is a kind of cheat because it's a line from an old song of my own that goes 'beauty is a fleeting thing, it's memories we hold'. It's been in my head a lot in the past few days because the line before that is about seeing trees turn from green to gold and that's what the mimosa has been doing, but came back to me again after looking at these...(thanks viralnova!)
http://www.viralnova.com/beach-art/
http://www.viralnova.com/simon-beck-snow-art/

Not only are these clever chaps creating delightful designs, they are reminding us of impermanence and the importance of 'being here now' for which I'm always grateful. Well, that's what they are reminding me of anyhow...for you it might me more a case of checking the weather report or booking a vacation! 

I'm grateful for making it to an unusually early acupuncture appointment today, and the opportunity to spend a large part of the afternoon in its afterglow...though quite where all the hours went I'm not quite sure! I certainly didn't manage to get my camera out during that time, despite sitting for a while on the chilly grey seafront, so here's an image from one day last week when I did and there was a little more colour...

Much thanks for a nibble of Rachel's lunch which she saved for me...and for her husband's excellent vegetarian cooking! And talking of cooking I just caught part of a baking show and learned of a Cumberland Rum Nicky which I shall be on a quest to try when I'm up north in a couple of weeks' time. I also discovered you can get unrefined icing sugar...whoohoo, now you're talking! Much as I love cake, that sweet nothing sugariness of white icing does nothing for me and grinding brown is not an easy option. Finally I'm grateful that all the talk and sight of cakes is driving me into the kitchen to make a quick dessert!

All in

This week is being more busy than is comfortable for me right now, so I've been most grateful for a very restful day today, though I also gave thanks that I'm so keen to finish and wear my new make-it-up-as-you-go-along dress that I have done a little of that now and then. The skirt part is made, and on the top I just need to finish the neckline and the bottom of the sleeves before seeing if my plan for the waistline will work. Yes, there are sleeves...sleeves set into armholes! In all my years of sewing I have never made set in sleeves without a pattern before so I'm slightly surprised and extremely chuffed that they have actually gone OK! Gratitude for that particularly as, though I bought a long enough length of the exceptionally cheap fabric to cut pieces out more than once if necessary, I didn't really want to have to start again...

I'm very grateful for starting the vegetable stew yesterday too, so all I had to do was pop it in the slow cooker, and add a few sosmix balls for tasty hot food all day. In the evening I'd tried to capture the quality of light on the bright yellow blossom with the stormy sky behind. But it didn't translate through my camera lens...and anyway sometimes when you're very tired uploading actually feels like you're lifting up a load so it had to wait for today. Imagine the it's greyer in the background and gleamier in the front!

Light programme

Today I'm giving thanks for...

The bright crescent moon dangling from a tree outside my window before the sky grew light...

My bloods showing I'm 'stable' ie. no worse...and for the chance for taking stock such situations give one...

Taking some stock and some veg and starting a stew for tomorrow! And, after making some 'proper' lunch too having assorted ready made bits and bobs for tea...

Making some progress with admin tasks (many of which seem to be due to others elsewhere not doing theirs!) and a little light stitchery here and there...

Ordering some new glasses to try with built in prisms so people don't reach for garlic and make the sign of the cross when they see me walking by...

All the lovely people I met in town today, both intentionally and otherwise (none of whom actually did the above...well not when either of my eyes were looking anyway!)

A brand new series of Coach Trip to make us chuckle and squirm, and an intensive programme TV watching, snoozing and reading in the bath lined up for the evening ahead...

Immaterial girl

Last night I set up the FM radio on my phone. The music playing  on Classic was new to me but I was sure it must be about the Scottish Highlands so I waited to the end to find out...and no, it was about a lake in the Catskill Mountains, the Ashokan reservoir. Google it and look at the images. That's what was happening in my head! You can listen to the song as well, but have some tissues handy. I give thanks for the miracle of modern miniature technology, the serendipity of chancing upon the haunting air...oh, and for my spectacular imagination!

I give thanks for finally getting the top off a new tub of rose hip pills. They are recommended for joint problems so I'm grateful for my sense of humour... And for discovering that if you drop a new toilet roll into a toilet bowl at the right angle it wedges in the porcelain and doesn't get wet. Much gratitude for my good fortune!

I give thanks for managing to walk down the hill to the doctor's for an extra curricular blood test, after the last scheduled one was less than reassuring. And for meeting a lovely lady from the choir going the same way for some chat and mutual admiration of the moody sea and sky. I give thanks for her perception in asking if I'd like to admire it alone on the grounds that 'sometimes it spoils it being with someone else'. Sometimes people don't get how wonderful it can be to be alone with nature but I was very grateful for her company actually...and to know I'm not alone in some of my thoughts and feelings.

I was grateful too for the money for a cab back up the hill afterwards and making straight for the sofa for a snooze. And I give thanks for stirring myself later to attempt a bit of sewing, though my limbs and brain were so unco-operative that it took the longest time to do the simplest thing...even when doing it wrong! There was a psychological advantage in giving it a go, rather than assuming I'd fail, so I'm grateful for that, and I also give thanks for the confidence that some other time I'll be able whisk it all back into the shape originally intended. 

Frock and awe

Stayed in bed all morning just to provide another song lyric. No I didn't really...I stayed in bed because I was soooo tired! I'm grateful for the rest, and for the lure of a fish finger sandwich and a spot of creativity finally persuading me to get up.

I'm grateful for some progress in my sewing projects, including finishing the big girl's blouse dress which wasn't hard just fiddly, and for a change from the other remake (which is hard and fiddly!) I've been working in a dress modeled on various parts of other garments I like, plus some more just out of my head. For these I used some tissue my boots were wrapped in to make a makeshift pattern. Did I mention I had some new boots? Ha ha! Here they are in the shrubbery just getting in the mood to go outside...

So far the new creation is going well. It's important not to get frustrated with the slow speed at which I now work. Hey, I can still sew...that's fantastic! It's being as helpful as it can...I ran a long stitch gathering thread at the top of a piece earlier and it gathered itself! Of course I realise this was due to some fault with the tension on the machine, but as anyone who uses a sewing machine will tell you, faults with tension don't usually result in saving time and effort. And now, as my ability to put in effort has run out, I'm grateful for stuff left over to hastily assemble another of those yummy pies...and for finding some of John and Jo's beans in the back of the freezer to go with it... Oh, and I'm grateful in advance that Jenny is coming tomorrow so I can leave all the bits of thread on the carpet too!

I'm grateful for catching, and recording, an excellent documentary about someone getting a garbage trucks (plus their operatives!) to dance. This was nothing to do with Ashley Banjo but a not dissimilar mission, and just as fascinating and moving...especially the crane solo which had everyone in tears. The film is called Trash Dance and I've looked for a link to share with you and failed to find one but keep your eyes peeled for it - it's awesome!

Underdone, overdone

Mmm! I give thanks for my delicious pie last night - spicy red lentils and veg topped with Tesco bubble and squeak - an excellent combination of do-it-yourself and convenience food! I'm grateful that after polishing off a couple of portions I managed to find a safe place to push the plate out of reach before falling deeply asleep!

Comfy living 21st century westerners talking about 'overdoing' things jars with me a bit, as most of us have little idea what it's like to push our bodies far for fun, let alone for necessity. Nonetheless, nowadays it's not just the effort and pain at the time of exertion that causes difficulty, but the even harder aftermath, so I'm very grateful all I have to do for the next couple of days is 'take care of myself happily' as one translation of metta goes. I'm better at deferred pleasure than deferred pain (this is why I can a) keep chocolate in the house and b) not go mad with a credit card!) so knowing I have to 'pay' afterwards for a day out when it's been for something not obviously intrinsically fun like attending to medical matters can be a little irksome. I give great thanks for my ability to find pleasure in unlikely situations, and when I can't for the opportunity to practise equanimity.

I give thanks for the music on my mp3 player for enhancing the journey, and (in accordance with a belated New Year's Resolution made a couple of weeks ago) listening to a lot more J J Cale (again!) And also, (still!) my new bargain boots! They are Tamaris snow boots, somewhat chunky and punky and age inappropriate...so clearly perfect for me! I look forward to them taking me out for a an appointment free womble one fine day soon...or even a not so fine one!

Oh and I'm grateful for a couple of parcels reaching me today as much by luck and goodwill as normal delivery methods!

Skill set

I'm a woman of many talents but I was musing this morning that if a fairy godtrainer arrived and said I could have another, I'm not sure I'd choose driving a car or dancing or even playing the guitar again, I'd be happy if I could just poach an egg nicely I think! I've tried all sorts of methods and contraptions over the the years but the results are rarely good, and I love poached eggs so much I can't quite give up the quest for something not too runny or hard, or drenched in water so the toast underneath goes soggy... Today I gave thanks for one passably pleasant (but which still caused a small flood on the cooker in the making!). Which reminds me, did you see this? I'm very grateful I haven't had to deal with a wet concrete flood! 
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-25873252

I'm also very grateful a very long day of medical/mobility challenges has drawn to a close...well, almost - I'm not actually asleep yet! I gave thanks I part cooked my tea before I left and only part burnt it when I returned (fingers crossed it's reaching a state of equilibrium in the oven right now!). Oh, and for the beauty of the fog on the Teign this morning as snapped from the bus...and that I never tire of delighting in the pun!

I give thanks for timely attention from various health care professionals, and that I didn't have time to try on some boots that took my eye in a sale in a fancy shoe shop on the way to the hospital...as they were £10.00 cheaper after the appointment! The physio and I were kidding that he'd buy me them if he won the lottery this weekend and I hope he does as a reward for helping me get this reduction by taking me away from the scene of temptation at just the right time!

Good points

I give thanks for a large number of low price (and low weight) items making their way home with me today. Sale at the Co-op, sale at Superdrug, sale at the health food shop...and even sale at the cake shop! What's not to like?

I give thanks for feeling a little less achy and tired this morning...and even more so after my acupuncture this afternoon. Much gratitude to Rachel for finding some new points to try...and for them feeling so good!

I give thanks for getting some tea together before losing capability for the evening (and for my new frozen peas being so fancy they come in a re-sealable bag so I don't have to do them up with a peg!). Might try my chestnut cake in a min. Well, as it was reduced it probably needs eating up quickly... Yeah, that old chestnut!

Big girl's blouse

Hmm, well I don't know about sewing a fine seam, but I've done a little work on refining  some on a couple of bargain garments recently purchased. I'm trying to turn a big girl's blouse into a small(er) girl's dress, and an almost unbelievably badly put together 'designer copy' into something less poorly designed, made and fitting..but without taking it all apart as some bits are OK. Both things were new and cost less than ten pounds for the two so not a major waste of cash if they don't work but, because they're pretty fabric, would be apparel to give thanks for if they did!

The pain makes it all rather challenging but, you know me, always happy to sit down to a challenge...especially when there's a spot of tennis on TV! I'm grateful for that, and another nap after all the exertion, and that when I went into the kitchen to make a drink before an early night last night I discovered I'd forgotten I'd already done the washing up, tidied and cleaned the work surfaces etc. What a lovely surprise that was!

I was grateful for a snoozy evening catching up with The Bridge tucked up cosily on the sofa bed before drifting off to sleep...only to be woken up by the return of the strange family who've moved in next door. It sounds as if there's around a dozen of them, from zero years up and none have a bedtime or a volume control although they all shout at the dog to shut up if it starts to yap! They are also nomadic and wander off elsewhere for hours or even days at a time, so that's something to be grateful for too...and that they don't live in the flat above mine.

I'm grateful Mr Tesco is cooking me cauliflower cheese tonight. I must away and put some veggies on to go with it. Ooh, and there's some of the fruit salad I made yesterday left as well...nom nom nom!

Seam stress less

This morning I lay in bed thinking about creative projects I'd like to get on with but other needs have needed attention and used up my energy. Never mind, I've been grateful for...

Looking through the window - white topped waves, lemon and lime mimosa blossom and roof tiles shiny as glass...

Going out in the rain: only as far as the rubbish bins but mmm lovely! Yep, daft as a brush (by your standards maybe) but I give thanks for that too!

Doing a bit of communal tidying on the way and finding someone else had done some as well...

Oh, and talking of brushes, for cleaning the loo! What? How can you not like cleaning the loo? You get a clean loo at the the end of it. End of! 

Some guy who had this phone number after doing some work for the woman who had it before understanding I didn't know where she was and couldn't pass a message on! You may not grasp how rare it is that people grasp this but I've had callers ask what I'm doing in her house! *shakes head and sighs*

Having time after all of the above to slip in a quick nap before Mr Tesco came...and Mr Tesco bringing me lots of food! He's had to do more of the preparation and cooking lately but he doesn't mind as long as I pay a bit more. I'm going to have some of his tasty carrot and coriander soup in a little while but I need a rest before I tackle opening the carton (why do they make them so hard?). And then, wimpiness willing, maybe I'll sew fine seam...

What's that? Oh, yes, Jo wanted to see the granny skirt dress...hang on a mo...  Heavens it's camera shy! I've had half a dozen attempts and it's always out of focus...you get the idea tho, n'est-ce pas?

Stitched up!

I'm grateful for a such a pretty day, lots of lovely changing light on the branches and brickwork, hills and headlands, the tanker in the bay...and of course the sea! I'd have given thanks just to admire what I could from my pillow but eventually, s-l-o-w-l-y I got myself up and washed and dressed...and finished the last bit of sewing on my dress which then I wanted to put on and take outdoors of course! I was very grateful it is finally done and that I'm pleased with the end result as, though I love putting fabrics and trimmings together, the reason I sew myself clothes is to have something that fits the various remits of the bits that hurt, and the bits that don't work and the bits that do in a whole new way and pleases my eyes so it doesn't feel like 'special' clothing, but makes me feel special instead!

Bribing myself with the promise of a cuppa at Eastcliff I was grateful I hobbled down the hill to view more views ...but Eastcliff was closed! Never mind I thought, getting a cab, I'll get one at the knitting group...and I did, but I was designated mother so had to make my own and everyone else's...I was grateful not many people were there today! Much gratitude too for one of the Jenny's giving me a lift back up the hill, and some leftovers for my tea as I don't feel like up to operating more than the remote control tonight. No choir as raising my voice and carrying a tune would be much too energetic so I'm grateful I saw the Parson and the Clerk today even if I'm not going to sing it!

The dog's wotsits

No illustration to go with the title today...well, it's a family show don't you know!

I've been being grateful for being philosophical and patient over the lack of pin pushing and pedalling today. Thank goodness I had so much crafty experience before I started again recently, it wouldn't have been much fun being a beginner now with all the challenges. Gratitude that hands that do stitches have a memory of their own anyhow...a shopkeeper the other day was telling me a garment was probably organic cotton, whereas my fingers said viscose, and the seam label agreed! And later I was fondling some other fabric thinking 'Hmm, it's silk and something...' and it was indeed!

So yes...how to get through a day of difficulty and pain? I have to say I think I'm very fortunate here in having to look after myself because usually the effort involved keeps me fully occupied! Probably if you have someone else to do the laundry and make the food etc you have far more opportunity to contemplate your misery. That's how 'men' get 'flu' isn't it?

In the rest periods between the chores I've been giving thanks for catch up TV including Big Town Dance. Despite the scripting and editing it's hard to fake the actual moving (physical and emotional) So...the lady discovering what her body could and couldn't do after fighting cancer and major surgery? That bit rang true... Then there was Sherlock, one of my favourite bits of British TV entertainment in a long time! I liked that even a high functioning sociopath thought fondly of hugging his dog! I was reminded of Laura's mum (who's been poorly at the same time as Laura's been looking after her daughter's dog) asking if Chumba can be left with her when Laura goes out for the benefits of her warm and attentive company.

And I've been reading the paper (Positive News) where I found a link to this pertinent talk about not being defined by illness even when you're confined by it...

http://www.ted.com/talks/jane_mcgonigal_the_game_that_can_give_you_10_extra_years_of_life.html

don't let its frivolity blind you to some of the truths even if you suspect the maths is dodgy! You may well be right...

http://www.theguardian.com/science/2014/jan/19/mathematics-of-happiness-debunked-nick-brown

but, as far as I know, no one's death bed regrets ever include wishing they'd debated points more, or even won them! It's telling you about getting more life - quality or quantity - what's to argue about?

I'm grateful I've written my blog...it's taken hours but I know you'll be grateful too!

A little rusty

It was a slow day...but I'm always grateful for an opportunity to slip a song lyric in somewhere! I was grateful for the opportunity to lie late in my lovely and now comfy bed too. When my joints are aching I describe them as creaky and I much prefer not having the bed provide the sound effect to go with the feeling! I'm grateful it was the rain beating down not the sun and that I didn't have to be anywhere except in the kitchen now and then for the chores and on the sofa now and then for the snores! 

I'm grateful there are so many Columbos still I've either not seen or forgotten in the many ensuing years. I'm grateful for some packages come from little bits ordered on ebay, and that my post currently waits for me downstairs! Well, so long as the Royal Mail does its bit and delivers the item (or a notification card about it) in the first place....which isn't always the case unfortunately...

Some products are a gamble to order on line anyway, partly because of the losses in visual translation through camera to monitor, partly due to descriptions that stop a little short of accurate (and the wishful thinking of purchasers that they actually mean what you'd like them to!) and, in the case of the ribbon I've been trying to buy, that the manufacturer makes one called 'russet' and one called 'rust' and they are rather similar shades. Now I've received the russet I've been able to make some progress with my not-your-granny's-skirt project and I've been very grateful for that, as the rust was not right at all! As long as they're not too expensive I've no problem with bits of fabric and trim turning out not to be quite what you imagined. If they're not suitable for one project they're probably fine for another. The small print fabric here is an example of that. All kinds of serendipity are fun, but the sort with a delay and a rediscovery is sometimes the most!

County show

First gratitude of the day went to Rachel for mending me with her needles so that nothing actually hurt this morning! Obviously the logical reaction to that is to go out and about and make everything hurt again, isn't it? Well, the sun was shining too...and I've worked out that as the bus stop is easier to get to from here than the train station (and it's easier to here on the way back from it too, funnily enough!) then some train journeys are better off starting with a bus ride first. So that's what happened today and a mostly very pleasant resumption of aches and pains and fatigue it was too! I give thanks that the train stopped here so I could get this photo of the reflected clouds. It would have been a better picture if I'd got off the train of course, so there wasn't my reflection in it too but you're really not supposed to unless you're on military business, and I really wasn't!

I'm grateful I didn't spend much money but that I got some of the little bits and bobs I'd been keeping an eye out for...and one or two I wasn't! Mostly I was keeping my eye out for sky and sea and there was plenty of that...and weather, lots of glorious weather! Much thanks for a rainbow touching down across the estuary. I'm so grateful I live in such a beautiful county...but also that pretty much everywhere I go in it, I'm grateful I live somewhere else!

All ways round

I remade my bed. I lay on it. It uttered not a whisper. There are so many reasons to be grateful for this...There's the absence of sound (which was probably annoying the neighbours as much as me!), there's the not having to implement plan D which was to take the bed apart again and re assemble it the other way round entirely with the head end at the foot (I've not enough room/strength to manoeuvre it in one piece), there's not being able to do anything else for the rest of the day (including the washing up!) and there's the not inconsiderable solving the problem both mentally and physically all by myself. If you are someone who has people to help you with things that's one sort of great, but another sort of great is to be able to do them for yourself. If you find yourself losing both at once life can become a stream of insurmountable challenges. I thought this one might be another, but it wasn't and that's a feeling Mastercard can't give you. 

I'm grateful I've put this bed together a few times in the past and knew that, although obviously four working hands would make it a lot easier, it didn't require much in the way of skill or brute force. And I was grateful I persevered and got most of the work done yesterday evening as I figured I'd be so sore today anyway after what I'd already done that starting again would be impossible, or highly undesirable anyhow. It also meant that though the covers weren't on properly, and the room (the whole flat!) was chaotic, I could actually sleep in the bed. It took a long time to drop off because so many bits were hurting, but as usual I just did some mindfulness and meditation and (not as usual) also did some luxurious moving around (within the usual urological limits)... and discovered that not only was the the base quieter, the mattress was firmer too! I've been puzzled for a while by how soft and saggy the mattress had become. It's exactly the same sort as in the living room and on almost exactly the same sort of base since I installed the exactly fitting leftover laminate floorboards into the frame, but it's become very uncomfortable and it's been hard not to lie awake at night when I am and wonder how on earth I could get it out and a new one in. I've tried changing the rigid mesh base pieces both ways round in recent times and adding more slats but to no avail..so I can only conclude the frame was put together the 'wrong way' the last time, though there's no obvious difference between right and wrong, or left and right! So now my bed is not only quieter but a whole lot more comfortable...kind of like having a new one but without the hassle and expense. Mmm, what shall I spend the money on instead?

There's been other things to be grateful, for of course...the smell of the new lavender oil I bought (no, they don't all smell the same!), the taste of the homemade stuffed vine leaves from the new Turkish/English cafe, Ashley Banjo having another feelgood getting non dancers dancing show on Sky, finding David Byrne's How Music Works on my new phone (downloaded as a freebie ages ago on my Streak but incompatible) and another pair of those gorgeous velvety peacock tights in the bargain bin so I could give some to Rachel...plus all the wonderful changing shades of light and grey in the clouds and sea...

Manipulation

I've been enjoying a non-fiction book this week, and then today I read something on the internet about some of the accounts not being true...and I was thinking about about how first of all I believed the book, and then I believed the internet article...and that maybe somewhere, sometime I'd read a denial of the accusation that they weren't true and would probably believe that too. We all do this of course - make decisions about what is and isn't fact with or without, or even in spite of 'evidence' -  and when you factor in the fact that facts change over time, plus our personal interpretation of their meaning, it all seems increasingly arbitrary sometimes. I'm grateful the stories in the book made me feel good anyhow...even if I was being manipulated to feel that way

The last couple of nights, as well as being kept awake by physical discomfort I've been struggling with the squeaky creakiness of my bed when I try to get reduce that, so today I've been trying to make it stop. First of all I tried tightening the bolts and some WD40 where metal meets...and when that didn't work I tried taking the mattress off and turning the base pieces round as it only squeaks on one side. I'm making this sound simpler than I found it I sure - I was very grateful for my 'can do' attitude even tho often at first I actually can't! Well, it was still squeaking in the same places so, as for technical reasons it's much easier that I sleep on that side, I'm now trying taking the frame apart and swapping the side bars. This may take some time...especially after tightening the bolts up earlier and leaving the WD40 on the window sill behind the mattress. I'm grateful I have somewhere else to sleep in the meantime...

I'm grateful I found a jacket size potato to put into cook while this was going on, and that there's some of that delicious mince left. Sadly all the savory rice from last night was finished. I haven't made such a good savory rice for years...mostly because I'm so rubbish at cooking rice on this cooker. I give thanks for discovering microwaveable brown basmati - another special offer. I understand the supermarkets are manipulating us into buying things we normally wouldn't this way...but sometimes I'm very grateful!

Good in parts

Hearing I was in a choir, someone asked me the other day if I had a good voice. A reasonable question, obviously, but the answer has to be no, I don't particularly...though it's not especially bad either, it's just an average corps de ballet soprano. And that really is a lot of the point in going along, especially when it feels like the last straw in the evening of an already exhausting day. To be aware of being a little part that contributes to something more than the sum of is something for anyone to be grateful for (and even more so if your experience  of 'part' is mostly as in 'spare'!) You put three fingers on a keyboard and play a chord - yep, great! But three people each put their fingers on a different note and play together to make one... that is something else again! Oh, and when there's a bass part and the men sing those really deep notes - that's amazing and I find it hard not to clap or cry! So yes, even though I'm really more tired and achey today than is practical, I'm giving thanks I went to choir.

One thing that made especially hard to get up off the sofa last night was the delicious mansion pie I'd just eaten. Mansion pie? Like cottage only posher! Everyone has talents, and mine don't include mashing potato but I make a mean bottom, if you'll pardon the expression, and this one had quorn mince cooked with onions, leeks and carrots in V8 juice, so it was exceedingly good even before I added Tesco bubble and squeak for the top, (which had been on special offer and seemed worth a try). I give great thanks in saying that it was!

I was grateful for the pretty dawn this morning and the warm sunshine streaming in my windows well into the afternoon...and that it turned grey before I felt I was missing a day! And I'm grateful it can't be many hours now until an early night...

Good call

Well, I've got a new touchscreen phone to replace my old keyboard 'bag' phone for which the charger's broken so, after installing the app, I thought I'd try blogging on this new piece of kit today. Much gratitude for the developments in technology and the drop in prices over the last few years that mean something so clever can be so small and cheap to fit my pocket all ways round! And that android in particular has become increasingly nimble as my fingers have not!

I'm still very grateful I have my 'bat' phone Streak that does everything except (sadly) make the tea (and is almost big enough to eat it off!) but actually too grateful for that to take it outdoors very often and run the risk of dropping or leaving it somewhere.

I'm grateful I LOVE trying out new systems and tools even though (or maybe because) you never know exactly what's going to happen when you press a button or click on a screen. Let's see what happens when I try to add a pic from the low res but reasonably featured phone ie. you can crop out your finger that got in the way!

Yep...that seemed to go OK...now what about uploading...???

Another fine day

I'm grateful for another fine day - well fine for my purposes anyway, which were to recover from getting out and about in another sort of fine weather yesterday! The wind was so noisy blowing through the little gap I'd left the window open in the night that I woke up thinking there was some sort of engineering work going on on the railway line, or road resurfacing but I'm always grateful for the fresh air if it's possible to stand it. It hardly got properly daylight here but I gave thanks for the sight of the big waves when darkness gave way to a whiter shade of grey and for watching the big tanker moored in the bay swiveling around on its anchor, buffeted by gusts and currents, I guess, before it and the hill in the other direction disappeared in enveloping murk.

The darkness, the tiredness and the Sundayness made it ideal for lounging on the sofa with knitting and nibbles and lots of excellent recorded TV but if I knit for too long my hands and arms get sore and if eat too many nibbles the things I'm making won't fit...and if I watch TV with neither of the above I'm liable to fall asleep. So I'm very grateful for getting up off my proverbial now and then and doing some other things such as the mountain of washing up, and polishing the glass top of the chest in my bedroom and some more sewing of the granny skirt becoming a dress project that I started a few weeks ago. 

I'm grateful I remembered to upload this picture of a rag rug stained glass wall hanging thingy that rather took my eye at the community arts centre yesterday, that Mr Tesco has provided me with his finest cauliflower cheese for my tea...and that I've made a big juicy fresh fruit salad to follow...

Colour therapy

Well, it may sound odd but I'm grateful I've had the hippy hippy aches today because on the whole I don't very much, so it was a kind of novelty. And I did grin while I bore it because it amused me to think that if benefit cheat spies were out they'd be thinking 'She's clearly faking it - look she's limping on the other side now!'...and to wonder if there was much call for a stair lift to the upper floor of Millet's! And I'm grateful I had a lot of hobbling about to do because it was such a beautiful day, and it would have been rather more miserable in the rain.

It was an informal choir thing set me to go out in the morning, and I was grateful I went to that (effort though it was to get out of bed!) because there are nice people and nice music, much laughter and usually a dog and some cake as well...and after that it was really, on the face of it, a rather boring sort of Saturday collecting odds and ends of shopping here and there but everything seemed so clear and bright in the sunshine and so instead of getting dragged down into it I kept gazing up at the gorgeous blue, or soothing my eyes with all the green in between the buildings and giving great thanks that I live somewhere so rural but not cut off, and for being well enough to go out and about and get things and grin! I had some lucky bargain finds in shops and I was very grateful for those but even more precious were the first lambs I've seen this season and the colours at sunset - orange in the west, pink in the east and that special silvery blue the sea goes at that time of day.

I was very grateful there were things to eat when I got home that just needed microwaving because that's all I was capable of...and that I don't have to be anywhere now til Monday afternoon because if I'm anywhere between now and then it'll probably be horizontal!

Maybe I'm biased

This morning I gave thanks for another pretty start to a winter's day, but was also grateful when it became cloudy and grey as I had things to get on with that didn't involve going outdoors, or even looking out of the window very often! I give thanks for some domestic chores brought under control - domesticated one might almost say!

I'm grateful for getting my sewing machine out again and resuming the project I'd started before I put it away for the festivities. And that so far it's going well. And that I've discovered another use for bias binding. I already knew it was good for binding (funny that!), and an excellent channel for elastic, but it also makes a good narrow facing for neck and armholes if you turn it all to the wrong inside. Never mind if you don't sew and don't know what I mean...if you do, you will and be imagining it!

I'm grateful for finally catching up with the Christmas Rudetube compilation. A little late but funny!

And while we're on the subject: today's photo I took for yesterday's blog when I was very taken with the way the bare twigs matched the Christmas lights, and went with the twoiness theme. I'm grateful I took it, and that I was too whatever it was to actually upload it yesterday.

Tea for two

Today I've been grateful for the bright warm sunshine and the soft blue of the sea, the waves gently sighing not roaring...

For reading about a book on the legislation of appearance and apparel I thought would interest me...and then, even more so, for seeing it had a website with examples  http://www.dressingconstitutionally.com/  oh, and about the 'doppelganger' photography of Francois Brunelle. There are lots of links to articles out there and they all seem to have a slightly different selection of images. I want to see them ALL! http://www.visualnews.com/2013/11/09/portraits-unrelated-doppelgangers-found-match/

For buying a very yummy slab of chocolate lemon shortcake made by the cafe that closed but still sells goodies in the little corner shop down the road, and seeing a new foodie shop nearby to try next time with cake, stuffed vine leaves and things made of lentils!!!

...also that my sensible pre-acupuncture self made tea (with lentils!) before I went out, so my (rather pleasantly) incapable post return self just has to heat it up without wandering off to write my blog and burning it!

Clicked

I give thanks for a late late breakfast of date and cinnamon porridge. I always give thanks for thanks for this dish but even more so since I now always remember Pat asking what 'make' it was - a perfectly reasonable question which just goes to show they should make it, shouldn't they? Most people who don't eat porridge seem to have had unpleasant experiences with it as a child and I'm very grateful I didn't let mine put me off!

Gratitude too for the the integral front bands in the cardi I'm making inspired by a bought pattern though not following it precisely, of course. I'm particularly grateful for the way the two yarns co-ordinate even thought they're from different companies and not meant to by the manufacturers - just by me! As they were ordered on line I should add some thanks to my laptop for showing the colours so well as well, I think...

As I'm knitting both fronts and the back in one piece at the moment I'm grateful, despite the long rows, it's grown a bit since this was taken earlier...and without excessive pain so far either. Also for a few useful, even vaguely energetic tasks performed today including vacuuming (some of) the floors and changing the sheets so that I'm looking forward to bed even more than usual...but also for much idling around on ebay!

All in a day

Yesterday was a day of much nibbling, and delicious though those nibbles were, I had a real craving for some real food today so I give thanks for a hearty late lunch of slow baked jacket potato and leftovers - including limp leek and courgette livened up in a sauce made of cream cheese roule and green pesto (both of which needed eating up too!), and broccoli and part of a sweet potato and chestnut roast leftover from a previous day's leftovers cooking!

Making, eating, digesting and washing up after that is almost all I seem to have done today so I'm grateful this is of no great significance, and that yesterday I did so much to make myself so very tired including going to watch those great big waves, and learning some new songs at choir...

I give thanks for finding a suitable slow day routine that'll work for tomorrow too which goes: do something useful about the place, then when that wears me out sit down and do some knitting, then when that makes my hands cramp read or watch some TV...then fall asleep and start again! Gratitude for all the great things I've recorded recently including for a new series about sacred sites in Britain which includes Neil Oliver saying 'wurrld' quite a lot, always a bonus I think, don't you?

Something simple

I give thanks for achieving all the tasks of the day...well, most of them anyhow - the washing up has fallen by the wayside but my bed is made and inviting me! I haven't had a chance to upload the pics I took and see if any are worth sharing but I give thanks for the sight of the stirring sea and the way strangers smile and laugh together as they watch the waves.

I'm grateful I took my plastic tubs and cartons to the recycling skip...but that I left the cardboard behind because the cardboard one was full!

I give thanks for the shelter out of the wind where I ate the cupcake the chemist gave me. And no, there's no typos in that! And I give thanks for a cuppa and a biscuit brought to me at the knitting group too, and for meeting the ladies there again.

I'm grateful a taxi came before the rain, and for falling asleep where I landed on the sofa after staggering through the door. And for listening to the practices I missed at the end of last year to encourage me to get up again and go to choir tonight. All I've got to do is put my boots and coat on, grab my bag and walk out the door. How hard can that be?

Touched

I couldn't work out why 2013 is showing as 'only' having 364 posts but eventually (and luckily working backwards!) I found 28th November's Beautiful to Me had been mysteriously deleted. Well, no real mystery I'm sure, just an accident with a touch screen I should think - everybody who has them has them - even people with fully working digits. I'm grateful it was only deleted and I hadn't missed a day - a day's blogging or a day of my life - that did puzzle me for a while!

I'm grateful all the Christmas things are down and up on the high up shelves. Last decoration in place was this pretty star from my lovely neighbours. It was tucked in a card which I opened in the kitchen and could have been made to dangle in the window there already adorned with other kinds of gold stars! Either they have legs like Twizzle or this was just a perceptive guess as Ito my taste but I was very touched and grateful anyway. They get a 'gold star', they do!

Gratitude for a little nap earlier this evening between various chores about the place and starting to cook tea...there'll be even more if I get up and finish it, of course! Well maybe...it's one of my make it up as you go along recipes so I'll have to wait and see if it comes out according to my taste too!

I wish I could summon up more thanks for the return to the 'real world' tomorrow...I've so enjoyed lazing around in fairy (light) land. But I'm grateful there'll be a chance to get closer to that lovely rough sea I've been watching from indoors today, anyway...

Re:play

This morning I was surprised (but very grateful) to wake up quite early and quite lively (for me) as I wanted to get a letter to Kostas finished and posted in case he was in low spirits after his sister's Christmas visit ended. And being awake and at my laptop meant Clive could connect with me and check I was up for meeting up... so much gratitude for that too and a great few hours out pottering in the muddy lanes and marveling at this and that...oh and lots of eating and nattering as well! Lovely to have his company after so long and in a car as well so we could go out a-jaunting...

I gave thanks to my knees for allowing me to be upwardly mobile for some of the views without too much ouching about, and for a very dozy end to the afternoon since returning so they (and the rest of me) could quietly recuperate. For spotting the second series of The Bridge starting later...Oh, and the beautifully graduated blue of the sky after the sun went down!

Earlier I was sorry to hear that Phil Everly had died, but then I remembered how much I enjoyed the hits he had with his brother and was grateful for those...and the fact that, even though live music might be better in so many ways, recording means we can enjoy it again and again...

Jammy

Today I've given thanks for...

~some marmalade still in the jar

~soft light over the hard faced sea

~thunder and lightning very very surprising me!

~perseverance and getting a ticket to ride and a place to stay because I've a Valentine's birthday on the way and sometimes you really should treat yourself the way you would have others do!

~doing a few rows of knitting...and now getting cramp in my hand so I have to stop and keep still and catch up with TV...

~and spotting the giant ship almost hidden behind a watery paint job and a bunch of twigs earlier...and, look, for the buds beginning to springle on the twigs as well!

Here comes the rain again

I give thanks for a double decker bus and my mp3 player...who'd have a car, eh? What? Well yes there are some benefits I suppose but, without an unnatural amount of what Buddhists call sympathetic joy I can hardly include them in my gratitude blog now can I?

I'm grateful the shops had none of the things I went for so my pennies remained unsquandered, but that back here there was a rye mix bloomer left on the shelf as late as 4 pm and a sale on mini bath bombs. And I'm grateful that with all my other shopping I needed a cab...and there wasn't one...and it started to rain quite heavily and there still wasn't one...and then one came by just to pick up family on the opposite corner and saw me dripping patiently and picked me up for free!

I'm grateful to Rachel for some thoughtful treatment and a handmade thank you card with an appropriate thoughtful individual message inside. Rachel always gives thank you cards for her Christmas presents...now that's gratitude, I think, don't you?

I'm grateful I can have bread and yarg and grapes for tea if I want to...and eat it in the bath!  Oh, and I'm giving thanks I finished that alcoholic Christmas cake too, and can return to my abstemious ways...

Re: solutions

I'm grateful yesterday's naps meant I could be awake at midnight, and that I thought to press pause on the TV to watch and listen to the local celebrations before enjoying London's beautiful firework display. I'm grateful there was a bottle of something open so I could raise a glass of something suitable to toast myself (and have a sip or two!)

When parts of me hurt too much to walk about, and others too much to knit or crochet, and both standing and sitting bring other pains into the equation, I can get a bit grouchy so I've been grateful for being both home and alone again today, and able to drowse a lot of it away. I gave thanks I managed to finish off a hat for donating to a collection for the homeless though...that gave me a nice warm feeling and hopefully will give some unfortunate soul one too before too long.  

I was grateful for flipping through the TV guide this morning and realising there was a Columbo on I'd not seen before...it's the quickest I've moved for a while getting out of bed to record it this morning, and gave me something slow to do this afternoon! Much thanks too for having some bits and bobs to make myself a tasty pasta, that my eyes were bigger than my tummy so I've got some for tomorrow too... and that all I have to do now is get enthusiastic about getting some supper and then I can resume the recovery position!