Steps

I give thanks for the flowers blooming further...and that I don't have to go further because I'm blooming tired! Today I had another couple of appointments to attend and was very grumbly and groany with various aches and pains as I hobbled down the road to the bus stop feeling rather sorry for myself until I saw the sea sparkling in the sunshine and a fine array of large ships in the bay to marvel at. Much thanks for those, and for binoculars to watch their manoeuvres through. The magnolia blossoms wouldn't stay still for their photo so you've got tankers instead. Just as lovely in their own way...

I give thanks for the sight of a rather elderly couple walking down the road in perfect step (I've seen ice dancers less so!) even when the woman slowed to look at something in a shop. Later I saw them again with the man walking in from as they joined the queue for a bus...and they were still in step, bless them!

I'm grateful for getting some washing and washing up done (it's been a couple of days so there was plenty!) and for a nice sleep on the sofa while the miserable dogs next door had a nap as well, plus a tinge of pink in the clouds when I woke up afterwards. And I'm grateful I've got my blog done - some days it's not that I've not been thankful for lots of things but it can be rather hard work recording it!

Supporting role

I'm very grateful for feeling a little more lively today because I had a LOT to do! Now I'm extremely not lively but very thankful I've mostly done it!

I'm grateful for receiving several compliments and being involved in several companionable chats while I was out and about. A few of these were coat related and I give thanks once again for finding such a very practical and attractive pedestrian's coat...though I'm still grateful for mostly dodging the showers.

I'm grateful for the sight of spring flowers in gardens, the pink tips of magnolia buds opening and aubretia in almost full flower. Also for 'film rain' - that's rain that's falling quite heavily even though the sky is bright. It's common in films because, of course, the rain is rarely real and has to be floodlit for the cameras, so dripping characters have very unrealistic shadows on their faces and at their feet!

I'm grateful to Rachel's husband for cooking my tea. He didn't know he was doing it at the time but he made an extra large spicy stirfry yesterday and I blagged a portion.

I'm grateful for my phone helping me find a rather well hidden shop, and for it being possible there to try out mattresses that they will deliver, unwrap and put on your bed and take your old one away. To find a store like this when you don't have your own transport is excellent - especially one that you don't need your own transport to get to in the first place! Great gratitude for the prices being a lot less than I'd imagined as well...

And last night I gave thanks for listening to Bob guest DJing on internet radio and being very listenable to! One of the first tunes he played had a sampled hooky riff I swear came from an old old Stones song, though possibly indirectly of course, but it particularly made me smile to hear something I recognised.

Vale of tiers

Sometimes life's rich tapestry seems more of a tangled web, doesn't it? It's wearing thin and fraying at the edges and tying you up in knots and you can't patch it up or unpick it and start again. I'm grateful for all the textile related metaphors that save me (and you!) from what I might otherwise say!

I also give thanks for:

the drone of a light aircraft engine crossing a sunny sky...and all the birds chirruping away in the garden

Bonfire Bill not indulging his passion all of the day so that it's been possible to have the windows open now and then

the pale hazy blue of the sea, and the silver of the river and the shadows of hedgerow trees hanging down the hillside fields

a fish finger sandwich for lunch, and a red lentil and seven vegetable stew in the slow cooker

I'm grateful during any spare awake time over the last few days I have made four rings of fabric ready to become the tiers of the skirt of a dress, and that the bottom one is even gathered and sewn on to the next one up! I tried to take a picture of this but it just looks like bits of material on a carpet (funnily enough) so instead here's the view from where the bus turned round in Langdale and I alighted (as they say) for a few moments. It was my first time in the valley a couple of weeks ago and my heart is still full of what my eyes saw there, though the bumpy bus made it hard to capture 'on film' (I don't know what we're supposed to say instead of that!) and this is merely the clearest photo, not the most scenic area by far. I'm grateful I went to this beautiful place. Long may I dream of going again!

A lot on my plate

Heavens, what a beautiful day again today, like yesterday was so that it's hard to believe there was all that rain and wind in the night in between. I give thanks that there's some real spring warmth and brightness creeping into the sunlight now...

I hadn't really expected to be out after dark and experience the weather for myself because, much as I wanted to go to choir, after going to the knitting group I was so tired I was nodding into sleep over my tea like a toddler again. It's so rarely I get to share time with anyone who isn't paid to be in the same place as me and it's of inestimable value to my psychological wellbeing when I do, but going to another place to do it becomes increasingly physically demanding... But then I had an email from someone who through the choral grapevine had heard I might need a lift and, as well as the bodily assistance there's an extra mental pull to go then (kind as if someone is holding their hand out) so I abandoned my food and scurried to get myself ready instead!

I was very grateful for the sing (our director writes such beautiful music!) and the company and laughter and cake (there's some very good bakers in the group too)...and especially grateful for the lift back when the those aforementioned heavens opened! Just time for a quick supper and a hot bath before bed I thought, but I dozed off during a hot drink and had to be teleported straight under the duvet instead.

Today I've been very grateful to take it very easy. And for a phone call from the renal anemia team to say they think I might need some more intravenous iron. When it's your kidneys causing the problem no amount of spinach and feta pie will put it right, they have to top you up this way, and I give thanks that they do though I can't help wishing the units where it happens were easier to get to without a car or a fully functioning body. Nonetheless it's encouraging as the levels of this and that in my body veer more and more out of kilter that there are still some remedies to try. I also give thanks for a pretty pastel sunset and a plate of (mostly) home food that I a) managed to stay awake for and b) didn't choke over during a very funny part of Come Dine with Me!

It's all in the detail

I give thanks for a sunny day so Jenny could clean my windows...and that the smoke from the fierce bonfire down the terrace didn't cause us too many problems in the process...

I give thanks for Ray Quinn's skating...seriously, how can a 'celeb' on a TV contest be that good? Also for a really interesting series started about the real work of the real Scottish forensic team...

I give thanks for soup in a carton. Remember when soup only came in a can or dried in a packet? Well, some of those are sometimes OK but 'fresh' soup is so much more nourishing I'm sure...plus you get a free workout trying to open it!

I give thanks I went to the craft group at the library. It can seem like a real effort getting there, but I had a book to return and it turned out to be a very jolly and friendly session with not too many people so we could all talk together. I'm also grateful I had some simple work to get on with because you can't do any kind of pattern successfully while you chat...if fact I managed to make a mistake in garter stitch which shows what fun the conversation was! This is not what I was working on...this is progress on my chunky cardigan that just needs transforming from a pile of bits and dangly ends to a wearable garment... the bits that are done look OK though, don't they?

Funny business

Whoof! What happened to today? Seems like I blinked and it was over...though to be fair it was a very long blink!

This morning I was grateful that my knees weren't hurting so obviously the sensible thing was to go outside and make them! I didn't feel particularly well otherwise, in fact, as seems to be the norm these days, I felt particularly exhausted. The weather wasn't very inviting, and there wasn't anything I particularly wanted to do or see but being able to walk along without going 'ouch!' each step was too good to miss so I sorted out some recycling and went to the bins down the hill...and they weren't full to overflowing so much gratitude for that! This being a cheery chatty sort of place to live I also got to have a bit of a natter with other folks out and about for which I give thanks...and also for spotting the tiny weeny crimson buds of the Virginia creeper on a wall beside the road.

Before I left I was grateful for seeing an article about a Shop Pun of the Year competition though there weren't a lot of examples to chuckle over and it led me to search and find these sources for your delight (or otherwise!)

http://www.nailsworth.com/showthread.aspx?getthread=Pun%20fun%20shop%20names&start=1&ref=5897

http://grammar.about.com/od/words/a/punnamestores.htm

When I got back... I fell asleep (surprise surprise!) but you should always be grateful if you're tired and can sleep as it doesn't always work out that way. I wasn't grateful that I missed something on TV that I was sure I'd hit record for before my eyes shut...but I did catch the fireworks at the end of the Olympic closing ceremony and they are always a treat. Now I'm giving thanks that I've thought of something quick and simple and tasty for my tea because as anyone who lives alone will know, sometimes thinking what to have for your tea is even harder than making it!

Knees up

Gratitude for a beautiful day today...for a long walk on the coast path, followed by meeting a friend to share an enormous cream tea...and all this without even getting out of bed, ha ha! I give thanks for my vivid imagination... 

I'm grateful I did actually technically make it outside, for taking the smelly rubbish with me and for joss sticks for keeping the place inhabitable until I did. This was part of a bit of a clean and tidy up session so I give thanks for the energy for that too as things were getting very messy about the place. They still are...but less so! 

Clearing up a little meant that I could get to that bit of fabric on the floor that I hope one day will be a dress and, as I'm still missing some bits for the bodice, start work on it from the hem up. I give thanks for getting the four bottom pieces cut out, and two even sewn together before my joints started hurting too much to continue. I've started so I'm sure I will finish... eventually!

Having a bit more order and organisation meant I felt like finally getting round to opening my birthday cards and presents...and some belated Christmas ones as well! Much gratitude for people's kindness and thoughtfulness! A part of a mobile from Bob is shown here, which I'm not capable of hanging from the ceiling at the moment but which will manage on the window handle for now. To be honest I'm really rather grateful not even a tea party materialised in the end, as the only knees up I'm up for involves a chair pulled next to the sofa to rest my legs on!

Slice of life

Unable to find a certain sort of fabric on line, I decided to try a bricks and mortar shop today. Unable to stay awake for long, I picked the nearest one that didn't need a rail replacement bus to get to, but completely forgot that it was half term so the roads were twice as busy and the ordinary bus twice as full with people off work, school and college...and half as full again with people avoiding the rail replacement one! I'm grateful I had my trusty mp3 player and that neither the whingey kids nor the youths boasting about their criminal convictions were actually sharing my seat.

Much gratitude for the pretty sights seen...purple crocuses and pink bergenia glowing in a garden, sun on the tors, pale blue sky reflected in the river and rain running on the windscreen so neatly it looked like patterned glass. Also that the rain didn't fall on me! I'm grateful that though the sewing shop didn't have what I wanted I did have a friendly chat with the lady inside - I've been going there for years and it's the first time this has occurred! I'm also grateful that the lack of the fabric isn't delaying the project it's for because I haven't actually started yet, and given the speed at which I'm currently achieving things I can carry on not finding it for quite a while to come...

I'm grateful I came across a couple of other useful things...including a cup of tea and a cheese scone to fortify me for the return trip. And that, as there is still no word of visitors pending, I could finish off that carrot cake when I got home before falling deeply asleep. When you're pretty much permanently tired it's good if you can still get things done, but even better when you stop!

Rover returns

I'm grateful for the rainbows...and for the sun and rain that make them. I'm grateful for my rose...still in remarkably fine petal after six days in my possession including twelve hours in a suitcase! 

I'm grateful for making it to the great outdoors for the first time since my return and that I did actually manage to get outside the door after a short delay due, not to aches and pains, fatigue and forgetfulness, or even a threatened wardrobe malfunction, but the wood being so swollen by rain. When you're on the pavement you can give it a push with your foot but I've not enough tug power to pull it open from the inside and had to go all the way back up to find a chisel for leverage!

I'm grateful 'my' tanker is back in position decorating the sea view with its lights at night, and the play of light on its sides during the day. Oh and I give thanks for the lovely lilac sky during the dusk session of the women's freestyle ski half pipe too...plus the way the photographers and cameramen/women by the side of the ice rink seemed to have been arranged by height. Russian dolls maybe?

I'm grateful that Volunteering in Health were so appreciative of the chicks I'd brought. I wondered how many they might have and be needing and discovered they sell several hundred a season, would you believe! Thank goodness every little helps, eh? Gratitude too to Rachel for trying so hard to mend me, and for running into Christine from the choir (a lovely lady with a remarkable talent for being there in front of me when I most would like to see her!) who'd been wondering if a lift there and back might help me attend more sessions. Very thoughtful thinking outside the box as she doesn't actually have a car herself just now.

Small fortunes

I'm grateful I've finished four 'creme egg' chicks for the local charity that helps care for patients and carers round here. They're pretty much the same as the ones I made for them last year so I'll spare you another pic! I give thanks that they asked me to make a few because I'm on their list of helpful knitters...it's not often I get the opportunity to feel helpful these days, though a man on the train the other day was delighted when I showed him how to open and shut the toilet door!

I'm grateful for another Tesco delivery despite the fact the driver was so monosyllabic and dour. Amongst the groceries was a 'finest' carrot cake as bought partly as a belated birthday treat, partly to tempt my jaded appetite and partly because I've been hopeful that someone might come and 'take tea' with me this week. There's currently no evidence this dream may be realised so I'm also giving thanks for having not the slightest of qualms about munching my way through it alone...

I'm grateful for finding a message in my Facebook 'others' inbox from a real person trying to communicate...and no, I don't mean trying to communicate that I am the sole next of kin of someone who died leaving a vast fortune, or any of the other drivel that lands in there!

I give thanks for some TV offerings that have taken my fancy including a new series of First Dates and the two part documentary about the work of registrars. It's lovely to see there's so much love in some people's lives...And for the optimism with which I've laid this piece of soft needlecord on the floor hoping that it might be the start of another just right dress...

Minor miracles

Our days are full of little miracles we pay no attention to...all those bodily processes that are functioning just fine, infrastructure and organisation fit for purpose, intentions panning out as planned. During the last twenty four hours or so I've been giving thanks for some of these small scale wonders of the world...

*Dropping my specs into half a cup tea without damaging the specs or splashing the surrounding area

*Dropping a carton of milk upside down and a quarter full but with the lid tight enough on that it didn't explode or spill. It also landed in a shopping bag hanging on the side of a chair so I didn't have to bend all the way down to the floor to pick it up!

*Sunshine warm enough to have the windows wide open...and a rain shower that fell straight down!

*All the blues in the sky and sea before sunset tinged them pinkish

*Guessing successfully what was what in the freezer so I've been able to have a home cooked meal even tho not cooked from scratch today 

*Finally finishing unpacking and also getting some ironing done (plus complete silence on the terrace so that I could sleep off some of the exhaustion that ensued)

***and that last week I was somewhere very different doing something very different indeed!

Far and here

Some days it seems as if all I manage to do is groan in pain and grunt with effort, so today I've been grateful there's been no one around to fret or complain about this. Also that there's been very little really that has had to be done...and whatever there was I've done it! Much gratitude too for restorative mini catnaps in between...

I'm grateful there's been real fog at the Winter Olympics (as opposed to the snow) resulting in the morning's snowboard events being postponed, as I wanted to watch skating in the afternoon and I can't be doing with having the TV on all day!

I give thanks Mr Tesco is a reasonably good cook even tho his non carnivorous menu is limited and he never washes up or makes a cup of tea! Also for the countless variations of grey the sky and sea have been today, and this compilation of lonely bus stops...
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-26036885
I've not been to any except the last one...but I'd rather the others by far!

Why not try?

The journey home I'd originally booked was doable, and the one I ended up with clearly was too as I did it...but I am totally done in now! The extra waiting and walking and lugging of luggage has left me incredibly sore and tired. Hmm, you're probably thinking, this doesn't sound much like gratitude...but it dawned on me that if you were in a wheelchair a replacement bus for a train wouldn't just be awkward but totally inaccessible, so I'm very grateful I could get home at all! It reminds me of the poorly reasoned 'why not try?' alternatives Tesco on line grocery offer you sometimes if an item is out of stock. Vegetarian beans and sausage unavailable? Why not try...pork balls and beans instead? I'm grateful vegetarian beans and sausage were available last time I ordered because that on toast was all I was fit to make for lunch today. Oh, and I give great thanks that the power was still on to cook it!

Gratitude too that the chocolates I dropped in the bathwater last night are actually quite edible now they're dry. I'm always dropping things, so if you are too, but like to nibble goodies while you soak, then make sure you use oils and foams that are literally good enough to eat!

I've also been genuinely grateful no one local has said 'Oooh, you're back and it's such a lovely day. Would you like to go out somewhere for a birthday treat?' Because it would have been churlish to say no, but I couldn't not have done. Apart from providing essential maintenance and sustenance, almost all I've been able to do today is lie on the sofa watching pre-recorded TV. Do not mistakenly imagine this means my trip up north was a failure - if I hadn't have gone I'd probably have spent my birthday itself in this way so have gratitude for trying, and achieving, something completely different instead.

And if you're in the mood for a weather report: floods of tears for the finale of Big Town Dance...so I gave thanks I could rewind to watch it again! If you have the opportunity to join in something with others put your heart and soul and whatever your body is capable of into it, and if not, why not try...putting your heart and soul and whatever your body is capable of into doing something on your own?

Unquiet coach

Phew! I'm grateful I'm home... and I'm grateful it only took 10 hrs door to door because I couldn't have gone on much longer. Actually I probably couldn't have done even if I wanted to because they were advising folk not to travel beyond Plymouth. Not that there seemed to be anything intrinsically wrong with the lands beyond there...the rail network just weren't doing trains OR buses. Last year I couldn't praise them enough for their endeavours to make disruption as smooth and pleasant as could be, but they're all clearly fed up with it now and this afternoon has not been fun so I won't go on about it. I will add, however, that I'm very grateful the member of staff at Wolverhampton who insisted it was a through train to Paignton wasn't actually driving it!

I'm grateful for the pretty blue skies around Gloucester, the lovely pink sunset at Bristol and for the glorious almost full moon shining on the sea in Devon. I'm grateful I can have something to eat as it's been too tense to want to before, and to drink as that would have been even more so on a motorway on a coach without a loo! I'm grateful my flat is so pretty...I always forget when I'm away. Oh and I'm grateful I went away for a delightful birthday treat...worth all the money and effort and some to spare, even all the exceptionally trying to and fro.

Great lakes

The other reason I wanted to eat in my room this morning was that I had an early departure planned and didn't want to have to get ready for the dining room and then get ready to go outdoors. Getting dressed is always a huge kerfuffle when my joints are playing up and there's no need to add food item public performance anxiety...

There was an envelope on the tray with a birthday card from the hotel (I'd explained that was why I was willing to pay extra for the privilege!) Despite being grateful to Rachel and Heidi and Ivor for planning ahead and giving me gifts before I left, I left them behind to come home to so this was the only thing to open and then off on a full day mini bus tour of snowy mountain passes and windy lake side lanes (read that either way!). This was what I'd wanted to do but the company hadn't any trips running, and then when they said they had one today I was holding my breath for a very long time to see if it would actually happen. They have to have a minimum of four passengers and I don't know what happened to the others but there was just two of us left and they ran it anyway, so the biggest birthday gratitude ever for that. We went to places I'd never been but always wanted to, like Castlerigg stone circle where I nearly blew away, and places I had and wanted to see again, including the place where the purple house used to be that I recognised even without it! http://rambleswithacamera.blogspot.co.uk/2012/01/purple-houserigg-beck.html

The weather was OK for the bits where it was most important - those glorious mountain passes - and we came to a mutual decision to rearrange some other parts where it would have impacted unfavourably...the joys of only having three on the bus I guess. Even when I suffered a technical failure it happened during our lunch break and outside a cafe which had both suitable facilities and food, so lots more thanks to the powers that be!

I was grateful to come back to mobile signal world and find so many messages, e cards and posts on my Facebook wall and a rose on the bed from the hotel's Valentine charm initiative followed by a long nattery chatty call from Bob and a long soak in the bath with my book. Now, I'll be even more so if they're not too many couples smooching over their suppers!

Passing places

Still having fun guys, as best I can!

Last night I was grateful I decided to eat in the bar as it felt less awkward than dining alone in the restaurant...not that it's especially awkward doing that here but it's never the most comfortable of feelings. It also meant I had others to share oohs and ahhs with at the fearsome wind. I gave thanks I was used to the incredibly loud noises it can make when it gets going, and that there was no major damage here. 

This morning I wasn't physically up to doing anything much but also a bit low in spirits so moping around in my room didn't seem a good plan either. I'm grateful the weather was pretty bad so that on bus rides to breathtakingly beautiful places not wanting to get out and potter around seemed a fine idea! Even though even sitting still was painful, watching the landscape unfold was worth every ache and discomfort. Absolutely what I came for! Sometime it was just me on the bus, but on one I met a local character although I didn't read this til later when looking for up to date travel news...so I give thanks for the serendipitous chance to find out more about him...
http://www.thewestmorlandgazette.co.uk/news/11005878.Avid_reader_lives_in_converted_library_van_in_the_heart_of_the_Lake_District_after_falling_on_hard_times/

Despite the splendour of the journeys, it's also been splendid just to chill with a bit of the mens' short programme figure skating later in the day, so more thanks for that, and that I brought my laptop with me so that even though there's no pause on the TV remote control, courtesy of the hotel wifi connection and the BBC website I could go back and watch the bits I missed while in the bathroom!

Running water

By 'eck it's been wet and windy today...could almost have been down south! If it hadn't been for the boring prospect of curling on TV I might have have been tempted to go back to bed. But after an early night, a long lie in and delicious breakfast of 'Lakeland' rarebit on crumpets, I felt the need to venture outdoors so I give thanks for that and the most waterproof and cosy coat I've ever had in my entire pedestrian life! 

I'm grateful for the breakfasts here - lots of choice for people who don't eat piggies, though the dinner options are a bit sparse and I think I might go for bangers and mash in the bar tonight. It would be rude to come to Cumberland and not eat a sausage! They serve some of the most prettily presented food here I've ever eaten but there's is far too much of it and an experienced guest advised I asked for small portions (then I might be able to eat all my dessert!). Gratitude too for meeting a fellow solo female traveller and share appreciation of the joys of not being The Person in Charge of Everything for a while...

I give thanks for a gap in the ferocity to watch the waves break on the lake shore from the remains of the roman fort across the road from here and think of Juanita whose birthday it would have been yesterday - a lady who understood the importance of treating deteriorating health with holidays! And for some jolly folk with a gift shop just down the road by the pier. Clearly made of stronger stuff than the blueberry scone cafe which was shut on a day when their offerings would have been most welcome...

Hot and cold

I give thanks that the tap water tastes so delicious here...haven't willingly drunk tap water in years! Oh, and for working out how to work the window and the radiator so I didn't become mummified overnight. Central heating eh? I think I brought far too many thermals and not enough summer garb!

Speaking of which, I give thanks I've been keeping my weather goddess subscriptions up to date so that today was as good as possibly could be, with more snow on the tops overnight but sunshine most of the afternoon until just after I got on the bus to come home when a hail storm turned the bottoms white as well. I give thanks for my small priced but perfectly formed coat and boots for keeping me so warm and dry.

Today was meant to be a day of rest but the first day of your holiday never is, is it? You always think you'll take it easy and leave where you're staying for a short stroll only to find yourself miles from there a few hours later! I give thanks for the extra energy not having housework to do releases, and also that there seems to be more time without it as well, as if I do walk anywhere it sure does need a lot of that! The scenery today has made me both laugh and cry with joy, and I am most grateful for treating myself to this trip where it is hard it to go anywhere without seeing it...even sitting still on a bus!

Not part of the master plan

What's not? Oh, most of today! I'd decided to spend a bit more of my son's inheritance (he'll get the reference even if you don't!) on a cab to negotiate the tricky first part of the journey where the timetable for replacement buses meant I'd have to allow a couple of hours to Exeter, so felt quite calm until the horrendous traffic jam that meant it seemed very likely I'd miss the first train...but when we got there we discovered it was a bus and there was just enough time to board it!

OK, I'm going, replacement bus - we can do this...replacement bus to Bristol Parkway's a bit over the top but I'll resume my beautifully planned and beautifully scenic journey there... Actually that turned out to be the best bit, and I give thanks for the straw dogs and man by the motorway (well, wicker or willow or whatever they are!), and for passing so many rainbows and a factory called 'inspirational basketware' (that I'm not going to look up because I'm having so much fun thinking what such stuff might look like!) and the gorgeous silver leaved woods south of Bristol.

But we got there in time to miss all useful connections...and when I finally got on a train for Brum it was delayed by a signalling fault. I explained to various railway staff that all this meant I was going to miss the bus at the other end...but of course they don't care about buses that aren't the sort that replace trains! And for ages I couldn't get an internet connection to work out a plan whatever we were on by then...but finally I did, just in time to get off at the right stop and negotiate a different route to get here in time to see a sliver of sunset and a sprinkling of snow on the highest peak before darkness fell.... and a cafe selling blueberry scones with jam and cream or rum butter just a few paces away from the hotel (be very afraid for your inheritance, Bob, be very afraid!) And I realised, that in a similar way to how I say I can now get the feeling of climbing a mountain when taking the shortest stroll? Well getting here today I feel like I've at least traversed a couple of national boundaries and am on some distant continent so I'm grateful for that!

Anyway, now I'm back with the programme, in a warm room with internet access and a bath and a shower and someone is cooking my tea and will wash up after and there's DVDs you can watch if you're bored with TV, and books to borrow if you've read all yours and I'm very grateful indeed!

You all know what the lakes look like by night I'm sure...you may even have bought the postcard...so here's my room instead!

What's to lose?

Let's hear it for the losers! What do I mean by 'losers'? You choose...anyone you think is less anything than someone else. Let's hear it for the also rans, the stumbled and fell, the almost spouses jilted at the altar when the one true love returned. I qualify as a loser in many people's eyes for many reasons...but reckon am still a winner for recognising how arbitrary it all is, and I give thanks for seeing the long way last places come home in races to cheers and appreciation.

The last group to be recruited for the Big Town Dance were the unemployed, the retired, volunteers and stay at home parents. Nice to see some elderly, overweight and learning disabled involved but they were described as the invisible people, whereas to me that's those homeless or unable to leave where they live, the mentally ill...and those who wouldn't have anyone to congratulate and hug them at them end! They too may dance to whatever degree... we can all be dancing inside even if unanimously voted lacking in both technical skill and artistic impression. 

Anyway, I'm grateful for watching some skating and more slopestyle - sports for which I even fail to operate the remote control correctly! For Lost Land of the Tiger with footage of breathtakingly beautiful 'gross national happiness is us' Bhutan, life limited Alan Rabinowitz for reminding us to do what we do best for as long as we can and Gordon Buchanon's enchantingly curly hair.

I give thanks for completing all the tasks on my list that can be done for now...even though I lost the list for a while! For the straight down the middle division of light and shade on upright branches when the sun came out late today. I'm grateful our pier is still standing, and that I'm sitting down!

Not a silk purse

Today I was very grateful I had to go and collect some new specs as I was so tired and sore I'd have stayed indoors otherwise and it was really rather lovely out earlier with the sun shining and lots of people watching really quite unremarkable surf! I'm grateful for the NHS for contributing so generously to my lenses so that I could get some frames I quite liked to hold them.

Great thanks too for catching the final of one of the snowboarding events which meant I left at just the right time weather wise. It's been one of my favourite sports to watch for years, but today's event had a special atmosphere with British dudes giving the perma snow countries a run for their money. I loved the way they waited for each at the bottom of the slope to hug and high five whatever the nationality of the competitor who'd just come down...oh and the knitting at the top. No, it's not a technical term from the discipline...
https://twitter.com/Morriceosaurus/status/432080289482158080/photo/1

I've been wanting a little cross body bag to carry a water bottle in upright. I mean the water bottle, not me. Me being upright depends in my kidney carrying on behaving as a bodily organ should do instead of casting longing glances at cows and flaky pastry! I have a small bags that will carry a bottle flat but that's not such a wise choice after it's been opened. Then a week or two back I found a small black nylon one for less than four of your earth pounds, but it was very black and nylon...and now, ta-daa...it's not! I'm quite grateful for that.

Opening ceremony

Woohoo! We could have the windows open today. I give great thanks for fresh (mild) air and warm sunshine...

I'm grateful for randomly turning on the TV in time for the start of the Winter Olympics. I'm rather partial to an opening ceremony. What's not to like? Yes, I know, lots of things! But there's fireworks, special effects, 3d stage sets, and conglomerations of individuals performing small actions (mostly) in sync to create something spectacularly more than the sum of! With the winter ones you get some interesting knitwear too, oh and the backstories you couldn't make up - cool runnings, Vanessa Mae etc. And because it was Russia we has some spectacular ballet too! Extra thanks for some inventive torch bearing...and the memory of Muse on the bridge here (pause to get slightly emotional!)...and, not inconsiderable, that the last Winter Olympics I spent under the threat of imminent death. I remember thinking I was very grateful I'd survived long enough to discover the delights of (watching) mogul skiiing!

I give thanks for finding something that matches my dress! Everything I've acquired for my trip has either been on special offer, or in need of some stitchery (or in some cases both) but yesterday I bought myself a brand new full price scarf/shawl partly for chilly northern climes, and partly because I have no one to ask 'What would you like for your birthday?' and if I had I'd have said this! Look...it's different on the two sides...you can see both of them here. And because I bought it myself I can open it now!!!

I bought it just after acupuncture, when I'd have probably gone for magic beans and unicorn shampoo too if they'd been on offer...so I'm also very grateful that I still like it in less than cloud nine light. 

Wardrobe function

Yay, I got my new dress finished and it fits! Ann asked if it matched anything - only my requirements, ha ha! It's made from the cheapest wearable material I could find (in case it wasn't) and I really wanted to finish it before I went to acupuncture so that someone could check it out in the fabric instead of just virtually. There wasn't a lot of spare time but I'm glad I achieved this and even managed a quality control check in the form of one of those pesky wardrobe malfunctions. I'm grateful this didn't happen when I was out and about of course, but I'd rather it hadn't happened when I was almost fully dressed to leave including boots so that it was a bit frantic tying to remove things again. And maybe if I hadn't had some toast on at the time that got stuck in the toaster, so the smoke alarm was going off at the same time. I give thanks for proving that it's better to laugh than cry as dealing with a leak and a fire at the same time is demanding enough without having to dry your eyes and blow your nose a well!

The clothing style I've adopted over the last year is largely due to the desire not only conceal strange lumps on my tummy, but to minimise mayhem when these mishaps occur. So yes, I'm grateful the garment was unscathed as well as to my scathed hands for producing it. And as a bonus, it also concealed the Primark sticky size label that I'd been unable to pick off some leggings I bought the other day. 

You may sense a sense of somewhat less than total gratitude in my account of the scenario...but that was before acupuncture, I give great thanks that I feel a lot better now! And here it is, the aforementioned dress,  as best as I can show it anyhow, and with a bit of beetle coat in the background too..

It was my first time out today since Monday evening, and for once I'd not been disappointed to miss seeing the waves as it was a whole lot cosier and less energetic watching them on the internet and TV. It was sobering to see the damage on the seafront for real though, and I'm grateful no lives were lost or any serious injuries sustained . Now I'm grateful I'm home, have thrown together some (slightly) more successfully cooked tea than lunch and that I can get back to that all important resting. Heavens I'm tired...think I could do with a holiday!

Me tube

If the dress fits I'll show you a photo of it, but for now I've just got to carry on making it to find out, and that seems to be taking forever. It's probably the most complicated garment I've made without a pattern since I was a teenager but it's not actually especially difficult or requiring particular skills - just grip, and I'm losing my mental grip with my manual grasp that only seems to have two settings ie. dropped it and excruciating spasms!

Oh well, I'm grateful for my perseverance. And that I felt the design called for rouleau which, as every sewer knows is intrinsically evil whether your hands work or not! I'm grateful the power (and roof!) have stayed on and that both bath water and spicy lentil stew are heating up. I'm grateful for my slow cooking pot, and that the saucepan the stew was in before it went in there is only slightly burnt (thanks to the distraction of that rouleau!). I'm also very grateful to a charming and cheerful delivery driver for bringing me my shopping this afternoon including the tasty organic veg to go in it.

Catching up

For some reason, despite the fact that the previous two days I was out and about, even fairly energetically for me, I imagined today would be a day of catching up with quiet craft activities and programmes missed on TV...rather than a day largely spent in various stages of sleep. Oh well, I'm grateful for catching up with that!

I give thanks for a fine selection of leftovers so very little effort has been needed in the catering department either...

When I have been upright, I've been giving thanks for the sea for being so mesmerising to watch. I was going to add 'even from here' but actually having been briefly on the seafront at low tide yesterday I know there is nothing mesmerising about being close to it at the moment. A photo opportunity it was not, as both hands were needed to keep my hat on! It's hard to believe on Sunday it looked like this...

Oh and that reminds me...last night I gave thanks for my new coat doing what a pedestrian's coat should do in a most acceptable manner. I had been searching since Christmas and had found precisely one style that seemed to fit all my requirements (including price) so it was worth persevering to actually get one on my back. It comes down to my knees and has not only a detachable hood but also a detachable furry neck warmer inside it and bits that do up over your mouth and chin so only your eyes and nose need be exposed. Very necessary this weather...though I was still grateful for a lift home afterwards! And I'm very grateful for making it to choir for the first time in a few weeks. Although it's tiring it's also exhilarating, plus there's a far better chance of the right things coming out when I open my mouth to sing than when I use it for talking. Though even that's better than typing...I think I've managed about six words in ten correctly first time today and that's an awful lot of retyping!

Climbing every mountain

There's a wonderful thing about being a grounded hill walker you know...you only have to walk up and down the slightest incline and you feel like you've climbed a mountain afterwards! Today has been a long hard slog in many ways, not least in maintaining my sense of gratitude. It's not that I'm no longer aware of how very fortunate I am in so many ways, but sometimes the ways in which I am perhaps not quite so very blessed seem more prominent, so apologies if my gratitude seems to come through gritted teeth today...

I give thanks for...

The perfect crispness of the first digestive out of the packet. Having a packet of digestive biscuits, some self control and no weight problem!

An absolutely awesome film of the waves here this morning at high tide. It was posted on Facebook and I've shared it on there but it doesn't seem to be on Youtube or anywhere else I can show you I'm afraid. There's a link to some waves down the road in Dawlish on the ITV website http://www.itv.com/news/westcountry/  ...but ours were better (of course!) and there was a glimpse or two of the show on BBC's spotlight... and of Bude's river surfers too

Taking a detour to pick up a parcel from the Post Office even though I got very cold and wet in the process because the parcel contained a new coat! It's been a long time coming...the first one the Post Office lost, the second one was too small, the third one was damaged and the fourth one is just right for Goldilocks to go out in the wind and rain again in!

For getting warm and dry eventually. For living somewhere that doesn't flood (well not from rivers and sea anyhow!) And for deciding to go to choir although neither the weather nor my health seem conducive. Why? Because everything I've tackled today has produced more strain than gain and I want to give one more thing one more shot before I take to my bed for a very long rest...

Ooh look what I just found http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7xlZ7TNhb_8

Talking to myself

This morning I woke up late and grateful I could stay in bed and snooze some more. I was sooo glad it wasn't the sunny day the weather folk had forecast as I knew that would be hard to resist however feeble I was feeling. I gave thanks for the energy to get up and get a cuppa and a biscuit and then enjoyed another lazy hour looking at the (sparse) winter bus routes around where I'll be staying and possible (short) ambles, about the length of a trip to the doctors or round the shops here if weather was conducive. 

And then of course the sun came out...and an inner debate ensued! My hips were telling me they'd make me suffer if they went anywhere (and we all know hips don't lie!) and my knees were saying they were wimps and they went around hurting almost all the time, and my eyes and soul were begging for the great outdoors with no appointments or goals involved. So my hips were outnumbered and I succumbed to temptation!

The tide was out and it seemed that everyone else was too...the sea wall a veritable procession right the way out to Sprey Point and an offputting queue at the cafe. So I was extremely grateful that at the junction on the path where there's always another inner debate ('Can I face going up the steps today?' 'Can I face missing the view if I don't?') I'd already chosen the high road and, after admiring said view, could turn up the little lane instead and then come down through the almost deserted park. Almost deserted except for birds...some of which I even knew the name of! I talked to them of course...when there were no humans around to hear. And when there were I gave thanks for the opportunity to 'pass the time of day'. It's good to talk even if that is all you do...and I'm very grateful I live somewhere where passers by usually greet each other this way.

Wide shut

Over the last twenty four hours I've been grateful for some sleep and some wakefulness, and sometimes even some of them taking place at appropriate times as well! I give thanks for the aural cocoon of earplugs when needed...

There have been some beautiful dawns this winter so I've been grateful to those people who get up early and take pictures as the sun rises over the sea and then post their photos on Facebook. And during my own more lazy mornings I've been enjoying the day break through my closed eyelids. I'm serious...I'm not sure if you can call it 'watching' exactly if your eyes are shut but you can still see the light change!

I was grateful for the opportunity to see the light change later in the morning too...watching clouds rush down the hillsides and rain blown horizontally along. I gave thanks for being about to get warm and wet in the bath rather than cold and wet outdoors...

Then in the afternoon, tidying up the kitchen windowsill waiting for the kettle to boil I watched the silent movie of someone unable to unlock their car, trying and failing to pry open the doors. They must have succeeded because an hour or two later there was another car in the same spot, and though the doors were open different people were wrestling with their key. I couldn't work out what they couldn't make it do (start? open the boot?) but I gave thanks for witnessing the weird co-incidence! 

And for reading this about how scratching what is better can help what isn't
http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn24935-scratch-a-mirror-image-of-your-itch-to-bring-relief.html

And now this evening, after a day only a notch or two busier than totally idle, I give thanks that Mr Tesco has made potatoes dauphinoise for my tea, and that my food processor created a little nut roast to go with it. I must away and do some veg...