Slow finisher

I give thanks for a mild and sunny, almost springlike day. I only got as far as the postbox and bins but it was lovely to feel the softness of the air while I was out and have the windows open and the heaters off when I was in! Some people I know were involved in an outdoor baked potato and singing thing so I'm grateful it was such ideal weather for that. I give thanks for the fondant sky after sundown too...

I've been fine at starting things recently but have tended to run out of staying power to finish within what seems to be to me an adequate time frame, so I'm grateful that over the weekend I've (eventually) succeeded in changing the bedding (mmm, clean sheets!), making a meal to go in the freezer for when Bob's here that is light on most of my usual staple flavour ingredients to appease the dietery requirements but which still tastes pretty good, and cleaning out a dishevelled and disorganised drawer. Oh, and after several hours of trying, finished this blog post too!

Where there's hope

I give thanks for the life of my cousin Marie. She was always open to new experiences, bless her, so I'm sure she's regarding her journey into the next world as an awfully big adventure...

I didn't meet her until I was a teenager, and she already had children older than me, but the kindness and encouragement she gave me in the years after my father died and my own mother couldn't or wouldn't, was very precious. She took me to my first meditation session for instance, and introduced me to avocados...important developmental milestones I'm sure you'll agree!   

I'm grateful she passed peacefully surrounded by her closest relatives and that they were together for each other because even when a life is full and long and it's a good time to go there's still some sadness. For me, although I remember so many happy times with Marie it's hard to remember them without other sorrows creeping in, so last night I was grateful when physical pain was keeping me awake so I could spend the time dealing with some emotional stuff too. 

Thank you for sharing your wisdom with us Marie, and for all the laughter and fun...

Browny grey Friday

I've been very stiff and sore and tired today so I was very grateful I had to go out and do some things...and that they included looking at the rather stormy sea! It doesn't physically help of course but I do find it exhilarating to the mind and soothing to the spirit. I was grateful the wind died down a bit for my excursion and that the rain held off, but there were few folk about on the seafront - mostly just me and the gulls surfing the breeze.

I give thanks that though I had some shopping to do, and even some bargains to find, I didn't have to negotiate queues and crowds and consumer madness but could potter around small and friendly local shops and businesses instead. I'm grateful I got just what I wanted, including a friendly cab home.

Last night I was grateful for eating a delicious supper I'd made in instalments throughout the day. Today's instalments have more or less been getting ready to go out, being out and being in recuperation...so I'm very grateful there's things I can pretty much just heat up and munch with no effort.

Matters of life

Ah, there's been some shadows the last couple of days. A friend has lost a much loved son still young, and a much loved much older cousin of my own is nearing the end of her journey. I give thanks for lives that touch others in the warmest ways...and for those who pass unappreciated as well. We are all here for a reason.

I give thanks for the sunshine that started the day giving way to bands of dark clouds and rain. My spirit was much tempted to venture forth in the bright bits but my body was having none of it at all!  I give thanks for a great deal of recorded TV which moved me to moist eyed compassion for those who suffer from clinging to things, or excessively cleaning things, who struggle to live a good life when beset by hopeless poverty or reviled sexual urges. There are many other shoes I'm grateful I do not have to walk in...

I give thanks for making a delicious omelette for my lunch and for finding some things I was looking for on line. Many years ago when I was briefly an art student, we had models in the life class who due to some now forgotten religious affiliation wore garments only in shades of orange...before removing them of course! I give thanks for remembering this while searching for purply red dye options and finding a link to a blog by someone who due to her religious convictions wears only shades of these colours. I give thanks for the solace and support some find in organised devotions - as long as this doesn't lead to them condemning other people's, of course!

Where there's no sense

Hearing more of more neighbours than I prefer, last night I gave thanks for escaping into a long bath and a good book. I'm always grateful for how comfy my bath is for a wallow, that the ancient plumbing means the flats can't have individual water meters so I can keep topping it up! I give thanks to Bob for introducing me to the amusing and intelligent series the book came from too. It's set in an alternative reality and this one contains a TV programme called Evade the Question Time where 'distinguished public figures generally evade the audience's questions and instead toe the party line' Where does the author get his ideas, I wonder?

I'm grateful for setting the alarm on my tablet for the first time as I wanted to wake up early and see/hear how it worked. I'm grateful it happened in that order as planned - I hate being woken by alarms and usually only set them to warn my body clock not to let that happen!

I'm grateful for mostly winning the tiring, tiresome and sometimes tearsome struggles with basic tasks such as washing my hair and getting dressed, and that limited feeling and control of one's limbs can have its funny side too. The other day my hand was between my laptop and my lap and I suddenly thought 'What's that moving on my leg?'

I give thanks for following a sensible man to the unqueued for train door...and realising it was someone I used to work with and to chat to on the journey sometimes years ago. Nice to do it again! I give thanks for getting most of the things I went on the train for, before the stupor of pain and fatigue set in, and for a very long sit down in a cafe when it did so.

I was grateful I even remembered to go to 'Little Glastonbury' to see if they had a suitable incense burner (they did!), and just before I got to the station to come home I was also grateful I remembered that was where I left a shopping bag. Unfortunately this meant I missed the train so I was grateful there was no babysitter, or cross legged dog or wife with a souffle waiting! I'm grateful pretty much all I've done is lie down since I got home as that is pretty much all I can do...

Much of a muchness

I was grateful to be able to go straight for a nap after writing my blog last night... I am most fortunate not to have anyone dependent on me being around! I was almost sure I would not be able to make it to choir but after Rachel had come and given me a treatment, made my tea and washed up after I was very grateful I felt restored enough to ride in her car there and back. I was so grateful I even shared the last of Sunday night's Eve's Pudding with her...though I must admit I wouldn't have minded at all if she'd declined her portion!

It was a nippy night and I was grateful I'd got my cosiest boots and coat out of storage at the weekend. It was a very heartwarming practice though and I gave thanks for listening to and contributing to the lovely sounds we made.

I was grateful for going to bed as soon as I got home, and for staying very late in it today. Much gratitude for the dark and damp weather ideal for staying snuggled up warm, catching up with much needed rest.

Sharp and sweet

I'm grateful that after much mutual consultation it was decided to postpone my treatment today...it was far too sunny to have to spend it traipsing to the hospital and back. I was grateful for waking up early enough to see the tail end of a glowing sunrise though, and early enough to beat the pain so that I was able to get a few things done before it seized me.

I'm grateful it was my hands that were most affected and that my knees were still willing to take me down to the seafront, and I gave particular thanks for my almost totally zip and button free wardrobe so that I could get suitably cosily dressed to do so. I'm grateful for a most acceptable pre-packed lemon drizzle cake now that the "real" ones are out of season at the cafe...and for lots of places to sit!

I'm grateful for a lift home from Knit and Natter and leaving the library building in time to see the pretty colours at sunset too. I'm grateful the children next door are having so much fun, otherwise I might have fallen asleep before I finished writing this!

Homes and gardens

I give thanks for the pretty mild and pretty weather today, with sparkly sea and fluffy clouds. I give thanks for the energy to go out in it for a bit and get some bits of this and that done... I give thanks for a rest and free cup of tea at the supermarket where children called Olivia and Barnaby are called with beautifully modulated vowels to casually well dressed heels...

And talking of modulation I give thanks for Lloyd Grossman pronouncing 'phenomenon' on some TV programmes about TV programmes about homes and gardens over the last fifty years (it's almost as good as Neil Oliver saying 'world'!) In fact I give thanks for the programmes themselves - fine entertainment for anyone with a penchant for the history of popular culture and domestic design.

I give thanks for making a start of reorganising my clothing storage so that summery things are out of the way and wintry things accessible, and for thus rediscovering how much personal weatherproofing I purchased last year! I give thanks that this start was made after making and eating lunch as I'm too exhausted to produce a proper tea now. I give thanks that I could maybe rustle up a sandwich later with some of the delicious cucumber from Mr Bromley's allotment...

Hot pot

I give thanks that despite dire warnings about renal taste failure my buds are still going strong... I give for Breton butter biscuits, and for opening the fridge in search of something savory and almost as quick and finding a forgotten pot of leftover pasta, veg and feta from yesterday's tea.

I give thanks for finishing my cheery tea cosy, and for the pretty wool originally bought for a different project that I decided wasn't quite right for that and clearly was perfect for this one!  I give thanks for the cup that cheers in so many forms - usually I have green, white and black versions in stock, plus various shades of pink and red and yellow flavoured with herbs and fruit.

I give thanks that I've still not found a charcoal incense burner that seems to me to be both attractively designed and priced...plus in stock and in this country. It's as if there's a correlation between inhaling fragrant burning resins and exceedingly bad taste (who would have thought it?), but having a yen for a different aroma around the place reminded me I had some rose nag champa cones so that's what the gratitude is for!

Shining on

I give thanks for not getting into a strop about coming over all of a flop again last night, but just equanimously getting on with getting on with nothing at all. Considering how many maladies I have that either make doing things more tiring or simply make me too tired to do them, I achieve a lot a lot of the time and when I don't I'm grateful I often achieve acceptance...

However, after a couple of hours I also gave thanks when my catatonic converter kicked in, and I suddenly felt quite wide awake and motivated again. I gave thanks that, when having a tidy up, I dropped something in an inaccessible corner which led to me partially accessing it! I didn't find the lost thing at first but I did find a lot of fluff and cobwebs and got rid of all I could, and I'm always grateful for getting things clean...

I give thanks for finding the beeswax polish I like for wood also works well on my big leather chair, and with a lot less elbow grease required than shoe polish which I've tried before. I give thanks for remembering I bought it with my Asham Award prize money, thinking that I might sit in it and write a masterpiece...and for considering writing more than fifteen hundred grateful blog posts is one!

I give thanks for doing a little work on the slomo dress. It's a seasonal garment of soft and cosy brushed cotton and needlecord so the intention is to finish it this time round of said season. Will the stitches be in time? I give thanks there's no voice over commentator saying it will be a 'disaster' if they're not!

The rest of the day

I give thanks for a very long rest...pretty near three quarters of a day horizontal! Not all of it was sleep, but none of it was reading or surfing the internet and very little was spent visiting the kitchen or bathroom either...

I give thanks for eventually getting up and dressed and getting a cab to town for various small important things including enjoying being out in the wet and windy but quite mild weather, and admiring the neutral palette of the shore. I give thanks for Specsavers excellent lens cleaner to make the world visible again afterwards...

I give thanks for a pretty pied wagtail hopping on the pavement beside me

I give thanks for remembering a colour correctly when buying thread without the fabric to match it.

I give thanks for having enough energy to keep the NHS and Royal Mail on their toes even when I'd none left to stay on mine...

And I give thanks for a delicious tea including leftover mashed potato mixed with chopped onion and grated cheese and baked, and a warm (and warmly donated) mice pie with clotted cream. These are, of course, dishes that should be rationed from the renal point of view...but having eaten so little the last twenty four hours I reckon I probably had a bit of spare potassium limit to use. My tastebuds and my tummy were very grateful anyhow!

Gaudete

I give thanks for making it through a very busy couple of days by current standards, unscathed except for being sleepy and chilly rather than chilling which often happens when I'm tired, and which I'm sure will wear off when I stop trying to achieve things and settle down with a snuggly throw and the remote control!

I give thanks for an invigorating acupuncture treatment from Rachel last night and for a lovely meal she made while the needles did their thing. Gratitude for her sous chefs at Cauldron foods and Tesco, and to John for contributing delicious home grown red cabbage! I give thanks for a less demanding choir session than usual due to the fact that the two 'new' songs we learned were actually pretty old, so old I'd sung both of them before at school...and gratitude that I remembered them both with fondness.

I give thanks to Jenny for cleaning my bathroom and windows and floors, and for changing a very high up light bulb that conveniently blew just before she arrived. I also give thanks to Laura for taking me and a pile of defunct items to the recycling centre where I also claimed a large old saucepan just right for non culinary needs. And I also give thanks to both of them for the pleasure of their company...

I give thanks that a rather random phone call revealed I have another appointment for intravenous iron next week as I've not yet received a letter about it, and that the brown stain on my arm where they failed to master the intravenous bit last time should eventually fade though it may take a very long time. They do seem to think I really need the treatment so I've reluctantly agreed to another attempt, and I'm grateful this means I'll be in reach of a Lush store and can treat myself at the same time!

Walkies!

I give thanks that Mia has been on a Sahara trek to raise money for Hospice Care. She's always been a tireless collector and campaigner for worthy causes but she's never donated her energy in this way before, and she's not someone who does a lot of willing walking in the everyday life, so well done her! Seeing the photos reminded me of travelling in the desert south of Ouarzazate so I was grateful for that, and hearing of the preparations reminded me of my own long distance charity walk in Wales and England many years ago - organised without the internet of course which is hard to imagine now... Well done me! (In fact double well done because I managed to spell Ouarzazate without looking it up!). As my sponsored walk was for Band Aid, it's strange that it's been in my mind and then has been in the news again so I also give thanks for the coincidence and all who benefit from giving and receiving in whatever way they can.

I give thanks for a good neighbour tidying up the rubbish left beside the bins and tidying the bins up when they're emptied and left all higgledy piggledy. And for another neighbour good naturedly turning her music down on request. Also for more friendly swapping of goods and services at the library knitting group. I have more cookies than I went with but less jam!

I give thanks for these reflections by women on their toilet facilities around the world.. I give thanks that mine is indoors, inside my door and mostly used just by me... We are most of us more fortunate than we ever take a moment to imagine...

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/in-pictures-30027513

Rubbish!

Yay! I give thanks for last night and this morning feeling better than I have for a couple of weeks. I'm grateful for getting some overdue household tasks done without too much effort including taking a big bag of rubbish out, and for making some tasty pepper, feta and olive pastries. The illusion of healthiness wore off this afternoon, in fact I felt worse than usual, but I was grateful to have a rest by then... and eat them!

I gave thanks for watching Gareth's celebrity Children in Need choir practices - like the special Sewing Bee sessions this year, I enjoyed being able to actually imagine doing what the participants were trying to do!  I give thanks for a hot water bottle to cuddle my kidney and an episode of QI to make me laugh...

Help! Fire!

I was grateful for the surprising sparkle of the stars in yesterday's not yet moonlit sky. And for it being mild enough to have the window open and hear the sounds of the night...except for a noise that woke me up in the wee small hours. I thought it was some large vehicle reversing because there'd be beeps and then an announcement repeated again and again, and it seemed to me to be at first close then further away. But today I see people saying it was something to do with a faulty alarm and the message was telling people to evacuate the building...people from all over the town but none identifying where, so I give thanks for the mystery!

I'm grateful I chose to accept my missions for the morning which included taking some bits to a charity shop and collecting my new little bottle gas fire. It's not heavy but the box was awkward so I gave thanks for the taxi driver holding it for me while I unlocked the downstairs door. I gave thanks for some opportunities to be helpful myself - letting the woman behind me in the Post Office queue go in from as she only wanted a stamp for France and I thought (rightly) getting the package might take longer than that, and also assisting a bemused knitter in choosing some buttons in the wool shop. I'm grateful said wool shop also had, in their rather random stock, just the knitting needle I was needing. I give thanks for not knitting a stitch since I got home though...in fact mostly doing nothing at all...

I'm grateful to the well behaved rain for not falling on me at all, but for the colour of mud and sea and mimosa buds bright outside my window.

Warm orange glow

I'm grateful the orange gaffer tape seems to be holding my broken dress rail together. I'm grateful I've ascertained neither gaffer tape nor glue will fix the mini gas heater (nor pliers turn it on without the knob), but that I've found someone to take it to the dump for me plus a reasonably priced replacement and a reasonably minded eBay trader who agreed to despatch by Royal Mail instead of his usual courier service, so that I can collect it from the post office here. I might do that tomorrow if I've a bit more get up and go...

I'm grateful for bright sunshine giving me some today. It was really hard to move first thing but I thought a scenic bus ride might be pleasant distraction from aches and pains without causing too many more. First choice would have been to go up on the moor, but this time of year, though there's market day buses from there to nearby towns they're going in the wrong direction for a visit. However, thinking of this reminded me that there's one bus a week from the bottom of the road that winds along the opposite bank of the river through narrow twisty lanes and impossibly pretty thatched villages with improbably long names... I was very grateful it was two hours til it departed so there was time to get dressed and go!

I gave thanks for the visual glories of this journey, with the slanting sun on the furrows and folds of the land and the many shades of autumn foliage. And, when I thanked the driver for its delights as I alighted at the bus station, he suggested if I'd time there was another service up to the tor later, and that contrary to popular belief (and most timetables), although the route officially ends at the top the bus doesn't stay there and you can request to come back down to a small town renowned for classy craft shops and cafés and catch a connection back this way. So I got to go through more lanes and villages and up through glowing ancient woodlands onto the moor, beaming with gratitude and gasping (quietly) in awe at the views. I'm grateful I managed not to cry with joy because I know it can make other people feel odd, but to desire something so seemingly simple but simply out of reach, and then find it's not, is the kind of thing that makes me very emotional.

I'm grateful for uplifting music of various kinds to accompany me, from Imee Ooi to Fat Boy Slim via Ladysmith Black Mombazo, for fortuitous finding of tasty refreshments in the perfectly timed intervals between journeys... And for the rain during the last leg (when I could hardly stay awake) starting when the bus pulled away and finishing when it arrived at my stop. I'm grateful I've had nothing to do but lie down for the last couple of hours since I got home and that Mr Tesco has provided supper if I can just get off my bum and heat it up!

Don't diss order

Why don't Buddhists vacuum in corners? Because they have no attachments! I'm a little attached to cleanliness and order, but not to the point where it becomes a disorder, I'm grateful to say, as if I got anxious if things weren't kept clean and tidy life would be pretty difficult these days!

I'm grateful I vacuumed the middle of the living room floor this morning as I wanted to pin some fabric that without attaching carpet dirt to it. And I'm grateful I wrestled the carpet attachment off and put on a little brush just right for getting dust off lampshades and picture rails. Unfortunately after using it my hands were too sore for sewing and most of the afternoon was spent in dozing. I'm grateful those screamy children next door were out!

I'm grateful eventually I pinned and even sewed the seam... And for another nap after that.

I'm grateful after eighteen months of trying to get the dirt and debris strewn around by the ex tenants of upstairs removed, it seems to have been done. And I'm grateful I've not checked the quality of the cleaning in the communal areas today in case I find I want to improve it.

I'm grateful for being able to read the Big Issue in the bath instead of selling it in the rain. Pretty much everyone I know wouldn't envy me where live, but quite a lot of folk I don't know would do.

Accumulation

So...the gist of the Google happiness programme I was talking about yesterday is to practice mindfulness and/or meditation, to take note of happy moments in your day and do, or at least wish, kindness to others... The evidence of its success is anecdotal but suggests the effect is cumulative and, as someone who has been accumulating the effects for some years, I urge you to start at once if you haven't already - because I really do want you to be happy you know!

I was grateful for less pain and more energy this morning so I could take some stuff to the little food bank collection point at the station cafe. All the supermarket ones are at supermarkets it's hard for me to get to, so I save up little light things I find on special offer like cup-a-soup and teabags and take a bag in now and then. Today, getting tired and also about to get wet, I rewarded myself with a cup of tea while I was there...and some chocolate wafers as my potassium levels were so (relatively) good on my latest blood results!

I give thanks for the mild temperatures, being out in the sunshine and also the pouring rain...but not getting cold. For the strange yellow light you get here sometimes when it's stormy at sunset, and the frequent glowing rainbows. For these beautifully glowering clouds...

I'm grateful I had the money to buy a Big Issue and the time to stop for a chat with the seller, and that when I got home I had just enough oomph left to sort out the post and junk mail in the hall, putting the latter in the recycling bins and letters that belong in another letterbox to the one they should be in. I'm grateful for ready chopped stir fry and ready cooked rice and hummous, and being too sore to do anything more than have a long lie down with the TV. All I need now is a masterchef to cook some supper and an obsessive compulsive cleaner to wash up...otherwise I'll be very grateful for crackers and apple and brie!

Curled up

I give thanks for a soothing treatment from Rachel yesterday evening. For a while I completely forgot she was there or that I had needles in various parts of my body...and when I came to I realised I was pretty much lying in savasana so I guess that might have had something to do with it. 

I'd already decided not to go to choir, and after she'd had a cuppa and kindly washed up for me she decided she wasn't either, so continuing in the mood of let's not be bothered I contacted Jenny and said if she didn't want to walk over to mine this morning in the wind and rain she needn't and we all gave thanks for some extra curling up in the warm and dry.

I'm grateful I fondly imagined for a while I'd actually do rather more than that, but in the end, apart from finish the snake to do it with, that was pretty much it for today! 

I give thanks to my downstairs neighbours for letting Ms Tesco in which helped, and for discovering my many times broken dress rail has collapsed again as this means it's far too difficult to the back of the cupboard under the stairs and get my most weatherproof clothes out! I've still got an old curtain pole that would fit in the alcove and might have found someone to make me some ends which 'just' means some sawing and drilling left to allocate. I give thanks for remembering a roll of wide bright orange gaffer tape I found in the road a couple of months ago, coveted and kept. That might effect another temporary repair if I feel a bit more lively tomorrow...

I give thanks for finding out that Google has a 'happiness engineer', and was even more happy when I read this article and found out what they recommend!

http://www.bbc.com/future/story/20141110-googles-algorithm-for-happiness

   

Pretty smelly

I give thanks for a very long lie in... and a very slow getting up to follow. I give thanks for cancelling everything that didn't need to be done and for doing the things that did. It seems I'm going through a phase of having to ask twice so I'm grateful for repeating myself while retaining some pleasantness.

I give thanks for mostly unpacking and for the pretty smelly things I found in my case such as the incense and the patterned tin of vegan cream. I've got as far as opening the packet of the former and putting the tin of the latter on my dressing table though still not lifted the lid... I like to make my pleasures last! Thanks also for my soft and warm new scarf (love the colours even more for being half price!) and for the bath salts that were an unwanted gift for someone else. A fortuitously timed conversation about such things led them to be offered to me  and my fortuitously timed groans at the weight of the jars they were in led to the contents being decanted into takeaway boxes and the containers going to a potter who uses blue glass in her designs.

I give thanks for the bright and beautiful jays in the trees behind the less scenic rubbish bins. For a cheery cabbie and a churning sea. I give thanks for the sound of the wind and waves and rain and that I can stay snug indoors for a day or two now.

Sweetness and light

I'm so grateful I decided to keep a gratitude blog as if it had been any other kind of journal I might have felt moved to have a little rant about some of the situations encountered (and indeed NOT encountered!) over the last two or three hours. I know there's a school of thought about the value of 'getting things off your chest' but in my experience usually the more you remember and recount tales of exasperation and woe the more weight they gain both for you, and sometimes your listeners too.

I give great thanks for a soothing Roobosh and a few episodes of Coach Trip to restore my equilibrium, also for the remaining slices of pizza from a hasty lunch found in the supermarket, prepared and wrapped by John when we included too many very pleasant detours and delays on our 'elevenses' drive today. 

I give thanks for a visit to a fine old Saxon chapel and a Norman Abbey with some of the most delicate stonework I've ever seen, a mighty iron stove and a very well stocked gift shop - I was tempted to make an impulsive purchase there...and gave in! Also for exceedingly delicious cake at an Italian cafe... 

I'm grateful if all goes according to my current plan soon I should be wallowing in bath water...and then snuggling under the covers, and that even if plans go awry, the mere thought of such pleasures is sweet!

Setting off

Woohoo... I give thanks for Cheltenham Round Table firework display! My visit here was timed to coincide with it but, although we've been before and know it can be worth the effort, it did seem like an effort to get wrapped up and brave the crowds and car parking conundrums. I'm very grateful my meteorological manipulation skills meant we didn't have to worry about the weather as, despite a dark and blustery day and early evening showers, it was fairly mild and fair by seven, with a big bright moon peeking between the clouds.

I give thanks that we appealed to just the right marshal for leave to leave the queue of traffic inching towards parking spaces in the distance on the grounds that the distance was just too far for me to walk back to the venue, and that the end of the line he let us squeeze on to turned out to be right by an exit which made for easy exiting afterwards too. I give thanks that as we inched our own way through milling crowds, unaware of the best place to stand for the best view we came upon a good sized space that turned out to be in just the right place to watch the main display and lots of littler ones going on on the hillside behind. I give thanks for some wonderful fireworks, some of which were new to me set to music too which is always sets them off a treat I think...

Burning bright

I always wake gratefully from a needed nap but even more so when someone else is up first, making some tea and attending to other necessary tasks. What a treat to be looked after for a couple of days, though I'm grateful I did make my own cuppa first thing today - be a shame to get home and find I've forgotten how!

I give thanks for a pretty drive through dripping autumn scenery to Prinknash Abbey, somewhere I've always wanted to go, not least to buy some of their delicious incense. It's years since I first encountered it, and I didn't realise it came in different blends... I chose Basilica. Much thanks for hot drinks and delicious cake in the cafe there as well, and the beautiful mural in the peaceful chapel there which reminded me of Lynd Ward's illustrations in the Cat Who Went to Heaven. And then I was grateful for remembering that!

I give thanks for the yummiest cauliflower cheese for an early tea and then a drive out to a local school's bonfire and fireworks display. It wasn't the most designed display I've ever seen (several times we thought it was over whilst at the end we didn't realise it had finished as there were a few random smaller ones after the bigger rockets, so we were particularly grateful for driving towards a rather grander finale somewhere else on the way home. And I'm grateful for finally finishing writing my blog now we're home and frequently distracted by all the other ones going off around the neighbourhood.

Break time

I give thanks for the smell of onions frying...especially when it's not your face over the pan! That's two teas being cooked for me this week, which even though one of them was merely boiled eggs and toast is definitely something to be grateful for!

I give thanks for getting up and ready in time for the taxi that was on time to catch the train that was on time too. And for the kind passenger who offered to carry my suitcase up the station stairs as the lift was out of order and when I 'asked for assistance' (as per the poster) the member of staff I asked said he'd find someone and went off and did and then the two of them walked past me and up the stairs without giving me any help at all.

I give thanks for the trolley coming round with a cup of tea just when I'd begun to think I'd have to go without... And for the trolley having a very tasty cookie to go with it!

I give thanks that I'm at John and Jo's with a hotty botty and central heating and don't, for now, need to concern myself with the fact that last night I broke the knob on my little gas heater for the bathroom.

Seeing the lights

I give thanks for an early night last night using the 'sofa' for its original purpose as a bed, and dozing with a book, the TV and an ethical conundrum that I'm grateful I finally got my head around... I give thanks for lying in very late into the day today...

I'm very grateful that, though the tights I collected yesterday were brilliant. the t-shirt I'd also brought home to try on was no good and needed to be taken to the Post Office for returning, otherwise I wouldn't have been going anywhere...

I give thanks for realising if this time of year I want to do some sewing and have to go out I need to do the sewing first to make the most of the light...both in the sense of daylight for sewing and light like this for being out! I love to see the moon shining on the sea but I usually do when it's darker, and I'm at home. Much gratitude for this delightful variation...

I give thanks for the rather astonishingly helpful arrivals of buses and that, though going out again to another organised display tonight is beyond me, I get to see so many fireworks, and even bonfires and sparklers from my kitchen window...all under the sparkly Plough!

Bright intervals

I'm grateful for having to go for more blood tests today as on a day when you really feel like staying in bed it's good if something stops you. I'm grateful that I had a couple of Click and Collect items to pick up from Tesco because being at the doctor's means being by the bus stop on the route that takes you there, and I'm grateful there was time to sort out a prescription muddle at the pharmacy before one came along.

There's other shops near the big Tesco but I was grateful they all seemed too far away today because not going in shops can help you not buy things I find! I was grateful to slowly make my way round a few aisles of the store though, and find a couple of bargains of the edible and freezable variety.

I'm grateful for watching the changing sky wintry blue to dark with rain and back... And for missing being outdoors during the showers! I'm grateful for my beautiful shapely bottle of clementine fragranced and coloured Method washing up liquid. I also have an orange plastic bowl, and between them they certainly brighten up the washing up...

The brightest thing of all today, however, is the light on the landing since our new window was fitted while I was out. It's been a long slog to get this done...very nearly a year with many emails, letters and documents diligently produced and sent. I walked up the stairs and for a moment thought I was in the wrong building! A much nicer building I might add...

On the other foot

I give thanks for a couple of Paracetamol to help me sleep, for a neighbour's music for waking me and another neighbour's dog for barking me out of bed... I give thanks for a meditate in between!

I give thanks for less pain today so that I'm more able to manage basic tasks and that I've washed my hair which feels lovely for being clean. I'm more tired than yesterday which is frustrating because yesterday I was frustrated by being full of creative energy and unable to wield so much as a pin...let alone a knitting pin. I give thanks for the chance to contemplate that physical suffering brings, the chance to consider what matters to us and why. It all comes down to desire of course, but sometimes figuring where the desire comes from and how it's fuelled is a useful step to overcoming the urge to fulfill it.

I give thanks for making it late to the library but not too late for a cup of tea and a natter. I give thanks for a delightful delay on my journey placing an order for some handmade boots which will include some extra toe room for my difficult ones. This makes them sound surgical and unappealing but they are going to be much prettier than that in purple, burgundy and dark green leather!

I give thanks the book I ordered for Biddy was waiting for me at the PO, and that she was at the group and pleased to receive it. I give thanks for the gift of a crochet eyeball from her! Also for agreeing to swap the knitting of a pair of socks for a steamer I can no longer use. I'd already asked the Jenny who loves knitting socks if she'd mind doing some for me and she'd agreed, and thought it was a different conversation when I asked if someone wanted the steamer...but it turned out she most enthusiastically did, so much gratitude for the serendipitous symmetry of the situation as well.

I give thanks for remembering this sculpture I saw last week that just proves sometimes a fish just does...

Tonight

Gee, I'm grateful I had no idea how much pain would follow a little light housework and gentle pottering to and from bus stops yesterday or I probably wouldn't have done them - which would have a shame because I was grateful for the other consequences and the activities didn't hurt at the time!

I'm grateful I've no one's else's expectations to meet, no one needing me to do anything for them or with them, or to be upset to see me struggling. I'm grateful sometimes I even manage not to expect much of myself, though I'm grateful for struggling too - that my default setting is to keep attempting things believing if I try a bit harder or longer, or start again after a rest or a cup of tea I might do better, because often it seems to be true...

Today I've been grateful for accepting its limits though, for appreciating stillness and very limited activity is all that can be. I'm grateful for a long soothing soak in the bath. For sleeping. For having crumpets and leftover odds and ends to eat. For a variety of TV  from Coach Trip catch up to David Attenborough's new wildlife series, and this interesting and uplifting insight into what happiness is and how to have more http://www.itv.com/news/2014-10-23/tonight-is-britain-happy/

Water borne

I'm grateful for cleaning the loo... Always a joy to have that done! I'm grateful for getting a couple more overdue household chores done so that the place looks a little less freshly ransacked and strewn with papers and garments and crumbs...

I'm grateful for garlic and herb roulade... Also always a joy and especially at half price!

I'm grateful for an alert to an imminent wardrobe malfunction when departure was not so imminent that I didn't have time to make the necessary changes. I get a few false alarms, but the alarms that cannot be ignored give me at most a couple of minute's warning which can make it difficult to calmly go through life going with the flow...I'm grateful for my perseverance.

I'm grateful I went to the local bonfire and associated delights. I prefer to do crowds with chums but I've run out of locals to ask to join me for firework things so I was delighted the evening was so balmy it would have been barmy to stay indoors! I'm grateful for looking in the lit windows of the houses over the river - like a fancy interiors magazine come to life it was.

I'm grateful I resisted the urge for a hash brown earlier because I had a feeling there might be some potato based diet breaking opportunity and there was...tartiflette! Mmmhmm, if I die of a heart attack in the night at least my tummy was happy first! I give thanks I resisted further sin in the form of hot chocolate, and that I took the ferry back in the dark - something I've always wanted to do.