Pillow talk

I give thanks for a camera shy but pretty red sky on Saturday night...foretelling a wet grey Sunday afternoon maybe? Mmm, I give thanks for a wet grey Sunday afternoon just right for curling up on the sofa with a DVD!

I give thanks for taste bud delight that was a Higgidy spinach, feta and toasted pine nut pie. I've never had a Higgidy pie before this one, found reduced a while back and lurking in the freezer since. I had thought I might serve it as part of a meal to share some time but oh I'm so grateful I didn't and could eat it all myself!

I give thanks for seeing what exciting lives other people have been leading via their Facebook profiles...and to know the ones not on there have been having an even happier time! I give thanks that Jared and Tara's wedding looked such a splendid and happy occasion.

I give thanks for finishing my second lush and lovely duvet cover so that I can wash the first, and getting on with turning the left over fabric into either new pillow cases and or trimmings for old ones. I give thanks for feeling a bit more healthy today but funnily enough now I've stopped sewing the idea of an early night appeals. Wonder why?

Only me

I give thanks for all the Bank Holiday busyness, and that I'm not required to join in but can do what I'm so much better at, and stay home alone... There are times when solitary living, not getting out much, hardly ever having visitors and rarely even chatting on line suits me just fine, but I'm grateful most people I know have such much more connected lives, as I think many would find it hard.

I give thanks for an unusually peaceful day on the terrace. I give thanks for sleeping and thinking, and not thinking too; for reading an excellent book and watching an excellent film; for finding the energy for a little sewing and knitting, and finding simple but tasty things to eat. I give thanks for some of the compilations on distractify for making me laugh out loud, and remembering the pair of buzzards putting on their own air display last week as we sat on the hill waiting for planes.

Humour me

I'm grateful for bright sunshine, and for pretty patterns of clouds. I'm grateful for my snuggle downy quilt and lean on me mattress.

I'm grateful for remembering that though this new treatment makes me feel a bit like chemo, it's not! I'm grateful for a long lie in and trying to read a great book very slowly...

I'm grateful for making it outdoors in time to pick up and process a prescription, and for finding some things in town to send to Calais for people less fortunate than I.

I'm grateful for finding the new Greek deli is open and sampling the first few of its delicious meat free wares. I'm grateful I don't suffer from chicken karma (this is my favourite new 'joke' at the moment - humour me!)

I'm grateful for this project and these photos. I always advise people not to read 'comments' as they are so often so full of anger, aggression and bigotry...but read the first one, and maybe be moved as I was.

http://www.boredpanda.com/cameras-homeless-london-my-calendar-cafe-art/

Poor me

I've been in so much pain the last twenty four hours, and so grateful that though part of it is due to having miserable things the matter with me, the other part is due to doing nice things yesterday!

I'm grateful for getting my earplugs in early to soften the sounds of neighbourly discontent, and for remembering to have compassion for the suffering souls around me. I may be poor in wealth and health, in tangible resources and visible support, but I have more of an abundance of richness inside my mind and heart than almost anyone I know, and I'm grateful I know how fortunate I am.

I'm grateful for a soothing soak in my deep bath, and for unmetered water which might be pricy but which might as well be used. I'm grateful for an early night and a long lie in. I'm grateful for attending to various medical matters including giving myself my first unsupervised Epo injection which I found quite scary and thus had to delay as you have to make sure your blood pressure is low first. I'm grateful I know it will probably get easier...maybe I'll even get the hang of opening the packet ;-)

I'm grateful for knitting a couple of squares, for getting the most essential cleaning done and for keeping myself fed. I'm grateful I'm only cooking for one - meals as dire as I've produced the last couple of days should definitely be kept to oneself!

Get it while you can

I'm grateful I had a plan for today...it was the plan I had for yesterday but yesterday was having none of it. Today it seemed impossible too but parts of it were time specific and with a day reserved for medical matters tomorrow, time was running out. So I'm grateful for splitting it into a challenge at a time, starting with getting out of bed to make a cup of tea, and then getting out of bed again to have a shower and gradually getting there.

I'm grateful for public transport not being utterly unmanageable, though it tried a bit now and then! I'm grateful for the weather being most amenable and for tomatoes to look at while I ate my lunch as that's as looking is as near as I'm supposed to get... I'm grateful I gave up trying to upload the phone photo onto my blog via my new laptop as there seems to a be a few things to do with photos on there I just don't yet get either. (But I may just have succeeded via Google Drive and my tablet... I'm grateful I think so for now anyhow!) 

I'm grateful the film I wanted to see was worth it.. it's very rare for me to go to a cinema tempted by a new release and the last time two or three years ago I wished I hadn't been! I'm grateful for all the little extra delightful sights like a little rainbow patch in a grey cloud (twice!) and a sign outside a shop for half price essential oil of rosewood. Rosewood... I know! Half price... I know! It was old stock found stashed above the shop that used to be there called Evolution. It's now got an R in front of the sign. I'm grateful for that too! 

Preferential treatment

Ooh yes... Hot buttered crumpet and conserve in bed for breakfast! Oh no... Hot buttered crumpet and conserve actually in the bed! I'm grateful this quick turnaround of opinion of a situation is still making me chuckle out loud hours later! I'm grateful my Buddhist tendencies help me understand how pointless our preferences are, how counterproductive to anything touching on happiness... but I still give thanks that so many of my clumsy mishaps make me laugh, as there are so many in my days.

I'm grateful for an often dark day weather wise, just right for me as I've been in an advanced state of zombie (the hair is particularly convincing!) and not up to doing a lot except essential chores and equally essential snoozing. I'm grateful for leftovers and an appetite, for a little knitting done before my arms and hands became too sore, a little sewing on the machine before sitting up and paying attention became too much of a chore. I'm grateful for shelter from the elements, furniture and furnishings, appliances (medical and domestic!), internet, recorded TV, books and earplugs...but most of all I'm grateful for being grateful!

Gifts

I give thanks for sleeping unusually late and discovering, when I woke, I'd been doing it without earplugs despite a considerable amount of neighbourhood noisiness. Still in bed after my tea and toast, I gave thanks for one of those astonishing patches of peacefulness, considering getting up and doing the annoyingly noisy things I do while everyone was out before deciding to meditate instead. You don't need to be in a special position or place to meditate, but a quiet one makes it so much nicer!

I give thanks for the money for a cab to knitting and a bit of a friendly natter. I give thanks for a bagful of butter biscuits fresh from Brittany for me and a watch from Mima for my Kidney Research donations. I give thanks for some carryable Co-op bargains for the food bank, and for hearing of Linda's involvement in collection for the women and children camped at Calais which has set my mind wondering what I can donate to them. It's always a gift when you're given an opportunity to give, isn't it?

I give thanks for feeling unusually well for a while later this afternoon. This meant I could walk a bit faster than normal and, as it meant I also felt like singing while I did, passing people more quickly was probably a gift to them as well... I give thanks for the newsagent opening up his closed shop so that I could pick up a parcel, for the bus driver sticking to the timetable so that I had time to get some eggs, and for the reduced to 40p gluten free cupcake from the health food shop being delicious!

Little else

I'm grateful for the luscious sound of heavy rain when you are snug and dry inside. I'm grateful the sun came out, for those who wanted to be out too.

I'm grateful for having little I really had to do today but rest, and for managing to achieve a little of that. I'm grateful for quite convenient ingredients to make meals with like dried pasta and ready made hummus so I don't have to live on things straight out of a plastic tray. I'm grateful for starting my second duvet cover and for almost finishing the washing up. I'm grateful I'm better at naps than doing nothing.

I'm grateful for the pretty pink sky and sea tonight...

Retrospective

I'm grateful for all of it - the sunshine and the rain, the walking, the waiting, the burning, the chills...even for the creaking and groaning around my flat in the aftermath of pain. I'm grateful for all the rearrangements of arrangements for the day, the un-co operative phones, the traffic jams, the buses eventually getting there...and back! I'm grateful for sitting on a hillside chatting with people I like, eating food I like, enjoying the glorious surroundings of this place I've made my home, and for laughing in awe and delight with complete strangers at the extra thrill the increased height gives to attending an air display.

I'm grateful for not bothering too much with trying to take photos...which means with the attempt to success ratio I only got a couple I liked and one of them was of the boats in the bay! I'm grateful for discovering the guys we thought weren't particularly "tidy" were on their debut formation display so that now I can give them massive retrospective respect they deserved...

I'm grateful for packing everything I needed including a scarf to lend someone I knew and a brolly to lend someone I didn't. I'm grateful for saving a snail from its suicide mission to cross the pavement and road. Actually, thinking about it now, I hope it wasn't cross at my thwarting its free will!

I'm grateful for more hugs and expressions of appreciation of my friendship in the last couple of days than I usually get in months. I'm grateful for the effects of the extra oxytocin!

Goodness gracious me

I give thanks for the taking the time to be kind when I felt like being mean. Humans have a tremendous capacity to perceive their ways of behaving as OK, and it's not for me to pass judgement on the ones I could possibly perceive as wrong...but oh my goodness I give thanks for opportunities to avoid the ones I struggle with, and for finding graciousness when I can't.

I give thanks for a walk in the rain which I always enjoy when there'll be a chance to get warm and dry at the end. I give thanks for a steel band on the Triangle (and for upper case letters to make that sentence make sense!) and a brief encounter with the lovely Lisa - one of those precious people who always get a hug in their eyes when they see me coming! I give thanks for a nimble cab driver getting me home through the cloggiest traffic. I give thanks for Co op Taste the Difference smoked haddock cheese sauce fishcakes and coleslaw, conveniently delicious! I give thanks for a Tesco delivery and the great treat that is simply good fresh bread and good butter.

I give thanks for a great friend who happens to be a great acupuncturist and loads more hugs this afternoon.

I give thanks for remaining flexible through the last few days' many twists and turns and remembering the beauty of simply being there on Wednesday.

Something to draw on

I give thanks for my brief adventure in another country...just long enough to get supplies from for the return, peak piningly at Los Picos and slurp a nata and nueces from my favourite ice cream vendor outside of Devon. On arrival I always find myself giving astonished thanks thinking 'Good heavens (or words to that effect!) I'm still here and still here!'...ie. not dead nor on dialysis.

I give thanks for an exhausted early retreat to my cabin with my trusty travel kettle. I give thanks I was already crying when I spilt the milk as it made me laugh instead! I give thanks for no signal or connection at a time when I felt the need for a friend...so no one had to feel the need to come up with something appropriate to say. I give thanks I give myself such excellent advice and support anyway...

I give thanks for a foggy day - always helps me to see clearly. There are a lot of things in my life I would choose to be different if I could but I can't, and I'm grateful I can still make good choices about the ones that are left. I'm grateful I've encountered so many grumblers today to remind me to be grateful I don't. Oh, and for the silent man filling a notebook with clever swift pen sketches of what drew his eye. I didn't speak to him. He was even better at creating a 'don't' zone than I am...respect!

I give thanks for some fellow travellers sharing a cab and a neighbour I don't know giving me a lift up the hill when she saw me struggling. I'm grateful I spotted my new duvet cover waiting to cuddle me when I came through the door...

Not at the helm

I give thanks for the great green safari of the slow train to Portsmouth. Actually there's three so the biggest gratitude of all is that you don't have to change platforms but can use your energy for livestock and wildlife spotting - suckling calf, curly coated young alpaca, shire and Shetland,  black mules and red deer.

I give thanks for waters so still a couple of times in the night I wondered if we were moving, for a glorious dawn colouring the sea, for breakfast with dolphins, afternoon sun hot enough to get my skin out and a diet rich in French patisserie. But most of all I give thanks for not having to steer the ship of my life for a couple of days.

Journey woman

I'm grateful for waking up full of fernweh today...it's not the same as energy but it helps you on a journey almost as much. I'm grateful I'm still here on my journey and still trying to be elsewhere.

I'm grateful my horoscope said I should feel adventurous and ready to move forward and that the rail strikes have been scheduled to miss my travelling days.

I'm grateful for sunshine, and for being optimistic about seats because though fernweh will get you to the cab to get you to the station, it's rubbish if the train is crowded and you have to stand!

Wherever I lay my head

Well I'm sure I would have benefited from an acupuncture treatment today but, as Rachel couldn't come,  I'm grateful I've benefited from extra nap time instead. I'm grateful for eventually getting out to do the things that had to be done there, and for the holidaymakers leaving me a little bit of sunshine and an empty seat to rest on.

I'm grateful that though when I came home it was noisy with neighbours enjoying the weather too, by the time I'd snuggled down on the sofa for a snooze it was quiet.

I'm grateful for the first pillowcase revamping finished and on a pillow ready for my head... I'm grateful for finding a misplaced bus pass and a misplaced £20 note...

I'm grateful for getting few other jobs done while I've been writing ..and a few more said 'Oh sod it! to... I'm grateful this time tomorrow I should be miles away from housework, cooking and washing up!

Pretty pooped

I'm grateful they told me that this new treatment might make me feel worse before I get better, as I can feel a bit sorry for myself in my even more feeble than usual state instead of just accepting it as normal, which it probably actually is! I'm grateful for over fourteen hours in bed which my body enjoyed but not my mind which kept reminding my body about all things it needed to do instead.

I'm grateful for having things to do today for other people today as well as for myself, and I'm grateful for people doing things for me such as chauffeuring from Jenny, the gift of a pretty flowering plant from Biddy...and poo shoe cleaning and mugs of tea from Julie!

I'm grateful for making a start on the thing I've been trying to get to for days - making pillowcases to match my quilt cover by adding leftover pieces of fabric to spare ready made ones I have.

I'm grateful for coming across and using the right La Redoute codes to get a couple of things I coveted at a better price than listed - including more of the bedding I cut and sewed up differently  to make the first duvet cover as I can see I'm going to want another one similar for when it's in the wash!

Parked

I give thanks I am parked on my sofa in front of the TV after another busy day. I give thanks that the afternoon was slightly strenuous in a slightly sociable way - out pottering around scenic flat walking places with Laura and Chumba, and even walking a little here and there! I give thanks for places to park our wheels and our bums! And for the remarkably non timid deer standing close by the fence calmly waiting for the next photographer to poke their camera through... I did poke my camera through but I thought it was more interesting to show you a picture showing you how close! It's not often you make eye contact with a deer!

I give thanks for tea and cake in the sunshine, and for fish and chips to share on the back beach before we came home. I give thanks we live surrounded by so many lovely places to go and for the treat of going to them in a car with a good friend and a favourite furry one.

I give thanks there's no need to cook, and therefore no need to wash up after!

Flower bed

I'm grateful for my deep soaky bath, and my welcoming bed...for waking in the night to the sound of heavy rain and turning over under my light soft duvet. And after being mistress of the puniverse well into the afternoon, I'm grateful the thought of trying to fit all I needed to get done into tomorrow finally got me moving today...

I give thanks they didn't have what I wanted in the Co op so that I had to go to Waitrose instead - and that I live somewhere with two supermarkets within walking distance of each other. I was even more grateful they had what I wanted in Waitrose of course, including a neighbour to share the cab home with!

I'm grateful I've almost finished my new duvet cover - I didn't get the popper tape until this afternoon and I'm much too tired to sew it on now but also too tired to take it off the bed again (let alone start the pillowcases) so think I'll be sleeping under it as it is tonight...I'm grateful for new earplugs and books as well...tempting just to go straight away!

Spot on

I give thanks for rising to the challenges of a hospital appointment. Seriously folks, it's much easier to be ill if you're well and maybe don't try to travel by public transport on wet days when there are not enough seats or even carriages on the trains, and the buses are secretly rerouted so as to avoid the place you're waiting completely...and lack drivers when you find them!

I give thanks for my cagoule, my Walkman, my sense of humour and of wonder at so many sights I see, for my resilience and resourcefulness, and independent spirit that means despite all the delays and difficulties I'm still grateful I didn't take the 'easy' way and get volunteer transport instead.

I'm grateful for getting a pot of Sacred Truth, and a carrot cake lunch in a wholefood cafe which I certainly wouldn't have been able to do if I had, and for staying late after my appointment to get some on the spot EPO treatment which might have been tricky if I had too. Oh, and I'm grateful I learnt how to self administer it which I'd been quite nervous about but which wasn't hard at all.

I'm grateful for running into an old friend in just the spot I was supposed to eight months ago only he didn't show up... I'm grateful for the confused raindrops trying to run down the front bus windows but also being swept back up as we picked up speed - mesmerising! I'm grateful for pasta with leeks and mushrooms in cream cheese and pesto sauce cooked while typing this, and for the water heating up for my bath while I eat it.

10-10

Today I've mostly been grateful for patches of wellness and energy to get on with a few tasks long languishing on the to do list...oh, and for the resting in between! But a list of little chores doesn't make for interesting reading, and instead of making you also feel grateful for being strong enough to get on with your own, it might result in you dwelling on undone deeds instead so I'll leave that topic there.

I give thanks for the pearly pink sky and sea last night, and the bright green bug on the outside of my window after dark. I give thanks for finally getting round to watching Life of Pi (thank you 4HD!), an astonishing feast for the eyes and an astonishing patch of neighbourhood evening peace to enjoy it in. I give thanks for my refurbished Windows 8 laptop arriving on the very day the Windows 10 rollout started so that I could move slowly on. Oh, and for Amazon starting that 3 books for £10 offer again - it really is £10 including p&p and there are some good reads that aren't generally available second hand for a penny!

Floats my boat

I give thanks that my dinner dish last night didn't turn out as planned as the sauce under the crumble soaked into the things in it...but when the things are chunks of leek, mushroom and quorn and the sauce is made from cream cheese, oat cream and smoked garlic paste that's not necessarily a bad thing! I give thanks for Rachel's kindness and comprehension....

I give thanks for the beautiful light grey murkiness of the afternoon so that the boats on the sea seemed to be floating on cloud instead of water. I give thanks for space between the tourists for locals to stop and chat.

I give thanks for my second hand from Ebay shoes very like my red ones only avocado green, and only £2.50 + postage. I give thanks that charity shops will benefit from a couple of other pairs that won't get a look in now!

I give thanks my blood tests results are not as bad as I feared and I can concentrate on looking forward to a couple of days away, a couple of days out and a proper night out (ie. camping not clubbing)...but not all at the same time ;-)

Half baked

Well I'm glad I'm home...That outside world thingy is very hard work! I'm grateful to Jenny for a lift to and from knitting, and for realising I could actually just about make it down the hill to meet her and collect some bulky items that wanted to come home with me. I'm grateful for copious seating so that copious resting could occur in between picking up said items, and for managing to arrive at our meeting place at exactly the same time as I couldn't have walked a step further carrying them or not. ..

Oh, and the speed I was moving I was grateful the rain had stopped too of course! I'm grateful for tea and biscuits and light heartded chatter reviving me a little.

I'm grateful I half made today's tea yesterday, and as it's a make it up with what you got recipe as long as it's edible no one's to say if it's turned out right or wrong. I'm grateful Rachel is coming to treat me and can treat me to a boiled egg as well if it's so wrong it's not edible at all!

Five asides

Hmm...what have I given thanks for today? Well, I was kept awake by interesting thoughts not pain and that's something to be grateful for I think...oh, and managing to shut myself in the bedroom without the angry fly that had been following me around all evening managing to sneak through the door as well...

I give thanks for a long lie in, and for a pigeon posting a feather through my open window. I'm grateful the sun went in so the outside was easier to ignore on all levels... and for catching up with some household chores. I'm grateful now the rug is clean I can show off how my blanket is progressing - slowly but satisfyingly!

I'm grateful for a lazy afternoon catching up with snoozes and watching an excellent film that I was recommended to record late last night...and for noticing when I turned the TV to do this that something else recommended was randomly about to start and ripe for recording too. 

Not so madding

I give thanks it's been such lovely weather today - great for the tourists and far too nice for locals to stay at home as well. So quite why so many with homes near me chose to stay in them I'm not sure...

I'm grateful for feeling mostly too lethargic to care about all the aural intrusions and that they were mostly people having fun by the sounds of it. And I'm grateful that when the various noises got too noisy to ignore, I found enough energy for the distraction of a little cutting and stitching of what will become my new duvet cover - eventually!

I'm grateful for the golden evening light on the leaves...

I'm grateful for a long conversation with the weather god. No, not myself, I'm not so mad as to talk to myself out loud for hours - the other weather god. You thought I was the only one? Yep me too...and so did he! I'm grateful the universe is full of surprise...

Silly season

Feeling particularly rough today I was grateful to find my appointment card and realise my bloods were supposed to be done yesterday. Normally I say I'll remember, and do, but I made the mistake of letting someone write it down so my brain thought it was off duty. I'm grateful they could squeeze me in today anyway, because I know it's important, but still it would have been nicer to stay in bed and not prove how poorly I am.

I'm grateful it was sunny and warm...and amusing to watch the tourists arrive at the sea front with all their kit and realise the tide was in and there was nowhere to put it. I'm grateful I know I'm not nice sometimes...and to get a ride back with a cab driver equally frazzled by the seasonal increase in population.

I'm grateful I ordered the wrong earplugs after throwing away the sample the packet of the best ones I've ever tried and wanting to order more...because I could offer them to a neighbour who has issues with pigeons.

I'm grateful for an afternoon in bed snoozing to the sound of angle grinders, strimmers and small children who make me grateful I'm not a grandmother. I give thanks for laughing out loud at silly things on distractify.com and similar sites. I give thanks I have no one to tempt my jaded appetite with light refreshments, as clearly if I want them I can't be very ill. I'm grateful I know I'm probably kidding myself... I've had years of practice after all.

Fly by day

I give thanks for the doziest of days, and that it hasn't mattered. I give thanks that most of the neighbourhood noise was mostly further away than it sometimes is.

I give thanks for changing my Facebook befriending option from 'friends of friends' to 'everyone' so Liz could, and thus seeing the photo that explains why people who don't know us well get us muddled (if they could see the way our timelines are both full of water and sky that might muddle them too!) I give thanks for later getting a message from someone I didn't know and thinking 'Ah, random people will contact me now...' before discovering it was a friend of a friend, albeit one not physically here any more.

I give thanks for rescuing a spider and releasing a buzzy bothersome fly. I give thanks for the washing machine doing the washing, and for being mostly vegetarian so that leftovers last a long time!

Matchwork

I give thanks for realising at the end of yesterday how busy I'd actually been, and for pain killers helping me to sleep quite well as well. Even when my joints wake me up in the night it's so much more comfy to rearrange my limbs now I've only down on top and I'm very grateful for that

I give thanks for a very jolly gathering of ladies who lurch. No it's not a typo no matter how much my fingers do...

I give thanks to Jenny for a lift home afterwards with a collection of packages including a self assembly duvet cover - or fabric as it's commonly known. I give thanks for the 'live' facility on my camera which reproduces colours pretty well and that they are colours that will look good together, and together with what's in my bedroom now...

I give thanks for bits of this and that to put together an easy supper, for a grey drizzly happy to stay at home evening, and loads of catch up TV to catch up on.

Trickled pink (and green)

I give thanks I'm clearly not an old dog as I've just learned a new trick! I give thanks to Youtube for showing me how to line a sleeveless top properly, which as a self taught sewer I've never quite got my head round and which is no wonder if you don't already know and look at this to find out!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rTO5ihqW5cE

Yes, it would be better if I'd used the old trick of stay stitching as it's stretched a little on the curves but there's been precious few sun top wearing days so far this year and if there's another I shall wear it contentedly regardless. I give thanks I know that much as I would like to blame wanting to be quiet for the neighbours and not operating the machine too much, leaving out this step was more a case of wanting to rush ahead and see if I could do it before the oomph of motivation and energy ran out.

I give thanks for finding a silk sari on ebay a while back as a source for the main fabric, and some soft fine cotton mull on line to line it...and for working out a pattern that shows plenty of skin without being unseemly for a women of advancing years ;-)

Seasonal bulbs

I'm grateful I made tonight's tea yesterday as I was too tired to cook this evening... It's a shame I didn't write today's blog post then as well, as now I've eaten it I'm having great trouble staying awake!

I'm grateful that despite the pain and fatigue I've actually been feeling quite well the last week or so. Of course this does lead to more doing things and thus more pain and fatigue, but I'd rather that than the alternatives. I'm grateful to Jenny for giving me a lift to and fro from knitting, and for managing to do a bit of knitting for the first time since last week as well as joining in the natter. I'm grateful we haven't scared off our new lady Jemima, and for seeing more of Dorothy as she's able to get out more with her husband in hospital. I'm grateful he's in hospital here as it's easier for her to visit him and I'm grateful we still have a hospital...

I'm grateful for settling on summer in the duvet department so that I can stop making beds for a while...and climbing ladders to get to the shelf where out of season bed things are stored. Well, except for changing light bulbs that is. What it's called when all your light bulbs start giving out at the same time? Oh yes... inconvenient! I'm grateful some are in places I can manage to replace myself, and that for some of them I actually have replacements.

Boot camp

I'm grateful the film I chose to watch last night was more special effects than subtle muttered plot line. Actually they were really rather good special effects (including baseball boots with wings!) so I'm grateful I thought to save it and to save up for wireless headphones... I'm grateful others have more going on in their lives than I do, but I do prefer not to have the TV sound turned up to drown out the sound of it. I'm grateful I got to bed early, and to sleep quickly with earplugs in, and the gulls woke me up before the humans got started so that when all creatures were quiet again I could have my first nap before my second breakfast!

I'm grateful for summoning phases of energy for an afternoon and evening of intermittent busyness - changing the bedding over to summer as I've decided spring and autumn is too hot, laundry, paperwork, postbox and recycling bin visiting, ironing, cooking for one and washing up for what seems like a dozen. Guess it's no wonder I get grumpy listening to other people having more fun, but I'm grateful I know it's up to me to work on my attitude not up to them to stop. I am a work in progress...

Settle down now

Predictably (if you have a pure down duvet), I've spent a lot of time underneath it being very grateful since it finally made it on to the bed last night. Being so light it's technically much easier for feeble people to get out from underneath... but still feeling extra feeble from the effort of getting the box home last week I gave thanks for how easy it was to snuggle back underneath too! I probably can't really remember what it's like to be kissed all over but I'm grateful I now think I can...

I give thanks it stayed clear to view the loomy moon last night, and to try zooming in with my camera for the first time...and be pleased. But I also give thanks it's not been as bright and sunny as predicted today so resting seemed a good use of a few hours, and I give thanks for doing a few more obviously useful things too, including the rather strenuous one finding space for the discarded bed coverings until they can find new permanent homes... before just popping back to check that quilt was good to snooze on top of too!

I give thanks for finally stirring, wondering what I could have for tea and remembering getting a handful of fresh basil in my travels yesterday. Even a non domestic goddess (I do weather - remember?) can rustle up something tasty with some of that plus feta, red onion, pepper, tomato, olive and ready made puff pastry. Just right for settling down with a movie I think, don't you?