Fire

I give thanks my sense of taste and appetites remain undiminished. For the constant mental challenge of thinking of what to eat I'm allowed to....that should help keep dementia at bay! I'd already decided on porridge this morning, and I give thanks for coming up with the idea of having it 'plain' but topped with some jam I bought a while back which hadn't impressed me enough for toast or crumpets. It's perfectly fine on porridge!

My hands being sore after all that stitching, I give thanks for eventually struggling into my big coat and boots (and I do mean struggle!) and going out to the big recycling bins...and then to sight of the sea. Wind nearly blew me over a couple of times, and of course I'm grateful it didn't, but I also enjoyed the thrill of feeling the power of its tug...

I give thanks for a large late lunch, including double helpings of pudding. A couple of times lately I'd really have given thanks for central heating, but when the switch on my big living room heater broke this afternoon I could wheel the little bedroom one in instead, and was grateful for mobile, if less impressive warmth. I figured I could maybe buy a replacement in town here but I couldn't face going out again or the challenge of getting it home if I did, so I gave thanks for an a bowl of extra calories. With a hot water bottle and a quilt and I was soon cosy...and fast asleep!

Drive

I've not had much today... I give thanks for reminding myself it doesn't matter! I give thanks for a medium lie in with a novel. It might have been longer if I hadn't come to a bit where the coroner's report said the victim wasn't drunk as had been thought, but incoherent because his kidneys had packed up! That made me put it down and put some clothes on instead. Let me know if you don't know what I'm on about, right? Well, if it's more than usual, you know...

The jury's out as to whether I'm l grateful for this or not, but I still like to feel I've achieved something with a day, and looking back I give thanks for deciding making kefir pancakes (nice, but would have been even better with maple syrup!), finishing stitching the metallic outline to my moon and hooking a few rows of rag rug was a passable tally.

I give thanks for the wonderful colours earlier this evening. I aso looking at the late sun dazzling on the windows opposite, the still blue sky and little puffs of cloud and thinking 'There's snow in that light'. And sure enough by the time I walked to other side of the building a large grey yellow mass was approaching with a few minutes' proper job blizzard for us. And then after that there were pink clouds and icing sugar rooftops and the lime of the mimosa blossom still bright as darkness fell.

Ghost town

I give thanks for big waves and tiny snow flakes! For the sun shining on headlands along the bay... For having such a backlog of things to do in town I had to go out despite my reluctance or I'd have missed these sources of delight.

I give thanks everywhere was quiet so it didn't take long to shop and the for the people I met in and around the shops being so jolly. I give thanks I'm allowed tortilla chips, and bought a bag, as I needed a long rest and a quick nibble before I finished making tea.

Here comes the sun

I give thanks for taking the plunge and cutting out pieces of sun today...and for thinking it looks pretty good! I give thanks for doing some couching too. For those not familiar with needlework terms this is a process that may well take place on upholstered furniture, but is actually an embroidery stitch! Clearly it's a very simple one as I simply can't see clearly nowadays...(and have never been very skilled at embroidery anyway) but it's not proving as hard as I feared it might be and is a soothing way to pass a chilly afternoon with a play on the radio and a plum crumble baking in the oven.

Tired today, I give thanks for not pushing myself very hard...but for ticking off everything on my short mental to do list anyway. For giving myself a bit of a mental workout working out a couple of crossword clues...and doing this the old fashioned way with a thesaurus and dictionary after being shocked to discover I'm well over my internet limit for this month already. Last month I was nowhere near using it all, so as I've not done anything else different I blame it on the Olympics being in a different time zone with very long catch up programmes to trawl through for what you want, and Windows 10 updating even though I keep asking it nicely not to... Oh well, I give thanks this spurred me into changing my pay as you go tariff and getting a better value mobile data bundle to help out.

I give thanks for the sunshine looking very pleasant, but staying cozy(ish) indoors... For the pastel pink sky fading to grey blue over the sea this evening. For just discovering a Midsomer Murders I don't remember at all is about to start and pressing 'record'...

My favourite things

I give thanks for a day rich in my favourite things. For the sunshine streaming in the windows and making my flat warm(er)...For the neighbours being quiet...For lots of contented creativity with my crafts...

For finding a new source of beautiful batiks...and resisting the temptation (for now!) For doing my Shiatsu...

For making some of my favourite foods - a hasty tasty fish pie for lunch and slow cooking dhal for later. For Loose Ends on my headphones while I chopped and stirred... And for cleaning up afterwards...

I give thanks for the excellent Ben Fogle taking me to distant spots and making me laugh. In the latest programme a long time solitary and isolated desert dweller, off grid apart from solar power phone and internet and often the asked best way to feed himself (especially as he becomes older and less able) says 'Amazon Prime'!

I give thanks for a hot bath running before it gets too cold to enjoy a book in the buff!

Catch the wind

Hmm... Songs for a blog title as I listen to the roar of the sea? I give thanks for remembering Donovan!

I give thanks for feeling well again today. For being in a creative mood with not too many pressing boring chores, or pains, so pottering about contentedly absorbed in various projects. My right arm still gets sore and but if they're going to chop it about again it's only going to get more so, so it's very pleasing to make some progress with this and that.

I give thanks for Jenny and Mima taking me out for a massive scone with jam and cream this afternoon at a nearby place with lots of snowdrops still...and scoop your own frozen food! Such a good idea as long as you can get it home quick enough, so not something I tend to do when I go there by bus. For glimpses of the very scenic sea...and gifts of flowers too!

I give thanks as this followed porridge for breakfast and pasta for lunch, even I can't imagine wanting to eat again this evening but I'm off to brave the chilly kitchen to make a hot water bottle. I give thanks for electricity, my heaters and hoodies and throws...

The long and winding road

I give thanks for having lots of energy and enthusiasm today

For remembering to put the roll I buttered last night into my bag this morning...and that I remembered to take it out again and put the filling in! For the sunlight bright on the rough and tumble sea and a window seat on the train

For undertaking a busy program of city centre shop scouring, something I can rarely face but which was passably possible through it being a quiet time of the day/week/year. One of the shops I'd wanted to actually buy things in was actually shut, and one I was pretty sure I did didn't actually stock the item, but hey ho, my bank balance didn't mind, nor my knees on the trek back from the bus stop.

I give thanks for the chance to catch glimpses of other lives, including an older lady explaining to a younger one that tea didn't always come in bags!

I give thanks the results of my last blood test remained undiscussed, though as this was because the consultant was distracted by finding my new fistula didn't seem to be working not really a good result either. I give thanks for filing away the disappointment and dismay to deal with nearer the time of the next dreaded attempt, and to use my hands to do things I enjoy as much as possible while I still can.

I give thanks for one of my favourite suppers - the sort I'm only supposed to have once in a blue moon now. Oh, happy taste buds and tummy!

Another brick in the wall

I give thanks for the luxury of an extremely restful day, and I give thanks for not considering this 'lazy' but necessary and recuperative! Sometimes I hit a wall of tiredness and it has to be clambered over or trudged around, but there's days when I have the great good fortune to be able to just lean against it and lounge around a while...

I had planned to stay in bed very late but woke up very early and I give thanks for the beautiful glowing blue of a half dark sky when you're indoors with the light on, an early cuppa and biscuit with a book and back to sleep again. For waking in time to remember to check what time a delivery was due... And realising, with a shock, much earlier than I'd imagined but with time to get hastily dressed and ready. For the postman arriving at the same time as the courier's van so only one trip up and down the stairs today.

I give thanks for doing a few crafty things until my hands ached, for a hearty lunch that drifted into a nap in front of the TV and for catching sight of the hazy sunlight brightening these chimney stacks through the bare branches of the trees.

What a difference a day makes

I'm not sure I ever remember waking up quite so half asleep as I did today...I give thanks a message that John, Jo and Dan were on the way arrived soon after and made me hurl myself out if bed and into action...

I give thanks for making some rather nice experimental 'unfairy' cakes without the various banned deliciousness I like in a cake like chocolate, nuts and dried fruit but with the permissible glace cherries and candied peel. I give thanks I've tracked down the superior sorts of these that have a flavour other than simply sweet, and organic vanilla paste which is as different from that cheap stuff in a little bottle as can possibly be.

I give thanks for a sunny afternoon with some of my oldest chums, who insisted they had no idea my latest birthday had been my sixtieth but made me cups of tea, trimmed my hair, vacuumed the carpet and took me out for a late lunch at one of my favourite local spots to make up for failing to behave in a suitably celebratory fashion on the day!

I give thanks for a new series of 24 Hours in Police Custody. Sure I like watching some fictional detectives some of the time but real life procedural I find completely riveting...and the first episode has a stranger than fiction twist too!

I'm sticking with you

I give thanks for glimmers of sun today... and for the beginnings of a moon! I give thanks for discovering the wonders of Bondaweb!

Domestic chores seemed extra tiring today, so I give thanks for a nearly nap after lunch though unfortunately I had to go for an 'annual review' with a nurse at the medical practice so had to get up again sooner than I would have preferred. I politely expressed my scepticism at the point of this rather tedious and duplicatory activity, and she fessed up it was a recruitment drive for another vaccination...which I politely declined.

For a mild afternoon for accepting a cup of tea and a sweet treat on the seafront...and the cafe owners explaining the reason it had been so busy yesterday was that everywhere else had been blue-skied and bright and people had driven here thinking it would be too. For a hint of peach in the west as the clouds gathered again.

Whiter shade of pale

I give thanks I remember how good I felt yesterday morning - last night it was all nightmares and waking up with aches. I give thanks I kept going back to sleep though... especially as I was craving pancakes before 6 am and that's really too early to be crashing around in a kitchen with no sound insulation.

I give thanks for making pancakes, eventually round about brunch time where they belong... For making a few first tentative slices with my rotary cutter and being pleased so far.

I give thanks for coaxing my printer into accepting a cheap copy ink cartridge and printing and posting a polite referral to the Landlord and Tenants Act for the man currently trying to manipulate leaseholders here. For Charlotte downstairs backing me up and tackling another issue. It feels a bit less stressful not to have to deal with all this alone.

For thinking the fog would mean I could have a little stroll alone between dropping off recycling and picking up Sunday afternoon bargains at the supermarket. Actually the beach and its surrounds were teeming, but it did look rather murkily lovely and its only fair to share! I give thanks for the mad chap jet ski jumping high over the waves - very entertaining, especially when he did it close to shore and we could actually see him!

Woke up this morning

I give thanks for sleeping pretty soundly and, not only waking up comfortable, which is not common, but left my bed and went to the kitchen without sharp intakes of breath stiffness, staggering, stumbling, grumbling and groaning. It was only on the way back with a cuppa I realised all these things were missing - lush!

It didn't last of course...but I give thanks for, apart from more fatigue and dietary restrictions than I'd like, not feeling like a late stage kidney patient. For warm wet laugh in the bath with the (words of) Bill Bryson. For hearing from two separate people I have now known for almost two thirds of my life...both heart warning and brain warping that!

I give thanks for a beautiful morning...and that the sun went in in the afternoon as I kept feeling I 'ought' to go out but really didn't want to. For pottering about with numerous indoor chores of both the housework and handiwork variety instead. My operated on arm is still not back to full strength but is earning its keep again and has not only participated in changing fairly vigorous activities such as changing the bedding and vacuuming the carpet but also...(can you hear a faint drum roll?)...half a row of rag rug hooking!

For now having that Alabama 3 track in my head. Not a problem!

All right now

My goodness me I felt rough this morning...I give thanks I feel a whole lot better now! Actually on the whole I give thanks I am beginning to feel considerably more like there is something serious the matter with me, as this makes it seem a lot less as if I am being driven towards dialysis without due care and attention.

I give thanks for a busy hour or two in the management management office which is cunningly concealed in my bed, before managing to boil an egg perfectly - something I very rarely successfully do! For a rather mild bright, gale free day to trek across town to collect meds, a parcel and a reserved book at the library and to take Mima a pint of milk so she could make me a cup of tea. For some really nice ginger biscuits from her little local shop.

I give thanks for my parcel not being silly big so I could stop and buy a Big Issue and could walk home via the therapeutic sea, ever more slowly as I made my way up the hill but rather absurdly proud of myself nonetheless. I give thanks for my new cutting kit. I don't know if the first cut will be the deepest but it will be the scariest that's for sure

I give thanks for making make it up as you go along spicy lentil patties for my tea, to go with couscous and the kind of over cooked veg any dietician other than a renal one would declare unfit for human consumption! Patties are definitely fit for it!

Praise you

I give thanks for taking it easy today. I'm still enjoying in retrospect yesterday's muddy trudge... I give great thanks I have a friend who understood the need, who understands underneath the scars, surgical appliances and life blighting conditions there still lurks the remnants of an adventurous spirit. The place we went is such a favourite but impossible to get to without a car now I can't trudge far... I always say it's substitute Scotland and the rain and wind just made it more so. It also made it impossible to take pictures so you'll just have to believe me...though I could have got a snap of my slice of homemade gluten free carrot cake complete with candle when we got back to the car!

I give thanks for attending to various chores nonetheless, including dealing with various emails regarding the need for a written assurance we will be paying our share of an unspecified sum for 'cost effective' roof repairs to a 'high standard'. I think a written request that they follow the correct legal procedures as per quotes etc is in order. There's one thing about getting older - you weren't born yesterday! But first I had to make myself some proper food, and clean up the place a little...and of course attend to the rather overdue business of opening my birthday gifts and cards.

I give thanks for people's thoughtfulness and generosity...and patience with my tardiness over this!  For Laura coming round with more flowers and a card and some friendly chat. For a smidgeon of creativity and a good flollop on the sofa with a sarnie for my tea...

For hearing that Praise You cover I always forget who it's by... Though the original is a long time favourite too. I remember the first time I heard both of them and the surprise and delight of my ears.

Many Rivers to Cross

I give thanks for being determined to do something super special for my sixtieth ...and for coming to the understanding that being determined despite my limited physical, financial and social resources was the super special thing.

I give thanks for Julie taking me to see a film last night everyone here has been a long time waiting for. For door to door chauffeuring both ways too!

I give thanks for birthday messages, cards and gifts, and overcoming great resistance to getting up and going out to catch two buses on a very wet and windy day. For the sea looking awesome.

I give thanks for meeting Rachel for her offer of a walk on Dartmoor whatever the weather and for knowing just the spot for something short, scenic, partially sheltered and largely flat. Didn't count on the frequent overflowing streams running across or along the path though! I give thanks they made it more of an adventurous experience and added to the already planned intention of being too tired to care about doing anything else now I'm home.

It was going to be Altered Images but it has to be UB40 now. I give thanks for remembering this little gem of a cover
https://g.co/kgs/pVyz3Z

Doctor doctor

I give thanks I was all primed for the phone call today about how bad my bloods were. I can sense a slight decline but on the whole I'm still functioning remarkably well for someone whose only kidney isn't much at all, and I was ready to stand my ground and refuse point blank any more tests or appointments while I attend to my rather scant, but thus all the more precious, celebratory birthday activities. So when the phone rang as Rachel was cooking my Monday night pre-acupuncture tea I wasn't quite so well prepared...

Yes, so soon... So bad, haha! Actually, no, not that drastically bad as far as the practice here and the team at the hospital are concerned, as they are aware of me and my health as a whole, but dire enough for the lab at the other hospital to just see scary numbers and set the panic chain in motion. Now I've heard your voice I'm happy said the GP, if you'd said you felt dreadful of course we'd have taken action but we know with you the figures don't necessarily translate to what they seem to. Go ahead and enjoy yourself! I've had a few dealings with her over the last ten medically traumatic years and she's one of my favourites (as you can probably tell) so I'm very grateful it was her on duty not one of the stickler gloom and doom merchants!

I give thanks this turn of events also resulted in a much more relaxing start to today not having to try to avoid or deal with difficult conversations...plus a fine reason for this little bit of political incorrectness courtesy of Mr Palmer not the Thompson Twins!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DlPHmYtqSdA

I give thanks for feeling good following my treatment. For getting my sewing machine out and using it a little bit. For lounging around a lot! For a nice chat with one of the neighbours when I went out to post something and an email from the council man to advise he's still on the case. For a long soak in the bath to warm myself up before Julie comes to pick me up. For having a little pile of things to unwrap tomorrow before I wrap up and go out to meet Rachel.

I've seen other folks' birthdays. I know it might not seem much by some people's standards, but I've seen a lot of mine and by those it is a lot! I give thanks I'm still alive, still not on dialysis and above all that I still love myself and try to treat myself the best I can.

Snowbird

Cold and tired and in a dark mood this morning, I gave thanks for the sunshine...not that it changed any of the above but it made it easier to stay out between having my blood taken and the viewing, rather than go down and up the hill twice and inevitably mess up my clean and tidy abode in the meantime.

I give thanks for only one failed attempt at getting the needle in before a successful one. For being recommended for local anaesthetic patches for the future to reduce my pain and fear of pain, and the stress and wasted time of the practice staff too I guess.

I give thanks for my bus pass...I spent a lot of time on buses this afternoon. I didn't spend long planning my route and might have enjoyed rather better if I'd stopped to think  which journeys were most likely to be popular with rowdy groups of school kids on holiday but hey ho, I probably need the practice at enduring being in the midst of folk I'd rather not be.

I give thanks for being home again and finally passable warm with a hot water bottle tucked into my back. For remembering to coax the TV box back into working but looks broken position after trying to create the impression the place isn't falling apart. Unlike the chap upstairs I don't find shouting at the aerial helps at all, just patient twiddling. Checking the channels were all present and correct I give thanks I came upon some slopestyle! Yes I know Koreans have eating habits we consider less acceptable than ours, but I *love* snowboarding, especially when it's girls doing it! Happiest I've been all day...

All I Have To Do is Dream

I give thanks for Co-op Loved by Us Fair Trade Earl Grey tea...especially the first cup of the day if I manage to get it back to bed to drink before it drops from optimum temperature!

Despite a complete lack of enthusiasm, I give thanks for being able to do some cleaning and tidying in short installments by treating myself to even more pointless activities in between. I've a viewing tomorrow and must do what I can I suppose, though the concept of actually selling the place seems crammed into my bulging mental 'Impossible Dreams' folder now.

And talking of dreams, I have a recurring where I go back to work in the market. In last night's version Barack Obama, wearing legwarmers, had set up a stall opposite mine which I found a surprise both while asleep and on waking!

I give thanks for the close harmonies of the Everly Brothers. Any kind of harmony is good of course, and even a cunningly placed discord here and there. but there's a quality to theirs that has been enchanting me for as long as I can remember.

I give thanks for anything that's stopped me remembering tomorrow's blood test. It's such a painful and protracted palaver for any of the practice staff to get into any of the veins they're allowed to...but I guess stressing about the procedure saves stressing about the result.

I give thanks for the flowers Laura brought me still looking rather lovely some weeks down the line.

Perfect Day

I give thanks for a perfect day...well, not at all bad for a solitary home based one anyhow! No sangria, no park, zoo and so on...

I give thanks for neighbours mostly being out or quiet... For getting some things done that really needed to be done of the boring domestic chore variety...and for doing some things I really wanted to do like cooking and eating a pile of pancakes and learning to do new tricks with my crossword software. Look! I have made my first codeword puzzle!
https://crossword.info/happiness_squared/CW1

I give thanks for these picture perfect images from here and there in England
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-42946463

For this interesting selection of games you can play with your *own* mind
https://www.rd.com/health/wellness/brain-games-boost-mood/

I give thanks for quite a lot of the time now I can forget about the operation on my arm, and that when it reminds me it hurts less and for less long. It's still not up for doing crafty things when household things are finished but the more I get on top of household things the nearer that day must be. Things would be nearer perfect if I could be sure the surgery had worked..but best of all of course would be if it didn't matter.

Breakfast at Tiffany's

I give thanks I didn't have breakfast at Tiffany's this morning...but for remembering the song anyway (and as I recall we both kinda liked it...)! I give thanks I didn't have to go anywhere but the kitchen for a slice of toast as even that seemed hard enough to force myself out from under the covers for.

I give thanks for being up and about by lunchtime as Mima had offered to take me out for a lunch at the tapas restaurant as an early birthday treat! (and I give thanks I can never have too much tapas if anyone else had it in mind to do that!) I give thanks for an early gift of a roll of homemade bread (thoughtfully cut in half so I don't have to) and a pretty plate from which to eat it, plus something to unwrap for the day...With Gary and Stephy's presents I now can make a little pile to look at and enjoy warm feelings from, an unusual but very enjoyable state of birthdayness for me.

I give thanks for managing to get my little gas heater to turn on in the bathroom - it's never willing and it's a milestone in wrist recovery that I felt able to try. I give thanks for a lovely deep bath to wallow in before the cold day became an even colder night.

Sweet talking guy

I give thanks my neighbour who likes to talk about dialysis (and always in the grimmest terms!) has a new dog so we can talk about that sometimes instead. I wonder if I'll keep wanting to bring it up as a conversational topic soon? I hope not, as it takes up so much of your time anyway it would seem to me to be waste of the remainder, but at least he'll be pleased if I do!

I give thanks after a slow start today I was able to get going and get on with things, as there's such a backlog of domestic tasks and chores and some of them, like cleaning the cooker, only get harder to do the longer you don't! I give thanks for getting out for some bits of shopping, prescription collecting and so on...and making a start on the oven. My right arm really appreciated its rest yesterday, and is becoming more willing and able but it's not up to scrubbing yet and my left side's not got the knack.

I give thanks for Alan Davies making me laugh so much on an old (but new to me) episode of QI I got a stitch! For Ben Fogle taking me to far flung places where people live amazing alternative lives. I give thanks for my kettle, having a hot water bottle to fill, and for putting my woolly hat back on when I got home, it's colder indoors than out here today I'm sure!

I give thanks for remembering the Chiffons...

Uncloudy day

I give thanks for sleeping well again...in between all the being awake! Various bits about my body causing some considerable disruption I give thanks for Bored Panda and my electric blanket!

I give thanks for still feeling well enough to go out today to meet Gary for a long overdue catch up, and that Stephy was well enough for him to be able to spare a few hours. For the stunningly glorious weather and the fabulously beautiful area we live in so that the train ride was half an hour of visual delight. For being met on the platform...It's not a thing that happens a lot and I love it!

I give thanks for tracking down a suitable eatery on the internet and that we came up with and came to with a plan B venue before too long when it was shut, as it was seriously chilly out there! For tasty food, a table with a good sea view, and for between us getting a little project a little further along... And for the clouds when they came being so pretty even though they took the temperature down a peg or two!

I give thanks there was a birthday card for me in car...and the surprise of a present too. Woohoo!

I give thanks for making it back up the hill from the station, and managing to fill a hot water bottle to thaw me out while curling up for a desperately needed snooze.

And yes...it's a song title. Old gospel tune often sung slow, but I rather like Willie Nelson's chirpier version. I was tempted to call this post Next after the carrier bag my gift came in. Hands up who remembers Alex Harvey?

Blue Sky

A funny thing happened this morning - I woke up and didn't feel pants! I didn't feel silk stockings and tiara mind you, but somewhere in between more comfortable and practical than I have experienced for a week. And yes, I gave lots and lots of thanks! This may have something to do with Ann's marvellous pillow spray in which my nose detected lavender and chamomile and something else new to me, maybe vetivert which I'm tempted to buy a bottle of to see!

I give thanks for putting this pleasantness to good use, and amongst other things, giving the living floor a good vacuum so I could have a proper play with the pieces for this wall hanging malarky. I'm still a bit scared to cut it, partly because though my arm is definitely improving operating scissors will cause some pain, and partly because if I did I'd probably want to start sewing too and and then there will be ironing and that's not very comfortable either...and drawing and cutting and pinning and more cutting...and hand sewing/embroidery too. But hey, doesn't the fabric look gorgeous? What a wonderful place to start... I give thanks for my creativity and all the pleasure it gives me.

Meanwhile, I give thanks for cleaning the bath, the basin and the loo, and putting my Tesco delivery (mostly) away. After that and some cooking, and clicking and scrolling on laptop and phone my arm is very making it very clear some serious stillness is required! I give thanks this can be done...

I give thanks my noisiest neighbour was out for a big chunk of yesterday evening, and that I don't know what time he came back as he creeps in so thoughtfully quietly. He's not a bad man, just a sad one who gets mad sometimes...poor chap. I wonder if he'd like to learn knitting?

I give thanks for looking for a song title for today's blog and finding this, which I don't ever remember hearing before, though to be fair if I did it would have been a very long long time ago!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wwyXQn9g40I

Living in a box

I give thanks for the bits of my body that still work to some degree, and those of my home and life likewise... I give thanks for all the times I think I can fix stuff or situations, and all the times I think someone else can (and that they will!)

I give thanks I thought Rachel was coming today, apart from her very pleasant company, I don't know what I felt in need of more, the acupuncture or having my tea cooked...so I also give thanks life has taught me to carry on without all manner of things I think I need and have a fine selection of leftovers in the fridge.

I give thanks for still having an appetite most of the time. And in the times when I feel seriously rubbish I give thanks for remembering feeling less like doing the things I actually can't is really a bit of a bonus too.

I give thanks the young woman trying to complete a phone questionnaire in what I suspect was not her first language gave up trying to understand how someone could have none of the appliances on her list - central heating boiler, storage heaters, coal fire, wood burner etc. But how do you heat your home? She kept asking. I have heaters I plug in. Ah, storage heaters! No!

I give thanks to keep the electricity bill manageable I also have a hot water bottle, a quilt to go over my legs and a hoodie (with hood up) to go over my already multi layered top half to get me through the ever increasing bits of the day when I'm still...

I give thanks for the ever decreasing bits when the grumpy chap upstairs is out. My conscious mind knows it's not aimed at me but the rest of me processes the shouting and swearing a few feet away as if it were...

I give thanks I've finished another 'Tricky Quick' puzzle and an 'Easy Cryptic' too

http://crossword.info/happiness_squared/18EC1

http://crossword.info/happiness_squared/18TQ2

Watching the detectives

I give thanks I thought I might be going out for lunch with old friends today, but equally when they couldn't come I was quite grateful to stay late in bed! It's cold and the food I can eat and ways I can get it into my mouth are really rather limiting.

I give thanks for finally overcoming my weary wimpiness and going down to see the sea this afternoon, for the sea was particularly worth seeing today. I give thanks for remembering to take my phone to take a snap though it's still hard to hold it and touch the shutter button. There was the sharpest eastish wind so I didn't do much apart from go 'Oh, wow!' a couple of times, and admire the hardiness of the surfers and the sunlight on the white cliffs around the bay before staggering back up the hill...but to get outdoors is always such a blessing!

I give thanks for finally being satisfied with the positioning of fabrics recently bought for my wall hanging. Just arranging and rearranging them has been tiring for my wrist and I'll have to cut out cutting out for a while yet... I give thanks I'm getting more more important things done now though, like cooking and cleaning and household chores. I just have to rest my right arm plenty between times and still do as much as I can with my left.

I give for discovering not only is there a new series of Endeavour starting tonight but there's a new series of Shetland starting the week after next. I love the period detail in the first and the eye candy landscapes in the second...

You need hands

I give thanks for trying to be as quiet as possible today, reckoning if I could hear most of my neighbours they probably could hear me too and maybe would prefer not to.

I give thanks for Radio 4's Loose Ends. It's interesting, funny and has good music as well!  For my wireless headphones so I could listen while I bodged together some food for my lunch and cleared up the kitchen afterwards. I give thanks I bodged together some food for lunch and cleared up afterwards because when I thought about how hard it was going to be I wanted so hard for there to be someone else to do it instead. I give thanks I'm sure my right arm will get better...even if my left one won't, but if there's any possibility of re-establishing neural pathways or strength on that side the opportunities certainly abound at the moment.

I give thanks for completing a corner of this unusual mandala jigsaw. It's one of the easiest puzzles I've done for years but the difficulty in actually picking up and fitting in the pieces is adding an element of extra challenge so it's filling in time when I can't get on with other things I'd really like to do.

Walking the dog

Ah yes...now I remember why I don't do nothing much. There's so much to do afterwards!

I'm really not feeling as good as I'd like to so I give thanks for coaxing myself through a very unwilling start to the day, and performing all necessary ablutions and duties ready to face the outside world.

I give thanks for bright warm sunshine -if there'd been any groundhogs around they'd have seen their shadows for sure. For being able to do my town chores fairly swiftly and easily. For a parcel of books from Ann to collect plus a card and little surprise present. For Phil the cab man being on the rank to bring me back up the hill.

I give thanks for a micro nap before Laura came to pick me up to walk the dog with her, blowing a few cobwebs away, and arriving back just at the same time as Jenny who had kindly picked up my sewing machine so that's all spruce and tuned and ready to go. I'm not... I give thanks I changed my duvet cover and pillowcases but ooh my arm is sore now and requires much resting again.  I give thanks I made tea for today yesterday

Oh, and for these little sideways moonwalk slides  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D9mSPFw7BXo

Holiday

My get up and go has gone today so I give thanks I didn't have to! I give thanks I didn't want to desperately either, come to that, though I had a potential schedule of pleasant and planned activities in and outside the home.

I give thanks for not feeling particularly ill or fatigued, nor in mental or physical pain, perfectly willing and capable of getting snacks, doing essential chores etc, just utterly disinterested in doing anything else except curling up with a book. It's so rare I have the urge to do nothing, rather than the urge to do something I can do nothing about, it's been a really rather delightful change. My mind's been saying it needs a break for weeks, so maybe it engineered the lethargy. I can't go to the holiday but the holiday came to me!

I give thanks for relative cosiness, as far as it ever is here in winter, especially when you can't be bothered to wrap yourself in multiple clothing layers...for plenty of reading material, and a jigsaw in the kitchen to toy with while I waited for stuff to cook. I give thanks I have stuff I really ought to do tomorrow...one could make a habit of this!