Running

I was very grateful to wake up feeling a bit more lively today, managing to 'outrun' the pain and fatigue during the morning, which of course doesn't involve running at all, just gauging what degree of activity is wise and pushing on to the limit. 

Going out for a walk in the wind and rain was over the limit but I love doing it so much I just couldn't resist despite how much it hurt. For one thing I find it exhilarating, and for another the few other folk around seem to agree so we can exchange beaming smiles beneath our dripping noses. Others may think we're bonkers but we thought the sea swimmers were the real lunatics! As always I was so grateful for the privilege of being able to elect go out in stormy weather rather than having no choice, and for having easy access to warmth and dryness at the end of the excursion. Actually I had warmth and wetness when I returned and I was very grateful for a long soothing soak in the bath, a bowl of rather nice home made stew and the rest of the afternoon back on the settee, distracting myself from discomfort with the fab music and sad stories in It's a Sin. 

I give thanks the horrid skin condition that's been afflicting me really does seem to be on the mend. The raised scabby lumps are mostly just blotchy spots now and even the small mountain range very uncomfortably positioned on the front of one ankle is gradually healing, so that there's less aggravation from socks and footwear. I give thanks for thus being able to wear my wellies again, as they sure were needed today. 

Crashing

I give thanks conditions like fibromyalgia and arthritis calm down sometimes as well as flare up, and for remembering to be grateful over the last few fairly ache free weeks. As discomfort has been building up again lately I also give thanks it's reached a bit of a crescendo today when I'd no particular plans of even the solitary shielded locked down sort! For the comfort of a freshly made bed (especially one not made by me!) and for finding the crashing, banging and whining of the now much closer and louder Wavewalker machinery rather more interesting than annoying. I can actually watch most of the goings on if I stand on tip toe and peer sideways out of my bedroom window but that's too much too painful a manœuvre to do much of just now...I give thanks for getting up to do a few essential chores, making a batch of pancakes for brunch (though that wasn't easy peasy lemon squeeze either) before retreating under the covers to gather strength for an afternoon on the sofa!

As usual at times like these I give thanks I only have myself to look after, and there's no one around who might look after me but might have other priorities or plans... For fine weather for being a couch potato...and for drifting off into a nap. For the enduring fascination of having dual physicality. No wonder others wonder if you're 'putting it on'... I have enough trouble getting my own head round the changes from wonder woman to wimp and back. 

Learned

When I left for hospital today I left the bed unmade and all the washing up undone which isn't my usual style but my home help was due back after some weeks off following a procedure. I was really grateful the 'Oh, I can do what I like' feeling this morning and, as I'd forgotten all about it by the time I came home, for the surprise of walking into all that spickness and spanity! I give thanks for the joy of neologisms in my idiolect, and that some fragments from my very late and rather random higher education have lingered in my brain.

Talking of lingering in my brain I give thanks for discovering why the standardly bizarre plot of a new Danish crime drama I started watching last night seemed so familiar although I'd definitely not seen it before... It's a true crime dramatisation, and I must have read the story on some news page somewhere.

I give thanks for an OK day at the office. The renal consultant thinks it's about time I had a vaccination but otherwise she's pleased with me, and I'm coping OK (for now!) with the chills and chatter on the communal ward. At least there's no one who 'sings' with their headphones on in the bay I've been in lately...though I chortle with mine on watching Netflix which probably drives folk mad. The overhead TV was left on today (silently, thank goodness but with subtitles) and thus I am grateful for catching part of a fascinating offering from Lockdown Learning which I enjoyed so much I might try and find the rest of. It will make a nice change from my usual fare of cookery comps and (usually) foreign cops catching murderers! 

Rolling

It's bucketing down with rain now but earlier I gave thanks for the warmth of the sunshine and the gentleness of the breeze. It was as if the air was kissing you instead of slapping you round the head! For feeling quite sprightly in the mellow weather and managing a decent stroll. For the lovely Tani serving me from behind a screen in the doorway of the little health food shop. There's a few retailers doing this here and I have to say I love it! 

I give thanks for spotting some bright yellow low to the ground in the park and negotiating a muddy bank without ungainly incident to discover it really was crocus flowers! I'm on a roll with signs of spring now - there are advantages to living where the snow don't fall. Here's a blurry photo in case you live in the frozen Midlands and beyond and have forgotten what they look like! 

I give thanks for bustling about with various sorting out tasks at home including cutting and sewing up the bright bobble trimmed blind I created a couple of years ago which refused to go up and down more than a handful of times despite having the mechanism changed. I'd had to mend the bobble trim before attaching it which made disposal seem a waste in more ways than one, so it's now a storage bag for my Christmas window stars which wouldn't fit in the deckies box, and the multicoloured pompoms are on show again. 

Smiling

Nice to be home earlier today, and for my tofu and veg korma, dal and rice all ready to be heated up. The staff and machine were all ready when I arrived at the unit which is rather unusual but nothing to complain about! One of them is due to start eighteen days leave tomorrow so wanted to make sure she left the building on time I'm thinking. 

I give thanks for wearing extra clothes, although the weather is noticeably milder, as I was on a draughty ward again, and lying still can make you chilly let alone having your blood wandering around outside your body. I give thanks for working out last night how to quickly modify the fleece dress I bought in a charity shop a couple of years ago for the very purpose of nippy treatment situations but which didn't fit well enough to be comfortable. For my plan working out too... and the one for a busy morning so I could have an evening chilled in the other way! 

I give thanks for seeing my first snowdrops of the year on the way to the hospital...always makes me smile. For my tree hanging still making me smile as well, and skimming back through the early years of my blog to find out when I started it passing lots of other project pictures and memories on the way. Turns out the tree has been going almost as long as my blog...which will have been going a decade in June! 

Leafy

My mum used to complain I never finished things...and it's true sometimes I take my time...but my yarn art Tree of Life is, after several slow growing years, at last gracing my wall! I'm most grateful I still like it!

There's been quite a few niggles and frustrations today, so it was nice to end the daylight part with a sense of completion, satisfaction...and a mug of tea with a blueberry jam smothered crumpet!

I give thanks for my sore thumb and wrist holding out for the duration of the arduous hand sewing at the back, and for remembering to rest long enough at frequent enough intervals to avoid cramp - so far, anyway... One of those rests had a lot of whimpering but that was because I went to isolated Iceland with Ben Fogle via my TV, and I was grateful (sort of!) to see what I was missing... 

I give thanks Sainsbury's managed to bring everything I ordered with decent use by dates and no annoying substitutions, unlike Mima's Click & Collect from Morrisons today. Luckily they did have the chamomile teabags she said she'd get me as I cancelled them from Sainsbury's. Oh the trials of modern life eh? How incredibly lucky we are! :-D 

Chilled

I give thanks I'm home and thawing out after a nippy day on an open ward with slightly open windows. I like fresh air but was not dressed for that much! Side rooms are for poorly people right now so I'm grateful really, honest... For a hot water bottle warming me nicely. 

I give thanks for making renally acceptable cauliflower cheese before I went out at lunchtime so that's just heating up too. For cleaning the kitchen afterwards as well, always a treat to come home to. For a plan to watch Dancing on Ice with Jan shortly. For some knitting to do while I do if my hands are amenable...my joints don't like to get too chilled. 

White

I give thanks for a bit more energy and having a little walk in the no show snow! I didn't go far or fast but it was so good to get some fresh air and say hello to the waves and water fowl. I've looked out of the window hopefully every time the sky has darkened for a shower - and even in the middle of the night when I woke up briefly - but apart from what sounded like hailstones on the window when I was in the bath all our precipitation has been wet. I guess I'm grateful really for the very temperate micro climate round here but it would be enjoyable to get a glimpse of dusted high ground in the distance, or a few flakes falling outside. Meanwhile I give thanks the world, his wife, three kids and the dog have all been posting pictures of the white stuff where they are!

I give thanks for the blessings of a creative disposition - always...but particularly over the last ten months when being able to contentedly occupy myself indoors for hours on end has been such a bonus. For working on both my Tree of Life and some mosaic pieces today...and for both being intrinsically and extrinsically so pleasing.

I give thanks for a long hot topped up bath when the light faded for good, and for how much I'm enjoying Girl, Woman, Other. I'd wondered for a while if I was the wrong ethnicity to relate to the character's tales but their voices are so clear any girl, woman or other would be drawn in. 

Unlikely

It's been an OK day for a post Pembro day, for which I'm very grateful. My to do list contained items such as bathing, napping, snacking, reading and watching TV and I give thanks all those were achieved with ease... plus having enough oomph for a bit of washing up and some fiddling with mosaic too. 

I give thanks for a ready meal ready for being lazy in the kitchen. Not often I have one of those...and it actually tasted pretty nice too which is actually even rarer! 

I give thanks it's been so bright and sunny, which helps to keep it cosy indoors, though I've had no inclination to poke my nose outside even as far as the communal hallway to see if there was any post. For some weather sites suggesting there might be some flakes of snow overnight here which I would love to see but suspect is rather unlikely to happen... 

Dutiful

Last night I gave gave thanks for a vase of daffodils buds blooming, a bath full of bubbles, the way the words in a book can talk drown out the words in your head. For my stew being tasty, though I wasn't very impressed with a new brand of vegan meatballs I tried. It's good they are bringing out new products and I feel it my duty to sample them all, especially when they're on special offer! 

This evening I'm grateful for treatment two being under way, and only one false start with the cannula. Although the scan results weren't ready to clarify the immunotherapy is still working I elected to have another session just in case it is! I expect I'll give thanks for that stew all over again when I get home...and I'll certainly be grateful my blog is already done. 

Visionary

Well, I didn't see that coming - neither the sunset glow at the end of a rather gloomy day...nor the news that I don't just have ordinary old age cataracts but also the fast growing posterior sort that would normally require surgery within a year...in a body more fit for it than mine. I give thanks for the surprise of the bright colour in the sky...and, I guess, for the the eye problem being a surprise too so I hadn't been anxious or anticipating anything particularly untoward though I knew it was getting harder to see. I give thanks thanks for new specs on order and that they will do their best to keep me seeing as best as I can for as long as they can. Still a shock though...and one that makes me feel quite sad. I give thanks I'm used to dealing with difficult stuff on my own... and that I've both stew and bath water cooking to comfort myself as best I can. 

Ironically I was prepared for possible bad news this morning when the oncologist called to discuss my scan results, but she didn't have the info for that and I was so grateful not to have to go through the fear when they start to tell me what they've found that my relief made for quite an exuberant conversation! I give thanks for a legitimate reason to go to a different place for my eye tests too, and for imagining I was going to buy a delicious vegetarian scotch egg - until discovering the shop only had meat ones left. 

Funny

I give thanks for the benefits of bad weather - the top deck of a bus all to myself (plus Imee Ooi!). For wide open windows and plenty to see through them including the first yellow of daffodil and primrose petals peeking out between the mud and crisp packets on the verges, and egrets in a field - I never regret an egret! For the memory of a glorious treeful in Menorca. I'm so grateful I got to see some different places... And also for being able to enjoy the same ones over and over again. 

I give thanks for finding a missing hat I knew was just hiding somewhere. For reminding myself there is always a good reason when I can't have a side room (or actually a bad one these days) and for my headphones to deliver meditation music and Netflix oddities which to some extent mask less enjoyable sounds of the open ward - including the chap who whistles and sings tunelessly for hours on end while wearing his. For one of the nurses saying she can always rely on me to make her laugh, and for remembering in its own way this is a valuable reciprocal health enhancing skill. 

Flown

Oof! So where did that day go? Seems like not much more than a couple of hours since I was making my morning cup of tea! I give thanks for (more than) enough self motivation and occupations to keep me occupied! For weather wet and windy enough to keep my poor sore knees from much in the way of permitted exercising...And for managing to do some of the tasks that needed daylight in the half light of the afternoon.

I give thanks for this incredible (mostly) paper plane which arrived from a correctional facility in the US. It was very well packed in a sturdy box, not like the last one which his sister took home to Greece and posted from there in a padded envelope! It came with precise instructions for the delicate manoeuvre of joining the nose section to the body - which worked despite my worries! Kostas would like a photo now it's arrived and I didn't want there to be any obvious end user damage...

I give thanks for a nice catch up chat with Laura. I'm not one for talking on the phone and the last one was last spring! For a plan to watch Dancing on Ice with Jan in a little while... and for fitting in a quick much needed nap while writing this post! 

Quick

I must be quick I have so many things I want to do...I am so grateful for being well and energetic enough at the moment to have this feeling! For a good long sound sleep last night which always helps. For being put on the dialysis machine most speedily when I arrived at the unit, and having no problems while it did its stuff so that my treatment finished on the early side of normal and the evening seems much longer. Also for there being a faint hint of not blackness in the sky as we drove home, despite the drizzly rain.

I give thanks for a parcel from my penfriend on death row to open when I've had my tea, and for tea being leftovers so it won't be long! I seem to have an enormous appetite at the moment... 

Excluded

I give thanks for spending yesterday evening in Sweden courtesy of TV shows from Netflix and More4. For the fine ground polenta from the health food shop making delicious 'chips' despite me making them very wonky. For also making a start on attaching a curtain over the flat front door before I settled down for quirky Scandinavian romance and dastardly deeds. Although my hallway isn't draughty, the deep cold of the communal stairwell beyond seems to seep through and I've a nice thick curtain from my last place with little rings on top that 'just' needs hooks attached to the frame to hang from... though being unjustly gammy handed this is a trying task. I give thanks I can feel the difference though! 

I give thanks for a great wander around the outskirts of the town today, surprising a large heron on a quiet pond and seeing a buzzard readying itself to pounce before another came along and spoilt the moment or saved the day depending on your viewpoint! For my views over one fence to a vast still stretch of the bay, and another with just countryside beyond. For a text saying my prescription was ready when I was nearly home again and just a few yards from Boots - already wearing a mask as back in so called civilisation.

For a huge delicious kidney aware roast lunch with 'banoffee' pie for dessert leaving out the bananas (I used pear instead) and the renally unfriendly dairy condensed milk. I give thanks the vegan stuff worked just fine! 

Scientific

I give thanks the thought of a poet at the Science Cafe finally made me download Zoom. I'd been resisting for so long! But though it was annoying that my internet kept lagging and dropping so I only caught 90% of the spoken words - a dead loss for poetry - I was also kind of grateful for the poetic justice of a perfect excuse not to go there again!

For a Loose Ends from last year to listen to while I got on with some making, doing and mending, and a guy performing in the studio who sent shivers down my spine. I didn't catch his name... but I wouldn't have been able to spell it even if I had! Luckily he was playing (stunningly) the Irish Bouzouki which narrowed it down a bit for a search to hear more, and for finding a great set from the Shrewsbury Folk Festival a couple of years ago. Check out the insane bodhran solo about 35 mins in if that's your sort of thing...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yx3rWFJ9Qs4

And if you'd rather stick to the science...well they're working on why we get goosebumps and chills!

https://www.inverse.com/mind-body/why-music-gives-you-chills#:~:text=When%20the%20participants%20listened%20to,an%20ancestral%20function%20for%20music.%22

I've been wondering when Coronavirus would start to rear its head in an arts series and this episode from 1st Feb was still free of mentions, though it did crop up in the news headlines that followed - some students at Oxford had contracted it while abroad. I give thanks for Facebook memories of my weekend away this time last year before the trouble really started.

I give thanks for a new TV programme about the Natural History Museum. It's rather unsatisfyingly lightweight but I adore the actual building so I'm grateful for the shots of that and to remember being lucky enough to go there in the past as well. 

Condensed

Didn't want to get out of bed this morning so I was grateful I was on Facebook when someone posted a photo of the stunning sunrise which motivated me to get moving and catch the end. For quite a dynamic morning bustling about with this and that at an unusually healthy speed, including throwing together (almost literally) an experimental dessert made with that vegan condensed milk which should soothe the palate after that spicy curry waiting to be heated up.

I give thanks for what was in many ways a good day at the office - friendly staff, successful treatment, nice little nap and tasty snacks from my lunchbox to nibble while I watched Netflix stuff when I woke up. For the mild almost spring like weather this morning and lots of layers and heaters to put on on the nippy evening that's following. For the pretty crescent moon. 

Amusing

I was grateful today I didn't have to be alert early to receive a delivery that didn't come, especially as I was alerted to the need to change my bedding in the middle of the night! For a delivery from the local health food shop arriving at a much more civilised lunch time hour instead. 

I give thanks for a productive day before and after attending my scan...including processing laundry (funnily enough!) and cooking a comforting risotto for today and an eyebrow raisingly spicy curry for tomorrow. For rediscovering the shopping channels after re-tuning my TV...and for remembering to be grateful I find these amusing, rather than alluring. For solving David's riddle on Facebook...not something I'm usually good at at all, but he did give what exceedingly good clues when followers were stuck.

I give thanks for the way my body and mind processed going into the city while daylight faded as heading (rather excitingly) for a 'night out'. For the radiologist understanding this perfectly! 

Buzzing

If it makes you happy it isn't sad right? Last night I had a good tidy and clean in the living room then went into the kitchen to make tea. Opening the lounge door again afterwards I was so appreciative of how nice it looked! I give thanks I've not managed to mess it up yet either...it's been a bit of a day one way and another, and I'm very grateful to be home on my sofa filled with food and chilling...but not too chilly!

I give thanks my delivery of stoma supplies was waiting when I got through the main entrance  door despite being re-scheduled from yesterday's fiasco to a rather inconvenient time. For the driver getting a version of the delivery instructions this time, including my mobile number...and for me remembering to have the sound on and the phone within reach, though it would have been easier to lift it to my ear if I'd not been wearing a blood pressure cuff at the time! For him following my real, real time instructions perfectly and for a neighbour buzzing him in. 

Equanimous

Mmmm... Lots of opportunities to practice equanimity today including two scheduled deliveries not arriving, although one for someone else at a different address turned up instead! I give thanks we have a good local Facebook page for this sort of thing and that's now been collected (via the entryphone for which I'm oh so grateful!) by a resident of another secret property along this street. Also for some other stuff I've been waiting for waiting when I got home last night, including new tile nippers that are gentler on the gripping hand (but vicious with tesserae!) and some more of my dribs and drabs Smith's book order. 

I give thanks for milder weather which is gentler on the electricity bill, and for a rather murky drizzly day with the swish of cars outside...though a lot less cars swishing by would be even better. I want proper lockdown with ducks and swans ambling along the roads and pavements! There were less human pedestrians around today however and I was grateful to be able to stroll along the new sea wall without having to slalom around thoughtlessly spread out couples and families. I give thanks for the energy for this despite some spiteful joint pain as it soothed some other irritations, likewise for crafts and cleaning which also tend to restore some equanimity. 

Mild

I give thanks for domestic plumbing and power supplies, particularly when I'm having a long hot bath or my bedding's freshly clean! 

For an almost solitary train ride into the city today. I had half a carriage to myself most of the way, the whole of it for the remainder and was the only one who alighted at the centre. For feeling energetic enough to walk to the unit from there, avoiding any further interaction. It's not a tremendous distance but it's up hill all the way and it's so precious to be able to do this and get myself as fit as I can before the next time I'm very much not! Some milder weather was very welcome too...

I give thanks for a good day at the office and being finished a little earlier than usual so that as we left the carpark there was lighter patch of sky where the sun had gone down. 25 past 5 - we're getting there! For the taxi driver saying he'd seen a fox while he was waiting...and he'd never seen one before! For some overdue post waiting for  when I got home and for the wonderful workers who get it to us eventually. 

Alive

I give watching the sun melt holes in the fog this morning to sparkle on the sea, and the cruise ships I thought at first had sailed away finally emerge appearing to be floating high above the water. 

I give thanks for an unplanned snooze after a scheduled stroll around the block turned into an unscheduled stroll up the big  (it's a relative term!) hill to see where the mist was lingering. I kept thinking I'll just go a little further, and then stop for a bit and then go a little more, and at last I was at the top sitting on a nice new seat donated in memory of someone who died this year and casting black looks at the couple chatting loudly over a substantial meal (I could smell the tomato soup but didn't actually see any Scotch eggs to be fair) one just round the corner.  I gave great thanks for my legs for carrying me, for my weekend free of immunotherapy aftermath and the gloriously alive feeling I still get when I manage a bit of a walk. 

For the golden light on the bark of trees in the old hedgerows on the way and for sewing down the last roots on this one so it's finally ready for 'framing' with some braid for decoration and a bit of cardboard at the back. It's been a few years but as as Rachel said, trees do take a long time to grow!

Grey

I had some sad news from a friend early this morning and it's been on my mind all day, as well as wondering how to find something to be grateful for about it. So, I give thanks she's still here...and so am I...and that even though we're probably never going to be in the same place again we had two great days together when we were - one at Wimbledon when Andy won, and one in the lovely Lakes. I'm grateful for those memories. 

When we first met on line she was well and I was the one who seemed to be running out of time...and with so many other friends from that time gone already, let alone the current state of affairs, it's understandable matters of life and death have been playing on my mind. Sometimes it looks as if the Reaper's lost the plot with his apparently random schedule, so I give thanks for remembering there isn't one, and all we can try to do is make the best of each day we get, whether we get many or few. I'm grateful it was a grey day, and a lockdown one for quiet solitary pondering. For applying myself to various household tasks and craft projects, including my Tree of Life hanging which has been hanging around for far too many years and I feel I should finish as soon as poss. For a good amount of energy and motivation for these occupations. 

I give thanks for some good news last night - I don't have to have my kitchen delivered just yet! Mate's rate units are a wonderful thing but not so much if  the flat packs are cluttering up the place for weeks on end. 

Noisome

The last twenty four hours have not been bursting with obvious charms so I give thanks for my 'Oh well, at least...' button! In the wee small hours I was grateful I eventually did actually wake up after one of those nightmares where you think you have but then move on to further horrors, and for lavender oil on hand to eventually soothe me back to sleep.

I give thanks for a successful dialysis session, and for the reminder of how fortunate I am to usually have a quiet and cosy side room as this afternoon (due to a glitch in the system meaning I wasn't even on the system!) I was out in the open clamorous ward by an open window and a busy nurses' station. For my meditation app working today and managing to drift off a while... For my friendly helpful taxi driver and for trying to be friendly and helpful back when changes to a new temporary contract he's taken on means he's better off making himself unavailable to me for a few upcoming days. For the valuable reminders not to get too attached to well...anything really...including the outcome of a crafty thing that took a wrong turn somewhere. and didn't turn out as planned. 

I give thanks for the escapism of TV. For Lucy Worsley making even my least favourite historical subjects amusing and interesting, and for her delightful sense of style. For a belated trip to the very funny celebrity New Year's Sewing Bee, and for Patrick and Esme's sense of fun. For remembering though I am weary and weary of the world tonight, I'm a darn sight less so that I would be if I'd had two treatments today!

Apalling

A few too many enjoying the cloudless blue for my tastes this afternoon...but I'm grateful I knew this as I was one of them! I give thanks for finding a fairly isolated spot to enjoy the winter sun on the lower part of my face...after finding more get up and go than I had had in the morning when the prospect of oncology phone triage loomed over me like a pall. 

I've been grateful for feeling a lot more myself the last few days, though still easily tired, but the thought that I'd 'pass' my blood tests and have immunotherapy after dialysis tomorrow and feel pants again really didn't appeal. I gave thanks the renal consultant had requested it was the cancer consultant who talked to me this time (rather than one of her minions) due to the ongoing saga of the nasty skin condition that her minions repeatedly dismissed. Also that said specialist read the electronic sheaf of notes I've garnered over the last six weeks before she called, so understood a) that I'd been through quite a lot and b) that dermatology were playing very hard to get. She advised that although my bloods were good enough for treatment, they were poor enough to consult me on my opinion as to how welcome it would be, especially as the drug did seem to cause a flare up of the horrid spots even if it's not actually causing them. I was very grateful and relieved thus together we came to an agreement I'd have my scheduled scan next week first and see how treated my cancerous bits were looking before carrying on the week after all being well(ish). I give thanks though this may seem a little grim to you readers, to me it makes much sense. Grateful though I am for all the many interventions that the NHS provide for my ongoing wellbeing - from Covid tests to surgery - at point of contact my body and mind struggle to perceive them as actually being of benefit, and the prospect of a week or two continuing (with a little luck and good management!) to feel fairly fine did my spirits a great deal of benefit indeed! 

I give thanks for some pottering with tiles, a long deep bath with a Booker book, and something easy cooking for my tea. Oh and for Julie popping in after her vaccination to do a couple of tall jobs for me including fixing a curtain back on its hook to help keep out what might be seasonable but feels rather unreasonable cold... 

Well

When I'm not well, the activities I do when in better health become literally unthinkable. I cannot imagine how on earth I managed them. The reverse is also true, and this morning, bustling about with household chores in between grouting some mosaic and wondering why I've not been so purposeful and busy for a while, I was grateful for a glimpse of why people don't have illnesses often don't understand those who do. 

I was grateful for energy and enthusiasm too of course.

I give thanks for deciding to pay the taxi driver extra (from my own purse) to go a different and more scenic route to the hospital. Still a necessary journey but what a treat! For a rather irritating afternoon ending more pleasantly with one of the sisters I get on well with and haven't seen for a while. 

For making curry yesterday for tonight's tea and for freezing a portion of the delicious pudding I made so even though it's almost irresistible some of it has been saved. Tinned pineapple topped with syrupy ginger sponge in case you're wondering!

For enjoying the fictional machinations of Bridgerton and the jaw dropping factual ones of 24hrs in Police Custody. 

Poignant

There's a charity shop near me that's been shut for most of the last twelve months. Today I saw a poignant sign on the door saying 'Closed for Christmas. Open 5th Jan'. I know the feeling. Having been closed down myself for most of the last six weeks I'd planned for more of 'normal' life today...including taking a bag of donations to a charity shop! Never mind, I give thanks for the quietness in town...and in the local supermarket, where I'd also planned to go and went anyway - heavily masked and washing my hands and purchases afterwards of course! 

I give thanks for the sight of the man who only seems to exercise when he's been told he can doing his quickstep rounds of the park... For a friend describing how her son used to think Tuesday was Chooseday, and you could choose what to do. What a brilliant idea...I always try to make every day as much of a Chooseday as possible! For hearing another friend who works in a GP surgery is due a Covid vaccination later this week. 

I give thanks for a malfunction of urological technology causing less laundry than it might have done. For still needing urological technology during renal failure, prone to failure though it is. For various other useful chores attended to and for working on a new mosaic design that came to me while meditating during dialysis yesterday. 

Hearing

I give thanks for longer deeper sleep last night - what a difference that makes to a day. For one of the books I ordered from Smiths arriving. Don't know why the others have been delayed but...I was going to say you can only read one at once but of course that isn't true. I give thanks I have a very different book on the go at the mo so this one is very welcome!

I give thanks for getting a Sainsbury's slot and ordering the items missed last time. Their search facility is pretty dire but a bonus of the strange items it suggests was finding out Carnation now make a vegan 'condensed milk' that is suitable for all its recipes. Unlike a lot of dairy free offerings it's also suitable for renal patient consumption as it's based on rice and oats so I feel a whole lot of puddings coming on!

I give thanks for hearing how well the presents I bought Bob to enhance 'park life' did just that on New Year's Eve. For hearing that most of the staff at the unit have been vaccinated against Covid over the last few days, so we can all breathe a little easier - literally. For a successful and mostly incident free treatment and the enjoyable company of my taxi driver. For arriving home feeling quite sprightly and doing some vacuuming to warm up while dinner and the heaters did.

Last

Oh weary me, I sure am grateful to be curled up at last on the sofa! I've been tired and achy and out of sorts today and all but the most inactive parts have seemed a tremendous effort. I give thanks for doing that which needed to be done (cooking, washing and washing up), and for attempting to find pleasure in that which didn't but I might reasonably expect to enjoy (mosaic, reading, popping across to see the sea) but nothing beats a couch, hot water bottle, remote control and cuddly throw on a cold and dreary day. 

I give thanks supermarket deliveries. I'd be even more grateful if when you amend an order you didn't have to click on quite so many places to make the changes stick. There's one last screen you have to scroll down on to confirm you haven't been though all the previous confirmation screens just for the hell of it and actually do want to place the order but, particularly as deliveries are usually scheduled for days after hospital days, I'm often very tired when doing so and neglect the final move. Oh well, I give thanks I have plenty of groceries to last me until the next time, and as this is Sainsbury's next time doesn't have to be weeks ahead as it would be if it were with Tesco. 

Warm

Brrr...don't know what it's like where you are but it's a tad nippy round these parts. I give thanks for lots of layers, a snuggly quilt and hot water bottle. I've done nothing but eat since I walked through the door so I give thanks there's still plenty of food in the house! 

I give thanks for no shortage of staff on the unit today so that everyone seemed less stressed. I'm not sure why there didn't seem to be many patients though, and I didn't like to ask. 

I give thanks I'd still not put my summer quilt on top of the mid-season one until a couple of nights ago, so I could appreciate extra cosiness when needed most. For my electric blanket and an early night on the cards as I'm struggling to stay awake. I give thanks for a duplicate of the lost card from my flowers arriving so I can see what kind things Gary and Steph said. 

Uplifting

Yesterday it seemed important to get my hanging rehung so I'm grateful that was accomplished before I took to the sofa beneath it to be mostly immobile for the rest of the afternoon and evening. Today I was pleased to have more energy and enthusiasm so I could do the thing that seemed most important - after the chores - without it seeming like one too. I give thanks for sticking some bits of glass on some bits of wood for the first time in several weeks...and that I still enjoy it so much. I was worrying a little about that! I give thanks for the good place creativity takes me... 

I give thanks for a surprisingly heavy frost again - rooves and pavements and grass all white. Unusual this far south, by the sea and in a built up area... I was grateful for the rather festive whiteness, plus not having to walk on the slipperiness. And talking of white, I give thanks for ordering a dress from the White Stuff sale. I hardly ever buy anything new except for the things you wear next to your skin, so this is rather exciting. Also for ordering a pile of black and white pleasure (books) from Smiths. 

Despite the ensuing washing up, I give thanks the chores were mostly cooking so I've been able to enjoy oat milk pancakes and salmon, leek and broccoli pie with a pan of veg and barley stew ready for tomorrow and beyond.