Knees up

Heavens, look at the time! I give thanks for inroads into idleness today resting my joints as much as my brain would allow...

And for the intermittent rain which has helped by making it easier to resist going outdoors. We even had a minor thunder storm last night, much gratitude for the little thrill of that with tumbling dark clouds and brilliant flashes of lightning.

I give thanks for finding some elastic I had to take out of something was just the right length to put in something else. And for giving the kitchen sink a right old scrub, always a joy - to have it gleaming. I give thanks I'm someone who enjoys cleaning. It must be quite miserable (or dirty!) if you are not...

Stalling

Normally by Friday morning the fairies have flown away but this week have stayed for an exceptionally long time so I've been being grateful for pretty much everything for hours including…

the taste of V8 juice, cold from the fridge. If I haven’t had some for a while I always forget quite how fabulous it is!

a short series of programmes about the traders in Swansea market hall. Made me rather nostalgic for my old job as a stall holder.

this story that is self-explanatory:  

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2385219/Dolphin-gives-10lb-cod-family-dinner-Devon.html

and this article showcasing some photo portraits of ex pats in Spain http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/in-pictures-23957214

a particularly friendly and helpful Tesco driver and the snug feeling of having the cupboards full of food

and that though, as a result of their pixy whisking my mind here and there, I haven’t rested nearly as much as I’d promised my body I would, it’s been productive and pleasing activity I've been involved in

Gathering in

Mmm… I give thanks for another lovely summery day! Surely the end of bare legs for me for this year but what a treat it’s been. The season of mists and better TV schedules is upon us and not entirely a bad thing. I give thanks for new series of Catfish and QI beginning.

I’ve been trying to rest more today as I think I’ve been pushing myself too much so I was grateful for a long lie in this morning before a lift from a cheery cab driver to a restorative acupuncture session. Oh and for the yummy pastries I made using odds and ends from the fridge, and the delicious drink I bought to go with them – pomegranate and raspberry!

I give thanks for using the particularly aware state of being that comes after treatment to address a couple of tricky tasks. The trouble with creating knitting patterns in your head is that it’s even easier to find yourself following the wrong bit than if you’ve printed instructions and there was some unpicking and restarting to be done on the current project. There’s also a potential problem with making up sewing patterns as you might find what your mind’s eye sees is not what your fingers can reproduce. I’m grateful I’ve finally sorted out how to get binding and gathers in the same place.

I give thanks I've managed to write this before the particularly away with the fairies state of mind that follows the one that follows treatment takes full and fabulous hold... Is that actually a sentence? Too late now...bye!

Weedy

I was grateful for the sun shining in my eyes before it dipped below the hill while I did the washing up yesterday evening. We haven’t had a full on sunset in the west the last couple of nights but the eastern sky has been pretty in pink over the sea the way it sometimes is. Well not tonight, tonight the weather’s returned to the murkiness of earlier. I've been very grateful for that as if it had been sunny I'd have wanted to fit in over enthusiastic and unrealistic extra activities as well as a trip to the doc's for bloods, to the opticians for specs and the supermarket for food. In fact these tasks seemed a tad unrealistic themselves but it did mean I could rest on the beach in between and admire the greenery. Every cloud eh?

After staggering up from the cab when they were completed I gave great thanks for the little miracle of silence in the locality for a couple of hours…no shouting, no music, no power tools buzzing or dogs barking. At least I think it lasted a couple of hours as I fell fast asleep after twenty happy mins...

Not having a lot of get up and go this week (not even get up off the sofa and go into the kitchen a lot of the time!) I've been grateful for remembering that when you feel in the mood for pointless games on your laptop or phone there are actually some that do have a purpose…but are no less addictive for that. Free rice is an old favourite and I see they have new categories now, but I've also been trying answer4earth where there are a huge range of general knowledge questions. It assumes a US audience so some of them are complete guessing games but that can be fun too.

Oh, and I still like both pairs of new glasses now that I can actually see them. Everyone bespectacled will understand the gratitude there!

Hole in the wall

Early evening yesterday I had an unexpected burst of energy and was very grateful for the extra things I got done including, as my knees weren't hurting, grovelling around on the floor pinning and cutting a pattern which hasn't been possible for a while. After a couple of hours it all wore off and I suddenly hit a wall as runners might do (though no running had been involved!) so since then the challenge has been not to bang my head against that wall but just go with the flow even though it seems to have stopped. I'm grateful for the times I've succeeded!

Of course there's nothing wrong with inactivity per se, it's only a problem if we think that it is, that there's something we ought to be doing or have done. When your body is still it's a fine time to use your mind for something such as composing, designing or problem solving but it's also an even finer time to still your mind as well. I give great thanks for moments of mental stillness today.

I'm grateful for a visit from two very kind and helpful ladies from a local charity that encourages older folk isolated as a result of health issues not only to get out but also join in groups and activities. Though my flesh is often weak I admit my will to socialise can be even feebler so it's great that this kind of organisation exists to winkle us wrinklies out of our solitary shells. Odd to realise I fit the remit though...seems just a twinkle of time ago I was clambering through a gap in the fence at Glastonbury as dawn broke over the festivities. Mind you I was forty two at the time!

Back in the now world, I'm also grateful I half made some soup for my tea during that brief whirlwind phase (using up some vegetables that were looking a bit tired themselves) so that it was little effort to finish it today. One advantage of being brought up on tins and packets is that I still regard soup making as some sort of esoteric alchemy and so can enjoy astonished pride as well as easily digestible hot food. Ooh, and I just opened the fridge and remembered I made crumble...mmm, very good!

Occupational therapy

Gorgeous sunset last night. I think everyone for miles around gave thanks for that and I was grateful for the local 'Oracle' Facebook page for encouraging people to send their photos in so I got to see lots of versions of it!

Rachel gave me some almost out of date 'speedy seeds' for salad leaves. 72 hours after sowing they look like this so I've been giving thanks not only for the thought but that they really do do what they say on the packet!

I'm grateful I decided to have an early night on the sofa bed last night, snuggled up catching up with What Remains...an unusually good non-Nordic noir serial on the BBC. I've always enjoyed 'camping' in my living room sometimes since I had to leave home at 16 and didn't have to try to act normal any more. Tonight it was extra useful not being under the bedroom upstairs as those poor folk were having more barneys and had to go in and out a lot stomping in and out a lot - getting their favourite reconciliation remedies I suppose. Certainly I can hear they've been getting on better today...I hope my vacuuming didn't spoil the moment (much).

I was grateful I felt up to vacuuming as I do prefer clean floors, and managed various other little jobs including taking some recycling down to the communal bins outside...and a chair so I could sit in the sun for a while with some Buddhist chants and a book on meditation techniques. Now that was a good bit! And I've just been grateful for my tea which included roasted beetroot. I've never roasted beetroot before, in fact, it's one of the few vegetables I think I don't like. But I give great thanks for being brave (and being given some for free!) and thus discovering that I like it roasted. That was in the happiness equation wasn't it? No, not beetroot, being curious. Experimentation doesn't have to be food related of course but I'm grateful it's an area in which I still have the odd adventure...

Hurts so good

Why do I do it? Why do I occasionally do so much that I need twelve hours sleep afterwards and can still do hardly anything at all next day? I guess it’s not so different from the urges of those who drink so much they are ill with hangovers when they wake up, or who become clinically obese from over eating of junk food ie. the instant gratification seems worth the long term cost. 

It's no good telling folk like that that they could have just one or two drinks once in a while, or a small size burger and fries and coke...they want as much as they can get and they want it now! My craving for the great outdoors is similar and on the rare occasions when I have the various wherewithals to get to it I do tend to steal from the next day’s energy to make the most of it while I can...and then I suffer, but I'm grateful because I can blame the suffering on excess activity and activity that I really enjoyed and, let's face it, a) there's not a lot of that and b) I can feel incapable of moving after none at all! I give thanks for the feelgood factor lingering in my spirit and that it's the same feeling that I used to get after a 'proper', leg stretching, miles in double figures walk when I was well. 

Days like these I give thanks that I only have myself to look after, and that there's only me to look after me too as it's easy to say you can't do stuff when you can but there's willing hands to do it for you. Actually it's no more comfortable lying still so it's good to move around for short periods and that way, as if by magic, food appears and sometimes even the dirt on plates and pans vanishes again! I give thanks for the sound of the steam train's whistle, for the taste of a fresh brewed cup of Earl Grey tea and for something yummy I made with some veggies and cheese and seeds for my lunch plus a fish finger salad sandwich for my tea. I've never had salad in a fish finger sandwich before...impurists might be horrified but I was well impressed!

And I give thanks for thinking of the title of this post and remembering the Luminites audition performance of the song...probably the best version in the world ever, with or without lager...