Not far to go

Um...I give thanks for giving in to my doziness as far as possible. Well, it is supposed to be a day of rest in some circles, isn't it...so I made sure I got some practice in yesterday pm as well! And I've been so busy the last few weeks I couldn't be bothered to beat myself up with the guilt stick when all my joints were so painful anyway and the right angle for me was definitely horizontal.

I give thanks for the hazy sunshine for those more energetic than I. For getting some laundry done to dry by the open windows, some paperwork to take to the postbox. For getting to the postbox eventually, the rubbish and recycling bins...and, as it was so pleasant to be outside, for walking around the terrace block. I give thanks for trying to take an interesting photo but the lens blurs are getting a bit frustrating now...and for some reason I found it impossible to focus on the busy burrowing bumble bee in among the woodchips. Nice to see him tho! I give thanks for all the full fresh foliage this time of year and for the beautiful juxtaposition of these ivy leaves...

I give thanks for a bit of online chit-chat, for Mima inviting me to pop down and see her new wallpaper but wisely saying no. For a lot of nice things to eat requiring little prep or washing up. For washing up anyway, and tidying here and there as far as achiness allowed. For the new Fargo adverts starting...

Not bad at all

I give thanks I'm tired and sore today...it makes me less envious of all those folks I know off on their travels...to be truly wafted to paradise would suit me just fine, but it's the getting to Luton airport, you know? I give thanks I can go there via Flightradar24 however and virtually wave people off...

I give thanks while I was taking it easy after a cup of tea was brought to me in bed this morning a good fairy did the all the washing up!

I give thanks the train she was planning to catch coincided with catching the post office before it shut so we could share a cab down the hill. For a commiserate with a neighbour about another neighbour's dog, and realising another neighbour's dog that had been barking it's head off was in distress as his master was unwell. For the wonderful folk who man and woman the ambulances... For a sensible taxi driver coming to find us when he could see the ambulance blocking his way and our view

I give thanks I don't have a car - the parking/searching for parking chaos at Waitrose was seriously scary, though it did mean there were less people inside the store than there might have been and I could get Higgedy pies on spesh and cut price quorn sausages without too much waiting in rows.

I give thanks for getting home for some lounging before a shower of rain began - next best thing to lounging in the sun I'm sure...well, the next best available thing I can think of anyhow! I give thanks for snacking and watching other people cook on TV instead of making tea for one...

Buy and buy

I give thanks for underestimating myself last night.  I sent Jan off for a bath and made a perfectly acceptable meal of rice and veg and smoked tofu - even managing to toast pine nuts without burning them which is not easy even without mind altering sounds! I give thanks she seemed to enjoy the vegan trifle more than I did, but that was the point of making it after all...

I give thanks we've been enjoying the Christmas Sherlock which I saved in December to watch with Bob when we had our belated one in March (only we didn't!) so there were three evenings' entertainment waiting as Jan hadn't seen it either, with Bombay mix, and Bouja Bouja truffles for the munchies.

I give thanks for another outing today, a round trip taking in the 'old harbour' requested on the holiday itinerary, a vegan friendly cafe nearby, a couple of shops where I correctly surmised she would find some more things to buy and even a place where I could, with this week's limited budget and firm resolve, spend a few pounds on things I'd been keeping an eye out for for a while (a new purse as gloriously impractical turquoise leather which I might just start using before my nearly falling apart one does, a couple of cheap but pretty second hand brooches for brightening up secondhand collars of jackets and coats, and some utterly unecessary but irresistible butterfly buttons) Seeing as I have limited enthusiasm for shopping per se (but like new things as much as the next person) I give great thanks I have a curious ability to know precisely where to go for whatever it is one has convinced oneself one requires...and in this case especially as it was a small indoor market hall.

I give thanks for randomly catching a frequent but desperately held up bus that randomly connected with the very infrequent bus home. For it being just the right time to see the secret bluebell banks from the top deck. For fish and chips for tea and Jan making me a cuppa in the morning and as I sit typing this.  Oh and the pair of dancing blue butterflies I forgot from yesterday that the buttons reminded us of - so maybe they weren't unnecessary after all.

I give thanks it seems that Bob has found somewhere to move to...and that though there's no news in that area for me yet someone saw this place on the website and thought it might be mine from the particular decorative style though she'd never been inside...and said nice things about it ...

Dinner gong

I give thanks for a long lie in this morning... Heavens I was tired last night and kept waking up with various body parts complaining. I give thanks for trying out the easiest vegan cake recipe ever which, as it was to make Jan a vegan trifle, I figured would be fine soaked in sherry however it turned out. Will tell you later...only got as far as cooking it so far...

I give thanks for finally shoehorning myself out of bed and the flat and directing our travels towards another day of sampling local delights (and shopping opportunities for Jan!), this time a short bus ride away. For finding a nice place for a nice lunch, a look round an interesting local museum...and the main event of the day...a gong bath! I give thanks this has made writing my blog very challenging but that's kind of why I wanted to go, you know. I give thanks for the colours in the breaking wave tops waiting for the bus... La, la, la...

Right, my work here is done... Off to try making dinner. This could be interesting...

Owl ways something there

I'd been worrying Jan might not sleep through the deep rhythmic rumbles I could hear despite my earplugs last night, so I was grateful when I realised she was making them...in her sleep of course! I'd been worrying too I might be doing her an injustice, so I was even more grateful when I unplugged my ears to check (I wasn't)..and heard the calling owls I'd have missed otherwise.

I give thanks for having a friend to stay anyway...I don't have many but the ones I do have I do like a lot! And though it took me a while to get to sleep, I give thanks when I did the next thing I heard was a tap on my door with a cup of tea in the morning...And when I took my earplugs out, the one after that was the drummer! Heard him a few times lately and it always makes me smile...and the refuse lorry because it reminds me we are cared for, and the garden birds trilling to one another because they remind me there's other worlds going on beside us.

Last night I'd also worried about the distance we'd probably be walking today and not sure how I was going to do it... I'm still not sure, to be honest, and it was a battle at the end but I give thanks I did, and for all the well placed seats that helped me!  For visiting our lost gardens at last (quick aside to the Universe - I still long to visit the 'real' ones you know!), and managing to zoom past most of the blurry scratches on my camera lens for one shot at least. They are multiplying thick and fast which mystifies me as I am fairly careful with it, and I wondered today if they are actually caused by the way the lens cover opens and closes so I was kind of grateful to read on line they probably are but as mine is not new that's just tough. Oh well, it's been loads of fun while it lasted...

I give thanks for a vegan friendly local cafe providing ice cream for Jan in the sun yesterday, cake in cloud today...and pies on ice to bring home to cook for our tea. For leftovers of my broccoli and fake blue cheese soup to nourish and nurture us in the meantime...

For a trip there and back on the ferry, seeing the big dredger at work close up and the anglers doggedly trying to fish with it just a few feet away. For all the random chitchat and banter between strangers that makes the world go round round here... For losing an hour or two to snoozing when we got back. This holiday lark is quite tiring you know...to say nothing of thinking up bad puns day after day!

Wonder full to night

Mmm I give thanks for the thunder last night. I could see those grey glowering anvils, but we didn't get the rain... Which is fine by me until the roof is fixed but I do love a good storm! Instead there was sun slanting through the trees before it dipped below the horizon, and flame tipped clouds when it did...

I give thanks for a scaffolding truck arriving this morning 'onwards and upwards' it said on the side. Great idea I thought, onwards and upwards indeed...and then they erected a small tower two houses up the road! I give thanks I would actually laugh if this were a mistake to do with house and flat numbers...

I give thanks for getting almost everything done I had hoped to do this morning...including philosophically accepting that a few more phone calls may be required in some departments. For being informed that my flat will be going up in the estate agents' window very shortly...and dropping off some keys for prospective buyers.

I give thanks for seeing something on Facebook earlier that reminded me of this golden oldie. Not a lot of people know this but I am such a romantic at heart...don't tell them will you? Made me think of a good post title anyway...and a motto. Try to be wonder full to night OK?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fxAiUq8yn34

I give thanks that Jan is here and my little holiday in this pleasant seaside resort has begun...for all the friendliness, including free halva from the deli...and the warm spring sunshine on that big old blue sea...

Green eyes blue

The last few weeks has tested my sciatic nerve and found it still wanting care and attention (along with various other body parts fallen into disuse while it was getting ALL the care and attention). It's a first world wish I know but last night I was feeling sore and sorry for myself that the pain wasn't caused by more pleasurable activities than seemingly endless chores (and envious of seemingly endlessly hearing of other people's holiday plans at the mo!)... so I give thanks to Colin for at least making the ironing virtually entertaining, and to Mima and Jan for being up for a bit of on line up ahead escape planning too.

I give thanks for sleeping long and mostly soundly, and for a bit of a late lazy start before tackling the indoor waterfall, which would of course be less of one if I'd got up in the night or earlier in the day to see to it...but I have to leave the flat for that, and I prefer to be dressed in more than a dressing gown first. For a nice lunch which I had the good sense to mostly prepare yesterday... as today I've been making soup for tomorrow instead.

I give thanks for Julie happily relieving me of my surplus to requirements tools and materials...and bringing me a gift of Booja Booja truffles and Basilico tofu too. Nice to have a catch up and even be able to offer her vegan milk and cookies for with her tea. For solving the mystery of the missing keys. Seriously you don't want to know...perhaps I should be looking at care homes not flats! That after a long list of stuff to be done tonight/in the morning, my staycation with Jan starts tomorrow afternoon!

For the dazzling greens of the topmost boughs now that May is here...