Peace of my mind

I give thanks it was so quiet here last night I forgot to put my earplugs in...and forgot I hadn't so that when I woke in the night and heard the heater on frost control click on I was surprised how noisy it was.

I give thanks for porridge made with rice milk and dried cranberries, fairly kidney friendly and warming and filling on a cold day.

I give thanks for a morning busy with this and that, aware and appreciative of greater mobility and lower pain levels...but also aware and appreciative of the need to be gentle with back and my left hand side.

I give thanks some work is being done to the communal door here so that both the pharmacy and grocery deliveries could be brought straight up to my flat door. There's several causes for gratitude in that sentence!

I give thanks for noticing an unusual feeling of peaceful contentment ...suddenly realising it was still quiet upstairs (these two are inextricably linked) and perhaps a postprandial loll with some craftwork the sofa might be in order...maybe watch something on TV without the volume higher than I like it or heavy headphones on. Obviously I rarely watch anything live, especially on a weekday afternoon out of Wimbledon season, but I scrolled through the channels anyway, recognising a programme along the way but not the episode which as (as far as I knew) I'd seen every one in existence was a bit of a puzzle. It's set in a fictionalised south west county I'll call Heaven, with filming that does its beauty justice and lots of glimpses of familiar places (plus ones that make you go 'Ooh, I want to go there!' ...but as well as the lushly visible scenery there's remarkably little visible acting if you know what I mean, and some chuckles along the way. So finding a whole new series had started just added to the feelgood factor of the day...

I give thanks for reading in my horoscope that tomorrow will be good for being valued for true worth, money and business, adventure, romance, boldly asserting needs and losing inhibitions! If I get an unrealistically good one I usually say some other better positioned Aquarian can have it...this time I reckon I'll compromise and share ;-) Asserting already, see!

Salt and lime

I give thanks for swapping the great ideas for new life directions Rachel and I have had in the last couple of weeks. For her responding to my request to bring a phone charge lead...I get through them like nobody's business! For the simple delight that is Tesco finest butter mash with Quorn Cumberland sausages and veggies on the side. For a treatment that hit all the right spots, including the lala button...a dreamy night and a long lie in...

For some salty morning chat with our man in Jericoacoara. For a pause in the sunshine by our chilly waves before getting my curls trimmed this afternoon. For Maddie's exuberance at her upcoming trip and for there being one last raspberry and echinacea teabag for me!

For walking a little more and hurting a little less. For living somewhere where a potter around a few shops and businesses can be such a heart warming experience. For visiting our revived, no longer Greek run deli and picking up some still available Greek delicacies such as honey drenched baklava and the famous garlic cabbage. No, I wasn't convinced by the idea of garlic cabbage either but it's raved about so much on their Facebook page I had to give it a go...and now I am!

For the lime light on the mimosa buds late in the day...and for a recent dream about polishing my camera lens and starting taking photos again which I thought might be allegorical...but maybe is not.

For the subtly changing pastel colours in the sky after sunset. Exquisite. For several quiet neighbourly hours to enjoy myself without the rumbling grumbling mardiness of others in the background...

Knot and natter

I give thanks for a much better night's sleep than I've had for a while. I've yet to find a way of wearing those Actipatches comfortably in bed but applied as much other science as I could - lavender oil to breathe in, arnica and MSM cream to rub on, chamomile tea, paracetamol, and a warm bath not reading a book or looking at my phone. Whether any of it made any difference or it was just luck or exhaustion who knows...

I give thanks for discovering when I changed the dressing that my wound had officially become a scar...a little scabby still in places but all joined up at last!

I give thanks for getting up and on with Plan A today, though stupidly sore despite all that respite and rest last night. For thoughtful chauffeuring from Jenny to Knit and Natter, and catching up with a few of my other chums there. For seeing the decorations and donations other people had made, and for the lush biscuits I bought to share being very gratefully received...including by me!

I give thanks for time between arriving home and finishing sorting dinner to lie in some of the strange positions that unknot my pinched nerves a bit. I give thanks that Rachel's coming to try and treat my ills and distract me with chatter this evening.

Blind leading the lame

There were a few times yesterday I was grateful how my mobility is improving...and that though it's still not comfortable the pain is manageable. This was before evening when the pain started running riot again. I give thanks for catnapping between its roaring in the night...for the usual solitary distractions and the warmth from my electric blanket to soothe the sore bits a bit...and for eventually getting a handful of hours from early morning.

I give thanks I could see the stunning sunrise I missed because people who didn't posted pictures and videos on line. And for eventually feeling fit enough to get out of bed for the last grand prix of the season.

I give thanks for delicious pea and spinach soup for my lunch. Didn't like the sound of it much to be honest but you should always put a gift soup in your mouth!

I give thanks for tackling my broken kitchen blind before darkness, not least because it cuts out some of the cold. Many trips up the ladder to investigate were required... and down again to reposition said ladder and some large potted palms in the way...and luckily for my poor left leg, a fair amount of cogitation in between, as I could see the unfixed side could be easily fixed if the whole thing were taken down but no amount of cogitation could come up with a way to do that (and put it back!) on my own. I give thanks for my good friends resilience and resourcefulness... and in advance for my memory si I don't forget to treat it gently now I've cobbled a mend together... and to ask someone capable to do it better next time someone capable is here and amenable to amelioration...

I give thanks that after restoring order, hobbling through the cooking and washing up and preparation for tomorrow, I was able to join my apparently slumbering neighbours and catch up with a few zzzzs as well.

Easy like Sunday

I give thanks for an unusual level of peacefulness in the adjacent horizontal and vertical rooms so I could sleep on the sofa last night. The thing about my sofa is that it's actually a bed and, though the mattress is well past the current suggested best before date, it's still the comfiest place I know to stretch out! It's also handy for the kitchen, but most particularly welcome on this occasion as I'd run out of steam preparing my bedroom bed for winter and gave thanks for having a ready made alternative available.

I give thanks for lounging (literally) for a late lie in with donated sweet grapefruit and colour supplement, quite understandably convinced it was Sunday morning after Thursday night having such a Friday night feel, and Friday's companionable pottering about being what I'd more usually do on a Saturday.

I give thanks for eventually subduing various chores including a pile of washing up and a grovel under the bed with extension leads to plug my electric blanket in. For not getting too ratty when I had to abandon activities to let the pain subside. For not getting too disheartened having to listen to other people get ratty when a nap would have been more pleasing...  For lying down with a fascinating book on domestic history instead which has to be read flat as it's too heavy to hold! For finding a portion of homemade apple crumble in the freezer...

It's not what you do

I give thanks for a disproportionately pleasant afternoon with Mima tracking down an alternative route to a garage the wrong side of the expressway, plus sharing tea and cake in Costa on a retail estate. Sometimes it's not so much what you do but who you do it with... and Costa serve cake that's exceedingly better than a certain well known mass producer, and even many cafes! Sometimes where you do it makes a difference too of course...I give thanks for how pretty it is even sitting by the recycling bins in a carpark near here! I also give thanks for learning how to use the satnav on my phone...there's not a lot of call for that as a pedestrian and, though I keep reminding myself to be grateful how far my sciatica has improved, I can still only walk as far as I can see when I set off - unless it's round a corner that's not very far away!

My tastebuds had been somewhat thwarted in the sweet bakery department yesterday when I thought Colin was bringing me some on his way to Brazil (as you do!) but, as Brazil takes a long time to get ready to go to, provided a selection of other more time appropriate delights instead. I give thanks for all of these...including garlic mushrooms with pecorino cheese cooked for my dinner, a very romantic operatic duet (no, not a euphemism!), and a very early breakfast in bed...

Glitter calls

I don't know what the opposite of log is but I slept like one last night! I give thanks for soothing music to listen to, and for waking up early so I'd plenty of time to decide what not to do today. I give thanks for a timely message from Mima offering to take me and/or any of my stuff to what we used to call the tip as I did have a bag of such things recently gathered and waiting...plus a deadline for a lift to town was as handy as the lift itself!

I give thanks for some rather stunning sea-nery en route and that. though many premises were unreasonably (though seasonably!) less abundant in seating I was able to go about my business with a little help from friendly local staff. I give thanks for going further and getting more done than I hoped I might. I give thanks though I'd slowed to a kind of leg drag zombie shuffle by the time I made the taxi rank, I did make the taxi rank and there was a helpful cab driver waiting. I give thanks for doing almost nothing for the next couple of hours!

I give thanks for finishing the garland for the library decorations...and a scarf for the sale for funds there. I think the one at the top is the scarf and the one at the bottom is the garland, but it's a tough call...and no, I agree, neither of them is very photogenic! Early blog tonight at my bathwater is calling - have a pleasant evening peeps!