Tuesday 12th May - a day off?

Yesterday I proved conclusively that it's the way I use my tablet that provokes my neck. I only used it for about 15 minutes and I was paying for it all night and all today, and felt proper sorry for myself.

I was so tired and droopy all day that I took things very, very easy and didn't brave the cold gloomy weather.

I did do a little drawing though; sitting at the dining room table to write or draw seems to be okay for short periods of time. 

My usual sunny good temper (?) was severely tested throughout the day; every sentence I began to write (including this one!) seemed to be subjected to a series of interruptions; a phone call from the architect, the arrival of the man to service the stairlift, a delivery, a pressing need to go to the loo, a question about this, or that... at one point I came back to a sentence in my 'notebook swap' after several hours to find to find the word 'Also', but what had I been going to write four hours previously?

I do know I was writing about Johanna Basford's Inky Wonderland colouring books. She wrote a book on how to create the pictures she makes. I lent my to a neighbour yesterday; now that she's on her own (her husband died about a year ago) she finds the evenings very long sometimes,  but said she enjoyed doing colouring books. I thought she might like to create her own pictures. 

That put me in mind of the series of YouTube tutorials JB released, 

so I found one and followed the step by step instructions. I've drawn these in the current notebook swap that I was having so much difficulty writing complete sentences in!

This last one is still in the early stages at the moment.

Johanna Basford makes it all so easy!

Normal walking will resume tomorrow!

Monday 11th May - plans, plans,

 

Here it is!

This is what we are hoping to achieve; an extension right across the back of our house, creating a new kitchen and a small living space where we can sit to eat at a small table, or relax in comfortable chairs looking out at the garden.

I've coloured the new part a pinky beige so you can see it. Nothing is to scale, but the extension goes out about 10 feet.

The old kitchen, which I've coloured blue, will have a generous section partitioned off, with a sliding door to save space. This is to become a level access walk-in shower, with grab rails and a folding seat, and also a loo and a hand basin. The boiler, with the washing machine underneath can stay where they are, outside the new shower room. The other side of the room can be shelves, cupboards,  drawers, whatever.

We want to have level access through the existing house, into the extension and on through to the new patio, and a ramp down to the left into the garden, for when mobility becomes more of an issue for me.

In other words, we want to 'future proof' our house. We've seen several families suddenly find themselves in the position where illness, disability, mobility has over-taken them, and their adaptations couldn't keep pace with the progression of the illness. And we've seen other families, where one partner gas been diagnosed with a progressive disease, whose early planning and home alterations made all the difference to how they could continue to live happily in their home.

We both felt that this was our chance to adapt our house to make my life, and therefore our lives, more comfortable for longer. Eventually, if necessary, the 'old' dining room could become a downstairs bedroom if I can no longer manage the stairs! 

I'm so excited, especially about a new kitchen!

I've never chosen a kitchen before; this one was here when we moved in nearly 45 years ago, and I doubt it was new then. We've been able to think about howe we cook, and how we use the space, and plan accordingly. The best thing about this is that the new kitchen will be installed before the old one is ripped out, so won't have weeks, or even months, of total chaos in that department.

Now we wait, for the drawings to be given the go-ahead, the drains to be surveyed, and a zillion other details to be slotted into their place in the plan.

....

Walking; the forecast promised rain. Oh. So we drove to a huge undercover garden centre we've visited before, and I used a whole oxygen bottle up walking round, eying up the plants, closely examining a large patio shelter/shade, and giving our full attention to the delights on offer in the food market. We chose exotic snacks (no, not chocolate ants, nothing quite that bizarre, but Thai Tom Yum flavoured bites - definitely yum) and speciality biscuits and some tempting sausage rolls for supper - also good.

So I reckon I dd do a walk today, just not to the post box and back.

Sunday 10th May - Christian Aid Week

Our zoom service today was taken from the materials supplied by Christian Aid. 

There were a few things that caught my attention 

My part in the service was to read 'Fridah's story'. She sold food in the market that she bought wholesale to make a precarious living to support her children and grandson. If she didn't sell enough, she couldn't eat.

I don't think I've ever had to go without food so that my children could eat.

That was something to think about. 

Christian Aid has helped her by teaching her how to grow vegetables in a small space in cones; they create a tower of layers of terraces to make a water-saving way to grow a lot of veg in a small space

 Once I restart my veg patch, I'll give some thought as to how I might be able to use this method. It's like a larger, rougher version of a strawberry tower.

....

Thirdly, one of the readings included this verse, Acts 17; v28

'for in Him we live and move and have our being'

I often think of the Holy Spirit being like pure air, in which we live and move and have our being. Rather like water for fish... without the water the fish cannot live, without air, we cannot live.

....

I persuaded myself to go for a walk; I'd had a restless night last night so was tired and grumpy, and outside it was cold and grey and, horrors, beginning to rain.

'Go on!' I said to myself. 'Give it a go; if you can't get all the way round at least you've tried.'

(I'm constantly talking to myself...)

Stepping out, I was actually surprised to find myself energised by the fresh air after being indoors all day, and surprised myself by feeling energised, and without too much grit or determination did the whole circuit.

The verse came back to mind... in Him.... this Hy Spirit, this Breath of God, we live and move and have our being.

 

Saturday 9th May - election results, anti-doom scrolling book, walk

I just want to write a couple of words about the council election results.

Not one single news item has discussed tactical voting.

We've elected a Lib-Dem candidate, with 2020ish votes. The second highest candidate was Reform, with 800ish votes. The other candidates had about 950 votes between them.

I know that many people, us included, voted L-D  simply to make sure the Reform candidate did not win. I'm sure our area won't be the only one where this happened...  but do we hear this on the news reports? 

Moving on. I try not to let politics seep into this blog!

...

On substack someone, I forgot who, is starting a club where you will receive every month a new, nicely presented laminated card, (or maybe a few cards, I wasn't to sure) with a short poem to memorise, interesting philosophical or 'life' question, a quotation or two, a riddle, naye a conundrum. 

The idea is that instead of reaching for your phone when you are waiting or bored or whatever, you take out the card and think about something on it.

I thought that was an interesting idea! So I've taken a spare small notebook

 and copied out some short poems and haikus, and a couple of quotes and questions;

There are a couple or more pages, but that's all. The notebook can live in my handbag, and I can add some more next month. I could also jot stuff down on the back pages as well if I wanted.

......

Walking seems to take more effort each day, but I think that's because I'm doing better each day... getting a little bit further before I have to stop, for example. Maybe I now need to go slower, take time to enjoy the walk, and the sights along the way like this beautiful tree

rather than using all my grit and determination to make it to the post box and home again! More of an amble, less of a yomp!

Friday 8th May - cow pats from male cows and AI... chickens and a good read.

 Don't be put off because this article by the renowned knitting designer Kate Davies is, at first sight, about knitting. It actually has a lot of important things to to say about AI in general (plus some extraordinary and rather disconcerting AI generated images for the prompt 'lovely knitting').

Actually, the article is well worth a click just for the images; they are enough to raise the alarm bells on this whole ghastly side of AI.

There's a clue to the title of the article in the title of this post.

I read as a therapy after trying again to do cables in knitting. Perhaps different needles would help, that wouldn't split the yarn so easily? Or maybe a different yarn with a tighter twist? Maybe the needles were too slippery to be able to control the yarn? Or a different cable needle? 

Or perhaps just rip it all out, cut off the tangled bit and go and have a coffee. Perhaps cables shouldn't be attempted on days with a 'y' in the spelling.

.....

I'm playing 'yarn chicken' with one project; the solution was to start the next ball of yarn, searching for a section which had an approximate colour match. Now I can relax.

.....

BB and I are both playing 'oxygen cylinder chicken' with the daily walks. This morning I did a stock check;

2 full and 2 quarter-full cylinders in the hall

1 three-quarter full cylinder in the dining room for use in zooms

2 full and one empty in the shed

 I need to reserve three for meeting up with a friend for the day on Monday - I'll probably only use 2, but it's always better to have some contingency.

So today I carried a quarter full one and BB a full one; by the time we got home mine was empty and his was just over half full.

Tomorrow I'll carry the other quarter cylinder and he'll carry the one he had today - there should be about a quarter left.

On Sunday I'll carry that one, and he'll take the three-quarter cylinder from the dining room; if it looks like we're going to run out, he can stride home, fetch one of 'Monday's cylinders' and rescue me. I wouldn't have far to go; if I just sit on someone's garden wall, turn the flow rate down and wait I'll be fine. That's how you play oxygen cylinder chicken; just as in knitting, going faster doesn't make the yarn or the oxygen last longer!

The big mistake today, I think, was going for the walk too soon after lunch. I'll leave it a bit longer tomorrow! Also, I had a shower this morning, and that's always a bit of an energy-sapper. 

.....

I've just finished reading Barbara O'Neal's books, 'The Last Letter of Rachel Ellsworth'

It's a good one; food, world travel, mysterious back stories revealed as an initially mismatched trio journey together, two with their own personal tragedies to overcome so that they can begin to live their lives again. Plus ghosts...

    

Thursday 7th May - walking

 I've been keeping up with the walks; yesterday I rocked up to the post box and then discovered I hadn't addressed the card... I nipped into the post office-cum-corner shop and asked if I could borrow a pen and added the address there and then. I'll leave the recipient to guess if they were the one!

I was doing a solo hike this time (all of 0.6 miles!)  BB was back home 'guarding' the dishwasher. WE don't like leaving the dishwasher or washing machine running unattended. This could be because of the time BB and the children came back from the fireworks one very cold dark November night, rounded the corner towards the house to find a fire engine in all its glory and flashing lights outside our front door. I'd stayed at home to cook supper as I wasn't bothered about fireworks and I am bothered about getting cold. While I was pottering in the kitchen I noticed that there was a smell of burning and the washing machine drum had filled up with smoke.

I switched it off, and then proved to my disgust exactly how useless I was in a crisis;

me - dial 999

voice - fire, police or ambulance?

me - fire! My washing machine is full of smoke, I'm standing outside, could a fire engine come? they are only just down the road

voice - what's your address madam?

me - I think I need some help with the washing machine, it's too heavy for me to get it out of the house

voice patiently extracts details of my name and address and slowly I calm down and realise how unhelpful I was...

Learning Point; rehearse exactly what you need to say to the voice on the phone in an emergency...

Anyway, to get back to the here and now, or here and yesterday, there was plenty of oxygen left in the cylinder, so I extended my walk to visit the duck pond, just across the little common outside the corner shop.

There are ducks and geese, ducklings and goslings, or there will be soon. I only saw the ducks across the far side (not in the photograph, and the geese. One was in the water, the other standing guard in a slightly threatening manner;

     I gave him a wide berth, staying on the path.

Today BB came too. We took a slightly different route, involving a couple of slightly greater upward slopes  and I was glad he was carrying the cylinder. I didn't make it all the way to the post box; I rested on a bench nearby while BB walked to the post box with a card, and bought himself a pizza for supper. The weather was colder, and grinding up the slopes had sapped my energy. Still, after my rest we made it all the way back again, downhill all the way, and I reckon I walked a similar distance.

It's astonishing what a difference the slightest gradient can make for me.

.......

Indiana Jones; just a short extract. The Vienna Philharmonic and Sir Simon Rattle. So many opportunities for people-watching! 

 

Thursday 7th May - elections

 I'm sharing this post from Ang at Tracing Rainbows because voting is so important. 

Here's Dave Walker's excellent cartoon;

In my area it's likely that people will be voting tactically.

Here is the Marsh family... they've nailed their colours to the mast! (Also from Ang's post)

Wednesday 6th May - serves me right...

 Don't waste any sympathy on me when I whinge about getting a stiff neck again. I knew this would happen when I spent too long on my tablet at the weekend, on Monday, yesterday. 'You'll be sorry,' I warned myself, but I didn't listen.

So, two paracetamol and my rechargeable heated neck wrap are doing their work and I'm slowly feeling less fragile.

I've put my tablet out of reach and am monitoring phone use. A few days of 'adulting' and I shall be fine.

I stood outside in the only sunny patch I can get to near the back door, which happens to be where the neighbours haven't yet replaced their fence. They took a few panels down, having checked with us beforehand, when they were having their extension done last summer.  It made access much easier for the builders, especially when demolishing the old garage. Being able to seeing what was going on suited us very nicely as we thought and plotted and planned ours, hopefully (when's the next blue moon?) starting in the next month or so. 

I was waiting for the sun to reach the hazel tree I am following this year - the past few days have been quite clouded over whenever I've thought of taking a picture. The sun creeps along the garden up towards the house. By midsummer the back of our house (and therefore our proposed extension) will be in the sun from about 11am, but there are a few weeks to go yet.

Anyway, the sun reached the tree just before 10, and BB took a picture on my phone for me;

I noticed its leaves were drooping over the weekend, but a couple of buckets of water seem to have perked it up. I suppose it just gets leafier and leafier, and the pale green-ness becomes darker and darker as the year goes on now. To think it was just a few thin little twiggy bits in a pot last Summer when we got it...

....

   I follow the blog of an author called Kathleen Jowitt, and she posted about a great-great-great-relative of hers a composer and conductor called Sir Julius Benedict, who seems to be largely forgotten today although very well known in his own life. He was born in 1804, and conducted the Norfolk Music Festival for over 30 years. The Burnham Music Festival in Norfolk is celebrating his work this year.

At Kathleen Jowitt's recommendation I've just listened to his C minor piano concerto - one single continuous piece, and thoroughly enjoyed it. Think Mendlessohn, ebullience, energy, spectacle...

     

   

Tuesday 5th May - unexpected item in bread machine

 Namely, this;

I don't  know how that happened! That sad mixture of bread flour, yeast (new packet, reliable brand) salt, sugar, butter and water, all measured and added in the right order  produced that. It really was inedible, amd is now in the compost bin where the worms will eventually conceal the evidence. 

BB cleaned the bread machine and made another loaf, meticulously weighing and measuring everything.

It tastes excellent too; we've just had bacon sandwiches for supper.

(Lunch, if you are interested, was Nigella Lawson's spaghetti with tinned sardines, much nicer than it sounds!)

.....

BB went out to try and book a haircut. The usual place, by our corner shop, has disappeared so he went to a place ge had been to before. Lo and behold, they could do him straight away, and I hardly recognised him. The haircut was very overdue, and he looks so much smarter!

.....

When he got back, we went straight out to post today's postcard. I managed to push past my natural inclination to have a day off, and once I found my (rather slow!) stride, I discovered that we'd got home much sooner, stopped less frequently and I'd only used half a cylinder! This improvement is a great encouragement. Thank you, Rustic Pumpkin, for inspiring me to get walking again! She's walking to raise money for Parkinsons UK, so do visit if you'd like to donate.

.....

Here's some unexpected Star Wars....

Monday 4th May - stickability

is not my strong point, but i have managed two trips to the post box in a row.

This was the first cross-stitch picture I ever completed, the first one in the Cross Stitch Collaboration project with Ang. We both seem to have double-joined arms...

We've completed four collaborations so far, the first, stating in 2022 was an embroidery 'postcard', the second was cross stitch. The third was a book cover, the fourth a patchwork project bag. We're taking a break this year, but I hope we come up with a new idea for next year!

What else today? Well, these all count as 'events' for me;

a shower

the walk to the post office; much easier today as although we walked the exact same route, BB joined me and carried the 3.8kg oxygen cylinder. What a difference that makes! I was walking twice as far before stopping for a breather! However we have a slight problem; I'm only using three-quarters of a cylinder, and I will soon me amassing a rather useless row of quarter-full cylinders... the solution us to walk a little bit further, of course, but close to home so if I'm getting too close to empty I won't have far to go.

sending in my order for our weekly grocery delivery

and, after lunch (sausages from earlier in the week reheated in a batch of freshly made tomato and veg sauce, with potatoes cut very small and roasted in the air fryer)

helping BB to change the sheets - clean sheets tonight! I do love a freshly-made bed! We've also swapped to the summer duvet, I've been getting too hot these past nights.

Now after supper (home-made carrot soup, toast and marmite, followed by toast and marmalade) we're settling down for the final part of the snooker final...

Oh, and here's a picture of Yoda, because... it's May the Fourth...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yoda

I'm not sure I agree with his famous quote "Do or do not. There is no try." 

John Williams and The Vienna Philharmonic; the main title theme from Star Wars, called 'A New Hope'.

Sunday 3rd May - Community support and encouragement

In the letter to the Hebrews, chapter 10, verses 24-25, St Paul says;

And let us consider how we may spur one another on towards love and good deeds, not giving up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging one another... 

This is one of the very few Bible verses that I can sort of quote with Chapter and verse, because our mothers and toddlers group at church that I used to go to way back when my children were toddlers was called, confusingly to newcomers, '10:25' after this verse. I say confusingly, because we actually met at 10, but once you knew the reason why it all made perfect sense.

I suppose we tried to do a bit of Bible study in alternate weeks, and did something else on the other weeks, but the Bible study bit was always being derailed; no-one could remember who had The Book, or the person who was meant to be leading had forgotton The Book or was away, or someone started sharing a great recipe for carrot cake or asked urgent questions as to where someone had bought that dress/cardigan/shirt. 

The main thing, most important thing, I would say, about our group was that we all propped each other up as we lurched from catastrophe, to crisis, to total overload and exhaustion, as mothers of toddlers.

My current home group, over thirty years later, does the same. We pool our knowledge, offer practical assistance and promise to pray for each other.

And I reckon the blogging community that I have found myself in does the same; we might not ever meet each other in person, but I think we do a decent job of spurring each other on towards love and good deeds... and encourage each other as we navigate our very different lives and challenges.

And in that spirit, I hope Rustic Pumpkin won't mind me encouraging you to visit her site  and read her post for the 26th April, about taking on a challenge to walk every day in May to raise money for Parkinsons UK. The link to her gofundme page is there, and you can follow her progress.

She has inspired me to do more walking (I could hardly be doing less than I am at the moment 😒) and today I made it round to the post box to post a card to a friend. A there and back walk of just over half a mile, pretty good going for me. 

I'm not asking for personal sponsorship or anything, as I'm not committing myself any more than walking nearly every day, well, maybe several times a week is more realistic! But if you would like a post card, put your address in the comments and I'll send you one (but I won't publish your address) 

It will give me a reason for the walk. If I've already got your address, then a postcard will wing its way to you eventually... 

.....

I never thought I'd choose this piece to share - the famous (infamous?) Bach Prelude in C major from The Well Tempered Klavier, book 1, but it had a lovely video. There's no indication of who is playing the piano.

Sunday 3rd May - My Oxygenated Life - I've been in a strop!

 I haven't posted anything on my blog for a few days, because it's been  busy week and I found that was I tired in the evenings. 

And also, I've been Thinking, which can also be Very Tiring! There have been a number of 'incidents', shall we call them, with my oxygen support, all self-inflicted.  

Things like

forgetting to turn up the flow rate when I take the stair lift up to go to the loo

forgetting to turn up the flow rate when I go to the kitchen to make a cup of tea or start cooking a meal

not paying attention to how much oxygen I have left in a cylinder, so part way through a zoom call I start wondering why I am suddenly feeling so desperately in need of a nap

hanging the end of the oxygen canula off the back of a patio chair so I can risk taking several steps to the compost bin to empty the kitchen scraps bin, because the canula doesn't quite reach that far  

nipping over from the table to the the settee to fetch my cardigan and putting it on as I sit don to finish what I am doing, without adjusting the flow rate up, and then back down again  

forgetting to turn the flow rate down after I have made my porridge and before I sit at the table to eat it!

I am driving myself crazy!

What is going on?

Bear in mind that, at rest and at night I need an oxygen flow rate of 1 litre per minute, for mild physical activity such a getting dressed, having a bath or shower, making a cup of tea or gently cooking a meal, I need around 5-6 litres per minute, and for walking 7 or 9 litres per minute depending on terrain. When walking outdoors I also need to pause and catch my breath every 100-150 steps or so, depending on the uphill or downhill slope! 

I think it's a form of rebellion against the whole (adjective removed) business of being dependent on oxygen support, and also a kind of frustration at how quickly my oxygen levels plummet upon any kind of exertion. It's very trying that bending down to adjust the flow rate on the oxygen concentrator uses even more oxygen! The good thing is that I recover very quickly; usually within a couple of minutes or less once I stop moving.

'Just pace yourself', they told me at the clinic. Well, yes, jolly good advice. 'You try it,' I snarled back, but luckily in my 'inside' voice, while maintaining an intelligent and receptive (I hope) look on my face.

This happens to me every so often; I maintain an attitude of acceptance, and gratitude for the life changing, life enhancing effect of having oxygen support - you should have seen me two years ago almost weeping from exhaustion at the end of the day from just the effort of breathing to keep my oxygen SATs somewhere around 87%, and going to bed early just so I could hook up to the overnight oxygen I was allowed to have.

So I have to stop, and reflect, and notice that I am being rebellious and stroppy and - let's face it - rather silly and irresponsible, even if subconsciously, and start behaving better! I've had a word with myself, as they say, and going to pay more attention to what I do and how.

It's not just me that is being hurt by my behaviour, but also BB, who has to continually rescue me from my escapades, and what while I sit there gasped like a landed fish while my oxygen levels come back up to what they should be. It's just not fair on him - am I listening? Yes..... until next time....

Cheerfulness, gladness, gratitude and a more mature frame of mind have been resumed.   

 

    

Saturday 2nd May - I don't even like snooker...

 But the past couple of days I've been fairly glued to it...

The semifinal between Mark Allan and Wu Yize has been riveting.  It's still going, and they've started another frame so this is all I'm posting today...

Wednesday 29th April - Sound, and Noise

This morning was sparkling star to the day. As the sun rises over the front of the house, the light travels down slowly from the tops of the trees at the bottom of the garden to the roots, and then up towards the back of the house by the afternoon.

At about 8 am I opened the back door and looked out, and was literally dazzled by the combination of bright blue sky and vivid green leaves all flickering in the fresh sharp breeze. From a tree in another garden a little further along there was the most tremendous noise. Several dozen starlings were jostling and bustling about, all continuously commenting on everything.   

They kept up this racket - I couldn't possibly call it birdsong - all day. I've just discovered that while a flock of starlings in flight is a 'murmuration', another collective noun is a 'chattering' of starlings.

I watched the starlings for a little while later in the day. I think it was a 'first flight' day for this year's broods, as the birds were making longer flights between the fences separating the gardens. Perhaps the starlings weren't arguing, but doing the equivalent of shouting 'watch me!' 'Did you see that?' 'Look, I'm going to the next tree!' and so on to each other, like excited children on a climbing frame.

.......

Now follows a rant about background music.....

...

I'm slowly reading Sara Maitland's book 'On Silence' which is about her searching for, and investigations about silence. I suspect that true silence is impossible to find, except in carefully, scientifically constructed chambers. She describes a lot of her experiences of solitude, a different thing altogether. I think the nearest we can get to silence in normal life is the reduction, maybe elimination of what I think of as deliberately added extra noise. 

Now, if you wanted some background music while you read my rantings, how about Elgar, Chanson du matin? Or just skip the rant and go straight to the music?

                 

TV programmes, I'm looking at you... I've given up watching favourites like 'The Repair Shop', and others such as 'The Great British Bakeoff' and 'Masterchef' are on notice. They have incessant background music - no, all it 'muzak'. 

Are they mending clocks? Cue tick-tock style music. Cut to person mending a teddy bear and we abruptly switch to a music box waltz. Here's someone mending a military cap and guess what, our ears and brain now have to assimilate a brass band march, faded down during the voice over, increased in volume while the presenter takes a breath and faded down for the next sentence.

Cooking - there are separate jingles for announcing the challenge, for beginning to cook, for approaching the judging time, for standing waiting for the verdict... you don't have to watch to know exactly what's happening.

I've nearly reached the end of this rant - I was dismayed to hear background music exploding into the short gaps between items in the radio programme about statistics in the news called 'More or Less'. Totally unnecessary.     

And finally; 'The Enchanted April' by Elizabeth von Armin is being seralised on the radio at the moment. It's such a lovely, lovely book. I've read it twice, and I'm enjoying the episode on the radio, but, but, but... as the reader reads the description of Lottie's first morning waking up in the castle in Italy, there is also a gorgeous piece of violin music, which exactly fits the mood and description. Except that I cannot concentrate on the words, and build the picture in my mind, and listen to the music all at the same time. My castle and the terraced gardens and view all crumbled to dust... still, I had the music to listen to!

....

Monday 27th April - in the garden all day

 It has been another lovely sunny day. I even took off my cardigan! We were both outside all day, having meetings...

Our architect came over, and we sat outside in the dappled shade of the apple tree at the bottom of the garden to go over plans and next steps. At the same time the building company's surveyor was doing the very detailed measurements which will provide the very detailed plans for the groundworks. He had set up his 'workstation' on the patio table up near the house. BB set up the parasol for him as the sun was now properly sunny.

Having both architect and surveyor at the same time proved a good move as they could settle a lot of questions between them straight away. Then fence between us and our neighbours gas not yet been replaced after their similar extension was done last summer.  We get on very well, and we had permission to nip through and check on how various details such as manhole covers and drains were dealt with, which the surveyor found helpful.

They left shortly after 3, and we had lunch - yes, lunch! - at about quarter past! I hadn't managed to get it ready for us to eat before they turned up just before 1pm. My, but we were hungry!  I'd already cooked the sausages, and defrosted some chunky vegetable and tomato sauce, so I nipped into the kitchen to put plates into the oven to heat and make a start on cooking pasta while they were packing up their bags. It didn't take long, and we sat outside in the shade of the parasol to eat.

And then it was supper time... or would have been... but the day was so scrambled. We had a snack much later.

Three events, then.

A shower, and two meetings. And a lot of fresh air.

Dvorăk, Sillouettes op8 no 11 in A major. Played by Claudio Columbo.

Sunday 26th April - what a beautiful day...

In the garden after lunch; 

I'm trying to avoid what I think of as 'work' on Sundays... that's roughly defined as 'anything I don't want to do, that doesn't need to be done today'. It's working well so far. 

After lunch (salmon en papilotte cooked in the air fryer with boiled potatoes tossed in a little butter, and spinach, followed by banana custard, should you be interested) I took my coffee and knitting into the garden and sat on the bench for nearly an hour. The chuntering of the oxygen concentrator was muted to a background rumble so it felt closer to silence than it does indoors. Instead I could hear the little solar fountain, and birdsong, and the clap of pigeon wings as they flopped onto a branch. 

It was almost as if I could hear the whole garden relaxing, expanded, growing. It felt as though if I listened carefully enough I would hear the leaves growing, and the sound of the ants and beetles scurrying across the patio.

Here's another prayer from the Angela Ashwin book of 1000 prayers from our last home-group meeting;

I hope you have a good week.

Saturday 25th April - three events per day

 Aiming to schedule just three events per day is working fairly well. Also, recognising that a day of action may well require an easy following day is helpful. 

So Thursday - having a shower, a chatty social/piano lesson zoom, and home-group zoom were the three events.

Quite a lot of knitting and thinking about the cardigan too; deciding which ball of yarn to use where to spread the colours to best effect, and thinking about how to manage the sleeves and ribbing, as I'm using a thinner yarn so have to calculate how many stitches I'll be needing.

So Friday was meant to be a gentle day, and so it was. Just one event, an afternoon outing; our little home-group zoom, just the five of us, met for a communion service followed by tea and cake in the garden of the of the group.

We sat at a table in a shady corner with a trickling fountain nearby, surrounded by trees, plants, birds. We said the familiar prayers and shared bread and wine. It was such special time; for many reasons this was only the third or fourth time I have been able to receive communion since the beginning of the pandemic in 2020. 

We were all given a little sprig of the olive tree to take home as a memento

Now it's Saturday afternoon. I spent the morning going through some of paperwork from last year, shredding, recycling and throwing out things I (hope I) no longer need from dealing with probate and all the other stuff. Don't worry, I kept all the financial files!

This all started because I wanted to try and clear my little work table. BB's been given a Book Nook model to make up, so he needs the space on the dining room table, which meant tidying my side, which meant making space for more files on my bookshelves, which meant I was precipitated into a mega sort out. Long overdue, and well worth doing.

I never did get to sit at my desk today after all that!

Sussex in April, in Spring, is so quintessentially English; so here is Vaughan Williams's Fantasia on a theme by Thomas Tallis 

Wednesday 23rd April - Carrots. Wedding Ring. etc

 

Batch cooking has happened. A crock-pot full of carrot soup made about 6 portions for suppers, and a tray of minced beef, vegetables and beans made another 8 portions for lunches. The freezer is now bulging; we'll have to do a freezer inventory soon.

BB walked into town yesterday to the jewellers, and left his ring with them. They are going to cut a chunk out of it, so hopefully we've played the last game of 'hunt the wedding ring'.

I'm knitting along my experimental cardigan. So far I've finished three of the five strips that will make the back. Hooray, hooray! I ordered another ball of Sirdar Jewelspun chunky in what I hoped would be a toning shade, and a slightly shorter set of 6.5mm needles. The yarn is perfect, and the new needles are So Much Better. 

I'm pulling the yarn from the centre of the current ball, and all was going well until this happened;

Instead of a length of yarn I pulled out a tangled knot! (Looking too much like intestines for my liking) 

I just had to practise patience as I unravelled it. Then, of course I was left with yards of wool... nothing for it but to knit and knit until it was tidied up into several dozen rows of mock rib!

Tuesday 21st April - hunt the...

 This was one of my favourite books;

When I was little, Parties had already begun to change. Girls had party dresses, but I'm not sure the boys wore ties. 

We did play all the party games; oranges and lemons, blind man's buff, and hunt the thimble;

It took me a surprisingly long time to spot the thimble in the picture.

......

So what's this bit of nostalgia all about? Well, it's becoming a bit of a habit; BB unpacks the grocery delivery, comes back into the sitting room and then suddenly stops an announces 'I've lost my wedding ring again'.

After an anxious half hour we found it in the vegetable drawer in the fridge. His ring seems to have developed a bit of an affinity for potatoes. 

.....

And breathe.

Monday 20th April - rush hour(s) at the laptop

 Today everything I read at the beginning of the day was encouraging me to stop procrastinating and get going on my task list; 

'One step at a time'

'Getting it done was a lot easier than not doing it at all'

and so on.

So I powered up my laptop and submitted reprar prescription requests, fired off email left right and centre, printed off and filed documents as well as saving them from email attachments to folders in my computer, making phone calls, leaving messages, placing the grocery order (oh, did I order yeast? I'd better check).

A friend came round unexpectedly; I nade tea, and she carried the tray while I got an oxygen cylinder and we went and sat in the sun under the apple blossom and caught up on all our news...

It felt MAGNIFICENT!!!

After lunch I thought I'd walk round, yes, walk! to the corner shop post office to extract some money and post a letter...

But I fizzled out, did some knitting, read some of my book... 

This piano piece exactly matches the day! You can hear it fizzle out at the end.

.....

Poulenc trois movements perpetuals, no 1, played by Alexandre Tharaud

Sunday 19th April - 'Rainbow Colours of His Peace'

 This is such a lovely book of prayers. 

This is a favourite of mine;

Mikhail Pletnav playing Scriabin Prelude in C major op11 no 1

Friday 17th April - ah... end of the week eeek...

 The day began with an unscheduled magical mystery tour along lanes I'm sure we've never travelled before. The main road was closed, and the back lanes were quite a challenge. I think, I  hope they are dealing with the state of the road surface which has been steadily going from inconvenient to bad to worse to properly dangerous over the winter.

Meanwhile I enjoyed visas of bluebells glowing under the greening woodland canopy, while BB dealt with steering the car between narrow hedges and potholes.

The purpose of our expedition? It's covid vaccination time. Done and dusted this morning, that's it for another six months. So far, so good; I'm fine, BB has a bit of a sore arm.

Today Me was grateful to Last Month's Me for poaching several chicken breasts, slicing and freezing them in portions. It meant producing stir-fry chicken in satay sauce for lunch took very little time. 

Today Me had more cause for gratitude as supper was tomato and vegetable soup with some fried pancetta, and toast. I add a bit of cold meat, or some pasta or rice, or any leftovers, to vary these batch cooked soups.

Now, of course, I'll need to replenish the freezer for Future Me. 

How about another flashmob? I love Carl Orff's Carmina Burana. And I love looking at the expressions on people's faces

I've worked out it's the Vienna Opera Company, and I think it's the main train station;

SolistInnen, Chor, Orchester der Volksoper Wien boten im April Fahrgästen und Passanten eine besondere Performance. Die KünstlerInnen lösten sich aus der Menschenmenge - eine "Passantin" begann, weitere "PassantInnen" - sowie als ÖBB-MitarbeiterInnen verkleidete KünstlerInnen - setzten nach und nach ein.: 

Thursday 16th April - flowers in a teacup

 

Aren't these gorgeous! My April flowerbe box arrived today. 

The cup and saucer have sentimental value for me. I remember my parents buying boxes and boxes (so it seemed) of this pattern; plates, bowls, cups and saucers, in a market on holiday in the Netherlands when I was about ten years old. It's a good thing our car had a decent sized boot. (Might have been the Triumph Herald Estate).

These dishes were to bulk up what was left of a set with a very similar pattern. That set came from. Cornwall, and I know it was bought in around 1930 by my grandmother. I've got the half dozen bits from it, and still use one of the last breakfast cups and saucers for a proper cup of tea.

Good heavens, I've just worked out they are nearly a hundred years old!

Verdi's drinking song from La Traviata... though I don't think this song is about tea.

Italian opera stars spoof customers at Australian market. This is an effort to tease and bring classical opera out of the symphony hall and to the masses who may not normally see and hear it.

Wednesday 15th April - knit, sew, read, repeat

I have been knitting;

The first two strips of the experimental cardigan almost completely sewn together. Another three to do and I will have finished the back. 

and sewing;

the next quilt-as-you-go is underway, and more prosaically the elastic in my pj's trousers has stopped being elastic. Still a bit of sewing to finish stitching up the waist band.

and continuing to binge read through the Dr Nell Ward thriller whodunnits. I'm on to book three; A Mischief of Rats. In about twenty minute's reading time I should have reached the bit where Nell's life is in danger - it's always just after three-quarters through the book!

Now, after a 'sitting down' day I need to do something about my woeful step count  🤔 before bedtime 🌙 

Tuesday 14th April - needles and threaders

This was originally a box of Christmas chocolates from M and S, a present from my father several years ago. When the lid was opened, the picture inside lit up and it was full of delicious chocolates.

The box was far too pretty to throw away, so we used it for 'chocolate o'clock' treats for several years. Then the lights eventually stopped working, but still we kept the box. Which it just as well, as I was looking for something to keep my perle threads in, where they wouldn't keep unravelling and tangling.

I'm able to fit them all inside the box! How lucky is that!

BB gave me some attractive sewing notions one year, bought at an exhibition at the V and A. They included the best needle threader I have ever owned;

And a little wooden container of self- threading  needles. I rather ignored the needles for a while. They looked too large and thick for ordinary sewing. 

But I am a complete convert. I would definitely use finer traditional needles for 'proper', fine sewing, but for everyday stuff they are brilliant. I've found they work well with ordinary thread and perle cotton, but are not so easy the thread with stranded embroidery floss.

Here's a diagram I found that shows how they work;

You just pull the thread through the gap at the top, until it rests in the centre space. Some kind of magic stops the thread from freeing itself as you sew.

They have certainly made it much easier for me to thread needles, especially in the evenings.

Reading...

I have been enjoying the Dr Nell Ward thriller series, so when I saw the latest book 'A tribe of tigers' was 99p on kindle I only took seconds to click on 'buy now'. It's about number eight in the series, ando I don't think it would make much sense to readers unless they started at the beginning with 'A Murder of Crows'. Nell is an ecologist, and in the course of her work - advising on conservation and rewilding etc - gets mixed up in murder...

I'm also reading 'All the colours of the dark' by Chris Whitaker, another 99p download. It is... odd, but strangely addictive because of the characters of the young girl, Saint, and boy, Patch. It's centred around the abduction of Patch, and Saint's efforts to find him, and now I'm reading about how their lives are changed by the experience. I'm a bit apprehensive at the moment because they both look set to marry the wrong people for the wrong reasons, and I'm hoping that's not going to happen...

Sunday 12th April - The Day of Rest

 And so we rested. For most of the day anyway.

I stood and watched the squirrel struggling to get to the last of the sunflower hearts.

The lilac is in flower.

The garden is sunny, although there's a chilly wind still.

Perfect. 

Offenbach; the Barcarolle from Tales of Hoffman 

Saturday 11th April - braving the weather forecast

 Cloudy start, 40% probability of rain, temperature feels like 9°C, sunny periods later...retty normal for April. We wrapped warmly and set off to meet with Son and Daughter to celebrate his birthday (belatedly) and Easter (even more belatedly)

And hurrah! The sun shone and the temperature rose. Every met-up is an occasion, whatever the weather... but especially when it's spring and there are flowers and little lambs and sunshine.

So I've had plenty of fresh air today, enough for weeks!

....

Before we left, and after we came home, I managed to finish three things;

The first of the strips for my experimental patchwork cardigan. I'm enjoying it, because the rows are short so it's easy to pick up and put down, because the patterns are simple and change every six inches, and I'm using a variegated yarn which keeps changing colour, all exactly right for my butterfly brain.

I have completely finished this patch now. I managed to talk myself into outlining the flowers and it has hade such a difference. 

Finally I sewed up the hat. It's too big for me, and I don't like the colours, so I'll save it for the shoebox appeal at Christmas time.

Finally, Next-door's cat has found a new hiding place in our front garden;

at least he's away from our bird feeders. The RSPB are saying we should stop feeding the birds now it's warmer, so we'll put them away now.

Peter and the Wolf by Prokofiev; the cat theme;

My favourite moment is listening to the orchestra illustrate in sound when Peter lowers the rope over the wolf to capture it. I used to get the children to listen out for it, and watch  for the smiles to appear.

Friday 10th April - and Thursday 9th too

 We've had several days of sunny warm weather which has been enough to let the countryside erupt into greeness. Bluebells in the woods, leaves on the trees, hedges filling out. Some friends came home from holiday landing at the local airport this morning, and noticed how green the countryside looked from the air.

I thought we'd go out yesterday morning for a coffee and a sausage sandwich. Unfortunately I became hopelessly confused about which Village Stores we were heading for; Alfold, Kirdford,  Loxwood, Plaistow, Ifold.... we drove round in circles going to all of them in the end - they are close together, linked by leafy crinkle crankle narrow lanes, narrow bridges overcstreams, shadowed by bluebell woods... and finally arrived at Kirdford Village Stores. BB was very patient, said it helped to keep his skills driving skills sharp.

They didn't have any baps; to their consternation I picked up a packet of hamburger rolls, and asked 'if I buy these, will you put our sausages in them?' After some thought they said they could, so we sat outside with our sausages and dr8nks, soaking up the sun and lovely countryside. 

There were these two large carved wooden garden ornaments beside the apple tree trees, aren't they wonderful?

Today we did - nothing. 

No, that's not entirely true; I finished knitting that hat and it just needs sewing up. If I knit another I shall buy double pointed needles and knit it in the round; I do so dislike knitting rows of purl!

I'm also a good away along the first of the five strips which will make up the back of the next cardigan I'm hoping to make.

For supper we had sausage baps again. I cooked three sausages and some sliced onions in a dish in the airfryer (30 mins at 180, turn halfway through), and toasted the baps. Then, I put a smear of chutney, the sausages and onions and some spinach leaves in each one. They were delicious!

....

Aaron Copeland, from Appalachian Spring

Wednesday 8th April - Knitting Madness

 We had a long long morning, or so it seemed; traipsing round Curry's electrical superstore to look at ovens, mini ovens, built in ovens and hobs... then moving three stores along to look at new kitchens (Wren). Finally to another superstore to look for buttons! 

I would reckon BB was very relieved that I was near the end of my stamina, so we just went in, found the buttons, paid for them and came home, with barely more than 5 minutes of eyeing up the yarn in passing...

I was very pleased with myself for knitting a small swatch with a buttonhole in it. So much easier to tuck into my little bag than the cardigan! Here's the Completely Finished Cardigan;

Those are BB's hands holding it up. It is still too warm for me to put it on for a fashion shoot. You can see how the back is longer than the front.

Here's the photographs on Ithe pattern so you can see it's supposed to be there

I'm using up a ball of super chunky left over; I'd bought an extra one, thinking I was going to run out, but fortunately I didn't need it as I'd bought the wrong colourway! Here's it is;

Being a variegated yarn the cable panel doesn't really show, which is just as well because I'm not used to doing them at all. I'm using a 10mm crochet hook as a cable needle, to match the knitting needles and it's working very well.

Finally, I have embarked upon this cardigan

The pattern is a freebie from Lovecraft, and uses a paintbox super chunky yarn. Except that I'm knitting it on thinner, Sirdar Jewelspun yarn on smaller needles. It's knitted in vertical strips of different patterns, so I reckon as long as my strips are the same width and length I might be ok. I'm not thinking about shoulder and neck shaping yet. Inspiration will come in due course...

And now here's a sweet little story; apparently Borodin's daughter came and sat on his lap when he was at the piano, and played this well-known tune, and he improvised and then wrote down this duet part;

I used to base an entire music lesson, several, perhaps, on this piece. I'd give the children two chime bars, or boomwhackers each or whatever was to hand. I'd arrange them in groups of four; the first person would play the first line, then the second person the second line, etc. Slowly, slowly we would work away until everyone could play their line in time with the recording. 

I was going to say you could have heard a pin drop, they were concentrating so fiercely, but of course it was actually far too noisy!