Tuesday 9th November - the kitchen installation has begun!

 All systems go to be up and breakfasted and round to our friend's house (about 5 -10 minute's walk away) for 7:45, ready for the builders to collect our kitchen from our friend's garage....

'Oh, I thought I'd messaged you that we are coming on Tuesday. '

I checked back through the texts. He was explicit about the date, not about the change of day. Huh!

This morning everything went well, and an amazing amount has been done. Update coming tomorrow.

Going back a day;

We had planned to meet family for lunch and a wander around Winkworth Arboretum on Sunday,  but we baled out. It was bitterly cold inspite of the lovely afternoon sunshine that replaced the thick morning fog. My problem is that I walk so slowly that although I'm wearing thick insulated trousers and warm thermals I can't go fast enough to keep warm, and neither can my companions. So the others went there, and we went to a huge, spacious Tates garden centre so that I could walk around in a sheltered space and still enjoy a bit of the beautiful weather in the outside areas. 

At the entrance there are two olive trees, with real olives growing on them. (You may need to zoom in to find them).

We found this lovely oasis, a veritable sun-trap, out of the way of the main cafe seating areas. We each had a sausage roll and a coffee beside a tinkling water feature... very peaceful, with the sound of cheerful children in a nearby play area.

A Perfect Sunday afternoon! 

Sunday 8th November - Remembrance Sunday

 

These are the intercessions read out in our zoom service this morning.

Saturday 7th November - the terrace

 We used to have a bit of a patio - now we have a terrace! It feels like the raised area outside the long windows of a stately home... in miniature... the sort where you step outside to survey the immaculate gardens and rolling acres of parkland laid out before you;

Well, maybe not exactly this big... but it feels like a terrace because it is so much higher than the rest of the garden.

Today BB and my gardener friend set about arranging our garden furniture and the pots she had planted up with ivy and spring bulbs. Here we are;

At one end, against the fence is the garden bench. That's a philadelphus next to it - heavenly for summer scent. At the other end,by the steps down to the garden level, is a little table and two chairs;

Oh, where's the table? BB had taken it (temporarily) to where he was finishing off the blue sentry box, now in position round the side, out of sight. 

The rest of the garden is still in a very sad state, but, hey, step by step... progress!

......

I said to a blogfriend I would post the first lesson in Mark Kistler's 'You can learn to draw in 30 days'. Actually I think I'd find it useful to work through the book again; I learned so much first time through. 

Lesson 1: draw a sphere, followed by the extension activities

Friday 6th November - we have lights!

 A visit from the electrician and his right-hand-man today has resulted in face-plates - I think that's what they are called - being fixed in our extension. We have working ceiling lights and sockets, and the opening sections of the skylights now open and close at the touch of a switch!

This is wonderful! I am ridiculously happy!

BB has been building the little sentry box shed in the relative warmth of the extension - it is warmer than outside and sheltered from the very cold wind. We have checked that it will fit through the doors when it is finished. 

And on Monday the kitchen installation begins... progress!

Wednesday 4th November - poem

I'm reading "I Haven't Been Completely Honest With You" by Miranda Hart,

 the story of  how she found her way through a time of being in a state of complete physical collapse. The was caused by having undiagnosed Lyme Disease since her early teens, and spending decades battling on and pushing through the endless illnesses that plagued her afterwards. It's a fascinating account of how she had to learn to just stop and cease fighting, and what she discovered along the way.

She quotes the second part of this poem by Dorothy Hunt, and I thought I would share the whole poem with you.

......

We met the kitchen fitter today... he's starting on Monday and reckons he'll be done by the end of the week! 

Tuesday 3rd November - Update - health, extension, joy

 Two concerns have been dealt with this morning and it's not even lunch time. We're celebrating with a - wait for it - third cup of coffee!

The first two were dealt with in the course of a routine clinic appointment with the ILD chest clinic, following up on the lung function tests last month. As expected, as I already knew, the results showed a slight decline, but not enough to raise alarm bells. That slow and steady loss of function is what happens with pulmonary fibrosis so no-one is surprised. In other words, keep calm and carry on as before.   

The doctor was also able to reassure me that the loss of appetite I am experiencing (and how many readers are enviously exclaiming 'lucky you!) is due to the Nintedanib. I need to watch my weight...! Pass me the chocolates, someone!

The other concern was regarding the problem of moving all our kitchen stuff into our lovely new kitchen, hopefully in a couple of week's time. There's no provision in the new kitchen for the contents of the current broom cupboard, and for the bread machine and slow cooker and LOADS of other things, as they will all find a permanent home in the new utility room. So what to do in the interim, when the old kitchen is being gutted to become the shower room and utility room?

Inspiration struck; back in the summer we bought a new sentry box shed for the oxygen cylinders. The current shed is in need of major repair - but suppose BB put up the new shed outside the new kitchen door and we stored everything, temporarily (says I to myself very firmly indeed), in there?

Problems solved.

......

I get a feeling of intense delight, pure joy even; a complete uplifting of my spirits however my day is going whenever I look across the gardens to where the birch trees are outlined against the sky. The leaves shimmer and sparkle in the sunlight as they catch the breeze. I can stand just inside the new back door, out of the cold, and just gaze...