A couple of days ago I received an email from my father about another remarkable stage in my mother's recovery.
She can now raise herself from seated in the wheelchair to standing, and lower herself back down again, without any assistance. Today she remained in her standing frame (a wooden contraption with a couple of support straps) for half an hour - that's a reasonable length of time for anyone to stand still in one place - you try it sometime!
She can now transfer from bed to wheelchair by shuffling across much more securely, with less assistance and support, given by one trained carer, or my father. The hope is that the hoist will soon be surplus to requirements.
They are now talking about fixing a "grab handle" to the bedroom wall, so that she will be able to hold on to it for support while transferring from one wheelchair to another etc.
The stroke happened 15 months ago. There is little more that can be done medically; my mother has a problem with clearing her chest, as her muscles are weakened by the stroke and she cannot cough effectively. However the physiotherapy is proving to be worth every penny. Not only is her strength and mobility improving, all the exercise and standing (she practises in the standing frame nearly every day) is having a beneficial effect on her digestion and her chest.
We only have to look back at how things were when she came out of hospital 11 months ago to see just how much better things are these days.
Saturday, 18 January 2014
Saturday 18th January - Spring? Probably not quite yet
catkins
Hebe (I thought this flowered in Summer)
Bulbs - (not the pansies which have been in flower all Winter, because they are Winter-flowering pansies, obiously)
So - it's January, it's been raining ALL week apart from an hour here or there, the "trickling stream" at the bottom of the garden has been a raging flood again, but there ARE signs of Spring all around.
Let's stay hopeful then.....
Hebe (I thought this flowered in Summer)
Bulbs - (not the pansies which have been in flower all Winter, because they are Winter-flowering pansies, obiously)
So - it's January, it's been raining ALL week apart from an hour here or there, the "trickling stream" at the bottom of the garden has been a raging flood again, but there ARE signs of Spring all around.
Let's stay hopeful then.....
Saturday, 11 January 2014
Saturday 11th January - That was the week that was
And breathe - the first week of term, any term, is always a massive shock to the system. By Friday my eyes felt as they were glued with exhaustion!
Monday was an adrenalin-fuelled slog through flooded roads to Petworth d for a staff training day. This time round the heating was working, the refreshments were organised (-ish) and there were enough loos. That makes it a massive improvement on last year!
Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday disappeared in a concatenation and cacophony of Samba, Ukulele, Recorder and Djembe lessons, class music lessons, piano lessons.
Saturday, - ah, Saturday. It dawned bright and frosty and clear and blue skies and sunshine - what a change from other days! So we took a break from to-do-lists and house-work and chores, and drove down to Storrington to potter alongside the River Stor, now safely back between its banks, looking at robins and squirrels and dogs and bulbs poking up through the ground and catkins and reflections on the mill pond.
We spent time looking around the extraordinary Parish Church. We were intrigued by the curiously "chunky" appearance of the building, and went in just to see what it was like. All became clear: the North Aisle (with the paired windows in the photograph, snitched from another website) has Saxon foundations, the nave was added in medieval times, and the South Aisle is Victorian which is when they also extended the chancel by another 9 feet. We pondered over the various re-orderings and re-buildings that had happened to the church over time - galleries erected and altered and removed, steeple and tower collapses - one thing after another! They must have a very active bell-ringing team, judging by the number of cards recording the peals they have rung, and a thriving choir, judging by extra chairs at the ends of the choir stalls.
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| http://www.roll-of-honour.com/Sussex/Storrington.html |
We had excellent tomato shop at the bookshop/cafe, which has inspired me to try the recipe for roasted Tomato Soup from http://www.recipesfromacornishkitchen.blogspot.co.uk/ just as soon as I can buy 13/14 vine-ripened tomatoes. Looks amazing (photo below snitched from the cornishkitchen site)
And then we meandered our way home through Dial Post, Ashurst, Partridge Green, - sounds idyllic - and so it was.
Sunday, 5 January 2014
Sunday 5th January - A Tale of Four Christmas Trees
So it's back to school tomorrow (except for those schools which are having an inset day?). I'll be on a training day and hopefully this year they will have managed to find a way to heat the hall. Last year it was FREEZING when we arrived and didn't get any warmer all day. This year I am taking a fleecy throw with me, and a thermos of coffee as they also hadn't got the refreshments sorted.
But that's tomorrow, and today has been the day of the Christmas Trees. All four of them. Four?
Well, this year's beauty had to be disassembled;
each strand of lametta gathered up and packed away for next year, the tinsel and baubles removed, the lights untangled...
and the whole tree carried through the house to the garden. As the weather was fine and sunny (that makes a change) it was possible to cut it up into bits and fit it all into the green waste recycling bin, along with last year's tree which was still propped up at the side of the garage, and - what do you know - the trunk of the tree from the year before! I had already managed to cut off all the branches but the trunk had obviously defeated me.
Christmas always seems too short, especially where the tree is concerned - after all the effort of decorating it I'm always sorry to see it go.
The little knitted (or crochet?) Nativity set, of just Joseph, Mary, the Three Wise Men, and two curiously elongated sheep, is still on the bookshelf, as it is not yet time to put them away. The fireplace looks bare and ordinary without all the delicate little gold ornaments, souvenirs from trips Copenhagen many years ago now.
Now, if you have been keeping count, you will know that we are one Christmas tree adrift. Well, a phone call to my parents elicited the information that they would like help removing their tree from the balcony of their third floor flat. My father reckoned that the simplest way would be to just chuck it overboard (have you read "The Riddle of the Sands" by Erskine Childers? If you have, you may know what I mean. Especially about the Rippingill stove. I know that he has read it, a long time ago.) However, he had modified his plan to "letting it down on a string" - I knew he probably meant rope, but I don't think that he has any. I have an over-active imagination, which presented me with images of the tree getting caught by the wind and stuck in the balcony of - perish the thought - the people next door. Or landing on top of an unexpected and unsuspecting pedestrian. Or getting blown into the lake, and floating about like a guilty conscience. Where's my sense of fun and excitement and adventure?
So we visited the flat and chopped up their tree into two garden rubbish bags, and carried it out. No mess, no fuss, no hassle, no alarums and panics. Easy-peasy. We will empty the bags into our green waste bin later, when it has stopped raining. Because, guess what, it's raining and blowing a good bluster again!
But that's tomorrow, and today has been the day of the Christmas Trees. All four of them. Four?
Well, this year's beauty had to be disassembled;
and the whole tree carried through the house to the garden. As the weather was fine and sunny (that makes a change) it was possible to cut it up into bits and fit it all into the green waste recycling bin, along with last year's tree which was still propped up at the side of the garage, and - what do you know - the trunk of the tree from the year before! I had already managed to cut off all the branches but the trunk had obviously defeated me.
Christmas always seems too short, especially where the tree is concerned - after all the effort of decorating it I'm always sorry to see it go.
The little knitted (or crochet?) Nativity set, of just Joseph, Mary, the Three Wise Men, and two curiously elongated sheep, is still on the bookshelf, as it is not yet time to put them away. The fireplace looks bare and ordinary without all the delicate little gold ornaments, souvenirs from trips Copenhagen many years ago now.
Now, if you have been keeping count, you will know that we are one Christmas tree adrift. Well, a phone call to my parents elicited the information that they would like help removing their tree from the balcony of their third floor flat. My father reckoned that the simplest way would be to just chuck it overboard (have you read "The Riddle of the Sands" by Erskine Childers? If you have, you may know what I mean. Especially about the Rippingill stove. I know that he has read it, a long time ago.) However, he had modified his plan to "letting it down on a string" - I knew he probably meant rope, but I don't think that he has any. I have an over-active imagination, which presented me with images of the tree getting caught by the wind and stuck in the balcony of - perish the thought - the people next door. Or landing on top of an unexpected and unsuspecting pedestrian. Or getting blown into the lake, and floating about like a guilty conscience. Where's my sense of fun and excitement and adventure?
So we visited the flat and chopped up their tree into two garden rubbish bags, and carried it out. No mess, no fuss, no hassle, no alarums and panics. Easy-peasy. We will empty the bags into our green waste bin later, when it has stopped raining. Because, guess what, it's raining and blowing a good bluster again!
Thursday, 2 January 2014
Thursday 2nd January - Foodie highs and lows
Lows:
Today we threw out the last of the Christmas Pudding, the last of the Christmas Cake (there was rather a lot of that) and the last of the Chocolate Log (there was rather a lot of that too).
Those two cakes were probably the lowest of the foodie lows; they came from Marks and Spencers and have just confirmed what I already knew - home-made Christmas Cake is the best, and one can have Too Much of a Good Thing.
The problem with the Christmas Cake was that it was too sweet, and too squidgy. The Chocloate Log, another huge Christmas favourate in the household, was also too sweet, and was so thickly covered in sickly chocolate icig thatn again, it was no longer delicious. And that's the point; if that kind of rich, celebratory, self-indulgent food is not absolutely, totally delicious, what's the point? We could have gone on eating it, to save waste, but then those calories will get added to our avoir du pois and need to be starved or exercised off somehow. So, regretfully, bin. Done.
What about the successes?
We have eaten or frozen every scrap of the turkey, the ham, the sausages, the bacon and the two kinds of stuffing that we had on Christmas Day. I think that almost nothing else, apart from the leftover pudding was wasted. Everything was either Good or Delicious. So, what did I do with the leftover Christmas meats? Many, many years ago we had a Christmas meal in a restaurant where we were served with a kind of crustless Christmas Pie.They had cooked the turkey and ham and stuffing and gravy and so on, and then carved them, and then layered the slices vertically in lasagne dishes, interleaving slices of turkey and ham with crumbled stuffing and finely chopped mushrooms-fried-in-butter-and-herbs, and poured gravy over it to keep it moist and spread cranberry sauce on top. It was wonderful. So now, every year, I recreate a version of the same thing with whatever meats are left over, and gravy, and turkey dripping, and freeze it small dishes for suppers in January and February.
I can recommend maple roasted carrots and parsnips big-time; prepare them as usual, boil in salted water for a couple of minutes, toss in a couple of tablespoons each of dark maple syrup and olive oil and roast at 200 for around 30 mins or so.
The home-made cranberry sauce was so simple. The recipe came from Waitrose. 250g fresh cranberries; brought to the boil in 150ml cold water. Simmer for 5 mins, until the berries start bursting. Add a couple of strips of orange zest and 75g light brown muscovado sugar, simmer for 7-10 mins. Done.
Leftover cranberry sauce (about half of what I had made above) went into the crock pot, along with a medium red cabbage sliced small, a medium onion sliced small, a large cox apple peeled, cored, and chopped, and about 50 ml water. Salt, pepper and a pinch, the merest pinch, of ground cloves. Stir it up and crock it for four hours on high or 8 hours on low. That idea came from my sister-in-law and she is dead right - delicious. I've frozen it laid flat in a plastic freezer bag, with the idea of breaking it into lumps once it has finished freezing, so that I can get portions out as and when.
That just leaves the rest of the brandy butter and rum butter. I always make too much; but I will use it up in cake or biscuit recipes.
Other foodie highs?
Marks and Spencer stollen.
Waitrose Heston Blumenthal mince pies (both kinds). I usually make my own mincemeat, as most shopbought is too sweet and gluey and has really weird ingredients. However I haven't managed this for a couple of years now. maybe next year I'll get some made, and also perhaps even make a cake?????
Marks and Spencer smoked salmon and smoked trout.
Slow roast shoulder of lamb and curry made from the leftovers, and more leftovers in the freezer with enough stock for a soup.
Beef stew, made in the crock pot for New Year's Eve, served with roasted shallots and green beans and baked potatoes, and the leftovers in the freezer for another day, and also enough to make a soup for lunch.
Right. Suppertime; sausages, red cabbage with cranberry, baked potatoes, roast parsnips and swede. The buzzer is going to do its thing any minute now.
Today we threw out the last of the Christmas Pudding, the last of the Christmas Cake (there was rather a lot of that) and the last of the Chocolate Log (there was rather a lot of that too).
Those two cakes were probably the lowest of the foodie lows; they came from Marks and Spencers and have just confirmed what I already knew - home-made Christmas Cake is the best, and one can have Too Much of a Good Thing.
The problem with the Christmas Cake was that it was too sweet, and too squidgy. The Chocloate Log, another huge Christmas favourate in the household, was also too sweet, and was so thickly covered in sickly chocolate icig thatn again, it was no longer delicious. And that's the point; if that kind of rich, celebratory, self-indulgent food is not absolutely, totally delicious, what's the point? We could have gone on eating it, to save waste, but then those calories will get added to our avoir du pois and need to be starved or exercised off somehow. So, regretfully, bin. Done.
What about the successes?
We have eaten or frozen every scrap of the turkey, the ham, the sausages, the bacon and the two kinds of stuffing that we had on Christmas Day. I think that almost nothing else, apart from the leftover pudding was wasted. Everything was either Good or Delicious. So, what did I do with the leftover Christmas meats? Many, many years ago we had a Christmas meal in a restaurant where we were served with a kind of crustless Christmas Pie.They had cooked the turkey and ham and stuffing and gravy and so on, and then carved them, and then layered the slices vertically in lasagne dishes, interleaving slices of turkey and ham with crumbled stuffing and finely chopped mushrooms-fried-in-butter-and-herbs, and poured gravy over it to keep it moist and spread cranberry sauce on top. It was wonderful. So now, every year, I recreate a version of the same thing with whatever meats are left over, and gravy, and turkey dripping, and freeze it small dishes for suppers in January and February.
I can recommend maple roasted carrots and parsnips big-time; prepare them as usual, boil in salted water for a couple of minutes, toss in a couple of tablespoons each of dark maple syrup and olive oil and roast at 200 for around 30 mins or so.
The home-made cranberry sauce was so simple. The recipe came from Waitrose. 250g fresh cranberries; brought to the boil in 150ml cold water. Simmer for 5 mins, until the berries start bursting. Add a couple of strips of orange zest and 75g light brown muscovado sugar, simmer for 7-10 mins. Done.
Leftover cranberry sauce (about half of what I had made above) went into the crock pot, along with a medium red cabbage sliced small, a medium onion sliced small, a large cox apple peeled, cored, and chopped, and about 50 ml water. Salt, pepper and a pinch, the merest pinch, of ground cloves. Stir it up and crock it for four hours on high or 8 hours on low. That idea came from my sister-in-law and she is dead right - delicious. I've frozen it laid flat in a plastic freezer bag, with the idea of breaking it into lumps once it has finished freezing, so that I can get portions out as and when.
That just leaves the rest of the brandy butter and rum butter. I always make too much; but I will use it up in cake or biscuit recipes.
Other foodie highs?
Marks and Spencer stollen.
Waitrose Heston Blumenthal mince pies (both kinds). I usually make my own mincemeat, as most shopbought is too sweet and gluey and has really weird ingredients. However I haven't managed this for a couple of years now. maybe next year I'll get some made, and also perhaps even make a cake?????
Marks and Spencer smoked salmon and smoked trout.
Slow roast shoulder of lamb and curry made from the leftovers, and more leftovers in the freezer with enough stock for a soup.
Beef stew, made in the crock pot for New Year's Eve, served with roasted shallots and green beans and baked potatoes, and the leftovers in the freezer for another day, and also enough to make a soup for lunch.
Right. Suppertime; sausages, red cabbage with cranberry, baked potatoes, roast parsnips and swede. The buzzer is going to do its thing any minute now.