Thursday 2nd January - here comes the sun

What a difference to everything sunshine makes! The day is brighter, my heart is happier, my problems seem smaller...

But it's still brass monkey weather out there. The forecast was for temperatures to rise to about 3°C, but feeling like a mere 1°C. 

Exactly. My brother didn't believe there was such a word so I've shared this snip with him.

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Waking up early means that the day starts earlier. So after breakfast I stitched (and unstitched restitched) another bit of the Corinne Lapierre calendar. I'm still only part way through the programme of stitching for just one day! Just as well I'm not sewing against a deadline!

It took me an hour to add the snail, fire, flames and stocking. I added a grate to the pattern too; it seems most unwise to have a blazing fire without a grate, especially when you consider the little house is inside a tree.

The snail was the worst; I used a piece of gold felt and trimmed it to shape, then had to unstitch because the face was all wrong, then discovered I'd used the piece of felt that had been the fire... 

Why would one have a pet snail? Doesn't it make the settee fabric all slimy? I've spent the whole summer waging war on slugs and snails and now here's a pet one. My children, when they were quite young, found a huge snail by the stream near our house and kept it in a tupperware, feeding it lettuce. I persuaded them to put it back after a couple of days.

I never did redo the settee. I decided wonky perspective would just have add to the general cuteness.

My lovely gardener delivered a planter of spring flowers for my father’s balcony. I'm looking after it here for now, along with an Amaryllis I was going to give him for Christmas. 

It's hooked onto the back of the bench just outside my work table, such a cheerful sight.

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The news re my father’s recovery isn't entirely wonderful; medically he's doing well, but this disorientation or delerium,  which is common after operations, especially in older people, and especially after hip operations, is lingering on. It could take a couple of weeks to dissipate. Meanwhile flu continues to affect his ward, and his bay. I have taken medical advice, and in view of the immunosuppressants I have, and the 24/7 oxygen, their view is I ought not to visit at the moment. If I a exposed to flu, I can ask my GP for antivirals. But the better part is not to risk catching flu in the first place, or I could end up three doors down from his ward in ICU!

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I have reached 'Give us this day our daily bread' in my 'thinking' about The Lord's Prayer. 

I'm not sure if daily bread includes the consumption of most of a packet of caramelised pecans just before lunch.