Continued......

After the flowers arrived, I grabbed my things and went to the class. Not wonderful weather, still a wind and rain.

Class, in spite of everything, was good. I managed to keep the impetus going, and really enjoyed not just the class but the group - they were all so concerned and welcoming.

Came home and decided that doing a washing wasn't going to make me feel worse, so off I went and was in luck, there was an empty machine. So all washed, dried and put away.

Then through to the lounge to have a cup of tea. The milkman called (and there was a queue waiting to propose on the 29th February.)

Apart from the bruising to the head, I have really got off lightly.

While we were drinking our tea, our attention was drawn to the windows. The weather has turned from unpleasant to really wild, wet and windy. The rain was being blown horizontally by the wind.

Flowers!

Just a quickie.

Just as I was getting ready to go to my physiotherapy exercise class, there was a ring at my door, and there was a man with a delivery of a most beautiful bouquet of flowers from my elder son, daughter in law, grandson and grandaughter.

Coincidentally I had finished my jigsaw yesterday evening, so the table at the french windows was empty, ready to receive the flowers, and to display them to anyone passing.

Many many thanks.

On The Mend

Back pretty well to normal now (although in my case many would dispute that the word "normal" could ever apply, so I should perhaps say "usual".) Still a bit sore in places (some of them places I didn't know I had places) :-)

Have I used too many parentheses?

My wonderful cleaners came today, and cleaned round the flat and changed my bed for me.

Almost contemporaneously, the best sister in the world arrived bearing a gift of the best carrot cake in the world.

Now, that is almost worth falling out of bed for!

I hope to go back to my exercise class tomorrow.

ps

After much pushing, I telephoned the doctor's surgery to explain what had happened, and after a call back from the nurse practitioner, I had a doctor visit me at home. He checked my blood pressure (fine) my eyes (fine) had a look for bruises, but apart from the skull one, there is nothing yet to see.

Courtesy of Elvis: "I'm all shook up".

or James Bond: "shaken, not stirred"

I did tell him about getting up in the very early hours of Sunday morning, but he made no comment.

We had a bit of a chat and I admitted to reading a lot of medical blogs, and even had a blog of my own.

I was curious to find out what stage he was at, as I didn't think he was full time at the practice. Turns out he is a SpR.

Oops!

Once again, I am going to give you too much information.

I have slept in a double bed since about the age of 6.

I usually sleep on my side.

So when I am on my left side, I am sleeping with my head on the right pillow (as seen from the foot of the bed), and conversely... (well, I am sure you can work it out!)

So about 6 o'clock this morning, still more or less asleep, I turned over from my left side to my right.

However, instead of that causing a move from the right pillow to the left, it caused a move from the left pillow to the floor!

I wakened up just as I was rolling off the bed but too late to save myself. At least I took the duvet with me.

So, then I "bottom shuffled" round to the place at the foot of the bed where I can brace myself to get up.

But couldn't get up to my hands and knees, which is the first part of the manoeuvre, so bottom shuffled towards the cord pull for help. (You are advised not to wear the pendant alarm in bed, as you are liable to press it inadvertently.) At one point, I managed to get up onto my hands and knees, and crawled back to the place where I can manoeuvre upright, and succeeded in doing so. Picked up the duvet and straightened the bed and went back to bed for about an hour.

Of course, I couldn't get back to sleep.

So up, shower and dress ready for my exercise class.

However, I do feel not just shaken but also sore: my ribs at the left back, my leg at the left front, and a lovely big egg on my head where it struck the bedside table.

So, sadly, I don't feel up to the exercise class today.

Busy Day

Today has been quite a busy one.

First of all came the organic veg. box delivery; this time I got potatoes, carrots, onions and two turnips (swedes), plus 1 leek, 1 cauliflower, 1 spring cabbage.

The fruit consisted of 3 apples, 1 orange and 2 pears

Also, as usual, came my half dozen eggs.

After that was a gap until a Tesco delivery arrived – mostly heavy stuff, and some butter and cheese.

Following that, I checked my watch and reckoned I had enough time to put on a load of washing, and YES, there was 1 empty machine. So on went my dark wash. In an hour, I went back to put it on a long spin, and then still had time to put it in the tumble dryer before leaving…..

……to go to the dentist and the hygienist. Not my favourite way of passing an afternoon.

The weather is still very windy, and I was almost blown off my feet twice. I have found the best way to hold up against a really severe gust is just to stand still, trying to present as small a silhouette to the wind as I can.

Came home, unloaded the tumble dryer, ironed what needed to be ironed, folded the rest and put it away.

Phew!

Bridge

Today I went again to the Bridge Club, where I partnered someone new, which can sometimes lead to misunderstandings in the bidding. However, we got on well together, and even managed to bid AND MAKE a slam! We played 21 boards which meant we were running late at the end, so I was too late home for the cup of tea.

I heard from someone at the club that a new neighbour (although she didn't know the name) plays bridge, so need to do some detective work here.

On checking last week's scores, I was delighted to find that my partner and I had come first of 5.

The weather today is still cold, wet and windy (typical February)

Solution?

Before anyone says "time to rush her off to a maximum security twilight home (with acknowledgements to Dame Edna Everidge), I think I have the solution to the previous post.

I suffer from nocturia:

a) too much information

b) suffer is the wrong word as it causes me no suffering apart from seeking an en suite hotel room.

However I think it was my bladder that roused me last night, but not sufficiently to override the side effect of drowsiness, due to amitriptylene 20 mg prescribed for the pain caused by peripheral vascular disease.

Hence the functioning on auto pilot.

Oh dear....

Senility

Not just a deaf old bat, but senile too.

Got up this morning as usual, dropped pyjamas on bed, went to bathroom and had a shower.

Put on towelling dressing gown and towel dried hair before styling it with my brush, then cleaning my teeth.

So far, so every morning.

Autopilot.

Returned to bedroom to make up bed then get dressed.

Ummm.

As I was about to straighten the duvet, I glanced at the clock.

12.15.

A.M.

So, I towelled my hair as dry as I could and went back to bed.

And slept till it was really morning.

A Cookathon

Today I set to to cook two lots of pork cheeks, possible as I went to the farm shop yesterday (in the rain and a gale)

So here’s the recipe followed this time; as with many of my recipes, this one varies form one time to the next depending on what is in the house.

6 pork cheeks, cut into bite sized pieces (a sharp knife is the easiest way)
3 onions, chopped finely
3 cloves of garlic, chopped finely
Half of each of a red pepper, a green pepper and a yellow pepper, chopped
3 tomatoes, skinned, cored and chopped finely
about 8 good sized closed cup mushrooms, chopped
Left overs from a bottle of light beer.


Fry the onions and garlic in a herb infused oil (or other oil - I am just boasting here - in fact it was a gift from Le Chef) - until soft.
Add the peppers and fry till soft.
Add pork cheeks and fry until brown.
Add mushrooms and stir through.
Add tomatoes and beer

Stir through and bring to the boil.
Cook slowly with the lid on until tender

It is now bubbling away on the hob.

…and I am thoroughly discomknockerated.*

* no, this is not another Scots word, just a made up one. I am sure you can work it out.

Well, What A Day!

Well, what a day. There was a gale blowing, and it was pouring with rain. Anyway, being small and brave, I set off for my physiotherapy exercise class.

One stretch of the motorway has a sign posted saying “side winds”, so I was a little apprehensive. Got there ok, but was almost blown completely off my feet. Luckily one of the gentlemen who goes to the class offered me an arm in support (I think, in fact, it was mutual support.)

A good class today, managed to go to resistance 5 on the cycle. Just did 4 minutes, but this was a great improvement on Wednesday as it is the first time I have managed at resistance 5. I had intended to go to a near by farm shop on my way home, and nearly chickened out as the weather was so foul. I also wondered if the shop would be open in the circumstances.

Yes they were, and I was by no means the only customer.

Got a goodly supply of veg, together with some fruit, as I don’t eat enough.

Just as I approached home, the sun burst out of the sky. Mind you, it was a false promise. The sky is grey again and the wind is still strong.

At least it is really good to feel that I have achieved something.

Cleaners and Flooring

Today my two lovely ladies who come to clean my flat came. I pointed out what they had left behind last week (after my asking had they checked - oh yes they had). I asked again before they left were they CERTAIN they had left nothing. Yes.

5 minutes after they had gone I found a stray jumper on top of my bedspread!

The lady who has been with me for about two and a half years reminded me that we were supposed to do the 6 monthly clean of my Karndean flooring in the kitchen. The first step is a "scrub" with a special pad and liquid, and then the next step is a wash using another pad and liquid. When that is dry, the first layer of polish is put on in one direction, then that has to be left untouched for a minimum of 6 hours before the second layer is put on at 90 degrees to the first. One of the cleaners will carry out the first 3 steps and I will do the last one. It is not physically hard, but does involve my getting down on my hands and knees.....

Also I shall have to have something of an evening meal out of the kitchen while that layer dries.

After their visit I went along to watch the end of the exercise class and to join them for a cup of tea.

Physiotherapy

Today I enter into Week 5 of an 8-week course. I shall be very sorry when it comes to an end as I have found it to so beneficial.

Today I found that I was rather tired. I started on the exercise cycle as I usually do better on it if I do it at the beginning before I tire the leg muscles. Well, today, the physiotherapist reckoned I might be ready to start on resistance 5, having done several attempts on resistance 4, and having increased my time to 6 minutes.

Well, the physiotherapist could see that I was struggling a bit, so she turned the resistance down to 3.

Never mind, at least I managed 6 minutes again, and also went on to complete all the other activities, with improvements to some.

This course has brought in some other aspects of looking after C.O.P.D., and today someone came along to talk about the services available to carers.

On the way home, I could see the sun struggling to shine through the rather low cloud.

There was, however, a snell wind and the temperature was down to just over freezing.

Later, following a visit from the elder, I now see that it is raining. Yuck!

Another Day Back At The Ranch

I got up this morning, showered and dressed and was almost convinced that it was Sunday and I was pleased that I was up in time forChurch. (Alzheimers, anyone?) It was another beautiul day seen from indoors.

Had gathered up my bedding and smalls to wash with it, together with Washing sachet and Conditioner. Got it all done and put away - even summed up the energy to iron my pyjama trousers - usually I fold the washing straight from the tumble drier and smooth it with my hands (the lazy woman's guide to ironing chapter 1!

This afternoon the best sister in the world came with her camera which we connected to my computer and I was treated to a slide show with running commentary, which was very interesting. It was really good to see her after a gap while she was away.

I have just finished an autobiographical book by Clarissa Dickson Wright (probably known only to those on this side of the pond) who was one of the "Two Fat Ladies". It was a very interesting read from a troubled childhood and a glittering youth to a descent intoo the bottle.

Her battle to "enter recovery " from alcoholism is documented well and her move on to becoming a very successful television chef (as one half of "Two Fat Ladies") and cookery writer as well as a committed champion of the countryside and all the people who, directly or indirectly, benefit from good land management and stand to lose it all if some short sighted people in power fall under the sway of agroterrorists.

Bridge

Another beautiful day.

So off to the bridge club as is usual on a Monday afternoon. I arrived at 12.45 for a 1pm start and, to my surprise, was first. I stood in front of the door basking in the warmth of the sunshine.

I really enjoyed playing today, once again with the trainer as my partner. Sometimes my head spins trying to absorb a lot of new information!

On arriving back at the ranch, I was in time for a cup of tea with the Scrabble players.

Today's Weather and Church.

Another beautiful day today, with the sun shining as I drove to the car park for church.

However, when I got out of the car I realised that I was unprepared for the blustery wind, which made the weather seem even colder than it really was.

The church has recently invested in a new boiler which has made a big difference to the heating inside. Additionally, over the winter months, you are asked to enter by one of the side doors, keeping the main entrance closed; As well as that, the call to worship and the procession in to the church of the choir, the minister and the elders takes place from the side rather than from the rear. This is less stately, but very effective in maintaining the heat.

The big main doors are opened at the end of the service, to assist the flow of people out of the church (which often is impeded by people like me using sticks, and needing to hold on to the bannister).

A Result!

I think I may have mentioned that I damaged my spectacles in my last (sort of) fall. Additionally my varifocal ones kept slipping down my nose, which made them rather difficult to use properly.

I haven't been into the town centre for some time now as there is no near by parking while the town centre is upgraded, so I decided to hang with the expense, I would take a taxi and went to one of the spectacle chains which pop up like mushrooms all over the place. I thought I would probably need new frames, but they managed to straighten them out. They also tightened the leg of my varifocals.

Sorted.

And the charge?

Nothing.

The taxi cost £5 return which was well worth it (especially as I nipped into Marks and Spencer....)

The Flowers That Bloom In The Spring, Tra La*

As I sit here this morning, I look out on a lovely honey colour wall which looks all the nicer for the sun shining on it. The climbers that were put in last year are starting to fill out and grow up, so that instead of all the boring old ivy (one bit of which was left) we now have a variety which flower at different times and have different coloured leaves at different times.

As I pulled the curtains back I could see in the little border in front of my window that some of the small daffodils, which I have been watching grow, had burst into full bloom.

What more could I ask for at this time of year?

Beautiful.



* from The Mikado

Not Rudolph.

Yesterday I awoke before the alarm was due to give off, so I switched it off and rolled over in my bed, feeling all warm and comfortable and not in the best mood to go to the physiotherapy class. However, after about 10 minutes I got up, showered and dressed and then headed off. I knew I needed petrol so I stopped off on the way: I must have been running almost on empty, because I have never been able to put so much into the tank.

As for the class, it was really good. I managed a greater distance on the cycle – while it was still 6 minutes at resistance 4, I must have kept the speed up as I covered almost a mile. I am also coping well with all the other exercises. The class has bonded into a really good group.

After I came home I went to the lounge for a cup of tea and a piece of birthday cake and to pay my milk bill.

Then home to prepare and cook the dinner.

For this, I took a venison butterfly steak from the freezer the night before and added to it two onions chopped finely and the rest of the mushrooms chopped.

Then 2 potatoes peeled and into a pan with one “dirty” carrot peeled and chopped plus some purple sprouting broccoli, the latter for steaming.

So, firstly I melted some butter in a largeish frying pan, and added the onions which I stirred about until they were soft.

Then, as I put the potatoes and carrots on to boil, I added the venison and then the mushrooms.

Once all was ready, I heated the plate in the microwave, added the strained broccoli and strained potatoes and carrots. Then I added one piece of venison and some mushrooms and onions.

Wonderful.

Except that the venison was bloody, and not only that but tough.

Two things at this point

I had expected from the name that butterfly steaks would be something in the nature of a flash fry.

Secondly, I am used to roe deer venison and I now reckon that this was red deer venison.

So, I really enjoyed my vegetarian meal – and shall casserole the venison tomorrow!

Here We Go Again

Wednesday afternoon I discovered that my mobile phone needed to be charged, so off I went to where I keep the charger plugged in (though not switched on). The right hand socket holds the charger, while the left hand one is for my telephone.

So I started feeling down the cable to try to find the end with the poker jabber thing (very scientific) that plugs into the mobile. I was half crouched at the time and of course I lost my balance and fell over on to my right shoulder, and my right cheek. More serious than the cheek was the fact that the reading glasses have been damaged beyond repair.

After all that I remembered that the right hand socket was no longer for the charger but was now used for the base unit for my pendant alarm, and the charger was now in the hall.

Oh well....

In the evening I froze four portions of the chicken casserole and kept one portion of the mash in the fridge for last night to go with the sausages I took from the freezer. These are brilliant pork sausages from our local Farmers’ Market. So dinner last night was sausages, celeriac and potato mash and purple sprouting broccoli.

errrm….

…. followed by sticky toffee pudding and ice cream.

(this is not good news on the d@@t front.)*

but it was delicious.

I should say that the one swear word which is ABSOLUTELY banned is the d@@t word..

* for anyone who has failed to keep up, the missing two letters are i and e

"Oh What A Beautiful Morning"

Yesterday I went to my Respiratory rehabilitation class, still feeling my quads sore from overdoing things on Friday. However I was encouraged to try to keep the momentum going, so I “bagged” the cycle first and managed 6 minutes after several previous sessions of 5 minutes at resistance level 4. I really need to be concentrating on leg exercises because of peripheral vascular disease, not to mention general fitness.

Really enjoyed the class yesterday, and am getting to know some of the other “victims” better. Today’s teaching programme was about relaxation, which is of particular relevance to people with respiratory problems, as we tend to panic a bit during an acute exacerbation.

It was a beautiful day with blue skies and the sun splitting the heavens. The temperature was even managing to reach double figures. It really does you good to see weather like this, lifting the spirits and making you realize that there is indeed hope that spring may be on its way – even although there may well be some bad weather again before then.

After that I met daughter at a large garden centre quite near where I live. It is called a garden centre, and indeed it is so, with many plants both indoor and outdoor, together with all the usual compost and so on, but there are two primary reasons to go there, one for lunch (or morning coffee or afternoon tea – the selection of scones looks very inviting) - and the other for shopping. We had lunch and then went for a good browse. I bought some birthday cards and am rather pleased with the selection I have for this year.

After that we went round the Food Hall, where I was tempted by the wine, some nice ones which had screw caps (which are much better for me to open than ones needing a corkscrew). They are also easier to keep over several days.

Then it was home again.

Cooked the celeriac and the potatoes, then mashed them with the crème fraiche. (I think this may be a sign of Scottish meanness or as we would say thriftiness). I couldn’t bear to have thrown some of it away. Reheated the casserole enough to give it a good cook through as I don’t like just warming chicken. A glass of a nice dry Muscat went very well with it.

Archimedes Lives On

Yesterday morning arrived the organic vegetable box, with potatoes, carrots and onions together with purple sprouting broccoli, 2 leeks, celeriac and cauliflower; the fruit part had 2 oranges, 4 apples, 2 pears and a kiwi fruit. I also had, as usual, the addition of 6 organic free range eggs.

The last time I had celeriac from them, it had sprouting bits (very scientific description here!) like rather sad celery, so it was easy to identify, even although I had never seen (or cooked) one before. This one looked more like a nobbly turnip, so I did not recognise it and had to phone the farm to ask for help. This turned into one of these comedy sketches as I could not hear what she was saying, and she kept repeating herself a bit louder. We got there in the end when she moved on to C for Charlie, E for Echo, L for Lima, E for Echo…. At which point I cottoned on! I love celeriac.

I made a chicken casserole for last night, tonight (and to freeze) made with:

8 organic mini chicken breast fillets from M&S, cut into strips
2 leeks, chopped finely
2½ onions, chopped finely (Because I had a half onion left over from the stroganoff.)
1 large carrot, chopped finely
About 8 mushrooms (of average size, ie not button but closed) mushrooms, chopped

I layered everything into a casserole dish and added stock made from 2 Kallo organic chicken stock cubes, and then added enough white wine to cover (about a medium glassful.)

After that I cooked it for an hour at 375 degrees, gradually turning the temperature down as I could smell it cooking.

I served it with a mash of potatoes, celeriac and crème fraiche – scrummy.

When I was preparing the vegetables, I also prepared the ones for tonight (and this should finish off the crème fraiche). The potatoes I put in a plastic jug covered with water, and I did the same with the celeriac.

Except it floats…

The jug was too narrow to use a plate to hold them down, so I resorted to a glass, which held most of them down…

At this point I rediscovered Archimedes principle (no, not me in the bath, you fools (I wouldn’t share that awful mental picture with you), but that the glass, as I pushed it down into the jug, started to displace the appropriate volume of water.

Back to Israel (after a pause)

Day 8. Bike Ride Day 3.

Up bright and early (5.30 am) – I’m glad for all the early starts I had during my training – and most of us met up at the beach for communion by the shore. Gordon led the service simply but movingly.

Then it was off to pack up and get breakfast. We were keen to get off sharply, but a call of nature left me trailing from the start.

It was a perfect start in the cool of the morning, being on the shaded side of the lake; soon we reached a small town where the Jordan leaves the Sea of Galilee, and we turned South into the valley. At first we were on a cycle track next to a leafy boulevard, which was lovely, but once out of town we were on the hard shoulder once more, and the road began to go up and down a bit. I dropped back into the centre group as we climbed to the side of the valley and then we gathered again beside a quarry. As we slaked our gathering thirst and enjoyed some fruit, we looked straight up 600metres to our next stop: the crusader fortress at Belvoir. I don’t think the picture captures the scale very well…

This was a hard slog for us all. Most of us (including me) had to push our bikes up some of the steeper bits, and a few had to take a lift in the vans (not me). It was only 75 minutes – which wasn’t a bad time for the climb – but we were grateful for another break under the shade of olive trees near the summit.

We took some time out to see the ruins of the fortress (the Jordan valley and the hills of the country called Jordan are just visible in the haze in the background) and then took the agricultural track on the more gentle slope Westwards. This was great fun, as long as you stood off the saddle! In the middle of a field we had to splash through a deep drain – I got thoroughly spattered. Ami said ‘That wasn’t there last week!’

We arrived at a viewpoint opposite Mount Gibeah, and Ami asked me to read the death of Saul and David’s lament from 1 Samuel 31 and 2 Samuel 1.

It was a fast exit from the viewpoint back down to the valley, we crossed a main road and continued round to Sachne for a great lunch – salmon fillets, roast veg, warm bread and salad – and a swim in the stream pools there. This was a bit surreal, as the fish in the pools nibbled our toes! Nothing painful – just a cleaning nibble, I think.

Then it was a coach transfer down the Jordan valley, so that we didn’t have to cycle through the West Bank, to get to Kibbutz Kalia at the North end of the Dead Sea. Our chalets here are air-conditioned, but eventually I turned ours off – it was so noisy I couldn’t sleep. The meal in the communal dining room was basic but good. By this stage there isn’t much we wouldn’t eat…

Stroganoff!

Yesterday, I took a pheasant breast (from the best sister in the world) and made a pheasant breast stroganoff.

Pheasant Stroganoff & Basmati Rice (serves 1)

This recipe is reduced and reduced again from one for a serves 4, so no need to be too particular about measurements


Butter for frying
½ onion, finely chopped
2 oz button mushrooms, sliced
1 pheasant breast, cut into thin strips (check for shot / feather bits)
¼ teaspoon Dijon mustard
salt & freshly ground black pepper
1 dessertspoon brandy
50 mls (minimum) crème fraiche or soured cream (She used single cream and lemon juice and it worked very well)
Freshly chopped parsley

Melt butter in large frying pan. Add the onion and fry gently till soft.
Add the mushrooms and fry for two minutes.
Add the pheasant to the pan, season well and stir in the mustard.
Fry briskly for 5 mins, turning the meat frequently.
Stir in the brandy and crème fraiche. It says if using soured cream don’t boil or the cream will curdle. The single cream and lemon juice did not curdle.
Check the seasoning and serve with parsley.

Delicious served with basmati rice – rinse rice, cook for 10 mins, stir in some butter, cover for a few mins before serving.

Sister's comment was: "I'll have what she's having"!

I think this recipe would convert to being used for several different stroganoffs – liver, sirloin, or fillet, or mushrooms for the vegetarian – use your imagination and look in your fridge/freezer/store cupboard.

Today, I went again to the Bridge Club, where I had, once again, a great time. I did not play with my usual partner (last time we came last!) Arriving back at the ranch, I had a cup of tea with the Scrabble players, and then came home to eat the rest of yesterday’s stroganoff.

Sleeping In

Good morning, world!

In fact it is almost Good afternoon, world.

I think that all that I did over the last two days finally caught up with me and I slept in.

Looking out my window, the sky is grey, but the cloud cover is high.

Looking at the trees, there seems to be more of a breeze than a wind, which is a pleasant change from the past several days.

It is Lent, and I promise that I am not giving up going to Church for Lent, although I have had a good stab at it this morning.

This is where I miss an evening service, but I am most attached to the Church I attend.

To change the subject, I am going to draw your attention to a comment made on my last post, which read:

*******BANG!!!!*******

This probably meant nothing to almost all of you, so I feel I owe you an explanation.

Many years ago in the days of sailing ships in the British Navy (so, yes, that was before even my time) sailors were allowed a tot of rum when the sun went over the yardarm.

So, in my family, BANG came to represent the very loud noise that the sun made when it fell over the yardarm.

I expect this post to confirm in everyone’s mind that I (and by implication, my family) are quite mad.

Sometimes we say BANG and sometimes “I think I heard a loud noise”.

ps

Do you think it undoes all the good the exercise has done if you sit down, cool off then pour a gin and tonic?

Exercise

Well, this morning I went to my exercise class, with my quads feeling somewhat sore. Someone else chose the bike for her first exercise, and it so happened that I didn't come to it until near the end.

Well!

I didn't try to increase the resistance or the time (and I have been cycling at the same rate for some time now).

After I had finished (and it was a real struggle to make 5 minutes), I went and sat down, then sat looking somewhat of a collapsed person. I was given a drink of water which helped and took the last two easy exercises to finish.

We then had a very good talk about different treatments, and we had all been asked to bring our own inhalers along.

Well, little miss know-it-all here learned quite a few new things.

So off to the garage with the car then off on foot to the garden centre. It is no distance at all by car, but on foot it almost beat me. Still, I enjoyed the tea and scone, then staggered back to the garage for a further half hour wait. Glad that's done for another year.

Back to the ranch just in time for a cup of tea and to pay the milk bill.

Now it is "Collapse of Stout Party"

The Cars....

....but not "Drive" Do you remember "Who's going to drive you home, tonight"? over footage of starving African children as part of the 'Feed the World' event?

No, this is more banal.

My car is leased from Motability which is a charity which provides cars for disabled drivers. Part of the deal is that you don't have to remember anything - they post out your Road Fund Tax and they contact you about the annual service. My service was due towards the end of January, so I was reminded of it when the garage sent out the usual "Introduce a friend and get £xx". I phoned and expressed my dismay at not having heard.

After several telephone calls I am going tomorrow after the exercise class. It is a service expected to last an hour and a half and they don't give you a lift home as it is too far.

However, now they offer a token for tea and a scone at a near by garden centre, which is a much more salubrious environment in which to wait than a garage.

They Really Are Out To Get Me...

...I am not paranoid.

This morning I went to my exercise class. After doing most of the exercises at home yesterday, today I managed mostly the same as last time, although a few with more weights.

After that drove over to visit daughter for lunch.

A good lunch and a good chat. I waited for younger grandson to get home. Daughter gave me a photograph of both boys with the long, curly hair they have had for a while. Turns out that at last the younger was getting teased about the length of his hair at school, so I had to wait to see him with his hair shorter. I must confess that I think he looks better this way, but this may be a sign of my advancing years.

I have commented before about the plethora of traffic lights that appear to jump up to greet me on the road, and as usual there were some new ones.

On the way home, however, I had the final demonstration that they really are out to get me as I spent a good part of the journey behind a truck carrying traffic lights facing towards me.

All right they were switched off, but still.....

... and the Living Was Easy!

Today was a nice and easy one, apart from doing all the exercises that could be done at home - this was nearly all of them as I have a weight (1kg) and a leg weight (also 1kg).

Must admit I feel somewhat tired after it, but it is a good kind of tiredness.

Other than that, it was a quiet day with some time playing Sudoku, some time doing my jigsaw and sometime reading (the latest Michael Chrichton - "Next".) You have to admit that his writing is somewhat formulaic, but a good read nonetheless.

I had forgotten to take anything out of the freezer for my evening meal, so I decided it was time to get rid of the serves one Christmas pudding. I heated it in the microwave and served it with ice cream.

Does this fit in with my plans for healthy, organic eating?

I think not.

Change

You would think that by the time you reached your mid sixties you would be quite set in your ways.

In fact the changes started earlier in my sixties when I gave up smoking (never thought I’d see the day!)

Apart from the smoking, I have come under several new influences.

The first one was the Farmers’ Markets, with all sorts of interesting produce and much of it organic. This converted me to the organic movement.

The next one, which arose from the first, was the vegetable box scheme. I visited the stall over several months before deciding to go for it.

I have always hated vinegar as my only experience of it was malt vinegar used to preserve beetroot and pickled onions. Therefore I knew I would hate balsamic vinegar when it became so fashionable.

Wrong.

After several years of saying “no thank you” when offered it, I finally was put in a situation where it would have been rude to refuse.

Wow!

At first I always had it mixed with Extra Virgin Olive Oil (by the way how can something be extra virgin? – It’s either virgin or not). Soon I used just the balsamic vinegar without the oil as a salad dressing. So there’s a major turn around.

The big change has come with the organic veg box delivery. You can tell them if there is something you don’t like (although that requires you to try something at least once).

I didn’t realise how, when I went round the supermarket aisles I tended to select the same old, same old, but here I was offered new things to try and found new things at the farmers’ market. I was tucking in to Jacob’s Sheep loin chops yesterday – they have so much flavour that they required no salt, and steamed greens can’t be salted, so that is so much healthier.

As regards the steaming of the greens, I had to buy new pans for my pride and joy, an induction hob - now there's another change in my sixties, although it was prompted by the fact that the flat was fitted with these awful old solid hotplates and we can't have gas. One of the pans had a steamer part, which fitted on top of the pan and was fitted with the pan lid. Don't know if that is clear but prior to this I had only these baskets which sit inside a pan.

With the organic vegetable box, I have discovered Savoy cabbage (I know it has been around for ever, but I had never tried it), celeriac, which is yummy, Swiss chard and so on.

Following advice, I have found the Good Housekeeping cookery book to excel on cooking vegetables.

I am going to check the ingredients for pork cheeks to make a casserole, having tried that once before, and also the ingredients for pheasant breast, the latter of which I shall make for this weekend. This will be my second cook of pork cheeks - if you can get hold of them they are truly scrumptious.

Candlemas

This Sunday is Candlemas. So the whole service was relating to Christ as the Light of the World, particularly with the occasion when Mary took her infant Son to the great temple in Jerusalem where they met with Simeon, who had been told that he would not die until he had seen the Son of God. At this point Simeon said what has been rendered into latin as the Nunc Dimittis.

Usually in our Church on the 4 occasions a year when we have Holy Communion, the choir sings the Nunc Dimittis, and today they sang it again as it was so appropriate to Candlemas. All our hymns were on the subject of Christ as the Light of the World. Also there was a reading from Genesis about God creating the light.

I am so happy to be back at Church again as I seemed to miss so much, first of all by being away so much over the festive season and then due to ill health. I looked out the curtains this morning wondering what the weather would be like, particularly after the weather we have been having recently, but, although it felt cold, the temperature was 6.5 degrees (the benefits of having a car which gives the outside temperature!)

The Nunc Dimittis has something of a specil meaning for me. Several years ago now (when I was still a smoker) my health had deteriorated severely, to the point when I was close to dying. At that time. if I had an exacerbation of my illness, instead of sitting up in bed struggling for breath, I lay down and said the Nunc Dimittis and went off to sleep calmly.

Saturday, Wonderful Saturday

This morning I awoke at 7.15 (in fact probably at 7.05 as my alarm clock runs fast), so I snuggled down under the duvet again, but sleep eluded me.

So, I thought I might as well make the best of a bad job and showered and dressed and headed down to the laundry room at about 7.50. You are not allowed to use the machines before 8am, so I was hopeful of being able to get the larger capacity washer for my bedding.

Nobody there – YES!

So washing on and headed back upstairs for the 1hr 15mins that the machine requires on that programme.

At 9.15, headed back down and as there was nobody using a machine I used 2 dryers, hoping not to be caught! Into the larger capacity one I put the double duvet cover, and into one of the others I put the rest of the bedding together with the cotton underwear.

Back upstairs, then down again after an hour.

At this point I discovered that only one of the three washing machines was in use and that it was still quite early on in its cycle, so I hadn’t inconvenienced anybody by using 2 dryers(of 4).

Better yet, my washing was dry, so folded up, dryer emptied of water and de-fluffed, washing brought upstairs and put away.

And it is only10.37!

So I have the rest of the day to relax….

Looking out the sky is a light shade of grey, and there is a light sprinkling of what looks like frozen snowflakes on the grass and on the cars. Doing my jigsaw and reading my book in the warmth of home seem like bliss to me.

Exercise and Visit

Today the weather was cold with a temperature of 1.5 degrees and quite a wind, with gusting at times. Snow threatened, but did not fall, so off I went to my 4th Pulmonary Rehabilitation exercise class. I was still a bit stiff from Wednesday’s class, but was determined to maintain the levels reached on Wednesday, which I successfully did, even increasing some of them.

This afternoon saw a visit from younger (but not much younger) brother. He always likes to keep in touch with every member of the family.

Tea and biccies were called for, and gladly consumed.

There is a regular exchange scheme of books going on between his wife and me. He brought a number that I had loaned which were being returned and some new ones. He has gone away with the same in reverse.

It’s an easy evening meal tonight, thank goodness as I still feel somewhat as though I had been run over by a truck.

Back to a follow on from my first couple of sentences; it is after 4.30pm and the sky is still bright.

Oh joy. Even although we often get the worst weather of the winter after this, I still feel as though spring is only round the corner.