Surprise!

Yesterday, after a good night’s sleep, I set off to visit daughter, M and 2 grandsons who live about 45 minutes drive away from me. I had a bit of difficulty finding their new house and when I found myself outside Tesco, I knew I was wrong. So I turned round in the car park of a new development. At that point I was accosted by an elderly lady who was a bit cross as too many people use their car park as a turning circle. I explained that I was lost, so she asked me where I was going,

And I could not remember, but I said I would phone them for advice. When I did so, I had made only one mistake, going straight across a roundabout instead of turning right there.

I could not park near their house, so I parked in a parking bay at the top of the road then walked to the house. I managed to climb two steps but no further so I called again for help. I went into the house and looked at how they had put their own stamp on the sitting room. I was also amazed at how much they had achieved in such a short time. Elder grandson was dispatched to the car to pick up my backpack, blanket and 2 pillows. I then opened my backpack producing a bottle of Noilly Prat and a bottle of Fleurie.

At this point daughter was urging me to come and see the rest of the downstairs, but I was not in a hurry to do so as I had seen there before they moved in. However, I followed her into the dining room and looked to my right.

And there, sitting on two chairs at the table were…..

… younger son and daughter in law.

I was so amazed and delighted. Hugs and kisses all round. I just could not believe it.

They had both “lied" in recent emails , and so had my daughter!

We talked and talked with the oiling of the wheels (with Noilly Prat in the case of daughter and me).

Oh boy it was so good.

Daughter served up a fantastic dinner, starting with nibbles with humus or smoked mackerel pate, then going on to beautiful roast beef cooked to its lovely pink perfection. Along with this were roast potatoes, Yorkshire pudding and green beans.

I slept last night in younger grandson’s bed, which was fine apart from the fact that I am not used to sleeping in a single bed, and found it difficult to turn over. A bit of a disturbed night but the new dose is still working.

This morning it was freezing with a temperature of -5.5 degrees Celsius. Fortunately the roads were dry, so it was just a heavy frost but not ice.

Looking out the back window I saw 2 beautiful spider webs sparkling with the frost.

On the way home I also got lost but managed to find my way again. The trees were particularly beautiful with the bare branches shining with frost, the only disadvantage was the frost fog which made visibility not too good, but I took it carefully. I can’t understand some motorists making themselves invisible by not having their lights on. Even these silly sidelights are worse than useless.

So here I am safe home again.

A busy Friday

Yesterday I got up after another fitful night and went for my doctor’s appointment. When I told her about the pain and sleeplessness she has upped the dose of one of the tablets I am taking and to see how that does. If it doesn’t improve things, I have just to call her and she will try another, but similar, drug. She is reluctant to introduce something completely new. I am not surprised when I consider the list of drugs I am on. I asked if she wanted to issue all my repeats as they would be up for renewal just before Christmas.

Done.

So, off I went to the pharmacy next door and waited for a short while to pick up my carrier bag full.

Back home, and shortly after, my two cleaning ladies arrived. On top of leaving everything sparkling, one changed a light bulb in the bedroom and put back a number of photograph albums.

Home made soup for lunch, and then I forced myself upright and took the two remaining loads of washing downstairs. After the first load was done and into the tumble drier, I put on the second load then came upstairs to join some of the ladies for a cup of tea and a biscuit.

Not to mention a chat!

Following that all I had to do was collect the first load, now dry and bring the second load (3 jumpers) back upstairs to dry flat.

When I came home on Thursday I found a letter addressed to Grandma Moot at my correct address. I am known as Grandma Mammouth by my grandchildren as I always used to pop over to France and shop there when I lived in the south of England. The oldest grandchild was then quite young and he shortened it to Grandma Moot. Bet it gave the postman a giggle.
Inside was a beautiful thank you letter with apologies because it was late as he and the family had been moving house

Photo North Bridge

In response to the many requests (all right, from the three of you) here is the photograph referred to in my previous post taken shortly after the birth of the first son of Princess Margaret and Earl Snowden. I see I was wrong about my age at the time, as Viscount Linley was born in November 1961, so I was 20 at the time, and still wearing well.

Soup of the Evening.....

....beautiful, beautiful soup.

Yesterday I was up early so I decided to make a start on the three loads of washing that were glaring at me from the corner of the hall. So, one load washed, dried and put away.

After that I went to the garage in the near by small town for the car to have its MOT. Luckily I took Private Eye with me as I waited for an hour and a half. I almost, but not quite, finished Private Eye.

After that it was off to visit TBSITW for a delicious lunch of fresh home made bread with home made chicken liver pate, followed by "green" soup. It was probably made with Swiss chard, but she could not remember so we decided that green soup summed it up beautifully. We both tend to make this soup with any of a variety of green leaves and they are all good.

After lunch TBSITW went to work and produced the last picture to go in a multiple frame given by elder son and his wife for my birthday. I then produced a different multiple frame along with some pictures that I had found of me at different stages and both sons. As the number of spaces was strictly limited we decided that the frame would be limited to me alone.

Vanity, vanity all is vanity...

I had found and fitted a photo of my grandfather, my father, me and elder son (as a baby). This showed, of course, four generations of the same family.

TBSITW then scanned and re-sized and printed and guillotined to fit two further photos, one of me when I qualified as a midwife and one when I graduated from the Open University.

She has also scanned one of me taken, when I was 17, on North Bridge, Edinburgh on my way back to the office after lunch. The reason I was stopped was for a series of small articles and some photographs for Edinburgh Evening News. The press man and the photographer were carrying out a "vox pop" asking people what name they thought Princess Margaret and Lord Snowden would call their first child. I said 'David' as I thought that it was the given name of her father.

It was a particularly good photograph (ie it made me look good) so we bought some prints. One ended up with elder son and he had put it on his notice board in his halls of residence at University. His then girl friend (now his wife) was a little jealous of this pretty girl he had pinned up.!!!

Now there's a compliment.

I came home and in the late afternoon and into the evening I made a pot of chicken soup, using the stock from boiling the chicken thighs. Added to the stock were 2 onions, two carrots some rice and and the meat off one of the thighs.

Phew.

THANKSGIVING!

May I wish all my readers "across the pond" a very happy thanksgiving, and enjoy that turkey, but leave some for us at Christmas!

A Good Hair Day

Today, after a good night's sleep (to make up for the bad night the night before) I headed off to the big city. The low sun was shining, and reflecting off the wet roads making it very difficult to see at times. I went to the usual shopping mall, starting with M&S where I returned a pair of trousers which I had bought over the Internet but were not what I wanted. I went to look for a replacement pair and while doing so found a nice round necked top with cream edging and a cardigan to match. I picked both but when I discovered that the trousers were in the wrong size, I just put the tops back.

That made a big saving!

I then went on to The Body Shop and bought something that TBSITW wanted, and passed Thorntons on the way. I resisted the chocolates but bought some toffee. I then went and had a sandwich and an apple juice before going on to the hairdresser.

After I got back to my home town I thought that it was time to give the car a similar (and much overdue) treat and took it to the car jet wash.

Then it was back home to find that our wonderful house manager had put a parcel in for me and that the post today was only Private Eye with no junk mail to join it for a change.

Now to cook some chicken thighs to make stock.

Bridge - and a gentle hint.

Yesterday afternoon I went to the bridge club where, once again I played with my usual partner. At the end of the afternoon she was complaining that she hated always coming last. I said to her that obviously I was not the right partner for her and did she think she would be better off with someone else?

As we left, our leader said that she should not complain about coming last as we were just beginners and there were many strong players who had been playing with the same partner for years.

Oh well this was not a problem solved but at least a seed sown.

Last night I had very little sleep, tossing and turning from 2am trying to find a cold place for my poor burning feet. The pain relief I have been given is obviously not keeping things under control, so I am pleased that I am due to see my GP on Friday (for another reason) so I shall hijack the appointment to ask about this.

Anyway I knew I would be absolutely useless at bridge after so little sleep so I called my partner to let her know that I was not fit to play tonight. I called before 10am to give her time to find another partner.

Today is now a lazy day and I shall have an early night.

Brrrr

I was up and dressed in plenty of time and looking forward to going to Church, when I looked out of the window.

And there it was, snow.

I used to love the snow, but now I am afraid of going out in skitey (slippery/slidey) weather because I am so afraid of falling.

So in punishment I did a job that must be about my most hated,

Yes, folks, defrosting the freezer.

It would not ordinarily have needed to be defrosted until the new year, but I must have left one of of the drawers sticking out a bi it so that the freezer door was not quite shut, causing it to frost up pretty badly.

Now that I am a bit less able I rather regret not buying a frost free freezer, but there you go.

I am through at the computer waiting for it to finish so that I can get the drawers (all washed and dried) back in and filled.

I have a large picnic bag lined with space insulating material which holds all the contents of my freezer, especially if I have run it down a bit.

The bad piece of news is that when I went to heat my cauliflower cheese in the oven yesterday, the thermostat would not register above about 75 degrees Celsius. I think the fan has gone. The outside door of the oven was hot at the top but cold at the bottom. Here we go again.

At least it is not urgent as I do hardly do any roasting or baking and the rest can be done on the hob or the microwave. Still, it is a bore.

I have had a really good day today today.

First of all, having showered, dressed and so on, the "girl" from the paper shop came to collect the money for the papers I have delivered. I was all prepared with the check made out apart from the amount.

The last time she called I asked if I was correct that she was Muslim and she said "yes". I then said I usually like to give a small monetary gift at Christmas to the paper boys but I was most concerned that I might cause offence. It turns out that the tall boy I met once when I was up early for the laundry was not the usual paper boy, he only helps out if the paper boy can't manage. She said that certainly no offence would be taken.

I met the gentleman who owns the shop. He is a perfect, upright gentleman with greying hair who speaks impeccable English. The "girl" it transpires is daughter as I had surmised, a lovely woman with a beautiful complexion. The boy I had met once is her youngest son, the other two being in their twenties.

They don't usually deliver papers but they do so to our block of flats as many are elderly, so it is a real community spirit that they show. On one occasion one of our fitter ladies went to the shop to pay, only to be told that she should not do so as they were happy to collect the money.

Coinciding with the daughter's visit to collect the money, my Tesco delivery arrived, so it was a brief call.

This afternoon I had a visit from elder son's wife who happened to be in the area. It was so good to see her as it happens so seldom. We had tea and biccies and I gave her a book or two away with more to follow. Yes, elder son, she has the second volume of the Romanitas trilogy.

A Quiet Day

This morning my wonderful cleaners came, so all is now sparkling clean. I asked L. te let me know the type of Autoglym that she uses as there appear to be several different ones. Better than that she gave me some into an empty bottle. I want it to clean the inside of the windscreen before the garage sees how dirty it is. I think the marks are lime flowers brought in through the air vents.

After that I did some of the preparation for tonight's meal: peeled the sprouts and placed them in the steamer; peeled the potato and 2 carrots, then cut the potato into four and the carrots into batons; and prepared the cauliflower.

I am making caulifloweer cheese with the vegetables on the side.

This afternoon I went to join some of the ladies for a cup of tea and a biscuit. I learned that one of the ladies has lost her grandson to cancer. She was very brave to come and join us, bringing some photographs of this (grown up) grandson. Her daughter is with her just now to give her some support.

It is always very difficult to cope with the loss of someone younger, but two generations younger is really hard to come to terms with.

Lunch

Today has been a great day. I had not a bad night's sleep and checked the blogs I read before going to visit TBSITW and le chef for lunch. We had a delicious home made rib-sticking hare soup together with freshly baked bread. Not long after I arrived, TBSITW receeived a slightly worried telephone call as I had sent the message saying "on my way" to daughter instead of TBSITW. The latter was able to reasure daughter that I was safely with her!

While there the fish van arrived and I bought a piece of salmon for my meal this evening.

Oops - forgot to reimburse TBSITW for that.

On the way home I went to the near by farm shop and bought Brussels sprouts, white turnips a beautiful cauliflower, a punnet of sweet green grapes and a punnet of satsumas; additionally I bought a topside from one of their own Limousin cows.

Bridge and Dentist

I managed to make it to the bridge club. I asked my partner to sit at the first table as, if there were an odd number of pairs,we could get away early. I was so tired that I was desperate to get away as soon as possible..

However, she did not want to play with the North South pair at that table.

I managed to keep going and did not disgrace myself , although I did not play well.

When we eventually reached the free table, I atood at the top of the stairs to get some fresh air, and then came in and helped someone else with washing coffee cups.

After I rejoined my partner, I was just about ready to fall asleep, and once again she laid into me "Why did you not do such and such"

By this time I could remember nothing of past hands and said so, but she kept repeating her question in a more and more aggressive manner.

The more she questioned the less I could remember.

I should perhaps say that I got to bed at midnight and slept till 10am (1o hours sleep) uninterrupted.

Today was the dentist to finish the job started by the hygienist last time. she cleaned my lower teeth with the pick, then injected a gel into the space between my lower teeth and gums.

I thought that the last time it was a cortisol injection, but in fact it was chlorhexadine (like Corsydol, but more concentrated and in a gel format)

I have now got an appointment to go back in January to see how things have progressed.

Catching up.

I am conscious that I haven’t posted for a day or two.

So, a quick catch up.

On Sunday after Church I did one washing (the dark wash), got it dried and put away by about 1.50pm. So I treated myself to a glass of sherry (as you do).

I also finished reading “Bad Science” by Ben Goldacre. This is an excellent book which debunks so much of the so called cures offered to the gullible. There are so many charlatans around peddling such things as colonic irrigation, not to forget these “nutritionists”.

It is becoming increasingly obvious to me that this book should be widely circulated. In particular, it should be mandatory reading for journalists and politicians.

Yesterday afternoon I played bridge with my usual partner. She received some gentle advice from our leader.

That was sufficient for her to start crying. Later our leader said quietly to me that she thought I was a saint to put up with her behaviour.

I really don’t know how long I can carry on coping. It takes its toll on me and I end up losing concentration and playing badly. If I make a mistake, she rounds on me in a very aggressive manner.

I really don’t feel like going tonight, particularly as I have been awake since 4am with the pain in my feet, up the front of my legs and my hands. However, shoulder on.

Brighter news is that the vegetable box arrived and contained: 2 cooking apples, some salad leaves (which are either green mustard leaf or mizuna -I can’t tell which I have, they look rather like spinach and I am sure they will make a good soup), a Savoy, carrots, onions, 3 leeks and 2 beautiful cooking apples. The fruit bag held 3 apples, 2 oranges, 2 pears and a kiwi fruit.

TBSITW tells me that the local farm shop has now opened; they were delayed as it took so long to get the potatoes in as the ground was so wet.

A Cook-a-thon

I have had rather a busy day, starting with a washing this morning, followed by Tomato Soup with Rice (I have added the recipe top my blog).

After that I got on to the chicken curry (the recipe is already on my blog, although this time I added a little bit of ginger.)

So, now I am looking out of my window as the sky fades slowly towards dusk.

I have made a start on reading today’s paper, but that is it.

It sounds like a lazy day, but, boy does it not feel it!

Chiropodist

Before I went to see TBSITW yesterday, my chiropodist came.

Boy, was I glad to see her; I had been limping along for a couple of weeks after my dressing came off and a shaped foam tubing fell apart at the seams.

I had taken off the parts of the hearing aids that go in the ear to clean and soak them in a solution of dishwashing liquid. They were then dry and I was struggling to fit them back to the hearing aids with no success, so she took over and managed it in very short order so I could hear again.

Bet she never thought she would have that job to do!

This morning I did a job I have been "forgetting" for ages and got all my filing and shredding up to date. After that my two lovely cleaners came, so all is now right with the world.

Photographs

Yesterday, after a hasty start to the day, I came home and read the paper, then made some lunch, followed by tea. I find this really rather difficult as, having to leave at 6.30pm for Bridge, I am having to eat some sort of evening meal rather earlier than I would like.

My partner picked me up at 6.30 on the dot and off we drove. We ended up with 38 playing, making it 10 ½ tables, so it was rather a late finish.

I have no idea how we got on, but probably not well as there are so many strong players there.

Today I was invited by TBSITW to a lunch of home made lentil soup and home made bread. We had a grand blether over that and some home made goodies – an energy bar and an apple and ginger cake. Scrummy.

I have been trying to gather together photographs of my family for my ‘rogues gallery’ on my sideboards., so I took over 3 frames and she printed off one of herself and partner, one of elder son and one of his wife. I had been hoping to get one of the two of them together, but so far no luck.

It was good to get a boisterous greeting from both dogs. I am planning to get a picture of the new dog for my frame which holds five small photographs.

The Infamous Maths Degree

Elderly lady in training asked how a maths degree led to nursing.



In fact, I became a nurse (RN), a midwife (RM) and a health visitor (RHV) first.



By the time I became a health visitor, it was being noised abroad that nurses would have to have degrees. (I think this was before the days of direct entry to degree nursing.)



So I looked at the Open University as being my only feasible means of obtaining a degree. I found that, due to my previous qualifications, I needed to take only one foundation-level course. As health visiting was in many ways related to the social sciences, I decided not to take the social science foundation course and decided on maths as I had enjoyed that at school.



After that, I was hooked and continued through to a maths degree which included Mathematical Models and Methods (applied maths), 2 statistics courses, a systems course and a computing course, graduating in 1987 at the age of 46. My family were all so proud, and elder son took enormous pride in telling his fellow students that his mother had just graduated.



After that I went on to take: Statistical Methods, Graphs Networks and Design, Applications of Probability and Professional Judgement eventually graduating with first class honours in 1991 at the age of 50.



I did it all in my own time, paid for entirely by myself apart from being given study leave for a weekend revision group in my last year.



It did in fact make some sort of a difference to my career as I moved on to working with nursing information systems, mostly with training nurses to use the systems, but also with an involvement in the developing of them. People tended to ask how I liked working away from patients, but supporting nurses throught their training holds much in common. In my last post I also did some bank nursing at the weekends and, yes, it was good to get back to hands on patient care.



Apart from my career, the greatest benefit was challenging my brain...

A Medley of Events

Yesterday afternoon I went to the Bridge club and played with my usual partner. At last the numbers are starting to improve and we had 3 tables. I think I bid and played all right but I made a complete mess of my score card. It would appear that I cannot add, which is somewhat ironic for someone with a maths degree.

Mind you it brought back memories of school when I passed my Higher Maths with an excellent result, but came close to failing the compulsory Arithmetic paper.

In both cases I think it boils down to too casual an attitude when dealing with something simple.

I got home and there was a mug laid out for me and D. went off and made my special extra weak tea. It is always good to see them. Such a pity that I can’t have bridge and Scrabble.

J. who is very elderly (about 90, I think) takes a pride in doing the washing up.

D. noticed that I had had quite a bit of a struggle getting a package of toilet rolls in, so she carried them to the door of the flat – the difficulty was because it was a package of 16 rolls and there was no carry handle.

This morning I was dressed, jacket on and changed into my driving glasses when I opened the flat door to see that the milk was there. I get a delivery once a week on a Tuesday. So, I picked up the milk and went through to put it in the fridge.

On returning to the door, heard my mobile phone and found a message that TBSITW had called and missed me. I quickly picked up my phone and called her at home with no reply.

At last I reached the front door of the building and who did I see but TBSITW! I felt that, as I was now running late anyway she should come in and have a cup of tea.

Bless her, she almost pushed me into the car and waved me away.

I broke no speed records, but arrived at 9.58 for a 10 o’clock start.

I am being expected to increase what I am doing, so I am now varying the order in which I do the exercises, as I often do well with the first half then cannot do well with the rest.

Yesterday's Papers....

Yesterday afternoon, I settled down to read the Sunday Times newspaper.

It really made me wonder why I buy it. The news I get from the Times on Monday to Saturday. The Times also has a magazine section. Of course, I always get the news every time I log on to Internet Explorer as I have selected BBC News as my home page.

The first thing I do is to throw out quite a lot of the paper:

The Sport pages,

The Business and Appointments sections,

Home,

Travel,

Motors.

That is a huge pile to go in the paper bin (and to pay for!)

I read

The News section,

Money (for about 2 minutes), It does not take long when you don’t have any,

News Review

Ecosse (the Scottish News Review)

And then it is on to the magazine bits.

Reading it probably lasts until time to prepare the evening meal.

And that’s it!

It seems like a lot of money for very little.

Remembrance Sunday

Yesterday, of course was Remembrance Sunday, and it was such a beautiful day, a long way from our mental pictures of the soldiers in their wet, muddy bunkers.

So many wars and so many dead (from all the services) since that “war to end all wars”. It seems as though politicians never learn.

“They shall not grow old as we who are left grow old”

Bangers and Mash

Yesterday was a quiet day. I had 2 peppers (bell peppers, capsicums) delivered with the organic veg box goodie bag.

I decided to make stuffed peppers and had a look through my fridge, store cupboard and freezer. I have never done this before, but made it up as I went along to achieve the right sort of flavour and consistency.

The recipe is on my recipe blog.

The next thing was to tackle the sweet potato.

Prior to that, of course, I had to tackle a washing. Now, for once I wakened early as my feet were so sore and no matter what I did, I could not go back to sleep, so I reckoned I might as well make a virtue out of necessity.

I took the washing down at 7.45 with the Times magazine. The laundry is out of bounds till 8 am. When I got there I was able to choose the machine I wanted and at 8 o’clock on the dot set it going. When it was finished I loaded it into my favourite dryer and went away for an hour. On returning, my washing was dry, so I folded it and placed it all in a bag to take up top my flat. By this time it was not quite 11 am and not one person had been near the laundry but me. On returning to my flat it took only a few minutes to put it all away.

Yesterday evening, I had taken 3 sausages out of the freezer, so I reckoned it was time for bangers and mash. In the absence of further information, I decided to treat the sweet potato like potato and peeled it, cut it into pieces and boiled it for 20 minutes before mashing it with a knob of butter. Then I cooked the potato, Swede and carrot and mashed them together with the sweet potato. After placing a serving on a plate, I placed the plate in the microwave for a minute as the sweet potato had been cooked earlier.

This was absolutely delicious and I am freezing the rest of the mashed mixture for a few weeks till wanted again.

Cleaners

Today my wonderful cleaners arrived and L. handed me a brown envelope. This contained a letter from the cleaning company to say that they were ceasing trading on the Domestic Cleaning side.

I must have gone white and put my hand to my mouth saying “oh what am I going to do now!”

However L, the best cleaner who has been with me almost since the day I moved here has said that she will come on a personal basis on a different day, Friday. She doesn’t want a cheque (no questions from me!)

I would have been really devastated to lose her as she is just exactly what I want and need. This is where you find out how dependent you can be on one person. She is keeping on only a couple of people for whom she has been working for some time. Sadly this does not include my neighbours. I don’t think they will mind too much as, even in the short time they have had her, they have been out on quite a number of occasions.

I can’t tell you how relieved I am.

For lunch today I had slices of avocado with sliced apple and sliced fancy cheeses that I bought when I was staying with elder son.

Just a thought:

Was The West Wing television drama prescient?

In series 7, the election to choose between Presidential candidates the characters played by Alan Alda and Jimmy Smits, whose likenesses to McCain and Obama were almost uncanny,

Jimmy Smits won!

The Goody Bag

On Monday I went to the bridge club in the afternoon where I was delighted to see my partner back from her holiday. There were only eight of us and so we played as two teams. Our team lost!

I returned to find my vegetable “box” had arrived with potatoes and onions, about 15 beautiful carrots, 3 beetroot, 3 leeks, a celeriac and a lovely purple Savoy.

Additionally was the first of a new initiative, a goody bag. This is a sturdy Hessian bag containing some treats. The treats are notified a fortnight in advance and delivered only if you ask for them. This one contained a large sweet potato, a bag of chestnut mushrooms, 2 sweet peppers – 1 green and 1 yellow, an unwaxed lemon and an avocado.

Unfortunately I was not able to go to the bridge club as I had something of an upset gut (I promise no more details will be forthcoming.)

So today, now I have recovered, is the first cook-in of mushroom soup. (see recipe blog.)

The Presidential Election

I have tried not to comment on the election before the results were in as I have no right to a vote, but now I feel I can.

This morning I see that the results for the American Presidential election are in and that Barack Obama has been elected with an astounding majority.

I think that this is an excellent result as it has shown that the USA has managed to throw off its prejudice against black people sufficient to cast their vote for a good man.

Many overseas will be glad that another warmongering man has not been elected President, and also that Sarah Palin (who has shown that it is not only blondes who can be dumb) has not been elected Vice President and thus a heartbeat away from being a President whose idea of foreign policy is to say that she can just about see Russia from her front porch.

Cash Flow

Yesterday I found that the shower was running cold. Aaargh!

The quickest wash ever.

Later I took my car to the repairers for an estimate for the insurance company for the damage to one of my wing mirrors. They are coming a week tomorrow to collect my car and drop off a courtesy car, which will be a small automatic as is mine. There is an excess of £75 to pay.

Now I keep accounts on MS Excel, detailing all my income and expenditure; I also keep separate accounts for my 2 credit cards which give a running total for the month’s expenditure. These totals are fed into the Excel sheet for the dates on which the payments will be deducted as I pay the total amounts each month by direct debit.

The principal advantage of doing this is that I can run the income, expenditure and bank balance ahead as far as I choose, giving me an overview of my cash flow, which allows me to keep my accounts under control. I don’t work to a budget, I work to my income.

I reconcile the bank account and the credit card expenditure more or less on a daily basis and I was starting to get a bit worried about my cash flow over the next couple of months, but was not too surprised as I had had a number of unexpected expenses.

However, on looking again more closely yesterday morning I discovered that I had put a small pension into the expenditure column instead of the income one. Now that I have corrected it, the future looks somewhat rosier! The mistake must have arisen due to doing a “copy and paste” after I had inserted a new column for the cheque numbers.

As The Shrink would put it:

Much goodness.

A welcome extended

Yesterday was such a beautiful day, autumn chill in the air, but warm sunshine and virtually no wind.

Our minister preached his sermon on the passage from the Gospel according to St. Matthew which told of Joseph of Aramathea taking Jesus from the cross and placing Him in his new tomb, wrapping him in cloths.

Additionally yesterday was All Saints Day.

He used passages from Gray’s elegy written in a country churchyard, which churchyard may have been like our own, to illustrate many of his points. I came home and found the poetry book which I used at school – A Poets Quair edited by Rintoul and Skinner and read the poem again. I was going to type it out to put here but it is somewhat long.

The interesting thing about this poetry book is that one of the editors was the father of a friend of mine at school (she is still a friend). He taught English at George Watson’s Boys College and we went to the sister school, The Mary Erskine School for Girls (now part of a conglomerate of 3 schools and called Erskine Stewarts Melville). These schools were and are in Edinburgh.

Later on in the day, TBSITW came with the new addition to her family, a rescue dog because she was not sure how the dog would cope with fireworks. I had a hide chew for her, and she took it from me, but then spent most of the next half an hour pacing round the room. After she had let me stroke her several times she suddenly decided it was all right here and settled down to give the chew laldy. I am so glad she settled, and perhaps she will find the next visit easier.

It is not easy for an older (she is about 2 ½ ) dog to adjust to rehoming, with all the new things she has to learn. She is a lovely dog with a good nature and certainly gets on with the other dog. So time, the great healer, will do its work.

The advantages of advancing deafness!

Linda at Just another day on the prairie always heads up her post with a quote. They are such a treat to read.

The latest one was:

“What a blessing it would be if we could open and shut our ears as easily as we open and shut our eyes!”
Georg Christoph Lichtenberg

And it really made me think.

As my reader knows, I am somewhat deaf (I hate the phrase ‘hard of hearing’) and have discovered that it can be of an advantage at times. On occasion I have found myself in circumstances where the noise just becomes a bit much and I can discreetly switch my hearing aids off.

On the other hand, when I am in Church, I am so grateful for the t-loop which makes it a pleasure to follow the service.

I do, however, have to be careful to switch them back to normal before being greeted by the minister at the end of the service..........

A Happy Bunny

Yesterday was a busy day. The first appointment was the doctor. Now that my swollen face has resolved completely since stopping the blood pressure tablet, she took my blood pressure and it was up a bit even in that short time. So it is a new tablet and a return appointment in a month.

The second appointment was with the dental hygienist.

Fear and trepidation.

She is really a very nice girl. Anyway she offered me an injection before the treatment. Now, I am the biggest feardie you ever met, but I hate injections in the mouth. So we reached a deal; we would try without, but if I was unhappy at any time she would stop and give me an injection.

However, it was not too bad at all and certainly not as bad as I had feared. Even more so it was not as bad as an injection. So she scraped off what felt like 2 weeks dinners, then used the water spray to clean in under the gums. When it was all over she injected cortisol gel in under the gums and into a rather nasty hole.

Sadly she is leaving to go to a private practice. I am sorry to see her go.

After that I went off to visit TBSITW and be introduced to her very lively Springer Spaniel. She is delightful and the two dogs seem to be settling in well together (or at least happily chasing each other around!)

They have now (on a temporary basis) acquired a hedgehog, found captured in a squirrel trap. When I visited, he was settled in a cardboard box with shredded paper and some water. He seems quite lively. Of course, he will be released back into the wild.

I really enjoyed home made chicken soup and home made bread. It was also good to see Le Chef again. TBSITW picked some spinach for me and Le Chef got some potatoes for me so I can make spinach soup.

Today I managed 2 loads of washing and then this afternoon I have made spinach soup. I have whizzed it and put some into a container for freezing when it has cooled.

I am a happy bunny.