Rainy days.......!

There is a roast cooking away in the oven, and the house smells divine. Sunday. Hallelujah, we have rain today! Just drizzling rain, but I live in hope that the water butts (yes, them again) will fill up, and more to the point, seeing that it is decidedly not tropical out there, I won't have to water the garden today. Instead, I can burrow under the fleece on the couch and play with wool. Sounds good to me.

I would do some sewing, or quilting, but that requires access to the sewing room. Not an option right now. So wool it is. The prayer shawl is finished and it is beautiful. I beaded a border, which I had crocheted and it worked. It took about 10+ attempts to get it right, but I am really pleased with the result. I will take photos. I promise. Maybe this week will be the download week. Where I pluck up the courage to download something. At the moment, the computer is faster than normal, because, apart from some bookmarks, there is absolutely nothing on it. I must say that I am already a fan of Google Chrome. IE pales into insignificance beside it.

I have been creaking a bit these last few days. Well, the last week or so actually. Really battling to walk with anything close to ease. Not great. But that has meant that I have been sitting and doing other stuff. There are always others in a worse position, though. Last night, I went to watch my young friend Julia's award winning movie at her parents' home. This was her dissertation project, as cinematographer, and it was absolutely stunning. Moving. Beautiful. It won a national award here in the UK. And one of my friends there to watch it too is waiting for a major back op or two, and is in agony. We compared painkillers, as one does.

Today is Pentecost, of course. Church this morning was wonderful, and I want to tell you about a couple of things our vicar said. One is that maybe we are not thirsty enough. Jesus said - come to me if you are thirsty.  Life is actually quite cushy, we are in control/can fix it ourselves/ have it sorted. We are not needy enough. Not thirsty enough.  And not happy to admit neediness, or thirst. Hmmm. Very true. That in itself throws up a great many thoughts.
And another thing - Jesus said streams of living water. He did not mention ponds, or pools or puddles, for that matter. Ponds can become stagnant. He said streams. Rivers. They move constantly, and flow through us and out of us into the community. If we keep the water in a pool, it loses everything.

Things to ponder on the couch this afternoon.

He said a great deal more too - about how the disciples did not retreat to a back room once the Holy Spirit descended, and have a committee meeting, or create sub-committees which met for a couple of years deferring decisions and creating rules. Sound familiar? It does to me. They barrelled out there and spread the word. Mission started that day.
Full steam ahead and full of fire. Isn't that the way it is supposed to be?

There was loads to think about.

On a more familiar and mundane subject - I dug up 4 pots of potatoes. I have dozens. I dug them up because they looked appalling and offended my gardener's eye. The reason they looked awful, I discovered,  is that they were ready to be eaten. That hot spell in March /April sort of accelerated things a bit. So the harvest has begun already! And I now have somewhere to plant the flowers and lettuce in the greenhouse too.

I just checked the roast. Lunch may be supper after all. Quite a way to go. Maybe a nap is in order.

Have a lovely Sunday!

Beads and assorted other pearls.......

I went to Hobbycraft this morning. That was a fiscal disaster. I had been on an emergency dash to get a friend's son to school for his Maths GCSE exam, which he thought started at 1.30pm, not 9.30AM, and decided to recover from the adrenalin rush by popping in to see what was on offer once I dropped him at the school doors. If I tell you that the call came at 9.17am and I had to get to his house in the next village before 9.30 so that he was supervised at all times until I screeched to a halt at the school doors, and handed him over to the teacher waiting for him, you will understand the adrenalin rush thing. Hunched over the steering wheel zooming down the dual carriage way, telling the child to breathe, relax, just do his best....... He was late, but he got there. Mission accomplished.

So on to Hobbycraft. Their beads were half price because they were being discontinued. Well. I may need thousands of beads. You never know. It was my duty to aid the economy, I feel. If there is ever a global shortage of beads, you know where to come. I have this grand idea of adding beads to the edging of the prayer shawl, you see. However, I have NO idea how you crochet in beads. YouTube. I need to check YouTube. What on earth did we do before the advent of YouTube?

(In case you are confused, yes, I knitted the shawl, but I am crocheting an edge.) (If it doesn't work, I will make another plan.)

We are officially in the middle of a drought. It was on the news this morning. 5 counties so far, and more almost there. According to the weather forecast, it is supposed to rain on and off all day. Well, let me tell you that the skies may be grey, and the wind may be cold, but there is zero precipitation. And I can't believe I am saying this, but I wish it would just rain. Soak the garden, and fill my water butts. I am obsessing about those water butts. I need another one. I am eternally grateful that David is home and can carry the buckets of water down stairs from the bath every day. The more the garden grows, the more water it needs. Mind you, it wouldn't grow if I didn't water so much, would it? Hmmm. Maybe I can put it on a water diet. Slowly.

I think not. I love my garden. But you have heard that a time or twenty.

What else can I tell you......

• Petrol prices are soaring again, and apparently could reach £2.00 a litre by the end of the year. I need to find a donkey or something. And a cart. 
• Gas and electricity prices are soaring. I need to make more quilts, and buy a supply of coal for the BBQ or start chopping up furniture.
• Food prices are soaring because of the petrol, gas and electricity prices soaring. And the drought. And because profit is the name of the game. I need to stop eating.
• We have a strawberry glut at the allotment. I can live on strawberries.
• And lettuce.
• I have Amazon gift vouchers and I cannot bring myself to spend them. It is such a wonderful feeling knowing that I COULD buy things!
• I finished that book. I still think I need to have a chat with the author. 
• My house is in chaos, but I really don't mind right now. As long as the lounge is clear and the guest loo is tidy, it is all fine.
• I am scraping the barrel here.

I am now going to work out how to watch catch up TV. On my son's old laptop. On the couch. With coffee. And my crochet hook and a tray of beads. I WILL learn how to crochet in beads. I WILL. 

Friendship......

I have just dug up the first pot of potatoes and there are real potatoes there. A miracle. The leaves looked dreadful, but that didn't affect the potatoes, thank heavens. And there are 11 more pots to go. Sigh. I love this time of year when I can start gathering food from my garden. The old hunter-gatherer thing, I suppose. Well, the gatherer part. I am not hunting anything. And Glynis and I have been to the gym to hand in the letters, and booked our induction sessions too. I also had a word with the physiotherapist who said "CR what?" So we are skipping that option. A very nice man, who after a short conversation, said he would go and learn more if I needed him to do so, but really, I think I have enough input from everyone who has tried to help in the past 3 years.

Yes, it is 3 years on the 20 June since I wrecked my knee. I could hardly believe it. Three long years. However, I am still here and still me, and still walking, so that is good.

I have nearly finished a book called Friendship for Grown-ups by Lisa Welchel. I don't know whether it is my mood, or the weather or the whatever, but I have battled with this book. I have not dropped it in the bath yet, but there have been times when I have been tempted to throw it on the floor. There are parts which are excellent, but other parts which make me want to call her and suggest a chat. How many of you have read it? And what did you think?

Friendship is something which is so important, especially for women. And it can save the sanity at times. It certainly has played a huge part in my life. Being married to a man who spent 9 months of the year away at sea made friendships vital for me. And I have been incredibly blessed with the friends I have made along the way. Some friends come and go, and some stay forever. As I am sure I have said before, friends are there for a reason, a season or a lifetime. Whoever coined that phrase knew what they were talking about.

Perhaps because I am gregarious, talk a lot and like people, I have found it easy to make friends. I don't set out with a goal of acquiring them, they happen. The talking. That must be it. There are friends who know me really, really well, deep dark secrets and all, and then those who know the parts of me I let them see. It varies. Friends who step forward unhesitatingly, and those who step back at really unfortunate times. We are all human, and that is inevitable. There is no such thing as perfection.

I am really lucky to have people around who are quite capable of saying "Stop, you stupid woman, what do you think you are doing" as well as those who can see hesitation  or uncertainty at times, and encourage me. I like to think I do the same for them. I certainly hope so.

At times, though, and here I may be treading on dangerous ground, you will meet someone who is not able to share friendship. Where having more than one friend becomes a threat to them. Where the friendship starts consuming you alive. Where you end up focusing on trying to help them to the exclusion of all else, and here I am also saying that trying to "fix" someone is not an option. I am old enough to know that this is futile and totally out of order.

The best way on earth to make friends is to be you. To not pre-judge people. To assume they are lovely people. To be open to conversations. To listen more than you talk (and coming from me that is a mega part.....the talking, remember.) To relax and smile. It takes a while before you can start confiding in people, and some people will never be close enough for you to let them past the walls we all construct to protect ourselves.

I am interested in people. Their differences. This is probably why I started blogging, now I come to think of it. I wanted to find women around the world and get to know them. And my blogging friends, who occupy a special little corner of their own in my heart, of course, come from all places, all ages, all backgrounds, and are just the best.

But I am not trying to issue an how-to  list here, because we all start from different places, don't we. I don't know, in all honesty, what desperation for a friend feels like. I am well acquainted with loneliness, but I am lucky enough to know that there are people out there who I matter to.Who care. I know I can pick up the phone and call someone. I know my sister is there. My family. I don't know what it feels like to be isolated. And in fact, I like the solitariness too at times. I am happy with my own company. And boredom will never be an issue. Too many things to do in too little time, if I look at the years ahead.

Having interests usually mean there will be chances to meet people with similar ones, and that is a great foundation for a fledgling friendship. Some will fizzle out, but some may not.

I moved countries/hemispheres. But I had friends around. The ones I left have not disappeared. I was skyping with one of my oldest friends just 2 nights ago, as she sat in her coastal home in SA, and I sat here in middle England. And the conversation was as easy as it would have been had I lived round the corner. And Linds and I do the same when we chat - New Zealand can feel very close. If they ask how I am, I know they really want to know the answer. These are the friends where pretence is not an option.

Another thing - even the best and closest of friendships do not have to be deep to be meaningful. Deep is good. So is meaningful. But the most important thing about friendship, to ME is the ability to laugh till I cry, and to cry till I laugh with someone. To anticipate. To be in the background. To be the one bringing the bags of essentials when the sky falls in. Making the tea.

Actually, the best of friends help me to remember who I am, you know. When I get bogged down, as we all do at times, they are the ones with the memories of the woman/girl/child I was once, and they remember the essentials. What would I do without them? I have no idea.

This has morphed into something considerably longer than I anticipated. It is such a huge subject and of necessity, it is subjective. My perspective, based on who I am, and my experience. Everyone else will have different views, but I would genuinely love to hear what you think about friendship. And if you find it hard to make friends, please don't feel hurt/bad/excluded. We are all different. Your views are just as valid and important. Ahhh I love this bloggy platform where we all have voices. Use them!

Let me tell you about something which happened with Jean, my lovely friend. First, let me tell you that she is the gentlest, kindest of ladies, and would NEVER say anything nasty. Or make waves. (I am good at making waves. One of my talents.) So we were in Switzerland on holiday, and helping my brother-in-law, and I, in passing, told Jean how to do something. Well, let's be clear. I instructed her. I caught a glimpse of her expression (she was not thrilled) and had to zap out fast because I wanted to roar with laughter. Why? Because she was CROSS with me. EUREKA!!! So when she had calmed down a little, I said - with a grin - our friendship just moved into the realms of reality. Why? Because she could be mad as a wet hen and I wouldn't run away. It is ok to get mad. Ok to disagree. It is ok to be real. Oh how we laughed about it, and I apologised too. It is just fine for me to love something and for my friends to loathe it.

But back to the book. It got me thinking. And here I am. Like every living thing, friendship takes work. Care. Nurturing. Being there.

But oh, is it worth the effort.

Excesses, exercise and shawls......

Let me tell you, my friends - your comments have made me grin today. I like you. All of you.

There is a state of emergency in my garden right now. I have run out of pots. A friend popped round with excess vegetable plants and they are now in a holding pattern - think planes flying in circles - until I can magically enlarge my garden, find a way to grow things on the roof or, more sensibly, go down to the allotment and squash them in there. I see no reason why beans cannot grow among the potatoes. At least the potatoes down there look the way potatoes should, and not like the sorry state the ones here are in. At the same time I potted the new veg, I decided that 27 petunias in one pot was overdoing things, so I now have 27 separate petunia pot-lets and roughly the same number of calendula. Let it never be said that I am a mean gardener. I believe in plenty of seeds. The only trouble is that they all seem to be growing and I HAVE RUN OUT OF ROOM.

Sigh.

I need an estate or two.

Well, my garden is miniscule. However, I manage to fit in masses so there is no reason to moan, Linds. None at all. Mumble mutter.

David is looking quite presentable today. His hair had not been cut since January. It has been cut now. Therefore the kitchen has been vacuumed. And the sun has zapped in and out all day, so I have zapped in and out with the washing all day too. Rain, sun, rain, sun......April weather in June. It has been all mixed up this year, hasn't it.

The doctor has finally signed the medical "permission to do moderate exercise" form for the gym. She has also signed Glynis's one, so we are good to go. I need to do something about the woeful state of the core muscles asap. I remember when they were strong. Once upon a time. Long long ago. Actually, not that long ago, now I come to think about it. 5 years ago. They require urgent attention. So does the rest of me. However it is the spa which holds huge appeal right now. Bubbling water. Solarium. Bliss. Ok, so there are the aquarobics and pilates classes too, and the resident physiotherapist. I know he is in tomorrow, so I want to go and ask him what he knows re CRPS. If he knows loads, I will make an appointment with him and get him to organise a programme for me. If he looks confused, we will give him a miss. I will resemble Twiggy in no time. The combination of the gym and the lettuce glut here in the garden should work.  I can avoid all shops for the summer.

Now. Prayer shawls. I had seen one or two in Blogland, but I honestly knew nothing about them until Jean went to visit her in-laws, and a lady from their church popped in and asked if Jean's mother-in-law, who is very elderly, would like a prayer shawl for her special birthday. They explained a little about their shawl ministry, so Jean, who loves knitting, trawled the web and found out all the details. It is absolutely fascinating. She started on a complicated pattern while she was staying here, and when I was thinking about crocheting something, I decided to use some of the wool stash and knit a different pattern. It is the 3 plain 3 purl one, for 3 rows, which makes a sort of basket weave look.

Knitting is not something I do by choice. I am too impatient to follow patterns. I tend to toss them over the shoulder and knit what I think will work. I think I told you about the mohair sweater I knitted while sailing north to Europe from SA with Geoff one trip. I wore it around England for 10 days, and when we got back on board, I ripped it out and invented another one which I wore in SA. Then I ripped that one out too. I think my mother still has some of the balls of mohair somewhere. Or maybe she crocheted a blanket with it.

So knitting is not my best thing. I knit scarves. They are quick and simple. but this shawl is special, and I really am loving it. This is the website we have used and here is where the patterns are listed, together with tips and ideas. Just keep scrolling down the page. Loads of links.

But I have to say I have thoroughly enjoyed knitting this shawl. It is white, and I am already planning the edging. Maybe with some beading. It is nearly finished. And maybe one day I will actually download the photos on my camera. Trust, remember. I did actually write a post re trust, but that can wait for another day.

Right. Time to deadhead things out in the garden. Then the couch will be calling. So will the knitting needles.

Tuesday and a post at last......

It has been a while, hasn't it.....

I have yet to go and get a new computer so I write here with a total lack of trust in this machine. It has no files on it, because I won't upload anything. Or download the camera. Or anything much, to be frank. Paranoia is the name of the game, perhaps. I keep casting a baleful eye over it, waiting for computer mayhem. Maybe a post re trust is in the offing.

However, the blog needs words now and then, or it will die.  Although the longer I don't write, the easier it is not to, if you see what I mean. The days pass by and I think....Hmmmm. Should I?

The past week has been filled with computer stuff, and apart from getting a new camera for it because the old drivers were lost, and then it was not proving to be simple to download some from the internet, and hey, what if there are more viruses etc etc, I have had endless problems sorting out things like screensavers, sleep mode and other enthralling bits, which did not fascinate me at all, so would bore you all to death in 2 seconds flat. And that is the longest sentence in history but too bad. It stays.

Then there was the Saga of the Cupcakes for Church Coffee. My oven doesn't work, so I had planned to go to Jean's clutching the cupcake mixture to bake them for coffee after church this past Sunday. Well. I doubled the recipe and forgot to double the eggs. Oops. The cupcakes rose into the air, then crashed and glued themselves to the pan. I can bake. I really can. However, anyone watching me hack the residue out of the pans may have had their doubts. Jean started another mixture, and we both counted the eggs this time, and the second lot worked perfectly. I had also made crispie cakes - chocolate and rice bubbles mixed together. No oven required. I am forward thinking. That took most of the day, what with the shopping for ingredients, abortive attempts and driving round the village, not to mention the artistic icing in swirls.

And then, on Sunday, another lady thought she was on duty so brought cakes. Another brought excess cakes from a party the day before, and we had mountains of cake thingies. So many that I ended up bringing most of mine home. Sigh. My kids ate them, though.

• This was a weekend when there were too many things that needed to be done and only one of me. 
• So I didn't sing in our final concert on Sunday afternoon, which was sad, BUT 
• I did go to Andrew and Ann's house and I had a chance to play with Missy, which was lovely.
• Andrew did a beer can chicken BBQ which was delicious. In the rain. (You stick an open beer can up the inside of a chicken and cook it on the BBQ with the lid on, turning every 20 mins. )
• David had to be out of his house by yesterday at 2pm, and all his things needed to be loaded into the car 
• The house he stayed in had to be cleaned and sorted. He did 90% of it. His housemates did....... Yes. 
• So he is now home, and recovering from all the cleaning upstairs on his bed. It may take a week or two.
• The water butt got blocked, so that had to be emptied
• I didn't screw the tap back in tight enough so that now drips. Dangling over the edge of the water butt is not an easy feat. 
• It rained so the water butt filled up again therefore can't be tightened yet. But can drip at speed.
• My sewing room is now a store room
• My kitchen is a laundry
• You get the picture.

So things have been occupying my mind here. The mind which seems to have very little room in it at the best of times.  I did go and look at computers and everything irritated me. The assistants. The laptops. The costs. The fact that the laptop I have been looking at for 2 years is still the same price it was 2 years ago and every other one is now cheaper faster, fancier, and yet the one I wanted is the same price it was - that REALLY irritates me. It makes no sense. I asked, and the assistant said - Sony does that. And yes, the specs are exactly the same as they were 2 years ago. They are written in my notebook every few weeks. And now maybe I don't want it any more. Maybe I want something totally different. Like a Mac. Those are way more expensive. Then I looked at new desktops. Wireless. Terabytes (Huh??) Touchscreens. And started hyperventilating, so departed for the coffee shop instead with my fingers stuck in my ears. Brain overload.

So here we are. David gave me his old laptop, but the keys sort of don't all work all the time. I wrote something and it looked like swahili. It was supposed to be English. I don't know what I want. And Heaven help me, I checked out the camera, and can say with certainty that laptops need to be at a critical angle to avoid one looking like the Bride of Frankenstein. I looked diabolical. The fact that it had rained all day and I was out in it supervising the loading of the car resulted in hair which rose at 90 degree angles from my head. That, and the fact that the make up had vanished and I was beyond tired could have contributed to the glorious vision I saw on that laptop last night. That was just before I fell asleep at 8.30pm. Maybe it was a coma.

However....

• My garden is a delight
• The roses have never been as plentiful or as stunning
• I have beans, peas, spinach and lettuce ready to eat
• Baby gem squash are emerging all over the place
• So are the courgettes
• The flowers are growing as I watch
• And I cannot tell you how much I love being out there - just drinking it all in
• The allotment is doing brilliantly too. Stuff is growing.
• It is Glynis's birthday today and we went out for lunch. That was great.
• My son is home for now. Who knows how long he will be here - it depends on career opportunities or further study, both of which will mean he heads off to carve his own path through life, just as his brother and sister have done. Inevitable. So these days are special.
• The sun comes and goes
• Medical tests are run
• Friends pop in
• The phone rings
• Babies are born
• The very first prayer shawl I have knitted (I don't knit) is coming on beautifully in the evenings (when I manage to stay awake!)
• I am very aware of the multitude of blessings which colour my life, despite the frustrations which at times threaten my sanity, and I am oh so thankful for every single one of them.

And now and then, I remember my blog and, more specifically, all my wonderful friends out there, who have come to mean a huge amount to me. You brighten my days.

Stick around, people. I will be back.

Warning....

Just a quick warning, people. Even though I am super vigilant and never open strange attachments, have a very powerful antivirus and all the rest, my computer has been invaded by a mega virus which has eaten its hard drive and everything I did not have backed up is history. I have run multiple iprogrammes in the past 48 hours and it is gone, but now I am restoring it to factory settings and waving goodbye to the parts I didn't save. Including all the birthday photos.  I don't trust it at all.

So stop what you are doing right now and BACK UP EVERYTHING AT ONCE. I am on Jean's computer right now. I am tempted to take an axe to mine. What possesses these people who create such destruction?

Oh. And on the let's get the bad news out of the way front, some wretched disease is killing all my potatoes in the garden. Things are not working out well this weekend.

That is all.

A little older......

Just a note to make here for some of my blogging friends - I am having a problem commenting. Blogger says I am not signed in and then I have to choose a profile and it is driving me crackers. So please know, Anne, Crystal and others, that I am here and reading! Some days comments work. Some days they don't. Sigh.

And today is my birthday. I have a great card from a friend which says "We are not old - we are retro". Perfect. I will be retro. It sounds rather quirky and fun, and not grey and crone-like, and that suits me just fine. Retro also implies plenty of memories and oh yes, there are decades of those too.

I have to admit, that for the first time EVER, I didn't realise my birthday was this week. I must be older than I thought! I knew it was at the end of May, of course, but that seemed a while off, until Glynis asked what I was doing for it. Hmmm. So I decided that, if the weather behaved, I wanted to just potter about in the garden here at home. I love, love, love being out there. However, the weather is a little iffy and one minute it is freezing and the next tropical, so maybe I will save the garden pottering for the rest of the weekend instead. (I use the word tropical loosely, believe me - just in comparison to the freezing bit.)

So I am pottering about inside instead. And between skyping with assorted family members, answering the phone and having coffee here with Glynis, it has turned out to be a lovely day.

Well, it is now night time, and I have been out to dinner with friends - a lovely end to a lovely gentle day. Thank you so much for all your wonderful messages, people - this growing older lark has some decidedly good parts to it too!

Rain. Water. Too much water......

There is a down side to having a water butt which had never been filled by the rain before today. What could that be?? Hah. The overflow pipe which diverts water back to the drainpipe when the water butt is full is malfunctioning. So, here I sit, clad in rain gear, because the rains have finally come to my part of the world with ABUNDANCE, and Heaven knows we need that rain, but every 5 minutes, I am out there, emptying the buckets of water I drain from the butt over my already sodden garden.

If I don't, the patio gets flooded, and that is not a good idea. Then the sun comes out for 5 minutes, the plants visibly grow, and down comes the rain again. Up goes the water level in the butt, and out I go to drain more water. The neighbours must think I have lost the plot. I have been watering in the rain all afternoon. I now need a very large tank, I feel. The water butt needs to multiply.

My hair has been wet, dry, wet, dry, and now I look as though I have had an encounter with an electrical socket. My shoes are wet.

However, I am pleased to announce that I should live and so should my garden. I may have drowned it, of course, but at least it is definitely wet. Wet gardens are good. The word "wet" seems to be appearing rather frequently today. Well, I am wet. Damp. Whatever.

 I am having a real problem trying to arrange the photos - obviously I am missing the photo-moving-gene today. I can make all the writing tremble and shudder though. Skill, I tell you. But I thought you may like to see some of the roses. I cut a few before the winds came and they have been a delight in the house. I love roses.

Supper is cooking right now, and I am sure there was something I meant to say, but that can wait until tomorrow. My brain seems to have been locked into water mode. I will be back.

It rained!!!

It rained here this afternoon. For all of 10 minutes. That was great, except that I finished watering the garden 5 minutes before the rain came. I think my plants are suffering from water excesses. But, oh, the wind today has been horrendous. I know we don't have things like the tornado which destroyed parts of Joplin to contend with, and I am deeply thankful for that, but it is hard to watch the garden being torn to shreds. Roses disintegrating.

But then, lives are what are important, not plants. And my heart aches for everyone who is suffering from nature's extremities - for those who have survived earthquakes, tsunamis and floods, tornadoes, hurricanes.... And for those who have lost friends and family. Plants pale into insignificance in the face of Nature's fury.

Skyping with my daughter this morning was a delight - to see her and catch up on all her doings, and see her work - just lovely. I miss her. But there is skype, at least. So, while waiting for her to come on line, the morning was largely occupied with tying down more plants in the garden. Cutting roses before they disappeared. The plus side of that is that I have 2 lovely bowls of roses in the house. Beautiful. And their scent is glorious.

Then I went to help Jean chose a dishwasher, which was great fun. I played with an iPad, and we checked out everything, and then went to see about joining the gym. Over 55 rates. Hmmm. But much cheaper than we thought. However, I will need a letter from the doctor, which, I was told, may take 28 days. Oh well. They have aquarobics and pilates classes which will be good, and a whole host of other ones too, like Zumba, which I will be giving a miss, although my heart would love to do them, of course. And the hydro pool, relaxation centre...... oh I will be in there, believe me.

When the doctor signs the form, of course.

And so the day whizzed by.

Hello.....

Well.... let me see if I can still remember how to write here. It has been longer than I thought, though if you could see the state of my house you may well understand.

I decided, in a total moment of madness, that despite the fact that I still have a piano sitting in the middle of what is destined to become my study, I would start shifting things. Given that the new study is approximately 2 metres by 2 metres (just think 6ft x 6ft and yes, that was the size of my kitchen when we moved into this house) and there is a piano parked in the centre, you may see the problem. Pianos are not known for their smallness.

Is smallness a word? It is now. It will do.

So, after the trip to Ikea on Monday and the acquisition of 2 new Billy bookcases, and the repositioning of 2 Benno bookcases as well, I now have a wall of shelves. And I needed to cull the book collection which occupied 2 walls of the old study area which is going to have a breakfast nook thingy in it instead, to get the huge table out of the centre of my kitchen, and ....

It is like dominoes.

All the books which are not craft books move out of the sewing room. All the books move out of the study into the new one. So I have heaps of books which will go to the charity shop, and heaps waiting to be sorted, and heaps I have no idea what to do with. I may just stack them in the centre of the lounge and drape a cloth over them.

So, when I get tired of shifting and sorting, and there are no plants to water or transplant to distract me, I sink onto the couch and into a stupor.

And we will not mention the 3 cupboards of papers and photos and STUFF which I have to find a home for either. The 2 tables which will be my new desk are on top of each other behind the piano. And right now, I have declared today to be a "do nothing" day. I have been to church and made lunch and That Is IT.

But finally, the sewing room has shelves which are were empty, which means I can get in there (in 10 years time) and sort things into logical and accessible places. Order. And stop laughing, those of you who know me - I am on a mission. Or I will be when I can muster the energy to continue with the quest. Maybe. And the books are on the new shelves. Oops. I just remembered that I have not anchored them to the walls yet.

So that has taken a great deal of time. And the sun has shone, so I have been in the garden. And friends dropped by so we had a BBQ , and Jean is staying while the honeymoon couple honeymoon in her house. Life is never simple round these parts. Not to mention the fact that these things I have to wear in my shoes (6 hours today) are fine when in but diabolical when out, and are creating more problems with my little toes, which hitherto have been JUST FINE thankyouverymuch. Groan.

Today, there is a howling gale, which is stripping my baby teeny tiny apples off my tree which is not making me happy at all. And my greenhouse is threatening to take off for Latvia or some such foreign part. The wind is drying things out incredibly too.

So here I sit in the middle of total chaos. The recycling bin is full. The charity shop pile is resembling the leaning tower of Pisa, and I am clean out of energy. Or the inclination to do anything, to be truthful. Coffee, and couch time, I do believe. There must be chocolate somewhere aroudn here....

I will be back with photos once I can find the camera under the STUFF.

WHY DO WE HAVE SO MUCH STUFF?????