Been AWOL for weeks!!

It's been a while since I have written anything but we have been away. A week in my home town Porthcawl in Wales. We enjoyed ourselves even though we had rain some days, Nell didn't care, she loves the beach.

Since home I have done some one handed weeding, quite difficult as I always feel I will over balance. but the garden is beginning to look really nice again.

On the landing windowsill my orchids have continued to flower...

 

 

 

And this is our first lettuce from the garden, a Webbs Wonder which hearted up and was crunchy and delish. We ate it tonight with cold chicken, and English toms, grated carrot, cucumber finely sliced, sweet corn and crushed new potato, very nice.

We left our tomatoes in the green house when we went away with upside down lemonade bottles, with a needle hole in each neck, filled them with water and they were fine, so we won't mind leaving them again.

I haven't sewn my quilt,  but have knitted a pr of socks and have one done of a second pair. I suddenly had this urge to finish my knitting WIPs

My arm is more or less the same, still useless, so depressing. I have blood tests tomorrow checking on my vit.D and B12 levels. I have taken the 4 week dose of vit D3. so hope that shows improvement. It is now 14 1/2 months since I broke my right arm!!

 

So  now we're out of the EU but life goes on; I am walking every day and have a new pretty walking stick as my third leg,  as I kept feeling I would fall again,  so this has given me confidence and I can fairly fly along with it.  My new pedometer records my steps, aerobic steps, miles and calories.. the most I did in one day was 1.4 miles but had a few rests through the walk. And although I managed to lose a pound in weight when we were away, I put on 2 1/2 the week we came back!  

It's been lovely to read all your blogs, sorry I haven't commented but I have admired the work you all do and love all the .... we're trying to save and be frugal blogs.. it makes me feel we're blasé about shopping, we buy what we like regardless of cost most  weeks.

Stay happy.

 

XX

 

My Real Children ( Book review)

‘My Real Children’ by Jo Walton

If I had looked fully at the description of this book as being Sc-fi Fantasy I wouldn’t have picked it up at the library. I just looked at the author bit and read she was from Wales, but now living in Canada born 1964, the same year as my daughter, who is also called Jo, although I always call her Joanne and she too was born in Wales. I have silly reasons why I chose certain books. But omgosh I really liked this book. Even before the story started to unfold, I knew it was a book I would enjoy, because it was written well, no silly long facile descriptions of what people were wearing, which I hate and is often found in some books which I close unread after the first few pages.

It opens with the old Patricia very confused,  in a nursing home remembering her life but which life pathway was real? Patricia, Patty, Patsy, Pat or Tricia, Trish, all the same woman. But two different lives, all decided by an answer to a question, one answer ‘yes’, the other ‘never. That really is the crux of this story; how one decision, one answer, can shape a whole lifetime, and the lives of those who come next. How generations of one family can be formed because of what one single person decided to do. The two stories then run concurrently, a chapter at a time.

Who is Patricia? Is she Trish, or is she Pat? Was she married with a family, a supply teacher and homemaker, or was she a bohemian travel writer, fighting for her rights and determined to live her life as she wants to? Both of these women have a wonderfully intricate story to tell and Jo Walton has so cleverly created two hugely different lives. I loved both Pat, lesbian with partner Bee and Tricia down trodden wife of a sod of a husband. It is cleverly interweaved with the history of the fifties through to present time, but also fiction, which are absolutely fascinating. For example, we read of Pat struggling to get a mortgage in the 1950’s as a single woman; of her liberation from her husband, Mark and childbirth with the introduction of the contraceptive pill in 1961 but also of ‘Prince Charles and Princess Camilla’ and of couples getting married on the moon.
In one narrative we are in a world where John F. Kennedy was killed by a bomb in 1963, and in the other, transported to a world where Kennedy chose not to run in 1964 after an escalated Cuban Missile Crisis led to the nuclear obliteration of Miami and Kiev. In one, by 1985, AIDS and leukaemia could be cured. In the other, Pat loses a son to AIDS and because of the fallout from the nuclear bombs people die of cancers. For me, this is a story that is unique and original and beautiful. It's intriguing and it's confusing, yet it is filled with emotion and passion and characters who are forward-thinking and beyond the norm, yet are realistically portrayed.

A book well worth reading, perhaps more than once, in case some little details are missed. I think Jo Walton must know Italy well as her descriptions are completely delicious and along with Pat and Bee, I absolutely revelled in the art, the architecture, the scenery and the food. I am so glad I chanced upon this book.  I found this a completely fascinating, rich and enthralling read. I think I might look at other books by Jo Walton.

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Not good news..

Last week I couldn't sleep one night, there was something wrong with my arm. Dh helped me sit up with pillows propping me up so that my arm was resting on two pillows. It felt as though something had moved in my arm and it was pressing just by my under arm. I could feel something hard and so could Dh. When I phoned the hospital I was given an appointment to see the Consultant that afternoon. The x-rays showed the 'ironmongery' in my arm had not moved, it wasn't that causing the pain, but my shoulder has dislocated! The surgeon explained that my muscles in my arm have gone to 'sleep' and can't hold the joint in place. What else can go wrong? I am in despair and wonder will I ever be well again, I have been very weepy again.  Once again I have to wait, there is no treatment, just to wait again.. grrrrrr!!
But to cheer myself up I popped in to see my sewing group and chatting to them on Saturday morning, did me the world of good, so I am going to go back and join them in a couple of weeks time. One of my wips is a BOM I paid a lot for and I could quietly sew that with the help of paracetamol!!! Thank for all your comments and prayers.. and thank you too to my church which is praying for my recovery.
This is the BOM called 'Down in the Garden.'

There are 9 blocks and I had completed two, so quite a lot to keep me busy!

XX

 

 

Was it good news?

Well kinda good news about my arm, I'm not sure, was it good? Although the surgeon greeted me with..'it's good news.' None of the ironmongery in my arm has moved. It is the same on the x-ray as it was on my post op visit. The surgeon was very pleased with it, but I did say I wanted a second opinion if there was to be any further surgery. He agreed although he thought it best to wait and see how it is in 6 weeks time. No physio,  no lifting or moving my arm outwards away from my body yet, just gentle movements with it hanging down. I couldn't argue with that as it still gives me pain if I try to lift it, so just to carry on as I have been doing. At least I can knit and I did clean and tidy in the lounge on Monday although not the vac. It just takes me a long time one handed. We weren't as long at the hospital, as we have been in the past, but we had prepared a casserole ( no DH  had and cooked it in the morning!)  and so we came home to our tasty chicken chasseur... it was lovely! So roll on end of June,  by that time it will be 14 months since I broke my arm!!

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Dreading today.

 This bulb cost me £5 a few years ago. The first year I wondered why I had bought it as it only had one flower stem so looked pretty pathetic.. but this year it has five!!

It's name is Camassia alba, the more popular are blue.  

A close up showing the individual flowers open; I think it's a shame that the lower flowers die off as the top buds open, so there are only a few open at one time. So did I get my moneys worth, maybe?

I am writing my blog to take my mind off my appointment with the surgeon this afternoon. I have gone through various scenarios in my mind as to what he'll say and I am determined that whatever he says, I will ask for a second opinion.

At the moment my arm is kinda ok. It only hurts a little if I move it in a certain way, but I haven't got that awful pain that I had after that second operation.  

I've had a hiccup with #2 GS's socks I had forgotten how to do the Kitchener stitch at the toe, so had to watch a 'u-toob.' Whatever, knitting has made me feel more normal.

In the greenhouse, I have managed to pot on several seedlings and I have paid a 'gardener' to clear my main large flower border of the weeds and grass. I should say gardener loosely, as although he advertised himself as a gardener, he didn't even know the name of oxalis , that little pink flower that spreads everywhere!  And he needed close watching, even so annoyingly my white phlox disappeared. DH, being the love he is, did go through the wheel barrow of weeds to see if he could find it, but it wasn't there!

Ah well, the main flower bed is looking a lot better.

 

I am dreading this afternoon's appointment, but whatever happens I will have to go through it, if I am to get my life back and an arm that works! Thank you to those of you who left such encouraging comments.  

That pesky..Oxalis

 

XX

 

 

I want my life back!!

I want  my normal life back, I want to garden, cook, and even do housework. I can dust but that's about it. When I try to use the vacuum, I can't guide it properly and I hate it bumping into the legs of our furniture.  Although I clean the bathroom I haven't got enough strength in my left hand to clean the shower screen properly. I have an appointment with the surgeon next week, I am dreading what he will say, in the meantime ......my 'lefty' life goes on and on. I have tried knitting again, I can just about manage, so I decided to knit socks for my youngest GS who starts his GCSEs next Monday. I thought they would be nice for him to put on when he got in from school and kicks off his shoes. I always tuck 'note' in each sock, so he could buy some chocs or what ever.. he'll need the sugar to help him study.

DH is still looking after me but I oh so want to do things myself.

 

We are presently having our kitchen tarted up, new cupboard doors, new work surfaces and a new sink unit. It is looking very nice and nearly finished.. we are camping out in the lounge, the dining room is full of all the kitchen stuff, I had no idea we had so much stuff. It is piled on the table, sideboard, and on the  floor and even on the piano! (will I ever play again?)

It will be fantastic when it is finished I will post some pics as soon as the last bit is finished. I have been feeling a bit sorry for myself lately and weepy. It's now 1 year and 4 weeks since I broke my arm!

XX

 

 

A Week Away

We have had a week away in Southwold.. we had all four seasons in one day nearly every day. Rain, hail SNOW and sunshine!! Our cottage was very high spec and catered for our every need. Very comfortable and full central heating,  which with weather we really needed. And when the weather was horrid, we sat in and drank very good coffee, ate cherry almond tray bake and read, it was perfect. And when the sun shone, I walked.
I walked every day, yes me! I even walked 1.2 miles on Thursday, the most I have done for a very long time.
I coped with my arm ok,  as I do have it in a support as well as the sling but the ache goes on and on.. but we did enjoy ourselves and ate well. I am dreading weighing in the morning, but what ever I am back on the food plan and if I can commit myself to walking every day,  I can keep to this food plan..We needed the break and Southwold is such a lovely little town The beach huts sell for between £75,000 to £120,000, would you believe that?  They are very pretty but all that money for a hut???
Hope the weather warms up soon, my seedlings grew while we were away so I shall be potting some on this weekend and I have a gardener booked next week, I shall have a tidy garden again.. yeh!

xx

DEVASTATED

Yesterday was my post op. appointment with the surgeon. He did not have good news. This second op has not succeeded in keeping my bone together. The crisscross wires have held and the bolt through my bone, but the small plate at the shoulder end of my bone has come away and the' pins' supposingly holding it in place look on the x-ray as though they are coming out. I did say right away to him,  that I am not having anything else done for the moment as after this second op. the pain has been unbearable. So he agreed and I have a further appointment to see him in 5 weeks time but I am going to ask for a second opinion as to what can be done... he is a very nice person and a technically good surgeon, with a very good reputation,  but I can only take so much. I am upset as you can imagine, the thought of living the rest of my life like this is daunting.. I have had a bad night waking and crying, we were drinking tea at 3:30am again!
Lots of prayers needed please!

XX

Crafty bits

I did this before my first op.  March 10th Lots more squares which are lovely to knit as they don't take long and easy to do.

 

 And this little cross stitch is finished as far as I'm concerned. There is a little bit more that is in the design at the top, but I am happy with it as it is. 

I will make it into something when I can sew again.

Update on my arm, I still  have pain and of course I can't use it, but I feel better in myself. I am showered and dressed each day now and that makes me feel better. I have a hospital check up on Wednesday, so hopefully all will be well and the x-rays will show my bone has held together.

Thank you for all the messages, they are wonderful to read. 

XX

All over bar the pain!

Thank you for all your kind thoughts and prayers it has been lovely to come home and read them all.   So I am home and all done, but a lot of pain. I came home yesterday, in a hospital gown with my skirt and jacket over it, as the dressing is too big to put my arm into my blouse sleeve. This time I have a rod through the bone, wires crisscrossed from the top to the bottom and part plated, so that should hold it. I have strict instructions  about not moving my arm up or away from my body so I guess I will be in a hospital gown for a few days, anyway it is too painful to move.  DH  will help me to shower with just the hose part of the shower to keep the dressing dry.  My arm will be shorter but I can still reach my mouth to eat so what the heck???
We stopped off at one of the many Costas and brought home a coffee and of course a raspberry almond slice and we sat in the garden drinking it. So that made me feel I am really home.
My mother's cousin has just phoned from Porthcawl, my home town where I was born,  to arrange for us, my cousin from Shropshire and herself all to meet when we are down there. This is the first year ever that I didn't go to Wales on the weekend of Psalm Sunday to put flowers on my mother's  grave, we are to go in June.. perhaps I should have booked longer than a week as my cousin on my father's side of the family wants to meet up and my friend from school, that I have known since we sat together in school age 8!
I am very tired altho' I have slept an awful lot in hospital but I think that was the morphine.. and the best bit about my stay??? I was able to walk to the toilet Friday night about 10:30 and wee-ed...bliss!! Only a woman could understand that!
  Thank you again my on line friends, it's lovely to have you all xxxx

xx