Well! Here we are at December I can't get over how different our back garden looks now with all the trees gine behind it, everything is so grey just now it's 7.e0 here and the sun is beginning to think about coming out neighbours scraping car windscreens it's a but frosty out there.
I'm in a quandary about what to take for next year's spot, it's got to be in the garden for many reasons mainly I cant get out of the house yet!
But also me and school have made a bug decision we Will move from this house in 3 years, thatsbwhen we pay off the mortgage, we can then look at moving to a bungalow, this house is not accessible we need to be on one level, i hope by then I am way more mobile but even then this house is too big to upkeep
It will be a wrench but good in the long run
I want to document the back garden through the seasons for the next 3 years but what to pick? Let's see 😊
This was a present from a chum at QMU, We were part of a step count challenge team, for both of us now facing significant health challenges "keep on stepping" has quite a different meaning
My swimming group the selkies are still sending a card a week, God I love those ladies
We are getting rid of some chairs to a local charity shop which picks up. I suggested we give them my gym equipment too, even before long covid I couldn't use my body pump set because of the lipidema, so I'm getting rid of all weights, bench and step, I have resistance bands and they will probably be my main thing apart from walking when I get to that stage, which will be quite a while.
At first I felt sad as if I was giving up a part of myself but then I remembered that I have often had to pivot like this, lost Bud so had to get a bike, Rheumatoid arthritis so had to give up jogging, lipidema means no weight bearing exercises and now this?
Well I'll cope, when I'm able I'll see what I can do, this doesn't define me.
Thats them all picked up, they took a rocking chair which was one of the few things I had left from my first marriage, bittersweet but also cathartic, I don't miss my first marriage the slightest but it played a huge part in making me who I am, so I'm grateful to it for that
Scoobs loves messing about with Grey Donkey 🤣 I love them both scoobs will do anything to help me smile
Awww I miss the selkies so much, love them, I think the card sending might have stopped now but that's OK, they cheer me on in other ways
More fantastic cards from Jacky! She is truly the queen of card sending!
I tried these again, I'm low carb and low sugar and no gluten! It's difficult but these keto bakewell slices are ok and jeez it's nice to find something different. Grey Donkey agrees
Grey donkey gets another tuck in from the cleaners 🤣
Current quilt feels appropriate...
Well this just made my day, lovely Angel. She is the dog of a colleague I used to work with, he sent me a lovely message when he heard I wasn't well, during lockdown he would always make sure angel was in sight when we had a call, he knows I love dogs
Paint chips and plaster dust!!! Made me smile 😊
A chum was redecorating and saud this is what her weekend consisted of, I said "sounds rock n roll to me!" So she sent me some!!!! Love it!
The selkies chilly challenge! I'm now up to 3mins 4 seconds in the cold water
Keeps me connected and gives me some purpose
This popped up on my Facebook feed .... 12 years ago, curly hair due to chemotherapy this was it growing back probably 8 months after I'd finished it. It serves to remind me that you can survive and go forward and God along knows this is beyond grim just now but I've never been defeated before and I'm not intending too be defeated now
So! I'm almost caught up 😊 November was a bumper month, my last 3 Jeffrey Deaver short stories, Ninth and nowhere got 4 stars, deservedly, i do love a plot with intertwined stories. The victims club also got 4 stars although I think I was being generous it felt a bit "dashed off" if you know what I mean? Surprise ending only got 3 stars this was such a mixed story some great bits then some "is the same person actually writing this" bits?
Next up was Troy which I listened to on Audible with Stephen Fry narrating, just sublime
Next up The Waiter by Ajay Chowdhury, I loved this, only 4 stars I think it could have been a bit tighter? But it was a close call but I will read more in the series. The deception of Harriet Fleet wonderful I loved this, don't know why I didn't give it 5 stars? So well written, true gothic novel, characters I cared about a great sense of place and time, I think I knocked a star off because I felt the ending slightly implausible but overall a great read. Leave the lights on, I'll be honest I skimmed this boo, and I really hated it ... the whole smart house premise left me cold, the heroine I was annoyed with I just wanted her to grow a backbone and say no to all the smart house tech and the plot became more convoluted, I genuinely don't know why I didnt DNF it. Dragon ripper hmm not awful but not brilliant either, I liked the main female protagonist but not the other it was just OK?
Well! Not much to report for November, yet again another month of buying rather than doing, but that's ok! We will be patient
This is the subscription box from Innocent bones, I actually forgot to cancel my subscription but that's OK I like the box. This is the gift box which has extras like the notepad and the incense and healing stones, all very lovely but again some of it I can't use like the incense but I'll gift that forward
I've also been buying lots of cross stitch patterns a lot of Christmas ones, I'm hoping I'll be fit to do some for Christmas 2025, here's hoping!
So here is November and blimey the back fence feels even more naked now! Scotrail have been cutting back even more behind us, I'm torn I loved our trees but we are getting back the lovely view we had when we moved years ago
I was going to pick another garden view for this next year but this is SO different I might stick with it and see how it compares
So! October, well October was a strange month I had a major crash and wasn't able to read for a while, so I started reading Jeffery Deaver short stories on prime to ease back in, really enjoyed them perfect way to get back into it, so I read JD Robb - Naked in death whuch was very entertaining i would read some more in this series but wouldnt rush too if you know what i mean, satisfying but not amazing.
By Jeffrey Deaver i read - Cause of death really enjoyed this one it keptme engaged, Turning point yes another good one, Scheme ah yes really enjoyed this one, very twisty, The debriefing good and engaing but no my favourite of the lot, and Verona yes this was fine and entertaining but not my favourite still a cracker though
Well October got off to a mixed start but that's OK, this is a tricky disease and it will take a lot of patience
I think I got a bit cocky and overdid it slightly over 2 days. But that's the way of this thing it's so hard to see the small over exertions but they all add up
I'm hopefully pulling it back now, lessons learned!
And it's not just the physical I can see the physical but when the mental overload comes thas harder and the mental overload can be both good and bad overload. Hey ho!
I did get out into the garden with Grey donkey, I've been using my post dook oodie now that the weather is much colder, we look very matchy matchy 🤣🤣
I took this at night I just can't capture how lovely our neighbours tree is just now
More gratitude 🥰 above are postcards from lovely chum a whole series!! I'm so grateful to have such good chums
Above is this week's card from a selkie chum, I'm still blown away by this I'm sure they have a rota to send a card a week to me , how amazing is that???
Grey Donkey loved his trip to the garden 💕💕 the roses are still looking great
The trees are looking so much more bare now, i like it because it means I can see the birds in the trees now
Also the twig in the neighbours guttering has returned ! I missed the twig 😊 I think it must have been blown to he other side
I'm managing to spend quite a bit of time on the balcony now, that's actually quite a big small win. I hope in the coming weeks I will manage down to the living room more but I think I need to consolidate being in the middle floor first
At the beginning of August I really wanted to get out on the balcony but it was just not possible, yesterday I was out three times, that's progress
Quite gorgeous today after a misty start
Grey donkey travels in style!! My oodie pouch is perfect for him 😊
Meter square looking fab!
Another personal best!!! Putting on compression stocking, not much difference in impact
But MASSIVE difference in intensity just huge, so very pleased with that! I took my time, lay down on bed to do it, brilliant
Well no I didn't manage to pull it back 🤦♀️🤦♀️ full blown PEM 🤦♀️ hey ho, bedrest until fully over it this time, must take warnings more seriously, Grey Donkey kind of sums it up
Ah well .... it wasn't all long covid 🤦♀️ full blown UTI... In bed for 12 days and counting... but antibiotics kicking in meantime so thank feck for that!!!
Meanwhile network rail have slashed our vegetation 😱 view looks very different now
Last weeks card from the selkies 🥰
Progress shots of vegetation pull down
Scoobs has been very diligently checking in on donkeys 😊
This is the new view from sewing room after all trees cut down I think its high enough that it doesn't make much difference
I got loads more cards today this week's selkie one ❤️ plus from Ruth and Sheena, I'm so so lucky
Jeez two awful days 🤦♀️🤦♀️ almost hostile phone call from doctors heart rate all over the place 🤦♀️ then ibs sets in. I'm wondering if I'll ever get out of this hole?
Yes I will of course I will but lordy it's hard just now
But to brighten my day the cleaners came, I think she likes Grey Donkey too 🥰🥰
So nearly at the end of October most of it spent in bed .... but lessons learned, listen more to body and less to visible, I love visible but it's only a tool I got a bit obsessed with it, now learning to let it go a bit more and listen to body more
That really needs to be my mantra, listen to the body and use visible as a guide a tool but nothing more, it won't cure me but listening and honouring my body will 😊
