Ben pulled out all the stops and made Christmas lunch single handed, save the pigs in blankets and gravy courtesy of Dave’s mum. He also did all the washing up, drying and putting away, following the Amish maxim - a meal is not complete til the kitchen is neat. For my part I actually managed to sit at a table and eat a meal ð
Pip celebrated her 14th birthday today. Normally we would have an 8:30 am mum and Pip photo by the dining table (where she was born ð) but not today - I was still in bed at that time! Pip opened her present from us with Dad in attendance and she then set about decorating the tree. Dave made her birthday cake - there’s always a first time and it was thoroughly delicious. I spent the day horizontal on the sofa, not only does my heart rate go whacky if I try to move at my normal speed but I’m having to use a walking aid in the home due to balance issues and numbness in my feet and weakness in my legs. Thankfully Nanna H is here for Christmas and Pip’s friend Beth spent the day with us so all good ❤️
Dave, Ben and Pip have recovered, I however have been left with post covid, tachycardia, dizziness and loss of balance. My resting heart rate pre covid was 67-69bpm and now it’s 95-99 whilst lying down first thing. As soon as I attempt to sit up it tips my heart into a cardio workout zone 120-130bpm. It looks like I’m presenting a PoTS picture and we know all about that living with Pip! GP ran an ECG this morning which was a normal rhythm but not a normal rate and I’ve also had some bloods done - she will telephone tomorrow and I’m hoping she’ll prescribe some meds to calm everything down. Ben has been a real trooper running the house - making meals, laundry, pot washing and vacuuming. Pip has been doing her bit too remembering her meds and laundry. I’m hoping we will get the tree up today ð
Both Ben and Pip are on penicillin for suspected strep throat. The GP that saw Pip ran a throat swab but it was late Thursday evening so no results as of yet.
Pip and I started to feel unwell at the same time, sore throat, swollen glands, coughing and fever. I began to suspect something might be up when I had two days of crazy tachycardia my resting heart rate was 115-120 and when I tried to get up to the bathroom it shot up to over 140 bpm. Apparently I did two lots of 60 minute work outs during the course of those two days ðĪŠ. Last night I ran a Covid test and within a minute the second line appeared as did Pip’s test. It looks like Ben has been the carrier since he goes to college. Her and I are camping out in the lounge and I’m so grateful for herbalist supplies from our herbalist and the vaccine.
So far Dave is COVID free, praying he stays that way ð
Goodness me where has this year gone?! As per tradition in this household, it is a mad scramble on the first Sunday of Advent to hoik the advent box from under the eaves, and scurry around finding the wreath candles bought earlier in the year! Before I share yesterday's photos here is a quick catch up from the previous few weeks:
Ottilie is 16 weeks old. Poor gal is teething at the moment and is just recovering from a cold.
Milton our adopted cat from next door often pops by to say "Hello."
Whilst Pip was at her monthly young carers session in Fleetwood (a 45 minute drive from here) Dave and I spent a lovely two hours in the library and this stack came home with me. The two gardening books will help enormously with my permaculture design course. This month we are working on maps and overlays, which is fascinating and challenging in equal measure ðĪŠ
Dave had his last session in the MSTAT research trial at Preston Hospital. His baseline score from the initial visit hasn't changed in those three years despite a fractured spine and four months of rehab, which is pretty astounding.
His appointment ran over into the lunch time so we were treated to a lovely lunch - thank goodness I carry emergency back up meds for Pip!!
And now for yesterday's activities:
Turmeric, ginger and cinnamon latte.
The last few weeks of constantly having to 'do' has really caught up with me and not only are my glands swollen but I had another weird heart episode in the middle of the night. I think I need to mention it to a doctor as it is the third time it has happened.
Happy Monday to you dear friends x
It's been a bit more whacky than usual around here and this is one of the reasons why:
The contents of our dining room are now in our bedroom which in turn resembles Steptoe's junk yard!!
In other news, I completed my 'Think like a tree' permaculture based work based design and as a result I'm now studying for a Permaculture Design Certificate with the hopes of a Diploma further down the line. Thankfully the course is all online via zoom (one of the benefits of the pandemic) and I've just submitted my first assignment for module one, all centred around land based observations. If you want to read it (but no pressure if you don't) it's over here: https://spiralpermaculture.blogspot.com/2022/11/the-lie-of-land.html
Tracking back to my last post, the day after we arrived home I then travelled to Barrow so that I could take mum for her surgery in Lancaster. It was lovely to spend time with her so that she wasn't on our own the night before her surgery. It was a very early start on the Thursday morning as she had to be in Lancaster for 7am, which meant being up at 4am and leaving the house just after 5!
Ben has been busy with some extra joinery work which involved re-hanging and re-sizing one gate and completely rebuilding the frames of another and re-siting at the opposite end of an alleyway. As a result this work was also the catalyst to another job (building an animal shelter including timber framed and boarded flooring) with the same clients:
Sara, Tom and Ollie had a night away in York to see the Railway Museum and some nearby gardens:
When I get a moment I'll be popping over to catch up with you all, I do hope you are doing as well as possible x
As promised way back in the summer, we made our return trip to the North East yesterday for a one night stop over and a trip to Vindolanda. There was loads to look at in the museum and we didn't even get chance to see the ruins outside, so I guess there'll be another return trip at some point! We also stayed at the Youth Hostel known as The Sill and the accommodation including facilities for self catering as well as onsite food was first class.
Here are some photos of our whistle stop tour:
Many, many years ago we used to have Saturday Chore Day and reading Eva's recent posts reminded me of that fact. I'm very lucky as we have funding for a cleaner due to the combined health issues in the family. Sammie visits once a week to clean the house from top to bottom and then the kids and I catch up with interim vacuuming, sweeping and turning out a room on a rolling programme basis.
On Saturday the bathrooms were cleaned and Pip in particular enjoyed mopping the floors! The kids vacuumed their bedrooms whilst I sorted the lounge and we all pitched in with hanging out various loads of laundry as it was perfect drying weather. It was really lovely to work together as a team and to have the satisfaction of all the things ticked off the to-do list ð
Sadly we missed attending mass in person on Sunday as the car braking system is not working properly. The foot brake works fine, it's the electronic automatic parking brake system that has failed and so we are home based until Thursday when it goes into the garage. We made the best of things and the kids helped out painting the side fence whilst I made a cooked lunch. Our friends Beatrice and David visited for a belated birthday celebration for Dave and we enjoyed Camembert cheese with gluten free crackers followed by home made fruit scones.
I've also been busy in my workroom finishing off some bunting and making a new batch which is Autumn themed. Our lovely neighbours Paul and Anne run a hedgehog hospital and Pip helps out when needed. I saw the hedgehog fabric in Aldi a few weeks ago and new instantly what to do with it ð.
I just love those colours they definitely shout 'Autumn!'
I hope life is treating you kindly. Over here in the UK the financial markets are a mess and the big energy firms are now actually warning of potential blackouts due to limited gas supplies. I was blown away when I saw the price for a bottle of olive oil; what had previously been retailed at £3.50 was now over £5.00 ðŊ. Due to recent drought conditions in Spain nearly half the olive crops had failed to survive. The cost of living crisis is very worrying so for the last few weeks we've been buying extra tins, packet items with a long shelf life and cleaning products. I managed to find some bags of gluten free pasta from Sainsburys that was a very cheap price so I bought several packets.
We are going to try and stave off putting on the central heating so we've made sure that we have plenty of extra quilts/ blankets, hot water bottles, extra layers of clothing and in early November a wood burning stove will be fitted ð. We had a burner in the last house and it has been sorely missed but the energy crisis and potential blackouts has forced us to act. All of our cooking facilities run off electric but we have a two ring camping stove in the shed that runs of Calor gas, so that is on standby. I've also bought extra candles and Dave sourced some really good camp lanterns that run off a battery but can also be charged using a USB connector, should we have designated times of power. I know it all sounds a bit Armageddon but I'd rather be prepared than have to deal with panic overload when it all goes horribly wrong - remember the loo roll riots of 2020? ðĪŠ
Pip reminds me so much of Sara, never one to shy away from trying new things. After much back and forth looking at new hairstyles and negotiating with me, we finally agreed on a new hairstyle:
On Tuesday Dave celebrated another year around the sun. I decided to follow Eva's take on birthday celebrations and the birthday boy chose what he wanted for tea ð. We had sausage and mushroom casserole with veg and jacket potatoes, followed by cake and custard for pudding. No-one knew that the cake also contained leftover sweet potato in the mix! If apple sauce can be added to a cake to add moisture, then why not sweet potato.
Pip had fun choosing a birthday present for Dave. She chose a jar of Cumbrian jam and a spectacle repair kit, from the Levens Hall Gift Shop on Saturday. Both of us chuckled when we saw the spectacle repair kit, as Dave is forever damaging his glasses, either the frame comes apart, he loses a lens or the nose pads fall off, so this miniature kit will come in very handy ð. Being the mischievous person that she is she set up the birthday ring:
Yesterday after taking Ben for his haircut we drove out into the countryside for him to work for a new client. I took advantage of the down time and wrote the following reflective piece.
Right where I am sitting: In a car overlooking a field
The clouds hang low in the blue sky like fluffy cotton wool pillows. In amongst the blue and white are patches of grey moving slowly across my field of vision.
The quietness and tranquility is interrupted by the fizzing and hissing of a hedge trimmer nearby. Ben is working in this place and I am the guardian of his diabetes management and general well being. This is his first time here and anxiety levels are running high. It takes courage as a youngster to strike out on your own and plough your own furrow. For years we have known that Ben marches to the beat of a different drum and that is not without uncertainty for what the future may hold.
In truth do we really know what the future may bring? None of us are guaranteed tomorrow and all we can do is our best in the present moment. The present moment is a gift, a chance to explore what is around us using all of our senses. When I do this it anchors me to the 'hear and now' and dampens down the anxious chatter in my head.
I can smell the torn and shredded leaves as they lay scattered on the gravel drive. I can see hedgerows full of greenery studded with jewel like berries, a harvest for the birds and other local wildlife from the fields. When the trimmer is quiet a tiny bird is twittering in the trees, their chatter resonates back and forth like a Morse Code signal, from tree to tree and bird to bird.
My thoughts wander to the folk who own this land - two Land Rover Discovery vehicles in the car port, an orchard, acres of greenery and a paddock housing two donkeys, a horse and several geese. The place has the name Hall at the end but it doesn't resemble a stately home, maybe it was part of a previous estate? Or maybe its name is a play on words since it has a humorous ring to it.
The chap is out watching Ben as he works, both trying to get the measure of each other. Him dealing with the fact that age is against him and the land is too big to manage on his own. Ben gauging what is required and acting appropriately. He detests being watched, it puts him on edge and the blood sugar numbers start to crash as a result of the stress.
A chocolate flapjack slice and some breathing space, interspersed with companionable chatter from behind the hedge. Sounds like they have both worked out how the other one ticks and so the trimming continues. There is a promise of a mug of tea at half time ❤️
On Monday we watched the funeral of our late Queen Elizabeth and afterwards I packed my bags and travelled North to spend a few days with my mum. The reason for my visit was to take her to a hospital appointment in Lancaster (our old home city), so I spent a lot of time up and down the motorway but it was well worth it. In between the hospital visit I also enjoyed some time with Ottilie and Kath, goodness me that baby girl is getting big ❤️
Whilst I was away Ben started back at college. He attends two evenings a week from 6-9pm and in between is working for a few folk clearing gardens and undertaking general handyman/ landscape tasks.
