Another late Good morning Mick and all GN's up and about on this bright still sunday morning. Annoyingly I seem to be getting into this new pattern, where I have very little sleep and quite a bit of pain and then end up falling fast asleep about 5ish, which then means that I dont wake until something past 7, having missed my Bach and have a headache and feel somewhat zombielike, having to actually think what I am doing, rather than that automatic way we normally get up to our routine. So 8am now and only just up and dressed and ready to face the day. Ah well at least it looks dry outside.
I am planning nothing, other than watching the Cenotaph rememberance . There will be the local service here but I really could not walk that far and nor could I stand for long, so it will have to be a quiet day here and watching it on the tv.
My hope is that I am able to at least plod along today, with possibly something of the new ironing mountain sorted, and after much needed coffee and letting the pain killers I had to take today take effect ,I will get the whole mess of papers from yesterday and sort them out carefully this time on the table, and then get stuff put away, and the calendar brought up to date. I dont feel able to walk round even though it is looking lovely and bright outside, but I may put a chair out and wrap up warm in my polar jacket etc and sit and read more of the paper there , to at least get the benefit of some sunshine. We have to make the most of every decent day at the moment.
Yesterday I called in the butchers and got a bit more shin beef to add to the piece I have in the freezer, and this afternoon, if I am up to it, will get a lovely casserole made . Have all the ingredients to hand, and also got a great cauliflower and cabbage fresh from the market too. It wont matter if I am not up to doing it today, can leave it until tomorrow, but I always think that these casseroles are better for cooking and leaving for a day and then eating the next day. Well we shall see. I have a new experiment for todays meal, as my local fish stall had not sold out of their fish pies, and so I bought one to try out. Now I live alone, it is not worth buying a whole lot of different fish to make a pie, too expensive to get the variety I enjoy. I have had Charlie Bingham fish pies from the supermarket and they are extremely good but to me very pricey being over £9 for what they say is for two people, but not a very generous portion to my way of thinking, so tend to only buy one when it is on special offer or the occasional miracle when one is in the reduced box. So trying this out , if it is as good - the fishmonger is very good and has a good reputation , and always busy on the market - then I shall wait for a space available in my little freezer and get one of their pies to have as a reserve at £5.50 a much more reasonable price.
It somehow feels odd to be having fish on a sunday, I suppose it is because in all my school days it would be fish on a friday. As catholics did not eat meat on fridays it was the norm to have fish and chips, which were popular anyway , at school dinners , and then like many others it was sunday roast, the treat meal of the week with beef and yorkshires, or whatever, and often followed on the monday by cold meat and bubble and squeak , or jacket potatoes, as it would be washing day, before the arrival of modern washing machines. Mothers had far too much hard physical work to do sorting that out, to make a fancy meal. A lot different to today but we enjoyed our meals just as much in those days. Cold meat meant lots of pickles and beetroot etc etc., which I really enjoyed.
There was some talk about people hoarding on the news and how finally they are recognising that it is not just a matter of someone clearing stuff away. That does not get to the root of the problem. I agree with some of what was said and how it is often related to bereavement etc. But there is also the practical side too. I can see that right at the moment if someone came into this room, they would decide I was a hoarder, even though all the other rooms are fine. It looks disorganised and messy right now, but that is because physically I am not up to doing the amount of work that needs doing. However most of the things that have to be sorted can only be done by me and no one else. I know that , and there are a lot of private things that I would not want other people to look at, but also when I am having a bad day I just cannot bend down or reach much stuff to sort it out. Bit of a vicious circle, and my problem is that how I am physically definitely affects how much I can get sorted out. But I deliberately leave it visible and out on the table and the side, because if I shove it away into drawers then it is not sorted and just ignored. That actually is far more of a problem than just having a messy looking room. On the plus side, however slowly I do it , there is definitely a sense of satisfaction and also less tension when I have got things put where they belong and appointments put on the calendar. Then I can just look at that and not be worrying that I have missed something important. So I suppose it would depend on when anyone called, as to whether they think I am a hoarder or not. But there are various things around that mean a lot to me and remind me of my lovely husband. If anyone suggested that I throw them away or get rid of them I would most certainly bristle and make it plain that they should not dream of touching them!! Well if the piles diminish and a bit of the ironing mountain is sorted I shall be pleased with the days efforts.
Yesterday when I went down to the town on the yellow peril, I called into the town hall where they had a fair in aid of a dogs charity, and which also provides money for the christmas meal served there for those who are homeless or on their own, so a very good cause. I really was struggling to walk and was grateful that they had a lift to go up to the next floor. Came out and was just grateful to get onto my buggy, in a lot of pain and feeling frustrated that I couldnt do much, when a new friend I have met through the womens group came out.
It was a nice surprise for both of us and we went to have a coffee together at Cafe Nero. She is very pleasant and we seem to have quite a few things we enjoy in common, including gardening, so hopefully we can look forward to more time together. She even laughed at my gardening joke. Her name is Heather, and I said do you answer to Erica too? So that was a very cheering unexpected meeting, and she had her coffee, but then had to go off to meet her son who is about to do some decorating for her, so she went off and I was able to sit and finish my coffee and read a bit of the Yorkshire Post and then home. Stuck the washing out, not in much hope of it drying as it was still very damp out, but it got a bit off and smelt much nicer for being outside. So that was my uneventful but reasonable day.
karmalady, glad you had a successful trip to Wells and thankyou for the photos. I have not mastered how to do photos on here yet and dont want to risk all my post disappearing in a cloud of smoke and having to start again! Ladylof hope that the honey sale went well . Kalu, as we say here "nowt so queer as folk". I would not find a black and white christmas tree at all appealing, but as I put on another post, the garden centre I went to had very large and posh looking trees complete with all baubles and ribbons, matching of course , and selling them as total trees already decorated. Well to me decorations are not just to make a very elegant picture or ready to show in Vogue. A family christmas tree charts your christmas times through the years, with the lovely old toiletroll cracker and little clay bell or bauble made by the children years ago at school, Then the trinkets bought from long ago journeys, and the old nativity characters handed down the family. Decorating our trees were always family get togethers and slight squabbles as to where a particular ornament or light would go, but full of reminicences and of course adding the little square boxes with one chocolate inside, that we have collected over the years and now replace with new sweets each year. Our tree could look over decorated, or lopsided or whatever and definitely no elegant planned blue and white only or whatever, but it is a symbol of our family journey over the years and I would not want it any other way. I still have 3 small wooden carved animals from the nativity, A camel, a sheep and a donkey all bought 50 years ago in damascus and a set of those angel chimes, where you light the candles and that spins them round. I bought mine about 60 years ago in Sweden and they were a brand new thing then and much admired and the following years of course many people bought them here, but again a memory of old journeys and family gatherings from the past. So a tree to be enjoyed and be part of our history, rather than an elegant but rather meaningless "posh" latest fashion colour. Well each to their own. Actually I am also of the old school so there will be no decorations put up before the christmas week. Shant be putting up a great deal as my days of climbing up step ladders to reach the ceiling are gone, but there will be something. I shall also be wearing my christmas variation of everyday clothes as I shall have my green cord trousers and my red fleece on to go shopping, and I always remind myself to SMILE. As things get more hectic and busier I try to remember to thank staff for their help and smile at them, as poor shop workers are tested to their limit, by endless questions and stress from customers trying to find things, combined with things moved to different areas to accommodate christmas stuff .Added to which they have to listen to hideous renditions of endless carols, not beautifully sung by Kings college cambridge , but some poorly sung and endless repeated noise. Poor staff having to try to remember where stuff is now etc. I am glad to be sat in the buggy going round, as I can wait my turn in the queue with no problem, whereas if I was standing I would be looking for things to lean on and shuffling painfully along. I also do my other thing and make sure I have quite a bit of cash on me, as when inevitably card machines crash from overload and people are left with huge trolleys full of stuff they cant pay for , I can sail through the cash only bit. Well no doubt something else that I have not thought about will turn up to delay matters but I will have made an effort.. May today be a peaceful and calm day for everyone and as we remember all those lost in wars, in the past and today, we will also remember our own lost loves and keep them close to our hearts today.
