Good morning Mick and all GN's from a very dark but dry and not as cold as yesterday morning in North Yorkshire. Can see the moon shining brightly through the tree, very still no signs of moving from the branches. As it says, this will be the calm before the storm, which I hope doesnt arrive before lunch time, as it is our "christmas" lunch today, so it would be nice to enjoy that and not be blown away before I get home. However I shall not be attempting to go on the buggy, commonsense says use the car today.
Had quite a struggle and was rather fed up yesterday as I didnt really improve physically all day, so annoyingly wasnt able to do as much as I wanted to. Very frustrating to say the least. However my chicken casserole was ok, have made tastier ones in the past, but edible and then was able to go to the whist . Not a bad drive and had gone a bit early as I knew that I would need to park as near the doorway as I could manage. So manage to hobble in, but had to ask to stay at one table, rather than move round.
They have one gentleman in his 90's , not able to move about well, but as they say , all there with his cough drops, when it comes to the cards. His daughter brings him and also plays, and I am sure both the game and the company of people who have known him for so many years keeps him going. ~We have another lady in her 90-s , who is no mean slouch either, and has lived in this area all her life and knows many of the players in their 70's from childhood. Very alert and is the person people ask when they cant remember someones name or who lived at number 6 etc and she is always ready with the answers.
So I try to move about , but on days like yesterday I would be so slow to move I would also hold the game up while I got up and down and moved tables. So it was good to be there but had rubbish hands for much of the night and was nowhere near any of the prizes. Was very pleased I went though and enjoyed the game and catching up with news and views from everyone.
It was a bit of a struggle getting back indoors and I had to leave any tidying up and just go to bed, so consequently now have had to struggle to get the washer going, and it is doing a bit and sitting down and so on to get things going this morning. Rather annoying how slowly I am doing things, as I wanted to get things cleared up and sorted before going off to the meeting, but at the rate I am moving , will be lucky to arrive at the meeting dressed and organised.
I have sent a message to Jessie who is due to come today to hope that they can come a bit later than usual, as I shall be out at the lunch etc and might not be back at their usual time. They know what to get on with, but I havent seen them since before christmas and there are a variety of things that I would like them to do today, particulary reaching down into my store cupboard and bring stuff up to the higher shelf so that I can reach it all! Well whatever gets done it will all be an improvement on the current situation.
We are expecting the storm to hit here in the afternoon, and the snow that we have had has been made worse by icing up in many places too. Around here villages can be coping with very different road conditions, as you get little pockets of higher snow drifts or icy corners. The way the wind swirls round affects the conditions a lot, so everyone has to be very aware, and I think many of us that travel by car at this time of year do as I do, and have a spade and some grit and a hessian sack in the boot to use if we get stuck anywhere. I just wish that people who either have no idea of how conditions can change quickly, or dont think about the way to drive in such conditions, would not keep passing and filling up the space, that I have deliberately left between me and the next car.The idea is that if there is any black ice or whatever I will be able to deal with the situation and not risk crashing into the car in front. Perhaps these days the driving test does not address such issues, or maybe people do not use their commonsense!
Well so long as I can keep out of trouble and get to the lunch and back home safely that will be all the driving I plan to do today.
Hope you have a dry trip Mick and meet some friends. GrandMattie You did very well with your Fab cafe. I am not surprised and bet your fame for making delicious cakes is passed on to any newcomers to classes . I would love to have a Tai Chi class followed by the cafe here. a blessing to have some heat too so things looking up. Pantglas glad you had a good time and back safely before the bad weather arrives. Mum2three, hope you have a good find today. I belong to a womens group and I set up the idea that on the first meeting in the new year we bring in unwanted or doubled presents and either we make up a little batch of make up or food things such as special jars of ginger or posh biscuits . Then we have a little raffle. The winner has a nice little selection to enjoy and it gives a little to our own funds for future plans, so everyone is happy as they would not have used the items, to let the money go to the group. ( If people have had a lot of useless presents we might have a trip out with the fuel paid for, on a better year only enough to buy a cake or something for a morning. Karmalady hope that you can enjoy a quieter day today and a bit of a rest after all your exertions yesterday. Gillymo my brother in law was the curator at Kenwood house on hamstead heath in 1987, and they lived in the flat at the top of the building. There were so many trees down and all roads out were blocked. Terrible loss of much loved old trees, but they had to wait a few days for the fire brigade and chainsaws to even get one route out of the grounds. Lets hope that todays storm is nowhere near as destructive. Actually from the beginning of all that damage, we all were sad at the loss of trees and plants and even walls etc., but it is of course natures way, So much later we then saw a different way to plant up the garden, or the loss of a tree meant more sunshine to part of the garden that was usually in shade, and we had a different and new area of garden to plant up, which got us thinking and changing stuff around.
Ah well I am sending hopes and wishes for improvements to everyone struggling with their health in any way, and that everyone gets through the storm today safe and sound. Keep warm and enjoy looking out at the bad weather not being in it.
