Beating The Storm

Tomorrow in Britain, the clocks go back for Winter time. The only good thing about that is an extra hour in bed. We've been getting up in the dark for sometime now as two of the granddaughters come for breakfast most mornings and we have to make an early start. However, I don't mind it being dark at that time of the day but I do hate dark evenings.
We have had warnings of a storm that is heading our way with 80 mile an hour winds that could cause structural damage. Something to look forward to!
I am hoping that the roof leak (that has behaved itself through some wet weather quite mysteriously) will not be provoked into making a nuisance of itself again, by the storm.

Sam and Sandy seem to be in the best place, as they have gone to Spain for a belated Honeymoon. It should still be warm weather, over there. They were going to meet up with cousins who were also going to be in Spain at the same time. They had booked their individual holidays quite separately without prior knowledge that they would be in the same place at the same time.
One of life's coincidences, as they live thousands of miles apart and don't really communicate regularly.
It is half term here and the children are with their respective other parent/s.

Tomorrow, my daughter is coming over from the east coast, hopefully dodging the predicted bad weather and will take us back to her home for a few days break later on. This will be the first time that I've been away for a long time so whatever comes our way will be a pleasant change for me.
I will be taking winter woollies and weather proof jackets. Surely that will provoke the sun to come out.

Do you prefer darker mornings or darker evenings? Of course, people living in countries further south won't have such extreme differences as we do here, so you might have to imagine what it must be like.

Arachnophobia?

I went to the rotary clothes line the other day with a wet towel in one hand and clothes pegs in the other.

The next thing I knew ... thwack.... a sticky mess in my face. I'd walked straight into a spider's web.

This is the worst thing about Autumn, the spiders are out en masse, making it impossible to do any gardening without the risk of being wrapped in gossamer. Even worse, the possibility of a huge spider running up your arm or down your neck!

I'm not a full blooded arachnophobe and I know that they help to keep garden pests down and I wouldn't ever kill one intentionally. However, I don't like them.

Last night, I had to catch a huge one that was sitting on top of a mop, armed with just a mug, hoping to release it in the garden. I didn't get a chance as it jumped over the top and hid itself in a dish rack.  I usually put something over the top of the container but didn't have time on this occasion because it was so fast and large. It took me a long time to track it down as it was carefully camouflaged in its surroundings.

I sometimes see one scuttling across the carpet and I have to catch it.

Do others mind these squatters in their home and gardens?

Age Old Therapy

Photo Copyright: Maggie May

One good thing happening at the moment, is that Harry seems to be so much better since he started the drug trial. Fingers and toes crossed about it continuing that way. We are so grateful for the thoughts and prayers of all those who left kind comments. Thank you for this and also for those who went over to my brother Eddybluelights blog and left a kind word there. It really cheered him up.

Since my last post, it has been warm and sunny quite often with the odd wet day in between. I have noticed that our bedroom ceiling seems to be getting marked with water stains that have probably been caused by rain coming through a cracked tile or loose flashing where the bay meets the main roof. This is the kind of thing that causes me to feel stress as it is completely out of my control.  I must get someone in to fix it. At one time Harry or Sam would have gone up to check the roof for anything amiss. However, there is no one in the family that can do this now. The whole roof was renewed not  so long ago, so surely it cannot be too serious? I know that a little water can go a long way.

Ever since going to the Penny Brohn Centre, I have become aware of the havoc that stress can do to the body as well as the mind. Anyone having had cancer can impair their immune system through worry so it's best to try and keep calm, though not always easy.

Going long walks helps to keep me healthily calm and I read all the time, do crosswords and simple sudoku, eat well and get enough sleep.  Looking after grandchildren occasionally and a little gardening all adds to my enjoyment. How ever did I used to fit in going to work?

When I was young, my family used to enjoy jigsaws and I have recently started doing them again thanks to my granddaughter Millie, who is a dab hand at them.

I have found that doing puzzles helps to keep me absorbed and calm, though the black border and the white design of the serrated stamp edge of the above jigsaw that Sandy recently lent me, at times did the very opposite of that. It was quite a difficult puzzle to do and I found myself starting on the inside and working outwards. I did the hardest black edge last of all. This seems to be the very opposite of what one normally does.

Are there any other jigsaw enthusiasts out there?