Happy New Year

Well, this year has had its ups and downs, the worst part losing our lovely sister in law to cancer as well as my elderly friend dying (but dying is more acceptable in your nineties somehow than in your early sixties).

Then there was baby Peter being born, which was a lovely diversion for Eddie, my brother, being a Grandpa for the first time.

I enjoyed recently cuddling Peter in a family get together where
Eddie unexpectedly had a funny five minutes and dressed as Father Christmas, using shaving foam.

You can find a picture of Eddie and Baby Peter here.

Harry and I have had our ups and downs too, health wise and some how or other, we've come out of scares. I had to make the decision to re-home my rabbits and have worried about them everyday since, not knowing how they are getting on.
One of the good things was Sam and Sandy's wedding at the end of August and our Golden Wedding in December celebrated the day after Harry was discharged from hospital.
We had an exceptionally good Christmas that we shared with our daughter and grandsons.
Dean, the youngest Grandson, is a dab hand at tuning in televisions and assembling things from a flat pack and he did this for us the day after Boxing Day when our new TV needed tuning in and a stand needed to be put together.
So there seems to be a balance of good and bad things in any year.

Here we are on the brink of 2014. I am always a bit twitchy as to what is in front of us. However, I'm just going to trust that whatever things do happen, that I'll be given the strength to cope as I have done up till now.
My daughter says, "Mum its only a number." I guess she is right. Taking each day as it comes is the best way forward, no matter what the year is.

I'd like to wish everyone a very Happy New Year. Hoping that 2014 will hold special things for all of you.

Merry Christmas

Just a quick update.

Things seem to change from day to day here.

Harry is slowly getting better after his chest infection that he tried to give to me. However, I'm shaking it off as it has presented itself as just a heavy cold and cough.

The drug trial is back in existence because we were told, after research into the situation, that the collapse was to do with the chest infection and was most unlikely to be due to the medication.

He is taking things easy and I'm watching him like a hawk!

The house is at last decorated and there are goodies coming in, though I'm really behind with the preparations this year.

My daughter and grandsons will be coming to stay at some point on Monday for the Christmas holiday.

The granddaughters will be  home on Christmas Day but from Boxing Day they will be spending two weeks in Japan with their mother and her partner. We will all be a bit twitchy until they return safely.

So all I can say is....... have a very Happy Christmas everyone.

We Got There

Well, in spite of all my good intentions, my post got held up last week.

Three days before our Golden Wedding Anniversary, Harry collapsed in the early hours while going to the bathroom. I was awakened by a loud crash and then silence.

I rushed in, still groggy from sleep, to find him on the floor face down and unconscious. I checked his breathing, which seemed heavy and laboured and ran into the bedroom to phone for an emergency ambulance. I really thought he was going to die.

They ordered one straight away, while keeping me alternately talking to them and running to check on Harry. Why hadn't I taken a cordless phone upstairs?

The paramedic arrived within five minutes and when she realised that Harry had been unconscious for two minutes, they said they'd have to take him to Accident and Emergency in the heart of our city.

To cut a long story short, he was seen by several teams of doctors who, in the end, decided that it was the drug trial that was responsible for the collapse and they ordered him off it straight away.

He was discharged from hospital the day before our anniversary.

We had a very quiet time, as he wasn't up to going out at all. So you see, we were able to celebrate it together in the end.

I did manage to get the decorations up and most of the cards sent in between all this chaos.

If I don't manage to post again before Christmas, I hope everyone has a very happy time and look forward to hearing how everybody spent theirs.

A Mixed Bag Of Events

Photo Copyright: Maggie May

I can't believe that a whole fortnight has gone by since my last post. It seems to be a busy time of the year and now Christmas seems to be really looming ever closer.

This little canine, Poppy, came round to see us last week. She belongs to my brother and sister in law and is a very intelligent and energetic little dog. It was probably the first of many visits to come, as I was not able to let her in before because I had house rabbits and she is a natural predator, being a Jack Russell Terrier bred to dig out small furry creatures.

Not long ago, the lady from the small animal rescue centre where I signed over my beloved pets, rang me to say that they had been adopted, after being in her care for about 9 weeks. I should have been over the moon, but the fact that I would never hear about them again which meant complete closure, sent me spiralling downwards into a depression.

At the time, I really felt it was for the best, letting them go, because of our uncertain health problems but I really did start to question whether I'd done the right thing and I just hope they have gone on to a good, loving home that will be permanent.

At least they haven't gone as a Christmas present to small children. They are with a mature couple with a grown up daughter with no dogs or cats to frighten them. However, they will be living as outside pets. The weather has been mild enough for them to grow thicker winter coats before the really cold weather comes, which is a blessing.

I hope I'll eventually get over this but it is very difficult and I feel I've made a great personal sacrifice by giving them up.

On a brighter note, it seems that Harry and I will be definitely celebrating our Golden Wedding very soon. It didn't seem very likely a short while ago with all our health issues and scares etc.

To mark the occasion, we have decided on a lunch time meal in a restaurant with our brother and sister in law who own Poppy and who will be celebrating their own Golden Wedding in March.

Fifty years seems a very long time....... doesn't it?

This is the time of the year when the children have concerts at school and the younger ones have Christmas plays and festivities, that I'm looking forward to going to.  There are also Carol Services at church and Christmas dinners to attend.

This all helps to get me into the festive spirit, though I feel that the shops all start decorating far too early. None the less, once December is here, then I start to get involved with practical things and expectancy, never forgetting the real reason for Christmas in the first place.

I won't be be putting up decorations just yet though. When do others trim up?

What's Going On? Roses in November?

Photo Copyright: Maggie May

The weather continues to be fairly mixed. One day being mild and sunny and another cold, wet and windy. We never really know what to expect.

When I was a child, the winters were hard, cold and snowy and without central heating, or double glazing, I can remember it was really freezing, even inside. We had a small electric fire to get dressed by, while my mother raked out the ashes of yesterday's coal fire and laid another one for the day. We wore layers of clothing and we often got long drawn out coughs, colds, tonsillitis, as well as all the children's diseases that went around in cycles. Some of them such as Measles and Scarlet Fever were killers. However, we survived.

A good memory, from my point of view, was being pulled along on a home made wooden sledge by my Mum or Dad. It might have been a nightmare for them taking me to school in thick snow and ice but I considered it fun.

Those were the days when we knew the seasons and the weather followed a definite pattern.

It is now getting on for December, the Christmas month, the shortest day soon upon us. Today, I'm looking out of the window and the sun is shining. The heating is off and because I'm wearing my *thermals* I'm not really cold at all. Out in the garden I can see a rose bush covered in flowers, a bit tatty by any standard, but quite recognisable as clusters of roses. Don't you think that is remarkable, roses blooming in the heart of the winter in England?

My Pelargoniums that are only hardy if brought indoors are still flowering in their pots outside.

Is Global Warming the cause of this?

The terrible typhoon that has happened in the Philippines is supposed to have been caused by the shift in the weather patterns as well as all the other disasters that have happened in various places round the world.

So I suppose that it's swings and roundabouts, what weather you get, depending on where you live.

There are warnings of really bad weather to come here, so I'm stocking up a cupboard of basic foods in case we can't get out. Salt is at the ready for the pavements.

I wrap up warm and get my jigsaws out if the weather is bad.

The kitten jigsaw was in a big box of 10 different ones that I bought in a charity shop. I'm glad that they seem to be individually wrapped. With second hand puzzles you can never be too sure of what state they might be in.

Imagine trying to sort over 6,000 pieces into 10 separate puzzles.

I recently was told by the doctor in the cancer clinic that we attend, that doing jigsaws helps the brain to get into a meditative state that is very benficial. 

After I have completed one, I don't like to smash it up straight away, like my sister in law does, so I take a photo of the ones I've really enjoyed doing and this one fits that criteria. That way, I don't feel that I've *lost*  what has become a friend during the time its taken to complete it and can recycle the original.

Unexpected Blue Skies

Photo copyright: Maggie May

As today was unexpectedly sunny and fairly warm, I thought it might be a good idea for Harry and me to jump on a bus using our free bus passes and visit a place that we haven't been to in years.

Off we went to Bristol Bus Station, where a bus going to Portishead, which is a town that lies along the Bristol Channel, was about to pull out. The sea front in this location, is muddy and dangerous and this is the part of the town that we both knew from our motoring days but it is a fairly busy shipping channel and it can be interesting watching large and small vessels of all kinds sailing past and the walk along the sea front is pleasant. 

However, we didn't get as far as the sea front because the bus took us on a meandering route through little villages and windy roads and we really didn't know where we were and we found ourselves heading back into the high street that we'd passed earlier. I had thought we might end up going back to Bristol if we didn't make up our minds where to disembark.

An elderly lady passenger, who was obviously local to Portishead told us not to try to go to the sea as there was nothing there and certainly no toilets available. She told us to get off the bus at a certain place near the high street and gave us useful information as to where we could get a pot of tea and more importantly, visit a toilet. 

We found a large supermarket, where we were able to do both these things. (Strange how a toilet stop seems to be more important than anything, in our age group). Anyway the lady had told us to go to the Marina, which in her opinion, was much nicer than the sea front and following her instructions we ended up in a really lovely part of Portishead that we'd never been to before, where attractive homes overlooked The Marina. There were many small boats moored there and on the other side of the water, there were new houses and flats being built too. It obviously seemed a desirable location to live.

Strolling along the length of the Marina made a lovely walk and we managed to travel the whole distance where the Marina finished and just past the lock gates, our path led to the sea after all and we watched as two tug boats chugged by.

I was surprised that Harry wanted to walk as far as he did as it was a long way to the end and back again. As we walked, we encountered a group of swans and one of them came very close, thinking we had something to offer in the food line but all our sandwiches had been eaten by then.

By the time we got back to the bus stop, we'd walked a fair distance but we both agreed that we'd had a lovely day, which had been quite unplanned.

Who would have thought that we'd experience bright blue skies in November in England? 

Don't you think that unexpected outings are more enjoyable?

Byrhtnoth

Photo Copyright: Maggie May

I had never heard of Byrhtnoth until I went to Maldon in Essex while having a few days break on the east coast and we came across his statue overlooking the Blackwater Estuary. If you want to read how this man in his sixties tried to ward off a Viking invasion on the town of Maldon, then click the link.

After a stormy weekend, the weather decided to behave itself and Harry and I were able to visit several places in Essex while we were staying there for a few days with our daughter and grandsons.

It was a really lovely break for me as it was the first time that I'd had a holiday for three years because somehow or other we'd had illness every time we tried to go away before then and of course the rabbits did complicate things too.

In dry weather, we visited a stately home and did a few walks in the lovely grounds and also the nearby town and visited a market place where we browsed and bought a few items. We also went to see the film Philomena  starring Judi Dench and Steve Coogan which was a real tear jerker but I thoroughly recommend going to see it. Based on truth, it was a story that had to be told. Quite shocking that things like that seemed to frequently go on.

Has anyone else been to see the film? If so what did you think of it?

I bet no one had ever heard of Byrhtnoth?