Good morning campers!

Yes - I am bright and breezy this morning and much more my normal old self.   I got up an hour early (half past six) this morning in order to give my carer a surprise.   She showered me yesterday so I was able this morning to go into the bathroom with my walking frame and have a good wash and clean my teeth.   Then I went back into the bedroom and got dressed - not easy but I managed it.   The whole operation took me almost an hour but by the time she came I had managed to make a cup of tea too.

My carers really are so good.   This morning J - who comes most mornings - brought me a whole Sunday lunch on a plate - roast beef, Yorkshire pud and a whole load of vegetables (I am really missing these) and it is sitting in the microwave ready for me to push the button at lunch time.   Aren't I lucky?

It wouldn't take much today to persuade the sun to come out and that would make a difference.   Because my bungalow faces South it makes all the difference if it is a sunny day.

The days drift by and I rarely see the News - it always seems to be at a time when something else is happening.   Occasionally I do switch over to 231, the news channel but it is usual covid, covid, covid and I really can't take it any more.   But yesterday I did see the absolutely horrendous crash in the motor-racing and to see the driver climb out of that blazing car with only his hands burnt;but I find the whole idea of motor racing and the risks and the money involved quite sickening.

But lets not get away from my cheerful, post hip mood.   I am on the mend this morning and the only way forward is up.   Have a good day.

Sunday evening

Fairly late on Sunday evening - well half past eight so late for me at the moment- and , after various forays around the house with various walking aids, I have finally managed to sit at my computer before going to bed.   I can report that at present bed is bliss - by far my most enjoyable part of the twenty four hours.

It has been another grey day - 'the dark days before Christmas' my mother always called them - the sun did try to break through once but took a look at the fog and low cloud and popped back in again.

Two carers - one morning and one evening for an hour - two long phone calls - a niece and a friend - a phone call from my son a while ago and that has been it today.   And with our Covid restrictions I suspect I have seen, and spoken to, more folk than most today.

More and more people seem to be joining those who say it is silly to have these lockdowns and then open up for Christmas.   Are we really so childish that we can't manage without it for one year - and how magical we can make our Christmas for our own family - our own children - if we are not charging up the motorway to some far off place, taking our germs with us.   Just imagine a real childrens' Christmas -it wouldn't be the end of the world, would it?

I have just watched a lovely programme on BBC Four about a journey in a punt up the River Trent from its source until it is no longer safe and from there on a larger craft.   My brain must be getting back into gear because I was able to watch it from start to finish and really enjoy it.

 

Until tomorrow my friends..... 

Saturday

 Saturday again - five weeks now since my broken hip operation.   I am beginning to walk better with my frame.   Sadly my cellulitis is returning although I am trying to give my legs as much exercise as possible to keep the circulation going - it looks as though they will have to be bandaged again so a shower in the morning before a decision is made.

Saturday is never my favourite day but now that I am immobile, coupled with lockdown does not make for a jolly day.   Luckily I have an easy book to read (my head is not yet up to the more difficult stuff) and I am still in trauma-recovery according to the nurse so I am happy to have a couple of sleeps during the day (and still sleep at night)!

Obviously we did need to be kept up to date on the state of Covid but I do sometimes wonder what has happened to all the other crises in the world, which were headline news until a year ago.   Are there suddenly no more civil wars, no more famines, nothing which merits any interest?

I am sorry my posts are so boring and so short but I am by no means back to normal (whatever that is) and I quickly tire.   If I haven't answered your post for a while I do apologise but I can only manage a few each evening.   I'll get there before long.   A nice sunny day might help - it has been a horrid wet, dark day here today.

Friday

What shall I do when it is time for my carers to leave and I am on my own?   Now, every morning at eight and every evening at six one arrives.   They get me something to eat (I get my own lunch with their help) and then help me shower and dress in a morning and get me undressed and ready for bed in the evening so that I only have to toddle off to bed when I feel like it. I am tired all the time and bed is my most welcome place - but I hope that will improve as the days go on.

Today two Physiotherapists have been and we have decided where to put the step and the handrails so that eventually I can get out.   I am missing Tess - she would be great company but of course she would also be too much for me at present so maybe it all worked out for the best.

Only a short post again - hopefully more before long.   Love to you all.   x

Blue sky again

 and puffy white clouds - the District Nurse has been and has taken the bandages off my legs which were bad with Cellulitis.   Two courses of antibiotics and they are a lot better.   I have to contact my doctor if it reappears.

Isn't it sad how some people have a fatal flaw in their character?   I am thinking here of Diego Maradonna - as so many people said in the tributes yesterday -'probably the best footballer of all time' who had flaws which led to various  addictions which no doubt contributed to his early death.We have seen it before and we shall no doubt see it again -  a certain kind of brilliance which seems to go with an inability to cope with either the money or the fame.

There was a time when sixty was old - now it is the new forty.

How I wish for some fresh air.   It is five weeks today since I broke my hip and in that time, apart from standing by an open window and being pushed up my drive from the ambulance in a wheelchair on my return home I haven't tasted that beautiful Dales air.  The Physio comes again tomorrow to assess the situation so keep your fingers crossed for me.

See you tomorrow.

 

A Grey Day

 It's a grey day here today with one of the those tantalising skies of blue showing through here and there.   A friend from Lincolnshire has just phoned and it is sunny there so it is obvious we are just a little too far to the North to catch the sun.

We are more or less in the grip of Covid here now.   Our local Comprehensive is shut and apart from the necessary shops our little town has more or less shut down.   Not that I would notice as I am not allowed over the threshold.

Looking out into my garden I can see the tips of crocus poking through the soil - that gives me hope.   And there is the vaccine of course - whether or not to have  it when it becomes available.   I know I am particularly vulnerable at the moment - under the weather recuperating from quite a major operation, no appetite at present and many professionals coming into the bungalow to help my recovery all well protected of course but all having been to visit people in a similar state to me.   When they come in they have a new plastic apron on, new gloves and new mask - all are destroyed when they move on.

No mice have been caught so far - six traps, baited with peanut butter - but they are clever these mice.   A friend suggests a raisin stuck in the peanut butter so we shall try that tonight - my friend says they cannot resist raisins (sounds like me and Bounty Bars).

Well with the onset of evening the blue sky has won and chased away the grey clouds - but no sun of course - too late in the day.

Sunday morning

Good morning dear fellow bloggers; and a lovely one it is too here in the beautiful Yorkshire Dales.   The sky is a clear blue and there is a breeze which I guess is cold, but as I am not allowed - and indeed cannot step - over the threshold I am not bothered about that.   My back garden is such a joy to behold that I cannot stop looking at it.  I had a good night's sleep and a round of toast and butter and a glass of orange juice later I am writing this before I begin to tire.

I watched The Andrew Marr show over my breakfast - Dame Judi Dench - still beautiful, still utterly sexy and, as usual talking such sense.   And I watched The Chancellor and our local MP  Rishi Sunak talking about the price we shall have to pay in taxes to pay for Covid when it finally disappears.   No doubt people will complain but, let's face it - the money has to come from somewhere so that we can begin to clear the National Debt.

I seem to have a resident robin - he (or she) is always around.   I wish I could feed the birds - I have done so for years - but I decided when I moved here that I would stop because it is an effort and once started it must be kept up.   But I wish this little chap knew just how much I enjoy his company.  

That's it for today folks - have a lovely day. 

Saturday

 How I love rooks - they may not be pretty to look at individually but no other bird can beat them en masse.    As I lie on my bed this afternoon in the computer room, where I am sleeping at the moment, the sky is blue, the sun is shining and across the field behind my house is my favourite ash tree.   As I wait for my afternoon nap to overtake me (it does  so quickly every day as I get very tired) suddenly the tree, devoid of leaves this time of year of course, erupts and hundreds of rooks burst upwards like so many leaves in the wind.   I wish I could hear the noise they are making.   It reminded me of one the holidays the farmer and I took in the US when, on entering the hotel in the early evening, the trees surrounding us were absolutely full of very noisy birds.   I have a feeling they were called something like Grackles - can anyone enlighten me?

The other news story of today is that I have got mice!   My carer has found that they seem to have taken up residence under the sink in the kitchen.   My son is sending for two traps today and we must start an onslaught.

In other news I ache in places where I didn't know I had places to ache, presumably from doing my exercises religiously but 'no pain no gain'.

At last

 I feel like using the computer and my brain is slowly unscrambling.   The District Nurse has just been and re-dressed my legs (I have developed Cellulitis) - after two courses of antibiotics they are improving and I still have ten tablets to go.  My walking is getting better and I can now do my exercises much more easily - so I am feeling very upbeat today. and

While I have been in hospital my gardener has been and neatened u.p everything, top dressed the beds and planted a whole lot of mixed bulbs.   It looks an absolute picture.  When I can go outside I'll take a few pics but it won't be for a few weeks.   An air cushion is coming today to easy the pressure on my bottom as I am in danger of developing bed sores - hardly surprising after three weeks without standing up!

I cannot fault the treatment i have had - the professionalism, the good humour, the efficiency, the food(!) - and I have every aid known to man to help me get around.   Added to which there is a beautiful blue sky today and the sun is shining.   What more could anyone want.

Thanks to you all you dear people for the support and good wishes - you will never know how much it has helped.

Off now to do my exercises and hot my sheperd's pie in the microwave - my carer made it for me and has brought it this morning - how's that for good service?

I'm back!!!

 One broken hip and  three weeks in hospital later.   I had the operation in Darlington Memorial Hospital and then two weeks recuperation in The Friary Hospital in Richmond.   Wonderful care throughout.   I came home yesterday.

Thank you, you lovely people, for all the cards, letters, e mails and phone calls- and some lovely warm socks from New Zealand - I am truly touched by your kindness.  Hopefully I will be back within the next day or two.   Meanwhile - thanks and love true bloggy friends.