A good Christmas and a foxy New Year

It has been a good, relaxed and quiet Christmas.  Usual last minute panicking over whether right presents given to right people but too late now to worry about that.

Beloved Sister popped down to see me on 20th to exchange presents and to accompany me to Beloved Daughter's establishment where we were having our hair coloured and cut by the talented Dani.  Have gone back to my more vibrant reds and golds, despite BS telling me that Jonathan had begged her never to emulate my exuberant hair colour.  And really, the short spiky silvery grey hair style BS has now suits her superbly.  But pastels and hair au naturel are so not me, darling; 'twould be boring if we all liked the same things, after all.

BS had to attend funeral of her best friend's mother, so a subdued visit, although she also managed to see several of her former workmates so that was all good.  She will be back this month near to my birthday and will spend a few days with us.  All good.

Beloved Daughter and partner stayed Christmas Day and we had a rather Spartan meal; none of us even felt like Christmas pudding although I had managed to get a gluten free one.  and my darling Andi had made and sent me a most yummy gluten free Christmas cake which arrived by mail on Christmas Eve.  What timing.

Beloved Daughter has been tending me and Beloved Husband, poor lamb.  She can never thoroughly relax and forget about BH's frailties - and mine, come to that.  Not much fun at times.  I love her so much, more than words can say.  We also get to have a good laugh, too, which helps to lighten the load immensely.

My car, the Beast, had packed up over the previous freezing nights and the battery was as flat as a kipper.  Pete, our wonderful neighbour, gave us his technical diagnosis that the 'battery was fucked'.  Mmm.  So new battery which Pete kindly installed for me. And the Asian man who sold me the battery asked me if the car was for sale, sight unseen.  There must be something truly exciting about the Mitsubishi L200s.  Or perhaps these people think little old ladies tend their cars carefully.  Hahahaha.  If only they knew...
 
While he and BD had been investigating the shed for jump-leads, they had tripped over the body of a dead fox.  Good job they did look in there, otherwise the body would have been decomposing until the spring which is when I would normally have rummaged about in that back shed (which is open to the elements).  Hilarious discussions and trials at scooping up the body and disposing of same, involving heaving it via a large spade onto a sheet of plastic and dragging it towards its appointed resting place.  En route, it felt off the sheet, waving its paws in the air in a very animated way.  But no.  It was truly dead.  We had thought we had heard the yap of a fox cub and so contacted RSPCA.  Naturally enough, they couldn't help unless and until we actually spotted any cubs.  Have investigated again today and though I cannot see any cubs, the smell of fox in the shed is truly rank.  How on earth can I deter foxes from using it?  No wonder poor Hattie has been going bonkers barking every night.

Other people don't seem to suffer from uninvited foxes, or spontaneous offers to buy one's car..

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas, da dee da dee da....

Yet another long interval between posts.  what excuse shall I use this time?  laziness, I think, as it is the most truthful.

What has been occurring?  Took Beloved Sister to London for a celebratory weekend in October and stayed at a most peculiar hotel near Hyde Park which was said to have belonged to Lily Langtry.  Entrance like old baronial hall, all huge fireplaces and dark woodwork, culminating in a "theatre bar" which was built like a small theatre with a royal box!  Would that this grandeur had extended to the bedrooms at the top of the building where we (and the staff) were accommodated.  A liberal application of Vaseline would have been helpful in squeezing around the bed.  Oh Matron, indeed.

We saw the ceramic poppies at the Tower of London - a wonderful display, very moving, National Portrait Gallery, etc and attended a performance of Jersey Boys.  I can well imagine Jonathan's pained sigh and barbed comments on our provincial tastes but it was great. 

Darling Daughter looked after BH for the weekend and they and the animals were happy and completely out of hand on my return.  Indeed, It took some heavy duty retraining to get them back in line.  In fact, they are so appealing and funny that it may be time to start their own blog....we shall see.  Perhaps I shall have to learn how to video etc - wow.

Our art exhibition was again successful and I not only sold a large painting but took two commissions.  Gob-smacked and very very pleased with myself.

Still no sign of Lewisland blog so don't know what, if anything, is happening on that front.  Nor have I had news of Denise or jonathan's many friends so shall have to hope Beloved Sister will update me when she pays her pre-Christmas flying visit. 

Have I met any exotic or strange people on my recent travels?  Naturally but not exotic enough to grace this blog.  Just saying....

Long overdue update of things chez Nanny

A long hiatus in posting due to many things.

Firstly Beloved Husband after many trials and tribulations discovered to be suffering from severe anaemia (GP said he had lost equivalent of 11 pints of blood which is puzzling; thought 8 pints was the normal quota and had visions of BH being victim of Dracula) so whizzed into hospital for several blood transfusions, iron infusions, scans and camera down gullet to discover source of leakage.  After prolonged stay with BH in varying states of confusion and weakness, he was sent home with thousands of iron pills, Fortisips and firm admonitions to stop behaving like an anorexic teenage model and to eat a healthy diet with a camera up the bum in due course to see if leakage down below rather than up above.  Bum camera achieved a couple of weeks ago and now await results of that.  The iron appears to have worked a minor miracle in that he is much perkier than he was at Christmas, for example, and has even taken the dog out on a couple of occasions.  Only to the nearest lamp-post, it's true, but better than he could have achieved before.

Secondly, Beloved Daughter also suffering from anaemia so she too is on iron tablets but without necessity for bum camera, thank goodness.  Perhaps we should just become blacksmiths....  Poor sweetie, she is working in very busy, very high-powered job, travelling all over the country and in addition she worries about me and BH, and tries to arrange to  Dad-sit so that I can get out of the house before I go demented and run off to be a hobo with my flatulent dog...  While BH in hospital and she visiting him almost every day in between up and down to London and Southampton on work business, their house was burgled.  Very stressful for my baby.   She has also been asked to submit a huge number of paintings in an exhibition in Northumberland which was hectic and unnerving for her to deal with.   She is due a holiday very soon and I hope it is relaxing for her.  But she'd better take her sketchbook with her...

Thirdly, me now in pre-diabetic range and having to revert to a sensible diet.  Why do these words strike despondency in the heart?  Eating way too much sugar and stupid junk food over past months which inevitably makes me fat and sluggish.  And recalcitrant.

Fourthly, Beloved Sister stressed out with opening new shop and with recurring neck and rib pains which seem to be difficult to diagnose.  Scans and so on for her, too.  My goodness, we are keeping NHS very busy.  Cannot praise Manchester Royal Infirmary too highly though - they have been superb treating husband and me over past year or so.

Fifthly, went to Jonathan's party in mid-June which coincided with Beloved Sister's 60th birthday.  Even though the cheeky and well-loved Jonathan not able to attend in body (he was assuredly there in spirit), we all had a great time remembering him and laughing at past events and enjoying the super spread put on by Denise and the ultra-gorgeous cocktails assembled by Jonathan's mixologists.  And we rummaged through his books and CDs etc and made our selections and made donations to Cancer Research UK.  There must have been an enormous sum made over to them in Jonathan's name over the past few months so let's hope it does some good.

Weather great so sat out on terrace wearing flowery head-dresses assembled by Lisa's mum and some of us were wearing one of Jonathan's extra special brand name woolly ponchos to keep out the evening chill - very Clint Eastwood.  Just lacking the cheroot and the guns.  and the spurs, of course.  Lovely evening.  Sad to think will never sit there again enjoying the company of so many interesting and lovely people.  A fitting memorial anyway, and less taxing on the emotions than his funeral.

And what other general tripe has been going on over the last months?  More art, more organising workshops, sketching trips, and the annual exhibition! OMG, not long off now and not one thing framed.

Was going to take Beloved Sister for a weekend in Edinburgh as part of her birthday celebrations but Beloved Husband's prolonged hospital stay put paid to that.  Instead got her some very yummy gin and am going to take her to London for a weekend instead.  Next month.  Looking at hotels and rail fares.

Still trying to keep up with my COPD gym sessions; I can squat with the best of them but dragging myself up from the floor is a comedy in itself.

Wonder sometimes if I have a neon sign flashing on the top of my head.  Even a trip to the supermarket produces startling events.  A recent trip to Asda was highlighted by a Mongolian (yes, Mongolian) man wanting to buy my Mitsubishi L200 to ship back to Mongolia because he loved the look of it and the lucky colours it is painted in (!).  On way back to car post-shopping, almost run over by a car full of nuns.  Nearer my God to thee.  They apologised and explained in rush to get back for supper.  Fast food, eh? Does this happen to others?

Didn't even manage to get into Sainsburys recently before I was accosted by an older lady (older than me anyway, but not as old as God) who told me she had 6 cats and had once had a pigeon she had rescued whose legs had fallen off as a result of those wicked spike things on windowsills etc.  She said she had kept him for 17 years in a bedroom covered with old duvets and sheets so he didn't hurt himself and she took him to bed with her at night.  (That sounded very bad like some monstrous Mills & Boon story).  Apparently she believed the pigeon to be immensely intelligent....  Can this really be true?  Do pigeons live so long?  Can they live without legs?  What happened to the pigeon shit?  AM I GULLIBLE?  And what did they talk about in bed?

An emotional time

Beloved Sis and Bro-in-Law here for Jonathan's funeral.  Humanist service was really good with lots of tributes to him and good music.  Loads of friends and family attended and it was really good to be able to put faces to blog-names at last.  I was evident that the blog had not only cemented existing friendships but had enabled new friends to become part of his enchanted circle, and for all of us, were were able to be with him every step of the way.  Although I am damned sure he kept his deeper sufferings to himself.  If the blog is able to be continued, it will be helpful for people to still feel they have Jonathan among them and that, after all, is something to be cherished.
Beloved Husband is in a bad place at the moment and I am upset and angry that I cannot do something to help him recover from these awful spells of dizziness which last more or less all day.  We have talked about it and he prefers to stay at home rather than wilt away in hospital.  He lies there surrounded by a blanket of cats and guarded by the flatulent dog, which he seems to take comfort from.
Cannot stop having emotional moments. 

Another sad entry

Beloved Sister's best friend and one of mine and a friend of our reading group too died last weekend from lung cancer.  Am so grateful that he died without pain on his favourite sofa and with his carer in chief looking after him.  No fuss, no pain, just a tired closing of the eyes.  Just as he wished for and what any of us would hope for. 

I think we should not grieve for him.  He is out of pain.  He knew how to live life to the full and made firm friends with everyone who viewed his blog; his friends, his friends' friends, doctors, nurses, Jaguar salesmen, cocktail mixologists, electricians, even taxmen(!) - I could go on.  A great facility for making and keeping friends is something to be treasured and the fact that so many people cared about him and what was happening to him shows that he was a friend par excellence.  Although you could occasionally find yourself relegated to some outer tier of friendship as he ploughed his way through new acquaintances and experiences.  And wardrobes.   His parties were legendary and sore heads often followed....  A man who loved life despite its many kicks in the knackers.

A sad loss to us all.  His funeral is next week and Beloved Sister and Bro-in-Law will be travelling down from Scotland to stay here for the service.

Another long hiatus in blogging

Anyone would think I was busy or working or something.  How long is it since I last blogged?  Too long maybe.  and what have I been doing?

Twice weekly circuits, one indoors, one outdoors.  Good results at my assessment and am moving on to the gym.  Had my induction last week and the young man who is in charge of old lags like myself seems very good natured, knowledgeable and indulgent.  In other words, he hasn't set me too hard a schedule to start off.  How exciting to use the cross-trainer without actually falling off!  And we are to do interesting things with the big pink balls...this is a recurring theme in the circuit training and one that I like.  A lot.

Thrice weekly art classes as have now added portrait group on a Friday, and occasionally have even been to life classes on a Saturday!  Beloved Husband never knows if I am in the house or not these days.  He can't keep up with my schedule; I struggle myself to be sure which day it is and where I am meant to be.  Hard work getting back to portraits - and life classes.  It is slowly coming back to me.  Organise a pastels workshop for our art group a couple of weeks ago and it was great.  Has rekindled my enthusiasm for the medium and am currently often to be found coated in pastel chalk.  Mad Best Friend even tried to introduce me to Hair Chalks.  Had never heard of them but apparently they are all the rage in America; one simply coats one's bonce in the required colour and brushes it all out before retiring for bed.  Oh could see some colourful bedding if one used it before a boozy night out.....and possibly pink cats leaping about on the bed, too. 

Mad Best Friend off to Slovenia soon to visit her daughter and new grand-daughter.  She has not been really well over the last few weeks so I hope this trip will boost her immune system a bit.  She's not her usual bouncy self.  Have got to find someone with a pottery kiln which she could use as she has very little artistic output these days since the Council stopped the pottery and sculpture classes.

Had a super birthday last month.  Ate a lot, drank a lot, had loads of lovely presents which I am still investigating - received a new handbag only this week!

Beloved Husband's birthday this week so Darling Daughter has bought him a more user-friendly (hopefully) mobile phone - or cell phone as they call them in America.  As for me, I have the joyous task of taking him to buy some shoes for his present tomorrow.  He too has not been in the best of health recently, his stomach is giving him problems and it's a round of peppermints, peppermint tea and rubbing of back like winding a baby.

Beloved Sister is 60 this year so am in negotiation with her re a suitable place to take her away for a weekend.  She is interested in a knife skills course.  something like Gordon Ramsay.  Not for me.  Am wistful for a sight of Scarborough or Whitby or even better, somewhere on the Norfolk coastline but it is her birthday so it must be her choice.  Although if she suggests Halifax or Harrogate, I may have to fix her with a glittering eye a la the ancient mariner.

Darling Daughter enjoyed Barcelona very much although twas rainy.  Cats were fine especially when I introduced them to the joys of catnip treats.  Discovered that Chinky the Chihuahua from next door is actually Gigi the Chihuahua....mmmm, so it isn't just me that's a bit deaf...although Chinky the Chihuahua has more of a ring to it, I think.

have had a couple of good reading group sessions so far this year; books - one bad, one excellent.  Always enjoy meeting my ladies for a great gossiping session and a small amount of book dissection.

Will try not to leave such a big gap between posts in future

Back to boot camp - in the rain

Well, back to boot camp - but no Ruby!  She's on holiday until next Thursday, but a hardy group of six of us turned up for the outdoor circuits and boy did it rain.  Ruby's deputy left us to our own devices, pleading incipient illness and a reluctance to brave the weather.  What a wus.  We accepted responsibility for our own safety, such is the nanny state we live in.  Dear God, how do these pathetic bureaucrats think we have managed to stay alive for as long as we have doing these outrageous things.  Exercise in the rain ('you may get wet' you may catch a cold' you might slip off the apparatus')?  Play the piano ('the lid may fall on your fingers'), make a cup of tea without assistance ('has that kettle had a PAT test?').  This is all down to lawyers, the bastards, people are utterly terrified of being sued for doing things that any relatively intelligent 5 year old could do.  And the politicians (mainly of lawyer type upbringing) concur with this idiocy.  Shoot the lot of them.  Oh no, you can't, can you?  A gun might kill someone.....but don't let policemen shoot someone who's running around on the street with a gun, it is against his human rights.  Pah. Bah.  Ballocks.

The rain didn't do us any harm, we completed our circuits in record time and I returned to my car with dripping wet trousers and knickers which were a tad uncomfortable to drive in but the heater was on and I stripped and had a hot shower as soon as I got it.  Job done. 

Had our usual circuit training with Stacy on Monday - gentle and calming, not at all like Ruby who would probably use a cattleprod on us if she could be bothered....  Come back soon, Ruby.

Severe lack of money due to over eating, over drinking, over spending.  Have read inspirational article about couple who have managed to cut their food expenditure to something like £30 per week by using lots of fresh fruit and vegetables from small shops - sounds like my youth.  How often did I go to the greengrocer fondly named 'Thiefy Gibbons' by my dear old ma?  Or to Mr Booth's grocery store for 'four slices of boiled ham and tell him not to be skinny with them'.  Or to the local pie shop for sizzling hot peppery meat pies and a Devon split?  Happy happy days - little money but lots of love and food with real taste.

Back to art class this week.  Lovely to see familiar faces though not all class returned yet. Other art class restarts next week and I have committed myself to trying out a portrait class, at least for one term..  Must be mad.

Need to organise some sketching trips and a workshop for our little art club, too or the native will be getting restless.

Beloved Daughter off to Barcelona next week for three or four days so committed to ensuring her cats are not hungry, lonely or in distress.  Quite happy to do that but buggered if I can sort out the automatic timer doody which dispenses food to them.  Would rather treat them to a tin or two of tuna.  It seemed to work well last time....

My cats fine.  Twinkle has recovered dramatically from her cellulitis and tablets no trouble to administer in a salmon paste sandwich....

Beloved Husband the same as ever, as is Mad Best Friend who has recovered from her joint to USA and her infection.

Christmas is lovely and to be savoured but there is something to be said for getting back into the routine and paring the everyday menu back to the usual simple meals, etc.  But not the booze....