WOYWW 267

Welcome to the world’s best and most famous nosey-fest. To find out all about it and details of how to join in, please click on the WOYWW logo in my sidebar which will take you to our hostess Julia’s blog where all will be explained.

I’m afraid there’s nothing changed on my desk from last week! I simply haven’t had the opportunity to spend any time in my studio this week. Anyone who has visited my blog since last week will know that Mum had a TIA and we had to spend some considerable time at the hospital with her. I’m happy to report that after an overnight stay, she’s made an almost complete recovery, although her balance is slightly worse than before. I have been busy with two visits from the community team – I am amazed how quickly the system swung into action and therapists were sent to assess her at home. I have also been very tired after the experience and have been trying to rest, but with the fitting of the solar panels I’ve had a few early starts which isn’t terribly good news for me!

The electrician and his team were here yesterday connecting it all up, and the system started generating electricity immediately! We have a monitor attached to the consumer unit which broadcasts wirelessly to a small box connected to our broadband router, and I can go online and view a constantly-updating summary of the electricity we are consuming, what we are generating, and how much is being fed back to the grid. It even gives a weather summary for our postcode! Today was the first full day, and it was an interesting test, because I had the tumble drier on for 2 loads of towels, then I did over an hour’s ironing, and then my cleaning lady came and was running the vacuum cleaner, and I’ve done a bit of cooking. It was a fairly high-demand sort of day, and the sun was shining most of the day. We generated slightly over half the total consumption till the early evening, which is great, and uploaded 0.6 kWh to the grid! Amazingly, the panels were still generating electricity at 10 p.m., although at a lower level as dusk began to set in. I shall be interested to see what happens tomorrow, when we should be using a lot less power. Anyway, it has already proved that it is going to be saving us money long-term, as long as we are organised and use the high-demand stuff during the day as much as possible.

Diet news. I’ve moved my weigh-day from Monday to Sunday (so I can tell my friends at church how I’m getting on!). I refused to let myself get demoralised this time, but I was disappointed to see that I’d actually gained 4 lb last week! My only explanation is that we went out for a slap up meal the night before. Still, I have lost a total of 8 lb since I started, and I am sure this is only a temporary blip, and that the trend is generally downwards.

Talking of church, I was admitted to full membership on Sunday, with a lovely welcome from everybody, and some very nice things said about me up front – afterwards the minister said to me, “Embarrassing, isn’t it!!” I was given a lovely card, and was one of the people chosen at the end of the service to be given the flowers. They always have fresh flowers on the platform which are given away at the end – the last time I received them was on the first Sunday I attended. My hubby came with me which was lovely, and he mentioned that in the past I have sung in church. I was approached afterwards and asked if I could learn a new song for us to sing, and introduce it as a solo. It is a long time since I’ve played my guitar and was a bit tentative at first, but after my hubby found it in the loft, I managed to play a bit and was amazed that I remembered all the chords! With a bit of practice, and if I take a perching stool to rest against, I think I should be fine. I feel very much at home at this church, which is literally around the corner from where we live, and I can get there under my own steam in either the buggy or the wheelchair.

So many new and wonderful things since we moved here, including, or course, my fabulous new ARTHaven, and so much to look forward to now my hubby has retired. Life is good.

Have a great week, everybody, with lots of opportunity for creativity.