Teignmouth Revisited

Yesterday my hubby took me back to Teignmouth, this time for a shopping trip. It was a bit frustrating on Tuesday, having to rush around because of the car, and I’d seen several shops I was keen to visit.

I rarely get the opportunity to go shopping, and I always really enjoy it when I get the chance! It was time my clothes budget got an airing because it’s a while since I had anything new, and I’ve had to get rid of quite a bit of stuff because since losing weight, it no longer fits me.

We had a lovely day out, in beautiful hot sunny weather, and I spotted quite a few shops and little nooks and crannies in the town that had escaped my notice a couple of days previously.

A shop full of vintage sewing machines.

A wonderfully ornate old machine, and just look at that glorious case…

A miniature iron, in what looks like its original box.

A couple of tiny miniature sewing machines, both by Singer.

The shopping streets are narrow and picturesque.

The shop fronts are very pretty, and it’s interesting looking up above to see the architecture of the buildings.

Gorgeous hand-made leather shoes. Very much my style, but too pricey for my budget.

We came across a busker playing gorgeous American Blues music on a variety of instruments – a guitar, a 3-string cigar box guitar and a 3-string biscuit tin guitar! He played pick and slide style. We had a very interesting conversation with him, and I saw him again later on, on his way home. (Left-handed guitarist like Paul McCartney.)

His cigar-box guitar. I love the fact that the volume control knobs are made of bottle tops!!

He was very happy for me to video him.

He explained that much of this music originated from the slave and ex-slave communities and being very poor, they had to make their musical instruments from whatever they had handy. I love this mentality which shows great inventiveness, and which today has ben developed into the recycling and upcycling culture we are all familiar with. (Think of my hubby’s excellent pedestal for our new sundial! We’d never have ended up with this unique pedestal if we’d had the money to go and buy a proper one.) There’s so much satisfaction in making something useful and/or beautiful from what most people would consider rubbish, which driven by need, produces something often unique and quite unexpected.  It means so much more. I loved the vintage look of the cigar box and biscuit tin guitars, with the scuffs and dents, and the general patina of age. Paul said that these all added to the tone of the instrument. I am reminded of the itinerant Klezmer musicians of the old Ashkenazi Jewish world, travelling from village to village and playing for weddings etc., carrying their instruments on their backs and living as best they could.

Now for my purchases. We went back to the jewellery shop – I was keen to revisit Teignmouth this week, because their sale was due to end at the end of this week. I bought two more of the gorgeous necklaces and also a very pretty ring. You wouldn’t believe how cheap everything was – they weren’t over-priced to start with, but at half marked price, you couldn’t go wrong.

Here are the two I bought on Tuesday, for comparison.

I bought a few items in the Pound Shop, mostly stuff to use in the studio.

I visited a shop which sold some lovely unusual ethnic style clothes, scarves, gifts etc. and bought a skirt and almost matching scarf in there.

We also found the ethnic shop I found it so hard to tear myself away from the other day! Their stuff was also incredibly cheap – ethnic and boho-style clothes usually are, and they are generally quite unusual and you don’t see hordes of other people wearing exactly the same stuff. I really stocked up in there.

When we got home we were both pretty hot and tired, so I made us a nice cold drink – lemonade with basil, a recipe I found quickly online, made from fresh lemons mashed up with basil leaves – gorgeous flavour and so refreshing on a hot day!

I then had fun trying it all on and mixing and matching the items with each other and with stuff I already had. Here’s a mini-fashion show starring Shoshi complete with mirror and phone!! (I wasn’t sure how else to take the photos.)

Here’s the skirt and scarf I bought in the first shop, teamed with my navy embroidered waistcoat and red t-shirt to complement the red border around the hem.

Now the stuff from the ethnic shop.

A fun pair of patchwork dungarees. Dungarees always make me look fat but somehow I couldn’t resist this pair!

(Sorry about the bad quality – the sun was streaming in through the window and it was hard to get the photos right.)

I thought the dungarees looked more flattering with one of the scarves I bought at the same time.

I bought a pair of patchwork trousers which are made of heavy-ish cotton. They are much too long so will have to be taken up.

They had a rack of fabulous silk dresses and skirts with elasticated tops and uneven hems with points, which could be worn in a variety of ways. I bought one of the dresses and a skirt. This is the purple dress. It has ties to make shoulder straps but you don’t have to use them if you don’t want to.

You can wear it as a skirt.

Without the straps, and pulled down a bit to make a low waisted dress.

The skirt is greenish-blue.

I thought I could have some fun with this and wear it in all sorts of different ways! Here it is as a head scarf. I hope the length of it down the back doesn’t look too nun-ish! It reminded me somewhat of the Vermeer picture, “Girl with a Pearl Earring.”

As a poncho. I like the way the elasticated waist becomes cowl-like.

The other scarf I bought in that shop. I love big square scarves because they are lovely for tying your hair up in.

After taking these photos, I realised that in most of them I’ve got a really grim expression! I was concentrating on getting the best view possible with the phone camera, and also I was feeling pretty tired after our busy day shopping, and finding it a bit uncomfortable, all the standing to do the photos.

Finally, a pair of green suede sandals with ankle ties.

Recently I had to throw away two fabulous pairs of sandals that had long been favourites – absolutely nothing wrong with the tops, but the soles, made of synthetic rubber of some kind, had completely deteriorated and were crumbling away, and there was no way they could be repaired. This sort of thing makes me sick. I really liked those shoes but they were clearly not made to last. I expect my favourite shoes to last for many years, and at least to be repairable if they wear out!

Anyway, I think you’ll agree I had quite a spree! These clothes may not be to everyone’s taste but I’ve always loved the alternative look and tended to make my own fashion – part of my creative spirit, I suppose!

WOYWW 415

An extremely busy week and I’ve been out all day today, so only had time to snap a photo of my desk and get it on the computer, but I think 11.30 p.m. still qualifies to enter a Wednesday blog hop! Unfortunately I’m not going to have time to visit any desks, and it may be a while before any visitors to my blog get a reply, but I’ll do my best!

It’s not a very interesting desk this week, I’m afraid. On the left are the info sheets about the Infusions Mini-Album page order. Details here. To the right are the three bundles of pages which are now in order to make three separate books, which will be bound together into one cover. There’s still quite a bit to do on them as I have to make title pages for each section, and the tags to go into the loo roll centres. There are some reject pages on the far left of the picture – some of these are failures and others are ones I decided to omit from the album, which will go in my stash to be used for other projects.

Talking of which, a couple of days ago I used one to make a birthday card for my hubby, as it’s his birthday on Friday. Full details here.

Busy busy busy this week with something on all day most days! Yesterday and today I attended a Christian conference which ran all day, with evening sessions too. Quite brilliant and my head is still buzzing with it all. Plenty of new material to incorporate into my teaching sessions, and a lot to think about. Dashing home at tea time and getting a simple meal on, and then dashing out again!

Tomorrow we are off to the Devon County Show, which is one of my favourite days out in the whole year. It will be another long day, with a meal out at the end of it. We are more or less celebrating my hubby’s birthday tomorrow because I’m busy again on Friday with the Cancer Cakeathon meeting in the afternoon – our regular monthly get-together of friends who have met through our cancer. We sit about and chat and laugh and eat a lot of cake! I am quite relieved that my Bible study group has been cancelled in the evening because by then I shall need a long rest, I think! However, it’s not to be, because I’m singing at church this coming Sunday and the next, so have practising to do – having been busy with a lot of other things recently, my guitar playing needs brushing up a bit.

Health Update

On Sunday we went to the private hospital in Torquay which takes NHS overflow, for my CT scan to see if my hernia has returned. Details here. It was in the mobile scanning unit, which I’ve never been in before – I’ve had MRI scans in the past in the mobile unit but not a CT scan. It went smoothly and I was in and out pretty quickly – a lot more quickly than previous scans at Torbay Hospital where you are sitting around for hours! Not sure when I shall get the result but soon, I hope. It will confirm whether or not I require further surgery to do a more permanent repair on the hernia, to prevent any further obstructions.

On Monday we had to go to the GP’s surgery for a blood test in advance of my oncology appointment next week. Having had the cannula in the vein in my arm the day before, she went in slightly above, and because I’m on rivaroxaban (an anticoagulant) I’m a terrible little bleeder and I’ve now got a lovely red wheal on my arm! Pretty.

In the middle of all this busyness I was not best pleased when my hubby came home with a cold. I tried to keep away from him, but unfortunately I have caught it. Fortunately it’s not too bad and I’ve managed to keep going, but it’s inconvenient and a huge bore.

Kitty Health Update

Phoebe still up and down. She had a very subdued day a couple of days ago and didn’t eat, and was very clingy, but the next day she was better again and eating well. We continue to keep a close eye on her.

Same with Beatrice really – some days she walks as if drunk, and then the next day she’s rushing about like a crazy kitten! She’s no good at jumping up on things any more as she seems to have lost the spring in her back legs, and she falls off things. If she was a person, she’d probably have a granny frame by now.

They both seem contented enough and neither seems to be in pain, so we will keep them going as long as we can, our two old ladies!

Have a great week, everyone, and I’ll try and catch up with you later.

WOYWW 358–Misc Decorating

Still nothing on my desk I’m afraid, because we’ve been very busy with other things this week. Gary finished decorating our sitting room last week, and then did some odd jobs around the house that needed attention, including some priming of bits that had never got painted when we moved and the builders had finished – you know how it is, there are those pesky little bits that you never get round to doing, that you learn to live with until you cease to notice them, until the decorating bug bites again and suddenly you say “enough is enough!” I have been doing a bit of gloss and emulsion painting and then sleeping for 2 hours because I was so exhausted from the effort!

We also have some lamps that weren’t working and I’ve been attending to those. The black Ikea uplighter ceased working several months ago and my hubby said it was the dimmer switch. I’m not fussed about whether it dims or not, so yesterday I replaced the defunct switch with a normal one and lo and behold it works again! Nice. The fibre-optic lamp’s halogen bulb had gone and you have to take the lamp apart to replace the bulb, so it’s now in pieces awaiting the arrival of the replacement from Ebay, promised to arrive today. It didn’t. The cable for my work lamp (LED magnifier) has mysteriously vanished when we moved everything through to Mum’s flat in preparation for decorating. It has yet to turn up. We are still awaiting the arrival of the new chandelier which has been on order, due to arrive this week, we hope.

Once the decorative lamps are all working again and nicely arranged on the side table, and I’ve finished bringing stuff back into the room, I’ll upload the blog post I’m working on, charting the before, during and after of the redecorating of our sitting room. We are now using it again and it’s looking great – so bright and fresh, and the stencilling has worked a treat and looks really stylish. Watch this space.

So – miscellaneous decorating. First of all, the bi-fold doors to the airing cupboard.

These, and the rest of yesterday’s painting, all require a second coat. This gloss takes aaaages to dry and it’s still tacky! My cleaning lady is here today so I haven’t attempted a second coat, and will do it tomorrow, energy permitting. The rest of the utility room really needs decorating because only bits were done when the builders were altering it, and I’m going to use up the remaining green emulsion from the kitchen so it all matches – there are no doors in the doorways and you can see right through.

Up to the en-suite bathroom. The builders penetrated the wall into the old bathroom and created a doorway using the architrave from the utility room. When they removed it, it was quite damaged and I managed to patch it up and fill it as best as I could at the time. It remained patchy with the old cream paint and filler. It now has its first coat of new cream gloss.

Viewed from the other side you can see the door frame and new architrave created by the builders. This was just raw wood, with filler in the screw holes. Now also with its first coat of cream gloss after Gary primed it for me. (You can see the other side of it, and the arch into the loo, reflected in the mirror opposite!)

The threshold – likewise. Masking tape to remain until I’ve done the second coat.

Under the basin, the plasterboard at the back was a mess, with scorch marks from the blowtorch to melt the solder in the pipes, and it was discoloured and patchy. It now has its first coat of emulsion to match that on the arch visible in the first bathroom picture, and I’ve also painted the pipes. This space is where I keep my trolley that contains all my stoma supplies. You can see that in the first bathroom picture, too.

Finally, the water pipe from the high-level cistern in the loo, beyond the arch. There was still some green paint below the last remaining piece of dado, and a messy part where the old lead pipe was connected to the new plastic pipe. The first coat of cream gloss doesn’t fully cover the green, but I’m hoping another coat will do it.

It all looks so much better and more finished already! I am ashamed to say that these jobs have been waiting 2 1/2 years to be completed. I also had 2 boxes in the sitting room which had also been sitting around for 2 1/2 years waiting to be unpacked, containing ornaments and some other bits and pieces, and these are all unpacked now.

A few more finishing touches in the sitting room, and then we’ll have the Big Reveal!

Also last week, while the decorating was still going on, the windows man phoned to ask if he could come in about an hour’s time to replace our cloudy double-glazed units – he had a slot. We didn’t want to turn him down so we rushed around clearing the relevant rooms in front of the windows. They took down the grotty Venetian blind in the kitchen and I nearly killed myself cleaning it, rushing through the job to be finished in time for them to replace it before they left! It was still covered with builders’ dust etc. because the window is so large and high that I couldn’t reach it. Phew. What a job. Never again.

Phoebe, our younger cat, had another fit on Sunday evening, the second in a week. We phoned Auntie Megan, the vet, the next day and she said that it would be a few weeks till the increased dose of phenobarbital (started last week) takes effect. In a month’s time she wants to see her again and take more bloods and check her titre to make sure of the dose. This was the first time my hubby had seen her having a seizure – I’ve always had to deal with it on my own until now. She was very distressed and disoriented afterwards and needed lots of cuddles and reassurance.

In between all this, I have been trying to slot in at least 1/2 hour each day to practise my singing and guitar!

After all this work is finished, I’m really hoping to get back to my studio and do some ART!!

Happy WOYWW everybody, and a fruitful creative week ahead, in whatever direction that creativity takes you.

WOYWW 354–New Stash, Music and Decorating

Since there is no change in my desk since last week and not wanting to miss out on the fun of WOYWW, I thought I would share the new stash I bought in February. It’s on my desk somewhere under the clutter, and even though it was “posed” for the photos, it’s been there on every Wednesday, so I think it just about qualifies for a WOYWW post!

I have been so busy with other things lately that none of this stash has yet seen the light of day or got its feet wet with ink!

After our wonderful Diana Taylor posted over recent weeks on using things she hadn’t used recently, including some fabulous flower stamps and dies which I quite fell in love with, I got the details from her and ordered them – they are the Heartfelt ones in the pink packaging. I also raided Ebay for some more new flower stamps because I don’t have many. The ones on the right are smaller than I’d hoped but they will still be useful, and the ones at the bottom can be mixed and matched for layering or making 3-D flowers if I want.

The box on the right is Bo-Nash Fuse It. It’s like the glue on the back of Bondaweb, but in powder form. I bought this for sprinkling on fused Angelina fibre so that I can apply it to projects – this stuff fuses beautifully to itself but not to anything else! Centre stage are the final Perfect Pearls to complete my set. Below the Perfect Pearls is a new pot of gold embossing powder.

While looking for new flower stamps, I found the new PaperArtsy Eclectica Collection by Lin Brown.

I also bought the companion stencils.

I was totally blown away by these, particularly after viewing the Youtube video with all the projects people have made using them – I simply couldn’t resist!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yn8OdbuEUlA

One day (soon, I hope!) I shall get back into the studio and start playing with all these goodies.

Meanwhile, I am continuing to work hard on my guitar and singing technique. Here are my fingertips today – just over a fortnight on from when I started.

They are less tender now, and they look a lot worse than they feel! You can see that there has been some bleeding under the skin. They definitely feel harder now so I’m almost there!

I have been working on strengthening my left hand by squeezing the rubber ball my hubby used for the same purpose when he broke his wrist. Today I discovered some good exercises online for increasing flexibility, stretch and dexterity in the fretting (left) hand, with some excellent Youtube videos.

I have noticed since I started singing again that there is weakness in my middle register, and looking online again for advice on this, I came across Felicia Ricci, an amazing singing teacher who is enthusiastic and fun, and who explains things which are hard to put into words – I know I am going to benefit from this.

I spoke to my minister after church on Sunday and he said to email him when I felt I was ready to sing, and he’d fix it. It won’t be long now!

We are also about to redecorate our gloomy and cluttered sitting room, which doesn’t get a lot of natural light. At present the walls are cream, and we have far too much stuff in there. The lighting is very poor, so the electrician is coming to see if we can have wall lights. We are going to replace the cream paint with white, with small accents of a nice sunny bright orange. My hubby took me to B&Q yesterday (he said, “I know how to give a girl a good time” lol!) to buy the paint. I have ordered a new storage cabinet/bookcase to replace the ugly white painted shelves and this will be a lot less dominant. We spend a lot of time in there, and it certainly needs a facelift. Photos will follow! Now that Mum is no longer in the flat, we are going to move some of the stuff through there and use it while ours is out of action, which will be nicer in the evenings because it is at the back of house and gets the afternoon sun. Watch this space.

My hubby has been working hard in the garden and it’s all beginning to look lovely. We can’t wait for our rock plants to start growing. The water feature is looking great.

Happy WOYWW everybody and may we all have a fulfilling and creative week, whatever form that creativity may take!

Visit to the Met Office

On Wednesday afternoon my hubby and I went on an outing with our local Ileostomy Association to the Met Office in Exeter. The Met Office, responsible primarily for weather forecasting, has moved several times, and moved to Exeter a few years ago, where it is most likely to remain. The building is very modern, and striking in appearance.

The tour started with a session in the lecture theatre, where we were shown a Powerpoint presentation giving the history of the organisation.

After the presentation, we were split into four groups and taken round by different guides. We had to be aware that people were still at work, and to keep the noise down, and make room for people moving to and fro.

Our guide described how previously, the Met Office was housed in typical government buildings with corridors and rooms isolated from each other, but this new building was constructed with a view to freer communication between different departments, with plenty of open space with tables and chairs to sit and chat and discuss matters across different disciplines.

Not only is the layout conducive to good communication, but the building has a light, spacious feel to it and we were told it was a very pleasant environment in which to work. Scattered around were various commissioned works of art by contemporary artists in many media and these added to the generally very aesthetically pleasing surroundings.

A huge amount of research goes on, analysing data coming in from around the world and via satellite and radar telemetry. Most of the staff have several university degrees in many disciplines - there are physicists, mathematicians, statisticians, engineers - you name it. The coffee shop is a key element because our guide said that you can ask people by phone, email, text, etc., to meet with you to discuss something and they won't come, but offer to buy them coffee, and they come like a shot! There is a restaurant, and vending machines throughout the building as they run shifts 24 hours a day. Everywhere there are recycling bins - it's all pretty environmentally conscious! They even have a gym to maintain good health among the staff. They have a large library and this is open to the public - in the library is a display of historical instruments, and I was fascinated to see an Admiral Fitzroy barometer - my parents used to have one so it was very familiar to me.

We were shown some very interesting items such as a model of the aircraft they use for measuring different things in the upper atmosphere, a model satellite, and some very interesting free-floating buoys which can be programmed to rise and fall to different depths in various oceanic currents, all the time monitoring pressure, temperature, salinity, speed etc. There is a label on the side stating it is the property of the Met Office and "Do Not Retrieve!" These oceanic currents are part of the engine that drives the global climate. A great deal of research is being done on climate change, collating data from around the world, and looking at ice cores, atmospheric dust etc. They were at the forefront of the decision to stop all flights after the volcano erupted in Iceland a few years ago, measuring the levels of dust in the atmosphere. They monitor droughts and floods and try to predict when these things might happen, and try to help communities in the Third World which are particularly vulnerable to these events.

He explained about the duplication of a lot of the equipment in case of failure, and details of how much electrical power is required to run the supercomputer, and how it is water cooled - I wish I could remember all the facts and figures! The water heated during this cooling process is used to heat the building, and any excess is used to generate electricity to be ploughed back into their system. They have their own power plant and back-up generators, and several hundred solar panels, and they don't waste any energy.

Someone said to me recently that since the Met Office moved down here, the local forecast seems to have got less accurate lol! She said she felt like phoning them up and saying, "Just look out of the window!!" I don't actually think they do too badly these days - it's a lot more accurate than it used to be, and our guide showed us some charts while we were still in the conference room, showing how the accuracy of the predictions several years ago for one or two days ahead, is now what can be expected for 5 or 6 days ahead. The supercomputer is making over 1,000 trillion calculations every second.

I asked our guide about the average age of the employees, because they all seemed to be very young. He said that the average age had dropped from about 35 to early- to mid-twenties. Being a government department the pay isn't that brilliant, and young graduates are happy to put up with this for the benefit of gaining experience, using their expertise, getting papers published, having something good on their CV etc. Being mostly single, they manage fine on their salaries, but once they start to settle down and get married and have families, they tend to move to better paid pastures new. He says there is quite a gap between these young employees and the ones like himself who have been long-term employees for 30+ years and this is proving to be quite a problem. They need the experience but people are not staying more than a few years.

The final stop was at the library, and then we all met up again in the lobby before coming home. The whole visit took about 2 hours. It was all very interesting, and I hadn't realised just how much they do and how important the work is - it's not just so that we can decide whether to take an umbrella to work that day, or whether to hang the washing out or not!!

Other News

After all the recent activity, yesterday I was extremely tired so didn’t push myself at all, but got up late, and spent most of the day resting on the recliner. Even if I feel I am wasting time and being lazy when I get a day like this (which is not true – after 9 years of M.E. I should learn not to be so hard on myself!!) it is well worth it, because the next day I really feel the benefit of it. Today I am feeling a lot better, and able to tackle the laundry and various other tasks.

Yesterday was the first day since I took up my guitar again at the end of February, that I did not do any practising. Being so tired, I gave myself a day off! I played and sang again this morning, though, and am pleased to say that I am making progress and my fingers are definitely not as sore as they were. I noticed this morning that the calluses are forming very well, and no longer look like deep white blisters, but have turned brown!

They are getting sufficiently hard that hammer-ons are now becoming more audible! My fingers are still sore, and the percussive impact on my computer keyboard still hurts, but this will pass as the calluses develop further. The only way is to keep at it!

During the tour of the Met Office I thought I was beginning to develop a cold, which I really dreaded. With my M.E. a cold usually degenerates into a more severe viral infection causing me to feel flu-y and feverish, and I often get a throat infection and end up coughing for weeks – definitely something to be avoided! I squirted some Vick’s First Defence up my nose and as the evening wore on I didn’t think it had done any good. I went to bed with some hot lemon and honey and slept well, and in the morning there was no trace of it – so I’m not sure if any of my remedies worked, or whether the whole thing was a false alarm! Anyway, I am fine, and was able to go to KnitterNatter (our church craft group) in the evening, feeling better after resting all day.

The wound where my port was removed on Tuesday is healing well. I have not had to take paracetamol apart from on that first day, but it is still tender to the touch. I miss having it though, because I used to fiddle with it, and it feels very strange not to have a hard bump on my upper right chest any longer. After a few days the skin adhesive should slough away and the wound become less puckered and red. Yesterday they phoned me from the hospital to check that everything was OK, and I as able to report that it was fine and there were no problems.

WOYWW 353

Yet another busy week gone by with no art done. It’s got to the stage now where there are double bookings and I’m having to choose which to do! Oh well, I suppose this can’t go on forever! Here’s an extended view of my studio, showing that it has again reverted to its dumping ground status. This always happens when it is not being used for art. It’s worse over the other side of the room.

I’ve been having a bit of a clear-out in the sitting room in preparation for some re-organisation and possible decorating, and I took piles of stuff upstairs and just dumped it all in the studio and office. When I get time I’ll sort through it and have a good tidy-up, and hopefully soon get back to making art. Our sitting room is overcrowded, cluttered and gloomy. Time for a change! I’ve got Plans.

I had my port removed at the hospital yesterday – scroll down to the previous post for details (and full details on my Cancer Diary page). It’s going to be rather uncomfortable for a day or two but paracetamol is helping. It all went smoothly but I feel rather strange about it all!

My fingertips continue to be pretty sore from over a week’s guitar practice – about half an hour each day – but I can see the beginnings of calluses forming, which is good news. I’m still pretty rough round the edges as far as the playing and singing are concerned but it shouldn’t be too long before I’m up to scratch.

On Friday I met up with one of the friends I met in hospital, at the cancer support centre for the monthly relaxation session, and made a couple of new friends there too. It was a great session, followed by a nice leisurely chat over coffee.

I attended an Ileostomy Association meeting on Saturday which included a talk by one of the colo-rectal surgeons from Exeter, on parastomal hernias, which are an occupational hazard for us ostomates – informative, useful, and humorous too! As well as the business side (AGM) we also had a delicious buffet and plenty of opportunity to chat, and visit the stoma supply companies’ reps’ tables. A good day, followed by crashing out on the recliner and going right off to sleep.

I made it to church on Sunday morning, and then went with my hubby to visit Mum in her care home in the afternoon, armed with flowers and a card for Mothering Sunday. Then another sleep on the recliner!

This afternoon we are off out again with the Ileostomy Association for a visit to the Met Office in Exeter to find out just how they manage to forecast our ever-varied and increasingly bizarre weather. I hope we get home in time for my Tesco delivery.

Another KnitterNatter meeting tomorrow evening (our church craft group) – an opportunity to do some more on my UFOs (UnFinished Objects) – at the moment concentrating on my Hebrew alphabet sampler (cross stitch).

Last Thursday night, Phoebe had another seizure – quite a big one. We phoned the vet on Friday but she’s reluctant to increase the dose of phenobarbital unless the seizures increase in frequency, because of possible side effects. Because she seems to distressed and disoriented when it is over, this time as soon as she stopped moving, I scooped her up and cuddled her until she seemed calmer. She is always very clingy afterwards and won’t let me out of her sight. Poor little one.

It’s all go, chez Shosh.

Keep your eyes open for another post soon, showing, as promised, the new stash that I acquired recently. Maybe one day I’ll actually have the time and energy to start using it.

Happy WOYWW, everybody!

WOYWW 352

We continue to be very busy, and I haven’t had any time to speak of for art this week. I have done some more baking for the chemo unit, though (scroll down to see my last post for details) and late last night made two batches of biscuits to take in to the Ricky Grant chemo unit when we go in today. (I haven’t got an appointment, but just want to say goodbye to my favourite receptionist who is leaving).

I made cheese and cinnamon biscuits. I was sad last time I went in that a couple of people were not able to enjoy the cakes I took in because they had diabetes, so I thought a savoury choice might be a good idea this time.

I am going back to the hospital next Tuesday (8th March) to have my port removed. It will be strange not to have it any more as it’s been part of me for 10 months. Its removal marks the symbolic end of my chemo and (pending the results of further scans and blood tests over the next 5 years) the end of my cancer.

The only art I managed to do this week was to finish my kitty art journal page.

If you want to see details, please go here.

Also this week I have revived a long-neglected skill. On Sunday after church, our minister asked whether I would sing for them. It has been a very, very long time since I sang in public (or even at all!) and I had not played my guitar since I went downhill with my M.E., and then other things really took over. On Sunday afternoon I dug the guitar out from the recesses of the under-the-stairs cupboard, dusted it off and sat down to have a go. At first it was totally awful but then I expected that – however, what I hadn’t expected was that I remembered all the chords with no problem at all – memory is an amazing thing, isn’t it. I suppose remembering guitar chords is a bit like riding a bicycle, or like touch typing – it’s a sort of muscle memory! At the end of the session my poor fingertips were very painful as all my hard-earned protective callouses had disappeared many moons ago!

Since then, I have been practising for about half an hour each morning. On Monday, putting my sore fingers back on those steel strings took a great deal of courage and it really HURT! However, the only way to build up callouses is to do the thing that made the fingers sore to start with – playing the guitar! Several days on, they are still quite sore, but typing isn’t quite so painful this morning as it has been, and I think I’m on my way. My playing has definitely improved over the succeeding days, and I am sure that I shall be ready to step out in faith and do it in public before too many more weeks are up!

My hubby is thrilled that I am doing it again. There is another member of the family who is also thrilled. Phoebe!

Happy WOYWW everyone, and I wish you a fulfilling and creative week.