Change of antibiotics

 Let's hope this works, and they don't have the same degree of Nausea side effects as the other ones I was on.  Appetite totally under control.  Blood pressure still well within normal ranges (136/75).  So, we shall see.  Meanwhile, 3/4 of the way through JD Kirk's Blood and Treachery.

My gorgeous wee girl who looks like she's eating spaghetti but actually it's the fringe on a blanket!!

I was reading something really interesting on Findmypast earlier on, whilst checking the Newspapers for my family in Cheriton Bishop - trying to establish a connection there.  It was in the Morning Chronicle in October 1839 and spoke of a lass (who could be a relly) being duped into possibly stealing things from her boss in order to pay 5 shillings to have her Nativity read by "Raphael", Astrologer.  She went back next day and was told it was another 5 shillings and if she couldn't pay up, she might find her legs got broken or other ill luck attend her.  Poor girl wasn't able to read very well and didn't understand most of the Nativity cast for her (fortune telling, basically).  He (real name Ebernezer Webber) was proven to be an utter fake and sentenced to 3 months hard labour in the House of Correction.

I have been very distracted looking through as for some reason a lot of the "links" they are meant to provide - highlighted in blue - don't actually take you to the page and highlighted article you want.  Still, I've read all sorts of interesting stuff on there.  Early racism in Totnes (poor chap, a "Hindoo" set upon and robbed by three drunken louts;) arson; murder; attempted murder; all sorts.  One poor girl was sentenced to 6 mths hard labour - her crime, "taking a piece of cloth"!

I have also been searching for my g. grandfather, John Bolt, who moved to Hampstead in London with his mother when she was widowed (in Moretonhampstead).  Have found what could be him, being somewhat militant about the Vestry Elections (Hampstead Town Ward).  He lived in Holly Place and the house next door has just sold for a cool £4 million.  That was an odd number though and perhaps his place was flattened as there are more modern dwellings for the even numbers.  Think the dates are wrong as he had been in the Vestry members for 40 years. All I can say is, he wasn't having any nonsense!  He wanted new blood in the Vestry!

Fed up with this

 

Hay Bluff in the mist.

Still here, and very glad that I didn't do the Fair as I was sofa bound all day.  Despite drinking and drinking, nothing really happened until I went to bed, and then I was up 6 times in the night!  Tam ordered me some D-Mannose (thanks to gz for the heads up on that), and I've taken two lots so far.  Both the girls say I'm not too bad, but my brain is doing a Dr Google over all the symptoms and x = x4squared!  Watched some enjoyable tv (despite Tony Robinson being involved) - Time Crashers, made in 2015, which I have never heard of before.  Celebrities taken back in time for 24 hours (I think the Iron Age ones would have starved in pretty short order if they'd been there a week!)  On Youtube anyway.

I couldn't eat much of the lovely meal the kids made, but managed a few mouthfuls of venison and shared the rest out between my offspring.  I am losing a pound a day weightwise, and my BP this morning was 114/77.  Surviving on water, dry bread and apples.

I get the results of my urine test tomorrow, but since it was taken AFTER I'd been on antibiotics, it will probably be negative.  Results for Kidney performance I won't get until Tuesday.

Right, back to resting up.

Update: If you have ever tried to chose a replacement printer when your brain isn't really with it, you will extend your sympathies.  Printer finally ordered and as I was looking for a cheap one, it is probably no better or worse than any of the others whatever the reviews tell you.

Car unloaded (thanks Gabby).  

The girls will be off soon and I will probably snooze on the sofa.  Youtube certainly has my algorithm and I have dozens of good programmes to watch.  Plus a big pile of unread books.

I just escaped a trip to A&E . . .

 UPDATE: Sorry, my comments when replying to people caused confusion.  I've decided (this morning) not to do the Fair as it would mean a very early start, and two long days and I don't want to get there and set up and find myself feeling so unwell I need to go home.  The organiser is a good friend, and understanding.  The antibiotics are making me feel sick all the time and I have no appetite. Dry bread is all I'm enjoying right now.  

Yup, yesterday did not turn out as I wanted, as despite drinking lots in the morning, nothing was moving through me. . .  The anti-biotics were clearly not working and I was worsening.  I phoned the Surgery and explained the situation, went down at lunchtime and was told the Duty Dr would phone after 3.  By 3.30 I was down there again and had a long wait to actually see the Dr.  Still nothing working as it should be.  I was finally examined and sent across to the District Nurse (one I know well as she was also the side-kick of the Parkinsons Nurse) to have a bladder scan.  I was told in no uncertain terms if it was over 900ml, then I would have to drive to Hereford and present myself at A&E, something I truly did NOT want to as a) it's 45 miles away and I'd be driving in the dark at a time when I am normally taking myself off to bed; b) I'd have to sit in a packed waiting room all night waiting to be seen and getting more and more uncomfortable  c) the car was only half-packed with Fair stuff and not tightly-packed as it needs to be to travel any distance and I didn't want to leave a car full of quite valuable things in the Hospital car park.  Plus Tam and Rosie had come over straight away, bless them - how that baby loves me - ear to ear grin when she sees me!

Anyway, they couldn't find much fluid in my bladder (where the heck did it all go?) but I was sent home with different antibiotics and a stern "if you haven't p'd by 9 p.m., off to Hereford A&E".  I got fish and chips and curry sauce for our tea, and guess what, Rosie LOVES curry sauce!!  It's so mild it barely justifies the name of curry, but it's great on chips and she was delighted to have some:)

I spent the evening drinking water like it was going out of fashion and managed to avoid having to drive to Hereford, and during the night have been back to normal.  Phew.

Anyway, yesterday I cancelled my stand at the Fair, to give Brita a chance to fill it.  I had paid for my stand of course, so she wouldn't be out of pocket but she didn't have anyone else in the waiting list in case a table became available.  Anyway, later on I got in touch and said rather than set up today, I would rest up and if definitely feeling better, I would go down early on Saturday morning to get everything arranged.  Gabby is going to meet me there and help me through the day.  We will still have our special meal in the evening, to celebrate what would have been Keith's 84th birthday.  

I could certainly have done without being ill when a Fair is in the offing.  I am very glad I started organizing the stock I'd be taking early.  I have Tam here to help me carry the Berber door out as it is quite chunky and whilst I can just manage it on my own, better to have a two woman lift and save my back!

So, for once I have had time to read, and watch tv but would rather be well!  Have a good weekend.

Plodding on

 No sign that the antibiotics are kicking in yet and I'm half way through the course.  I can see myself back down the Dr's tomorrow morning. Anyway, I have felt very slightly better - better enough to tackle the boxes of old stock tucked away and decide what will go.  I have even put 3 big boxes in the car, along with the spare table and both the big display shelves.  I put the final stitches in the big auction quilt last night and now it's in the washing machine.  I will take both the single hexi quilts too.

The patchwork tops are generous - unlike some which have a patchwork bit barely the width of the top of the bed and a huge valance drop to them.   With these you could if you wished take off the valance edge.

I've popped down the town to post the teacosy to Danette (enjoy it my dear), and had some venison steaks put on one side at the Butchers for Keith's birthday meal on Saturday, and had an early lunch of a small bowl (half a tin) of Oxtail soup and the last muffin, buttered, and will take myself off to the sofa shortly to rest up.

I had a good mix of tv yesterday - episode 8 of Rivals last night; several of Dave's Countryside Walks on Youtube, where he roams parts of Dorset and the New Forest very familiar and comforting to me with his Whippet Logan; Kate and the Last Homely House; a couple of archaeology programmes and a Who Do You Think You Are.

This morning I've been researching Berber doors and found that mine is called a Jajouj door.  Apparently they are believed to have the power to ward off evil spirits, and protect from bad luck and misfortune.  They can also bring good luck and fortune.  Mine will be much cheaper than the examples I've found on line, some of which are well into four figures!

Laid up with a UTI

 Just what I didn't need - although the timing could have been a lot worse, had it happened next weekend.  Started feeling rough yesterday, had a very bad night and managed to get a GP appt. 9.30 this morning, thank heavens.  I've been put on MacroBID - Nitrofurantoin - which has some scary side effects.  I always read the sheet that comes with medications, and just as well I did with this one as it comes with contra-indications that it can affect breathing, so I spoke to the pharmacist before taking the first one.  It makes you drowsy too, so I have been zzzzzzzzing on the sofa, with Kate at the Last Homely House on to keep me company.  I am very glad that I have made good progress with prepping everything for the Fair, and now even have two of the big burgundy sheets I use to cover the tables at the Fair, washed and drying.

Danette - photos of the pretty patchwork tea cosy for you.  Brain too addled to start working out how I add them to a WhatsApp message!

Here is the Berber (Moroccan) door, which I gave a little tlc yesterday

I just love the designs on it - especially the compass drawn one which turns up in British folk designs too, and early furniture.  I read somewhere that these were the locked doors for jewellery and things which needed to be kept safe.  

You can't see the copper colour properly but this was black when it came home.  It is a coffee dallah with wonderful Indo Persian designs chased into it.

A not very sharp photo of the Chinese dragons - these would have been hung in homes I believe.  Hope someone will fall in love with some of these goodies anyway.  

Back to the sofa now.

Definitely NOT a car boot sale!

 

Debby said that it sounded like a lot of preparation for that car boot sale.  Believe me, if it were a car boot sale, it would be a bung it in the back job the afternoon before.  No, my Fair next weekend is this one and I am in the Dome (right hand side of the photo above).  Keith and I used to have a pillar to pillar (triple) stand in the Dome, right next to the lovely couple who used to sell the copper and brass pictured above.  I think they retired just before the first Lockdown, so good timing for them.  This time I have a single pitch, but also have a portion of one of the nearby glass doored entrance halls into the Dome, which is planted with amazing shrubs and plants from all around the world and which thrive inside the Dome.  This gets VERY hot in the summer and pretty chilly in the winter.  Next weekend calls for Winter Woollies!  I am being very specific with what I am taking and will even have a mock set up on my big kitchen table before I go to see that I have the look I want.  I need to strike the right balance with my display.  Some of the French brocante style stalls look like they have been professionally curated by window dressers and I can't compete - having totally different stock anyway.  I specialize in the unusual - sometimes bizarre - pieces.  Who else will have a bronze Indian temple "toy" in the form of a lion with the head of a man, which is meant to represent the Belgian king and Congo dictator Leopold II.  Not a strong selling point since he was responsible for the rape, mutilation and genocide of millions of Congoese people.  It's "old stock" (I have an awful lot of that, hence still doing Fairs!!)  Keith was with me when I had picked it up just to LOOK at it, and ask the price, and the next moment he had bought it (paying far too much).  So I am stuck with it . . .  I shall have to play down the Leopold II bit . . . or not mention him at all.  

I will take quilts and a Welsh blanket, small pieces of furniture including the lovely Smoker's Bow which has been professionally re-caned and looks fabulous (and it is SO rare).  A gorgeous inlaid round-topped wine table with a bobbin-turned stand.  A lovely little tiny-hexagons tea-cosy cover, huge wooden Welsh cawl spoons, an old ship's lamp or two, the big Turkish dough boards, and some pretty Studio Pottery ceramics. Some old lace, and those gorgeous Chinese and Burmese wooden pieces.  Plus paintings and prints.  A bit of everything.  I will look through Keith's militaria and see what I may be able to fit in on part of the table.  I'll try and add some photos later.

Just when I need some energy . . .

The view from my bathroom window, across the fields to Llanelwedd quarry down the other side of town.  Proof that the sun does shine here sometimes!

. . . . there is none to be found.  I slept badly again last night - that blasted Alfie again - and I think I need a few nights with cats downstairs since I have the Fair to prepare for.  That's what I spent much of yesterday doing.  I polished the little Georgian scratch-made child's chair up, and did lots of research on the more exotic things I got at the last Fair  at Malvern, but can find NOTHING like them, anywhere.  So valuing will be difficult and the jury is still out on that.  I polished up a little wooden inkwell from the 1920s that has a little Jack Russell type dog cut-out on the top.  I never knew that the His Master's Voice dog logo dated from 1899.  This little dog is very similar.  I went out to the stables and emptied a half-full deep plastic storage box so I can fill it with Fair things, non-ceramic.  I labelled and priced a few items.  In the evening I was hand-quilting the biggest of the 3 quilts from that last auction until Pippi decided she wanted to sleep inside the portion that drooped down towards the floor and after that I couldn't pull it up to work on it for fear of disturbing her.  I know . . . Mrs Softee.

I saw on Facebook this week that my favourite author, Phil Rickman, had died.  He had a bad stroke a few years ago, so I wonder if it was another one that did for him.  There is one last book of his in the pipeline (though not due to be issued for a year).  I have pre-ordered it on Amazon for my Kindle.

I was up very late this morning, and drove to Llandod as I had decided to get the week's grocery shopping out of the way.  I did a Big Shop (just over  £100! EEK!), as several things I use were on offer so worth buying two or three of, and when I looked at my trolley towards the end, there was just ONE meal in it, so it was off to the meat and freezer sections (I bought mostly fish), which I managed to squeeze in my freezers by taking some remaining veggie food of E's and taking it out of the large cardboard cartons to put in small freezer bags with the cooking instructions.  

Another £35 was spent topping the car up with diesel as I have 3 trips to and fro from Carmarthen next Friday to Sunday.

Now I'm going to have a lie down to find some energy for more Fair stock sorting later.  I want it all decided on, boxed and labelled by the end of tomorrow.