Some normal challenges today - but I coped

 Home Insurance.  Goodness, what a nightmare that is.  Our policy had suffered a more than 25% price hike and I was not impressed.  I spent yet more time (did this a couple of days ago too) on comparison websites, but felt that the cheaper quotes (despite being voted best for prices etc) were more for bog-standard properties - some didn't even mention outbuildings, and if they did, would only cover summer houses, garages and greenhouses - not Victorian stable blocks.  Then if something was a STABLE, well that wasn't covered either.  We won't go down the Bridleway route as our house track is a bridleway (which goes on to the farm up the hill). Anyway, having clarified coverage (again, as I a know we did this from the start), I then said I wasn't happy with the price quoted and to come back with their best offer.  This turned out to be £85 less - not much more than last year - so I have stayed put with them.  My poor brain has been fried going from site to site, and reading reviews good and bad.

Poor brain wasn't helped from starting the day, yet again, with chasing up carers.  I got told we hadn't even been allocated a social worker yet (course not, as THEN they would have to do something).  So I got the Duty Social Worker's number and left a message (you don't think there was someone available to pick the phone up do you?) So I have left a message and stressed the urgency.  Really, I cannot carry on much longer as Keith is very doddery come bed time and it is a real challenge to get him from living room to bedroom each night.  Covid really exacted a toll and he has been going downhill steadily ever since.  I will spare you all the details but it is incredibly stressful and only going to get worse, sadly.

Whilst I was having a Phone Morning, I chased up the Handyman about the greenhouse and said I was getting the impression he didn't want the work, so perhaps I had better look elsewhere . . .

District Nurse hasn't turned up yet . . .

Who could resist?

 I was in desperate need of some down time today and having settled Keith for the afternoon, took myself off up to Three Cocks to Visit the Old Railway Line Garden Centre again.  They just have the most amazing Christmas decorations and everything Christmassy, along with the garden centre, the small deli and the gifts, homeware, clothing, toys and games.  I went a few weeks ago but was very parsimonious.  Today I decided I would treat myself to a Christmas swag for the living room fireplace . . .  (The pink link will take you to the Old Railway Line shop photos.)

I even blew the dust off the little Elastoplast tin that mum kept her card pegs, and tacks for hanging things up at Christmas and the hammer and I tapped some in to hold this in place.  The cones have been sprayed red and glittery, and I just love it.

I just couldn't resist these for the tree.  The robin and watering can reminded me of Beatrix Potter and so did the little squirrel, who was dearer than I realized - I thought I was pushing the boat out at £5.99 but he was actually £7.99 - didn't have my glasses with me . . .

Cheap Stocking fillers.

No room at the inn for ME on the sofa . . .  Lulu, Pippi, Ghengis and Alfie.

I even made bread today - first time since I got Covid - and cooked up a big pan of Chilli which is my lunch today/tomorrow and a double portion for the freezer too.  Keith is coughing and sneezing and I think he has a cold but he says not.  Will settle down to watch a "Vera" I recorded shortly.  Warmer weather from the South this weekend - hope it feels warmer too.

I'm glad this afternoon is over

 

The kittens are well over a year old now and last week I got a card from the vet to say that they were due their booster jabs.  I booked them in for this afternoon but was dreading it, remembering a past occasion when a vet stabbed poor Pippi an inch deep and in agony she sank her teeth in my finger nearly to the bone.  Anyway, it was the nice cat-vet today and they were quickly and painlessly innoculated and weighed and even Lulu - who really didn't want to go in the cat basket and had to be dragged out - was OK when she realized no-one was going to chop her head off! Pippi didn't want to come out either, but was OK and neither of them felt the injection.  SO glad that is over and done with as I felt a horrid "mum" for getting them scared.  My anxiety levels are already high and weren't improved by this.  I need to have a Respite afternoon as I've only had one since we had Covid.  I will have to settle for a walk tomorrow.  

The weather is back to rain today, which is a relief.  Keith, the cats and I are glad to be warm indoors - three pussums are cwtched up beside me on the sofa - Lulu (who has only just discovered the upper levels of the sofa, though she still prefers the kitten hammock below it), Ghengis and Alfie.  They are all fast asleep.  

Keith has got a series called Brassic on and I have to say, it's making us both chuckle. Probably not to everyone's taste, but laughter is a positive thing.  

I'm finally getting on top of Christmas and sent some gifts off today and have ordered the last couple of gifts.  We're having a low-key Christmas this year - it's about family and having fun not huge piles of presents.  Four nearly-Christmas birthdays covered too, and I can't wait to see little "I" open her gifts.  Christmas will be staggered too with Danny & co here either a week before or a week later, but that means we get double the pleasure.

Frost, snow and now rain

 Well, winter has decided to put on a show and we have had stunning hoar frosts (and fortunately dry lanes).  Last night it snowed a bit (so little it's not worth photographing) and now it is raining, which will make the roads a bit slick, especially if it freezes again.  A good day to stay put and tackle the ironing mountain (nearly all king size bedding!) The weather unfortunately put paid to a visit from Danny & Co as I couldn't guarantee either getting to them or getting them to the station today, as the weather forecast showed wet weather coming in, which when it met up with the very cold weather here (minus 7 yesterday) may well fall as snow.  We didn't go to the Antiques Fair for the same reason and Keith wasn't feeling up to it anyway.

Sorry for the power lines but you get the general idea.

        Keith is struggling as he had his medication upped when we saw the Consultant, and it made him barely able to move yesterday - NOT a good situation.  The PD nurse had phoned up on Friday to say how much was he on? REALLY? She clearly didn't believe me and phoned the Consultant. Even the Pharmacist phoned the Consultant to query the timings so we have dropped back to the old dose until we see the PD nurse this week. 

Finally I got the labels on the Hedgerow Jelly I made last week . . .

Another of Pippi's hunting successes - never seen one before - it is a Water Shrew, though apparently they are often found a long way from water.

My friend D in Dorset has just bought herself this book (only a nicer copy, in hardback).  She was saying about Herman Lea's photographs taken for this book - which was Thomas  Hardy's idea.  The photographs made £24,000 at auction.  History under the hammer.

For many years, I had a little colour picture of that very view in Puddletown on my office wall.  I think it got tidied away in the move and I will try and find it again.

I really didn't want to get up this morning

 

. . . However, the day has improved.  As usual, I was awake a couple of hours in the night again, and ended up writing down everything that was going through my mind.  I had a phone call from the Hospital yesterday, to say they had had a further cancellation and we could have the appt with the Consultant bought forward to tomorrow.  Still 10 a.m. which is a push for us living 45 miles away and Keith isn't too mobile first thing.  We'll manage - we have to.  

One of the things which hit me in the night was the fact we had upped Keith's  dairy intake to try and get weight back on him.  Yesterday Keith had cheese on toast for breakfast, and later we tried the whey protein which Tam had left us at the weekend, mixed  with full cream milk.  Keith had a small glass at teatime, but then later on we really struggled to get him up to bed as his balance was so bad.  He had some cheese biscuits in the evening too and that really increased saliva production.  I have read that too much dairy prevents the Parkinsons medication from working efficiently and I think that we need to cut right back and see if it makes a difference.  Today he's only had a little milk in his tea and I did him the fluffiest omelette for his breakfast.  

The District Nurse has just called, and will be back later.  We were chatting outside and I mentioned the LPAs and blimey, she can help with that.  Then she asked about carers and of course I told her I was a one man show, which really surprised her.  She is going to sort that out too and get in touch with Social Services.,  It does seem to me, if you are a professional, you can make things happen - get the attention of Social Services etc - in a way that I as an individual can't.  I had left a couple of phone messages but then decided Danny & Emma would be here in January, so I just had to slog on till then.

I am just sat down watching Bargain Hunt with Keith, and we are doing our usual "DON'T buy that" and "HOW much?!!"  or "I wouldn't buy that".  I will get back to he cake I began mixing earlier (Chocolate Apple Cake to use up some stewed blackberry and apple I had in the fridge and needs using.)  I have apples to stew up as well, after being given that huge bag last week. Oh and I have mandarin oranges to use up too from a tin opened and put in a cup, and those will be a Mandarin Orange Cake.  

I even made progress with a brick wall  for my Adams Family in Plymouth - Non-Conformists are always wriggly worms - and now it looks like they came from Cornwall.  I shall do some more research later - I have been looking up all the Adams names in the censuses and will be mapping out different families/occupations/areas of Plymouth area in a "Spider" later.  The ones I need most are the Carpenters with Plymstock and Charles the Martyr Plymouth and have found what may be a brother now, of my g.g. grandfather.

So, we shall see what transpires with today's developments.

Rant! Update and how to order a £2.50 digital birth or death certificate for Debbie

 It's 5.30 a.m.  I can't sleep.  I shall do some family history I think, and find out what g. granny Brown and her grand-daughter Rosina died from (the latter only 17).  Get right through to payments for the first death certificate and then for the heady sum of £2.50, all of a sudden I have to put the payment through my card reader.  This involves:  going upstairs to get card from handbag, plus mobile phone, finding said card reader, turning phone on and going upstairs to bedroom to get a signal, waiting about 5 minutes for said signal and the appropriate code and then putting that in so I can have the HUGE payment verified.  You know - I can't be bothered.  It can wait until daylight.  Update: with my brain engaged, I found I just had to find the card reader and put in the number they had supplied online.  Doh.  Found that my g.g. grandmother whose husband had up-sticks from London and taken them to the Welsh Valleys died from a) hemiplegia - brain damage/spinal cord injury - probably a stroke, and b) myocarditis - heart inflammation.  Her grandaughter, just 17, died from Acute Broncho-Pneumonia TB... She was taken ill when staying with the rest of the family in Hampshire, and went home to die.

        Debbie - GRO £2.50 birth or death certificates. Go to the GRO site, and - having checked the GRO Index Reference number from Free BMD or similar site, click on the  "start now."  I am registered with them so just have to log in.  Then a page comes up with various options - chose the Order a Digital Image and then follow the instructions.  Hope this helps

        I did 22 trips up and downstairs yesterday - is it any wonder my legs get tired?!  I'd just got to the bathroom yesterday for the loo and I heard a knock on the door.  Plans abandoned,  up and leg it to front door - it's a delivery van, looking for blardy Orchard Cottage again.  If that happens once, it happens a dozen times, or else they just dump their parcels here to avoid going up the dog-leg steep driveway.  Our postie uses the catflap or rings bell and pops parcel through the door.  Other parcel deliverers pretty considerate too.

        If I have to spend today waiting around for people to phone me back I shall not be pleased.   There's nothing worse - I can't be far from the phone because it only rings 6 times before going to answerphone.  If I'm upstairs I can't even hear it ring. 

        I am hoping it won't be too cold today so I can get back to planting my bulbs in pots and planters. I made a good start in October and then Covid struck and it's rained daily since!  Right, back to bed in the hope I can sleep but I'll have to set the alarm so I don't sleep on like I did on Sunday, as Keith can't be in bed too long or he can barely move at all.

Green Darkness

Part of the stunning borders at Powis Castle this summer.

 I first read this book when it was published back in the 1970s and have read it a couple of times since. When we were moving I hardened my heart and gave it with the boxes and boxes of books to the charity in Carmarthen who were still taking books.  It's written by Anya Seton and the review of it here may tempt you to seek out a copy, if historical timeslips are your thing.  It is a book I can lose myself in anyway, and right now, is about the best way to get respite without leaving the house.  

        I decided my blog was becoming a "poor me" moan, and of no interest to anyone, but unable to get out anywhere for weeks to have much "me time" it was inevitable, and everything has been grinding me down.  There have been further health problems et al and further challenges over the weekend, and I spent all morning on the phone, which I find wearing at the best of times.  Hoping the LPA problem has been solved but that requires an answer to a phone message I left this morning, so fingers crossed. 

        Keith and I were just watching the firework display on the Showground - it's the Welsh Winter Fair being held there and queues of traffic on the lane to go over the bridge across the Wye.  Fortunately I was able to go up the inside lane, and up the road past the Strand and Eco Chic AND get parked - a minor miracle.  I had to go out again this afternoon for another prescription for Keith, and not only was there a parking space, I managed to reverse into it.  If there is a long queue of traffic waiting for me to do so I tend to get flustered.

        I knew this was going to be a tiring day - I'd been up and downstairs 10 times before 10.30. Now that's got to 21 an the day's not over yet.  Hoping I will sleep well tonight.

        Sorry, not much to report.  Tam was here for just a couple of hours on Saturday morning, as she was meeting up with her best friend (who's settled in Sheffield now) at the Elan Valley.  The winter weather brought us a beautiful hoar frost and I went out for a walk and took photos in the afternoon, but the computer has filed them somewhere random again.  I couldn't face trying to sort it out today.  Gabby has been making phone calls on my behalf again too, so that lightens the load.

        I don't know how often I will get a post together but if I go quiet, don't worry, life has gotten in the way again.