Author: anniesleath@hotmail.co.uk

We have had a busy day today, one way and another. John had decided he was going to catch up on his sleep this morning, so after a cup of tea and some hot cross buns in bed, he snuggled back down again while I nipped to Waitrose. My aim was to buy some lovely food for a Sunday Roast on Monday.

Great success on the shopping front, and I thoroughly enjoyed tootling round the shop, picking up items I had been promising myself for months, if not years in some cases. A soap dispenser; some chopping boards; a potato peeler; a potato masher……oooh, the luxury.

Home again and John was up and about, valiantly doing the exercises that Paul had given him. It seems to me, although it may not to John, that he is less puffed out while he is doing them. I seem to hear fewer moans and groans anyway!!

I put the shopping away and then we grabbed a bite to eat. We sat out in the garden to eat our lunch and it was lovely. The breeze was a bit cool, so we wrapped a blanket round our knees and enjoyed the warmth of the sun on our faces. Bliss for an hour.

After lunch I wondered whether we should pop over to Kenilworth to say ‘hello’ to Marie, Danielle’s Mum, who is over from Jersey for a few days. We texted/phoned the Kenilworth Newbies and yes, that sounded a great idea. “Join us at the pub?” they said. Well, it would have been churlish not to, wouldn’t it?

We had a smashing time at the pub. The weather was warm and we sat outside. The company was good and Grandpa led the Easter Egg Hunt. Thomas fell over a million times while he was doing it, got up, dusted himself off and carried on; William told us about every single Easter Egg he’d found and the number of Easter Eggs he was still hunting; and Oliver feasted on the gravel path……”Not in your mouth!” was the permanent cry. I fretted over losing the children in the crowd while everyone else told me to shut up and keep calm…….. Ha! As if……

We came home and ate our evening meal, with plans to call on Pete and Dawn to drop their Easter card and gift of chocolate round. John thought he might go in his new wheelchair. Regrettably, I noticed that it didn’t have much charge, so that scuppered that idea and, anyway, after he’d eaten, he was rather tired. All that fresh air and exercise had done him in.

In between times, we had taken delivery of a parcel. Excitedly, I opened it and, wow! What a lovely surprise!! A pair of ‘daffodil’ bird feeders from Pete and Dawn. How absolutely lovely. Can’t wait to put them into the garden tomorrow!!

I did go round to Pete and Dawn’s and left John resting on the sofa. I was very excited about the bird feeders and was able to thank them while I was there, of course. Jack made me a nice cup of tea, and we all sat and nattered for about an hour and then I came away back to see what the ol’ man was up to.

He was TV viewing. He had found a really interesting programme about the capture of mob leaders in America. Fascinating stuff. While I watched I did a spot of ironing so that there’d be crisp sheets on the bed……. ha, ha, more luxury!

And that was us today. Quite a busy day, but we were rather pleased that we’d kept going.

Take care everyone. God bless.

Did you know that there are lots of superstitions about what not to do on Good Friday? I didn’t, but apparently you shouldn’t:

• handle any nails or iron tools.
• plant anything or break any ground.
• wash clothes.
• climb trees (children).
• work (adults).
• eat or drink anything containing vinegar or nettles.
• do housework.
• eat meat.

Erm….. I am not sure what the penalty is for having done any of these things, but at the last count I had done at least four of them! Oo-er!

I did do a little contemplation today to remind me what the day was all about and thought of my fellow parishioners who may have done the ‘walk of witness’ this morning. I was still lazing in bed when that was due, having spent the morning procrastinating, despite the gorgeous weather.

I had asked John to strip the bed this morning so we could wash the sheets. I clearly didn’t know about that particular superstition when I made John bung them in the washing machine……hehehe! But they dried a treat on the line in the warmth of the sun.

It really was a beautiful day, but neither of us really grabbed it by the horns this morning. However, by this afternoon we both thought we ought to do something. John had a little go at his car (he thinks it fired on three cylinders today) and then twiddled about on the computer, trying to set up a new printer.

Meanwhile, I went into the garden to see if I could have a bit of a tidy-up. We had brought a branch in, last autumn, that had fallen from the oak tree over the road and, although we had cut a lot of it up, there was still a great big pile of brash waiting to be sorted. So I did that, and was pleased with my efforts. Mind you, I might have sore arms tomorrow – it took a toll on them with all that lifting, breaking and cutting of branches. And there might have been some handling of metal and breaking of ground…..

It was nice in the garden though, and I had a different view than from our normal one via the patio window….. see how pretty my narcissi look…..

The weather was reasonably warm so, after John had finished messing about with his car, we had ourselves a little cream tea on the patio. Thought it’d boost our spirits, and it did. Lovely – lucky us!!

We didn’t eat meat for our tea, but had the time-honoured fish. I made a fish pie, which I love, but aren’t they a fiddle?

After our evening meal, we were both pooped, so we plopped ourselves in front of the telly and watched absolute trash. Suggestions, please for decent programmes!!

Anyway, I keep thinking back to the lovely times we have had with our friends this week, and thought I’d share this fabulous photo of everyone at Carol’s 70th Birthday Bash. It is such a happy photo, because it was such a happy day, and I’d like to share the happiness with everyone on this day of the ‘darkest hour’.

Take care everyone. God bless.

It may have been Maundy Thursday today, but we didn’t take part in any of the activities that mark the day. We simply went about our normal day, which involved lazing around in bed this morning, with all the best intentions.

However, I did make a mental note of the last commandment Jesus gave to his disciples at that last supper, and of which we remind ourselves today. He said, ‘….. love one another, as I have loved you, you are also to love one another.‘ How wonderful if we could all do that, always? What a wonderful world that would be!

After my ‘Thought for the Day’, I finally managed to get out of bed and phone the Land Registry to ask how to amend the ownership of Mum’s house. Apparently, my Dad’s name is still on the deeds….. I spoke to a chap who was incredibly helpful. He sent me a form, which I duly filled in and posted off forthwith. Excellent. A sense of achievement for once!

We had a bit of a to and fro text message conversation with Kenilworth Newbies this morning. ‘Can you come over this afternoon to let the plumber in?’ ‘Oh, scrap that, Danielle will be in‘ ‘Hang on, Danielle will be out, so as you were.‘

In the end, we did go over. Michael had meetings and needed to be in them, and the plumber’s visit coincided with his absence. When we got there the plumber had yet to arrive, but Michael was downstairs having his lunch break – without any lunch to eat. “I’ll just nip to Sainsbury’s and buy some sandwiches,” I said, and rushed back out again.

When I got back, Steve, the plumber was there. Michael wolfed his sandwiches down in readiness for his meeting. Then stopped. “I think I’ll email them and tell them I’m dealing with an emergency plumbing situation and will join them when I can.” What a good idea! And……..relax.

We stayed for a bit longer and I put together a little ‘Easter Tree’ with little eggs in baskets, for the children to enjoy and as a surprise when they got home. I am sure they’ll enjoy it! The Kenilworth Originals will have to wait for theirs until they get back from their trip.

This afternoon John and I went into Coventry to have a conversation with a real person at the Virgin Bank. John puffed his way up the incline to the High Street, only to find when we got there, that they had new opening hours and had closed at two o’clock…. Booooo. Ah, well, I am sure the exercise did us good and at least we have rekkied the joint now.

A bit of telly this evening and that was us today.

Take care everyone. God bless us all this Eastertide:

May we be blessed with Love; 
That we may show patience, 
Tolerance, kindness, caring and love to all. 
Amen

On Monday morning, we had the greatest pleasure of Skyping Graham and Gail. It was so lovely to ‘see’ them and to mull over what has been happening in our lives in recent times, since Christmas. They are well, despite the aches and pains of getting older and their specific ailments. And they were on top form, so we thoroughly enjoyed our chat.

As soon as we had finished nattering, we hot-footed it to Solihull for John to do his exercise class. All good there, and John did really well with some cycling, weights, and stand-ups. In fact, I can see an improvement in his strength since Paul did the little video for him to follow and, although he’s still a bit wobbly and breathless, he is firmer in his walking. Fingers crossed the improvement continues.

Naturally, when we got home, we then slumped on the sofa – and that was it then, for the rest of the day!

Great excitement, however, was that the new wheelchair arrived that John had ordered. It is an electric one, with a remote control, so John’s plan is to use it for walks and he can sit in it when he’s tired and get out and walk when he’s not. Mind you, it’s come from China and the instructions, although they are written in English, seem double-Dutch….. some translating required, I think!

The following day, Tuesday, we were back at Solihull, but this time it was the hospital and not the gym, for an appointment with the Orthopaedic consultant on John’s hip. Bless the NHS….. it was a case of good cop/bad cop….. John was referred for his arthritic hip two years ago and the appointment just came through now. But the appointment itself went swimmingly, even if the outcome wasn’t quite what we wanted to hear. Chat to the consultant: “I’ll need another X-Ray, I’m afraid,” he said apologetically. We wandered along the corridor and were more or less straight in for the x-ray. We wandered back and straight into the consultant’s room for the result. “You can see that it is bone-on-bone here, and here,” He said, pointing out the areas on the x-ray. “Are you wanting a full hip replacement? Or an injection? Or do nothing – just carry on as you are?” John said he’ll carry on for now. Can’t face more treatment.

At home, we had another afternoon of TV watching – to the extent that I started watching a series called, ‘Magpie Murders’ and went on to binge-watch the lot until nearly midnight. Tut-tut-tut…..

Some days are definitely better than others. One thing that helps John of course, is company. The chatter and banter helps takes his mind off his difficulties, so today was a ‘good’ day! We met up with Dave and Chris, and Rob and Kay, who were up from Devon, and we had a fabulous lunch and general chat that went on all afternoon. The restaurant had to kick us out in the end! We thoroughly enjoyed the afternoon and there wasn’t a moment when we weren’t chattering away. Lovely.

Naturally, our thoughts turned to our lengthy friendship and we agreed that for all of us it’s at least 55 years, and for some of us, it’s almost sixty years since we first met. Crumbs! How did that happen? Here we all are – looking not a day over 21!!

Tonight was Quiz Night and another cracking evening. Although John was very tired, he stayed with it and enjoyed the challenge – as did we all. A great evening of banter was just what the doctor ordered!

Take care everyone. God bless.

So, yesterday we got ourselves ready in our Sunday best to travel up to Derby for Carol’s birthday celebrations. I rummaged through my wardrobe and dismissed most of it as being ‘too small’. Will I ever fit into any of it again? I think not. Not only am I plumper than I used to be, but I am also shorter and things have gone south.

John also dismissed much of what was in his wardrobe for similar reasons. “We’ll have to go through the clothes and chuck out what we can’t wear,” said John. I agreed, but reluctantly. All those lovely clothes! I can hardly bear to part with them , but I know it’s the sensible thing to do. But maybe not just yet?

Anyway, we found something we could squeeze ourselves into and we set off, just before one o’clock, to arrive at the Clock Warehouse in Shardlow at 2. In the event, we were early, and found Carol, John, Laura and Henry busy beavering away blowing up balloons and constructing table decorations. They were not in the conservatory where we expected to find them. “Derby County supporters,” groaned Carol’s John. “They’re in the room until ten to two.” Ah, well, never mind. Let’s drink tea while we wait. A very British tradition, eh what?

Other guests arrived and we were soon able to get into the room and sit down for our meal. Oh, my goodness! What a lovely time we had! Everyone nattering away ten to the dozen; laughing and sharing stories and really enjoying themselves.

The waitress did her utmost to keep us all happy, sweeping in with food and drinks, shouting as loudly as she could to see who wanted what. Poor Carol had to adjudicate and direct the waitress to the person whose food she’d brought because the chatter was so loud.

Only one mishap! Carol had arranged a glass of prosecco for us all and the waitress wobbled in with a tray of glasses almost full to the brim. The wobble overturned the tray and a glass of prosecco promptly drizzled all the way down Barbara’s back. Oh, dear. The waitress was horrified and froze, looking at the liquid as it started seeping into Barbara’s dress. With great presence of mind, Laura grabbed a handful of napkins and she and I mopped Barbara up. We’re certainly not going to forget this get-together in a hurry!

Carol was on top form and looked absolutely stunning and thrilled to see everyone. Ah…. my lovely, lovely bestie!!

We went back to Carol’s after the meal for a quick cuppa and then had a very good journey home. John was pretty tired by the time we got home though, having enjoyed himself so much!

It transpired that we both must have been tired because we chose not to get ourselves out of bed before mid-day today. I took John a cuppa and then we sat and chatted for a bit before we slunk downstairs to slump on the sofa to watch the Grand Prix. The race being in Melbourne, Australia, Gail had texted to tell us that she thought we’d find it an interesting race. And sure enough, we did! Goodness me, what an action-packed and thrilling race – even if it did make you feel a bit sorry for some of those who didn’t finish in the points at the end.

We went to Michael and Danielle’s for our roast dinner today as we waved our goodbyes to the other Kenilworth family, who were jetting off on their hols this afternoon. We had a lovely time with the newbies, and chuckled particularly at Oliver who spent a good twenty minutes or so banging a pan and its lid, grinning that lovely lob-sided grin as he did so, enjoying every minute of it.

He then took his attention to his best mate, Chester, who is not allowed on the sofa….. is he? And butter wouldn’t melt in either of their mouths, would it?

Take care everyone. God bless.

I was up and at ’em early this morning. I had done an online order for Easter Eggs earlier in the week but when they came, only half of them arrived. That decided me. It was off to Tesco’s in Cannon Park today to see if they had anything exciting. Regrettably, although they had plenty of Easter Eggs, there was nothing exciting.

I did buy one or two, and then nipped over to Aldi to see what they’d got. Again, nothing exciting. So I’m still on the hunt for Easter Eggs. Have I left it too late? Surely not! There’s a whole week to go yet!!

When I got home, John was also up and at ’em, having had a shower early. “I can cut your hair today, John, if you like,” I said, having noticed that it was getting long. “Yes, please,” he replied. So that was the order of the morning once he was downstairs.

In the meantime, I had been texting Danielle to see how her toothache was. Still not good and another disturbed night in pain. In the end, she went back to the dentist who inspected the damage and offered to some local medication to ease the pain. The dentist advised that she was probably in for another week of it. The tooth had been so difficult to remove that the surgery has caused a lot of trauma. Oh, dear, oh, dear….. what a to-do.

We sat and had our lunch and, as we did so, John started to feel very low. Thinking over all the good times we’d had in our lives and disappointed at his current inability to re-create them. He was tired and weary. I suggested he have a rest while we waited in for the solar panel engineer to arrive.

Apparently, we needed a new meter on the system. However, when the engineer (whose name was ‘Little John’) arrived and checked the system, he declared that it was working OK and the part wasn’t needed. Ho-hum. He seemed to be quite thorough and confessed that he was the son of the owner of the company, so if it all goes wrong we know where to look!

‘Little John’ tried to explain what was on the app. I didn’t have the app on my phone, so I had to wake John up to have a look on his. ‘Little John’ wanted to show us some of the workings of the meters, so ‘Big John’ had to get up off the settee to take a look….. Bless him – that was his afternoon nap well and truly disturbed!

After the engineer had left, we spent about twenty minutes trying to load the app on my phone. What a palaver. But we finally did it, and patted ourselves on the back for cracking some modern technology. I tell you, it’s getting worse…… we hardly know what day of the week it is now.

John’s low mood continued on into this evening. “Let’s go out!” he’d exclaimed earlier in the afternoon – but we couldn’t go then because the solar chap was due to arrive. I had planned to chat to Anita about tea-time, so we thought we couldn’t go out then either. When I’d finished my natter to Anita, I wondered if John fancied going out for tea? But by then, he didn’t want to go out after all.

John was cold, so I lit a fire and prepared a comforting evening meal. As the evening wore on, he felt too hot then. Eeeh…… but it’s a hard life; poor John doesn’t know what he wants to do just at the moment. I’m hoping a good night’s sleep might help tonight. Fingers crossed anyway – and prayers might help, if you have any spare.

Take care everyone. God bless.

We had a fairly busy day today, me with my Yoga and John with his exercises. And then we went over to Michael and Danielle’s to relieve the pressure with the children a bit, because of Danielle’s continued toothache. So. no real blog today, just a photo of three gorgeous children listening to a story!! How lovely is that? Makes my heart sing.

Goodness me! Hasn’t it rained a lot today? Every time I have looked out of the window it seems to have been lashing down. So it seemed a good job that John and I changed our plans for today last night.

It was ‘immunoglobulin day’ today and John had thought he’d drive himself across to Heartlands and walk from the car park to get his walk/steps in. I agreed and said that was fine, as I could walk up to Oakes’ to meet up with the church girls for breakfast.

Then I had a thought: “Perhaps we should check the weather forecast for tomorrow, John. We don’t want to be walking in pouring rain.” John was confident that he’d be OK as most of the walk would be indoors. But then, a little while later, feeling rather tired at the end of the day, anticipating an early start, a long-ish drive in the morning traffic and some treatment, John thought better of it and confirmed we’d do our normal arrangements. We were pleased we did, as we would both have got very wet during our perambulations!

The normal plans were nearly overthrown however, when I took a phone call from Michael early this morning to see if I could help with the children. Danielle had had another awful night and was in pain from her tooth extraction. Michael was due to drive to Stafford, which would leave Danielle without a car – and she needed to get across to Leamington to consult the dentist. Unfortunately, I couldn’t help unless John got an Uber to Birmingham.

In the end, Paul did the school run with William, and Michael took the day off to ferry Danielle to Leamington and to parent the children. “Family first,” Michael’s boss told him. What an enlightened manager. Hurrah for that.

Knowing that the situation was all under control in Kenilworth, I spent a very happy couple of hours in Oakes’ café with the church girls to say a little ‘farewell’ to Sandra who is leaving the parish after Easter, as she and Father Peter retire. We had a lovely time together, chatting and putting the world to rights.

I collected John at mid-day from Heartlands and it was once again pouring with rain. The roads had many large puddles in them and there was plenty of spray coming up from the other vehicles. We were glad to get home safe to a nice warm house!

The afternoon rolled on and we lazed about – both feeling tired. Michael phoned to see how we were doing. But, in my mind and more to the point, how was Danielle doing? Michael told us that the dentist had prescribed antibiotics for her, as she has an infection, so we are hoping that they will work quickly. At the moment though, it’s still horrible pain for her.

Paul phoned. “OK for us to come over for tea?” he asked. Of course it was!! Paul and Freddie came and cooked the most delicious meal, but they left Harriet at home because she was going to play hockey this evening – I wonder if she got wet? I hope not.

By the time Paul and Freddie arrived, John and I were celebrating small wins. My favourite extension lead had given up the ghost, so John looked into mending it. It wasn’t straightforward at all, but he did it. It transpired that there was a broken wire two inches from the end of the cable. Snip! Snip! And a bit of re-wiring, and it was done. Thank you very much, John!

My small win was replacing a titchy little battery in the food probe. Hehe. You’ve got get pleasure where you can, haven’t you?

Quiz Night tonight and great fun had by all – nice to see everyone again and to chat – and especially to do that very British thing of bemoaning the weather. Can’t beat it!

Take care everyone. God bless.

We had a gentle day, today. Danielle called round with Oliver and we did our best to entertain him to give her some respite and ease the day so that she could manage her toothache.

First off, we prepared eggs and soldiers for breakfast and we all had some, including Oliver. Bless him, he was so cute eating his soldiers. He has the most gorgeous lob-sided grin which melts your heart. Pity I didn’t take any photos!

Once Oliver had stopped eating, he was climbing out of his high chair. Crikey! I wasn’t expecting that! Anyway, we set him down on the floor and that was it then, off he went, on all fours and at speed, exploring upstairs and downstairs. He made me chuckle going up and down the stairs. He was so earnest in his endeavours.

After a while, he and I came downstairs and he looked at me as if to ask for a pick-up. So I duly picked him up and he snuggled in. I wandered about the kitchen, humming ‘Rock-a-Bye-Baby’ and he nodded off. I crept up the stairs to put him to bed. Ha! Little monkey opened his eyes wide as we got to the top of the stairs and was, to all intents and purposes, wide awake. However, more humming and rocking and he fell asleep again, sufficiently deep enough to enable me to pop him in the cot.

I made some carrot and coriander soup for lunch and nipped up to the shops to see if I could find some more suitable pain relief for Danielle. The recommended Diclofenac has been withdrawn from sale, so it was simply a matter of a topical painkiller instead.

Just as I was congratulating myself on the marvellousness with which I had got Oliver to sleep, he woke up. Must have smelt the soup…..

We ate lunch and, as soon as it was over, I had to rush off into Kenilworth for a haircut. John entertained Oliver for a while but Danielle left not long after I’d gone so John had time to spend the afternoon on the computer and then have a rest.

This evening I went to my little prayer group which was very welcome. So nice to sit quietly, study a bit, talk about what we’d read and then take some contemplation time.

Although John is still struggling to find energy and is somewhat breathless, I think he enjoyed the day with Oliver. Thank the Lord for family, eh?

Take care everyone. God bless.

We took it easy today. Had a lie-in and John brought me a cup of tea, which was lovely. He then said he’d cook me breakfast which was equally lovely. What a star. Mind you, he wasn’t totally satisfied with his efforts and, by the time I came downstairs, I could hear a lot of cursing. “What’s up?” I asked. “Burnt it!!” he said, ruefully. Well, it may have been a little charred but, honestly, it was delicious.

After breakfast – well, more of a brunch really – John was keen to get on with his exercise regime that Paul had prepared for him in the SnuGym. So, off he went to do his pull-ups, sit-downs, arm stretches and so on, while I pottered about a bit having a bit of a sort out.

John was thrilled with his progress and I was delighted for him. The video that Paul had done worked a treat.

After a rest, we popped along to the local garden centre which was formerly Watkins Roses/Blooms/Rosebourne and is now Hilliers. John went along to the café to order us a coffee while I chatted up the garden centre manager, Colin, to get the best deals on bird feed. The choice made, Colin loaded the bag of feed into the car for me and I went to join John, who was tucking into a cheese scone. My peppermint tea had brewed to perfection.

Home again and, we while we were unloading the scooter from the back of the car, the lady who had recently bought our dehydrator on offer on Facebook’s ‘MarketPlace’ arrived to offer us her hard-earned cash in exchange.

John was busy this afternoon, discussing his situation with a solicitor to see if there is anything that can be achieved by taking the NHS to court over the way they have managed his prostate cancer. We’ll see. In the meantime, John continues to be distressed by the whole thing and wondering what next?

I spent the afternoon whiling the time away doing the puzzles from the Sunday papers. Gosh, it is such a long time since I sat and did that and I found it very relaxing.

This evening we goggled the box, but not before we’d had a chat with the Kenilworth Newbies. Danielle had a tooth extracted on Saturday and is in a lot of pain. Still feeding Oliver, she can’t take anything other than Paracetamol and Ibuprofen which isn’t touching it. I feel for her, having gone through similar agony just over a year ago. Felt a bit guilty that we hadn’t gone over yesterday now after all……. but we’re planning to see her tomorrow and hope that we can help out with the baby.

All for now, folks. Take care everyone. God bless.