Macro Monday… #In Search of Tranquility…

Image by edith lüthi from Pixabay

A new week and a new month.

A new page, awaiting that first pen stroke…

This is how it feels this morning, but the truth doesn’t seem so lyrical or poetic.

I have had a look at all the irons in my fire, still far too many for my liking. I have become used to seeing them there, and maybe that’s the problem. They have become ‘normal’…

I removed one of them last week. I waited for the heavens to open, or some other fanfare, but my effort passed almost unnoticed. Maybe, it takes more than one. I will have to get rid of another, just to see…

I wonder what I will get up to this week?

Silent Sunday… First Day of Autumn…

Image by Jimmy Lau from Pixabay

A peaceful, quiet Sunday on this first day of October…

A Weird Week… Thursday…

I thought Thursday would be the most ordinary day of the week.

Just shows what I know.

My left foot has been very painful, and I have been determined to find out why. I run around a lot with no shoes on, indoors and in the garden. I am constantly bumping my feet, and this sometimes causes problems. The lump that had appeared on the side of my foot had to be something I had trodden on.

When the lump began to go purple and hurt a lot, I knew it was time to be a nuisance somewhere. But where?

I have almost worn out my welcome at the doctor’s, so maybe I should look for a podiatrist, if that’s what you call them.

The receptionist at our doctor’s directed me to our local hospital, which is running a minor injury clinic. No appointments; just turn up and wait.

On impulse, I decided that Thursday was the day of reckoning. The worst that could happen, I thought, was being told it was another thing I would have to live with.

Our local hospital is what they used to call a Cottage Hospital, and it never feels like the big boys. I had been there several times before for blood tests and the occasional X-ray. It has a different atmosphere altogether, and everyone is so helpful.

Expecting a lengthy wait, as there was never a sense of urgency, I settled in the large waiting room with a book. I didn’t get to read much, as people-watching is far more interesting, and there were enough people there. A stream of people poured through the doors, many limping like me.

I was triaged very quickly, and I waited for the cue to go home and stop wasting their time… but they seemed to think it was serious after all.

Next, a cheerful nurse had a good look and thought the lump could be due to a foreign body, and I was taken for an X-ray.

Back to the waiting room and people-watching. Old and young, characters of every description came and went, and I couldn’t help but be surprised by the efficiency of it all.

I was still expecting to be sent home with a sticking plaster, but that was when Thursday became very weird.

When I was called into the medical room, the young doctor seemed very amused, a huge smile lighting up her face. She explained that the lump was soft tissue and asked when I had damaged my toe.

I hurt my feet daily; the times I hit that toe on the edge of furniture are almost legendary, and I couldn’t remember the last time.

I had to ask the question because I wasn’t getting much of an explanation.

“How can soft tissue hurt so much?”

“Oh, it’s not the lump that hurts. It’s the broken bone underneath…”

That was the exact moment that weird arrived.

I had never broken a bone before, something I have always been proud of, me being such a klutz, so to be told I had one now was quite a shock.

I must have looked doubtful, for she showed me the X-ray. The break was clear, and the lump of tissue was lying right on top of the break.

The bone should heal in six to eight weeks, and the lump should disappear. If it doesn’t, it will be time to see a podiatrist.

The family had a good laugh about all of this, and I must admit, I did too…

Good excuse to take things easy…

A Weird Week… #Wednesday

I suppose it had to happen.

Despite a faint, lingering weirdness in the air, I couldn’t find anything to write about on Wednesday.

For some reason, I woke up feeling grumpy and couldn’t shake it off. I tried ignoring it, always my first choice, but it stuck to me like glue. I tried to work through it, which is my second choice. This almost worked, but my heart wasn’t in it, and I soon gave up.

This was a kind of weirdness, although not exactly what I wanted to talk about. Of course, I knew why my inner calm had decided to take the day off. My latest endeavour had been proving difficult, to the point when giving up on it seemed the only option. And I don’t like giving up…

I have had to give up on many things, and quite a lot of things have given up on me. I had wrongly assumed that those days were finally behind me, and then I got too old, and my brain is not what it was.

These days, I have to pick solutions out of my head, like using a pin to eat winkles. With about the same result. You never get them all out in one piece, do you?

Desperate to do something, I finished updating my new book covers on Goodreads, Smashwords and D2Digital. It needed doing and went some way to soothe the depression beast.

After lunch, a bona fide weird happened.

The sun had decided to appear after all. It was shining through the living room window onto a new bowl my sister had recently bought. This bowl was glass; we often have rainbows when the sun hits them.

When I was summoned to see the magic, I imagined more of the same effects. Imagine my joy to find a rainbow all right, but this one was inside the bowl!

This little rainbow was just what I needed to push all that frustration away.

Please tune in for another weird day tomorrow, as I already know what I’m in for!

A Weird Week… Tuesday…

I didn’t think yesterday could get any weirder, but it did.

I had turned up at our local surgery in time for my blood test. I was sitting there, thinking how pleasant a place it was, with the colourful tiles on the floor and comfortable chairs. They had gone to a lot of trouble to ensure they gave a good impression…

I suddenly became aware of a man standing at reception. A very tall, slender person, clad head to toe in black leather. He had his back to me, so I couldn’t see his face. What I could see, though, was a mane of cotton candy pink hair.

He spoke softly to the receptionist, his words not carrying over to me. Still, I could tell he was being polite by the look on the receptionist’s face.

I hoped he would turn around before I was called, as I desperately wanted to see the whole picture.

When he turned to leave, I saw his face. He was wearing beautifully applied makeup in a gothic style. The ebony lines around his intensely blue eyes had me mesmerised. It was like looking at one of those fashion magazines.

It’s not usually something you see in our doctor’s surgery, but it made my day.

Back home, for another round of frustration at the computer, I kept remembering his face and assumed that was the extent of today’s weirdness.

Later that evening, we were relaxing with a movie when a loud bang made us jump. We live on a busy main road, and traffic problems are an everyday occurrence, but in the 15 years we have lived here, we have not had one pile up outside our window.

I have always worried about this, as opposite us is a side road, also very busy but poorly lit. In my imagination, I have seen a car careening across the road and ending up in our living room. Is that what had finally nearly happened?

Of course, the movie was abandoned as we watched to see if help was needed. A white car, driven by an older woman, had been driving along the main road. Coming from the side road, a smaller black car had hit her side on, shunting the white car sideways.

As we watched, people came out of houses and passing cars stopped to help, leaving their headlights on to illuminate the scene. Everyone was on their phones, so we expected the boys in blue to arrive soon.

It was like watching a disaster movie right outside our window.

So many people were now milling around, some wanting to help, others arguing whose fault it was. Many photographs were taken, mainly by the owner of the black car, who constantly stated it wasn’t her fault.

The police arrived ten minutes after someone had taken the badly shaken older woman away.

No comment…

A Weird Week… Monday…

I started thinking like this yesterday morning. There was definitely a touch of the weird going on. What I didn’t know was just how strange it would get.

I felt really happy for a start. It was not my usual mindset for the beginning of another week. Usually, I hope for the best, but by lunchtime, things have slipped into the typical frustrating pattern. You know the one.

You can try, but you know it isn’t gonna work. No matter how much optimism you pour into it, someone somewhere will say no, or you must be joking. Or go away and don’t return until you know what you’re doing.

When lunchtime approached, I realised that none of that had happened. Had I stumbled into another world where things go my way for a change?

It was starting to look like it.

I raced through all the reading, checking, and posting that goes on every day without fail and came out the other end feeling even better.

What was going on?

That’s when I remembered that I had a doctor’s appointment. It was time to visit Grumpy to be told I was getting old, and what else did I expect. Not forgetting it was a sin to mention too many problems at one visit!

I put on my brave (rapidly ageing) face, strolled in, sat down, and asked how she was today. She was doing something complicated, using both monitors and barely acknowledging my presence. For ten minutes, I twiddled my thumbs and stared at everything in the room, thinking weirder was getting worse. In case you’re wondering, my name was not on either screen, so whatever she was doing, she was doing it on my time.

When she finally turned to me, she apologised and asked me how I was.

‘You asked to see me…’ I said.

‘Oh, did I?’ and started scrutinising the monitor again.

After I reminded her of my medical history, she remembered why I was there. A brief reminder that I must never stop taking the corticosteroid, as it was dangerous. I waited three weeks for this appointment and felt weird again. Surely, she could have emailed me with that information?

Weird gave way to mischief, and I mentioned my newest ailment.

‘I have another problem; can I tell you about it? You can say no…’

I could tell by her face that she remembered the last time and knew I had wanted to hit her after rudely telling me that my time was up.

To be fair, she smiled. ‘Go on then…’

To cut a long story short, I will have more tests to find out why I am having trouble swallowing…

That should be fun or not, depending on the day…

Another Monday… #Journal

Another Monday…

The autumn equinox has come and gone. I can feel autumn in the air and see the sudden brightness, as everything in the garden knows their time is ending and is making the most of the sunshine.

One last Dahlia is almost waving goodbye.

Those yellow tomatoes that were planted late have done their level best. Not brilliant, you understand, but we have a few ripe and deliciously sweet baby tomatoes. I will definitely be trying this again next Spring.

It’s time to ensure my bonsai are ready for their winter sleep. Some are already suffering from all the rain we have been having, so I hope I don’t find any waterlogging.

In the past week, I don’t seem to have achieved much despite turning up every day. There have been some baby steps, though, so I am pleased with that. Quite apt, really, considering our recent and very welcome visitor.

The current WIP is approaching the end, something I never thought I would say. I already have a pile of essential notes for the start of the edits, and I am looking forward to reaching that stage.

I struggle to write a newsletter because I can’t think of an interesting theme. Maybe when the dust settles a bit, it will happen.

I don’t have anywhere to put a newsletter at the moment, as I am still trying to find one I can use. It is always possible that my brain is past its sell-by date, although I refuse to accept that.

Now for an irk. It isn’t a rant yet, but it might become one.

I am referring to WP’s new tweaks to the Reader list. I quite like the simplicity of the new format, just not that we can’t reblog as much as we used to. When I try, I only manage to send a short sentence of the original post. No images either; not the same thing at all.

We must enjoy this first week of autumn, for who knows how long it will last…

Six on Saturday… #Flowers for 2024

It is Saturday again, time for more lovely flowers but this time from the future!

Click on the link to visit them all over at Garden Ruminations!

http://gardenruminations.co.uk/2023/09/16/six-on-saturday-23-9-2023/

I have decided to sacrifice a strip of lawn ( I use that term lightly) to create a new flower bed next year.

So I have been daydreaming about the flowers I shall be putting there.

First up are fuchsia. I have been seeing them everywhere I go lately, such lovely flowers…

Then there are aquilegia, or granny bonnets, as we used to call them. We get the odd self-seeded specimen, but I need more…

I couldn’t not include astilbe. Such ethereal, magical flowers…

Rosemary was the source of this latest plan. Someone mentioned how good it was for peace and tranquility, two things we definitely need more of. So there will be at least two of these.

There will be dahlias, of course, and hopefully better colours this time! There will probably be several kinds of dahlia, as I love them all, and I won’t be able to stop at just one…

We have a blue astrantia in the front garden, and I have become very fond of this strange flower. So, there will be at least one in this new bed, that’s if I can choose which colour!

Dreaming of next summer…

Yesterday was the Best Day… #NewBaby

I didn’t do much work yesterday, but it was a wonderful day.

The weather is going from bad to worse, and I am so far behind these days that I have stopped worrying about it. Things will get done eventually.

Then this happened…

The sun came out, literally, when the family turned up, bringing the new baby for a visit.

She slept all morning, in various arms and laps, completely unaware of all the lovely things we were saying about her and that we were playing a very precious game of passing the parcel.

You remember so much, don’t you, when you hold a new baby in your arms. All those long-ago maternal emotions came flooding back, and it was as if time had rolled back fifty years…

My lovely koi tattoo is getting old and wrinkly now, just like me!

I marvelled at her tiny hands and perfect fingers. The soft down on her head and her tiny rosebud mouth. She was heavier than I expected for one so small.

I didn’t expect to feel broody when it was time for them to go home, but I did…