I finished my last blog with the hope that my readers would keep in touch. You did! So many messages, as well as phone calls, visits and flowers. I have posted on Instagram most days and enjoyed composing photos and (sometimes) adding music. That has also kept me in contact with artists and makers. Facebook, which I avoided for a time after being hacked twice, has proved a trusted friend now I have security measures in place and I have made contact with some old friends as well as new. Thank you so much. Everyone.
After my fall I spent about ten days in a kind of daze. Slept, dozed, couldn’t concentrate. Then I began to look about for things to do. Finished Cannyrob’s replica hat (original dropped in a tram), completed three coloured pencil mandalas, compiled calendars for family (sent off for publishing yesterday, at last) printed some wrapping paper and wrote some long diary entries. I also enjoyed doing some Sharpie boot graffiti.
I have rediscovered listening to music as I spend each day in one room. Our Sonos speakers allow me to invite Google to play virtually anything, including fart sounds. They still reduce me to helpless giggles. Thanks to WeeBoy for teaching me how. I am currently enjoying Ex-Easter Island Head strange instrumentals. Not to everyone’s taste, but I like them.
Having done Pilates for more than twenty years, I am really missing it. I should get back to classes next year. But in the meantime… Judy Drew has had a great idea for the next 22 days. An online Advent Calendar Pilates session for 15 minutes every morning. I’ve signed up in the hope of achieving something even if it’s upper body only. And no chocolate.
http://www.jdpilates.co.uk/shop/p/love-pilates-this-christmas-pilates-advent-calendar
I also made a wee movie using Cannyrob’s fish tank video and Saint Saen’s Aquarium music. It’s on Instagram and Facebook. I can’t post videos here.
B told me at the weekend that it was far too early for Christmas music. Well – I’ve been enjoying my favourites, including classical and pop standards for the last two weeks. Also trying once again to learn Fairytale of New York and A Winter’s Tale on the piano. Left foot on loud pedal. Feliz Navidad is just three chords on guitar, so I should have mastered it by now.
Cannyrob brings me the ‘news on the Rialto’ (Anstruther) – friends from Zumba sending good wishes…. he met V an old friend who has recently moved here. An outing to the DCA to see Petite Maman, a beautifully poignant film about bereavement. In the wheelchair space I had an excellent view, while Cannyrob and my friend C (we have seen lots of films together) sat below me.
The Tarot card this month has been randomly chosen by Cannyrob. The Tower (or Falling Tower) appears for the third time since 2020. Again we are in a time of transition, uncertainty, there is a lightning strike. This time it’s Omicron. But as before, there is hope. Not all of the tower is destroyed and the figures are allowed to escape. Unlike a year ago, we have vaccines.
My diet is working. Four weeks mostly on meal replacements is paying off. I have lost almost two inches off my waist (can’t stand on scales). I haven’t felt hungry and treat myself to an occasional glass of wine.
I am enjoying reading the weekend newspapers again and my crossword skills are returning. Guardian and Observer quick puzzles and the Everyman crossword all done by Monday. During my brain fog I was glad of glossy magazines like Country Living courtesy of my pal M. I am reading again now though. I think I would recommend almost all of these books.
The Asylum is a clever, well-researched story of the treatment of mental illness at the beginning of the 20th C. The Conviction of Cora Burns deals with a similar theme. The Whisper Man and Forget her Name are page-turning thrillers. I enjoyed Donna Leon’s Venetian detective story, recommended by A. Death at La Fenice is the first in a long series. I look forward to reading more. I gave up on Seven Gothic Tales by Isak Dinesen. A beautifully illustrated Folio Edition, it was too wordy to hold my attention.
My audio listening is still Stalingrad when I can face it and John Grisham’s new novel The Judge’s List. I also enjoyed BBC Sounds Uncanny podcast.
I’ve been too tired for telly most evenings but have enjoyed Maid on Netflix, Outlaws, What we do in the Shadows, Showtrial and Shetland on BBC as well as Succession on NOW. The Keeper on IPlayer was a film recommended by J, a moving true story. I’ve just signed up to watch Catherine the Great Season 2 on Starzplay. Huzzah! And of course I’m still following Made in Chelsea although I found the episode with James trying bondage and role play with Maeva so cringe-making I had to switch it off!
Looking forward to this weekend. Cannyrob has brought the Christmas decorations down from the loft. I love seeing everything again. Especially excited about the baby deer I got two years ago for the courtyard. The fairy doll I made when Daughter was a baby probably needs a new foil crown. On Saturday we will pick up WeeBoy and head to the forest for our tree. He is coming back with us to help decorate the tree and spend the night. We’re planning to watch another classic from our ancient Disney video collection. Peter Pan is my favourite. We enjoyed 101 Dalmatians last time WeeBoy stayed here on his own.
Next blog will mark a New Year. 2022. What will it bring? For me, physio and walking again, then driving and swimming. For all of us, good health, less anxiety and time with the people we love.
Please continue to keep in touch. I don’t know how I would have coped without my friends – online and In Real Life – during this past year. Special thanks and love to Cannyrob, WeeBoy and my amazing Son and Daughters. Merry Christmas one and all!
Time after Time 