Short break.

I'm going to take a break for a while.

Nights have been tiring and I'm so thankful for my daughter who bundled me off to have a rest today while she sat with my husband.

He has just developed a chest infection, so is going to need a lot of looking after.

Edit, today he was taken into hospital with suspected bronchial pneumonia, so I shall ask for your prayers.

Like Snoopy, I'm having a 'day off' (or more)

Comments are having a rest also for a while.

Coming home

It's wonderful to know that my husband can come home this week.

This is what has moved in with us.

It's a hoist, to be used when mobility is just not there.

In fact, we have twins, as there is another one in the sitting room.

We feel a bit like a small hospital now, but it is all to help the carers in their work

More attractively,  also in the sitting room, is this lovely vase of flowers, given to me this week.

It's a new chapter and there will be adaptations, I know.

But we will 'rise above it' as my Girl Guide leader used to say.

Again, I thank you for the warmth of your kind comments and messages.

Little lovely things

Little things that brighten a day.

My snowdrops suddenly appeared, having not been there one day, they were all of a sudden shining from the flower bed. Little gleams of white smiling at me.

Stems of Japonica with the bright coral flowers, opening in the warmth of my sitting room.

Two delightful cushions of Hellebores, brought from my garden in France, flowering, not profusely, but flowering.

A vase  of daffodils waiting for my return from the hospital, a present from a friend.

A happy evening with my daughter and grandson who took me to our 'local', The Punch Bowl inn, for dinner. We opted not to stay for dessert but came back to my home and ate ice cream.

Meeting with Social services next Monday to get the Care arrangements in place, so that.....hopefully, I can have my husband home soon.

So many lovely things to lean on, not least, my kind friends, whose comments and messages I treasure.

Ongoing.

It's 6 am and I can't sleep.

Do you think a cup of tea and a chocolate biscuit will help?

I am so very touched by your kind comments and messages. Friendship is something to be cherished, and I feel wrapped in your concerns for me and my husband.

There is no real news as yet. He is still in Newquay Community Hospital about half an hour away, which is spacious, light and cheerful. In a large ward there are only five occupied beds, in a space that would take more, so there is no feeling of being cramped. The staff are kind.

There is a resident physiotherapist, an occupational therapist and Drs visit from the nearby Health centre each day.

My husband is disorientated and a bit confused and still in pain and needs lots of reassurance.

He can't engage in much  conversation, so I sit, wipe away his tears, hold his hand, and read little chapters from a Countryside book, all about farming life in the 50s, which brings memories back for him.

I hope he can come home soon, but it will take time, I think, and a new 'package' of Carers may have to be organised as we have got beyond the point where I can safely transfer him from bed to chair.

Onward, with prayer, and comfort from my family and dear friends, (and the occasional chocolate biscuit).

Thank you all, so much.

Hospital days

Well, with the new year there always seems to come some problem or another. My husband was taken into our local hospital yesterday with a suspected fracture of the hip.

Thankfully the Xray showed that it was not a break, but possibly hip bones crunching together. We are not yet sure and there are more tests to be had.

A somewhat desperate Dr told me that there was a 12 hour wait for a bed, the hospital was overflowing, and that he might have to spend the night on a trolley.

Our hospital is overstretched, but the staff are kind and caring.

I am visiting this afternoon, with my daughter ,who having been in the medical profession is so good at cutting through red tape, and we will see the Occupational therapist for some advice. 
As he cannot weight-bear at the moment they feel it is unsafe for him to be at home, so he may transfer to a small Community hospital where there will be some physiotherapy built in.

Life was never going to be like this.

I'm thankful we did so much when we were able.
Your prayers would be so appreciated, thank you.

Temptations.

Temptations!

It's the season when wonderfully photographed Garden catalogues come through the mail.

One after the other. 

My eyes are caught by the amazing arrays of perfectly planted flowers, of climbers romping up obelisks, of roses that have no blackspot or yellow leaves, of seedlings that have not withered and died, of clouds of the most exquisite Sweet peas.

I try, I really do, but can never reach the dizzy heights shown in these booklets, particularly that of the great Sarah Raven. I think she must have a superb photographer as her catalogue is a show item on its own. Her plants and seeds are pretty good too.

I want everything.

I want frilly pink paeonies, deep red Dahlias, clouds of white and green Nicotiana, 

glowingly purple lupins leaning over creamy poppies, spikes of blue Delphinium.....

So being sensible, and realising that my garden is a small one, I will do my best to choose.

But I know that like previous years, I will always end up with too many. 

Which is good because I shall give some to friends.