Healthwise I'm much the same, some discomfort kept under control by fairly basic painkillers. The Hospice nurse Janet visited to see how I'm doing, and Phil came over to inspect her. Energy levels still limited but we've had quite a busy 2 weeks so the answer still seems to 'pace yourself and carry on'. Interesting activity definitely keeps the spirits up and so I feel good... with the occasional naps. I'm sleeping well and my appetite is good. And in fact we've indulged ourselves in some very good meals out, always a morale booster (and a break for Geoff)
The biggest event has been Geoff's goddaughter's wedding, attended by close family and friends at a very pretty country house hotel near Warminster. Louisa looked radiantly beautiful and happy to be finally married to David, looking forward to a long and happy life together.
This seemed like a good opportunity to tick off one of my bucket list: Phil and I spent a relaxing afternoon having manicures and pedicures for the wedding. Am I the only female in the Western world who has reached 'three score years and ten' and not enjoyed such a thing?
Geoff and I have suddenly remembered how much we love the cinema, an experience buried by the recent years of catching up on films on planes, definitely not the same experience: small screen, poor sound, frequent interruptions, seat movement and so on. So we've been to see The Limehouse Golem, gruesomely exciting but very effectively filmed and acted, and Victoria and Abdul, equally well acted (Judy Dench always a winner) funny and moving. If Victoria really did learn Urdu at her advanced age then I'm very impressed by her memory and concentration capacity!
Geoff has been busy harvesting and blanching beans and stewing fruit. And we've made 2 huge vats of tomato soup, very satisfactory if messy.
I've had 2 portrait sittings, which was interesting with lots of chat but no sight of the portrait yet as he said he was 'chasing colour'. Next sitting I'll take the cat. In fact cats have featured quite highly this week as the Literary evening topic at the local book shop was Cats, with some excellent choice readings, famous and no so well known. A good chance for a catch-up with friends over a glass of wine.
Last weekend all the family came together to stay for what should have been our apple juicing weekend..sadly no apples because of the late frost! Instead on Saturday we borrowed a friend's Canadian canoe to paddle on the canal, great fun. No-one fell in, not even Barney who loves to fall in, but all were absorbed in paddling and manoeuvering round the odd canal boat. Chrissie was in charge, with all his Greenpeace training. And it was his birthday weekend (my baby is 36!) so we had bbq, cake (Phil and Beth trotted out the boys' birthday fav, a fort with a modern twist: cybermen instead of cowboys!) and pressies.
They really excelled themselves for my bucket list ticking opportunities as after a lot of research into 'alternative pain relief' (and my complaints about missing out on the Swinging 60s) they arrived with the goods and we had a very lively evening (when the grandchildren were in bed). Fun now but may be really helpful in the future.
Sunday we had a very lively session with a family photographer who knew how to involve the children and relax stiff adults. We're looking forward to seeing the photos, indoor and outdoor.
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