A Quiet Corner

A quiet corner by the front door.

The last of the garden roses fill the space with scent of old summers.

Thumb sticks made by a village friend stand guard 

Over etchings and needlepoint 

And a grumpy old Welsh lady.

And the yellow walls suck in the sun over the wooden heart of

the little desk fresh from being fed beeswax and oil

Picnic

The weather couldnt have been any better for a picnic , and around 30 of the hospice staff turned up on the lovely West Shore of Llandudno to eat, drink and chat in the sun .

It was one of those easy going afternoons where everything fell into place nicely 

Ruth one of the hospice Nurses and a good friend

Dorothy joined us

Arty photo

Look at that view 

Gwyn the medical director with hospice at home support worker Jackie

Lazy days

Sunset 

Last Night Of The Proms

Lovely music, I was listening to it  as I was flouring by bread

 but the atmosphere feels rather sad

Especially as a The Royal Albert Hall has had no Government help to survive 

I don’t want to be brought down this weekend 

I’ve had to turn over

Saturday

I met my friend Nigel in Chester today
We walked and talked and walked and ate Mr Whippy ice cream and drank coffee by the river.
On the way home I bought a large selection of picnic food and some beers in readiness for a beach picnic I have organised for the hospice staff tomorrow, luckily the Welsh government, unlike the English has not changed their guidelines that 30 people can meet outdoors 
So tomorrow we hope to have games of rounders, beers and sandy sandwiches and there is an unwritten rule there will be no talk of the dying, of Covid of PPE and the like
There was a bag of tomatoes left on the garden wall from someone unknown when I got home and a round robin letter stuck in the letterbox  from the Vicar warning that the church may well be closed soon due to lack of funds.
Chic Eleanor left a message about meeting up with friends for dinner next weekend
I am making sour dough bread tonight

A Class Act

Diana Rigg was a class act
You can tell this from the above scene from Game Of  Thrones where she underplays her role magnificently but still spits out the insults with such quiet venom
I saw her just once on stage , and that was in Sheffield in 2004 in a production of a Suddenly Last Summer 
“Each day we would carve each day like a piece of sculpture “

She was wonderful 

Indumathi...” Indu The Hindu“

I was chatting to a friend today about serendipity
We shared serendipitous tales and the conversation became quite serious as we both agreed that we thought some forces were responsible but how and to what extent we both were at a loss with to explain
I told him the tale about Indumathi 
It seemed fitting

Now many many years ago Indumathi was a patient of mine.
She was a big boned, loud voiced, Asian woman in her sixties who ran her large family from her side room on my ward with all of the energy of a small nuclear power plant.
She had a specially designed extra large wheelchair which she hated, a massive selection of beautiful loose fitting pantaloon trousers and tops and could throw a cup or plate with deadly accuracy when she was in a foul mood , a fact that may be surprising as Indumathi  was totally blind.

Now Indumathi was what we in the nursing trade would now refer to as a challenging patient .  She was opinionated, perceived as rude and was non compliant with any of her care.
She was also a big complainer and was “buzzer happy”, -traits that are irritating to Nurses, but she was brash and humorous and always laughed loudly at her own bad jokes.
And I always had a begrudging soft spot for the old girl.
One such joke surfaced when she reminded me One morning that she was a Hindu as I helped hoist her into her wheelchair
“ Indu the Hindu “ I said merrily and half under my breath and she heard me
“Indu the Hindu! “ she repeated laughing loudly and clapping her big hands together “ Indeed I am Indu the Hindu !” And it became a sort of catch phrase for her when she was in one of her better moods on the ward.

Moving Indumathi became a bit of a health and safety nightmare at times as when she was rolling in bed she would grab the nearest nurse with often surprising strength and tenacity and at one of those times and with a loud shriek she grabbed my uniform with one ham hand and placed the other around my face

“ Boy” she said in that almost gentle moment where her hand rested on my cheek
“ You are your grandmother’s son” 
It was a strange phrase to utter, especially given the circumstances we were in
But I was suddenly silenced and incredibly moved by her words

It was as if she had looked right inside of me and had seen that secret fact that  I had loved my grandmother so much more than I had my own mother when I was but a child.

“ What?” Was the only thing I could say rather helplessly
and Indumathi slapped my bottom playfully as she laughed her loud laugh and the moment was gone....
But in that instant, I felt  she had seen something of my psychi, my soul,my past when she touched me
And had shared that with me

Who Is Harry?

 Wrapped in bubble wrap and posted from the UK, a small package was left by the postman in Mary’s anti bite box by the front door.

The package was addressed to John Gray,  the cottage by the church ...Trelawnyd Wales. The small note inside, carefully written in ink pen said it was from Harry aged 52 1/2 which was Sweetly funny

“ For Your Art Wall”

Inside was a small porcelain hanging with a wonderfully embossed hare design on the front

Quite beautiful 

I’ve just hung it on the art wall

Thank you Harry

Thank you so much 

Alexa

Trelawnyd from Gop Hill yesterday

I have an Alexa

She doesn’t do a great deal as she’s in the bedroom, 

But she does tell me the time, wakes me up in the morning and plays me the radio station of my choice when I’m groggily getting ready for work.

It’s an easy job, all told.

Last night she went a bit off piste 

After I had asked her to set the alarm for 6 am

She cooed out an unexpected If you want any help to sleep just say goodnight

Of course I prompted with the suggested Goodnight 

And suddenly the room was filled with sounds from a tropical jungle evening

With chirping cicadas and rhythmic insect calls

Gently Alexa called out Goodnight John 

John! JOHN! ??

I never recall saying my name was john 

Spooky !