The heat wave continues
Little sleep….bit cranky
Ruth
God it’s hot
I’ve just joined all of UK social media by mentioning this
I can complain a bit because I’ve just done 12.5 hours in PPE
I SMELL like a sumo’s nappy.
Thank you to manager Emma who arranged for some Italian ice cream to be dropped off for staff and patients xx it was bliss
It was 9.30 pm when I sat down after work, the dogs are panting in the 21 degree evening heat
The house is ready for Ruth to take over tomorrow when I’m off to London
This is my friend Ruth
A lifesaver, my dog baby sitter , hospice nurse extraordinaire, mindfulness advocate and loyal friend
I love this photo of her and mary
Best Laid Plans
Come From Away
I’m going to London again on Friday.
I will be returning on Monday.
Originally the weekend was more or less sorted.
Friday was geek day with my nephew Leo, ( we had obtained tickets for comic con for an exhausting 8 hours looking at super heroes and zombie killers ) and Saturday night was booked Nuala’s post covid friends from far-from_away…get together.
Sunday I’m planning to meet a friend Alex for art house cinema and soho drinks…so the bare bones planned seemed an electric mixture which I could dovetail with some niche London on-my-own things.
Covid has meant Geek day is cancelled until November ( my nephew was incredibly sanguine about it all) and Nu’s party has been cancelled due to track and trace.
Undaunted I’m filling in the gaps
So people give me some ideas…fucking hell I'm still going
I have pockets of Friday, Sat and Sunday to fill…..Friday night I’m going to see The musical Come From Away again and Saturday night will still be “Nuala” time but apart from a few hours on Sunday afternoon with Alex , I have lots of time to do interesting things….so what do you suggest?
I’m working all day. tomorrow , so will have only tomorrow night to sort out my ( your) ideas
What fun….
Can’t wait …..
What do you recommend ?
Hey ho xx
The gayer the better xx
Dumplings & Love
I forgot to photograph my dumplings
Later in the year the village is holding a What did you do during lockdown ? show.
My entry was going to be a sweaty balloon NURSE covered in PPE but after some thought , I think I will prepare a plate of Japanese Vegetable Dumplings or Gyoza Dumplings.
Gyoza dumplings are half fried , half steamed dumplings that can be filled with a mixture of any vegetables you have to hand. I tend to use carrot, cooked onion, and cabbage, ingredients that make the filling taste sweet, but shiitake mushroom, spring onion and tofu can be added ( I don’t like tofu) add lots of garlic and ginger a bit of soy and some shredded chicken or crushed prawn if you need meat and bingo low calorie stuffing.
The dumpling skins can be bought frozen on line, I get he happy Belly ones on line .they cost around 12 £ for three packets
Stuffing the skins is a bit fiddly at first but I learnt by watching this video
As for cooking , it’s easy! you pan fry them with some sesame oil
, but you add water to the pan and cover. The water evaporates, steaming the dumpling on its sides but the bottom of the dumpling will go crispy and brown.
Today I prepared a healthier lunch by just steaming my dumplings but you run the risk of them going soggy.
They taste just as good though.
I’m having a thoughtful time today. It’s hot and I have nothing planned but choir later and I’m in two minds to go to that, seeing that choir practice is now outside.
I find singing outside, away from the safety of being shoulder to shoulder with my fellow bases very embarrassing. I know I shouldn’t , but I do, and embarrassment is an emotion I just do not cope with very well.
I’m weighing it up anyhow…..over coffee.
I’m listening to a podcast of an interview with Kenneth Williams
The interviewer has just asked him if he has ever been in love.
It was a question Williams side stepped
Then I thought…how many times have I been in love.
I’ve had a long thought about that one
In my life ……three times……you?
Ally mcBeal
This afternoon Mary and I went to Colwyn Bay
We went to see the new( and very short new Pier)
It was too hot for Dorothy.
We were standing , looking at it, when I heard a woman’s voice
“ Hello there” it called
I didn’t recognise the woman but felt I ought to
She introduced herself as the sister in law of one of my favourite patients! One who I will call Holly
I placed her then, of course I did ….
We chatted about things!lockdown and her husband and her work and she asked me to thank the hospice staff for their care but before she left, with a shake of hands she said
“ Thank you for dancing with Holly, She told us about it, it was a very special moment for her “
I laughed
“ It is me to who has to thank her” I told her “She made me dance in public , something I could never do”
I told her the story from my perspective
One day, as part of our last conversations together, Holly asked me what things would be on my bucket list, if I made one….after a long think
I shared that I always wanted to dance in public
She asked me if I remembered Ally McBeal , and specifically the scenes when the cast would share an over choreographed dance to the velvet voiced Barry White
I told her I did and on impulse we danced the dance together. The music from her phone and me in my uniform and she in her expensive Italian bathrobe that dwarfed her.
I remember that
She placed her bed table in front of the door , like a teenager to prevent any one else from walking in.
And we giggled like schoolgirls as we did so
It’s always been my best hospice memory
Summer Evening
Mr Poznán caught me watering the Women Institute’s flower bed at half past seven. I had already checked on the village green beds but all those had been watered by one of the wardens.
I was hot and sweaty and I joked that the exercise would burn more fat off me
Mr Poznań looked serious and told me not to be so hard on myself , he had already noticed that I’d lost nearly a stone and a half.
“ I’ve noticed that You have a habit of dumbing yourself down “ he said kindly “ you don’t have to do that”
His smile was disarming and I found myself suddenly a bit emotional.
He patted me on the shoulder as a goodbye. “ You need a man friend “ he told me looking at the watering can
I have a habit of indulging in self depreciating humour.
Of course it’s a defence mechanism…and as I watered the plants I reminded myself of the lesbian comic Hannah Gadsby who once specialised her act at one time with self put downs
She described what she felt about thus
“ I have built a career out of self-deprecating humor and I don’t want to do that anymore. Do you understand what self-deprecation means when it come from somebody who already exists in the margins? It’s not humility, it's humiliation. I put myself down in order to speak, in order to seek permission to speak“
There is a resonance in her words
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