Exactly six years ago I went to New York, Facebook reminded me of this fact overnight !
The weather was amazing as I recall
72 degrees!!! I miss the city so
So I’ve booked, my next trip, for June next year
Duvet Day
I’m in bed.
It’s cold and although I’ve lit the fire, Dorothy and I have returned to bed and have had an extra sleep. I’m on nights just for one shift tonight ( days and nights in the same week…yes I know)
Now, I’m listening to Desert Island Discs with Patrick Grant which has proved to be a rather moving.listen whilst hiding under the duvet.
I’m looking a little like his side kick Esme Young with my Mr Motto glasses on.
Note to self order more reading glasses on Amazon.
It’s blustery outside and I ain’t going nowhere
Watching Roger
One blogger asked about this music on a previous post, so I thought I’d repost it.
It is all rather beautiful .
It’s half term in University, but I have to write an essay so will be going into the local campus library to work. Trendy Carol’s Hubby has taken the dogs.
Work needs shifts covering but I couldn’t face another day like Monday
When I walked the dogs this morning great untidy V’s of honking Canada geese flew over to the west and Mary, Dorothy and I stopped to watch them for a while.
Roger hadn’t a clue where they were and looked vaguely around the field borders in the hope of finding the location of the noise.
He’s so sweetly dim
It’s colder and feels like Autumn
I got home after four, picking some shopping up for Trendy Carol’s hubby as I did so.
I also bought some very strong cheese which I’m going to toast on hot buttered bread later as a treat.
There is nothing better than a cup of tea with cheese on toast.
I thought I’d share this little Roger moment tonight.
He was sat quietly in the Trendy’s Trendy conservatory when I called round
The girls were asleep on a couch, but he was standing guard watching a pair of blackbirds spar in the dusk gloom.
I stood and watched him for a while, wondering what on Earth he was thinking and in that time he spied me standing there.
He didn’t bark or jump up, or even wag his tail but he sort of nodded his head in recognition and although I couldn’t see his face clearly
I could tell that my dim sweet boy was smiling like a loon.
Lunch
Looking back towards Trelawnyd from Bryn Williams
Saturday seemed too far away so I arranged with Patrick to have lunch out today.
He drove over from Chester and we ate at Bryn Williams
He had rosotto , I had the fish fingers
It was a nice day
He has a shy smile and a potty mouth
I will see him again
Shift
The downside of palliative care is that sometimes all you do is check and administer important medications. This procedure is carefully managed and two trained nurses have to prepare the drugs and administer them to maintain safety. When your patients have complex pain issues this process can be repeated hourly, and so you can be on catch up for most of the shift.
I’ve had such a shift
It reminded me of some of the overly technical shifts I used to have on intensive care.
After one of those I used to drive to the beach and just sit in the car in silence with the windows wide open, desperately trying to remove the yakuda monitor bleeps and calls and warnings from my brain
Tonight I parked on North Shore in Llandudno and did the same
I found a half eaten packet of cheese and onion crisps behind the visor and ate them joyously
Sucking the salt from my fingers
As the cold sea air flushed through Bluebell’s windows like a cold flannel on a hot brow
I’m meeting Patrick tomorrow, for brunch
Sitting On The Porch with Tim and Apples Everywhere you look
Blogging has its downsides for sure,
But unexpected friendships are the upside for sure.
For a few years now I have a friend called Tim,
His actual name is Mike but as I know a lot of Mikes and Micks , I thought using his name confusing
Tim was a doctor, he’s straight, has a family, and has suffered from ill health from time to time.
He’s honest and genuine and emails me rather than commenting on the blog
And he’s my friend.
He lives in America and we share the same mindset on many things
And I have a great affection for him.
It’s sunny and slightly warm here today and I wish I had a porch with a couple of comfortable wicker Lloyd Loom chairs on it.
Side by side with a small table of coffee cups and biscuits set in-between
And we’d talk and sit the morning away together.
The hastily organised and named Apple Festival was a resounding success yesterday. I managed to get out of bed after two hours sleep and popped along to support it.
Loosely based on harvest festival, apples and autumn the festival saw cider making , Apple pressing , Dave Wilson teaching archery on the stage ( mannequins with apples on their heads) yes there’s a theme here.
Lots of scrummy food to buy, ( apple crumbles etc)and from nowhere lots of local craft stalls
It’s future looked bleak
Now, like the TCA, the hall is thriving.
Btw, Patrick from the book club has been in touch again ( several times!), he seems very nice, chatty and witty. We have arranged to meet next weekend
I’m looking forward to it
A Lesson in Dying
Some trolls keep thinking I’m asking for advice all of the time
I’m not
Going Gently is a journal for thoughts
It’s not a debating forum
But thank you for the more constructive comments.
It’s Saturday morning and work is finished for two days, but as there is an accident on the A 55 the two trained staff coming on have been delayed which means we will have to stay until they arrive
It’s the Apple Festival today in the Hall, an idea which came from nowhere, but I will need a sleep and the do starts at eleven, so I will miss it today.
I don’t mind. Work has been busy
I’ve observed this before, but so many people get to a ripe old age nowadays without ever properly experiencing a death. The whole process is not understood, is feared and seldom talked about.
It needs to be talked about
Myths need debunking
Fears need calming
The story of my last Ghost hen is a lesson in this need
“Some of the village children come down to the field to collect eggs. Today they came late which was lucky as I had failed to check the coops because I had been up to my brother's house for most of the day.
I dished out the obligatory enamel bowls and ten minutes later the kids darted back to the cottage to inform me that one of the hens was ill.
"I think you have a hen with asthma" the little boy informed me seriously
and he took me over to the pond to show me the breathless hen.
It was Ruth, the final ghost hen , who was gasping for breath.
The children squatted down on their haunches with interest and asked a whole load of questions as I sat down next to the hen.
"Why was she gasping? ....why was her head a dark colour?......why was her eyes shut?"
Initially I was not sure of just what to say to a couple of seven year olds, but I guessed that it was pretty much ok to tell them the truth gently and without any fuss.
So carefully I explained that the hen's heart was giving out and that she was not in any pain but she was dying, and that was why she was a strange colour and she was making an odd noise.
I also told them that she was an old hen and had lived over a year past the date. she was expected to die
The children nodded somberly and we watched the hen together for a while before they informed me that they were off home.
"will you bury her when she dies?" the boy asked before he went
"Yes I said" (I didn't have the heart to tell them that I would leave the body by the badger set in the next field)
"That's good!" he said.standing up.
By the time the kids had gone. I sat down next to Ruth and let her rest her straining head on my foot .
I didn't quite have the heart to pull her neck, and I am glad I didn't as moments later she died.”
I dished out the obligatory enamel bowls and ten minutes later the kids darted back to the cottage to inform me that one of the hens was ill.
"I think you have a hen with asthma" the little boy informed me seriously
and he took me over to the pond to show me the breathless hen.
It was Ruth, the final ghost hen , who was gasping for breath.
The children squatted down on their haunches with interest and asked a whole load of questions as I sat down next to the hen.
"Why was she gasping? ....why was her head a dark colour?......why was her eyes shut?"
Initially I was not sure of just what to say to a couple of seven year olds, but I guessed that it was pretty much ok to tell them the truth gently and without any fuss.
So carefully I explained that the hen's heart was giving out and that she was not in any pain but she was dying, and that was why she was a strange colour and she was making an odd noise.
I also told them that she was an old hen and had lived over a year past the date. she was expected to die
The children nodded somberly and we watched the hen together for a while before they informed me that they were off home.
"will you bury her when she dies?" the boy asked before he went
"Yes I said" (I didn't have the heart to tell them that I would leave the body by the badger set in the next field)
"That's good!" he said.standing up.
By the time the kids had gone. I sat down next to Ruth and let her rest her straining head on my foot .
I didn't quite have the heart to pull her neck, and I am glad I didn't as moments later she died.”
Dates
An evening invitation to the cinema next week has sort of changed into an unexpected date and I’m not quite sure how I feel about things.
True I bang on about being isolated and lonely but I seldom write that I want someone new in my life.
Have I actually got the mind space and the time for someone new?
I’m not so sure.
He’s texted me a lot after I didn’t turn up at book club
Which is flattering enough, but really…. am I bothered enough at my age to start to negotiate the rituals and and hard work dating requires?
I’m not sure.
I will go on the date with an open mind
It will be interesting having a conversation away from a novel for a change
It may be lovely
I’m just not sure
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