Today I shall be Mainly...

[Stanley]

Mick recognised the faint smell in the kitchen, he was raised with horses and they used it in the stables.
Looking after Jack. One salt water irrigation only today, just before we go for our morning walk. Then nursing duties and sleep for both of us.....

[Sue]

I like the smell too! Poor Jack, salt irrigations are good we used them on our cats when they got bitten in fights. Infrequent but it happened.

Craft today. We are making pictures using buttons, sounds strange but they are very effective. Afterwards it is the usual Friday extended lunch with friends. Bob is out at the model engineers tonight. I shall wrap birthday presents for Claire and Erin. Its hard to believe that it is 5 years since Erin was born and all the trauma that they both went through. Its also Claire and Adams second wedding anniversary on Sunday. Time flies!

This weekend we will be sorting and packing ready for our first trip to France this year.

[Marilyn]

I took two huge jars of buttons to the charity shop last month. They were glad of them.

[Stanley]

I'm short of small shirt buttons.....
Usual routine of walks plus looking after Jack' wound . That will be a long haul, at least four or five weeks but so far so good, it's clear of infection and a good colour, still open and full of serum which is good! I'm paying a lot of attention to bio-security but can't get him to understand it!

[Stanley]

No shed, I am not ready yet but I can feel a writing spell creeping up on me. I'm ready to write about the Dissolution of the Monasteries....
Keeping Jack on track for recovery.....

[Sue]

Bedding changing, packing, and I may start my new book. The Genealogical History of an Ordinary Family MY WIDDUP FAMILY this is a follow up to MY MAYLARD FAMILY and has been many years in the research stage, about 19 .

E6BD1CB5-2AD5-481A-81E9-F04E289DED7A.png

[Stanley]

As my friend Ethel used to say; "It ain't easy!".

[Stanley]

All the usual things with the exception of getting geared up for a BCG treatment tomorrow. Yippee!
Arranging repeat prescription and a session in the Diabetes Clinic. I postponed that because of the BCG.
I can't keep away from the docs these days....... Am I on the slippery slope to final oblivion?

[Sue]

Early swim followed by a little writing. French this afternoon and fast yoga at teatime.

I started the book. I laid out some formats, a rough contents page to set the scenes of the chapters and started cutting and pasting some of my research notes and essays into the appropriate sections. Luckily these were sorted and filed as I had sent some to the researcher who is writing his PhD thesis on the northern political activists of the 19th century. He sent me a draft of his section on John Widdup some months back and it instilled me to get started with my own writing.

[Stanley]

I'm impressed Sue. You probably know this but one thing I learned was that it was a good idea to wash copied text by putting it through your text editor first, this removes all the old formatting codes, makes for much cleaner pasting into your working document.
I've been writing as well, just done an article for the BET and sent it off. No day should be wasted......

[Marilyn]

Yes! Yes! Yes! ( she says triumphantly)
I managed to do some simple machine sewing - not easy with a numb foot and leg. Firstly I repaired the hole in my heat pack, that split in bed a couple of weeks ago. It will be good to have that back in service again. ( when I am back to 100% I shall make an entire new cover, but at least it is useable again). Then I adapted the cover for our bikes - when the bikes are on the back of the van, the cover helps to keep the weather off them. Nothing worse than a soggy bike seat. The cover also helps protect them from theft to some degree, because they are more trouble to get at. I had to split the back of it to fit over our bike carrier and add new ties/clips.
Not huge sewing jobs, but had to concentrate hard on working my foot. I am exhausted now. Funny how little things can take it out of you when you are not 100%. No doubt I shall pay for my effort as the day progresses...

[Stanley]

That's good news Maz. I am following in your wake and starting to feel more my normal self and you're right, it's a relief and very encouraging.
I wrote a BET article today and will do another one today.
One day at a time!

[Sue]

Yes! Yes! Yes! ( she says triumphantly)
I managed to do some simple machine sewing - not easy with a numb foot and leg. Firstly I repaired the hole in my heat pack, that split in bed a couple of weeks ago. It will be good to have that back in service again. ( when I am back to 100% I shall make an entire new cover, but at least it is useable again). Then I adapted the cover for our bikes - when the bikes are on the back of the van, the cover helps to keep the weather off them. Nothing worse than a soggy bike seat. The cover also helps protect them from theft to some degree, because they are more trouble to get at. I had to split the back of it to fit over our bike carrier and add new ties/clips.
Not huge sewing jobs, but had to concentrate hard on working my foot. I am exhausted now. Funny how little things can take it out of you when you are not 100%. No doubt I shall pay for my effort as the day progresses...

I am so pleased to hear all of that. It will make you feel better. I remember that feel of achievement after being unable to do anything but read for weeks.

Being a very simple typist Stanley I use very few formatting codes, however I know what you mean. When i put together the book for my writing group, one of our members had been a secretary. She used all sorts of formatting codes and when I imported her texts into the book everything went very wrong!

Today is a bit of washing to clear the wash-basket before we leave tomorrow. Then its the hospice shop this afternoon followed by pilates this evening.Tomorrow I have an all day art class with Jeremy Ford. We are driving down to Portsmouth straight afterwards, having tea with Julia on the way down. We catch the ferry Thursdaymorning. Its promising to be a bit rough

[Stanley]

"I imported her texts into the book everything went very wrong!"
That's exactly what happened to me Sue and it was Tiz who gave me the tip. Using whatever means you have to hand, convert the text to simple plain text and then import it from there. That solved the problem!
Just written another article....

[Wendyf]

Just back from a funeral in Warrington. We had to be there by 10.15am so we made what we thought was an early start but didnt quite make it in time and had to creep into the crematorium after everyone else. It was a horrible journey in heavy rain and once we got to the M60 the traffic was moving at snail pace. So glad we don't have to travel regularly!

[Stanley]

Couldn't agree more Wendy! The traffic today horrifies me, I can remember when you could travel on even the M1 with no vehicles in sight either way.... Unbelievable now.
Bloods at surgery this morning...... That could interfere with the flow of articles.

[Sue]

"I imported her texts into the book everything went very wrong!"
That's exactly what happened to me Sue and it was Tiz who gave me the tip. Using whatever means you have to hand, convert the text to simple plain text and then import it from there. That solved the problem!
Just written another article....

I will remember that. Just having a cuppa in the hotel in Portsmouth. Early ferry in the morning

[Sue]

Just back from a funeral in Warrington. We had to be there by 10.15am so we made what we thought was an early start but didnt quite make it in time and had to creep into the crematorium after everyone else. It was a horrible journey in heavy rain and once we got to the M60 the traffic was moving at snail pace. So glad we don't have to travel regularly!

My Claire does the journey from Ramsbottom three days a week...leaves home at 6.00 and has her breakfast when she gets to work luckily by 7.00, then she can leave early in the evening

[Stanley]

Vet's this morning. I might fit in another Bet article..... No day is wasted if a thousand words have been written...

[Sue]

Arrived at the house in Brittany at 7.45 pm. All good. We are always a bit worried after the winter gap of 4 months. We were held up 90 minutes in the rush hour in Rennes. Never seen the roads like that before and mad mad dangerous driving

[Stanley]

Butcher's day today. Then another article I think.
Glad you got there safely Sue.....

[Sue]

It was a football match, Arsenal v Rennes!

[Marilyn]

Grocery shopping this morning. Now I am just having a short lay down until my pain subsides a bit and we can plan the rest of our day...
Perfect day for a walk on the beach, but that may be a step too far.

[Stanley]

That surprised me Sue.... I hadn't got you marked down as a footie fan!
Watching out for Whitaker on the horizon, could be delivered today!
That article I never wrote yesterday?

[Marilyn]

Harvested the very last of our Rhubarb. Cooked it up and then made a Rhubarb, Carrot and Walnut Cake.
Resting on the bed while it cooks, as I am a bit sore after all that effort. ( I find having 15 min rests between tasks really helps me get through the day). We have also walked the Markets today, and I bought another couple of books to keep me occupied.
Cake smells nice...