28/09/2010 by Aileen.

Recovering from a long weekend.

Thursday was my birthday. Went into Hull with John and bought grey jeans, grey stretchy trousers, black top, purple top and purple jacket. Lunch at Starbucks.

ALi and family arrived in the evening, and we chatted.

Friday. Chatted, did food shopping and cooked.Ali did a lovely lasagne. Played charades after.

Saturday. Martin and family arrived. Chatted. Ate. Drank. Ali did my birthday meal. Salmon en croute. More charades, which is great fun with the kids.

Sunday. Mass. Fiona came with Alexander, who is now sitting up quite well and has four teeth. He looks so like Martin. we were toying with the idea of going somewhere, but just chilled. The beef I bought didn’t look big enough for us all, so I got a frozen (well it was fresh last week) chicken from the freezer and we had a variation of surf’n'turf.

Monday. Visitors all left and I had four sets of double sheets to wash. Only did ours as I was knackered. Washing is easy, but with the visitors’ sheets I like to iron, which is a pain. AGM at Viewfinders in the evening. Quick and efficient.

Today. House is quite tidy. No plans. Maybe study as the course officially starts on Saturday. Tutorial in Sheffield which seems a bit crazy as other York people go to Leeds, but the tutor seems keen. Looking forward to it.

Bye all. Might put some photos of the weekend up soon, but we didn’t do the group one we planned as the weather was so poor.

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22/09/2010 by Aileen.

Can’t stop. Going birding in Spurn this morning. It’s over an hour away, and I have to be there by 9.30. Actually it’s for quarter to ten, but we’re all scared of Michael and get there early.

Anyway, I just had to post this photo of John. We went out cycling yesterday. We met Anita and Colin who had been walking the dogs, and they mentioned they had been along this farm track. The brick lane, they called it, as you can see the remnants of bricks under the soil.

Anyway, we decided we would cycle along there too, and merrily set off. About 500 yards along it, John’s wheelchair hit a stone, and he tumbled out. No way could we get him back in. Years ago, maybe, but not now.

So I left him sitting in the lane, and cycled back for help. I didn’t really know what I was going to do, but then I saw Paul and Roz turning into their drive, so although I didn’t expect Paul to help physically, I thought he might know of a couple of strong men around. Anyway, he said it would be no problem, and got his neighbour to lend a hand. We drove back to the track, walked along it, and in no time the two men had got John up into his wheelchair. That was the end of our day’s exercise, but I sat out studying in the garden later, so got fresh air on a lovely autumn day.

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21/09/2010 by Aileen.

I was reading a French news site this morning, and came across ‘le paludisme’ which I didn’t know. I Googled it, got the French Wikipedia, so hit ‘translate this site.’ Here I read -

Malaria (from Latin paludis, ” swamp ” ^[1]

Actually it’s good fun translating pages into another language, and then back into English. Use Google Translate, but there are others.

Oh well, enough of this prevarication. Hope to try and pot up some basil, ivy and pelargonium cuttings today, and hair cut this afternoon. Press on with OU too, as I haven’t touched it for about a week.

Oh, and our gardener (!) suggested making elderberry wine with all the elderberries. Think I’ll just make jam, as I would need to go hunting special ingredients for the wine.

Bye.

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20/09/2010 by Aileen.

Eating my muesli this morning, I thought there was a really tough bit of nut in my mouth. It turned out to be an enormous filling. My teeth have been fine for ages. I’m sure it was cos I was at the dentist on Friday, and he dislodged it with his probing. Oh well. Dentist again this week, I suppose.

Saturday was great. I met my OU friends and we went on a 4 and a half mile walk which ended as a six mile walk as we took a couple of wrong turnings. We started in the carpark at Huggate, and did a ‘circular’ walk up in the Wolds. After one wrong turning we slid down the hillside on our bottoms rather than retrace our steps too far. Good fun. Felt like a kid.

Well, I didn’t really feel like a kid. My breathlessness is always worse on hills, and my heart was pounding loudly. I can’t talk when I’m walking fast. Then, on the last bit, my knee startede playing up. Alex had phoned the pub to order lunch, as we were later than we expected to be, and in the end, Alex and Jane went on ahead, to secure our food. Pat was already in the pub as she couldn’t do the walk this month, having overdone the walking in the last few days. Alex returned with her car to give me a lift for the last half a mile, and I really appreciated it. I was knackered.

Sunday, I spent recovering. I overslept for Mass, and was going to go to another church for10.30, but it was later than I thought and was too late for that. I decided to go in the evening at Hessle, but was watching TV and again missed the time.

Still stiff today. About to have a shower, (should have a soak I suppose) and tackle the housework.

Oh, and make that dental appointment.

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18/09/2010 by Aileen.

Well, the last few posts have been too saccharine. We went to the Viewfinders Social Evening last night, and were probably the last to get there, as John had a client between 6 and 7pm. The place was not really suitable for wheelchairs. There was no disabled parking, and I had to drop John off, then drive out and park on the road. We then had to negotiate the gravel drive and go round the back way to avoid steps.

Actually, I got John in, then went to move the car, as I had double parked to get John in. When I got back from parking the car, there was John, still sitting on his own. No one had welcomed him.

John had said that he would drive so I could drink, but as the car was a bit away, and I would have to bring it up the gravel again (too hazardous for John to use) I decided I would have to be the teetotaller for the night.

Anyway, it was a good evening in the end. We sat with Lynne and her family, and our group won the quiz by one point. Kate’s group came second, and there were only four in her group, as opposed to our six.

I also won a raffle prize. I picked up a bottle of wine, then noticed a large Disney mug. John loves big mugs, so I got that instead. We won a bottle of wine each for the quiz anyway.

Last year after the quiz we had a head-on crash with a camper van. This year - when I got home I found I had left my handbag in the drive while getting John’s wheelchair into the boot.

I rang the venue, and the owner rescued my bag. I’m picking it up this morning. The nuisance is, I’m going on a hike with my OU friends at 10am, and I have to go over to Walkington, about 10 miles away, to pick up my bag first. (It has my phone, money, prizes etc in) I was also hoping to do the local shop before I went, but I won’t have time now.

I’m going to swallow my principles and shop at Tescos on my way home from the walk about 2pm. (Pub lunch after walk)

Anyway, yesterday was very productive. I did everything planned except cut the grass. When I did the writing for next week’s writing class I realised it almost fulfilled the criteria for a competition Stella told us about (and on which the homework was based} so I tweaked it a bit, and sent it off to the Mail on Sunday.

Another thing - I started a secret blog! New email address, new me. I’ve written two serious posts, and I have had four viewings already. And guess what! One of them is following me!

My first thought was - what a responsibility. I state categorically that I am a Catholic, and don’t want to do any harm to the Church.  But my second thought was - I have nothing more to say! What on earth am I going to write about?

Oh well.

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17/09/2010 by Aileen.

I suppose I sound so self-satisfied. I don’t care. This is how I am. I still haven’t got over the novelty of living in the country. A duck got in yesterday and shat all over the mat by the French door. (No, our cats don’t - they’re well trained)

Today has been great so far too, and it’s only 8.50. I got up and John had done the kitchen last night. It is his job, but he usually leaves it til the morning. Then I picked an apple in the garden for our muesli. The pips are still a bit white, but the apples are delicious. Crisp and crunchy if that’s not tautology.

Surfed the net to see what’s new, had a shower and planned the day. Only before I get stuck in I thought I’d procrastinate on here.

There are some really wonderful blogs out there. I’ve just read one with beautiful thoughts on scripture and faith. It was just a blog from someone in the OU, but I was impressed. Unfortunately, she hasn’t maintained it for over a year, so I decided not to bookmark it. If I find it again I might.

This blog is just my daily doings - a sort of diary. I’d like to write a more erudite blog, especially one on spirituality, but it would have to be anonymous, as my thoughts are deeply personal and not for the world. I’m thinking of getting a new anonymous email address and starting a blog with no breadcrumb trails to anything else I do.  But could I keep up these deep and original insights? Probably not. I suppose the only way to find out is to try!

Today - wash the guest room sheets in preparation for family next week. (Unwashed since Don and Chris stayed) It’s not the washing that bothers me, but they’re plain pale cream and need ironing. (I don’t iron or own sheets. Life’s too short.)

Then I think I’ll write a piece for Creative Writing (adult education) next Friday, and prepare a contents page for my file. If I do that it’ll be a first for organisation.

Our four (littlish) lawns need mowing and it might be dry enough today.

Tonight it’s our Viewfinders Social Night at The Barn, Walkington. We have a quiz and presentation of certificates for last week’s prizewinners. Did I mention I got joint third for the photographers’ choice and the public’s choice I did? Oh.

That’s plenty of time left over. Might go to the library, might cycle with John. Will probably read. Could well fiddle around with the websites I maintain.

But if I don’t get off here, nothing will be done. Bye all.

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15/09/2010 by Aileen.

Really pleased as I got the results of my Website Design course back. 87%. Can’t upload the site as it’s not a proper one. Ony uploaded to the Open University.

Church cleaning was okay yesterday, but I probably damned myself in Fr Neville’s eyes with my jaundiced views of the institutional church.  Pope arrives tomorrow. That’s what started the discussion. I’m sure he has lots of good points as a human being, but when oh when is the church going to drag itself into the 21st century?

Good birding today at Tophill Low. Not that much there really, but a pleasant walk and we had good views of a kingfisher.

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14/09/2010 by Aileen.

Really, I’m very pleased with myself. One of my photos earned me joint third in the club members vote, and the same one got joint third in the members of the public vote. It was ‘Bluebell Dawn’ - first picture in a previous post.

The bluebells aren’t very distinct, as we had to give the titles to Kate a week earlier, and I just printed the substitute off at the last minute. The bluebells are there - you just can’t see them very clearly. A job for photoshop I believe. (But I won’t get round to it.)

Church Cleaning this morning. Yuck. Why did I volunteer. Oh well. I’ll feel virtuous afterwards, and the church is so pretty and well kept. Oh, I see a couple of photos coming up.

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10/09/2010 by Aileen.

Well, my ten photos are mounted, and John made us bacon sarnies for lunch. I was just juggling with boiling eggs, mixing up a tuna filling and wondering how on earth I am going to transport open sandwiches to Skidby Village Hall this afternoon, when I suddenly realised that I can make up the sarnies there. I only have to prepare the fillings now.

So I am sitting down, waiting for the eggs to boil, and writing this blog.

Bad news this morning. I got (well John got, as it’s his car) a notice of prosecution for driving at 37 miles through the village. I ‘always’ keep to the speeding limit, but it was last Saturday, when I was rushing to the farm shop before out visitors came. I guess I was on the way out of the village as I am inclined to speed up before the 40 mile sign.

Apart from that, things are good. I’llk try to upload small resolution images of my ten exhibition photos, as the printed ones are enormous files. Here goes

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09/09/2010 by Aileen.

Oh I was without the internet from Sunday, and most of Saturday, until Tuesday. It doesn’t sound a tragedy, but it was for me. I kept wanting to Google to find out what was going wrong. Virgin were no help. We don’t have their router and after a while fobbed me off and said I should buy their router to get their assistance. Martin was sure the router wasn’t broken, so I kept trying to reset it. Eventually, when I came to a certain option (click yes if ‘fixed IP address’, or cancel if not) I tried clicking cancel. Suddenly - online. Yay.

Back to the weekend. Don and Chris came up with daughter Charley, and they relieved me of my car, which I never use as I prefer John’s. We’re rarely out to different places at the same time, so a second car is unnecessary,

Anyway, They treated us to a slap-up meal at Skidby Mill House Restaurant, and we had a great time.

Birding started yesterday, and we saw lots of unusual waders, including Little Stint

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 Today is going to be hectic, as I have to print and mount ten photos for our photo exhibition. (At Skidby again by coincidence) It’s already gone one and we haven’t eaten. I went to PC World to top up on printer ink and get some good paper. Then did a big shop at Morrisons.

I am committed to a science experiment with the OU in Second Life, but daren’t log in until my photos are done. They need to be set up tomorrow. I also need to make refreshments for the exhibition opening.

Then, on Saturday, my Children’s Literature course is open online, and we can see the questions we need to answer.

So after kicking my heels all August, things are beginning to happen. Come back August, all is forgiven!

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