23/11/2011 by Aileen.

Yesterday turned out lovely in the end. I had the dreaded church cleaning, so as usual I decided to go to the 10am Mass and do the cleaning straight afterwards. My watch said 9.30, and the house was tidy, ten minutes to spare, so I decided to varnish my nails. Only my watch had stopped and it was 9.55. So I hurtled out of the house. I was held up for ages at Howden as they were resurfacing part of the roundabout, but got the end of Mass. I had forgotten my polish and duster, so went to the church supplies, but the polish was finished. That was great by me, as it’s the polishing that takes the longest, and John and I were going to have lunch in Beverley and browse around Lakeland. We did. Both had and enormous chicken and bacon salad in Perc-u-later (think that was the spelling)and, of course, a coffee, even though I’ve discovered red bush tea and am cutting down on coffee.

I got a battery for my watch, and new gloves and scarf for birding. John got a navy leather jacket and 8 books from Oxfam. Then, between us we got oven cleaner, telescopic broom, dustpan and brush, computer screen cloth, and cover for the rotary clothes line. We then went to Steamer Trading Ltd (seems like a rival to Lakeland) and bought a carving set with a guard for the fork. We’ve been looking everywhere for this since the old carving fork snapped in half. (From the dishwasher, not tough meat, I think)

We tried unsuccessfully to get Ali a sushi set for Christmas. We were recommended to try Boots, but decided to research on t’Internet before buying.

I intended to drive John to a place on the Wolds where red kites come to roost late each afternoon, but it was getting late, and quite misty, so we went home to a refreshing cup of tea. I intended to make a curry with the chicken remains, but got sucked in to Second Life, so agreed to have chicken and chips instead.

We watched Murder in Paradise, which I really enjoy. Not much I like on TV these days. Up for ages then, on SL, doing online sudoku and jigsaw, and bed after midnight.

No photos, but I should have some today and tomorrow. Going with birding group to see owls this afternoon, and to Donna Nook tomorrow to see the seals. I’m going to squeeze the gym in now, as I told myself I’d go twice a week. Bye all. Have fun.

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10/11/2011 by Aileen.

Here is a summary of latest things I’ve done, omitting routine stuff.

1. Went to see Anonymous (ruddish)
2. Re-joined gym (go girl)
3.  Won an Olymus SZ-10 (yay)
4. 2 and a half hour walk with OU friends (puff)
5. Submitted first TMA for new OU course (phew)

Oh, I can’t leave it at that. I’ll have to chat on. I was prepared to hate Anonymous (it says the Lord of somewhere or other wrote Shakespeare anonymously) but John actually fell asleep during it, and I was totally confused by the frequent time shifts. All the men looked the same to me too, with long wavy hair. We saw the Three Musketeers recently with the grandchildren, and that was really good fun. No confusion. To be honest my history is ruddish. I need to revise a lot this year, as the Reading and Studying Literature course I’m doing puts writings in context. We’ve ‘done’ Othello and The Duchess of Malfi already, TMA on Duchess due today, submitted a couple of days ago, and now we’re on to Oroonoko. It’s all the long 18th century at the moment, and I don’t know about those times. Don’t even like the fashions lol.

Gym has been on the cards for ages. I haven’t been for three years. John was in Stoke Mandeville for a few months then. The following year we had our car accident, and I was so stiff for weeks and weeks. No excuse since then. Kept meaning to go back, but never thought I had the time. Anyway, I went to the doctors yonks ago about my breathlessness, and after several hospital tests that all came back positive (by that I mean negative) she said go for brisk walks three times a week and then go back to her. Well, I didn’t go back, as I wasn’t always doing the walking regularly, but lately I have been. And as I got up to 11 and a half stone recently I thought I really must do something about it beside half hearted cutting back on calories. I went swimming at Nuffield’s last week, did 20 lengths no problem, went on Monday for a health check which wasn’t too bad, except that my blood pressure was 171/90, and went on Tuesday for a personal programme. Did another twenty lengths on both days this week. Gave it a miss yesterday as I had a long walk along the Humber with my birding friends, but am going to start the programme today, after my 11.45 dentist appt. (I’ve lost a filling.)

Winning the camera was a surprise. At the WI we were asked to submit photos for the East Riding Wild Life calendar. I’m not usually organised enough to enter competitions, but the committee knew I like photography and kept reminding me, so I felt obliged. I put in a butterfly and a robin, and it was the robin that won. It’s a bit of a joke among photographers that robin photos appeal to the general public. (I didn’t win the prize voted for by the technical people, but by WI members). And in birding circles peole who ooh and aah at robins and cute little garden birds are called robin strokers!) Anyway, here are the two photos I submitted. I actually think the butterfly is the better.

The camera I won is a compact. Olypus SZ-10. It’s easy to carry around, and has some really fun settings, like making a line drawing photo. This should be good for people portraits. They can then be handcoloured or photoshopped. The camera can also produce effects like popart, punk and sparkle. Here is a watercolour effect of a rose bush from our garden, and a line drawing effect of a hydrangea.

Oh well, everyday life calls. Shower, clean teeth, dentist, gym. John’s doing lunch.

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