I have already spoken about my mum (it's Day 8 if you missed it) but as it was Mothering Sunday yesterday I'll give her another mention.  I always felt safe with her.  I hated having to go to school, knowing she was not at home but had gone out to work.  And I know I've said it before and, no doubt, I will say it again, but I give thanks to the good Lord every day that, although physically failing, she is still the person I know and have always loved.

Yesterday I spent some very quality time with a new friend and an old friend.  Well, when I say old, I mean in terms of how long we've been friends!  In the process I re-acquainted myself with bargello tapestry and found how relaxing it was.  Picture is of a cushion I did years and years (and years and years) ago.  I will be doing some more

I was watching Gardener's World and a man who grew Dahlias said that he didn't want to be one of the best growers because winning a prize occasionally was much better than winning all the time.  I think I agree with that.

Picture is done with an oil painting app.

Sometimes you worry about something that you have said, something that might have seemed unkind, or upset someone else.  Eventually you summon up the courage to say sorry and then you find out that no one even remembers it.  So, you have removed the worry from your own heart because there was nothing to worry about in the first place.

That great feeling of achievement when you get round to doing a job you've been putting off for too long. Yesterday I defrosted the freezer !

I did this picture with one of the painting programs, sorry, apps, I have on my iPad.  It is indicative of the fact that the nasty old clouds that have been my mood for a while, are at last beginning to lift and I shall soon be my sunny self again.

Several people were nice to me today even tho' I probably didn't deserve it

It's not been an easy week.  I had a snooze on the sofa on Sunday afternoon

I actually got round to cutting what I laughingly call the lawn yesterday afternoon.

At last, the sun is round far enough and high enough to shine through the landing window later in the afternoon

Do you ever think about all those people that work in the "back office"?  The people who type the letters, answer the phone, schedule the appointments, deal with the complaints, get the post out on time etc etc etc.  Often from some dingy basement that never gets decorated because the public never see it.  Don't forget them as life would be very difficult without them

My willpower comes and goes but recently my determination to get rid of a lot of surplus books has stayed with me.  Oxfam have a very convenient book bank in the local supermarket car park and I think I have practically filled it all on my own!
Picture courtesy of Bitstrips

Found on Facebook

Just playing around with some patterns today.  I am very pleased with the service that mum is getting from a company called HomeInstead.  She has someone come three times a week (or two when she's here for the weekend) and they are lovely.  The company help older people stay independent and provide a wide range of care, individually tailored to the needs of the person concerned.  They have been a blessing to me too as it has taken a bit of the worry off my shoulders

On the rear boundary of our garden, which adjoining the rear boundary of another garden, there is a 6ft plus fence and on the other side a line of cotoneaster which do grow very well. The man from the house concerned does cut them back about once every two or three years and he has started again, but is cutting them back a lot further than normal.  He managed to drop his cutters over the fence so when he came round to get them back, we introduced ourselves and, long story short, as they say, he is going to come and do our side as well next week.  This is going to save me (or my gardening lady) a difficult job so I am very pleased.

Sometimes I have a long list of things I want to do and suddenly I am just too tired to finish them. I'm not being lazy, it's just one of those things connected with an irritating but non-life threatening condition.  So, I have learnt to give myself permission to stop and leave things unfinished, tomorrow is another day

My hubby has been having a few short term memory problems lately, but it's difficult to know whether they are due to old age, deafness, or just not paying attention (LOL)  But when I woke up yesterday morning I had some insight into the problem and was able to have a very good natured discussion with him  about it and between us we have come up with some strategies and an understanding that neither of us will get cross about it.  Two things to be thankful for - one, that I was given the insight and, two, that he is such a nice chap and prepared to talk about it without getting irritated 

When I went outside this evening to zip up my two plastic greenhouses there was a change in the air, that smell when it has been a warm day, that smell on the breeze that is another promise of Spring that's nearly here.
The picture is a computer altered photo but before long I am going to try and find some time to do some real painting.

When she's decided what colour she would like I am going to be making this for a friend.  I made it for her once before, about 40 years ago.  At the time I had a chair just like the one the model here is sitting in.  Memories that link the past to the present are very special.  Shared experiences that you can still look back to with the people that were there at the time

SOUNDSCAPE

On the walk to the Heath and back

Traffic, mostly distant except for the few that pass by on the road

Wind rustling leaves as I go through the woods.

A very melodious robin in the gorse

The sound of the tyres on the gravel as a cyclist over takes me

A few words with a friend

Children in the playground at the school

A blackbird, a great tit and a chaffinch all proclaiming their territories

More rustling leaves

A distant siren – God be with them whatever they are going to

More children at the other school, then silence and a teacher’s voice reading to them

More birds, I wish I knew all their calls

A lady waiting at the school gate, talking baby talk to her dog,
Her keys in her hand jingle as she pets him.

A blue tit

The water trickling in the fish pond in a front garden

Someone starts up a lawnmower

Next door’s baby cries a little as I open the front door

My husband calls out “Hello – did you have a good walk?”

I did. 

The many sounds have given me peace.

Mum was a bit upset at the weekend. When I took her home on Sunday it was a lovely sunny day, with a bit of a breeze and she commented what perfect weather it was for a brisk walk.  And then she got weepy because she can barely walk a few paces now, and that's with her frame.  I keep saying I should make the effort and that reinforced my determination to enjoy a walk whenever I can.  The blessing - well, I guess it is those things that make us stop and think and make the effort to improve the here and now.

Laughter.  There's a lot of it in this house and I don't think a day ever passes when we don't have a good laugh about something.

As you may have gathered by now, these posts are mainly done late at night.  This evening, after quite a busy day, mostly taken up with doing stuff for mum (but with a brief but very welcome interlude getting to know my pad of eye better) I was looking for inspiration and found it on Facebook, posted up by Suspended Coffee.  Don't know what Suspended coffee is? Oh good, that'll be the next post then.

This picture was achieved by waving the camera around at the little lights on my computer in a darkened room on a long exposure.  It represents the track left by a fly with a colourful rear end (I think we all know what I am saying here) which in turn represents my day. But I fixed mother's problems with her fridge and successfully negotiated her visit to the dentist and now she is back here with me sleeping soundly - tho' not soundlessly - and I have a moment of peace (I have my door closed) and quiet before the end of my day. And relax!

Just a pretty pattern today and a big thank you to all my FB friends who are trying to help me get to grips with my pad of eye.  Keep up the good work!

I would love to belong to a choir and I've mentioned it before but just generally, singing always makes me feel better

My mum thanked me the other day for being so patient.  I am aware of the fact that, particularly from living with my other half, that I have become a lot more patient over the years but I don't feel as tho' I've done it myself, more that it is something I have been taught.  It makes life a lot easier so I am very thankful for it.

Someone posted a link on FB this evening which has made me question what I am trying to do here.  I shall have to think very carefully, but all comments welcome
THIS is the link
P.S. By this morning I had decided that the purpose of this blog was to suggest something new each day for which I can thank God so I shall continue but I have changed the header to make it clear.

I go to two churches, theoretically alternate weeks although it doesn't always quite work out like that.  It's too complicated to explain, but there was something that happened today at the local church here that made me feel blessed, accepted, known and acknowledged as being included

You are blessed if you have time to really, really look at the marvels of creation.  Not mountains and canyons, but the tiny details that are so wonderful, and, sometimes weird.  This looks like some sort of chicken embryo to me but if you scroll down you will see what it really is.  I saw it for the first time today, I shall been hunting for more now!

I went to a Quilt exhibition yesterday afternoon and it inspired me to play around with my paper crafting/card making program.  
Today's blessing is part one of "people who care enough to make a difference" and is paramedics and emergency care assistants who do a difficult job with good humour and respect