Hind sight..

With hindsight, last week was good. I didn't think so as the days went by, but looking back I think we are over the bad times again.

Bert's colostomy bag began to work on the Monday, and one of his drains came out on the Tuesday. He was given some soup on the Wednesday for the first time and said it was awful! I think his taste buds need educating again - maybe? His catheta is out now and all he has left is one drain which we are hoping will come out this next week. He is able to move about without pushing a trolley load of tubes and bags etc. and is complaining that the ward is cold and giving the nurses a hard time. He had one day when he was really down - maybe Wednesday - and wondered if he was going to make it when he saw others coming and going and he was still left there. He seems to be over that now.

I went to the market on Thursday and got 3 orders, two from women, who would not believe me when I said "I don't do women". Still, if they want to take the chance who am I to refuse? The third waistcoat was for a farmer from Gloucester who wanted several waistcoats and would order against the first if it went OK - the type of order I like to get. I spent today, Sunday, cutting out for him and one of the other ladies. Funnily enough I had already cut a small size in the fabric she chose so it was just a matter of adding the bits and pieces that no-one sees.

Last week, I also finished my daughter's present, not sure if she should have it for her birthday on 15th December or for Christmas; I'll have to ask her. I had to sign up for another course to finish it off because I wanted to do something special but, don't you know, didn't have the expertise to get it right! I now have my kitchen table back ready for the next present; for my middle son, Philip and family.

My eldest son, Gareth, called and I showed him all the jobs that I need doing, so I don't think I'll see him again any time soon! He is back from a tour in Canada and has transferred to a base about 2 miles from where he now lives. He says the work is horrendous, 18 hour shifts and little time to sleep, mainly because there are very few workmen left in England to support the troups here as most of them are posted abroad. I do wonder who makes these decisions because they take no account of personnel, just numbers on boards I imagine.

My dogs are doing well, and Digger has acquired a waist, bless him, he is so active he burns off the calaries trying to keep up with Peggy. He is doing well at social club but still nervous of larger dogs and tends to let them know he's not to be messed with. We are told this is normal behaviour and not to worry, he'll integrate when he's ready. Peggy just goes off and does her own thing; she comes when called and is quite a responsible adult now. Digger sometimes finds it difficult to come through the dog flap in the kitchen door and she is always there to show him the way, he just has to winge a bit and she picks it up wherever she is and shows him what to do. They are playing tug of war at the moment and are evenly weighted so it's anyone's guess who will win. Usually they agree to a draw, which is nice.

Tomorrow is work day and back to making waistcoats. I did sign up for a small course on making silk fusion, but I've been so agitated that I've had to ask for a pass. I have the course notes and will get to work when I find some me-time. My book binding course starts on Nov 8th and I'm signed up for card making next Wednesday and scrap booking on Friday evening and all day Saturday. It will be the first time with the scrap booking and I'm looking forward to seeing what we make and how to incorporate it into what I like to do. I also have a course starting on 1st November that came free with Maggie Grey's new book and my first task is to find a catalogue and score cuts into it and put it outside to weather for 3 months! This should be very interesting as I have no idea what we'll be making from the result.

This is getting a long blog and no pictures so I'd better sign off.

Catch up and holiday

Isn't the weather great at the moment? Well, it is in Devon, so there!

A little update re Bert, he had his first operation a week ago and came through it nicely, however, the surgeon was not happy with him as something wasn't working (not sure what) so he was rushed into theatre for another op. Wednesday night and we are waiting to hear if that one has put things right. He'll be in hospital for another two weeks at least, then recooperating at his sister's house.

In the meantime, I got the dogs off to kennels for their stay and myself packed and ready for my holiday on the Isle of Wight. Disaster one was me trying to be efficient. I wanted to check if a spare camera disc had any photos on it that needed uploading and erasing but I put the disc into the camera sideways (not thinking straight) and damaged the connecting pins. I rushed down to Jessops and was told it would cost £150 to repair and take a week but as I was leaving in two days that was not acceptable. So I bit the bullet and bought a new camera, discs, and charger for my holiday.

As is predictable disaster 2 happened on the Sunday, the taxi was late because the driver was new and went to the wrong address. We then did a wheely down the roads to the coach and got there just in time - quite a start to a relaxing(!) holiday. We drove up to Taunton to pick up other passengers via several villages, twice round Wellington's column and then down to Worcester for a break and shopping in the outlet. The afternoon saw us arrive in Portsmouth for the ferry ride over the water - picture of the Spinaker Tower left.

I was so disappointed in the shortness of the trip across, barely half an hour and only time for one glass of wine before we headed back to the coach and I could still see the Spinaker Tower when we landed.

The Isle of Wight impressed me with its cleanliness and upkeep. There were no hovels or homeless dotted around, and money spoke everywhere. Surprisingly when we checked out the cost of housing, they were similar to Devon with just a few millions-costed houses available.

I won't bore you by taking you through all the tourist spots we went to over the next few days but there were a few that stood out for me. The best was Osbourne House, once owned by Queen Victoria and designed by Prince Albert. King Edward VII didn't want it so he gave it to the National Trust and as we were not allowed to use any technology whilst touring the house I could not take any photos, but outside was different and I managed to get some pictures to show the extent of the building and the photos show just one wing. The one room that stood out for me was the last we went through; a large room designed and built by an Indian Raja as a present for Queen Victoria. It was covered in ivory fretwork - the ceiling, walls and screens. All were carved beautifully and set against ruby red furnishings and mahogany stays. One can wonder how many elephants lost their tusks to furnish this room and that saddened me. Another thing I found out is that Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip are both decended from Queen Victoria and are cousins a couple of times removed.

Tomorrow I'll put some more photos up.

Happy Birthday to Me...

Events have a way of dictating your week, have you noticed? Last Thursday I learned that my partner Bert had colon cancer and that sent me a bit doo-laly and I could not think straight for a few days. It wasn't until Sunday I could actually talk about it to anyone else and decided the family should know and be warned of the consequences. I usually phone my mother on Sundays so she was the first to know and then Ed arrived in the afternoon for my birthday on the Monday - he had taken the day off, bless him and he took me out for a meal. During Monday a lot happened and I got calls from Stephanie, Phil and Fiona so they all know now.

Ed linked up my new BT hub to my PC and got it working - a doddle for him! Then we tackled the BTVision; we had to dismantle the Sky+ box and set up an ethernet link to the BT box, then it had to search for the channels etc. All quite technical.

So it was about 2pm before we got to go out and find Appledore which is supposed to be a craft community and shopping centre. We had a basic map (boy, was it basic) that sent us round in a loop, adding miles to the journey. We had to reverse our road a couple of times as the signposts were in funny places but we did get there! We had lunch at a little pub close by and visited the craft shop. I asked at the shop whether they did workshops or courses but there was nothing in that line, they were just a shop, so I bought a lovely ceramic pull for the bathroom light and a tudor rose tile that I could use as a stamp; I rummaged through a book fair in a garage for 3 very old books I could use for collaging and then we came home. I saw Ed off at about 4pm and settled down to watch the new BTVision.

What a con that was! All the channels I usually watch were gone, the menus were ponderous, not having a back button, so once you got to the end of the limited menu tree you had to go out and come back in again. There were none of the films, HD channnels, or extended viewing that you get with Sky and I could have got the same viewing if I had bought a Freeview box from Tesco for £30 and no £20 per month subscription. The remote volume buttons did not work and when I rang the technical support they said I had to call another number and get some codes to get it working. The only thing I could see that was an advantage over Freeview was the ability to record the programmes and link the series. After an hour I gave up and watched one of my own DVDs.

The next day I dismantled the BTVision, re-installed my Sky+ box and rang BT to cancel. I was so glad to get back to Sky+ and will never complain about the cost again.

So my birthday was successful on the whole and I really enjoyed the day. Today, Wednesday, I have my craft club at lunchtime when I'm supposed to be making a decoupage card (see next blog) and I have cancelled my Thursday market day - I just can't concentrate on that at the moment but funnily enough, I got a call from a previous customer and another order. I explained I will be away for a week and will get to it when I come back, so that will keep me going. Fiona's ball gown is nearly finished, just some tarting up and hems to do, and I must get to do some ironing or I'll have nothing to wear next week.