Its not hard to spot the difference between the calm photos of the beach I posted yesterday and these. Waves crashing around and the roar of the swell coming before it has to be seen and heard and can feel quite threatening stood so close – so I didn’t linger too long.
I stayed indoors and made red pepper, tomato and basil soup (click on the Recipes tab for the recipe) while the guy we found to fix the garage door came down. We called him at about 9.30am and he came about 11am – not a bad service. We didn’t even have to pay for parts as we could supply him with the cables (in fact both had gone in the end) and the spring just needed respringing rather than replacing.
So one job down. Umpteen to go.
We didn’t make it into town either we kept warm and read instead, so we are going today. I have two birthday cards to get; one for my mum (she will be 94 come Sunday) and one for little Freddie who is just one year old. Then I need to go to the wonderful Homes and Gardens store for jam pot covers and a mooch around – they have a fascinating collection of everything you could possibly want for your house from teapots to drain cleaners.
Then I need haggis and some Scottish pies to take back with me for Burns night.
Surprisingly, the weather is quite calm today and the tide is way out – it did feel like it was coming up into our garden yesterday so I hope not too much land has been lost on the banking around the bay here.
The journey to Scotland didn’t start too well. We were up, packed and ready to go on time but then a power cut delayed us, as we had to wait to be sure everything electrical was off and the burglar alarm set OK, then as we drove the first mile it was obvious the car is still not as it should be….smooth. The suspension was suspiciously rather bumpy and hard which is not like Citroens at all. We circled the block a couple of times, me driving, then DH driving as it seems far worse on the passenger side, then we went back home to decide on what we should do. Already having forked out £1200 for this problem we are reluctant to go back to the same garage.
We decided we would carry on to Scotland turning back at Preston if the suspension had not settled down by then or had got worse. It more or less remained the same – probably better on the smoother roads like the motorways and no warning messages had activated so we pressed on, fingers crossed all the way.
Anyway we are here in Scotland now and despite all the weather warnings it was gloriously sunny yesterday, but bitterly cold in the breeze. I have said this before but I do love these grey winter days by the sea, they are quite calming and relaxing.
And we have no plans other than to relax.
Because of the earlier set backs and subsequent late departure we didn’t get to the cottage (caravan) until 9pm. It was cold inside the van, the central heating boiler had lost water pressure and was flashing fault. Hastily, we scrambled around for the manual to check the fault code – most likely due to a leak it says – no obvious signs inside so we will need to examine the outside pipes under the van in the daylight – in the meantime DH is able to let more water into the system so that we can get the heating up and running again.
Meanwhile, I start to busy myself unpacking and making up the bed with clean linen only to discover that the electric blanket that I had taken home to wash…. was……you guessed it…… still at home. Memories of the recent cake saga flood into my mind. Luckily, we keep a hot water bottle at the van and so this was requisitioned to warm and air the bed which was so cold I could only envisage a night of discomfort. Trying to heat up the whole of the bed a few square inches at a time takes some effort when you are tired and cold and just want to climb into a warm bed and sleep.
After a while we managed to warm up the room and the bed and eventually jumped in fully kitted out with t-shirts and socks….. and actually slept quite soundly.
It was quite late when we surfaced, tired after the long journey, but the sun was shining so after breakfast we went out to survey our land – not quite roaming in the gloaming (which means twilight – I had to Google it) but rather midday. We always have a wander through the wood and round the garden then down onto the beach to check everything is OK.
Everything was as it should be with no evidence of any fallen trees or flooding, even the burn running alongside the cottage was not as high as it might have been. It would seem we had survived storm Brendan – only the little path that takes us onto the shore was covered in a pool of water so we had to make do just looking from the banking.
Round the corner from us is in the next bay is a different story; where the coast road runs alongside the beach the road is closed – an action that has been taken far more seriously since the death of the couple and their two dogs last year when they were swept out to sea one stormy night. It is a long diversion and one that the locals are loathed to take but one that will save lives. The spray from the sea covers the road and sends up quite large beach stones with it…a treacherous mile known here as the car wash.
So all seemed well until we came to open the garage door only to find one of the cables of the up and over door has snapped. Being so close to the sea there are certain things you have to get used to – rust is one of them. The cables rust with the salt from the sea spray, which finds its way in through any crack, and so need replacing quite frequently. DH is quite capable of replacing them and we always keep a spare or two. However, as he started to replace the cable the tension spring went as well so now we have a door that we cannot close or open fully. With this and the car problems I won’t deny the stress is building up a bit. The search for a garage door fixer is now on. And we have still to locate a possible leak.
In all this turmoil, both in our lives and the world generally who can deny the beauty around us and tuning into nature is one of the best ways to calm down – I tell myself – and it does – I was delighted to see snowdrops dancing around in the breeze and the first daisies appearing in the grass.
There are little signs of new life everywhere and the rabbits have not, as yet, been scratching up the bulbs but I do need to put a little food out for the birds….the table is empty and the robin sits looking quite hopeful at me.
So today while DH is on the phone trying to find a Mr Fix it man I will be making some warming tomato and red pepper soup for lunch. I am hopeful we may get into town for a look around the shops – only a look – there is nothing much we need other than jam pot covers, and we will certainly find them here – we had no luck at home. Keep warm everyone.
Try as I might I do find it difficult to keep breaking off a project once I get started and often I just keep going to the detriment of everything else. I am by nature a completer finisher, a role that made me perfect for my work submitting claims to the legal aid agency; I know some people struggle with the finishing side of things but my problem is often the not finishing as I hate loose ends.
So apologies that I have been absent these last few days – missing in action – so that I could concentrate fully on the tasks I had set myself….to get to the bottom of the laundry basket and complete the subsequent ironing pile and also to get our finances up to date, receipts entered and bank statements balanced, so I could run a year end report.
Both tasks are now complete and I am back on a straight edge…. vowing not to let either task build up again. Famous last words though I think.
The house is also looking tidier than it has since Christmas and every room has had a quick flick of the duster and been hoovered. I even treated myself to a few flowers from Sainsbury’s – I couldn’t resist this little brown parcel of pale pink tulips. I love that they have packaged them in compostable brown paper rather than cellophane.
On Monday I had a few jobs that needed to be done before we leave for Scotland. We are hosting the Burns night supper again this year for our friends and invitations had to be written and delivered before we go. I will buy the haggis while we are up there as there is plenty of choice and some Scottish potatoes which have a lot more flavour.
I had lemons to use up too so I decided on making lemon curd. Both my daughters asked if I would make some for Christmas but I just couldn’t fit it in. Today seemed like a good day to get this done once I had stripped the beds and got the sheets out on the line to blow before the worst of the weather was due to arrive after lunch.
I chose the recipe from this book I found in The Works a couple of years ago. It has less sugar (equal quantity of butter and sugar) than some recipes that have double the amount of sugar to butter.
It is one of the most enjoyable things I make – the smell is heavenly and of course the jars wouldn’t be the same without a few hand stamped labels. No need to put a date on as it won’t last that long.
DH made two batches of soup to use up some of the veg and so we can take some on the journey and put some in the freezer. He also made a curry for tea and some extra to take with us.
My final task of the day was to make apple and sultana cake as I have a freezer full of cooked apple that I need to use up.
Once baked I wrapped half to take with us and put the other half in the freezer. You will find the recipe under recipes in the menu bar.
I am not sure what the weather will be like in Scotland – we have had numerous floodline warnings in the last few days as the tides in the bay are very high at the moment and once again the road where the two people were swept away last year has been closed.
I have a few blogs to catch up on now so need to get reading and the next time I write it will be from bonnie Scotland when we visit our cottage (caravan). For new readers you might want to read the tale of our cottage in the menu tabs above.
creating health and well being
I have been much more mindful in the last few days – noticing what I eat, how much I exercise and how stressed I feel. Even though you know you should do something it is hard to find the time in our busy lives to just do it.
My visit to the physio last Friday was a) the best £40 I have spent in a long time and b) already having an effect on my knee. I was quite hesitant about going as I had a bad experience with a physio at our local NHS clinic who made my neck far worse than it was after a whiplash incident. But I needn’t have worried the lady I saw was brilliant. She has given me a set of very easy exercises to do – I can even do them watching TV in the evening – nothing dynamic but will just give the relevant muscles a wake up call.
After only a few days I am already starting to feel the benefits.
The meditation sessions also feel like they are having a positive effect – I will take my blood pressure before and after so that I can visibly see if this is the case. If nothing else I think it has been quite beneficial on my digestion and I am sleeping better too, not that I had a big problem with insomnia but occasionally I could spend an night when the worries just crowd into my brain and keep me awake.
January so far has been a busy time for us and is set to continue. I confess that we had a couple of days with quick meals because we were home late – egg and chips one night followed the next evening with some caribbean veggie pasties. If nothing else eggs are good for B12 and iron and the pasties have turmeric in them and we had a heap of fresh cabbage to accompany them. This was offset though by our nourishing homemade soups at lunchtime and we have kept off the biscuits and crisps so not all is lost.
So far my growing list of healthy adjustments looks like this
drinking green tea in the morning and ginger tea in the afternoon
a Braeburn apple a day
a meditation session once a day
a few easy exercises for my knee
fewer snacks
homemade soup most lunchtimes
healthier meals in the evening with plenty of veg
It takes time to make even small adjustments and get used to doing them and even longer to educate DH into doing the changes (he still makes me ordinary tea some days) but little by little changes are happening.
I was up, showered and raring to go today. I had a few tasks I wanted to tick off my list and nothing and no-one was going to get in the way. Everything was going quite well; I was making up the guest bed and our own with the freshly ironed linen, DH was in the garage having a much needed tidy up and for once no interuptions.
There were a lot (and I mean a lot) of dust bunnies behind our padded headboard which is covered in a heavy grey linen fabric – we sleep against the chimney breast so I think the warmth creates more dust that sticks to the fabric. I usually deal with it by using the mattress tool attachment on the hoover I hadn’t intended to pull the bed out and clean behind it but once I noticed the dust I couldn’t just leave it to fester (does dust fester? – maybe not). As I cannot move the heavy wooden bedframe by myself I have to wait until DH is around to help. Today was such a day.
By the end of the morning the bedrooms were reasonably clean again and I had two more post it notes to move into the ‘Done’ column of my kanban board leaving me feeling quite pleased with myself. The laundry and receipts are still ‘in progress’ and until these are completed I will not be starting any other project for the time being.
In the afternoon I settled down to enter some more receipts – weeks 47 and 48 and then I went through the pile of Christmas cards to make a note of who had sent one to me this year and who had not. When I do not hear from someone for more than a couple of years it is hard to know if they have moved, died or have just decided not to keep in touch – in fact this year I had heard from everyone on my list and a couple extra who were not. So with this task done I can now progress to cutting up the cards for tags, money envelopes, bookmarks or recycling.
Tomorrow we will need to go shopping and I shall have to make a meal plan. DH has only 3 tasks on his part of the kanban board – peel and chop the oranges for breakfast, put up the coat rack in the laundry room (we used to hang them in the cloakroom that is now the pantry) and return some items for a refund that we did not use in the pantry.
I, on the other hand have 6 tasks to complete – make some birthday cards, ring to book my car in for a service, plant the pack of tulip bulbs still loitering on the laundry room windowsill (a job I never got round to before Christmas and they have set off growing without any soil), cut up the Christmas cards, set up a bank transfer to pay off the credit card bill and of course the already mentioned meal planning.
Mmmmm….it looks like I might have to do some delegating.
Whilst out shopping in TK Max last week, buying the fridge storage trays, I came across these little pottery planters that are to hang on the wall. I am not sure where I will hang them but I am thinking to grow indoor herbs or even just as a vase for fresh flowers.
creating health and well being
I did my meditation session this morning as soon as I woke up and before I got out of bed. I am following week 1 of the Mindfulness for Health CD that I mentioned in my previous post; a body scan meditation where you concentrate on the breath going in and out and then feel yourself breathing into all your different parts in turn from your feet up to your head.
Extremely relaxing.
Once I was up I remembered to do the weigh in and take measurements. My scales also measure the percentage of fat, water, bone density and muscle as well as weight, but I am not altogether sure what the readings mean – I need to research this.
I was at my heaviest last July and I knew straight away when my clothes started feeling that little bit tight. In my wardrobe I have a mixture of size 10 and 12 clothes depending on style and fit – I always go for comfort rather than stick to one size. The NHS website tells me the ideal weight for my height of 5’6″ is between 8st 3lb to 11st that is quite a wide variation. I think around 9st or just under would be ideal for me – so a few pounds to go.
When I had my thyroid removed the shock to my body caused my weight to plummet to under 8 stone in a matter of days and once out of hospital I had to dash down to Sainsbury’s and find some size 8 clothes so I could go out!
Being dependant on thyroxine it is hard to keep your weight stable as my metabolism is now under the control of my medication – take too little or too much and you have weight gain.
It is not my weight that bothers me as much as muscle mass or lack of it. I feel quite flabby in places and I am an unfortunate apple shape which does not help and my waist measurement is something I would rather not talk about but need to do something about. Any weight gain seems to land on my belly which is not good…. so all the research tells me.
Tonight on’ Trust me I’m a doctor’ they tested two groups of people – one doing brisk walking for 30 minutes and the other group 10,000steps over the day. The group doing the brisk walking had slightly better physical results -so I am on to it. 30 minutes each day round the block at a pace. I might even start tomorrow; but on second thoughts maybe I should wait until I see the physio on Friday.
Today I also had more to drink.
Our meals today were homemade tomato and red pepper soup for lunch and because we were quite tired we had a very quick meal tonight of wholemeal spaggetti, cheese sauce and a very large amount of broccoli to try and introduce a little healthiness! And I didn’t forget the apple.
So all good so far – I think I am slowly getting back on track even though I can’t say that I can feel any dramatic changes as yet.
Thank you for all the encouraging comments and advice – much appreciated. x
where the journey takes me 2 