My Sunday Photo

My Sunday Snapshot – Somebody I used to Know

October 25, 2020 by Anne Sweet 2 Comments

Today’s Blogtober prompt is Somebody I Used to Know. I’ve chosen an old scanned photo of two very dear people who are no longer in my life, and my Little nephew who was such a gorgeous baby.

old scanned photograph showing a man and woman with a baby in a buggy walking down a concrete ramp with a cliff wall to one side and metal railing to the other. They were heading down to the beach at Tenby. — *Mum, Desmond and my nephew walking down the ramp to the beach at Tenby.*

The photo was taken in Tenby in 1977. We went on holiday with my brother and his wife and their two children. Little baby nephew was the youngest.

Desmond

Desmond was a neighbour, he moved back in with his Mum two doors away from my Mum when he became divorced. Mum was already a widow and it wasn’t long before they fell in love

Desmond wasn’t in our life very long, he had a massive heart attack and died at home when I was just 13. While he was around he brought my Mum a lot of happiness and we enjoyed some lovely holidays too. Like this one in Tenby.

So Desmond is Somebody I used to know, but he’s more than that. He was someone who brought a lot of happiness into our lives. It was sad he couldn’t stayed around for longer.

Synchronicities

My Mum met Desmond when he was her neighbour, as I did Graham who had also moved back in with his Mum who lived two doors away from me. Mum had two young children at home, as did I when I met Graham. And Desmond was 10 years younger than Mum just like Graham is with me.

Seven years ago we moved to a new home. This was some 34 years after Des had passed away. Straight away I felt a sort of familiarity with the area, although I was certain I’d not been here before. The more I drove around the more familiar it beccame. Then one day I took a detour from a route home and ended up in a little grove. At the end of the grove was a house I recognised. It was Desmond’s ex wife’s house and where his children lived. He had three children one slightly older than me, one my age and one younger. I got on really well with them and even stayed at their home…the house I was now looking at, a few times. It was then I realised why I recognised the area so well.

While I stayed with them we’d taken the bikes out and I’d been riding along the streets I was now driving on. Then I realised that my children where now going to the same school that they had gone to, although the school name had been changed. (I may have realised sooner had I known this.)

Desmond had a huge influence on my life. He wasn’t my Dad but he came along at the right time and made life better for a while. He was much more than Somebody I used to Know.

I love the little ways that my life has kept a part of him alive. I would love to get in touch with his children again, but so far my searches haven’t revealed anything. I was even tempted to knock on the door of their old house, but 34 years is a long time.

My Sunday Photo and Ordinary Moments – Cushion

October 18, 2020 by Anne Sweet 9 Comments

I love to crochet, especially while listening to an audio book. This week I finished one of my Works In Progress, a cushion.

photo of a cushion in purple, pink and white pattern, lying on a brown settee.

I started it a while ago, the back is plain white and was very easy to make. The front consisted of three colours which were to be made in a complicated pattern. The pattern was not too bad to understand, but when you are changing four colours in each row it can be complicated and creates a lot of work on the back to sew in all the threads. I tried and gave up. I decided to use the same colours but make some squares and sew them together. I designed the pattern myself. I’m never 100% happy with what I make but I’m happy that I didn’t just give up on it. And now I have a super soft colourful cushion.

The Ordinary Moments, Some Might Say

Today’s Blogtober post is ‘Some Might Say’ and I have to say, I really don’t like Oasis. I never have, the Gallagher’s both annoy me beyond belief and I don’t like their voices. But I do like some of their songs and this is one of them. And the lyrics are quite relevant for these time don’t you think.

Some Might Say we will find a brighter day!

So many awful things that are going on in the world right now. There has to be a brighter day coming. At the moment, all I can see is division and suffering. But life goes on, and we have to think of our children. I don’t believe that there is a big plan to get us all under control. That is not possible, we have been free for too long. We can’t even follow simple instructions like not gathering in crowds and putting on masks. Its a crazy situation. Following the rules could get the pandemic under control, but if it you don’t believe there is a pandemic then you won’t follow the rules.

I can see us going around in circles for a long time over this and there will be a lot of lives lost or ruined.

Some might say that we will find a brighter day!

Let’s keep hoping they are right!

In the meantime, I’m going to keep home as much as I can and do my favourite things like read and crochet. I may even make another cushion!

image shows a drawing of a camera with flowers. A badge for My sunday Snapshot from Rachel Swirl blog.

My Sunday Snapshot and Ordinary Moments – Lucky

October 11, 2020 by Anne Sweet 12 Comments

hospital infusion of IVIG, lucky to have this treatment — IVIG

This weeks photo may be a little strange but I really wanted to express how lucky I feel to be able to have my treatment and how amazing our NHS is.

For the last two months I’ve had two five day treatments of IVIG at my local hospital. I have a rare, incurable condition. No-one really knows how to treat it, but I do feel as though I have a really good consultant who listens to me. And the help I get on the NHS has been invaluable, I really do feel lucky.

The Ordinary Moments – Lucky

My life has been anything but ordinary, but usually the not so ordinary stuff has happened to family members. Then five years ago (and 10 months) I was struck down over night with a really rare condition that left me in constant pain and unable to walk unaided. Even with aids I can’t walk very far. My life was turned upside down and everything changed.

I was first told that I would recover, but later given another diagnosis which was progressive. So I won’t recover but I will get worse. Its a lot to digest, but what can I do? I have done a lot of research, I speak with my consultant. There is still one drug that he won’t agree with me on, but he’s in charge of my medication. There is still a very risky treatment that I could try which may or may not work, but I doubt it would be approved and even if it was I don’t know if I would be willing to take the risk (or agree to not be with my family for months especially with no guarantee that I would be cured afterwards, or even survive.)

So, I consider myself very lucky, not because of my crippling illness but because of the care I receive. I get care from my family who look after me, I get care from my consultant who listens to me and I get the most lovely care from the hospital staff. Honestly, the staff in the day ward I attend are really, really lovely. They listen, they care, they help and they make me feel comfortable at all times.

So, I may spend four hours a day on a hospital ward being hooked up to the machine above. I may suffer massive headaches, severe tiredness and coldness while the treatment continues. And I may have another darn side affect of intense itching this time. But it does help stop the progression of my condition. I won’t be cured, but I’m lucky that I have a way of stopping me getting worse.

Three Link ups today:

My Sunday Snapshot and Ordinary Moments – Let Me In!

September 27, 2020 by Anne Sweet 9 Comments

Let me in! It’s a cry I hear several times a day. He’s in, he’s out, in again out again. It’s a good job I sit near the door, otherwise he’d just have to stay out. We don’t have a single door in our house that would be suitable for a cat flap, so with an outdoor cat like Ash I have to keep letting him in.

Yesterday he was at the back door meowing ‘let me in’ and Sabrina, our indoor cat, was lazing by the door watching the falling leaves. Ash came along and started meowing and Sabrina stretched up to the door handle. She had a very long way to go though. She’s never opened the door before, or even tried to, but I thought it was amusing that she made a half hearted attempt.

Maybe she was trying to appease Ash by showing an effort. He doesn’t look very impressed though. Look at that frown, it’s as if he’s calling her a dumb cat for even trying to open the door. Poor Sabrina.

Five minutes after I let him in he was meowing to go back out.

Ordinary Moments.

Boo and the Little Man have been to school all week. They come home, get washed and changed before coming to me for a hug and to tell me any news. It’s our new normal. The Little Man is thoroughly enjoying school, he likes being in smaller groups, especially in the playground as he didn’t always get on with all the kids. Boo is a bit quiet about school, she told me about some things she wasn’t liking and I gave her some tips to deal with them. Then she came home the next day much brighter and happier. I’m worried they are school, the virus is rife in our city at the moment and there has already been a positive case in Boo’s school. But they really are happier at school and if it’s what they need then we’ll take the risk for now. There school’s are really good though and are following all guidelines as well as implementing their own. The kids feel safe.

Star, is completely different. She has been very poorly, but I know she doesn’t want to go to school. One day was enough for her, she couldn’t take it. But she’s in her final year and needs to get her work done. We had a meeting with the school and they arranged a phased return which she seemed happy with. Then she got sick. Very sick, I had to call the GP. She has medication which appears to be helping. So, tomorrow we are going to try the phased return. Fingers crossed. The problem is, I can tell from her being on her tablet chatting all day, that none of her friends are going to school either! This doesn’t help in persuading her to go.

Apart from school there is nothing else really to report. I’ve been busy reading and crocheting. I’ve even practiced a little more knitting with Boo. I have been playing Hedgeways with the Little Man and it’s become his favourite game that not on a screen. It’s a kickstarter game so if you are looking for something new, or a great Christmas gift, do take a look and you’ll be helping out a couple of really nice guys getting their business off the ground too.

I’m joining in with Rachel and Donna for their weekly link ups.

My Sunday Snapshot and Ordinary Moments, Calm

September 13, 2020 by Anne Sweet 6 Comments

image shows a red oil burner with a rose shaped wax melt.

I still have a some of my Etsy gift vouchers left so this week I treated myself to a new oil burner. It came with some lovely little rose shaped wax melts that smell of lavender. I always associate lavender with peace and calm and that’s just what I feel I need right now.

Ordinary Moments – Calm

The kids haven’t been to school. They have had tummy bugs which has been highly unpleasant. Luckily most of the adults didn’t get sick which was a relief.

So, the girls haven’t actually been back to school yet and the Little Man has lost three days this week.

I have been in hospital having my treatment, although I have come home each evening. No worries about spreading anything in the hospital with all the COVID precautions. No visitors allowed, and I had to have my temperature taken before entering the ward. Then I was at least 2 metres from anyone else apart from the staff, and we were all masked.

Overall though, it’s been a stressful week and I’ve had so much going on in my head. This morning I wrote a (very long) brain dump blog post which will probably stay in my drafts, but it was very cathartic and now I feel calm.

It’s all about taking deep breaths and dealing with things as they happen. The kids are going back to school tomorrow and I have everything ready. I’m not sure how it’s going to go, but we’ll try our best and I’m going to try not to stress about it.

Everything else is just a blip in life. There is just too much to deal with right now and I can’t bury my head in the sand but I can do everything possible to install a feeling of calm in my home. I’m going to do this by stepping away from Social Media and focusing on the things I need to get ready for tomorrow. We will have a lovely Sunday Dinner (we are having a roast today, but it will be a late one as no-one is ready to eat at lunch time.) We will all shower and get our clothes ready for tomorrow. We will spend the evening playing games or watching television. Calm and peaceful and organised. Away from the chaos in the world.

Today we are going to keep calm.

The rest of the week will happen no matter what.

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