The Year that was 2023 - from July to December: A Catch Up.

The Year that was 2023 - I am not even sure if anyone is reading my blog anymore, so sporadic my posts have been.  I am hoping that I will get back into more of a routine of blogging next year, as I am aware of how much I miss if I don't record it. So just a brief update since my last post in June

JULY

I think this was the first of the garden produce.

Courgette, Cucumber, Dalmatian Beans & Peas

AUGUST

We had two new sheds built this year, one is a train shed for my husband, and the other is a crafting workshop for me.  It was going to be for guinea pigs, but it has been 18 months since I have had any, the longest time I have ever been without guinea pigs.  So in hindsight we have changed the use,  as such we probably should have had it lined with a different door, but it is what it is.

The sheds...the door on the left hand shed had to be replaced as they ordered the wrong door, so that is why it still has the 'wrapping' on it.  

The pond lilies looked as beautiful as ever

I took the following two photos when we went to Sandown Zoo...why no animals, who knows?!

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SEPTEMBER

Early September we saw this wonderful steamer go past when we were down at the beach

The garden was relatively productive and we had beans, courgettes, radish, spring onions, peas, some tomatoes, although not as many as last year, pears, raspberries, and the usual glut of apples most of which I gave away.  I need to work harder on it last year as it really wasn't as good as it could have been.  This is partly due to lack of motivation since the tragic loss of Percy last year which I am still finding it very hard to come to terms with.

OCTOBER

The last two beans on the vine in October this year!

A Jay in the garden.

A rather large moth.

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NOVEMBER

Amazing sun rises

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DECEMBER

Amazingly we had two kiwi fruit on our vine this year.  A real surprise as we have to cut it back hard every year as it was planted (not by us) in the wrong place and it completely takes over and covers our bedroom window and makes the room very dark.  

These are the two from our plant

On either side of them are shop bought kiwi fruit.  Ours are quite a lot bigger, but more the size that I remember them being when I used to get eat them in New Zealand

CHRISTMAS

Christmas was a quiet affair with just my husband and myself and our younger son who now lives locally to us.  It was a nice day.  We will have a second 'Christmas' in early January with our other son, daughter in law and baby grand daughter when we go up to stay with them for a week.

Fresh Fruit Salad & Pavlova

We didn't even decorate inside this year, but did have lots of lights outside.

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OTHER RAMBLINGS

I have got into the Dolls House hobby properly since April this year and it has been quite absorbing hobby at times as I make and craft furniture and accessories for them - yes plural, I have more than one!  I still need to work on the Dolls House that is my 1940s family history project and hope to make a proper start on that this year.  In the meantime I have decorated and made furniture for a couple of 1930 - 1950s Triang Houses, and a couple of 1960s Triang houses, plus I am working on restoring an antique dolls house from around 1915.  

The pups are part of the household now, although have been problematic at times... they have started peeing/marking inside the house (the kitchen) which is driving me insane, and Peter is still an absolutely nightmare to take out if he sees other dogs...a bit hard to avoid.  This means I have to take them out separately, as he sets the other two off and it is just too much to cope with.  As a result, I probably walk less distance than if I could take them out together and do a nice long walk.  I am planning on remedying the walking side of this next year, by dedicating at least three days a week to taking one dog on a lovely long walk on different days so I can relax more and actually get back to enjoy walking again.  Back in 2019/2020 I was walking at least 100 miles a month, now I walk a mere fraction of that.

Christmas & Other Stuff.

I meant to write a blog post to wish all my lovely readers a very Happy Christmas, but that didn't seem to happen unfortunately.  We had a lovely Christmas Day at my son and daughter in law's house.  They cooked a lovely meal for us all and we had a great day.  I made my traditional pavlova and fresh fruit salad.

The only problem was I didn't get to bring any home as they kept what was left over, so I missed out on my 'traditional' Boxing Day Pavlova breakfast!

The bags of pressies has arrived.

I didn't get any photos of us opening them.  In fact I got very few photos this year.

I did take some of the Christmas table, but neglected to take a group photo of us all like I usually do, and also forgot to take a photo of the food!

We didn't get to taste this wonderful gingerbread house that the Sailor made.

I hope everyone had a lovely day with family and friends or however they spend it.  Enjoy the next few days with the lead up to the New Year.

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Today I feel a bit deflated...not sure if it is because it all seems so quiet here in our house and the weather is just so horrible after the lovely day it was yesterday.  It is very dark and dismal.

I came off my steroids completely a few days ago and I have to say I have not felt good since the dose has been decreasing.  Pains that I had hoped were gone for good have come back.  My feet are very painful again, my back hurts and I have had a a few bad flare ups in my right side.  Obviously the steroids were helping them as well as the Mesenteric panniculitis I was on them for.  I saw the specialist on 20th December for the results of the CT Scan and a couple of the nodes have reduced in size and the others have remained stable.  So now it is just a waiting game to see how I get on without medication.  I told him how good I had been feeling on the steroids and how they had helped the other pain issues I had/have and he said that proves they are an inflammatory response to something, so it is a case of trying to determine what is causing it...and he has written a good letter for me to also take to the Pain Clinic in January, although I have to say I am not confident they will take anything on board as they seem relatively disinterested, and I always have to wait so long between seeing anyone and also getting any results of tests they might deign to do.  

Having had  a taste of how good I can feel and also how I 'used to be' pre pain I want to feel like that again!  I have had a few good months, and I feel like I have just gone right back to how I was before I started the treatment but in a way it feels worse as I realise how bad it is, and how good I 'could' feel if we could just sort out what is going on and treat it.

I think I am going to have a break from blogging for a little while...hopefully just until the New Year...I just don't feel great, and don't want to be harping on about it.