One Week Today!

Well I started this post just over three weeks ago I think it was...and now it is one week today since....

Well it has been a long time coming, and a long time in the planning...I think I first mentioned moving on my blog back in 2007 when we saw a lovely property in Cornwall, had booked a second viewing, but it sold before we could go back for our second look.  In between then and now it has been a long slow process of trying to convince DH about the benefits of moving, and a couple of years ago we settled on the idea of moving to the Isle of Wight.  Although we love Cornwall, because we will still have family commitments in Hertfordshire, we need to be able to get there relatively quickly...and you just can't get from Cornwall to here in less than five hours on a good day!  The last two years have been a bit fraught with false starts, some disagreements, and two houses falling through.  The one we are finally buying has taken six months to go through!  This whole house buying system in the UK seems absolutely crazy and unnecessarily difficult... I still don't know if it was the buyers or their solicitors who were not doing what they said they were doing.  I am pretty sure our solicitor was okay as she sent through copies of all the emails she sent theirs....but who really knows.  The buyers perhaps feel the same about us!  Anyway I am now in the throes of packing up the house ready for completion and moving on 4th February.  I can't quite believe it is actually happening!

Of course sods law applies and the last few days I have been struck down with the dreaded lurgy.  I almost never get colds/viruses, the last being when I flew to NZ last year, and previous to that I can't really remember.  So I haven't been able to achieve anywhere as near as much as I had hoped to by this stage, having had several days when I haven't been up to much at all.

The scary thing is the amount of stuff we have accumulated over the last twenty years in this house.  The last 10 years especially I have added to it considerably with the loss of my music other interests have taken its place and I really have way to much stuff.  I had hoped to sort through and clear some of it, whether through selling or giving to charity of throwing away, but again I haven't managed to do that especially well, so a lot of stuff we will take we may not end up keeping. I am just going to slowly work on one box at a time once we are in the new house...and be very strict with myself.  It would have been easier yes to do it BEFORE we moved, but it just hasn't worked out that way.  We have taken a car load of stuff to the charity shop today though which is good.

Well I started this three weeks ago... I moved in on Tuesday, the removers finally finished unloading the vans at 9.30pm at night!  It was a very long day.  They worked very hard, were lovely guys and on a whole did a reasonable job, although I was disappointed that quite a bit of furniture was marked AND they broke our beautiful Swamp Kauri Coffee table... they were told not to lift it from the top, and I think they must have clearly done so as the wood sheared off the base of the top.  So I am not at all happy at the moment.  Hopefully they will be able to find someone who will have the skills to fix such a unique and unusual piece of furniture as it certainly can't be replaced.

It was a beautiful evening and just before they left we all looked up at the sky and gasped at all the stars we could see.  Just wonderful.

Wednesday was a gorgeous day and I enjoyed lunch on our decking watching the sea.  Can't get much better than that?  You can see the sea from all the front rooms of the house as well as the front and back garden.  Absolutely fabulous.  It is like a dream come true.

So far there has been some beautiful sunrises.

Saturday was another spectacular day with a stunning blue sky. This is our back garden. We have half an acre, it is an unusual shape as we have a bit that goes to the right behind another property which is 'the orchard'. 

It is now Tuesday, several more days have passed since I started this blog post and I have been here exactly one week...although that isn't quite right as I had just boarded the Ferry in Southampton this time last week.  We have had some stunning days and of course some not so good days with the recent storm, but with a view like we have here, it is always interesting and different and I just love it.  Today has been a bit of a mixed day, it started off beautiful, then we had a light hail shower, and this afternoon has been just glorious again and I went for a lovely walk (will post photos in a new post)  A few photos following of the changing views today.

Zooming in to the sea

This was taken shortly before I went for my walk.  It was such a nice afternoon I just couldn't resist going out.

Off to the right and side the sky is now glowing a slight red as the sun sets...

A Lovely Saturday Afternoon

Well it was a perfect afternoon for a lovely walk along the coastline of St Lawrence. 

Primroses were spotted.

Lovely rugged coastline.

Sat on the beach for a while and contemplated the beauty

Another little flower - there were quite a few of these.  Are they a type of buttercup?

Beautiful countryside.

I joined in with a beach cleaning crew.  

Filled a black sack with rubbish that had washed up, and been left behind.

Beach cleaned up, time to walk home for a cuppa.

A really great way to spend an afternoon.  

Second Sunday Walk of the Year.

The last two weeks have been a whirl wind of activities and stresses, the major one being we got the PIP assessment through for our Autistic son to find they have taken away his Disability Living Allowance.  They clearly ignored all the documented evidence both from us and the medical profession and the assessor - or her organ grinder - clearly lied about the interview - we know this as we taped it and it was clear from that that he can't survive and look after himself with out major support and help...but hey that is their job to remove support from those that really need it!  So we now have to find a way to support him ourselves while we go through the process of lodging an appeal, the earliest they hear these is usually a minimum of at least six months.  It is an absolute travesty and downright criminal in my opinion.  This couldn't have happened at a worse time for us as we have other major changes we are also trying to deal with and my poor husband is now stressed out to the max, so much so I am really worried about him.

So on to calmer things... today dawned beautiful. Very cold, it was still - 4 degrees celcius when I took my DIL back home after she went to see the Sailor (DS1) off at the airport as his leave is over and he has to rejoin his ship.  Gosh the last two months has gone past so incredibly fast.  I spent the rest of the morning, sorting things, changing bed sheets and doing some washing.  The afternoon I planned to go on the Sunday afternoon walk which I did.  It is probably the last one I will be able to do for a while.  They are only fortnightly, but I am just not going to be able to spare the time.

I was lucky to be given a ride by the walk leader to where we were going to set off from.  On the way to her place I stopped to take a photo of these lovely daffodils already in flower!

We walked through some woods today which was very pleasant, although VERY muddy in places.

The sun shining through the trees was just lovely.

We walked over some grass/farmland as well.

So lovely to see the blue sky after what has seemed like weeks of grey, drizzle and rain.

First Sunday Walk of the Year

Happy New Year!  Albeit a few days late in wishing it.  I've not been feeling the best and after contacting the specialist it was decided that I needed to  go back on to steroids, starting at 10 mg and doing a slower tapering off of them, 2.5 mg less per month.  I've noticed some improvement but not as much as I'd like!

Today I went on the second walk of the New Year, and the first I have taken photographs on.

A proud looking sheep

Soggy countryside.

Some Hellebore flowering

We walked about five miles.  I'd like to say I really enjoyed it, but I am finding the walks a struggle again which is silly as I have been walking on a daily basis since September!  Still it was good to get out in the fresh air.

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.  

Sunday Summary.

Well things seem to be going a little pear shaped, or whatever.  I have been taking photos of the little pictures inside my Advent Calendar each day, but then have not posted them, so really doesn't seem much point now.  Christmas feels a bit odd here this year as due to much of our house being packed up in boxes, and the rest a jolly mess, we won't be having Christmas Day here for the first time in many many years.  As such we also don't have room for a Christmas Tree, although I do have a few little decorations out.  We have got the lights up outside and some other decorations, so that is something at least!  The days seem to be disappearing oh so quickly and I feel a bit dazed by it all.  

As my son and daughter in law are hosting Christmas Dinner this year  I wanted to make a Christmas centre piece for my son's table.

I cut out the pieces and laid them out, then sewed them together, got some wadding and backing and a little while later...

Finished!  

We have been out a couple of times to some garden centres, one of which has the most amazing and intricate Chistmas/Snow Scene display.  I spent ages looking at it all as there was so much to see.

I'm still walking with the walking group three times a week and of course walking the dogs daily.  Stanley has been on a hunger strike as we have changed his food to a sensitivity control diet as I am fed up with trying to clear up 'soggy runny wotsits' while out.  Hopefully once he finally accepts the diet it will work on sorting out his stomach and bowel issues.  

Percy had his chemo treatment the week before last and also had blood tests which shows things are improving which is good to see.

I'm now down to 5 mg of Prednisilone   Not sure I am completely happy on this lower dose, as not been feeling as good as I was when the dose was higher.  I guess I will know more on Friday when I see the specialist.  

We got this lovely little rustic wooden church from one of the garden centres and it now takes pride of place on top of the drawers in the hallway.  

We have had some rather spectacular sunrises recently.

Advent 2019 - Day One

Searching through my 'bottom drawer' I found a new Advent Calendar that I bought when Woolworths was closing down.  10p it cost.  Perfect for this month.

It is simple but colourful and brightens up the hall drawers.

The first little window was opened today.

How is it December already?!