Here We Go Again

My plan to use this blog as an aide-mémoire hasn’t progressed as well as I’d hoped. It’s been twelve days since my last post, and although nothing particularly exciting has happened - no riots, no house fires - it’s still been a longer gap than I intended.

So what did happen?

Still snail-watching.

Went to Portrush on a day out with Bert, Hannah and the big girls. They did not use all their Currie's tokens. Either I bought too many or they are tired of scary rides. Come to think of it, there's a definite air of ennui about them lately.

Watching a lot of teevee. Dept Q was a big favourite.

Became aware of a band called Bob Vylan.

Wondered why an old man dying of old age is such a big deal for the BBC.

Today was good, except for one thing.

I met an old work friend for coffee. That was good.

In the afternoon, Bert and I worked together in the garden. That was nice. We achieved a lot, dug up half of the papaver orientale and created a new area for planting. Displaced a lot of snails. Bert is very keen to replant but I want to wait a while. Snails are territorial, and when they return to their feeding grounds, which they will, they'll demolish anything new and tender. The big rough poppies could stand that, but my seed-grown agastaches might not. We'll wait a while until the snails move on. Fingers crossed that they do.

The not-so-good thing that happened?

I was just leaving the small polytunnel after watering the tomatoes when my foot caught in a clump of ox-eye daisies and down I went. My first thought being, 

Here we bloody well go again!

Hand out to save myself. Didn't work. It wasn't too bad. The ground around that polytunnel is soft and spongy, even more so since I left a hose running there for about 16 hours on Sunday evening. As I lay there, a bit winded, a brown butterfly flew past. I identified it as a Meadow Brown. And I knew that I was OK.

My left hand is a bit achey but it didn't prevent me from picking several pounds of strawberries and raspberries.

Tomorrow - more gardening, drive Hannah to the airport and on Friday I might go to Belfast.

An Update

 Day 35 after the first fall, 15 days since the second. I've learned that this tumbling to the ground lark is not an uncommon experience for us older folk. At the moment I've two sisters recovering from falls. Kerry Sister calls it 'timbering' as when a tree falls to the ground. Both sisters have urged me to seek out physio. I think they're right. The oul' 'pig' knee got twisted in the second cowping* session and that has (I think) resulted in an arthritis flare-up. 

It doesn't bother me that much when I'm up and about but it does keep me awake at night. I haven't had a full night's sleep for over a week now and that is horrible. I shall probably speak to my GP next week to see if anything can be done.

Apart from all that I'm happy enough, enjoying the company of young folk and the antics of Pippin the kitten and Lulu from Leitrim. Then next week, all being well, I'm having a day out with Jazzer, my first day out in nearly six weeks.

*Cowp - Ulster-Scots, fall over.

After The Fall

First of all - I am writing this on a laptop, new to me today. It is going to take a while for me to get used to it. 

it's day 7 after the fall I am mending slowly and steadily. Still finding it hard to get around and haven't been off the yard or been anywhere apart from once to the polytunnel (which wrecked me). Watched all of Ozark, season 4, read half of South Riding and did Wordle every day. I've even started a jigsaw.

Jazzer came on Monday and stayed until Wednesday evening and she was a great help, cheered us up, cooked suppers, got the laundry done, helped me change the beds and blitzed the kitchen. I think, if she hadn't been here, Bert would have already filed for divorce. Because I was so cross about being out of action and when I wasn't raging I was sad.

One thing that was a constant source of happiness was Pippin the kitten. 

The first task that I took on after the initial 2 days of being unable to move was giving Pippin her breakfast.

Since then I have managed to do dishes, laundry, my bed and a small bit of hoovering. I have yet to make a meal. Tomorrow I am hoping to make chilli. With Bert's help, of course. 

Tumbledown

Garden tiger, 23/7/19

On Monday afternoon I tripped and fell. There were a lot of people around but it was Hannah who came to my aid. There was a bamboo cane lying on a garden path and the tip of it caught in my Birkenstock causing me to completely lose my balance and down I went on the rough flagged path. I used my hands to save myself and it was the hands that bore the brunt. An abrasion on the left wrist, another on the right and worst of all a badly torn thumbnail. I was very lucky. But the nail. Afterwards, I thought, if ever I was really injured, in A&E say, with fractures, internal injuries and a torn nail, it would be the nail that would annoy me most.

Poplar Hawk Moth, 22/7/19

Bert spotted me on my hands and knees, among the sidalcea and the geraniums with Hannah attending me and do you know what he thought? He thought I was looking at a moth!

Elephant Hawk Moth 24/7/19

It's true that since Rachael loaned us her moth trap I have been a bit obsessed with lepidopterology, so much so that I arranged a special sleepover for Martha and Evie so they could share the excitement. That was last night. This morning we all gathered round to examine the night's catch.

Martha's specimen box proved to be a great boon for looking at and photographing the elephant hawk moth...

...which, like all the other specimens briefly captured, was returned to the wild and will be flying again tonight.

Yes We Have No Bananas

1st May - Martha and Evie were here for a sleepover. We had fun. They watched Charlotte's Web again and I caught up with  Indian Summers which is silly and enjoyable.  We had stories at bedtime. I read Rapunzel to them, then told them stories from real life. Martha wants to hear stories about her great-grandmother Martha and I was happy to tell them. Both girls managed to sleep through the night without falling out of bed.

2nd May - Bank Holiday. It started badly for me when I tripped on the back door step and fell on the side of my face on the asphalt. Massive black eye, cut brow, grazed knees, very sore left hand and cut right hand. I was enraged. Bert  got up to see what I was roaring about, decided my injuries weren't life-threatening and returned to his bed. Once again, I was enraged.

The day after. 

I had promised Martha her favourite dinner and had a lot to do. Later that day someone asked if I'd put ice on my eye. I said I hadn't, instead I baked a cake. Martha's requested dinner was pepporoni pizza and cake with icing and sprinkles for pudding. So that is what we made. My hands were very sore but adrenalin kept me going. That night I was exhausted.

3rd May - I was expecting visitors, Peggy and Jim from New Zealand and Jim and Val from Australia. The house was a tip. I got up at seven and started in. Originally I had intended to bake scones and apple tarts and other homely fare but there was no time and my hands were too sore. So I went to the local bakery and bought what I needed. The visit went well. I hadn't seen the New Zealand cousins for years and I'd never met the Australian cousins. Swisser turned up too and the entertainment went on for several hours. It was a great bit of craic but that evening I was super-exhausted.

Cousins big and small

4th May - did a little bit of gardening and an awful lot of slacking.

5th May - The Assembly elections. I had Martha and Evie all day because both school and nursery were closed to facilitate the elections. I took them with me when I voted and had great fun explaining to them what elections were all about and I think Martha thoroughly enjoyed my explanation of the proportional representation system and how the single transferable vote works. Evie's advice was that I should vote for the Garden Party so I may have to think about starting it. That afternoon we had Laura and her three daughters and Hannah and Fergus. There was great deal of bouncing on the trampoline.

6th May - lots of gardening and partying. Swisser came and offended me when she said that Indian Summers was a ridiculous show because there were banana plantations in the first episode and there were definitely no bananas growing in the foothills of the Himalayas as she'd been there and didn't see any such thing. I was sure she was wrong. She also said the doctors think she has some kind of tropical disease which would serve her right for swanking. To make up for this evil thought I gave her my last bottle of the dandelion as she said it gave ease to her tropical disease. We were already drinking an elderberry which she wouldn't even taste because she was driving as even a sip would impair her driving. I have evil thoughts about this as well but that's as far as I'll go. Anyway she went on about how delicios the elderberry smelled so I gave her a bottle of that too and lifted a damson to be going on with. A couple of people turned up and they had a small glass of the damson as well and Bert had two glasses and I had the rest.

7th May - woke up very early and there were two things bothering me. One was the effects of the wine and the other was Swisser correct about bananas not being cultivated in Shimla? I couldn't stop fretting about it and got the laptop fired up. Wikipedia suggested that there were no bananas in the foothills of the Himalayas. I have to research this matter further and it's not that I need to be right. I just want Swisser to be wrong.

Then I put it all behind me, got up, showered, dressed and went to Garden Show Ireland with Zoe and the girls. I'll blog about that tomorrow. This banana thing is killing me.

A scene from Indian Summers. My new theory is that these are not even bananas. I will win the banana argument, win it or die trying.

Raspberries and Kisses

I was in the house chatting to Hannah and Evie and heard distant screaming. It did not sound like 'I'm in trouble' screaming, instead it sounded like 'enraged and exasperated' screaming. It was Martha.

Just in case it was 'I'm in trouble' screaming I went out, like a good granny, to investigate.

Where are you Martha?

I'm in the green field.

Most fields are green but I knew the one she meant.

There she was, standing there with a loaded ball thrower  and two expectant dogs sitting far too close and not giving her a chance to give a good throw. It must have been an exasperated scream then.

I called the dogs back and Martha gave it her best shot. The ball landed four feet from where she stood and Jess was the victor.

So, as this wasn't working out I suggested we go pick raspberries.

The girls ate their fill and I gathered some for the freezer. We spent an enjoyable half hour picking, chatting and eating then headed for the house to get the berries frozen. The quickest way from the fruit patch to the house is a step down to the yard. It's really an upturned Belfast sink (broken) propped up with a breeze block. Rough and rustic. Last year, when I had the knee injury, I found it a difficult step but this year - no problem. I was feeling pleased about that as I stepped down. Pleased for about a split second. For - as I stepped down my foot slipped and I fell hitting the small of my back on the edge of the sink. There is a moment, after a fall, when the mind processes the damage done. The most annoying thing that had happened was that my left thumb nail was bleeding. My elbows were grazed and there was a tiny cut on my right forearm. My lower back was bruised. Grandchildren and child came running. I was petted and kissed better by the little ones.

Lucky, lucky me. I fell heavily on a step at a stone wall and the worst thing to happen was a sore thumb. Mind you, as I write this, I feel my lower back a bit achey. I'm off for a soak in a hot bath with a gin and tonic and a couple of paracetamol. I think those Martha and Evie kisses are starting to wear off.

Arse Over Tit

I was very pleased with myself that I'd managed to get through three weeks of ice and snow without slipping and falling. Even a bout of calf-wrangling didn't topple me. So this morning with a good thaw set in I strode confidently out in my cleated hiking boots, stepped in what looked like a puddle but was actually water running over a sheet of ice and fell slam-bang on the broad of my back. Many were the 'fucks' that were exclaimed. I took the brunt of the fall on my coccyx. Like a good citizen I went back to the house and informed Bert that he would need to 'watch himself out there' and then got in the car and drove to work.

About two hours later the pain set in, and weakness and nausea. I never eased or warmed the entire day. At lunch time I took my usual walk. The first ten minutes were a bit grim but then I seemed to loosen up. Tonight - bacon and cabbage for dinner, two glasses of wine, no housework. Sure I'll be all right tomorrow. I hope. Right now I'm a bit stiff in the back but no pain. Alcohol is wonderful medicine!

Be careful out there!

Fear of Falling

Ugh! A light fall of snow this morning – the sort of nasty wet snow that soon turns to slush. I spared a thought for the fears of old folk, for Lizzie, Pearlie’s sister, had taken a fall last week and was very stiff and sore. I’d planned to call with her during my lunch break.

But before I could do that a woman, older than me came crashing through the office door. She was frantic. “Please help me. My husband has fallen and I can’t get him up by myself!” It was a good thing that there were two men in the boardroom engaged in a business meeting. I went straight in and told them they were needed and they sprang to their feet.

I was terribly worried as to what we were going to find but happily the gentleman appeared not to have hurt himself too badly or to have taken any sort of a turn. His first words on being helped to his feet were, “Thank God to get off that cold ground.” The poor chap was soaked to the skin so I advised his wife, now a lot calmer, to get him dry clothes and keep him warm.

I visited Lizzie as planned and found her in low spirits. Falls really knock old folk’s confidence. Added to which she was in quite a bit of discomfort. We chatted for a while and I returned to work.

But first I called in on the folks from the morning. The man appeared to have got off lightly. He told me he’d gone outside to do his few chores as normal. These usually took him an hour. When he didn’t come in at the expected time his wife went out to see what was keeping him and found him lying at the bottom of the garden. He had slipped and fallen on his side and his arthritis had prevented him from getting up. He told me he must have been lying there for 45 minutes, but that “It felt like a fortnight”. He had shouted for help but it is a long garden and no one had heard him.

One thing I noticed about the incident was afterwards when the fellows, who’d been having a rather tense meeting returned to the office, their mood seemed to have altered a little. There was less locking of horns and more of a cooperative atmosphere. That’s the effect of teamwork I suppose.