Christmas Sweater

One of  the Beloved's Christmas presents this year was 12 balls of King Cole Explorer Super Chunky in the colourway Raleigh. This is being worked into a sweater. 

I'm roughly following a pattern.  The largest size is two sizes too small, so I'm grading it to fit. It was also written as flat pieces to be worked separately, and then sewn together. This is not my style at all! This sweater is being worked in the round, and will have Raglan sleeves rather than drop sleeves.... oooh, I'm going to make a 4 stitch cable pattern going up the Raglan.

The pattern was also created without a chart for the cabling on the front and back. One of my tasks this morning is to take the jumble of numbers and letters, and make a pretty picture. 

Mushroom Gloop

 My first attempt at Mushroom soup was not a success. It started out as a vegan experiment, and was only rescued by the addition of a pair of chicken stock pots, and half a pint of double cream!  These additions moved the soup from the 'It's food, I suppose' into 'Yeah, it's okay...ish'. 

My next foray into vegan soups will be spiced parsnip. This sounds like it has the possibility for tastiness.

Decluttering Clothes

From July 2020 for a year, I took part in a challenge not to buy any new clothes. There were a couple of exceptions, underwear and emergencies. The challenge went well, and I only bought two items outside of the exceptions - a party dress and a wrap.

In August, I bought 10 new tops, and two pairs of trousers. These were to replace worn out clothing. The worn out items have yet to be disposed of. That's what happening today. I'm going to go through my clothing and declutter.

In the past, I've asked such questions as:

• do I like it
• do I wear it
• does it fit
• does it need to be repaired

This year, I'm going to take a different approach. I shall be thinking about what I need and want, and whether my current wardrobe meets those needs.

I need 3 pairs of pjs, 2 night shirts, 3 bras, 14 pairs of knickers, 14 pairs of socks, 5 pairs of woollen socks, 5 pairs of tights, 2 slips, 2 strappy tops, 1 swim suit, 14 tops, 4 pairs of trousers, 4 winter skirts, 1 party outfit, 3 jackets, 5 sweaters, 5 cardigans, 5 pairs of shoes. (Closer to summer, I'll look at what I need for warmer weather.)

My clean clothing has been sorted and decluttered. As I work my way through Mount Washmore, I'll declutter as I go. 

Back to Decluttering

Decluttering isn't a 'once and done' event. It needs to be done again and again until people can find a balance of things entering the house, and leaving it. I'm good at decluttering, but woefully bad regarding bringing new items into the house. 

Being the boss, means I decide when the shop opens, and closes. This means the shop closes between Christmas and New Year to allow the staff to have a good long holiday. For me, this is 10 days. Three of these days have been used. One day for Christmas celebrations, and two days doing very little apart from resting. Now, my need to 'accomplish stuff' has kicked in, and it's time to turn my mind to decluttering.

• declutter DVDs
• declutter games
• declutter jigsaws

The grand total from this round of decluttering is 12 DVDs. In previous years, it's been far more. The objective is not to simply get rid of stuff, but to get rid of the things we don't need. I would happily have said goodbye to much, much more, however, I'm not the only person in the house who has a say in it. 

Contentment

 

The last few weeks have been busy. I've been working 6 days weeks, and staying late. But this weekend, I have two whole days off. I am relaxed. I am content.

There's some things I want to do, like make an apple crumble, a lemon cream cake, mend my grey sweater, and a bit of decluttering. Mostly, it will just be a time to relax, and not think about work. It's about closing my eyes, deeply inhaling the smell and sounds of the sea, and smiling. 

Currently, I'm sitting in a cafe, looking out at waves crashing over rocks. The sea is fascinating colour #B9BBB6 - a mid-light grey-green, with the tips of the waves being white. It's a misty day, with a soft grey sky. The whole vista is desaturated.

I love watching the sea.

Hello, October!

 

The start of a new month, new things to do, new creative outlets to explore. 

This month, I have a few things to accomplish:

o new passport

o create pumpkins for the shop

o create bats for the shop

o declutter, deep clean, and tidy the loo and bathroom

Goals Review

 The goals set didn't quite manage to be met, but I'm not going to beat myself up. Work was rather crazy, and almost everything else took a back seat. Thankfully next month things will be a bit easier, and I won't be working such silly hours.

Some weight was lost.  Four and a half kilos were lost in the last two months. I'm calling it good. Few walks were taken, and far too many snack foods eaten. The Christmas trees for work have been made.

Courgette Spaghetti with Spinach and Pine Nuts

Ingredients

80g dried spaghetti (I used gluten-free)
1 large courgette, trimmed and spiralised 
20g pine nuts
50g cubed pancetta, smoked lardons or diced bacon
1tbsp olive oil
150g young spinach leaves
80g feta

Method
Half fill a large saucepan with water and bring to the boil. Add the spaghetti, return to the boil and cook for 10-12 minutes, or until tender. 

Add the spiralised courgette and stir together quickly, then immediately strain through a colander and run very briefly under a cold tap.

Meanwhile, place the pine nuts and pancetta (or lardons or bacon) in a non-stick saucepan with half the oil and fry over a medium heat for 2-3 minutes, stirring regularly until lightly browned.

Tip out onto a plate and return the pan to the heat Add the remaining oil and the spinach and cook over a medium heat for 1-2 minutes, stirring regularly, until the spinach is soft.

Crumble two-thirds of the feta over the top, season and cook until the feta melts, making a creamy coating for the spinach.Return the spaghetti and courgetti to their saucepan, add the spinach and feta sauce and, using two forks, toss together well over a medium heat for 1-2 minutes.

Divide between two shallow bowls, crumble the remaining feta over the top and sprinkle with the pancetta and pine nuts.

Notes
Last night, we didn't have courgette, lardons, nor feta. We substituted 100g of soya beans, pancetta, and Stilton. We also added about 8 quartered cherry tomatoes. Those were stirred in at the last minute. It worked well.

September Goals

1. Finish more crafting projects than I start, at a rate of 2:1.

2. Lose 2kg. I'm going to ease myself back into weight loss. In the first week, I'll not have chocolate, crisps or sugary drinks. In subsequent weeks, I'll decrease the crap, and increase the healthy food.

■ ■ □ □ □ □ □ No chocolate, crisps or sugary drinks.

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□ □ 

3. Walk each day.

■ ■ □ □ □ □ □

□ □ □ □ □ □ □

□ □ □ □ □ □ □

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(I've no idea why someone chose white tulips to represent September, but they are beautiful, and I would like white tulips in my garden next spring.)

August Update

 

There were a number of goals set for this month, and I'm managed to finish some projects. Various Christmas Tree covers for Terry's Chocolate Oranges have been knitted. A hat has been made for the Beloved, and two dog snoods. A customer brought in a quilt that needed to be bound. It had been meant for a grandchild, but it's now for that's baby's baby

The rest of the goals... yeah, they missed the target. 

Clean Floor!

 

The kitchen floor has been swept and mopped. It's looking a great deal cleaner. My chairside table has also been cleared.

Cycling has happened.

So far this month, we have had chicken stir fry, and sausage, bacon and beans for dinner.

No craft projects have been completed, but I'm working on it.

Hello August

 

There's a few goals for August:

1. exercise 20 times this month

2. spend 15 minutes a day cleaning, tidying and putting away

3. eat well (don't eat crap)

4. finish three projects

Put It Where You Can See It

 

I so want to have things neatly put away. Everything in its place and a place for everything. But, if I put my big white horsepills away I forget to take them. These horsepills are magnesium tablets, and without them there's problems with cramps and migraines. It's best I don't forget to take them.  

The tub of Mg pills was assigned a space on the shelf under the table by my chair. Sadly visibility tops tidy. They now sit in full view, on top of the table. Even when they are in full view, sometimes I forget to take them. I am getting better at it thought. And each time I take them I give a little pat on the back, "Well done. Another little bout of self-care."

Dyslexia and Shame

 

There are certain colour combinations, and also fonts that make reading very difficult for me. For a long time, it left me feeling stupid, and un-educated, a failure for not being able to read. Yes, I know it's crazy, but there are times when emotions don't correlate with knowledge.

This evening, I was looking at an image on facebook, and mentioned I couldn't read it. There was a busy image, with white text, blurring out into a black cloud. If I had taken some time, I could have worked it out, a cryptographical challenge, definitely not reading.

I asked what the text said, and mentioned I was dyslexic and couldn't read the font. The guy who posted it typed it out for me. The whole experience was great. I didn't feel like an idiot. This is a big step for me. I couldn't read it, and that wasn't because I was thick, but because the colours, and shapes made it too hard for me. It was all so matter of fact, and no shame was needed.  Shame!  That's the word. In the past, I have felt shame for not being able to read certain things. Looking back, I can't remember a single instance when someone has tried to shame me for being dyslexic, but I have, had, taken it upon myself to be ashamed when my poor little brain couldn't decipher text.

Here's hoping I don't try to shame myself again. I am a clever, educated person, a person with dyslexia. These things make me who I am. I am me.

Honey Hill Farm

 

The last two days, I've left the writing and cycling tasks until just before bed, but I've managed to do them1

A Facebook reminded me that it was exactly one year ago I found out the name of my main character, and that she is a lesbian. I was a tad surprised, but she's the one who'd know! Since then her forename has changed, but her sexual orientation hasn't. 

This evening I have been writing about Sophie Quayle, and her journey back to the Isle of Man.

Seven Day Challenge

In the past, I've tried all sorts of grand schemes to increase my productivity, and 'reach my potential'. And each time, I've crashed and burned. A year is far too long. Fairly often, I can manage a month, but a week. I can do a week, with just a little stretch!

I'm going to plan a few things, a lot of things, no! Two things, well, three, that I'm going to do for the next week. (I'd do something similar for work too.)

1. ride my bike - my back really, really like it when I cycle

2. eat healthy foods  - my guts really, really like it

3. write/research - I've been thinking/planning this book for far too long. I need to progress it.

ADHD

 

I'm now as sure as I can be, without having an official diagnosis, that I have Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder. But's a really crap name. My attention is often just fine, thank you very much. I don't often daydream. But hyperfocus is something I can do, and I perform well under pressure.

Now to work out ways to turn this to my advantage, and make it less of a disorder, and more of a superpower!

This Week's Menu

S: vegetarian lasagna
M: chicken stir fry
T: fresh pasta with pesto
W: burgers in brioche buns
T: risotto
F: salmon en croute
S: chicken in cider

ICNU?

A friend is working on her PhD in psychology. She has ADHD, and posts very interesting little snippets. 

 It's a common misconception that ADHA simply means hyper and/or being unable to focus, when a more accurate way to describe it would be not as an attention deficit, but as an executive function deficit.

... how this actually affects people is 'ICNU': Interest, Challenge, Novelty and Urgency. If something doesn't meet one of those four categories, someone with ADHD just isn't goig to be able to do it.

Let's use doing the dishes as an example.

Is it interesting? Not even slightly.

Challenging? Not really.

Novel? Nah.

Urgent? Not yet.

But once the person actually needs clean dishes, then it gets dones, because now it meets one of those four criteria. In that sense, putting things off until the very last second is essentially a coping mechanism for ADHA, rather than a symptom.

In the last year or two, I've thought about whether I might have Attention Deficient Disorder. After Mel's post resonated so strongly with me, I took three different tests, and they all said I might have a moderate level of ADHA. These were just internet tests, not conducted by a phycologist, but I was shocked. Then a whole string of things slotted into place. 

Over the years I've developed coping mechanisms, and avoidance techniques. Some are good, others well, quite awful. I'm going to look into better coping mechanisms, and learn how to better fit into a world that doesn't quite fit.

The first thing I have learned is I need to make unpleasant, undoable tasks fall into one of the four categories, Interest, Challenge, Novelty, and Urgent. One thing I have been trying to do recently is split tasks into much smaller chunks, and set mini-deadlines. This move them into 'Urgent'. 

Salmon and Edamame Bean Salad

 

This recipe is based on a recipe from The Fast 800 Recipe Book.

Ingredients (serves 2):

25g brown rice

75g edamame beans

2 salmon fillets (cooked)

1 tsp sesame seeds

2 large handfuls of spinach or mixed salad leaves

handful of sugar snap peas

1 medium carrot, coarsely grated

2 spring onions, finely slices

4 radished, trimmed and sliced

1 Tsp vinegarette dressing

Method:

Place the ingredients into a bowl, and drizzle the vinegarette over the top.

Notes:

Yesterday, I cooked extra portions of Sesame Salmon with Broccoli and Tomatoes, and used the salmon in this dish. There was a little broccol and some tomatoes left over. The broccoli was chopped into bite-sized chunks. These were also added to the salad.

I was about to say this was the first time I've had edamame beans, and comment on how similar they are to soya beans. Then I paused, had a quick Google, and read they are immature soya beans. What ever you call then, they are tasty.

Sesame Salmon with Broccoli and Tomatoes

Ingredients:

2 tsp olive oil

2 salmon fillets

6 spring onions, each cut into 3 pieces

12 cherry tomatoes

200g tender stem broccoli

2Tsp soy sauce

1 tsp sesame oil

2 tsp sesame seeds

Method:

Preheat the oven to 200C.

Drizzle the olive oil on a large baking sheet, and place the salmon, spring onions and cherries onto the it. Cook for 8 minutes.

Add the broccoli to a pan of boiling water and cook for 3 minutes. Then drain.

Add the broccoli to the baking sheet. Drizzle the soy sauce, and sesame oil over the fish. Scatter the sesame seeds. Bake for another 3 minutes.

Notes:

We didn't have sesame oil, therefore olive oil was substituted.

We had a tub of rice noodles to use up. The Beloved and the Offspring had noodles with their salmon.

Everyone said they would happily have this meal again.

This Week's Menu

 

Lunches:
S: smoked bacon salad
M: feta and melon salad
T: salmon and edamame bean salad
W: chicken salad
T: tuna salad
F: stilton and cranberry salad
S: (no idea yet!)

Dinners:
S: roast chicken with cauliflower cheese, and veggies
M: sesame salmon with broccoli and tomatoes
T: pecorino chicken
W: cheesy bacon butternut squash
T: hot chicken salad
F: stir fry cod with hoisin sauce
S: chicken breasts with lemon and garlic

And Breathe

 

My head is a great deal better today. I can think again!  There's still a little 'thickness', and a bit of pain at the head/spine area, I'm feeling good.  I've been looking at foods high in magnesium and realised I don't eat many of them. 

In addition to my horse-pills, I'll be increasing my intake of Mg-rich foods. My breakfast of  granola and natural yogurt can be enhanced by tossing in some roasted cashews and pumpkin seeds. Instead of a couple of clementines mid-afternoon, I'll have a banana.  Salmon will be  a more frequent item on the menu, as will spinach. These changes, along with supplements should hopefully start to rectify the problem.

This morning I learned one of the other symptoms of magnesium deficiency is high blood pressure. An increase in Mg may well help my BP to be A OK once more. 

Crash!

 

I forgot to take my horse-pill until I was almost asleep last night. My body would not co-operate, and would not rise from my partial slumber to trundle down the stairs to get the magnesium. This was a big, big, BIG mistake.

Today I am suffering. It's migraine time, and I can function at a superficial level. I won't be making that mistake again!

Tulips, Snowdrops and Bluebells

 

Whilst out walking Ava, I saw the most wonderful display of white tulips. I have decided to have white tulips, snowdrop and bluebells in my garden next year. It will be lovely to have a little patch of white and green, then followed by a riot of summer colour.

One place to buy white bluebells is at Farmer Gracy.

Even Happier

 

Wheeeee!  No headaches what so ever! I'm delighted!

Happy!

 

I am happy!  

The migraine has gone, but there is still a bit of low frequency throbbing from the tension headache. I'm feeling happy, and sunny, and so much better.

At work, I was speaking to a colleague who is a former nurse. I'd mentioned how much better I was feeling. I didn't think the magnesium tablet could have kicked in already, but that the placebo effect was wonderful. She explained magnesium can be processed very quickly, and she would expect the benefits to be from the Mg, and not placebo. Surprised and delighted, was I.

Head and Finger

A muscle at the base of middle finger decided it didn't like its normal position and spasmed. It took a fair bit of massage to get it back into its proper place. Then in the afternoon, a migraine started, and the finger decided to go its own way again. I'd been having tension headaches off and on last week.

Muscle spasms can be caused by a lack of magnesium. Coeliacs can have problems getting a proper about of essential minerals because of crappy gut absorption doodahs.

I started thinking, 'Perhaps I need some magnesium.' Then a stray memory waved at me from a distance - migraines and tension headaches can also have something to do with magnesium.

I've taken a huge horse-pill of magnesium. Hopefully it might make things a little better.

Covid and Luftwaffe to Blame

 

There have been delays to the new ferry terminal. As can be expected, when there are delays, there are also price increases. Covid is certainly a very understandable reason for delays. I was a little perplexed by the Luftwaffe also being to blame. After digging a little deeper, a few unexploded World War II bombs were found. Yup, a bomb or two can definitely cause delays.

Favourite Things

 

• Hugs from favourite people, especially when they haven't been hugged in a long time
• Blue skies and wispy, white, skudding clouds
• White chocolate
• Warm spring days
• Walks on the beach
• Bacon sandwiches
• Learning new things, be they words, languages, skills, recipes...
• Having people over to our home
• Crafting
• Writing
• Singing silly songs
• Getting just the right spot on the dog so she makes really derpy faces

Wild Flower Gardening

 

I've been inspired by councils and other authorities deciding to ditch grass verges and instead have wild flower meadow strips instead.

The Beloved and I have removed weeds from a flower bed. We've planted pansies, and I've sown poppies and a wild flower seed mix. The bed is looking better than it did this morning, and hopefully, it will be in bloom in a few weeks times. I'm fully expecting the pansies to be overshadowed by the taller wild flowers, but they will be pretty until they start growing.

Next year, I'm hoping to plant a cottage garden. The aim is to have riot of colour, with very little maintenance.

Fabulous Day

We've had a lovely day today. In the morning, there was Shut Up and Write. Afterwards, we sat and chatted for a while. Then the Beloved, the Offspring, Ava the dog, Magdalena and I sauntered around to the Creperie. 

The food was wonderful. Three of us had variations on goat's cheese galettes. The lovely Livia asked if Ava might like a cheese and ham galette. We assured her this would be most welcome. Livia was a little sad when Ava didn't tuck into it right away. I broke it into pieces, and saw the steam escaping. Too hot for a pooch.   When Livia returned, Ava's plate was clean, and she licked her lips at her. I explained this meant she was thanking the chef for a delicious meal.

This is most definitely somewhere we need to visit again.

Crosh Cuirn

The information here has been edited from a description of a Crosh Cuirn at the Manx Museum. I'll be including a mention of a crosh cuirn in the story of Honey Hill Farm.

A crosh cuirn is a traditional Manx protective charm, often hung above doorways to prevent evil spirits from entering homes on May eve. It is a wooden cross, made from twigs of mountain ash (rowan) bound together with sheep's wool gathered from the hedgerows. The rowan tree was seen as having magical powers which made it a powerful charm against evil spirits, but only if broken by hand and not cut with a knife.

Traditionally at May eve (the beginning of summer and end of winter), crosh cuirns would be placed over the doors of cottages and cowsheds to stop evil spirits from entering. They would also be tied to the tails of cattle, to stop the cattle being bewitched. 

Most people no longer believe in ill-spirits and witches being about on May eve, but many still put up crosh cuirns every year. It is probably fair to say that they are now seen as a symbol of Manx cultural identity, rather than anything else.

Re-starting 100 Days

 

The 100 Days challenge slipped by un-noticed. My mind was focused on re-opening the shop, getting the VAT returns in, stock taking and other end of financial year stuff. 

I don't know how many days I had managed to do, but it definitely made a difference. In the past, I might well have thrown up my hands and said "Another project on which I failed to deliver." Whilst it is true, there are no real consequences to stumbling in the 100 Days. It just delays the completion of the book. Another reaction might have been that if I couldn't do it perfectly first time, then I never would, and it would be best to give up.  But not this time. This time, I'm simply going to say the previous attempt was a practise, and now I'm ready to go.

The first of May, the first day of summer, is the first day of my 100 Days. 

I Am Relieved

We've just heard the Government press briefing. Despite a few new cases of Covid, and one of unknown source, we are not heading back into lockdown. Ninety four percent of the most vulnerable people have been vaccinated, and seventy percent of adults have received at least one vaccination.

I'm so relieved!  

I'm also relieved money is flowing into the business account. On Saturday morning, I'll need to take a trip to the bank to deposit money.

We're reached a lovely number. Seventy percent of adults have received their first vaccination. This figure has been reached before the younger adults have been invited to book appointments. I very much hope the figure continues to grow, and as many as are able to receive, do.

100 Days of Writing

That's 7 days of writing done. The goal is a minimum of 10 minutes each day. It's not turning out that way. The least amount of time I have spent is 25 minutes. Most days, it's closer to an hour.

My pen is making marks on paper, very little, probably none of it, is finished prose. I'm doing research, fleshing out characters, plotting the timeline, adding dates, and dreaming up new ideas. 

When I was only writing on a Saturday, it felt rather disjointed, and I'd have to cudgel my brain into remembering where I had reached. It's much less effort this way, and of course, progress is being made at a much quicker rate.

Buttons!

Over the weekend, the Beloved and I have counted loads of buttons from the shop. Between us, it came in at 8 hours of work.  I've seen buttons I didn't know we had.  But I'm now a little sick of buttons.

A Trip to the Beach

It was glorious. The sun was shining, the water was so blue, and all my cares melted away. I love going for walks beside the sea. 

There might also have been an ice cream too. 

Maternity Care

I hadn't quite realised how often The Jane would feature in my story. The Jane Crookalll Maternity Unit opened in 1939, and then closed in 1992. Maternity services moved a little way along the road to Nobles Hospital. It moved again in 2003 when the new Nobles Hospital was build.

There was a statue of a stork on the roof of The Jane. The rumour was if you turned and saw the stork when you were leaving, you would be back within the year.

If a mother needed a C-section, she was moved to Nobles Hospital for the operation. In my mind this equated with loading the mother onto a trolley and pushing her along the road. Apparently, they used to use ambulances for patient transfers.

The Protagonist's Parents

The goal was to write, research, and plan the novel for at least 10 minutes for the next 100 days. This evening's '10 minutes' lasted 70!

Yesterday and today, I've been writing out character sheets for the protagonist's parents. A while back, I had realised I'd fallen into the Disney trap - kill off the parents to make it easier for the protagonist to move unencumbered. Instead, the parents are working half way around the world. They love their daughter, and are in regular contact.

The 100 Day Project

The 100 Day Project is a free, global art project. The idea is simple: choose a creative project, do it every day for 100 days, and share your process online.

Most people started on the 8th of January this year. I'm starting today.

My plan is to commit to a minimum of 10 minutes of work on my novel each day for 100 days. This should propel it along a bit further than just 1 hour on a Saturday.

-----

That's my first day done. Whilst waiting for dinner to be cook, I started working on the character of the protagonist's dad. He is Dr Richard James Quayle. Tomorrow is the turn of the protagonist' mam, Susan Quayle, nee Cowin.

Migraine

Migraines are rather weird things. One came over me yesterday. At 5pm, I was pretty much fine, by 5.45pm,  I was concerned I was going to be able to stand. Thankfully at that point I was right beside the car, and was able to hang on to it. The Beloved bundled me in, and drove me home.  

Driving into the sunshine brought pain.  The Beloved  dropped the sun visor, and that was useful. Then I had a brainwave, I could wear my face mask over my eyes. By wearing it upside down it covered eyes, nose and mouth.

A rather interesting thought came to me at one point, I was still able to think, but didn't have the ability to translate these thoughts into words. 

A couple of years ago, a migraine suddenly descended upon me whilst shopping. The supermarket has an in-store pharmacy. The Beloved took me to the pharmacy and asked for migraine medication. The pharmacist wanted me to take paracetamol as a first stage. I disagreed, and tried to explain what I needed. During this time, I was sitting slumped in a chair, eyes tight shut against the bright lights. My words were very few, and rather slurred. That's when I wondered if I might be able to bi-pass words, and use signs. This worked, and The Beloved translated my signs to the pharmacist. 

After a lot of dithering, he agreed to give me the drugs I needed. The Beloved went to finish the grocery shopping; I remained in the seat. In the 15 minutes it took him to return my symptoms had reduced to the point I was able to speak again.  I asked for the pharmacist, and purposefully choosing multi-clausal, polysyllabic words and phrases thanked him for his care. I also let him know I was off to bed, and would sleep for about 2 hours, and would then be fine once more. The look on his face was priceless. It's not often people get to see how quickly the correct medication works.

Wildflower Verges

In Rotterdam, they started sowing wildflower seeds in the city. It was beautiful, and brought a much needed boost to insects, and especially bees.  Various areas have followed suit, and former grass verges have sprouted fantastic colours.

I've decided to join the throng, and sow wildflower seeds in my front garden. There's an oval planting area, currently with a few weeds. These will be dealt with. Pansies will be planted, Then wildflowers and poppies will be sown. 

There's a potted fuchsia in the back garden. Perhaps I'll add it into the mix.  I'm hoping for a riot of colour this summer. 

Breathe In, Breathe Out

Well! That explains a great deal.

Over the last few days I started coughing, and become a bit breathless. I look my inhaler at 3pm, and just a few minutes ago, and there was no relief, none at all. I check the inhaler, and it's all out of nice lung calming medicine. No wonder it wasn't working!

Being a vaguely sensible person, I have spare inhaler in the sitting room (and a second one at work). Two little puffs later, and I can breathe again.

Breathing is nice. I recommend it. Do it.

Death By Baptism

There are times when I have very vivid dreams. They might be contact poison slugs, or baby hedgehogs loose on the floor, but my best dream of recent years can best be described as 'Death By Baptism'.

-----

The scene is a medieval town. There are cobbled streets and crocked buildings, and strange, unexplained deaths. During the day, the streets are quiet, but at night very pale individuals can be seen.

The town has been having problems with vampires for a few years, but now, there is a new wave of vampire attacks. They aren't just killing for food, or pleasure, but instead, they are recruiting.

Whilst wandering the empty streets on a pleasant, sunny afternoon, I bump into Rupert Giles. (It turns out Rupert isn't his real name, it's Jason Giles. He changed it a while back because he thought Rupert sounded more dignified.)

We start talking about strange occurrences, and fail to realise just how the light levels have dropped. We are entering twilight, and the undead are becoming restless. Rupert steals a car, and we get in, a tactical retreat is demanded. Rupert shouts, "No seat belts today. If you are going to die, die properly."

We bounce along the cobbled streets with a growing army of vampires behind us. The car can't handle the cobbles, and a hill. It splutters and dies. The vampires are gaining, and we desperately need a safe place to spend the night. One door is open, just a crack. We duck into the house, and try to bar it behind us.

The old rule of vampires needing to be invited in to a building no longer seems to apply! There's major shuffle as are followed into the house. Later we find that this is the place where a new breed of vampires is being created and so naturally they don't need permission to re-enter their home! 

We learn various techniques in how to despatch a vampire when your stakes have been destroyed and only wooden lollypop sticks remain. I declare my longing for  chopsticks, but then puzzled over whether they would work as bamboo is a grass, not a tree. Can you get wood from a grass, or can it only come from a tree?!

But back to wooden lolly sticks... stab the vampire with a long bladed kitchen knife. This will first cause shock at being stabbed, then mirth at it being a stabbing rather than a staking. Whist there's laughter slide the wooden lolly sticks along the blade of the knife, then quickly remove the knife. This leaves only the wooden sticks in the heart and the vampire becomes dust. 

Things get a tad tricky when you are dealing with an off-world vampire from Gallifrey. Thankfully the time vampire wasn't too bright and ventured for the information 'two hearts' . That one took multiple starlings to find both hearts. 

In the calm in the eye of the storm people found their way to the house on the hill and plans were drawn up. Of one group were very gentle preachers. They did not want to engage with violence of staking. Thankfully there is a toy shop in the village, and there is a range of super-soaker water pistols, well more like assault rifles with a backpack water supply. 

The preachers blessed the water,  and we head out onto the mean streets for a bit of preaching to the heathen vampires and also some baptisms. 

It was at this point I woke up. Lucid dreaming is something I can often do. It might be the right time to see if I can slip back into a world where death-by-baptism is a thing, along with lolly stick stakings. 

I'll let you know how it goes. However if you see me and I smile not at you, but your jugular, be a tad wary.