Little words of wisdom

Noma Dumezweni reads Wordsworth's Daffodils

This was shared on a Facebook group to which I belong.  I thought it was so beautifully read that I would share it with you, too :)

Peace...

www.allposters.co.uk

Father, Mother, God,

Thank you for your presence during the hard and mean days.

For then we have you to lean upon.

Thank you for your presence during the bright and sunny days.

For then we can share that which we have with those who have less.

And thank you for your presence during the Holy Days.

For then we are able to celebrate you and our families and our friends

For those who have no voice, we ask you to speak.

For those who feel unworthy, we ask you to pour your love out in waterfalls of tenderness.

For those who live in pain, we ask you to bathe them in the river of your healing.

For those who are lonely, we ask you to keep them company.

For those who are depressed, we ask you to shower upon them the light of hope.

Dear Creator, You, the borderless sea of substance, we ask you to give to all the world that which we need most.....PEACE.

Maya Angelou

(4th April 1928 - 28th May 2014)

Little words of wisdom

Peace...

www.allposters.co.uk

Father, Mother, God,

Thank you for your presence during the hard and mean days.

For then we have you to lean upon.

Thank you for your presence during the bright and sunny days.

For then we can share that which we have with those who have less.

And thank you for your presence during the Holy Days.

For then we are able to celebrate you and our families and our friends

For those who have no voice, we ask you to speak.

For those who feel unworthy, we ask you to pour your love out in waterfalls of tenderness.

For those who live in pain, we ask you to bathe them in the river of your healing.

For those who are lonely, we ask you to keep them company.

For those who are depressed, we ask you to shower upon them the light of hope.

Dear Creator, You, the borderless sea of substance, we ask you to give to all the world that which we need most.....PEACE.

Maya Angelou

(4th April 1928 - 28th May 2014)

Stash busting

I have a lot of yarn and a good deal of it seems to be single balls which have caught my eye for one reason or another.  So in the spirit of continuing the sorting-out ready for moving, I decided that the yarn stash really needs to be given a serious trim!  I thought that it would be good to use up some of those odd balls making blankets for a charity, and whilst doing a search for a charity looking for blankets I came across Blankets for the Homeless.  They are looking for folk to crochet/knit squares or strips, or to donate yarn.  The squares are then sewn together by volunteers to make into blankets of about 4' x 6'.    

I found quite a lot of smaller oddments of yarn in my stash, and decided to use up those first before moving on to the single balls.  To give a bit of unity to the squares, I crocheted the last round of each one using grey yarn.  I also used the grey yarn to join the squares together, and to make a narrow border around the completed blanket.

And here is the finished article!  It may not be the most attractive blanket in the world, but was made with love and will hopefully help to keep someone in need warm 😊

Little words of wisdom

Peace...

www.allposters.co.uk

Father, Mother, God,

Thank you for your presence during the hard and mean days.

For then we have you to lean upon.

Thank you for your presence during the bright and sunny days.

For then we can share that which we have with those who have less.

And thank you for your presence during the Holy Days.

For then we are able to celebrate you and our families and our friends

For those who have no voice, we ask you to speak.

For those who feel unworthy, we ask you to pour your love out in waterfalls of tenderness.

For those who live in pain, we ask you to bathe them in the river of your healing.

For those who are lonely, we ask you to keep them company.

For those who are depressed, we ask you to shower upon them the light of hope.

Dear Creator, You, the borderless sea of substance, we ask you to give to all the world that which we need most.....PEACE.

Maya Angelou

(4th April 1928 - 28th May 2014)

Little words of wisdom

And then there was one...

Little Martha passed away during Friday night.  Although she was still eating, even on Friday, she had been looking much more frail for a few months.  She was 9 on the 1st January, so although I am sad that she has gone, she did have a good long life. 

So now we just have Abigail, who was also a 1st January hatchling; she is now 10 years old and was still laying the occasional egg last year!  She looks very well at the moment and seems to be a good weight, but you never know with chickens.  I've found that they can be okay one day and dead the next!  She had to suffer the indignity of me removing balls of dried mud from her claws on Saturday.  She wasn't very impressed at all but as I pointed out to her, if she had been bothered to clean her own toes then I wouldn't have had to swaddle her in a towel, lay her on my lap and soak her feet to get the flippin mud balls off  LOL

So my weekend consisted of chicken burials and chicken pedicures ~ I hope your's was more fun than mine!  

Peace...

www.allposters.co.uk

Father, Mother, God,

Thank you for your presence during the hard and mean days.

For then we have you to lean upon.

Thank you for your presence during the bright and sunny days.

For then we can share that which we have with those who have less.

And thank you for your presence during the Holy Days.

For then we are able to celebrate you and our families and our friends

For those who have no voice, we ask you to speak.

For those who feel unworthy, we ask you to pour your love out in waterfalls of tenderness.

For those who live in pain, we ask you to bathe them in the river of your healing.

For those who are lonely, we ask you to keep them company.

For those who are depressed, we ask you to shower upon them the light of hope.

Dear Creator, You, the borderless sea of substance, we ask you to give to all the world that which we need most.....PEACE.

Maya Angelou

(4th April 1928 - 28th May 2014)

Still here...

 

No, I haven't been abducted by aliens nor fallen off the face of the earth ~ I am still here, even though I have been quiet for the last few months.  It's been a difficult time for me as I've been very low but finally, thank goodness, I seem to be on the way back up once more.  I seriously considered just shutting the blog down altogether as I couldn't put my mind to posting anything, but I am glad that I didn't actually get round to doing it 😊

Since this post way back in September, things have moved on here at a faster pace than I had anticipated at that time: Adrian is now actually retiring at the end of the month.  Yes, I do mean the end of March 2017!  I was feeling pretty overwhelmed by the scale of all that needed to be done when I wrote that earlier post but once the decision was made that Adrian would be retiring a year earlier, I just seemed to go into a meltdown and it's been difficult to climb back up the the land of reason and commonsense. Still, I think I have got more of a grip on the situation now ~ at any rate, I am feeling a whole lot better in myself, mentally at least!

Physically it's rather different, unfortunately, as I have been struggling with a horrible rash.  My GP thinks I have had an allergic reaction to something but the steroids and antihistamines she prescribed haven't made much difference: I am as itchy, spotty and dry-patchy as ever!  She sent me for a blood test which apparently didn't really show anything too abnormal, although it appears that I am currently on the borderline of underactive thyroid and prediabetes.  So, she is referring me to the dermatology clinic.  Goodness knows when I shall get an appointment, though.

I do get flare-ups of eczema on my hands from time-to-time, and I've been wondering if this skin condition is another flare-up but on a larger scale.  I've been doing some online research and I certainly seem to have the symptoms of eczema.  Rather than being on my hands, as it normally is, this time it's affecting a large part of my torso, legs and arms instead.

I think that there could be a few possible triggers for this outbreak.  We have had our living room decorated and the itching started soon after the woodwork had been painted with oil-based gloss paint.  Prior to the painting, Steve (our handy-dandy handyman and all-round jolly good chap!) had to fill in lots of holes in the walls, and consequently there was a huge sanding-down operation afterwards.  He did his best to contain the dust but it still escaped, causing me a humungous bout of sneezing and nose-blowing for a couple of days or more.  I have also recently developed something of a passion for peanut M&Ms ~ which are basically legumes covered in sugar, so a couple more trigger-points methinks!  Combine all that with the wheat "addiction" I've had for years and I rather think I can see where this eczema outbreak has its origins!

So whilst I'm waiting for the hospital appointment, I've decided to try some non-medical options to see if I can find some relief.  I found an artical online about a company called Pure Potions, who make dry skin products which are especially suitable for folk who have eczema.  I've ordered three items from their Skin Salvation range: Bath & Body Oil, Daily Moisturising Cream and Intensive Moisturising Ointment.  I am also going to overhaul my diet.  I think I need to just bite the bullet and try to totally eliminate wheat altogether, and sugar as much as possible.  Neither will be particularly easy, I'm sure, but if it helps clear up this horrible skin condition then it will be well worth the effort!

Now that I've given you my latest tales of woe, methinks I ought to toddle orf for now LOL  I'll keep you up-to-date with how things go, though 😉 

Little words of wisdom