All change!

Life has been a bit complicated this last few weeks and I really had to wait until I was feeling more positive before I told you all about it. True to my brief of only posting positive posts I won't go into all the details of how OH managed to hurl himself out of his wheelchair at The Heath and damage his right eye sufficiently to make it unlikely that he will ever get the sight back. For the first couple of weeks I needed a spreadsheet to work out when all the drops and cream and antibiotics had to be down and I had to neglect my mum a bit, in spite of her own mini crisis which we will come to in a minute.

The decision has been made that OH will not drive anymore so I am going to sell my car and drive his instead. We need to use his because of the space in the boot for the wheelchair and the electric hoist but at the moment I still have to use my own car for my own purposes and only drive his when I am taking him somewhere, due to various laws about these things so there's a bit of sorting out to do before that change can take place. It means I shall have to get my personal auto-pilot reset to driving the automatic rather than the manual. At the moment when I drive the automatic I keep saying "don't change gear, don't change gear" and then when I get into mine I forget to change gear for a few minutes! That may make me look a bit of a nit-wit but trying to change gear in the automatic can do real damage.

It's going to mean quite a big change in our lives too as he has effectively wiped out what bit of independence he had and will be totally reliant on me to go out, so I shall have to make sure that appointments for me, mum and him co-ordinate!

Then, the day after it happened we got an offer on mum's flat. Those of you in the UK will know that the process of buying and selling property is more than a little complicated, and as it is what I used to do for part of my living, I know more than most what could go wrong before it is finalised. We have been trying to get her moved closer to us since last August but I am not counting any chickens

I have been quite overwhelmed by the amount of love and prayers coming our way. I have realised in a more meaningful way just how many friends I have gained since we moved here. I have 2 churches looking after me, and such good cousins and almost cousins. And I really have felt God with me and His support and guidance and we are already seeing how things could have been so much worse and so counting our blessings. We will be alright. OH is back to reading the paper at the weekend and doing the dishwasher all wrong just as he did before! There was a moment there when I could have turned my face to the wall but it didn't last.

Spring Clearing

No, that isn't a typo, the cleaning will come later!
On Thursday I spent most of the day at my mum's flat helping her to start sorting out some "stuff". Well, I say helping. What actually happened was I took all the "stuff" out of her wardrobe and airing cupboard and she watched and we decided what could go to the dump and what could go to the Hospice shop. Anyone reading this who doesn't know, we have a local Hospice named for St Elizabeth and they have charity shops around the area where they sell people's unwanted, or pre-loved items to raise funds. Anyway, I went there with mum's big shopping trolley stuffed to the gunnels and they got very excited about some plates. Then I stuffed the trolley again with things to go in my paper recycling bin and for hubby to take to the local tip.
So enthused was I by this that I decided the time had come for me and him to have a go at our garage on Friday. Quite a lot of rubbish, the discovery of things we forgot we'd got, some more for the shop and, as a reward, fish and chips from the chippy at the Heath for lunch. And I had a pineapple fritter as well. But then I had walked to the Heath and back twice as I'd already been there in the morning to go to the Post Office so I must have burnt a few of those calories off one way and another.
Today (Saturday) I am continuing the good work at home and tomorrow, after I have taken the service at Kirton, I shall be going to mum's and continuing there.
Mum and I are both hoarders so it has quite a liberating feel to be making spaces that are not immediately going to be filled up again!
In other news, we really, really need some rain here. The farmers are worried, the reservoirs are dropping and there have been grassland and heath fires across the UK like I have never seen before. The temperature has been way above the normal for this time of year and although 20 degrees plus is lovely, it's not doing the wild life any good at all. Wondering how my Canadian cousins are faring

A Great Honour!

I'm sure I'm not the first to comment that "you wait ages for a Bank Holiday then 4 turn up together". By the way, does that joke work in the US?
Anyway, today was May Day Bank Holiday, which is on the first Monday of May and which is a relatively new holiday, having been made an official holiday only in 1978. Of course, we had Good Friday and Easter Monday last week, plus the special holiday for the Royal Wedding this Friday and I guess a lot of people will actually be quite glad to get back to normal. Amazingly the weather, traditionally awful whenever the holidays fall, has been lovely.
Today my friend @easternsparkle came for coffee as I had promised her some plants from my little greenhouse. We had a very pleasant time, her, me and my OH, chatting cheerfully. And then came my great and unexpected (though secretly hoped for) honour. If you look at Her Blog
you will see that she is a quilter and sewer and crocheter, and she has been learning to make useful and beautiful little bags. And she gave me one ! And I love it.

As you can see, she knows I am a purple person and not that flowery so my bag is made from a wonderful abstract purple and black fabric which I have already scanned to make background paper for my hand made cards. Now I have been thinking all afternoon what I want to keep in it and I haven't quite decided yet