Today my son is 9 years old. Not 10, as he wants to be, but in his 10th year.
Yesterday we had a family get together and dinner. Today we had the friends party.
Nine years ago the weather was atrocious, today it was beautiful. A lovely celebration.
Meanwhile our kittens are growing at pace. Leroy has learned to use the cat door, and on Friday after a couple of hours stuck outside while I was busy at work Daisy reluctantly made it inside too. Once she can use it confidently we can finally be done with the litter tray. That will be another cause to celebrate. For now, though, she’s inside more than out, and Leroy often comes to join her. Growing requires a lot of sleep.
It’s been a mixed week. Overall I’m doing well, but I’ll admit I’m frustrated I can’t scale the mountains just yet.
As many people have pointed out, it’s not exactly reasonable to push myself through a work day only to have to go straight to bed afterwards and not really have any energy for anything else. It doesn’t stop me wanting to – I’ve been sitting around doing nothing for too many months – but I have come to accept that working shorter hours now will serve me better.
In a similar vein, in spite of my conscientious exercising of my finger the fact is that I’m not going to get full mobility back. It won’t stop me continuing to push what I can do, but the truth is the muscles and tendons have been still and unused too long. I can type, and crochet, and manage a lot of things that I couldn’t for the last 6 months, and that’s huge. It’s just a touch disappointing.
The garden, too, has had it’s struggles. The pear was prolific and the orange is promising another good crop, but the cherimoya is sad…
Undersized cherimoya fruit on the tree
…the feijoa is covered in marble sized fruit…
Undersized feijoas on the tree
…and the fig has no fruit at all.
On the other hand our mystery fruit turned out to be a nashi and there are three golden shapes amongst the leaves…
Nashi on the tree
…and while most of the peaches have rotted on the tree I did manage to bottle a few.
One jar of preserved peaches, two of preserved pears
I’ve also finished a crocheted blanket that has been waiting since last July.
Granny square crocheted blanket, folded
Next week I’m going to work shorter days all week, try to build up some stamina, and go forward from there. The trees in the garden need pruning and feeding and watering and next year they’ll do better for a bit of care. Like the trees, I’ll do better for getting more rest. It’s been a crazy few months, and my body just needs a bit more TLC.
I did go to work for five days, but I didn’t manage to do full time as I’d hoped. I needed naps most days, and by Thursday my energy was definitely flagging. I’m pleased with what I achieved but I will need to think about next week and what’s realistic.
I didn’t go for walks. I’ve just been too tired.
I didn’t get photos of the garden, something I’ve been planning all week to do and post.
I didn’t get more bottling done. I got so far as making the sugar syrup and sterilising the jars, then ran out of energy.
All in all it’s been a good week, and I’ve done a lot. I’ve worked, I’ve spun, I’ve crocheted, I’ve been to church and to the beach for my father-in-law’s birthday…
There’s a possibility that I sometimes expect too much of myself, loathe as I am to admit it.
Perhaps next week my stamina will improve. For now though, I have to accept that this is the most I can manage in terms of keeping this blog up to date for this week.
Yesterday was my first day back at work, which was intellectually great, but rather tiring. I’m pleased to be back.
My finger still has a long way to go to get proper mobility back but it’s getting well exercised, carefully of course, and I can sort of type with it. It doesn’t hurt to tap a key, it just doesn’t land on the right one without careful management, so mostly I’m typing without it. One more thing to work on.
But today’s goal was to bottle some pears. I’ve never done that but now we have such a prodigious harvest it would be a shame not to.
In our rapid curve learnings about pear crops we were advised that the ones without stalks weren’t worth chilling and ripening. But it seeed so wasteful, and we need to test these things for ourselves, so we went halfway. We didn’t chill them, just ripened them on the bench.
The results were mixed. Some went off, some had bugs in them, some ripened beautifully and others probably needed a little longer. But undeterred they were peeled, quartered and cored, then put into the syrup to soften.
Another thing I should probably avoid in future is pieces that vary so much in size, but it was a learning exercise 😀
It took forever to get it sll done, primarily because I’ve barely been in the kitchen since we moved and I’m not familiar with these elements. They seem to either be colder or hotter than I expect, and with less control than my old ones. I miss my induction hob.
Anyway, we finally got there. I filled one jar. What was left over wouldn’t fill a jar so we’ll have them for dessert tonight.
All in all I’m pleased, and know a few things for when we start on the next lot. I’m also pleased these pears aren’t ging to waste.
Today I drove for the first time since early November, after the hand physio gave the go ahead. It’s been quite the wait. I could have driven over the weekend but my only outings were to church and to dinner at my parents place, and both times I let my husband drive.
My short drive today was to the District Nurse and there I got more good news: my major surgery wound has finally healed enough that they can discharge me. No more dressing changes, no more dressings at all. Not or that, at least. It’s been a long road, the wound opened up and has been stubborn about healing fully, but we got there.
So now there’s just my finger.
We’re down to a simple gauze dressing, it’s healing up well. I see the hand physio again on Thursday and will continue to have regular appointments with her over the coming weeks, but that in itself almost feels normal since I was seeing her weekly from July to September. My current mobility is very limited but I’m working on it.
Also, this Friday I return to work, not just for a couple of days but properly. Even better, while I still can’t use that finger, I can use the others so typing is getting easier.
One final thing: following a request from a friend, I investigated and it turns out I can add people to a mailing list to get an email when I post here, without them signing up to a WordPress account. If you want me to do that for you, let me know, and if you don’t have any other way to reach me directly, use the contact form on the left.
Today the doors got opened and the kittens got their freedom.
They’ve had a couple of outings in a leashed harness, but today they’ve been able to wander and explore. All the doors are open.
Daisy was immediately at ease, curious and happy. Leroy, by contrast took about 2 hours to relax, slinking about with his tail down, startling at every new sound, and getting upset when Daisy was out of sight. But eventually they were both having fun.
Now, after lunch, they’re both back inside, sleeping off a busy morning of exploration.
Given that we moved in spring our plan was to just watch what the garden did, without much interference. We haven’t watered or pruned, just let things be.
The plum, apple, nashi (yes, that’s what it turned out to be) and lemon all need some attention. The peach seems to be fruiting fine, but the tree still needs some care too. The pear, though, has done rather well.
The harvest basically filled a large chilly bin. There’s some wind damage, and a small number have bugs, but most seem healthy and practically fell off the tree at a touch.
We’ve never had a pear tree before so some quick research told us it would be best to chill them before ripening at room temperature. So into a borrowed fridge they’ve gone.
All going well we’ll be able to eat some and bottle the rest.
The tree will obviously also benefit from a feed and a prune, which means next year’s crop ought to be awesome. But for now, we have no complaints at all.
To be clear, I was at the hospital at 7 and in surgery at 8:30, but yes it was an early start. All went very well, the surgeon is pleased, so now it’s a matter of recovery and exercise.
Warning: some of the detail below is a bit graphic. If you’re squeamish perhaps skip this one and just know I’m sore but it will pass.
The surgery itself wasn’t quite as I had previously thought, as was clarified yesterday morning before I went in to surgery. Most of the middle bone is fine, it’s just the base of it that has crumbled. The silicone implant looks something like this:
The long wings to either side slot into holes drilled into the bones and is otherwise held in place by the tendons. The bit in the middle then forms the new knuckle. It’s very clever 🙂
I’m very sore today, worse than last time but of course this is the second time this finger has been cut into, and he’s been drilling into my bones, so no real surprise there. I’m resting it over the weekend and starting exercises on Monday under the guidance of my lovely and patient hand physio. I’m very much looking forward to building up my mobility.
After a half day at work we’ve now made it to Hamilton and to our accommodation for tonight. It’s in a lovely but surprisingly busy side street just a few streets away from the hospital.
We’ll get takeaways for dinner and have a quiet night.
