How Does the Garden Grow?

Hello Friends!

Welcome Flaming June! A month of gentle days when roses breaking free from tight wrapped bud do send the fragrant scent of many blooms to float and drift upon the warming air ~~~ in calm repose the weary gardener sits ~~~ whose work is never done ~~~ she listens to the drone of busy bees while drinking in the perfume sweet, her eyelids close, and lulled by the gently buzzing bees she sleeps, perchance to dream ~~~ if only for a moment sweet, swept away on the fragrant air to distant and mysterious lands where ancient wonders wait ~~~

Thank you all for your kind comments over my recent photographic success!
I am still waiting to be called to the specialist spinal injury clinic.  Regrettably, there was a mix up in my paperwork and the referral was not made in March as it should have been, which is why I've not been allocated an appointment yet.  I am now on the waiting list.  I am devastated because, apparently, I would have been seen by the end of March.  When I think of how painful and inconvenient the past few months have been and how it could have been relieved already.

So, the garden remains still loved but unattended.  Nature, however, is doing a perfectly good job left to her own devices, and in the coming months the wildlife will benefit from mullein, verbena, teazels, herb Robert, dandelions, daisies, hawkbit and many, many more wildflowers.

I confess to loving this new, rewilded border arrangement!

Here are some more close ups of flowers blooming in the garden and bringing joy to my world.

The lavender hedge is coming along nicely and is even bigger now than when I took this photo a week ago.

Unfortunately, I haven't seen the lovely people who were helping me for two months, so it's all rewilding itself, which I don't mind at all.  However, both my vegetable and fruit patches are desperately overgrown.  I have put out an offer for someone to take care of it in exchange for the produce they can grow, but no one is interested in it.

~~~~~

How quickly the year has flown by, and Daisy Yellow ICAD is upon us once again.  I am planning two months of tangling, and I've got all my bits and bobs in order, ready to go

I've been doing a little practice run.  

Sadly, I went to sleep in the middle of the second piece.  I woke up face down on my work with my pen bleeding out into a fine, big blob of ink!  Unfortunately, sudden onset nodding off happens now because of the Molotov of drugs I have to take.  It's why they took away my driving license.  I've even dozed off while walking down the street!  It is not amusing.

Until next time

Stay safe and well

Debbie xo

And Again!!!

Hello Friends

You won't believe this, I can scarcely believe it myself, but for the third week out of four one of my photos has been selected for publication in the local Western Telegraph newspaper!  I put a link here last time I got picked but it won't be up online until Saturday, so this is the photo.  I am chuffed to bits.  I really am!

It is the healing well at St Non's, the birthplace of Dewi Sant.

Here are the other two images from previous weeks.

First up is Whitesands Beach.  There was no theme this week again.  Just submit photos of anything or place.

and second is the chocolate cabinet at Chapel Chocolates when the theme was "display"

Here's an ancient picture of photos of tiny me with my Aunt and her husband.  Got to love their car!

Until next time

Debbie xx

PSA

Hello friends.

This is just a very quick dive in and out to tell you I appear to have solved the problem of posting anonymously. Well, truth be told, I haven't solved it. Jeannie from The Marmelade Gypsy kindly pointed me in the direction of Life and Linda where I found this useful fix.

I know a lot of us are still having anonymity issues with posting and commenting, so I hope this helps resolve it for you, as it has done for me.

Let's hear it for Jeannie!  👏👏👏👏👏

Until next time

Debbie xo

Ooops I did it again!

Hello friends.

To quote that irritating song by Britney,  Oooops, I did it again.

OK, So what did I do again? Well, they only went and picked another one of my photos for the Western Telegraph Camera Club.

The theme this week was Displays. I submitted a photograph of the local chocolate shop. Well, I suppose it comes down to who could resist a cabinet full of chocolates.

Here's the link for anyone who's interested in seeing mine and the other photos.

WT Camera Club

I don't know what is wrong with Blogger these days. I am down as anonymous. Even for my own blog, but then again, not on everybody's blogs.

I'm having a doozy of a time with the powers that be. By that I mean all things such as organisations  and services to help me get myself set up to enable me to remain in my own home.  Still, I'm hoping I'm starting to see light at the end of the tunnel. I'm still waiting to be called for my assessment with my spine. It's already been twice as long as they said it would be. And the only thing that they prepared to confirm to me is that I am on the waiting list. I am on maximum painkillers. At this, coming from somebody who barely takes a painkiller in her life is something.  Over the past few months, I have had to eat big portions of humble pie. I'm learning slowly that I have to ask for help, and must accept help when it is offered.  For one who values her independence as greatly as I do, this is a very difficult time.

I shall be indulging in Eurovision tonight. Who would have thought just 20 years ago that it would have turned into the nearly fortnight long extravaganza that it has? At 10 years ago, who would have thought that Australia would have been in the competition?

Until next time.

Stay safe, stay well.

Debbie. xx

Whoot Whoot Made the Local Rag!

Hello friends.

What's news? I am still plodding on. Still in pain. Still having great difficulty walking. Still housebound. The latter to the point that I can barely make it out into the garden now. I'm still waiting to be seen by the CMAT.  And I'm still taking large amounts of painkillers, which of course come with their own set of side effects. Despite this, I am still trying to be as positive as I possibly can and hope that once I do get seen they will be able to do something for me.

It seems that my cottage is now non-stop with various people coming to the door. Occupational therapists. Physiotherapists. Community Connectors. Quite a long list of people trying to help, but I doubt there's very much any of them can do for me until I can regain my mobility.  The irony is that this has nothing to do with the Parkinson's! 

In the mean time, I am still not sleeping well. At least I have the television in the same room as me. But do you have any idea of the drivel that is on during the night? And I'm sleeping in my arm chair. None of this can be doing me any good. But what is doing me good is my painting. Some days I don't feel like doing anything particular, so I turn to my colouring in books. Other days I use stamps to make images. Or sometimes I go into full on paint a proper picture mode.

I think I lost the plot with this first one. I made a small simple image using Hobby Art stamps. After I'd coloured it all in, there was a vast white space at the top of the page. Brusho, I said. So, Brusho it was. Except the brush show came out in a little bit too much of A rush and we have rather a bright, vibrant blue sky.  Maybe the mushrooms were psychedelic?  Joking I am.

This one is very finely detailed. It came from a book of postcards. Printed ready for colouring. Very, very fiddly work.

This one is another composite of several Hobby Art stamps.

Am I allowed to say that I am well chuffed with this next one? Well, even if I'm not allowed, I'm going to say it anyway. I'm well chuffed with this.

This Arum Lily was given to my father. So I inherited it in the garden. I took some photos of it a few years back {see below} and I have always wanted to paint pictures of flowers I have grown. So I went for it. It's watercolour.

Finally. This morning I was on the phone with a friend. And she said, oh, I saw your photograph in the Western Telegraph. I didn't know what she was talking about. Anyway, it turns out that's the Western Telegraph Camera Club page on Facebook. Of which I am a member chose one of my photographs as their top six of the year so far.  Can I say I'm chuffed again? I'm chuffed again.

Here's the link to the page where it can be seen. I hope it works for you wherever you are if you're trying to look at it.

Deb's picture

Until next time.

Stay safe, stay well.

Debbie. xo

Double Whammy

Hello, friends!

Well, it's certainly been a long time since I wrote anything, hasn't it?  Unfortunately, there isn't very much to say. The weather has been absolutely appalling. Okay, I'll admit it could have been worse. We haven't had the usual constantly high winds above 40 mile an hour. Most days have been in the 20s, which is enough with the odd few gales thrown in.

The fall I told you about back in February has seriously shaken my confidence. I am afraid now to go out. Between being very unsteady my feet, the sudden gusts of strong wind that we get, and the pain in my legs, I am frightened beyond of having another fall and becoming injured.

The pain and lack of mobility persists. Several hospital, physio, and doctor appointments later I have been told that whilst I do have arthritis and wear and tear, both of these are minor. Thankfully. However, this now leaves nerve damage as the possible cause of my pain and immobility, and I am now being referred to the CMAT team. Don't ask me what that is exactly, I believe it is a spinal injury unit. I have looked it up online, Clinical Muscularskeletal Assessment Testing.  Apparently they will order more tests and scans, then discuss my options.  I have no idea how long the waiting list is for this. 

I have bought a riser recliner for myself. My old chairs were getting very tatty. They were nearly 30 years old. I could only sit on them supported by many cushions, which is not good for my posture and not helping my pain in anyway at all.  I like it very much. It came from our local department store. It is a petite. I didn't know chairs came in petite, small, large and extra large. Did you?  It means that my legs and back are properly supported while I am sitting.  It was on sale for a very good price. And being disabled, I didn't have to pay the VAT on it, so I decided to treat myself to the matching little two seater sofa which is very nicely sized for my small living room.  It was also included on the sale.

In the mean time, my Parkinson's progresses, and it is starting to interfere with my day-to-day tasks.

The chap who comes to mow the lawn has already been once this year. Garden Waste Bin Collection has commenced, and somehow despite all my aches and pains and immobility, I have managed to put it down twice.  Meanwhile, I have applied to the local Council for what they call a doorstep collection for my rubbish bins. This means my bins will be collected from my front door, rather than me having to walk them all the way down to the collection point and risk falling.

I continue to enjoy doing my art. You must forgive me for that is all I really have to share for you today. Oh wait, I may have a few photos of flowers I took yesterday in the garden. Just a few spots of colour. Because as you can imagine, the garden is a bit of a mess now. That is an understatement!

The cards are all made using stamps from Hobby Art stamps.  I have a Tim Holtz stamp platform. It is an absolute Godsend for me now because it helps me to stamp images that with my tremors I could otherwise not create.

The church one is a single stamp. All the others are created using several stamps that I have put together to create my own unique images.

You can see from the several different images of the Robin wreath above how the Tim Holtz stamping platform helps me make identical images that I can then hand colour in differently.  It is a great tool for the crafter. It enables you to make perfectly crisp, clear stamped images. Time after time. And you can make repeat images. So it's really useful if you need to make things like invitations where continuity is important.

Well, that's about all I can manage for now. I'm so thankful I've got a dictaphone on this laptop. It might not be perfect, but it certainly has its uses.

Until next time.

Stay safe. Stay well.

Debbie. xo