Help I'm being stifled

If anyuone knows how i can clear aomeone else's blog from being superimposed over mine please let me know.

Currently "Medieval Church Art" is spread all over my blog and I can't get to my comments (if any) nor can i remove the intruder.

I shopuld add that the blog is one I read and enjoy, but not at the expense of losing my own.

I know virtually nothing about IT and haven't any hope of fixing the problem myself.

Is it too late?

This picture borrowed from Google is of a tiny surviving tree in a cracked and parched landscape.

For many, this Summer has been wonderful, hot and dry day after day, week after week.  For others, less so.

Never a lover of hot weather I have (at best) survived the months up until the end of September and am only now beginning to be able to breath and sleep more easily.

What has made this year so much worse for me has been the sight of our local trees gradually losing their freshness, leaves drooping, then curling and dying and even the trunks of some really big old trees losing colour and visibly fading.

I watered my garden as long as I could, but could do nothing for the poor trees gasping at the roadsides.

Like most gardeners and tree lovers I have rejoiced at the (very occasional) sight of clouds on the horizon, and like many of them have felt like crying as they, once more, passed us by on their way elsewhere.

Yesterday we had rain all day.  I am still recovering from my bug (see previous post) and had no intention of going anywhere, so welcomed the rare sight, praying for it to continue as long as possible.

On the bus a few days ago I saw, in a group of mixed large and small trees that some of the more recently planted ones were in fact dead.

Whether we will now begin to have more rain, it is after all October, I don't know, but I am hoping against hope that this will happen.

Apart from the beauty these lovely living things add to our landscapes, trees are the lungs of town and city and without their graceful presence we cannot survive.

Not once, among the glib meteorological tv weather reports and constantly repeated "another lovely day for the South", have I hear any mention of the terrible damage this 4 month drought has caused.

Surely I'm not the only one who is concerned for our precious greenery?

Lifebelt Over Here Please

This is  how I feel and probably look too.

Got home from a normal Friday choir practice on 28th, thought, hmmm don't feel too good, headed up to the bathroom and fainted.

A split second later struggled up and thought, "I'm going to be sick".

TMI Warning

Was immediately overwhelmed by a tsunami of vomit and (simultaneously) diarrhoea.

Well I did warn you.  Those of  SQUEAMISH NATURE read no further.

This ghastly state of affairs lasted at fairly frequent intervals until early Monday morning.

Having sipped cooled boiled water for 48 hours  I thought I'd risk a cup of cool tea.  Mistake!

Later in the day I ate a ginger biscuit (stem ginger)  knowing ginger to be good for stomach problems. It took me 10 minutes to eat it (felt like a 2 course meal) and, wonder of wonders it stayed put. 

Since then the flood seems to have abated and (between 3 minute sessions of cleaning up the bathroom and washing nighties etc I have spent my time lying down or trying possibilities like a two-egg omelette made in the microwave so no fat would be involved (stayed put), and an occasional
cup of tea interspersed with boiled water.

Without exaggeration this is the worst I've ever felt, but thankfully living alone I have not had to inflict the more sordid aspects on anyone else.

Luckilly for me, I have the constitution of an ox and once the evil bug has departed am back to my version of normal very quickly.

Where it came from (or whom) I have no idea, perhaps someone is trying to tell me to give up choir.

I know you don't need to say it, "she doesn't post for 6 weeks and this is the best she can do".

One small consolation I've lost 6 pounds in weight.

No I am not reccommending it.

Blowing his own Trumpet

I know I am only one of many who are staggered by the monstrous conceit of Donald Trump, but I could not resist adding my ten cent's worth to the pool of condemnation.

We have been treated to so many public displays of supremely undiplomatic behaviour since he came into his 'Kingdom', that it seemed unlikely he would be able to add anything worse.

Yet, here he is, in our country, describing in tones of deepest sorrow his unhappiness with all things British.

He explains how he "told Mrs May how she should have approached the EU on Brexit, but she ignored his instructions".

The supreme arrogance of this most ridiculous public firgure is matched only by his level of self-delusion.

Does he really believe the rubbish he spouts or is it part of the by now, indisputable paranoia he has shown to the world since he became a 'world leader'.

Will he I wonder, continue to condescend to everyone else he meets on this official visit, even, dare I suggest, her majesty The Queen?

Or, will his preposterous behaviour be toned-down to a more socially-aware level?

The thought of him languishing in the Tower is the only thing which sustains me .

Eeeeek!

A love of animals has been a huge part of my life since my pet-free childhood.

This as anyone who has read me over the the past 6 or 7 years, has mainly shown itself in a total devotion to cats, then donkeys, horses, birds and all the wonderful world of animals with one or two notable exceptions.

I try to love all of God's creations (even those I hate/fear) but the dreaded arachnid brigade closely followed by small rodents has me (mildly) terrified, most of the time.

In my garage I keep a round plastic tub in which my supply of suet feed balls for the birds is kept.  Early last winter I took the lid off to grab a couple for the front garden feeder and nearly had a heart attack when a mouse leapt out and fled into a dark corner.

The lid rests on the top as the tub when firmly shut down is impossible for me to open with my arthritic hands. 

Realising that the mouse was probably trying to keep warm I replaced the lid gently and shut the garage door.

Since then, it has returned to its 'nest' every few weeks and now merely sits and watches me with huge eyes as I (very warily) remove a few suet balls at a time, gently replacing the 'roof' of its home.

Likewise with the ghastly eight-legged army which periodically invades my house, I merely open a window, grab my trustee (long handled) dust buster and loft it out of the window.

Killing anything with the exception of ants if found in the house, is something I would never even consider, yet my abject terror of the above-named two never grows any less.

Please don't send for the men in white coats, they are far too busy with world leaders to need to add me to their problems.

And And And I do know I'm weird.

Neither "Waving nor Drowning"

The past weeks have not been a total joy, however, I felt it was time to stick my head over the parapet again, just to prove I could.

The 'eye' problem is now resolved, three pairs of spec's in various places so I am never without their essential company.

A more pressing and longer-lived problem is a horrible rash on my arms and legs and various other parts of the body, huge and blotchy as well as a scattering of smaller spots.

They are itchy (though not unbearably so) and very very ugly.

They first appeared late last year, eased off a little in December and January and increased since then with no apparent cause.

Blood tests have proved unproductive and I am currently awaiting an appointment with the Dermatology dept of the localhospital.  Not holding my breath since waiting lists are long.

It means that despite several burst of very warm weather i have to remain 'covered up' or people will be expecting me to ring a bell crying "Unclean", or something similar.

That's my excuse for failing to appear in print  (self-absorbed or what?'.

Last week we had the annual quiz night with fish and chip supper, on Saturday 19th.  This unfortunately clashed with the 'close' annual BBQ.

Since i had committed myself to the quiz night some months ago there was no decision to be made, however, I miss having the chance to chat with all my neighbours.

The next day we had our usual Eucharist service - a very long one - an hour and 40 minutes, which left many of us wishing we could just go home and lie down.  This was not possible as there was an RAF Freedom of Aylesbury parade at which we sang Jerusalem.

This involved parading over the cobbles down into the Market Square to stand in blazing hot sun for over half an hour fully robed and al.ready with legs aching from the morning service.

It is an honour to take part in these civic services but I do wish it didn't always occur on the days when our long-winded incumbent decides to add endlessly to the morning service.  He has no concept of time whatever and nothing short of a fire alarm will stop him once embarked.

Right, that's the moaning out of the way, and something good to look forward to is this coming Sunday (Trinity) when we will be singing the wonderful "Hymn to the Trinity" by Tchaikowsky.

The clip at the head of this post is one of the many on you tube.

For me the alto part (really very low) is the most beautiful thing I have ever sung since joining St Mary's choir.

Sometimes there are compensations for the not so good days, this should be one.

To Blog or Not to Blog?

It has been a while since I felt any inspiration to put any of my scrambled thoughts into print, but felt that perhaps I owed some sort of explanation to any readers i may have left.

Life has been more than a little trying in the past few months and I didn't want to pour out my moans and groans into the daily soup of misery most people have suffered this past Winter.

My Parkinson's has caused a loss of energy and the accompanying low spirits which would have made my writing a 'turnoff' for most people.

In addition I have had my second cateract operation and have not been very happy about the result.

My left eye (operated on last August) is my 'lomg-sighted eye and I have always used it to full advantage when out and about. 

The right eye is my short-sighted eye and i have always used it for any sort of close work and much more importantly, for reading. 

Imagine my shock after removing the dressing the day after the op on my right eye to find myself unable to read.

Neither library books, TV programmes, music (words and notes) nor any of the day to day purposes for which I have always used this valuable asset are now possible.

When I  had  my telephone post-op check-up I poured out my unhappiness at this turn of events adding that I had believed that the operation merely removed the cateract and replaced the biological lens with a clear glass one.  (That may sound niaive but was what I thought).

This it was explained to me was not the case as they apparently assess what they perceive to be the right level of magnification (or whatever) and use the appropriate lens.  Making the patient either able see well at close quarters or at a distance.

They had chosen to make my eye in essence, more like the left eye, and while the clarity of vision at a few feet is excellent I will now need to have glasses in order to read etc.

The consensus seemed  to be that the fault was mine rather than theirs for not making plain to them that I had always been able to read without glasses and would prefer to keep that faculty.

Since i had no idea what lay in store I cannot agree with that opinion but have to accept that from now on I will never again be able to simply 'look and see'.

For anyone who has always worn spec's the operation must be hugely valuable, for me it has cost me one of my senses.

It will be a few weeks before I can have spectacles made but meanwhile I am in limbo using a pair of spec's prescribed about 10 years ago for reading tiny print and never previously used.  Without them I would be unable to use the computer as well as all the aforementioned things.

Forgive me please for this long miserable diatribe, I'm sure this feeling won't last much longer and I'll try to be more cheerful next time.

Belated Easter Blessings to one and all.

Oh and the photo above is how I looked at 18 long before sight or anything else much, was a problem.