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I close my eyes and wish
For sleep to kiss my cheek
Caress my tired neck
And let me rest my mind.
Instead I lie awake
Uncomfortable and sad
If I could ignore the world
Lose my thoughts
I would be glad.
Night ticks into day
Light blooms in my eyes
I want real sleep to stay
To end my tired gloom.
Last night my hubby went out in the garden to put some bird food out and almost tripped over a hedgehog! He said it seemed to be asleep at the base of the cherry tree. He went out again and took a bowl of cat food. This morning the bowl had been tipped over and the food was gone.
When we see hedgehogs I think of spring. It’s still pretty cold and we may get some snow, but they are coming out of hibernation.
DON’T FEED…. milk and bread, hedgehogs are lactose intolerant. They also don’t get enough calories from so called ‘hedgehog’ food. Apparently it’s just meal worms and pet food manufacturers are just trying to make money. You can feed them cat food. Ours seem to like fresh wet or dry cat food. Also nake gaps in wooden fences at their bases to allow hedgehogs through into your garden. .
The cat came in and plonked himself down to sleep in a quiet place last night, partway up the stairs! He settled down to snooze, which was fine, but at bedtime, he was in the way. However cats have pride of place here, so because there was room to put a foot next to him we let him be. Then during the night I had to come downstairs a couple of times. He was still there, curled up. Luckily he has a white band across his back so I could see he was there. This morning? Still having a kip. I gave him a couple of cat treats which he ate. We are letting him be, I checked and could see no injuries so he must just be tired. X
I saw the sky this evening
Turned bloody orange
As if on fire
Light streaming through
Branches and trees
Illuminating a landscape
Still dry from lack of rain.
The hedge behind us
Was split by the light
A shaft of red and gold
For telling bright weather
And clear skies
And stars
For the night ahead…..
Not much though, and it’s melting today. But when it was snowing it was dropping big wet flakes out of the clouds, like bits of wet tissue paper. When you look up you can see the flakes falling down, dark shadows against the whitish clouds, then white as they get caught in the light from my doorway. There was a small accumulation over night, but then as the sun caught the snow on branches it dripped off in white blobs.
Around the country it has been far worse, a double decker bus toppled over on an icy road near Hinckley Point yesterday. Some of the passengers were injured. The lake district hills are covered in snow, and Scotland and Wales have had much more than here. I guess living in a city means it doesn’t get as cold so snow melts more quickly and with global warming there are less really cold days than ever before.
I think Hooley is a phrase meaning a gale or stormy. It’s a more picturesque word, probably quite old.
Despite our double glazing I can hear the wind soughing around the house, the vuuumming noise through the gap around the kitchen window. The cat flap opening and closing as if a fat, invisible cat was coming in and going out of the door. The overgrown bushes by the side of the house sometimes scrape along the wall. I’m used to it now but it used to be quite creepy when I first heard it. And of course it’s dark outside, dead leaves scatter and blow about on the wind, and litter scurries along the gutter on the road, picked up by the wind and dumped damply in heaps.
In amongst all these noises the cats use the cat flap, coming in and purring at me, purr-miaow? Where’s my tea? It’s not the wind this time, it’s me
It really was a dark and stormy night… And morning has dawned dark and gloomy. The ill fitting window in the kitchen makes vuuumming noises if the wind is from the south and the trees outside were whipping back and forth in gusts of wind. So I woke up about 4am then couldn’t sleep again. Sometimes I will watch the clouds scud across the moon but last night it was black and gloomy despite a full moon the night before. I’d set the alarm for 8am but cancelled it at 7.55 and got up and cooked us breakfast. Hubby is going for a walk with a friend. I’m glad they are not going too far because he won’t be back too late. Now? Got some chose to do, but the cats decided to sit on my lap so I will try and doze.
Because the world is a globe some people on the international date line will have celebrated New Years day about ten hours ago. It also makes sense that the world is round because it gives Santa twenty four hours of night to get round the world instead of twelve if the Earth was flat (think about it!)….
I want to wish you all a Very Happy New Year. May 2023 be better for you, better for your family and friends and better for the planet too. X
Stay safe and well. X
Looking out at four am
Through steamed window
The view is obscured
By a dying plant
(sadly too cold)
A cat doorstop
Cat food
A wind up radio
And a cow creamer.
Very random.
Too tired to rhyme.
Sleepless, no dreams to tie my mind down. Only the dull drumming of my pulse in my ear. The ache of a big toe constricted by bed clothes. The air on my face shushing as my CPAP machine quietly stops my palette from collapsing. Aching shoulders gripped with tension. The tiredness continues, but I am awake. I try different ploys, reading by low lamplight until the book thuds to the floor, which generally wakes me up again. Multiple thoughts whirl around my head, they are like several butterflies or fireflies all swirling around. Try and pin one under a finger and another flits off towards the ceiling or the floor. Gouty aches twist my limbs. Was I ever so uncomfortable? I know I need to get up and use the bathroom, stubbornness and the hope of sleeping hold me in place for a few minutes, then I swing my legs out of bed and grapple with my balance before venturing down creaky stairs into the cold. Once again, like on many other nights, I make myself a warm drink to calm the shivers and try and relax. I may stay downstairs for half an hour, waiting for my hubby, who I disturbed, to get back to sleep. Often on returning to bed I put the radio on low on a speech channel, I don’t like music playing, but often I get drawn into a programme, the sound so soft it becomes hard to detect what is being said and my brain tries to decipher the words. At some stage I will either drift into sleep or get up and turn off the radio. Often the dawn is breaking before I finally get any rest. Sometimes I remember to try relaxation techniques. Or repeating the word ‘the’ over and over in my head. Sometimes I even stay downstairs and try and sleep in my armchair. Tonight might be one of those…..
Mallaband-Brown