Being helpful

I feel like I’m hiding the world on my shoulders and today has been one of those days.

First a phonecall/ interview I had to deal with. Then to my friends to help her contact a utility company. Then to the pharmacy to get my hubbys medication. Finally sending emails for a friend because she’s got problems.

Why do I do it? I tie myself in knots helping people. ‘I’m just a girl that can’t say no, I’m in a terrible fix’, as the saying goes. I guess after doing a helping job over twenty years it’s ingrained. I like helping, I’m not seeking acclaim. I just don’t like seeing people struggle. But sometimes I just want a day off.

Lovely afternoon

We went out for an afternoon at the local pub to see “the boat band” playing cajun, west-indies and skiffle music. We had a great time. Actually saw a lot of friends and really enjoyed the lively music.

I got upset when someone asked about my sister. I started to explain, then started to cry, so had to tell my friend that I couldn’t talk about it. I don’t like how to feel but they were very understanding.

What I really enjoyed was the trombone playing in “Just a closer walk with thee”, really uplifting and energetic. Singing and music has a good effect on me mentally. I’m glad we went. After years of seeing hardly anyone it’s shocking to think how much time and friendships have been lost.

Chess

What’s your favorite game (card, board, video, etc.)? Why?

I don’t really have a favourite game, but chess has become a way of socialising with a friend.

We only just started playing this week, but I found I enjoyed the challenge, and after ten years of not playing it, it made my brain work overtime! My friend is quite good and I was surprised how evenly matched we are.

I’d like to get better at it, but I don’t have the ability to think several moves ahead, I’m more of an artist, looking for patterns in the next move or so. It also means I can make random moves that surprise ‘real’ players. Is that an advantage? Maybe.

I used to like Scrabble, but the one friend we played against used to make up rules. For instance he would add words to another word to make a sentence! He insisted this was OK and would argue and lose his temper when we disagreed. So those games stopped (he would also sneakily swap tiles if he didn’t have good letters).

The final game I used to play was Monopoly with my sisters, that was very competitive. We used to squabble a lot over who was winning. It got too argumentative at Christmas when we used to play, so I was glad when we stopped playing it. X

The yard

Very leafy, I need to pot some small flowering plants on but not while my arm is shaking and sore. I’ll try and use some pain killers to stop it hurting so much. Hubby has dumped a big bag of compost in the way and I need to get it moved so I can get further up the yard. Some of these plants survived the winter, they are very leafy, to be honest I could move them into the main garden but I don’t have the energy and there are some dodgy steps as you walk round the back. I must get hubby to get some sand and cement to replace some loose bricks.

Cats!

Dogs or cats?

Sorry, I’ve always loved cats, I’ve had cats since I was a child. We never had room for a dog, I don’t think my parents had the time to walk one while they were looking after all of us children.

Cats always seem aloof, but once you get one, and start to understand it they can be very loving. I used to whistle a little tune to get our cats to come home. I’d do it when they were due to be fed, or at bed time, and I suppose they understood the reason behind the whistle so they would come. So cats can be trained. I had one which would jump from one gate post to another when I tapped the post and whistled. She was very special and liked climbing up on my shoulder and having a little ride around the house or garden.

Don’t get me wrong though, I do like dogs, it’s just that when you go out to work all day it seems cruel to leave them shut in the house or tied up in a garden. At least cats can use cat flaps and enjoy independence. And I know you can get dogflaps but they look like a burglar could get in through them…

Also, thinking about cats, I think they are not as expensive to look after, although when you have multiple cats it’s not cheap. Maybe one day if we suddenly have lots of money I might get a dog.

Apologies to dog lovers. X

Chequer board

A collaged image of a draughts board and chequers. I thought it had a slight look of a 1960’s pop music set. With this image hanging down as scenery behind a band like the new seekers, or Freddie and the Dreamers. I could imagine it on a black and white TV with microphone stands, guitars and a drumkit just waiting to be played.

Chess anyone?

Today I played chess for the first time in ten years. My friend has acquired a chess set, so we sat in a shady spot by a cafe and had a few games.

The result was 2 games to her 1 to me. Then I found out she’d been in a chess club at school and had been champion in one year! So I didn’t do too badly. I’m not trained so I made some surprising moves where she could see I should have done a different move. But it was fun.

We had a quick go at drafts but didn’t remember the rules. Anyway we will have another game in a few weeks. I need to find a set to practice. Hubby used to be good at it so we might play a game or two. Good for exercising the brain.

Simple rose.

Some flowers are very complex and can also be bred with double the petals, they look very pretty. But bees and pollenating insects can’t get at their nectar and pollen. A massive bloom could make it difficult for bees to feed and collect food for their grubs.

So try and choose bee friendly plants, they often are labelled to help you chose them. And look for simple flowers like this where the central flower parts, anthers, stamens etc are easily accessible by the insects you want to attract.

You can also build bee hotels for solitary bees from grasses and sticks and small lengths of hollow bamboo. If you look you can find designs on line to work to. Have fun and support your local bees! I was speaking to a beekeeper today. He said one honeybee only makes about a twelfth of a teaspoon of honey in its lifetime!

Tangled

A drawing from a while ago. It was called molecules. I was trying to find an image that describes my tangled brain. I think I’m OK, then I don’t know. I’m trying to do things, but I’m tied up inside a cotton sack, trying to find the way out.

Am I being dramatic? Perhaps, I have lots of thoughts about what I want to do, but the procrastination gets me all the time. The older I get, the less enthusiasm I have. Sorry, its just one of those nights. I’m watching a sad film and it’s getting to me. I sometimes feel time is running out. Grief is a tight knot. Like a molecule, twisting and turning. Time for some rest perhaps…… I’ll be OK….