Searching

Five hours searching paperwork. I’ve still nof found everything I need. I have got to get some information in by the end of this month but can I find it? Can I Heck! It’s always the same. I put things away somewhere I think it will be safe, but then I’ve lost it a year or so later. So frustrating. I also blame the fear of identity theft. I keep more documents than I need to because I don’t want to put anything that identifies us in the waste bin. I should shred things but my shredder gets too hot so it doesn’t get used very often.

Which Saint so I pray to, to find things? Is it the Saint of lost causes?

Grey day

It’s been raining a lot today, but I noticed it was slightly lighter this afternoon and the sun seems to be setting a little bit later. Soon the sun will be setting after five pm, that’s when I know we are getting through the winter. Sitting in the house with the curtains closed to help keep the warmth in makes me feel sad. But I realise how close to being a recluse I can be. I was thinking that I have only been out of the house for a few hours in the last month. Last week I took myself to the shop on my own for the first time in about three weeks (hubby has come out with me to keep me safe while I’ve been ill). Am I being lazy, or sick? I don’t know, I think I’m probably protecting myself, I don’t want to catch anything else and I don’t want to pass this bug on. It’s strange how your mind muddles and loses time when you are in the same place for a long time. It makes you think.

Next doors TV.

I wish I lived in a detached house, not one with thin walls and a neighbour who’s TV is right next to the wall. We don’t complain because he is deaf and I think he would struggle to hear if he moved it anywhere else. Also you don’t want to fall out with your neighbours if you can help it. Most of the time it’s OK, especially when we have our TV on, but sometimes we like to read in silence and then, well if there is a football match on next door the volume is so high that we can tell when someone scores a goal!

I think the volume next door has gradually increased over a few years. You get used to it. But late at night it can also be disturbing. I don’t think there is a solution unless we have noise lowering insulation put in.

Walking

Two years ago I was walking almost every day to get fit. Then I pulled a calf muscle and my walking buddy got ill. I was stuck for a while because I wasn’t able to put much weight on my leg without it feeling like it was going to snap again. I ended up not walking very far. I tried to get back into it. But then illness and loss got to me. I ended the year with a chest infection. Now I have seen this and hubby has been walking I think I need to start again. There is no reason why I can’t if I try once I’m well again.

Christmas cactuses, late

Only a couple of weeks late, but gloriously in flower now. It’s amazing how the tiny tips of flower buds grow swell and then unfurl. We have bright red, and pale pink and dark pink it’s a riot of flowers in the kitchen. Plus we have a cyclamen and a money tree. I like it at this time of year. It disguises the dying hanging baskets outside in the yard.

Close up

I have a little lens and light that used to fit over my old mobile. I took a few photos while I had the old one which I just found in my gallery, because I transferred the memory card over. I might publish a few more. Is this called macro photography or micro photography? I can’t remember. Anyway this reminds me that you don’t have to stick to one style of doing things. You can experiment and see whether you can do things a different way. Be open to new ideas…..

Blurred vision

Vision changes with age. If you have shortsightedness it can sometimes get better because your eyeballs can shrink with age, that means the image hitting the retina at the back of the eye comes back into better focus. On the other hand the lens in your eye can start to stiffen and the muscles around it don’t pull on it as well as when you are younger. So the lens does not focus as it used to. This is called presbyopia and tends to affect people over forty (if I remember). Hence vision can change with time. Worth getting an eye test?

Still negative

Spending time worrying about whether I have covid means I have not really thought about all the other bugs out there. They can be transmitted differently, for instance by touching surfaces. I think covid is spread more by breathing in droplets.

Anyway, bam! I have got a bad cold or virus, and as many of these haven’t been around as much because people were not interacting or being in close contact with one another. We are all more susceptible to the risks of other diseases now. You might have immunity to one illness, but if you are not in contact with it frequently then it can be worse when you get it again. What fun! Sniffles…..

Solstice

When the sum rose this morning it was on the shortest day of the year. Now the days up here in the Northern Hemisphere will slowly start to lengthen again. At first at a minute or two a day, but gradually a few more minutes around spring time. Then as the Summer solstice approaches the number of minutes slows down. Finally after that the process goes into reverse and the days begin to wane again. So the great cycle of light and dark tumbles along North and South. Only on the equator are day and night lengths balanced out. The cause? Earth is tipped at an angle, so for six months of the year one half of the planet gets more light than the other (which also proves the Earth is a globe).

Happy Solstice everyone!

Covid on the up?

My friend just told me she has covid and a few other friends have had it recently. Then someone else posted this graph on Facebook. There is a definite uptick on the right of the graph. It’s not clear how it will progress and given the lack of publication of the stats on TV anymore its not surprising that people are possibly getting a little complacent about it. Yes most people are vaccinated, but it doesn’t mean you will be totally immune. I just hope that people can get over it quickly. I for one keep buying and wearing masks.