Friday, July 17, 2020


All well. I am in less pain/discomfort and striving to remind myself that the status quo to which I aspire at the moment is simply the state of feebleness of which I constantly complain here. My main problem is recovering a sitting or standing position from a reclining one. I get up often in the night to pee, so this is a serious problem and I have been spending most nights sitting up uncomfortably in the wing chair.

Helen has gone off to Iona, and left Archie here with me. We are bumbling along quite well. And I could call for him in the night, if I absolutely find myself stranded on my back like a beetle. I have excused myself from both Italian and training this weekend, and am greatly looking forward to the hiatus.

I have spoken to a dr, who agreed with my diagnosis and offered stronger painkillers. I didn’t want that. Apparently there’s nothing else to do but wait.

Thank you very much indeed for your kind messages. Tell the Senior Cat, please, Catdownunder, that his sympathy was especially appreciated.

All the knitting in Kirkmichael was done before the crash. Since then, almost nothing. I have, however, now started Clue 4 of the MKAL. We are up to 521 stitches so rows are endless. Otherwise nothing much happens in Clue Four. I doubt if I’ll finish before next Thursday. I’m afraid I still don’t like it much, KayT,  but at least feel secure that I will finish. The EPS will just have to wait, but at least it was substantially advanced in Kirkmichael. Then the Orkney hat.

Other

I thought – this is gloomy – that I would re-read Simone de Beauvoir’s “A Very Easy Death”, about her mother. It arrived from Amazon today (no Kindle available). I had remembered Death getting his foot in the door with an accident of about the severity of my recent one, but no: Old Mme de Beauvoir fell and broke the neck of her femur. That’s a good deal worse. And she was only 77, ten years younger than I am. So not much parallel there. It is a grim book, which I read long ago. I don’t know whether I’ll persevere.
When Helen was living and working in NYC, many years ago, a friend rang up from England. Helen turned from the phone in tears. “Simone de Beauvoir is dead.” One of the other girls laid a sympathetic hand on her shoulder: “Is that your dog?”

13 comments:

  1. Anonymous7:20 PM

    Jean, that’s a laugh-out-loud story at the end of your post - thank you. Continued wishes for lessening pain and increasing strength.

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  2. Nothing grim to read right now! Not when you are in pain. I did laugh out loud. I had a less intellectural version of that onece. On my way to a meeting I heard on the car radio that Roy Rogers had died. I told the news to the young women I was meeting with. They looked at me blankly and asked who he was.

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  3. Jane Plant9:03 PM

    I am knitting Clue 4 also. I agree that it is rather boring knitting. I was hoping for something a little more challenging. I may like it better when it's finished and blocked.

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  4. Anonymous10:20 PM

    Many years ago a friend's daughter had 3 very sweet guinea pigs, Whisky, Frisky and the 3rd with a name foolishly suggested by Dad. A few weeks later he found himself in the Vets waiting room with that piggie, waiting for the call of "Saddam Noakes!"

    Sarah.

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    Replies
    1. Glad you're somewhat better. I've also started clue 4. I am liking my shawl better than when I started. In many ways, glad for uncomplicated knitting.

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  5. I love the story at the end of your post. 😂😂😂😂

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  6. I'm with Mary Lou: please read something up-beat - though I guess that you don't want anything that will make you laugh with a cracked rib or two.
    I've been reading Clare Tomalin's biography of Jane Austen - on Kindle for 99p. Lucy Worsley's programme on locations related to Jane Austen was very watchable.

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  7. Anonymous10:24 AM

    I am with Mary Lou and Shandy - something upbeat! Chloe

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  8. I'm glad you decided against stronger pain killers, but sorry you are still in pain. When I had surgery I (foolishly) took one of the recommended strong ones and came very close to falling when getting out of bed in the night. Hopefully you will be at the stage of "better every day" soon.

    And the long long rows of the MKAL are pretty soothing, if you don't suddenly find out you are two stitches short. I finally put in stitch markers every 40 stitches so I won't have to count all 500+ at one go again.

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  9. =Tamar8:13 PM

    I agree with recommendations of pleasanter reading without actual laughs. They say that mood can make a difference in how rapidly one heals. But I prefer light reading anyway, like _Sorcery and Cecelia_ by Wrede and Stevermer.

    I used to have what they call a director's chair that developed a tendency to sink into earth and collapse. I was lucky and uninjured but got rid of it, replacing it with the kind of chair that has long loops of metal that make two connected legs, instead of single peg-like legs. (I hope that makes sense.)

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  10. Glad you are a bit better AND thanks for the laugh.

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  11. Well, I absolutely wasn't expecting the big laugh at the end of the post!

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  12. Anonymous5:07 PM

    “Is that your dog?”?
    What a lark....
    thankyou

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