I'm sorry to have let you down. 

Helen is here and I am dictating to you this morning. I haven't heard from my sister since the election. I miss it as a source of irritation. Now I have nothing to think about except the dreadful state of British politics. I think I can remember a previous occasion longer ago than most can remember when a new Labour government was hoping to put everything right on the profits of 'growth', only there was no growth and things went on as bad as before if not worse. I fear that's where we are again. 

Oh dear, dictation is not a substitute for actual writing but I really can't see very well these days. 

Wordle: 

Even that has deserted me. The Loch Lyne Mileses are on strike, something to do with the newsaper guild. My father, who was a newspaper man, didn't entirely approve of it and never joined. Just as my husband, who was an academic, never joined the association of university lecturers so I have no scruple whatsoever in crossing this virtual picket line. But the three Loch Fyne Mileses have dropped out,  Alexander giving up a winning streak of 104. My current streak is 17. Four today and Rachel Miles was the same but we haven't heard from Mark or the Americans. 

 I’m sorry to have left you in the lurch.  The main problem is failing eyesight. That doesn’t help with knitting either.

Wordle seems to be scraping the bottom of the barrel. I suppose there are only so  many five-letter words in the language. Yesterday Rachel and Ifailrd, with high scores elsewhere,  Today Mark and I got twos

I heard a little talk on the radio about children’s books. The speaker was younger than I am and mentioned some authors I don’t know. She omitted two: Beatrix Potter and Lewis Carroll. How is that possible?. How did an editor fail to catch it? Alice is more quoted than Shakespeare these days.

   I’ll try to write again soon. I’m expecting new glasses. That might help.

.?

I failed .

All well. I am sorry to be so unreliable. I’m feeling pretty well. 

I’ve done some knitting — indeed am near the point when I will divide the work at the armpits. I must send you a picture soon, MaryLou. My eyes are bad, and won't get better but I think I can hold on and finish it. There’s a good stripey  shawl in KD’s shawl book. I could knit that again.

Helen came this morning. We agreed on being bored with constant news stories about Mohammed al Fayed’s predatory ways. (Why is he all over the news of a sudden?)  And puzzled as to why nobody mentions Dodi and Diana who must be on everybody’s mind.

   Helen believes they were murdered because they threatened a major embarrassment to the royal family. I am a devoted follower of William of Ockham whose prime tenet is that the simplest explanation is usually the best, so my vote is that it was an accident. 

  Wordle: four for me today. I’ve got my winning streak back up to 19, after a double failure on the first and second of the month. 

  Nothing to report. I’m comfortable but  increasingly sleepy. I have been prescribed something based on a very modest dose of morphine but have resisted taking it (a) because I don’t need it; it is possible to manoeuvre the hip into a comfortable position; and  b) because morphine seems a step too far at this point in my general decline.

  I’ve finished Waugh’s Men at Arms and proceeded to Pinker’s famous Language Instinct. I think I must have read it long ago because I am assailed by the feeling (and it feels familiar) that Pinker himself doesn’t know enough languages. Is he just talking about English?

   I still haven’t figured out a way to resume knitting.

   Wordle: i am currently in the happy position of having scored three for four successive .days. Yesterday, at least, was pire fluke. My starters gave me three greens.  I thought of a word. I typed it in. It was right. It was only afterwards that I realised there were at least six other possibilities .

   Today I had two greens and two browns and may well have come up with the only answer. Everybody else on the home team had three as well except for Rachel and Ketki who both scored two.  Theo was another three. Roger was today’s dunce with four.

   

   

 I’m sorry.for the gap. Nothing much is wrong — just feebleness. I lie here and listen to Audiobooks, which have improved out of all recognition in recent years. Much is available, intelligently read — often by the author — and unabridged. 

   I’ve listened to Brideshead recently — I don’t think it works any more as Catholic apologetic — and have gone on to Waugh’s WWII trilogy, Men at Arms. There’s lots of Church in that, too. We’ll see if it works. Book 3 is weaker than the other two

   No knitting. I don’t think this chair is quite suitable. I must think of a solution.

   I was disappointed not to have the presidential debate on the World Service, which I listen to all night. Never mind. I’ve got the flavour of it this morning. Harris did well, and may have moved the dial a notch or two in her favour

 Wordle: i failed on both the first and the second of the month. My winning streak is now up to nine. The secret is line three. If I can think of a fully-qualifying word for that one, all is well. This morning I had three browns and a green. I hate anagrams, but got it without too much difficulty. Yesterday I had two browns, a v and a c. I struggled to think of any word (my starters carry off five very useful consonants). When I got one, I typed it in with no confidence at all — and it was right.

   

Every day I resolve to get my keyboard-and-,mouse organised. Every day I fail — more accurately, I don’t start. Here I am pecking with one finger again. Fortunately there is little to report.

   I have been singularly sleepy today. I don’t know whether it’s the sleep of the moribund or just making up for another uncomfortable night. Nights are fairly grim. No knitting, I’m afraid.

   And to add to this litany of woe, I failed at Wordle today. The winning streak was just over 40, and now it’s gone. I used a jean-word in line three. I must avoid that at all costs. Then I got stuck in a Wordle sprcial — four greens with the first letter missing. Pure luck. That’s no comfort.. 

   Three for Thomas and Rachel. Four for Mark and Alexander.Ketki nearly fell into my trap, but clambered out in time: five for her. No news from DC yet. 

 Am I slightly bettter? I hope so. I have been much hovered over by doctors today. Nothing much is wrong. Some of my numbers are slightly raised. They have stopped my “water pill” which certainly makes for a more comfortable life, but probably can’t go on

   Helen and David were here this morning, with the doctor. They will still be around tomorrow, then off to visit Davod’s mother in England somewhere.

   Wordle:  I cheated today — anything to keep the winning streak alive. I had two greens, in positions three and five, and a brown which had to be in position one or two. Most of the others had those two greens.

   Back and forth, up and down I went through the remaining letters, to no avail. So when Helen and David arrived I handed him the iPad. He saw the answer at once.  We scored four.

  Rachel had those two greens on line one and had to struggle all the way through to line five before she got it. Ketki and Mark did it in three. Fellow-fours from Alexander and Thomas. 

Three for Theo, four for Roger. Like Rachel, he had those two greens on line one.

   

Here we are.james was here over the weekend. He has given me. Bluetooth keyboard. Alexander and Ketki have been here today. They figured out how to connect it.`so we’re back in touch!

   Little has happened in my absence. James was here for three nights, sleeping on the dining room floor. It was nice to have Alexander and Ketki, too, although the whole performance has something the air of gathering round a deathbed. Helen and David are at Burnside until Wednesday or Thursday.

   I have enjoyed the Democratic convention enormously. my nephew Theo was there, contributing in some way — he’s a brilliant organiser. 

   Now we run up against a problem. i usually write the Wordle part of this blog flipping back and forth on the iPad — which at the moment is propped up securely so that I can see it as I type. I think the solution will be to type a Wordle section early in the day, before Bluetoothing. We may have to have American results a day late.

   Anyway, I scraped home with a six today, and very glad to have it. I had the four greens in line three. And then line four. And then line five. And i could still think of at least two possibilities for line six, but fortunately chose the right one. 

   I think Alexander also had six, and Ketki five. 

   I’ve figured out how to check without disturbing the iPad. We’re making progress here. Mark had a brilliant three, Thomas an even more brilliant two. His starter gave him one green vowel.

 Not a bad day. Jenny, i am sure you’re right that I must be careful about abrupt  changes of position and attentive to blood pressure. They are trying to engage a separate carer to help the first one with transfers and personal cate. I tremble at the expense and will try hard to prove it unnecessary.

   Little else today. Some knitting. The baby sweater is looking wonderful and deserves to be finished but I wonder if I’ll make it. There’s still plenty of time.

   But mostly I have just lain here peacefully listening  to Middlemarch. It’s terribly good. During the night I listened to the Democratic Convention, perforce. What a pleasant voice for shouting  Michelle has! I am afraid Kamala is a bit shrill.

   Wordle:  Nicely divided today. Four for me and Rachel and Mark. Five for Alexander Astonishing twos for Ketki and her son Thomas. 

Across the pond, it was 5 for Roger and no news from Theo

   

 Here we are.

   I got that far yesterday. We’ll see what I achieve today. I continue in reasonable health, but with the feeling that I have slipped down a notch or two. I have had some semi-blackouts while on the commode. I attribute this to trying to stand up too fast after a peaceful couple of hours listening to “Middlemarch” while lounging on my back. Others attribute more sinister causes.

    Helen was here at lunchtime, with her oldest bestest friend. Nice visit. I remembered the time when I met them in the midst of their first serious exams, Mods. They were required to dress up, since this was Oxford. A tourist approached us reverently and asked if this was graduation. I said no, this was examinations, graduation had been last week. I would happily have explained but the poor tourist slunk away.

  Franklin is posting a million times a day on Facebook. I can keep up as long as he posts only twice or thrice, but this is too much.

   Wordle: five for me again.Likewise for Rachel and Ketki.Four for Mark and Thomas.  A stunning two for Alexander. four for both Roger and Theo. Yesterday the considerable majority scored four, including me.

 I am going to leave this text less corrected tonight. I need a proper keyboard for the iPad.  I’m never going to get bCk to that laptop. Correction takes a long time.

    A quiet dY. C, came. Helen came kn the afternoon so that I wouldn’t be alone during the carer’s break. James is threatening to. O,e back next weekens. I don’t think things afe quite that bad.

   A lawyer is coming tomorrow to talk about minimizing inheritance tax. I think i’ve done all thT can reasonably be done but we’ll see.

   Wordle — a stinker. Rachel and Ketki and I all got six. No Jean-words, so by then I had eliminated a lot of comsonants. I just had to pick one that was pronouncable and keep fingers crossed. My winning streak is now 30. 

     Four for Mark and Alexander, three for clever Thomas. Five for both Roger and Theo. A stinker all around. At leSt it didn’t beat any of us.

  

 Slightly better today. Better appetite, certainly. Less dehydration. Helen and Alexander and Ketki all slept here last night. Bliss! They will all be back on Monday when a lawyer will come to advise on estate planning. I fear there is nothing to be done. I just hope the govt will leave me enuf to end my days at home in relative comfort

   Sleeping in the upsy-downsy chair was only a partial success.   Necrotic hip and sore bottom were completely fine. But I couldn’t sleep. Back to bed tonight.

   Thank you for your messages. 

   Wordle: I had a relatively good three today, joined there by Rachel and  Mark and Thomas. Alexander and Ketki needed four. Four for Theo, five for Roger. If disaster was going to strike, today it was usually in the fifth letter. I was lucky.

  

I am beginning to think I may  have lurched downwards in the last few days or so. Helen and my carer summoned a doctor again because my blood pressure was low and instead of going through the old routine of temperature-oxygen saturation-heart rate he talked sensibly about the end-game.

  No hospital if it can be avoided. No strenuous resurrection. Keep me comfortable. Sounds good. Meanwhile poor Alexander is on his way to see me because  of a blackout I am said to have had. I think I was there the whole time.

  No knitting. That’s bad. Part of the trouble —indeed a whole lot of it — is that I sleep very badly at night and then have to make up for it by sleeping all day. I think I’m going to try sleeping in my upsy-downsy chair tonight. I am much more comfortable here. Alexander and Ketki will stay in my bedroom, Helen in the diing room. All waiting for the funeral.

   Wordle: five for me, all genuine words  I got stuck for lack of the fourth letter. Five for Thomas — his problem was  the first letter. Four for Rachel. Three for Alexander and Mark. A brilliant TWO for Ketki.  Four for Roger. Three fornTheo.

    

 Not an entirely bad day except for lack of appetite. Helen has been here, always a pleasure, so that I would not be alone even during my carer’s afternoon break. Knitting has progressed, slowly. It is not comfortable to knit in my relatively new upsy-downsy chair. Is that what has slowed me?

Wordle: five today — and no Jean-words, either. Starters gave me a green and three browns. Ditto line three. Line four was better — four greens.

Rachel had four. Everyone else over here was three. No news from either of the American contingent yet.

 Sorry for the gap. Yesterday was the birthday, of course, and a very pleasant day too. Not too many people and all nicely strung out. James and Cathy were here at the weekend. Rachel came on Monday and has just now gone away, already much missed.

   Helen was in Ireland last week, staying with and learning from an Irish mosaicist. This week they are in Edinburgh with Helen leading. 

   The knitting is moving forward slowly. I’ve finished the initial 10 rounds of in-the-round garter, humiliated that I, who fancied myself as a knitter once, should be brought down by so basic a pattern. There are mistakes. I have left them. They mostly (or entirely) consist of turning around and setting off i  the wrong direction. That is less likely now that I have embarked on a st st section,

   (Mary Lou Egan’s “Overlap Pullover DK” Ravelry. V highly recommended.)

   Wordle: my starters gave me all five letters today, one of them green. Tnreefor me— anc Thomas and  Mark and Alexander. Ketki and Rachel were hoist by the familiar Wordld petard. They had everything except the second letter, and there were lots of possibilities. Both scraped home with six.

   Both Theo and Roger had second-letter difficulties. Theo fought his way free in four, but Roger was another four.

   Thank you for your birthday greetings.

   

 I’m sorry for the gap. James and Cathy have been here, for a very nice visit indeed, and tomorrow the hordes begin to gather for my borthday on Tuesday.

   The uarn arrived from Syephen and Penelope.  Athy and I got the fit skein wound. I found a corcular needle of the right length and gague, surprisingly easily. And today I cast on and plunged in.

   I doubt if I’ll get much knitting done beyond this. Breath a nd eyesight are alike failing. But they’ll be able show him pictures of my 91st birthday and say, look, that’s somethings she was knitting for you.

   I feel sure that “him” is the right pronoun, but you never know.

   The pattern is Mary Lou’s “Overlap Pullover Dk”. It’s in Ravelry. It’s wonderful. The yarn is German, called WALK. Dk merino, washable. My shade is called Manhattan.

  Wordle: undistinguished scores from the missing days, but at least no failures. Three  today!

 No yarn yet. Stephen and Penelope say they’ve sent it. The carrier says there is a delay. I can but wait. Well, I could knit something else I suppose.

   Lots of activity today. My friend who reads the bible with me brought along a seminarian this morning, a thoroughly nice man. He is studying in Rome, here for the summer to help in the parish. I sympathised about the weather but he seemed to think that Rome in the summer could have disadvantages — and even that cool grey Scotland wasn’t all that bad.

   Then Alexander came back, this time with all his family. They reported well of Burnside. Helen is about to have some changes made so that she and her family can actually live there. I think they brought some things away.

   The  lunch. Then Archie came, too late to be fed.

   Finally a bit of nap.

   Wordle: I would almost say, same old, same old. A green and two browns from my starters. A carefully-selected and fully-deliberate Jean-word for line three — now three greens. And the right guess, for line four.

   Alexander and Mark did it in three. Poor Rachel got stuck in a Wordle special and limped in with a six. Fellow-fours for the others. More fours from Theo and Roger.

   My winning streak has reached 20. It’s a start. 

   

 Well, here we are again. I’m pretty feeble but perhaps a bit better than the worst.

   I’m disappointed that Harrix, having rejected Shapiro, didn’t choose the ex-astronaut for her VP, but her actual choice sounds pretty good too. Better than Sarah Palin, 

   I have continued to pursue Jeremy Bamber. I hope I’m ready to stop. I think, in the end, I incline towards his innocence.

   The yarn from Stephen and Penelope should be here at any moment. I hope I will be strong enough to knit it.

   Wordle: a shameful six for me. But I thot I was beaten, so it was a great relief. The starters produced one brown vowel. AJean-word in line three advanced me nothing, except to establish another place where the vowel couldn’t be. Four was a real guess. Five was a Jean-word. I’m lucky to have got it.

   No one else was so dim. Fours for Mark Thomas, Ketki and Alexander. Five for Rachel. Four for Theo. Five for Roger. 

  

 I am sorry about yesterday. I had nothing to say, is all. I’m not terribly well. No appetite at all. I live on Complan and milkshakes and Waitrose’ delicious gazpacho. And cider.

   Mary Lou, yes, you had indeed inserted the pattern into my Ravelry library. Now I’m just waiting for the yarn from Stephen and Penelope. And hoping i’ll be strong enuf to do the knitting.

   91st birthday next week.

   Alexander was here this morning, on the way to Burnside with his family. They’ll all be here on Thursday on the way back. Helen is in Ireland all week, perhaps teaching mosaic-making. James is coming at the weekend, Rachel for the birthday itself.

   I continue to be obsessed with Jeremy Bamber despite my promise to let you alone on the subject. I have nearly finished another whole book on the subject. I’d like it to be Sheila (like the New Yorker)  but

   Wordle: I was the worst of all today. Never mind — I got it. Two browns and a green from my starters. A perfectly qualified line three advanced us nowhere. A  carefully-chosen Jean-word in line four helped a lor. I got it in five.

   Four was the everybody-score today, except for Thomas with abrilliant three. Four for Roger. Another brilliant three for Theo 

   

   

 On we go. I have been feeling seriously dim. Weather comme ci, comme ca, mostly ca.

   I am rrady to give up on poor Jeremy Bamber. Helen and her school friend have just breezed through — I won’t see her for another week — and I was able to introduce them to the Bamber website. Jacquie had no memory of the case at all. 

   I’ve got MeryLou’s pattern solidly into Ravelry. Tomorrow’s task must be to check needles and order if necessary.

     Meanwhile we’ e got a good essay from KD about More Work for the Undertaker. Maybe I should read it again. 

    Wordlr: familiar pattern, but I only scraped home with six. All real words too, no Jeans. Starters yielded two browns and a green. Line three made it three greens. Line four: four greens. Line five: no change. I was glad to get it in six.

   Four for Ketki  Rachel and Mark. Five for Thomas. A brilliant three for Alexander. Fives for Theo and Roger both.