Greenland is within grasp.

 I have mentioned before that during Covid and in total isolation, I busied myself with knitting dementia mitts. It had a threefold use - first it gave me something to do in my solitude. Secondly it passed the hours whilst not feeling guilty about watching too much television at the same time. Thirdly it stopped the temptation to nibble on calorie-rich snacks when I was bored. I have made hundreds of these mitts over the last few years and donated them free of charge to charity shops, care homes and friends, whose relatives needed them.  We have even recently been selling them in our local park information centre, as a lot of park visitors have dementia.  As soon as I have made a few, I get requests for more. 

Recently a volunteer I work with at our local foodbank asked if she could have some. She also volunteers at our local hospice and knew they would be useful there. I have in fact donated to this hospice before. So since Christmas I have been knitting like an automaton to produce these to donate to her for the hospice.....

It got me thinking, there might be a need for one at the White House for the Mighty Orange One. I must knit a special red and white one in Greenland flag colours and look up the postal address of the White House. At least that would be something for him to get his hands on as his lunacy advances.

Keeping a straight face

Our choir rehearsals started again this week and we are going to start preparing for our big sell-out summer concert with the broad title of 'Family'.  One of the songs we started on this week is Mamma Mia. We sang it with gusto and it sounded just like a karaoke night at the pub! I'm sure with some refinement we'll sound better by the summer. Another of the songs in our repertoire is going to be 'We are Family' by Sister Sledge. I don't know how I am going to be able to sing this with a straight face as I always have Peter Kay's version of it in my head. Here it is for those who don't know it....

Gloom and Doom

The weather for the past 2 weeks has not been great. I appreciate nowhere near as bad as other northern counties of the UK or Northern Europe, but nevertheless grim and grey. We managed to escape any of the heavy snow in London, but the temperatures have hovered near freezing, sometimes dipping below or just slightly above. It has meant I have been nervous to switch off my central heating at night as I am terrified the water pipes will burst and cost me a fortune to rectify.

In the last 10 days I have been out of the house once. Partly because I managed to catch a cold-like bug at new year and so was full of sniffles and coughs, but also because it was too grim and cold to bother going out. On Thursday I had a good excuse to attempt an outing - a choir social event in the evening - no singing just partying - but I cried off as the forecast was not good and I was also fearful my car battery might not spark into action as I had not driven it for over a fortnight. I didn't want to be stuck in the cold and dark if it gave up on me. As it happened, a lot of my choir friends decided the same, so I was pleased I didn't miss much. I wouldn't have been able to drink alcohol anyway, as I am still trying to please my poorly stomach by avoiding triggers, so too much risk for little gain, so to speak. I did manage a drive to foodbank to volunteer there on Friday and it felt so strange being out after so long indoors. I think I'm turning into one of those animals that hibernate.

Happy New Year and into 2026

Christmas went very well considering I was nervous about spending it for 3 nights and 4 days with Darcy's parents, when my stomach was still playing up. I took my own food with me, in case they served something unsuitable. I was glad I did as some of the fare was spicy or very late at night - both things that can send my stomach into orbit. Kay collected me on Christmas Eve, drove us down to deepest Kent and from then on it was one long party with various members of Darcy's siblings dipping in and out of the celebrations over the four days. Christmas morning was spent with most of the family doing a 9am park run followed by a quick dash for the 10.30 church service. Once home, there was a group effort to prepare vegetables to go with a Beef Wellington, followed by a cherry and almond tiramisu. Canapes first and champagne cocktails (from which I sadly had to abstain as I was on a no-alcohol diet for my poorly stomach). We ate lunch at 4.  The evening meal was cheese and biscuits at 10.30pm (far to late for my stomach to process) so I just ate 2 digestive biscuits to show willing. The four days were studded with many games. I am not used to playing games. As an only child, there was never anything like that in my childhood and Greg was never one for family games. Now living alone, there is no opportunity either. So I therefore found it hard to join in, but must say, when we played Traitors, I was elected Traitor and apparently played it well, eliminating most of the Faithfuls to the last two! 

For New Year, my friend in Brighton had invited me and my best friend to spend it with her. Sadly my best friend was unable to come at the last minute, as she had an emergency, so it was just the two of us. My friend lit the fire, as she always does when we celebrate New Year together, and it cosily saw us through to midnight, when we watched the midnight fireworks on Brighton seafront from the safety of her windows.

And so, now we are into the new year. Normally I feel all discombobulated at the beginning of a new year. I compare the passing of a year to climbing a mountain.  In January, we start at the foothills where the vegetation is lush and slowly make the ascent into February, March, April and so on. By December, after a lot of hard effort, we finally get to the snowy peak and regard the world from on high with much merriment. But come New Year's Eve, we fall off the cliff edge, falling falling falling..........until we reach the ground, there at the foothills once more to start the arduous climb into January.

And so I start January with optimism that this will be a better year. A year with lots of tests on my stomach to start with, but hopefully with some improvement. I'm also considering some tooth implant work too. A Happy New Year to you all from the foothills of January!  I'll try to keep up with my regular Sunday waffling all through the year.