I was going to blog about my usual Sunday adventures, silly observations, huge parsnips and the like, but then, just as I’d loaded in the piccies I wanted to use, hubby plods into the study and asks me to look at his back again. He had seen the doctor on Friday and was given a huge dose of penicillin for an abscess on his back, which I have been checking reasonably regularly but this time when I checked it, it really had changed into something quite nasty looking, the abscess is now four to five inches across, starting to leak poison and changing to a darker colour, with the infection in the skin having spread down the back and across the shoulder by two to three inches since this morning. “Mmmm” sez I. And then I look at him sat on the chair.. and he’s sat there with a light film of sweat on him, feeling cold with the occasional shiver, but to me he feels hot. “Oh right”, me thinks. I broach this carefully… “well I think, you might need to see a doctor”. “Oh” he pipes up, “The doctor said that I might need to go to the emergency doctor if it got worse, they’d give me an extra dose of antibiotics” I’m thinking, “that needs lancing”, but I say nowt. I grab my knitting on the way out the door and a hat, as I didn’t have time to mess around with the wig.

Now I’m very cynical so you will have to excuse this next paragraph or two.

Fortunately we get to the hospital at about six o’clock which in my eyes is the perfect time on a Sunday in the winter. Its been dark for a couple of hours, so the children and accident prone adult people who have broken/sprained limbs etc during their Sunday outings have generally been seen and sorted and the after tea/dinner brigade where the children’s temperatures have soared in the evening, have yet to be worried enough to get an appointment.

However, there are still five children ahead of us. Now I personally have nothing against children, I even managed to have a couple of my own. But, are children really that ill that they need to be seen by an emergency doctor if they manage to run up and down, screaming and laughing. Three out of the five children look in rude health, with one boy aged about four, when he was called through by the doctor, ran up to the open door at considerable speed, dropped to his knees and skid into the doctors room with a huge laugh on his face. Is it me… is it?!! I can only say there must have been something wrong with him as he came out holding a bottle of that vile tasting yellow antibiotic medicine, waving it triumphantly he was, it was as much as I could do to stop myself leaning over to him to tell him quite how vile tasting it was..

So, I’m knitting a scarf, which I’m getting towards the end off and I’m thinking, “Well, if hubby does have to have surgery, I should be able to get this finished”.. as dreadful as that sounds, he’s chirruping similiar comments to me, so its all good.

We’ve been there for an hour, its hot, I’m hot and a couple of the children have taken to running to the bin, which happens to be by me and back again. Its really putting me off my knitting. And not only are they running backwards and forwards they are getting applauded by their parents every time they do so. Hubby’s looking knackered, but not quite so hot as he’s taken paracetamol so his temperature is coming down, but he looks reasonably poorly and still the children run up and down….

So,… I take my hat off.

Its amazing how quickly a noisy room can go quiet, isn’t it?

They stop the children running, bliss.

Half an hour later we are called in by the doctor, the doctor and I admire hubbys abscess, it has nearly become an entity in itself, a truly wondrous thing. “Well” says the doctor “I think it needs a” and he mimes a slashing movement. I agree. So we both agree, but off course hubby has no idea as he has his back to us. So we tell him. Then we have to wait for the surgeon. We are ushered into another room. And we wait and wait a bit more and then a bit more and eventually I get my knitting out again. We comment about how I really am going to finish it and I say in a joking manner, “Do you think the surgeon would mind if I knit during the procedure” and then a light hearted conversation ensues about what did the French women knit whilst they watched the guillotine, we agree it was most probably socks.

So we wait for another three quarters of an hour and I’m just casting off when the surgeon arrives. Now what is a true knitter to do. Yep, I carried on… So there I am, standing in the corner, bald as a coot, casting off, whilst answering questions from the surgeon about the abscess. You couldn’t make it up if you tried. Fortunately, in the time it takes to go and get the supplies he needs for the minor surgery, I finish casting off and am able to give my husband my full attention.

Those of a slightly sensitive disposition do not read the next paragraph.

Oooh, it was a bit gruesome, hubby was a very brave soldier, the best bit was when the surgeon called me over to have a look and he said, “Listen” and he then inserted the scalpel back into the open wound and moved it around and you could hear a faint click, click, clicking… it was where he was popping the pockets containing the poison.

Hubby looks alot better this morning, so that is good news.

Back to my usual Sunday blog.

Little Robin Redbreast singing for his supper at the plot.

I feed the birds at the plot, I’m not allowed to feed them at home. Firstly because in the back garden we have a few chickens so it could encourage viruses or lice etc from the wild bird population and the problem of feeding birds in the front garden is that we have three cats one of which is an extremely efficient hunting machine. Much as Willow might like me to put up a feeding station for the birds for her enjoyment, my conscience won’t allow it.

Little Robin Redbreast enjoying his supper.

In late summer we planted some King Edwards we had found at the bottom of the fridge that were making a bid for freedom. We dug up a few to see what they were like, they look like tiny new potatoes although quite a few have been eaten from the inside out. We should get enough for a nice little addition to the Christmas lunch though..

And look at this for a Parsnip. There is no skull duggery involved here, it weighs 4 pounds 4 ounces.

Christmas lunch is shaping up quite well, we should have home grown carrots, swede, brussel sprouts, kale, potatoes and monster parsnips.

Normally I have some sort of inspiration during the year for my parents Christmas present. Not this year. I am normally quite smug by mid November that I have found and bought, but not wrapped (I’m not that organised) something which I know will make them smile and something that they would desire. Even if I’ve had to badger them into it, like the year that they received the mobile phone, which Mum now loves.

The last couple of months my poor little tootsies have suffered, I’ve shopped all over, Coventry, Birmingham, Kenilworth, Leamington Spa, Stratford-upon-Avon, Warwick and even Hatton Country World, with no luck whatsoever. I could feel the panic rising as each day has been ticked off the calendar. I even had the “I’m in utter crises”, and “If I hadn’t lost my hair, I would be by now” conversation with hubby, his reply, “You’ll cope, you’ll find something, I have every faith in you” before wandering away to his own little world again. Christmas you see for I suspect most husbands is just something that happens and is put together by the Christmas fairy, they close their front door on Christmas eve, having just come home from work, possibly with a bottle of Whisky in hand given to them by the boss and everything is magically prepared, the tree is sparkling in the corner, with a huge array of beautifully wrapped presents carefully placed underneath it, the cake is iced, the smell of oranges and cinnamon waft through the house, everything is polished and sparkling to within an inch of its life etc. etc.

I digress, sorry,,,

I did yet another round on foot of Leamington Spa yesterday, with no luck. I always have luck for myself though, 🙂 A pair of boots and some gorgeous wool, magically found themselves in bags, carried by me!! But, nothing for my parents.. (actually there was one small stocking filler,,, but not the main event). Exhausted, I go home. Panic rising. Son no.1 comes home as does hubby, at gone four in the afternoon, I say to son no.1, come on lets go to Birmingham, (I’m loving my new found freedom) and off we trot.

This time we have huge successes. I find THE present and other presents for son no.2 for Christmas and his birthday, which is shortly after Christmas.

I am shattered but happy, now I’ve just got to sand blast the house, ice the christmas cake, find the sofa again underneath the ironing, which probably means having to do the ironing.. buy and decorate a tree, wonder whether the right course of action would be to clean the oven before or after Christmas, (I always hate the smell of oven cleaner), phone for a chimney sweep and off course, write and deliver cards, wrap presents and finish the Christmas knitting…. and I really need to pop up the allotment and do a few hours up there…

Oh well, Christmas as usual it is then. :0

I’m knitting this for son no.1 and I’m very pleased with it. I must apologise for the photograph, I’ll try and take one in natural light when its finished.

I started it this evening and decided to change the pattern slightly as I wanted it to be just a little wider but to keep the essence of the pattern. I think I have succeeded. Its a very quick knit and I’m into my second ball already. Son no.1, has approved the choice of pattern, yarn (Rowan Yarn, soft tweed in Sprig) and I believe is quite pleased with it. He is of course on a threat worse than death if when finished he loses it. Son no.2 huffed a little bit and wailed for a pair of socks, he has extremely wide feet that are a size 11… ‘gulp’. The work of a knitter is never done.

Naah, Its a rabbit. 🙂

I thought it was time for another self portrait. This my friends, is my regular morning garb when its flippin’ freezing.

And if I get a pom pom tail off the knitting group to go with my bunny girl outfit…… well, there will be trouble!!!

Such an interesting weekend. Firstly hubby and I decided to go to Birmingham on Friday afternoon to see the German market that Carie so vividly describes in her blog. It was wonderful, it has a really good vibe. The hot wine with rum was delicious. We ended up at Selfridges rather late and had a rather nice feed at Yo Sushi. I also partook of a couple of glasses of wine. It was late and the store was starting to close up, so I thought I’d just nip to the loo to powder my nose.

The loo was deserted so I’m humming happy little tunes in my head, along with wondering who actually chose that particular colour of yellow for the tiles. When I turn to leave and push the door, its locked. Locked. OMG !! They’ve locked me in, I start hammering on the door, with pitiful cries of help, help. No answer… Another spate of hammering with louder pitiful cries of help, help… I start to rummage through my bag for my mobile, knowing full well that hubby will have his mobile switched off, but at least it was a plan. I can’t quite reach my mobile at the bottom of my handbag so I adjust my position to find somewhere that I can balance my bag to get to it… When I notice another door… I’ve only been hammering on the janitors door for the last few minutes. I’m so glad nobody walked in, whilst I was in the middle of my drama. Its a wonder they let me cross the road on my own, it really is.

The next day I was telling son no.1 all about our little trip to Birmingham and he looked quite wistful and had a day off. So as hubby was tied up with work all day I suggested we go back into Birmingham on the train. Now this is extremely brave of me, because a) I’ve never taken a train on my own before, I’ve always been with hubby who takes over and then I become the passenger and just do as I’m told and don’t take much notice. b) I think you’ve worked out how daft I can be.. and c) I’ve only been to Birmingham a handful of times to shop and am only just forming a mental map of it. So the possibility of getting completely lost is quite high. Most trips have been straight to the restuarant/market/theatre and back out again, so not much traipsing around.

It was a lovely day, son no.1 enjoyed the German market especially the German butter cake and sausages. Considering it was raining hard and had been all day Birmingham was still very busy. Its quite hard for us country mice to adjust to such crowds but we managed.

Son no.1 was reasonably dressed for a change and looked quite smart and handsome, (I’m just setting the scene) I’d decided to treat him to a pair of shoes so we found some that he liked and asked to try them on. Now he is a big fella and he did look the part. This pretty little blonde girl serving us, certainly thought so, I thought she was going to swoon into a faint at one stage, she was absolutely smitten with him. Did he notice… naahh !! Typical bloke, completely wrapped up in his own world.

Selfridges again provided endless fun with there flying toy helicopter and other toys. I saw a woolly hat that was simplicity itself to knit for £50.00 !!! I took son no.1 to the top floor to show him the expensive handbags.. Its an education in itself as to why you would want to spend that much on a handbag, after all its only going to end up on the floor. (I know that I probably sound like my mother at this point)

We then trundled off to the fish market to buy some oysters. It was at that point that my mental map failed. I must have come out of the wrong exit and had a rough idea where I was but it wasn’t totally clear. We ended up at the back of the Palisades and had to climb up seven flights of stairs to get to the train station. For the people that don’t know me, I am built for comfort not speed, to say I puffed a little bit is an understatement.

Overall it was a very successful day, there will be no stopping me now. Have ticket, will travel. 🙂

Hubby singing lullabies and nursery rhymes to me, along with a quick rendition of Zippity Doo Dah (his favourite) just to help me relax enough to sleep. After twenty years together that really is over and above the call of duty, thankfully it worked and I slept well last night.

It was the fourth night that I was having difficulty sleeping because of a waterworks infection, which may explain the kidney pain I was having. I have been to the docs (went Tuesday) and am on the required antibiotics.

I seem to have been moaning for the last fortnight, even I’m sick of hearing my grumbles. So apologies to you all.

Hubby helped me rip back Holly’s coat so that I can change the pattern slightly to make it more comfortable for her. Well, when I say help me, he came home just at the right moment. I’d just thrown it onto the sofa in disgust as it had turned into a terrible tangled mess whilst I was ripping it back and he rescued it for me and then put it back on its needles. Isn’t he clever, considering he doesn’t knit. (his Mother used to be an avid knitter in his youth, so I think he must have picked up a little knowledge along the way)

Son no.2’s mock exams are finished. What a relief that is, he may actually start talking to us in slightly friendlier tones. Yesterday evening we actually conversed for a full five minutes ( I think we even managed a giggle) without the raised eyebrows and stroppy attitude of a teenager talking to their mother who should obviously be in a home for the ‘mentally deranged’ as she has no clue about his world.

And because I think of son no.2’s personality as something akin to Brain out of Pinky and the Brain.

Pinky: “what are we going to do tonight Brain”

Brain: “Do what we do every night, try to take over the World”

I shall leave you with this… 🙂

Pinky and the Brain

The cold virus finally started to abate and I was able to spend an hour or so at Warwick on Thursday evening to see their Victorian Evening and the switching on of the lights. It was very nice, although the Warwick business people are certainly quite alot meaner than Kenilworthian business folk. They were charging, charging I tell you for a mince pie and a drop of mulled wine!!

I thought this was an interesting piccie, there must have been a traction engine behind the carousel and I managed to photograph the chimney spot on in the middle, billowing out clouds of smoke and a nice addition is being able to see the building behind it.

It was a very busy evening, I particularly enjoyed hearing the carols sung by St Mary’s choir boys, I do enjoy a good descant. Reminds me of when I was in the school choir, oh so many years ago.

I’ve not had a very good week with my knitting, for some reason and I suspect its mainly that nasty colds fault, everything I touch there is some sort of problem with and I end up ripping it back. I’m not sure if its me or I’m going through a particularly strong learning curve, I am after all learning an awful lot about what not to do. I might as well not have picked up any knitting at all in the last two weeks for all that I’ve got done. I’m just about to do the same thing again tonight, I’ve been knitting a coat for Holly our Whippet for the last couple of evenings and I’ve realised there is probably a problem with it. So after a quick try on tonight, I may well be ripping that back too. See what I mean!!! If I’d understood the pattern and been able to see it in 3d I would have seen the problem. But as it is, I’m at the stage in my knitting where all I can do is follow the pattern blindly and then see the problem afterwards… Very frustrating it is!!

I have good news. (well for me anyway)

Sainsburies have put in a new frozen food section…. and… ….. ….. …. it has a gluten free section !!!!

Yippeeeeeeeeeeeeeee

Which means,, I can get frozen fish fingers and sausages and… yorkie puds… (and a few other things as well)

So tonight… we are having bangers and mash with a homemade thick onion and red wine gravy, carrots, brussel sprouts (I do need my veg) and a couple of yorkie puds on the side. Decadent or wot!! 🙂