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Well, there we went: 2025 all done and dusted.
Somehow got through it in (mostly) one piece.
Healthwise, I'm down to twice-daily tablets until mid-November. The CT scan from December showed no signs of cancer, but apparently I fractured a vertebra in the interim between that scan and the one a year prior. Who knew? Evidently, not me. Stanley continues to gurgle away, mostly unproblematically.
Workwise, I went back in May--and plan to continue until the end of this year. And then cash in my pensions (meagre as they are), and spend them in my (potentially brief) retirement.
Homewise, we added a bath in the middle bedroom/dressing room, had a new path paid along the front of the house, and had the chimneys repointed (and partially rebuilt) before they crumbled away. Hopefully, we've also fixed the leaky roof too.
Beastwise, no new cats, no new chooks, no bees. I've just let my membership of the beekeepers asociation lapse, tho' I could rejoin if I decide I am going to set up a beehive, but it seems less likely. We're about to celebrate the two-year anniversary of acquiring the Smolly Molecule, still the best thing to have happened in 2024. Shadow continues to be Shadow: a little bite-y, somewhat scrarchy, but still as loveable, and acquring ever more complex educational toys to keep him occupied.
So, this year? I'd like a little more energy to get throuygh what I need to do--declutter, sort finances, retire--and want to do--read more, make more, travel more, get bees(?).
Somehow got through it in (mostly) one piece.
Healthwise, I'm down to twice-daily tablets until mid-November. The CT scan from December showed no signs of cancer, but apparently I fractured a vertebra in the interim between that scan and the one a year prior. Who knew? Evidently, not me. Stanley continues to gurgle away, mostly unproblematically.
Workwise, I went back in May--and plan to continue until the end of this year. And then cash in my pensions (meagre as they are), and spend them in my (potentially brief) retirement.
Homewise, we added a bath in the middle bedroom/dressing room, had a new path paid along the front of the house, and had the chimneys repointed (and partially rebuilt) before they crumbled away. Hopefully, we've also fixed the leaky roof too.
Beastwise, no new cats, no new chooks, no bees. I've just let my membership of the beekeepers asociation lapse, tho' I could rejoin if I decide I am going to set up a beehive, but it seems less likely. We're about to celebrate the two-year anniversary of acquiring the Smolly Molecule, still the best thing to have happened in 2024. Shadow continues to be Shadow: a little bite-y, somewhat scrarchy, but still as loveable, and acquring ever more complex educational toys to keep him occupied.
So, this year? I'd like a little more energy to get throuygh what I need to do--declutter, sort finances, retire--and want to do--read more, make more, travel more, get bees(?).
Lets make it three posts in a day....
[Yes, I've taken a week's holiday!]
So, cancerwise, it's been a drag and then a whirl, and then, hopefully, a new, settled (for a while) normal.
First, the drag. Going back to work was great. Fought to go back up to my 4-day week as soon as I could as three days wasn't enough. Tiring through the summer, and cost any energy for reading or knitting, but worthwhile. As the months have gone on the fatigue has crept back more and more. I'd started joking about bedtime getting so early I wouldn't have got up yet! Getting home in the evening and not being aboe to eat dinner due to exhaustion is, however, no joke.
Second, the whirl. This treatment regimen started in slight confusion and it continues that way. The 3-weekly infusions stopped six weeks back, several months earlier than I'd expected (especially with appointments scheduled until the end of the year). Entirely correctly, it turns out. So, having got over my crossness (understatement, that) at suddenly and unexpectedly changed plan and the usual changes in medications hiccups (removing is just as unbalancing as starting), I'm feeling less achy and a whole lot less tired. I'm even staying up after 7.30 in the evening! What larks! (Or owls?)
I'm getting my knitting mojo back too.
Another year like this doesn't seem like a bad proposition. I'm intending to retire in a year too.
[Yes, I've taken a week's holiday!]
So, cancerwise, it's been a drag and then a whirl, and then, hopefully, a new, settled (for a while) normal.
First, the drag. Going back to work was great. Fought to go back up to my 4-day week as soon as I could as three days wasn't enough. Tiring through the summer, and cost any energy for reading or knitting, but worthwhile. As the months have gone on the fatigue has crept back more and more. I'd started joking about bedtime getting so early I wouldn't have got up yet! Getting home in the evening and not being aboe to eat dinner due to exhaustion is, however, no joke.
Second, the whirl. This treatment regimen started in slight confusion and it continues that way. The 3-weekly infusions stopped six weeks back, several months earlier than I'd expected (especially with appointments scheduled until the end of the year). Entirely correctly, it turns out. So, having got over my crossness (understatement, that) at suddenly and unexpectedly changed plan and the usual changes in medications hiccups (removing is just as unbalancing as starting), I'm feeling less achy and a whole lot less tired. I'm even staying up after 7.30 in the evening! What larks! (Or owls?)
I'm getting my knitting mojo back too.
Another year like this doesn't seem like a bad proposition. I'm intending to retire in a year too.
Hallowe'en Quiz
Oct. 12th, 2025 08:56 pmFrom the OUP (whose blog I highly recommend; much variety and fun): https://blog.oup.com/2025/10/whats-your-literary-classic-halloween-costume-quiz/
I'm classic Gothic. Caw!
I'm classic Gothic. Caw!
Döstädning
Oct. 12th, 2025 04:00 pmI've been procrastinating since the diagnosis, or perhaps for even longer, maybe since I heard of the concept. But today I made a start. (This does not mean I've had bad news: I'm toddling along just fine, if knackered.)
For someone who claims to have few clothes (and I maintain I have, at least, fewer clothes than most: no judgment intended as it's nostly 'cos I simply dislike shopping for clothes, or shopping at all), I had a desparately overstuffed wardrobe.
Summer clothes (to the tune of one skirt, three dresses, one vintage blouse and two knitted pieces) are now in a box under our bed. One pair of lightweight linin trousers will be added after they're washedmand ironed. A second box contains my undergraduate gown (should probably donate to college), my wedding dress (homemade), one hand made skirt that down't fit, my mum's wedding dress and a couple of her party dresses (all three made for her by her mother). These I'm not ready to part with.
A pile of stuff to go to Vinted ('80s silk ballgowns, a bridesmaid's dress of Looby Loo's, an Alexon jacket) and some probably only worth donating items remain to be dealt with next weekend.
The wardrobe still contains items that fit, but I may not ever wear. I'll review at Easter.
I confess I haven't tackled the collection of impractical boots.
[This was all prompted by my sending off for a new pair of trousers, the third pair I've bought this year, and a new pair of winter shoes. I'm ditching more than I'm acquiring.]
And More Mundanely... Work
May. 6th, 2025 07:30 pmDecided I really couldn't stay at hoe twiddling my thumbs any longer. Going back (starting afresh?) 3 days a week, from next Tuesday. It's a year and feels quite daunting. Leave it any longer and I won't be back at all.
Discussions round this have been painless. Yes, if I ask for a loo to be made properly accessible (not just wheelchair accessible), it will be done.
My desk has been left undisturbed, a bit shrine-like, tho' I was rather disappointed that there were no flowers.
Discussions round this have been painless. Yes, if I ask for a loo to be made properly accessible (not just wheelchair accessible), it will be done.
My desk has been left undisturbed, a bit shrine-like, tho' I was rather disappointed that there were no flowers.
Friday's (Brief) Moral Dilemma
May. 6th, 2025 11:49 amWe went to listen to Henry Normal and Brian Bilston at the Corn Exchange on Friday. Had a dispiriting (and far too noisy) meal at the burger place in what used to be the Red Cow, then toodled over to the show. Seats at the front of the raked area at the back of the stalls withe two empty places between me and the entrance. Joked that I should've brought my imaginary friends. These are great seats for watching the sounds and lights too.
First half was Henry--and very enjoyable (tho' I'd actually bought tickets to see Brian).
At the beginning of the second half, after the lights went down a gentleman slipped into one of the empty seats to watch the prcoeedings. Which were highly enjoyable. When he nipped away at the end, he dropped then pen he'd been holding (along with a couple of books). I picked it up. It wasn't a very prepossessing pen, not your one of a kind, sentimentally valuable fountain pens, just a reasonably ordinay fibre tip or roller ball (I didn't check). But what it was, of course, was Hentry Normal's pen. A trophy! Proof I went to see the two poets on May 2nd 2025.
So, did I stroll out keeping my treasure or hand it back. If it had been a valuable item, or obviousy personalised, I'd've not given it a thought. Straight back to its owner it goes. But a random plastic pen? I wavered for a moment and then handed it back to him where he was signing, "just in case it was a favourite".
First half was Henry--and very enjoyable (tho' I'd actually bought tickets to see Brian).
At the beginning of the second half, after the lights went down a gentleman slipped into one of the empty seats to watch the prcoeedings. Which were highly enjoyable. When he nipped away at the end, he dropped then pen he'd been holding (along with a couple of books). I picked it up. It wasn't a very prepossessing pen, not your one of a kind, sentimentally valuable fountain pens, just a reasonably ordinay fibre tip or roller ball (I didn't check). But what it was, of course, was Hentry Normal's pen. A trophy! Proof I went to see the two poets on May 2nd 2025.
So, did I stroll out keeping my treasure or hand it back. If it had been a valuable item, or obviousy personalised, I'd've not given it a thought. Straight back to its owner it goes. But a random plastic pen? I wavered for a moment and then handed it back to him where he was signing, "just in case it was a favourite".
Happy Birthday, Stanley McGurrigle!
Apr. 24th, 2025 07:11 amOne year old today.
There may be cake later.
There may be cake later.
March 2025
Apr. 7th, 2025 01:12 pm... a bit late with this ... hey ho!
Read:
Shorts
- Indiana Jones’ Last Day of Work by Hannah Forsyth
Non-fiction
- How Google tracks Android device users before they've even opened an app by Connor Jones
- Agatha Christie by Lucy Worsley (K)
- ‘We’re going to talk about death today – your death’: a doctor on what it’s like to end a life rather than extend one by Dr Stefanie Green
Visited:
- Stow Landscape Gardens
- Petworth House and Landscape Gardens
- Plough and Fleece for Sunday lunch
- mjp @ The Shepherds for Friday lunch
- Houghton Mill
Attended:
- Dracula as survival cannibal: Shipwrecks, starvation, drinking blood at sea (organized by Romancing the Gothic)
- Burnaby concert at Emmanuel, plus dinner in hall
Read:
Shorts
- Indiana Jones’ Last Day of Work by Hannah Forsyth
Non-fiction
- How Google tracks Android device users before they've even opened an app by Connor Jones
- Agatha Christie by Lucy Worsley (K)
- ‘We’re going to talk about death today – your death’: a doctor on what it’s like to end a life rather than extend one by Dr Stefanie Green
Visited:
- Stow Landscape Gardens
- Petworth House and Landscape Gardens
- Plough and Fleece for Sunday lunch
- mjp @ The Shepherds for Friday lunch
- Houghton Mill
Attended:
- Dracula as survival cannibal: Shipwrecks, starvation, drinking blood at sea (organized by Romancing the Gothic)
- Burnaby concert at Emmanuel, plus dinner in hall
