Anyway, during the past months, two friends, who were undergoing cancer tests at the same time as I was, have died. Another is in palliative care, and wasn't expected to be around at Christmas, but she is still with us, though very ill. Yet a fourth friend is having chemotherapy, but there is hope that the cancer was found in time. I was given the all-clear 4 weeks after surgery, when I was very happy to discover the cyst was benign.
So here are a few positive items from the past year:
Much of the time since surgery has passed in a bit of a blur. I was able to sit in the garden in the sunshine and enjoy stitching so was able to develop a bit of a tan; I no longer feel embarrassed to wear a swimsuit now I no longer look 8 months pregnant!; I dropped two dress sizes overnight, and still can't believe I am a UK size 12. It still seems all wrong. But I now have a lovely new wardrobe, and various charities have benefitted from my weight loss!
I have found jigsaw puzzles to be very therapeutic, so have completed the odd one or two . One of the latest is The Bizarre Bookshop (Ravensburger)
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Two highlights from the year are first our eldest son's Ordination at Rochester Cathedral as Deacon in the Anglican Church. He's a curate in a parish just outside Gravesend.
And second, his graduation ceremony at Oakhill Theological College in London.
What have I been stitching? Mostly bookmarks for friends who were moving - except I couldn't get motivated to finish them, and I really messed one up. I'll probably have to restart that one in due course, but I can't face frogging, so it'll probably end up in the recycling. The friends all ended up with different leaving presents!! I started a Christmas decoration - one of Meg Evershed's paper creations, but haven't seen it since Harrogate!! It's probably still in my case....
I had a wonderful time in Harrogate, and met three stitchers from one of my groups. They were very kind, and looked after me very well. Of course, they enabled me, and I came back with some very nice acquisitions. I got back exhausted, but recovered quite soon. I will post photos next time as my laptop almost died, so I had to get a new one before it completely expired. I still need to get my preferred programs up and running on it, and the keyboard isn't as sensitive as my old one. But it's very much faster, and I don't have time to make a cuppa while it is booting up!! Unfortunately, Luxor in any form is not compatible with Windows 8 when you run it through Steam!!
We spent Christmas in Aylesbury with our daughter, son-in-law and two of our grandchildren. It was a lovely relaxing time, and we could just enjoy being with them. I got the impression they enjoyed having us as well. Matthew certainly enjoyed his outings to the coffee shop at Tesco where a muffin and a drink of orange juice/squash were mandatory!! Then we moved across to our son and his family just in time to be around when Miriam arrived on New Year's Eve, weighing in at 8lbs 8.5ozs. Daughter number 4 in Chris's family. Poor Thomas is the only son!! But he seems to cope quite well with being outnumbered. Our eldest granddaughter wasn't at home when this was taken:
So, for the moment, I am still pacing myself and not allowed to lift things (my consultant is a man and doesn't seem to realise that looking after a house = a certain amount of lifting and carrying!), I can't yet manage to play my guitar much because of its weight, and I find driving more than about 70 miles is too much of a strain - but I'm working on it! I am doing a certain amount of crochet, and working on Mary's cushion cover. (Yes, I have progressed a bit over the past year!)
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I will finish this rather long post here, and will continue with the saga of the trees next time. Maybe 2013 hasn't been as horrible in some parts as in others, but I think much of the pain and problems have faded in my memory.
If you have managed to get this far - thanks for reading and your perseverance!
Till next time
Jenny
