Nine Long Days (but now I'm back).

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I have been trying to update my LSNED Page.  However, I'm having problems loading photos. Either they won't load, or they are distorted and squashed out of shape. I have updated Sept. 1-3rd, but will try to do the rest tomorrow, when the problems will hopefully be resolved.

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Well, it's been a looong 9 days. My poor mum was very poorly indeed. We won't go into mega-details about symptoms, but let's just say she spent a lot of time in the bathroom and the rest in her bed. The Dr. was out 4 times, as she couldn't go up there. She ended up with 3 lots of tablets (though she's only taking antibiotics now).  The antibiotics finish tomorrow and she seemed a lot better today. She even managed a short walk round the Close, without staggering about or looking likely to fall, so I feel encouraged that she's on the mend.  We see the GP at the surgery tomorrow; he can look her over and confirm that she's recovering!

I spent all day Wednesday to Friday, at my mum's, looking after her.  Then Friday night she called to ask for help, as she was very poorly and couldn't cope.  I had to pack up me & J. so we could stay the night.  In fact, we stayed 2 nights and only came home on Sunday evening.  J. was very good about it - I mean, his weekend plans were rather messed up, but he didn't complain at all.  I did manage to drop him in town on Saturday morning, so he could go to an event at the Games Workshop (the Warhammer shop!).  He stayed until 1:30, when I picked him up, while his Grandma was asleep. 

It's been quite exhausting and I haven't had much time to myself.  I managed to snatch the odd few minutes here and there, to think about LSNED, take a picture, make some notes, look at the occasional blog post. But I have been so exhausted that, even when I was at home, I wasn't really able to keep up with blogging, or do anything for my Etsy shop. 

I hope that I will get some days of peace and quiet next week, so I can get to work on a commission (the diary/planner for my friend) and some new work for my shop.  I also want to try and make a stock of small, inexpensive notebooks and diaries, for a local craft event on 6th November. 

I have managed to make some of my LSNED pages - up to 5th September so far, and part-way through 6th.  I've adopted the KISS Principle this time - "Keep It Simple, Stupid!".  So each page is very simple, with some patterned papers, one or two photos, the "What I Learned" sentence/statement and a hand-cut envelope, in which I have put a small note with my day's journalling.  I haven't put much about my mum's illness, other than mentioning it if it's relevant, as there have been other Lessons that I can record.

Take a look at my LSNED page soon - I will go and update it now, with a few "diary" blogs and page photos. 

Meanwhile, here are some other photos from my week:

I received a lovely red suede-covered journal in the post. I ordered it from LinenLaidFelt, an Etsy shop owned by Katie Gonzalez.  It's really lovely. Small, but beautifully made, with soft-beige hand-torn paper, section wraps made from old map pages and stiff art paper; and of course, the lovely soft suede, which was a re-purposed garment.  The binding is a variation on long-stitch, in a good creamy linen thread.  The book fastens with a sweet little wrap-round strip of the same suede, which tucks in at the front.  I love it to bits!

Yesterday we had an interesting little adventure here.  In the evening, me and J. were at home (Grandma being sufficiently recovered to manage to get the sandwich out of the fridge and make herself a cup of tea & slice of cake).  The power suddenly went off. Then on. Then off. Then on.... etc, etc, etc.  All the local burglar alarms went off.  Nobody had power (except when they did!).  The neighbour came round to check it wasn't just something weird about her house - lights flashing on and off are a bit disconcerting! 

In the end, to avoid damage to computers, tv etc, I switched our power off at the main switch.  We couldn't make anything for tea, as we're all-electric for cooking, so we decided to go out for tea.  We went to Pizza Hut and ate lovely pizza, potato wedges and naughty (mini) desserts.  It was great. 

By the time we had finished, it was still light, so we had a little stroll on our way back to the car.

Some lovely houses in Town.

We climbed to the top of the old Castle Mound.  J. was following the story of the Siege, which is carved into a circle of large stepping-stones round the top of the mound.

View from the Top. The spire in the distance is St.Paul's Church. The buildings in the foreground are some new appartments and shops.  Very posh!

View from the Top. 90 degrees left of the last view. Shows the river, from the Town Bridge (on the right), with the Hotel, along the Embankment and the riverside gardens. You can see the lights along the Embankment, as the sun was setting.

View from the Top.  Slightly left of the last view. The river continues along, past the Weir bridge.  J. in the foreground, standing on a mosaic representing a map of Bedford at the time of the Castle Seige, in the 12th Century.

A view along the river, from the Embankment.  The Town Bridge is just visible and the lovely riverside gardens.  We decided it was a bit late for a long walk though, so we went home after this.

It was a really nice evening. We've decided to go out for tea after school a little more often - perhaps every couple of months.