2011 another year bites the dust

What happened to 2011? Other than flying by, not a lot. Now I will probably write loads so get a coffee and get comfortable before you read any further!

2011 started with my beloved Honey hopping around with her right front leg in a huge metal frame with the leg all pinned together. She made good steady progress as the year wore on and had the frame removed when the surgeons were happy it was healing well and the bones had fused.

However it was not quite fused enough and a second arthrodhesion (sp?) was carried out with insertion of an internal plate and pins. So it was back to square one with no exercise for 2 weeks then gentle lead walks for another 6 weeks. After 9 weeks she declared fit and well and so we increased the walking using an extending lead for a few more weeks. Then it was off the lead time. Cautious at first, Honey soon found she could run again, although it was short runs and only half speed. She steadily built up the runs until now she is back to almost full speed and running the laps she used to do. It is lovely to see her romp and play with her friends.

My health has been on a bit of a roller coaster too. My knees both have osteo arthritis but the right one is the most painful. I had a steroid injection in it in the summer which did not last long, and a final injection in the autumn, which seems to have worked well. It is wearing off now but slowly so I am still getting some relief. I have tried to not use my walking stick and it has helped strengthen my core muscles and balance is better. The big shock of the year was being diagnosed as type 2 diabetic. I knew I was at risk of it as I have been obese for many years. The initial education given to us at the diabetic unit at the hospital was superb. We had very enlightening sessions with a brilliant dietician and her advice and guidance notes given us has enabled me to lose over a stone in weight.

I am on medication for the diabetes and controlling my diet to keep my sugar levels under control. But I have ended the year on a bad note with some lax eating over Christmas. No Christmas pud, and only eaten 3 bought mince pies over 3 weeks is not too bad, but sadly I have lapsed a little after Jenny made some delicious mince pies and brought some home for me. I have rationed them out but they are rather nice. We had chicken for Christmas dinner and I had a load of left overs. So on 27th I made a huge curry. Loads of veg, chicken, tinned tomatoes and a heap of delicious curry spices. I love curry flavours but don't like too much chilli so although spicy and tasty my curry is not hot. I kept adding a bit of this and that until I had a wok full! It has done me 4 generous servings, two I have had and two in the freezer for another day.

Folk wise the club has had a modest year, the big highlight being hosts to fairport Convention in May. What an amazing night that was. We have booked them again in 2012 - with fingers crossed for ticket sales.

I had some time away at festivals, with Fairport's Cropredy Convention in mid-August, and Shrewsbury Festival over the August Bank Holiday weekend. Both festivals were brilliant and thoroughly enjoyable.

I made good use of my new tent, really a 4 man tent but very spacious for one! I lurve my double thickness, extra wide single air bed. It is very comfortable to sleep on and raised up high enough to make it easier to get in and out of. Shrewsbury was cold at night as usual. But not as bad as the year before.

We also managed a day away in Suffolk for the Bounty Hounds' OXJAM day festival. It was a superb day out and were very comfortable staying the night with our good friends the Bosleys. I left Honey at home, being cared for by my offspring while I was away.
Christmas 2011 was a quiet one as usual. We altered our 'normal' routine and moved the main meal to evening dinner so Jenny could spend Christmas morning with Helen and the horses, then come home for dinner with me and James, and stayed home to spend Boxing day with Craig and his family. Things have been very strained between Craig and James since August and James did not come over on Boxing day. My grandsons were on top form and we had some fun playing games after a scrumptious turkey dinner.
Tonight looks like being a quiet one on my own. However you see the new year in, may it be peaceful and happy. Drink a toast to loved ones no longer with us, and friends and family who mean so much to us.

May you all have a wonderful 2012. HAPPY NEW YEAR!

December already?? Christmas looms large!

OMG 2 weeks to Christmas and still have a pile of pressies to get, I have done a load but it's never ending. Keep adding people to the list :(
On top of Xmas presents I have my lovely sister's birthday next week. Need to get something in the post Monday or there is no way it will arrive by Friday. Don't panic!!
I am sorry I have not posted in here for some time. Just didn't feel in the mood for more than terse comments.
So what's been happening? I've passed the stone off barrier and currently weigh less than my daughter!! But need a serious blitz now to get the next half stone off. Not a good time of year to try and do it but I am learning to not buy fattening things then I can't eat them.

Honey is doing really well and racing around pretty much as before. Her muscles are building up well.

Win came and went without too many ripples on the home pond.
John has had his new knee fitted and is doing well, but needs to pace himself a bit better as it still swells up regularly when he over does things.
I had a steroid injection in my knee and it worked for about 2 months YAYY I've not been using my walking stick and walked the dog without it too. It has helped strengthen my core muscles which are  nowhere near as good as they used to be. I wobble and lose balance more easily - so I need exercises to build the muscles.
It feels as though the injection is starting to wear off now. I've had a few occasional twinges the last few days.
I had hoped it would last over Christmas.
Got the Xmas tree up now - thanks to Jen and a load of half price decorations I bought last January.

We've been struggling a bit at the pub quiz as we had a few weeks of just Jen and me and coming 3rd or 4th. Not won any chocolates in ages as we did well but not good enough in the pictures, and it was rare to make double figures on the music. Last week we all met up for our Christmas dinner at the pub and even James joined us :). He had a good night, winning £40 on the bingo, and choccies in the picture quiz. We finished 3rd in the quiz so not too bad. I hope James will start coming to the quiz again occasionally. We had an 'exchange of words' in August and he's been distant since then. But now warming relations again. At least we're talking!


The folk club is still going and we had a great night last Friday with a duo, Huw Williams and Maart Allcock.
Maart has played for years in bands like Fairport Convention and Jethro Tull and Huw used to be half of 'Huw & Tony Williams' until they finally retired in 2001. Huw has not sung his songs like that since then, but has been writing some new ones and writing for other artists to cover. Maart has dragged him back to performing and they are booking a tour in the spring. We hosted them as a 'try-out' gig and recorded all the songs to hopefully form the base for a CD to be issued in the spring. It was a brilliant evening and both Huw and Maart are full of humourous stories. A great night!

Off to see Phil Beer at a local club tonight so another good night in prospect :)

My blind friend Linda managed to tip a saucepan of boiling water down her leg a couple of weeks ago and has been unable to walk much. She had really bad blisters, especially her foot, and I've been ferrying her up and down to A&E for treatment, but now she has the district nurse calling. It's not looking good though. It might be infected :(.
I have another friend with cancer currently undergoing drastic chemotherapy which is wearing her out. I took her dogs for a walk Friday with Honey and they all got on well. Honey likes Scooby a lot so they were fine. I kept Teddy on the lead as he is not good at coming back when called and I could not risk him running off when I've got Honey and Scooby to control as well.  Jill was grateful I got them out as her husband would not have been home until well after dark and teddy is scared of the dark.

John & Roz had a bad time when their young dog, Rex got run over after running off. His death was an  horrendous thing to have to cope with. John made enquiries with the breeder where they got Rex with a view to reserving a puppy for next year. The breeder had 2 puppies left from her last litter and offered them the little girl now. Polly has settled in well and is doing really well in her new home. She is Rex's niece and a darling. She is more placid and laid back than Rex and gets on well with the cats. She is now sleeping on the same bed at night as the cats :) They are happy now as they can have the run of the house in safety without being chased by Rex.
I had Polly for the day the other weekend and she was brilliant with Honey. So it all looks good for the future.

Time to go wrap some presents I think :( maybe it will bring more Christmas spirit - hmmm maybe it's Baileys time too!! That will help the task along :)
Bye for now xx

More personal stuff

A few months ago now I was diagnosed as type 2 diabetic. My doc decided I needed a full check up as it was a couple of years since last comprehensive blood tests. My BP turned out to be ok, cholesterol high (but lower than before), and sugars came out over the line for diabetes. Liver and kidney function were fine. I have been overweight to lesser or greater degrees most of my life - even when running exercise classes! But it was more muscle than flab back then *sigh*

I have taken control of the diabetes by attending the education sessions offered at the hospital and taking on board the dietry advice given. I have modified my eating habits and got my portion sizes down considerably, along with healthier balanced meals. I have slowly but steadily been losing weight, around 1-2 lbs a week, apart from the weeks when I was away at festivals where I managed to eat out, or takeaways, and not put weight back on.

I weighed myself this morning (usually once or twice a week) and it's down again. Now lost 10-12 lbs (wobble on the scales and reading varies LOL) and that first stone off is in sight! I think the last time my weight was this level was about 10 years ago!

My medication seems to be working well on the diabetes and the tests show much better readings. My doc is keen to keep a close eye on me. Losing weight will be a big factor with the diabetes, and my cholesterol levels.
The dietry advice sheet from the hospital makes it a lot easier to visualise portions and balance of food types to get healthier eating.
My exercise levels are slowly increasing as Honey gets better at walking and can go further and a bit faster. More activity helps burn off the food quicker too.
My knees are still bad and are basically too far gone to feel much benefit from reduced weight. The co-codomol prescribed by my doc is not really working as well as I'd hoped. No more effective than taking Ibuprofen and paracetamol together. I tend to only take them, with food, when the pain is really bad, as I don't like excess stomach acid it can cause.

I actually made it round IKEA last week for the very first time, much to my surprise. It was pretty much a straight walk through with hardly any stopping to browse. I did have a brief sit down while I 'tested' some dining chairs LOL. I brought home the catalogue and will have a look at their online shopping. I don't have cash to flash at the moment so resisted the temptation to buy anything, but I did see some very neat, slimline units for storing shoes! I've wanted 'something' to go in my hall to reduce the shoe hazards round the house.
 I know having a unit will not make shoes go in there by themselves but it will encourage both Jen and myself to not leave assorted footwear around the place.
I have a wobbly trolley in my entrance hall that's become a clutter collector so that can go, along with it's clutter, to the tip ... ahem Municipal Re-cycling Centre... freeing a nice space slot just right for a shoe cupboard unit which will take less space.
I think I need furniture that has sloping tops so you can't put things down on it.

My lovely solid oak sideboard in the lounge has been swamped by 'stuff'. It started off being bare, with a lamp one end and a vase and matching ceramic balls at the other end. You could enjoy the beauty of the wood and the open space. Then the fish tank arrived *sigh* then the odd bit of post seemed to linger, then the books started appearing and added to what was now becoming a heap. Now it is a dumping site for more stuff! *runs away and screams*
It seems an unwritten rule in this house that shelves, worktops, and even sofas cannot be left empty and bare. *more sighs*
We are tackling the bedroom heaps of stuff at the moment and contributing vast quantitites to the recycling centre. But the movement process of it migrating, from upstairs to down, builds it up again downstairs before it gets transported to the tip or charity shop. So upstairs is looking a lot better but downstairs... *shakes head sadly*
Just keep attacking the heaps, Kath, and you WILL see daylight eventually!
I currently have a heap of camping gear in the kitchen waiting for some strong legs to stack it all in the garage for me *hint hint* The festival camping season is over now so it can be stored safely.



Just had my oldest sister on the phone - it will be action stations now as the annual visit is booked for October 17th. Jen will be happy! (NOT) Win has a lot of good points and a lot of bad history with my kids. She's never been married and never lived with kids so visits have always been 'strained' in past years. Jen's the only one left still at home now and dreads 'the visit' from Aunty Win, who is now 74.



Win in turquoise on right



Win is quick to criticize faults in others, many of which she has herself. She got so upset with our other sister coming to visit and tidying up for her, chucking out lots of stuff Win wanted to keep that Win banned her from coming round. They live in adjacent roads - 3 mins walk away. Win has a 4 bedroomed house all to herself but does not have a spare bedroom for visitors to stay in. Every room in her house has stuff stored in it. I dread the time when she passes away and we have the house to clear. She goes to car boot sales almost every week when they are on and always buys something to bring home. She has 'collected' thousands of cookery books, God knows why! She is allergic to so many ingredients she could never eat the dishes shown in the books.

I am learning to control my hoarding habits and actually throwing stuff out right left and centre. I have a pile of hard drives my lovely son Craig extracted from all the old PCs he took to the recycling. God knows what's on them! I will try to find a 'caddy' I can slot them into, to plug in to my current pc and retrieve any old photos off them. I don't think there is anything else I want on there.

Oh lord! time is racing on and all I've done is waffle on here. My stomach is saying it's lunch time. 1pm.

I hope you are fit, well and enjoying life. You only get one life so use it well. xxx

All festivalled out



Home for the weekend



Well...Shrewsbury Folk Festival is now a distant memory, even though it was only 3 weeks ago. I had a good journey up to Shrewsbury and Roz met me at the entrance to the festival site. I was all sorted out with my tent, airbed and bedding within an hour of arrival. The weather outlook for the weekend was a bit iffy - the dreaded showers! You might get lucky and they all miss you, or everyone could come over and dump on you. We were pretty lucky and the few that did manage to drop on us were either night time, while we were snug in our tents, or came during concerts while we were in marquees.



June Tabor with Oysterband



The concert line up for the festival was fantastic and it was really hard to choose who to see. Unfortunately concert times did conflict so I did have to make difficult choices.

The whole weekend was brilliant musically and socially. Met up with the Bosley's from the Bounty Hounds and other friends. Came home on the Tuesday in moderate traffic. Got a huge greeting from Honey.

Jen had taken Honey to the vet on the Friday for me as the sores on her leg needed re-dressing. She made it clear to the vet we were not happy with Honey's treatment as the poor standard of dressing had given Honey sores she need not have suffered. It also prolonged her treatment by 3 weeks. Having her leg bound up the way it was meant she was not putting her leg down to the ground as it made her walk on tip toe, pushing her claws back into her paw. No wonder she was not walking on it! She now has the dressings off and has finished all the anti-biotics and is finally starting to use her paw.

Having had it bound up for so long has caused the tendons to tighten and shorten so now I am having to walk her very slowly to get her to use the leg and massaging her leg and paw to gently stretch the tendons at the back. She is making progress but it is slow.



John, Pete, & Alan - an off duty moment

 This last weekend was Swanage Folk Festival - the one I help organise. It was a hectic time and I found it physically hard. The festival seemed to be successful and enjoyed by all. The concerts were well attended and loads of people frequented the field and patronised the bar! The festival bar ran dry of beer Sunday afternoon - a good sign! The new festival bar we had in the Mowlem theatre ran out of beer during the interval of the Saturday night concert! Right now the treasurer is counting the pennies and pounds collected over the weekend. I am hoping for a nice little profit. It won't be anything like last year's but I do hope it will be well in the black.



Jenny - superstar!



I have had the pleasure of the company of my daughter Jenny for three days. We have been de-cluttering and clearing out. Roughly 20 sacks of old clothes and general rubbish have found their way to the recycling centre. I had a shock as they have moved it! I gaily drove to where it used to be only to find big signs up redirecting dumpers. It has only moved down the road a bit but now we have to climb stairs to drop things into high containers :-( It might be better for their management of things but it's knackering when you have dodgy knees! Clothing into charity skips, wood here, cardboard there, electrical goods over there, metal on the end, etc etc - back and forth with various stuff, up and down the steps to the different skips. Jen's legs got a good work out. I am so grateful to her for her help clearing out.

Love you Jen!

I have been a bit lax with the food of late, takeaway type meals for 2 weekends, and pub meals at odd times in between. I have tried to eat healthily at home in between and the scales say I have not put any weight back on, but I do need to cut down a bit to get that weight coming off again. *sigh*

Tonight is our folk club with Les Barker. He is an amazing comic poet so there will be large doses of laughter tonight - always good for the body and mind. Loads of tickets sold but not quite a sell out.  Just how I like it!

I hope you are in good health and have a fantastic weekend. xxx

Poor Honey

I am fuming. Since having her latest op on her leg Honey has been seeing my own vet weekly to have her leg checked and dressed. A badly padded splint gave Honey sores, a bit like bed sores during the 2nd week. The vet  said the skin was 'bit red', but the vetinerary nurse assured me they'd added extra padding underneatn the splint and she'd be fine. It was a bit better but Honey wasn't happy. They redressed it again the following week and said she was doing well. Honey did not seem to be making much progress with using the leg to walk on, but I put that down to the size of dressing and amount of wadding they had used and the fact she was walking on tip-toe. Yesterday I went back to the VERY expensive orthopaedic vets who x-rayed her leg. They showed me the x-rays and it all looks good. She has a state of the art, thin, lightweight metal plate and 8 pins holding her wrist in place. The bones are well fused now and the op wound site is all clean and healing well. However.... he was very concerned about the scabby crusty sores! There is a high risk of infection in early weeks and having open sores is not good! They gave her 3 injections of various anti-biotics and anti inflammatories and have redressed the leg without the splint.

This dressing has to be checked and changed twice a week at my own vets. As I am away from Thurs to next Tuesday, I have had to ask Jenny to take her Friday and make an appointment for me for late Tuesday. These injections were only necessary because they failed to notice the sores early enough or treat them properly. Otherwise Honey would be bare legged by now and making progress. I am very upset she has been in pain and discomfort at times for weeks. I expected some reaction to the operation and could not tell the source of her discomfort. Now it will be a couple more weeks of treatment before she can get rid of the dressings.

I am so sorry she has had to go through all this. I feel guilty for not making more of a fuss between visits but I had no idea how bad the sores were. Honey did not get the level of care and treatment she needed. I hope this is rectified now.

ok steam let off now... I am calming down.

We said goodbye to Jen's old Mitsubishi Pinin today. After efforts to sell it it for spares or repairs, and only getting piddling offers we have sold it to a scrap dealer for more! They came and collected the car today. It went off in style belching out some ominous smoke (or maybe steam) from the exhaust as the guy drove it off the drive. This is its final journey. Goodbye leaky rusting hulk.  Now Jen can clean up the marks on the drive :-) ... maybe!

I am having a clean around day today clearing the decks before I go away for a few days, off to the wilds of Shropshire and Shrewsbury Folk Festival. The kids are doing a rota over the weekend of houseminding and dog sitting. I hope Honey will be ok.

The kids can fend for themselves LOL.

 The healthy eating is going well and I have lost 9 pounds in about 6 weeks. I hope I can get through this weekend with minimal impact on my weight. I know I won't lose any but I hope I don't put any back on. I am taking fruit with me for breakfasts and snacks.

My tent is already enroute to Shrewsbury and will be all erected by the time I get there so I can move straight in. It is camping but in relative comfort. I have a 4 man tunnel tent to myself. Plenty of headroom to stand up in all parts of the tent. A large bedroom for my super sized double thickness single air bed and a chair. I need something solid to sit on or hold on to getting my knickers on and off LOL I have packed a second quilt, winter thickness just in case it turns cold at night. Past years have had a nip in the air, even a touch of frost by morning! Nothing worse than waking up in the middle of the night with cold feet!

Last year all the local supermarkets sold out of duvets as the cold nights caught out a lot of people.

I just hope it stays dry as much as possible. The forecast is not good but could be worse! Showers do not happen everywhere!

Whatever your plans are for the weekend I hope you have a good one. xx

Food, exercise, aches and pains

I got back from Cropredy to find the dog in fine condition having been fed and watered well by my oldest son and daughter. Thank you both!! I got a huge greeting from Honey and she tried to get on my lap! I have a small lap.
She is a big dog with a banadaged leg. We compromised with her leaning up against me while I cuddled her with my arms round her. Lots of squeaking in pleasure (from her!). Since then she has stuck closely to me, following me everywhere I go. She is going to hate me going away again.

I ate what I fancied at the festival but tried to have the healthier options where possible. I did not have chicken and chips or hot dogs. I did have a buffalo burger once and an organic beef burger once but no chips with it. I had a burrito once - chilli con carne, rice, cheese,  salsa and extremely hot chilli sauce. It was delicious and filling. I twice had the noodles with tempura veg and some chicken dish. A really good plateful and not toooo fattening.
I did put 2 lbs back on over that weekend but I've shifted those plus another pound since coming home. :)
I am following a healthy balanced diet as recommended at the hospital, just watching the portion sizes. They gave portions as individual items, 1 apple, 1 banana, 2 egg sized potatoes, or spoonfuls - easier to visualise a portion than having to weigh it out.

No food is banned but obviously things high in fat and calories like pork pies should be taken infrequently and in small quantities.

They gave guidance on lower calorie alternatives to things or ways to cook foods to reduce the fat content. So I can still have a bacon buttie once or twice a week, but in granary or multi grain bread, with grilled bacon with the fat cut off. Just about halves the calories and still tastes lovely. 

I am also being more active at home now Honey can go walkies again. She is a bit reluctant to walk on her bad leg yet but I think that will improve once the splint and dressings are off. She is going to the Orthopaedic vet Tuesday for a check up and X-ray. ££££ :-( I hope they will leave the dressing off now so she can use her paw more and walk more easily.
While I was at the festival my knees were not too bad on the whole. I walked up and down to the loo and food/drink at regular intervals and stood up and stretched my legs between acts. Since coming home it has been a different matter. Perhaps the hard water here is a factor?
I have had a lot of pain on occasions and woke in the middle of the night Weds night with searing burning pain in both knees. I could not find a pain free position and tossed and turned and wriggled about for about an hour and a half before I could get back to sleep. It may have been the after effects of having the grandsons for the day on Wednesday, but I took them to Wilton House and sat while they ran amok on the adventure playground, so it should not have been a strain on my knees. The pain was not too bad Thursday day time but started up again during the evening while I was at the folk club. I took some Ibuprofen at the club but it only helped reduce the intensity of the pain. My friends even noticed I was not right so it must have been bad. At least it eased off when I went to bed. It was a good evening at the club too! We had a young lady visitor of about 9 or 10 yrs old so I changed what I was going to do. Try listening to the Arrogant Worms' Assumption Song on YouTube.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TywmpMQYojs
It is almost rude, but only in your mind! It is definitely an adults only song! It has the folk club laughing their heads off.

I am now sorting my camping stuff out again ready for Shrewsbury Folk Festival next weekend. The kids are doing house and dog minding in shifts for me while I'm away. I will not put Honey in kennels unless I have no alternative option. I do have an option to consider now though as my neighbours 3 doors down have lost their dog and have not yet got a new one. They have been having friends dogs to stay for holidays so maybe I will have a word with them and see if they would have Honey.



My new tent

 I am happy to have mixed weather at the moment because it increases the chances of a settled few days for Shrewsbury next weekend. I am not too optimistic though because it is a Bank Holiday weekend and notorious for bad weather :-( Last year we had a mini whirlwind slice through the festival site destroying gazebos and flattening tents in a swathe. There were a heap of bent and broken gazebos put out for the rubbish collectors at the end of the festival. We lost ours that day, ending up with a lovely cover and a pile of twisted and snapped poles. They were lucky no one was injured. The site stewards did a valiant job and picked up the debris and tied the remains up in bundles.
I am happy to camp there all weekend. My own tent is spacious and comfortable and my double height air bed is very comfortable. I am taking an extra duvet as the nights can get very cold! If I get desperate I can sleep in my dressing gown, a warm soft fluffy one.

As all the concerts are under cover there is not so much need for good wet weather clothes. Just an umbrella to get from A to B will do, rather than golfing umbrellas and waterproof ponchos you need when sitting out in the open.

I am out to a dinner party tonight with a bunch of friends, 9 of us I think :-). Looking forward to it.
Hope you have a good weekend wherever you are and whatever you are up to. xx

More Cropredy

I've covered the music side of things in the previous blog, now for the fun side.

I had a brand new tent for this festival. John helped me find a good one and it was on half price offer so not only is it spacious but it's a bargain too! I've gone for a tunnel type. My only 2 requirements for a tent was I had to be able to stand up in it, and it had to have a separate inner bedroom. The one I got is actually a 4 man tent but to fit in the sleeping space you'd have to have 4 stick insect people with tapered coffin type sleeping bags. It would just about take 3 air beds, but not if they are all the size of mine LOL. As I have trouble getting down on the floor and even more trouble getting up I have invested in a double height air bed that is a metre wide too. Room to roll over without falling out!It is brilliantly comfortable too and no danger of your bum hitting the ground if it deflates a little. With 2 separate air compartments, it's got twice as much air between me and the ground.
I only used a light weight 4 TOG duvet at Cropredy and was just right but I know the night time temp at Shrewsbury can drop quite a lot so I will be taking my 10 TOG too. If it gets REALLY cold I can use both!
We tried sitting in a different spot at Cropredy and thoroughly enjoyed our choice. We got space on the front edge of the back half of the field, with a wide walkway in front of us. Easy to get in and out to the bar, toilets and food outlets and a steady procession of all kinds of humanity passing by (some may be questionable on their status but presumed human), and some canine specimens, many sporting trendy kerchiefs.
One lucky family found a stray dog on the road to Cropredy, no collar, tag or microchip and after checking with police decided to keep the dog themselves. She was a toffee coloured greyhound/saluki cross by the look of her and so sweet natured. I was tempted to offer to have her myself but she looked happy with her new adoptive family and they were delighted to have her. They already have 2 dogs so one more is not such a burden. I don't think my Honey would have been impressed if I had returned, after three days away without her, with another dog in tow. I do hope she is happy with her new family. Well done you kind people!

God knows why but loads of people attending festivals seem to wear the most weird outfits. The general rule is every article of clothing must be a totally different colour and/or pattern to any other. Stupid hats are essential. If you wear wellies they have to be coloured and patterned to clash with everything else. Same goes for Crocs/sandals, the more outlandish the colour the better.

Young pretty girls HAVE to wear skimpy tops and short skirts or shorts, often over multi coloured and patterned tights or leggins. Young men have to wear T-shirts with rude slogans on. Old men have to wear T shirts that don't quite cover the beer belly promoting their favourite brewer of real ale, or some ancient rock concert they went to in 1973.  Anything goes in the way of hats. The bigger and more colourful the better.

I think everyone goes to a festival for a variety of reasons. Some go to meet up with old friends and talk incessantly. Some go to drink the three days away in traffic free safety. Some go to people watch.  Some go to eat their way round the world. Some even go to enjoy the music! Mostly people are tolerant of others needs, but there are a few at any festival who just do what they like with no regard for those around them.
You know who you are... the ones who insist on standing up and gassing away with mates with their backs to the stage, ignoring the music, and blocking the view of a huge swathe of the crowd sitting behind them. Never mind they are the only ones standing up in a sea of seats. I just wish they didn't stand in front of ME! Ok I am being a little unfair - this time round, the seating position meant we did not have to suffer the standers, just the odd photographer stopping right in front of us to take a shot of the superb view we had of the stage :-( Or occasionally friends meeting on the walkway going in opposite directions and stopping to chat. If they were there more than a couple of minutes there were usually shouts of 'move or sit down please' from the crowd behind us. How lovely to be with the oldies who can't stand up for the duration any more LOL

Having people walking past in front of us did not put me off, in fact I loved it! Could see all sorts passing us and many friends stopped to chat with us :-) It was amusing to see how drunk some people got and how hard it was for them to walk/stagger across the slope of the field.

It was also tempting when people walked past with plates of lovely smelling food all day and night long. It was the usual festival rip-off - a burger for £4 or £4.50 for a cheeseburger (organic meat or buffalo but still pricey). Fish and chips for £8. A platter of veggie salad or mixed veggie curries for £9 a plate!
The best value I found was a Japanese noodle bar - heap of noodles with veg, a ladle full of sweet and sour chicken or chicken in black bean sauce, and a pile of tempura veggies all for £7.50 - delicious too! The only problem being by the time you get it to your seat it's all stone cold.

There were the usual jacket potato stalls, chicken and chips, crepes, pies, pasties, Indian food, Chinese, and several vegetarian stalls. I did not see the Caribbean food people there, they may have been in a different slot or just not there. I do like a bit of jerk chicken, rice and peas, not to mention their rum cake! Maybe they will be at Shrewsbury August Bank Holiday weekend.

If you have never been to a music festival then do give it a try sometime. I recommend a folk festival as they are more relaxed than most and generally friendlier. The toilets are usually cleaner too!

If you are planning a visit to a festival then go and enjoy ... and don't forget your orange, green and purple spotted wellies! xx

Fairport's Cropredy Convention 2011

WOWWWW!! What a weekend! I spent 3 days in a field in North Oxfordshire at a festival called Fairport's Cropredy Convention. This has been running for  over 30 years and brings in somewhere in the region of 25,000 people currently. There are generations of 'Croppers' people. Couples meet there, get engaged there, celebrate wedding anniversaries, and bring along their children from tiny babies to young adults. Ther are many mature Cropredy attendees, aging along with the 'boys' of fairport Convention.

The gates are open

Is it a folk festival?  a little. A rock festival? a little. Is it good fun? Oh YES!! It's warm and friendly and highly enjoyable. Are there chemical toilets? Yes rows of thunder boxes, kept clean and well stocked with tissues! There are also posher flushing loos on trailers for the priviledged, as well as showers for all. There are acres of camping, well laid out and organised, and stacks of food outlets for the hungry masses.
The music? Well....we had an opening set from Fairport themselves in their acoustic mode to get everyone in the mood. Some younger performers then held stage, Katriona Gilmore & Jamie Roberts, followed by Blair Dunlop who's only 19! Kat & Jamie are lovely and performed a wide variety of songs delightfully. Some more senior artists followed in the form of the Home Service, headed by John Tams (he who sang in 'Sharpe') supported by a group including a brass section which gave them a real depth to the sound. They have been apart for nearly 25 years and recently reformed, and had the crowd at Cropredy ecstatic. The 'mosh pit' really came to life with them in full swing.

 The next band were Hayseed Dixie - a hill-billy AC-DC style band. Rocking with amazing banjo playing. They were loud, funny, clever, and highly entertaining. A great find for Cropredy. Headlining the thursday night were UB40. THE UB40 (Red red wine etc) Lovely music! So easy to listen to and so polished. A great set to go to sleep too after a long day LOL I could not make the end of the set so I headed to bed.

We were camped in the guests field just in behind the stage area along with many of the artists, just a short walk from the main stage field. So it did not talke me long to stagger to the loo then fall into my bed. Even with the band still blaring out I was gone in minutes. I did wake a few times but just to roll over and sleep on. The group of young ladies in the tent next to us were late night chatters and seemed to be still talking around 2 am +.



We had a an early wake up call as the first train of the day went past at 6.30am full of poor commuters heading to London no doubt. But I managed to sleep on after that excitement. The next tent the other side had a very new baby who demanded a feed at 6.30 too so it was all go! We finally gave in to the noises around us at about 8. A full bladder necessitated a hurried dressing and a short walk to the toilet trailer. We had a great coffee and some breakfast before relaxing for an hour or so listening to the sound checks.



Filling up!



We had planned where we were going on the field, a different spot to previous years. We used to head to an area near the front of the seated bit and in the middle to get a good view. This was a nightmare once the field filled up around us and we found no clear pathway through the masses to get to the bar/loos/food. We also had problems come the evening when the mosh pit standing crowd spread back up the slope and engulfed us. My crook knees stopped me standing for more than the odd song and sititng down on a chair in the middle of a standing, dancing crowd was scary and stopped me seeing anything on stage.

This year we sat further back, almost twice the distance from the stage but so much more civilised. We had a great view of the stage and BIG screen for the whole weekend, and by sitting by the walkway across the field, it was easy to get in and out and meet and greet people walking past. We only had the occasional stander-upper and they got shouted down by those sitting behind them! Yayy seated oldies rule!! The stewards and safety officers kept the walkway clear so it was a super spot to sit. It was also closer to the bar so got a big tick from John. He spent most of the festival 'networking' with other festival organisers, and various artists at the bar :-)

Friday was THE day for great bands and top music. The music went from mid-day to midnight and not a dud anywhere. We had this year's BBC young folk musicians award winners Moore, Moss & Rutter opening - very folky and great young musicians. The Travelling band followed them with something much more rock than folk or country and had the mosh pit jumping. Great stuff! Steve Tilston and the Durbervilles gave us something more sedate but no less enjoyable, a bit more folk and not quite so rock but still lively.

Charlie Dore was on next and gave us a lovely set of her own songs plus a few covers.
One of the highlights of the weekend for me personally was the Dylan Project, just superb music - Bob Dylan's songs but done the Dylan band style, more rock than anything else - not a cover band - just great music. Following them we had The Urban Folk Quartet who were very folky and brilliant!
The Coral - yes THE Coral followed them and were noisy and very rock and good.
The night closed with the wonderful Seasick Steve, highly entertaining and enjoyable.
We slept like logs despite the noises around us - usual camp site stuff, dogs barking, babies crying, all night drinkers, girls chatting etc etc.
Saturday dawned bright and warm - we were so lucky with the weather all weekend - cloudy mostly but dry! with occasional sunny spells.
Saturday's programme was  Richard Digance, The Shee, the Blockheads, Lau, Horslips, Badly Drawn Boy, and the big final set from Fairport Convention & friends.



Hankie waving with Digance

 Richard Digance makes a very funny warm up man and got the crowd going. He told stories and jokes and sang a few songs, including one with actions for the crowd to participate in (see photo) everyone waving hankies.

The Shee were an excellent all girl folk band, fairly traditional with a Celtic touch now and then.

The Blockheads were brilliant and got everyone rocking.
Lau were technically superb but oh so boring with their long drawn out Celtic tunes. Watching 3 men sitting on stage is not visually entertaining for an hour, even if they were brilliant musicians.
The act everyone wanted to see were Horslips. This is an Irish rock band from the 70's, reformed in 2007 and now packing venues. There was a passing nod to Celtic folk but most of it was just pure rock n roll! They were amazing and loved by everyone. The queue for autographs was half way up the field by the time they came off stage.

Badly Drawn Boy now has a new name - Foul Mouthed Badly Behaved Boy. A great singer-songwriter BUT way too much bad language for a family festival with loads of children. And he swore at the sound guys!

The final set with Fairport was brilliant! Ralph McTell joined them and a few more friends for a great finale.
Roll on 2012.!!

Busy Times

Now where shall I start? Honey first I think. She has had her stitches out and all is looking good, BUT she is still reluctant to put much weight on the leg. I think the problem is the splint and bandages which are keeping her foot vertical so she is walking 'en pointe' or toe tips like a ballerina. A bit painful to do it that way! The bandages should be off soon and she will be able to walk on her pads again and be more comfortable. I have had to battle with her about going upstairs. It is obviously awkward for her to go up, and more painful and awkward coming down. Yesterday she actually fell down the last couple of stairs as she lost her balance on 3 legs :-(

I have put the box back to stop her going upstairs during the day just to kip on my bed. Last night I slept on the sofa again so she would sleep downstairs and not try the stairs. She is one stubborn dog and prefers to be near me even if it's painful getting there. I do hope the op is successful this time.

I went to the diabetic clinic with Linda Wednesday. It's a special session for newly diagnosed diabetics and gave us some really useful information. There are two more sessions to go, 2 hours a time. They weighed me in and according to their scales I've lost about 2 kilos/5lbs since I started managing my food better. I've also not shrunk as much as I thought I had, measuring bang on 5ft 4 ( I used to be 0.75 inches taller). I think I should become a bat and sleep hanging upside down to stretch out my spine at night ;-)  I can tell I've lost a bit of weight because the roll below my boobs has shrunk and I can see my belly below now :-( Hopefully I will soon see past that!



Bongo



I am trying to resist scratching. I went out for the day yesterday with my son to Longleat, where I collected a couple of very small but VERY itchy insect bites.

We did not 'do' the stately home, much as I'd love to see the things the eccentric Lord Bath has done to it. We did the 'safari' first with a leisurely drive through the huge paddocks. The animals are mostly blase about cars and stroll around ignoring them.

We had a very close encounter with a large long horned African Bongo (I think it was). He decided to cross the road right in front of us.

He did not move too quickly either.



white rhino



We saw a load of African antelopes and cattle, giraffes, zebra and rhinos. The rhinos were impressive, and luckily for us they were happily grazing.

We drove on and by-passed the monkey enclosure. We could see cars driving through it covered in monkeys, all fiddling with aerials and loving roof racks to hold on to LOL. I value my car too much to risk it.



Tigers



We saw the tigers at play - the dull weather was not condusive to much activity, and they were very lethargic.

We moved on to the lions and they were brilliant. One pride were just sitting around on a mound, but the next enclosure's pride were out in the long grass, perfectly camouflaged, with some cubs frolicking and the male just lying right on the edge of the grass by the road.



Lion



Lion cub



The cars were driving past him only a foot or 2 away from his bum. I did note he'd tucked his tail round the side so it didn't get run over! I did briefly wonder if he was stuffed and placed for the tourists to photograph but his head did move now and then so I think he was real. The cubs were lovely! about half adult size and playful.

The wolves were all lying down in longish grass and barely visible but looked happy. After the safari, we headed to the cafe for some lunch. I had jacket potato with beans and cheese and salad, and a nice coffee. Lovely! After lunch we headed to the Animal Kingdom and smaller animals you can see up close. I spent nearly half an hour in with my favourites, the meerkats.

Our path, which had low open fencing to keep us in, wound its way through the centre of the meerkats den area and the meerkats ran around, through the fencing and across the path, stopping to inspect and sniff bare toes. The secret was to keep moving or you might get a nip! They are such delightful creatures.

There were many other animals, such as porcupine, anteaters, mara and otters - always a delight to see playing.

If anyone is thinking of going, don't bother with the train ride! It is popular with families but everyone who came off it was moaning it was boring.

The last thing we did was go and see the birds of prey flying display. Superb!! Don't miss it! You'll leave loving vultures!

Ah I nearly forgot the deer - herds of fallow and red deer out in the paddocks on safari, and a herd of fallow deer, near the bird of prey display, you can feed.



The deer were so soft and gentle and well used to being fed by visitors, with feed on sale by enclosure.

All in all it was a lovely day out, and I managed all the walking ok, but had had enough by home time. My knees were aching like mad today :-(

It was nice having time with my son too.

Thanks for the company, James xx

I hope you all have a great week ahead. Take care xx

Not So Sweet

Update on Honey first. She saw our vet Tuesday and has had the dressing changed. There is still considerable bruising but it's looking clean and dry and no sign of infection. They re-dressed it with her fully conscious and unsedated and she was as good as gold having it done. The model patient! They also managed to clip her claws which have grown at a rate of knots as she has not been getting the amount of exercise she got previously. To restrict her movement around the house, I had used a huge TV packaging box as a stair gate. My stairs are wide and the gap is too big for a standard baby gate. The box sat on the bottom step and filled the gap perfectly. I just swung it out far enough to get through the gap at one end, like a hinged gate. Honey watched me doing this a few times and was not happy when I went upsatirs to bed at night, leaving her to sleep downstairs. She finally worked out that a bit of a nose at one end of the box moved it enough for her to slink past it and up the stairs. She joined me in the middle of the night! She also managed to make it down again in the morning but VERY slowly. I am not too happy about letting her up but at least this way we both get a decent night's sleep. She was waking and getting distressed several times in the night, waking me up with her whining/crying so I went to see her to make sure she was ok. Now it's bed time together and peace all night (apart from my snoring! :-D)

I have been undergoing tests to sort out my old decrepit body. My BP is ok and does not need medication. My cholesterol is too high for my doc's happiness so I am now starting on statins. I have had 3 tests for diabetes which have come back positive finally. It's caught early but because of my weight and age doc has put me on Metformin and a controlled diet. *sigh* so I am off down the Diabetic clinic next Wednesday with my friend Linda, who has also just been diagnosed glucose intolerant. She is a few years younger than me and not nearly so overweight so at the moment she is on diet only control. So we will support each other with diabetic stuff and get to Weightwatchers or Slimming World together. Good job we have a laugh together!



Before the rain - coming up behind us



It's only 3 weeks to Fairport's Cropredy Convention and I am getting excited about it. It does mean camping but it's a fun few days and very relaxing.

They have a great line up for this year, including UB40, Horslips, Seasick Steve and many many more.

Most years it's around 25,000 people in one field in Oxforshire a few miles from Banbury. Three nights of amazing bands and music. The only down side is it's all in the open air and subject to the vaguaries of an English summer.



One of the warm sunny spells



 There's somewhere in the region of 30+ food stalls all round the field and I love the variety on offer. Best eaten at the stalls though as the food chills off quickly trying to get it back to your seat which is.....somewhere

Oh the joys of festivals!

Back to square one - almost

Well here we go again. Honey has had her op. They've inserted more bone grafts in the wrist and a small plate and pins (Plate £270, 4 pins @ £67 each) and they've splinted up her leg so it's all in a straight line and she's walking on tip toe on that leg. It's nowhere near as bulky as the external frame was so she is moving ok. There was a terrible amount of bruising from the op all round her shoulder and her leg was obviously sore for the first few days. She seems much perkier now and even asked to go walkies tonight!!
However she is not allowed anywhere for a month and must remain on the lead when she goes out to pee and poo in the garden. The BIG issue has been her tablets. In the past I popped the pills inside a slit in a chunk of sausage and she just swallowed them down. Now she is wise to tablets and won't take a treat without biting into it and spitting out any pill she finds *sigh* I tried grinding up the tablets in her food and she would not touch it, preferring to go hungry.The 'pop the pill down the throat' technique is very tricky with a dog who knows what's coming and wriggles her tongue around so much it's almost impossible to get it in her throat without choking her. She holds it as long as it takes then spits it out when you release her mouth. I found strips of bacon wrapped round the pills like a tiny parcel worked for a day or so, but last night she realised what I was doing and mouthed the bacon until the pill dropped on the floor. That dog is too smart!
The bruising is fading now thank goodness and she seems much brighter. She has to go see my own vet this week to have the dressing changed on her leg and it all looks fine at the moment. I wonder what colour bandage they will use? She has fluorescent pink at the moment!
I have blocked off the stairs so she can't go up for a while. It's not the going up that's a problem. I am sure she could do it. It's the coming down that's the problem, putting a lot of strain on her leg as she can't make it on three legs and it's too early to risk it. I want this op to be 100% successful!

Not Jen's but similar

Why do bad things come in bunches? Jen's car is terminally sick.
It does go but not well and is basically falling apart. The list of parts needed comes to around £2500 plus labour and VAT. It is time to send it to the scrap heap or sell it on E-Bay or in Gumtree. I am lending Jen money to get herself a car - small and economical to run but big enough to meet her needs - looking at Focus/Golf/Jazz sized cars - diesel preferably. Nothing French or Italian. Preferably Japanese like a Honda or Mitsubishi, or a common as muck Ford. NOT a 4x4!!


The flat roof over the kitchen extension is leaking and needs re-doing - more money!

Honey's problems limit my activities a bit, but now John has had a nasty fall trying to get stuff up into his loft. He did that ok, but the ladder got jammed and while attempting to free it he fell down, sliding down the ladder scraping a load of skin off and landing on his back. He's shaken, bruised and sore but seems ok otherwise. He will be achey for a few days after the jarring. I just pray he's not done any damage to his back and neck.

I've had to cancel plans for a holiday in October and hopefully make it next spring now. I was going to rent a holiday home with Linda for a week and take Honey and Linda's guide dog with us, but the money situation will be tight for a while, and Honey is not mobile yet either. :( But we will make it some time.

It's Folk Festival season and I've got 2 coming up in August - both camping!!
I just hope my aching bones will survive it all!

Hope life is good for you xxx