Nine Feet Underground

Perhaps it's me getting older, but it feels like it's getting colder. Today I've learnt what 'Plunderphonics' is. Apart from today being a jolly old working day, I've had a lunchtime call with E's dietitian to discuss her feeding regime.  Based on the nurse's measurements of E's upper arm, she appears to be losing weight since she left hospital at the back-end of last year.  We had switched her to a lower calorie feed before last year's 'incidents' because she was putting on weight. Now it looks like we need to switch her back to the higher calorie feed so that her weight stabilises. Typical. We've just had a month's supply of feed delivered today! Over lunch I helped son #1 fill out a form for university regarding his situation and role as a carer and respite carer when I'm not around. The admin from Monday's call is mostly complete or in progress so he can now focus (from tomorrow, at least) on getting assignments done. ...

Fridays have lost their edge a bit these days.  On the plus side, no work tomorrow, on on the negative side, food shopping to do, and not much else other than not-work. I won't bother to say what today's all about, because it's the same as the previous three days.  Made an early trip to the Post Office at 9 a.m. to get some things off in time to be delivered tomorrow, fingers crossed. Cause not necessarily leading to effect. We're planning to have slow-cooked leg of lamb tonight and son #2 decides to put it on first thing, which I agree to though I tell him I can't help as I have calls to attend.   As promised he gets the dinner on - smells great and is making me feel hungry - though he doesn't have time to clear up the debris.  When I take a break from the screen and headset I survey the battlefield.  I can't leave it as it is and clear everything up, washing things and putting the some things in the dishwasher. After 10 or 15 minutes I have the kitch...

Awoke to the sound of rain on my window, so got up in a leisurely fashion, just in time to be downstairs when the first carer of the day arrived. Amongst the various indulgences of this week off, I've been slowly making progress through this month's book club book, 'The Binding'.  It is an odd book. It started off as one thing, which I liked for its gothic and occult leanings, then it changed and seemed to be heading in a Dickensian direction, before another change (all occult aspects gone) into a bucolic, rural romance, with a twist (though one rather strongly telegraphed), and I still have around 170 pages to go.  I must admit I've found the rural romance less interesting than the occult beginnings.  There is still a mystery to unravel, but it seems the answer may be rather prosaic, when it's revealed.  It needs to change soon, or it will lose my interest and finishing it will be a struggle. Especially as it is competing with 'Ulysses' for my attentio...

An energetic start to the day. Up at 6am, ready to do Pranayama yoga at 6:55am. Thirty minutes Pranayama (breathing exercises) and - surprise for today - the teacher added 15 minutes of Surya Namaskar (salute to the sun) on to the end, making a 45-minute session!  If you've done Surya Namaskar you'll know it's a fairly energetic sequence of 12 linked poses / asanas. Just the thing to wake me and get me ready to go... ...food shopping at around 8:15am. As mentioned somewhere back in these diary entries, I've found food shopping a challenge in these lockdown days. Today was my second day shopping with a phone app called 'AnyList' and I'm beginning to find it really useful.  I create a list and share it with my sons (they have to have the app as well) and they can read the list and add to it. This means they are responsible for making sure things they need aren't forgotten. This is working rather well.  The other essential feature is you can duplicate li...