The Days of our Lives.

“Like sands through the hourglass, so are the days of our lives.”I underestimated my new role. I foolishly imagined it to be very similar to the days Dulcie and I had spent together before the hospital.It has not been an easy week but the last two days have been an improvement upon the ones before.Will is working all this week. He has three days at his Chelmer Kindergarten but is working Thursday and Friday at another Kindergarten covering for an absence.I was a little daunted at facing the week alone but....and I am touching wood...all has been fairly plain sailing.Last week was a big learning curve...for the both of us.Dulcie has learned that even though she expected to, she cannot do what she used to do. Being the very independent soul she is it has also been hard to swallow the constant reminders of her ‘hip precautions’. There was some rebellion, particularly when I was the one reminding, but we seem to have got past that. It is not helped in that her short term memory is not as it was and even the smallest effort is tiring, so when she finally reached a chair all she wants to do is flop down and not think of ‘brakes, arms first.’I have learned that things are not going to be as they were. I am sure that things will settle down but at the moment I am her shadow and she is rarely out of my sight.The TCP (Transition Care Programme) has been very good. I told you that on the day I asked about a wheel chair...we got it that day. (We have not used it yet but it is still early days.) Since then Dulcie is now wearing a personal alarm necklace around her neck. When she needs to she presses the red button upon it and it calls the Vitalcall centre who ring and over a loud speaker ask if there is an emergency. So sensitive is the microphone that they will pick up Dulcie’s reply even if she is at the other end of the house. They then will contact Will, I and the emergency services. Bob the Builder...(a real one!) came on Monday and has fitted a key safe that will allow emergency services access if the door is locked. He is also going to fit extra rails to the stairs front and back and bars in the bathroom.Dulcie has had daily shower help. There have been three different helpers and they have all been lovely. We had a podiatrist coming tomorrow to tend her feet and still await a visit from a dietician re meal supplements. She has had regular physio and yesterday it took the form of a trip down the stairs and a walk down the road a little way. It tired her out.She has since the end of last week developed a nasty cold. We could so do without it.She has a cough which sounds very loose so on Saturday I went to the chemist to get some cough medicine to help her get rid of it. On Sunday we called the doctor worried that it would settle on her chest. S he had no fever and her chest sounded clear so he was happy that we just continue as we were. She is still struggling with it and is finding it slightly harder to breathe but is not constantly coughing and still has no fever.We were woken this morning by the phone at 7.30 am. Annette was coming at 8.00 am to do the shower! In the end we sent her away. Dulcie did not feel up to it as the rush to get up and ready tired her out and the morning was chilly We have not been for a walk today....again she is not up to it. She needs to conserve her energy to fight this cold. This afternoon she has dozed on and off in her chair....She does not normally do that...she must need it.I get her medication when she needs it, bring her drinks and heat the wheat bag that alleviates the arthritic pain in her arm. Today I have hovered and washed her bedding, wiped the kitchen shelves and cleaned the curtain rails.“I used to do that,” she said.“Well, now you’ve retired....and you can watch me do it,” I said.“Like sands through the hourglass, so are the days of our lives.”

Corned meat!

I only ever thought that corned beef came out of a tin....I had never seen anyone make it themselves until I came here.Since October there has always been some in the fridge....unless we had pickled pork for a change.....but not for the last 8 weeks.Will bought a silverside joint yesterday and today I made my first corned meat.Luckily I had Dulcie on hand to talk me through it.I washed the joint and then placed it in a large saucepan and covered it with water. I added a cup of vinegar, a tablespoon of sugar, a little ground nutmeg and a small peeled onion (whole).I slowly brought the water to the boil and then simmered the meat for an hour before turning it and simmering again for another 20 minutes.Job done.Place in the fridge when cool and you have meat for sandwiches for days galore!

Dulcie's Date Pudding.

First you need:1/2 a cup of brown sugar1 cup of chopped dates100 g of butter1 tsp of mixed spiceA little ground nutmeg1 cup of milkPut all these ingredients into a saucepan on the stove and bring to the boil, when boiling remove from the heat and add a level teaspoon of bicarb of soda.Mix this in well....(the mixture froths up). When mixed well add 1 and a 1/4 cups of self raising flour and mix this in.Scrape the mixture into a pudding basin, cover with foil  and place into  a covered saucepan, 1/4 full of simmering water for 2 hours.Serve with home made egg custard.

Upstairs, Downstairs.

"Something is rotten in the Man Cave"

I think that, perhaps, the 'Ratsak' has worked for there is a definite unpleasant odour about the place.Sadly, there is nothing we can do about it at the moment as we are returned upstairs on 'leg crossing' watch.The Man Cave has become a dumping ground for all manner of junk displaced from the garage due to the building work down there.It is still not fully completed but we do now have a fully functioning toilet and shower beneath the house.When Shirley comes up next week, and trusting that all building work will be complete, we will have a chance to get down there, sort everything out and find the deceased creature.Shirley's arrival at the end of next week also heralds the chance for us to get away up to Frogknot for a few days around the 28th.We are looking forward to that.