Indefatigable

Indefatigable is definitely not me. Even at my best, in my early childhood and in my youth, as an asthmatic I could only do so much and then I would tire and have to rest awhile until my breathless wheezing would subside.

And more recently I really struggled for such a long time with my breathing and extreme fatigue after I caught Covid, pre-vaccination. It’s now been almost two and a half years since I had it, and although I am without doubt a million times better than I was back then I’m still not quite back up to my pre-Covid energy levels, and I’ve come to terms with the fact that there’s going to be no magic spell to wave it all away, this is just what is and Covid has left its invisible mark on me, like it or not.

But I still do what I can, when I can – if I feel like it, of course. Although nowadays it is usually reduced mobility and arthritic hip pain that slows me down before my restricted breathing or extreme fatigue kicks in, so its not nearly so noticeable anyway. I necessarily take my time and I always pace myself, so without question I’m even more of a plodding tortoise than an energetic hare than I was before! 🙂

Ragtag Daily Prompt: Indefatigable

Fandango’s One Word Challenge: Subside

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Forgive Our Foolish ways

I’m not at all religious but I nevertheless grew up singing all the traditional hymns of the era along with the best of them – mostly in school, but also in church on whatever special occasion brought me there. So when I saw Fandango’s One Word Challenge prompt word of ‘foolish’ today I was very surprised that my first reaction was to start singing the hymn ‘Dear Lord and Father of mankind’ – only the first verse mind, it’s all I know off by heart!

It goes like this:

Dear Lord and Father of mankind, 
Forgive our foolish ways!
Re-clothe us in our rightful mind,
In purer lives, Thy service find,
In deeper reverence praise,
In deeper reverence praise. 

I sang it right through with no hesitation and without even thinking about it, yet I honestly don’t know the last time I actually sang that hymn anywhere of any consequence… it was obviously one of the hymns we were required to sing regularly as kids, as both the tune and lyrics seem to have stuck firmly in my mind all these years later 🙂

Change of Plan

Due to circumstances outside all of our control there’s been a change of plan, so my expected sojourn has necessarily been cut short and I find myself back home early, so I’m back to blogging, too, for the time being at least… 🙂

Fandango’s One Word Challenge: Sojourn

Ragtag Daily Prompt: Find

No Fanatic

No fanatic, that doesn’t appeal
No religious, political zeal
But I strongly opine
When occasions define
It important to say what I feel
I’ve a feminist core through and through
Believe women are equal, that’s true
So when cultural norms
Hold that feminine forms
Count far less in the greater world view
I must stand on my soap box and shout
At those men who keep shutting us out
Women’s right to be heard
Should not be so absurd
An idea as to raise any doubt
That as women and men share this land
Not one sex has the right to demand
Harmful views that negate
Or restrict someone’s fate
Become law, keep imbalance in hand
Yet the world spins, men still tend to rule
Over women – they’re nobody’s fool
Weaker sex kept in place
So weak men can keep face
Think they’re clever for being so cruel
Will things ever change? I hope they can
Become better for woman and man
Opportunities rise
As male stranglehold dies
True equality, equally planned…

Fandango’s One Word Challenge: Fanatic

PS It seems ridiculous to feel the need to add a disclaimer to my little lighthearted, tongue-in-cheek ditty for today’s prompt from Fandango – but this is simply my opinion, posted on my blog. I’m not a man-hater, nor do I believe that all men are inherently entitled, arrogant bullies, although it’s true that many are. But the fact remains that women’s rights, including those that have already been fought for and hard-won by generations of activists over decades, are now being eroded the world over – not only in countries where girls are denied an education and women denied a career, but also in countries where women are denied rights over their own bodies.

Another Camellia!

There are two small camellia bushes in our back garden, and in the four years we have lived here neither bush has flowered profusely, giving one or two flowers a year if we’re lucky.

However this year the largest bush has eight buds on it – two are currently in full flower, two are in the process of opening, and four remain closed as yet, but I’m elated that we finally have multiple flowers! 🙂

Flower of the Day

Fandango’s One Word Challenge: Elated

Large Tree from the Bottom Up

Cee’s Fun Foto Challenge this week is asking for anything large – so here is an unusual view of a large tree, taken from the very bottom looking straight up the trunk towards the branches 🙂

Fandango’s One Word Challenge: Unusual

Procure or Endure

Wish I had the spare funds to procure
A new hip but I’m really not sure
Just how long I must wait
For an NHS date
Until then I must simply endure…

Just to say, I’m not really complaining about the NHS here, I think we have a potentially workable healthcare system here in the UK that is currently in complete crisis.

I certainly sympathise with the bloody awful situation the NHS is in post-pandemic (not that it was in the most robust of states before Covid, for that matter), and I know from personal experience just how hard individual staff members work on each shift.

If I’m complaining about anything it would be the Government having consistently demanded blood out of a stone year on year, well beyond the point of the NHS being left able to provide a manageable service.

But it’s still really frustrating to be on the receiving end of ever-expanding years-long waiting lists for debilitating health things (like my arthritic hip) to be treated with surgery.

It seems I will have to have completely ground to a halt joint-wise before anything can be done on the NHS with regard to them offering me a total hip replacement… sigh!

Fandango’s One Word Challenge: Procure

Dismay

Typically, on the day I’ve posted ‘F is for Fear of Failure’ in my A-Z Challenge about painting, I find I’m stressing about a particular painting in progress that may actually be a potential fail.

Ironically, part of the reason I’m so stressed about this particular painting is because it’s supposed to be getting done for my A-Z post tomorrow, and the added stress of feeling the need to paint a ‘good’ painting for sharing on my blog is basically making a mountain out of a mole-hill.

And as if to add insult to injury the A-Z guys have helpfully posted ‘F is for Fun’, reminding us that the challenge is always supposed to be fun… Ha! They are, of course, entirely correct…

So today I feel a bit dismayed and disappointed with myself that I’m letting it all bother me so much. It’s a painting, that’s all. Pigment put onto paper with the help of a brush and a little water. And I’ll either work out a way to make this one work, try to paint it again, or I’ll paint something else instead.

Oh yeah, and I’ll also remind myself to get a life, too! 🙂

Fandango’s One Word Challenge: Dismay

By and By…

There’s no way would I say I was spry
I’ve an arthritic hip, and that’s why
With a limp and a cane
And a healthy refrain
I walk slowly, and rest by and by…

Fandango’s One Word Challenge: Spry

The Non-Plan Plan

I’m still unclear about getting my head around participating in this year’s April Blogging from A-Z Challenge.

Part of me wants to take part as I usually do, particularly as this year (I’m not actually working at the moment) I have far more time to give to planning and writing in advance than I’ve had in previous years.

But another part of me wants to hold on to the non-plan plan approach, not set myself so much pressure to perform, and just wing it nearer the time…

Fandango’s One Word Challenge: Plan