Extreme Knitting Redhead: It never rains but it pours!

Wednesday, January 16, 2008

It never rains but it pours!

What dreadful weather we've been having for the last week - torrential rain and gale-force winds. Horrid! The fields are totally waterlogged and yesterday was so bad that the horses just stayed in their field shelters all day, poor things. I even had to do my run on the treadmill, which I don't usually enjoy but there was no way I could have run outside.

Today, however, there was some respite. The wind died away and the sun shone all day. It was glorious and I treated myself to a 9 mile loop through the village and round Northiam. This is a view of Bodiam Castle from the village. You can just see a bit of water on the right of the photo and in the next one you can see more of it. This is where the River Rother has overflowed and not a photo of the Lake District! Thankfully, the sheep have been moved from these fields or they'd have been swimming!

I just had to take a photo of these 2 little beauties asleep in the hay manger whilst mum caught 40 winks herself. Aren't they adorable? They were born just after Christmas so were earlier than expected.

On the knitting front, I have only got another 6 squares to do then my Modern Quilt Wrap will be finished (well, apart from darning in hundreds of ends!)

1 comment:

TutleyMutley said...: I only noticed some lambs in the fields for the first time yesterday - it's so unseasonably warm I forgot that it's lambing time! Lovely pic. Where's a pic of your quilt?; January 20, 2008 at 6:08:00 PM PST

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Mum's Story

In 1997 my mother, then aged 81, had a series of minor strokes. Shortly after that we started to notice behavioural changes notably memory loss and confusion over everyday items. We thought it was just old age finally catching up with her. Then she started wandering and had violent mood swings. Although she already lived with us it became obvious that she couldn't be left alone for long and so I left my job to care for her. The next few years saw a gradual decline into the blackness that is 'vascular dementia'. My normally placid mum became violent and aggressive. She had psychotic incidents where she would see imaginary people (children hiding in her wardrobe, Russians sitting on the stairs, women stealing her clothes) and she would shout at them and sometimes throw things too. She was so convincing that we used to go and check that there wasn't anyone there! When my sister died mum did not know who Judy was or that she was her daughter. There came a point when I suddenly realised she no longer knew that I was her daughter and this was a terrible time for me. In the last 2 years that she lived with us, life for us all became almost unbearable as she needed 24 hour care - she couldn't be left alone at all because she would either wander off or hurt herself, she never slept for more than 30 minutes at a time during the night, she became incontinent and incapable of doing anything for herself. Finally my husband and I realised that we could no longer provide her with the care that she needed and she went to live in a special care home where the team did a splendid job caring for her in the last few months of her life. There she lived a zombified existence unaware of who she was, what she was or where she was. It was heartbreaking. She died in March 2005, the day after her 89th birthday.

Thank you for taking the time to read mum's story and I hope you'll dig deep and sponsor me using the link below to help find a way of beating this destructive disease.