Extreme Knitting Redhead: A Heron, a heron! My kingdom for a heron! (with apologies to Shakespeare)

Sunday, January 3, 2010

A Heron, a heron! My kingdom for a heron! (with apologies to Shakespeare)

I was just en-route to making a cup of tea before I went for a run when I saw something odd down by the oak tree. It's about 150' from the house and I couldn't make it out so I reached for the binoculars and low and behold it was the heron, sunning himself.

He looked absolutely magnificent and much larger than I had imagined. You can see hum better if you click on the photo and zoom in.

Later, as I cut across the fields on my way back from my run, I spotted him again but this time he was in with the horses, just sitting there: well, he was until he spotted me and then he took off so I just pointed the camera and clicked. He's the grey thing!

For my run today I headed out towards Salehurst and Robertsbridge along the footpaths as the lanes were rather slippery. We are blessed with a fantastic network of public footpaths and I use them whenever possible. It was a wonderful day for a cross-country run as it was sunny but cold and crisp. The ground was quite rutted and I had to be extra careful not to turn an ankle as I ran across the frozen fields. I spotted these beautiful pink catkins on the edge of a copse.

I love the sheep who are grazing our fields at the moment.

Their black stockings match their faces! As soon as I climbed into the field they came dashing towards me in the hope that I was bringing them their food. Sorry sheepies.

I've been playing around with some of the bargain yarn I bought recently. This is a crochet swatch for a Teva Durham design from Loop-d-Loop Crochet but I don't have a hook large enough to get the gauge at the moment. I like the stitch though.

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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.