Extreme Knitting Redhead: More snowy happenings

Tuesday, February 7, 2012

More snowy happenings

OK, OK, so the snow looks lovely and the icicles glisten as they melt in the sun but I still can't run outside!

Why not, you might ask?

Because it's hilly in these parts and the snow that melted yesterday and ran down the lanes, zigzagging its way ever downwards, froze overnight creating massive rivers of ice.

I did try to run down the lane around lunchtime because I really couldn't face the treadmill again. I thought the sun would have made the lanes passable but I only got about 200m from home and I realised that I was picking my way around these ice waterfalls rather than running which was not good at all.

So inside I went and 2 miles into the boredom that is treadmill running my brain said "NO!" and that was that. I'd lost my focus and let the gremlins inside my head. Undeterred I took myself off for a good 3 mile trek across the fields instead, wearing my sensible walking boots, and counted it as a cross-training day. When I got home I did some core strengthening exercises so felt quite virtuous in the end!

If it's like this again tomorrow I shall have to adopt a run/walk strategy and go along the lanes a bit and then cut across the fields wearing my cross-country running shoes.

Icy patterns edging the horses water trough.

A wintry sunrise through the trees.

The mounds covered in snow are piles of horse poo which are rotting down. After 2 years they turn into an amazing soil conditioner.

Some of the ducks sat patiently beneath the bird feeding tree whilst they waited for me to throw them some grain. The ponds are all still completely frozen and covered in snow so I put some water in an old trough for them to play around in.

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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.