Extreme Knitting Redhead: 185 and counting

Tuesday, March 10, 2020

185 and counting

Hoorah, I managed to get another marathon in without weather disruption last weekend! It was another SVN event over at Kings Wood, a lovely route through Forestry Commission owned land, which I've done several times before.

I knew that even though it had been raining heavily last week that it would be OK in the main as the route is on Fire Tracks, which are used for vehicular access and are mostly gravel/stone, with just a few muddy sections. This what my poor gravel garden looked like after the last downpour:

When I arrived at the car park the weather was a bit grey and overcast but it stayed like that the whole time which was perfect. I set out with no idea of pace or time and just ran how I felt.

Not muddy

Just a bit more muddy!

I reached marathon distance and decided that although I felt OK to go out for an ultra on the trail, I'd prefer to do another 5 miles on tarmac so I rang the bell and then trotted off along the lane on my own to get some extra miles in. I have another marathon this weekend and it's going to be a tough one.

Loving the purple dragon on the medal this time!

Speaking of purple, here's where I'm at with my weaving project of a scarf. I watched the course videos all the way through twice and then just dived in. I can see already that my tension and beating are both improving which is encouraging. Shelley has been banned from the room whilst I'm weaving as she doesn't miss an opportunity to climb up onto the table and play with the yarn or climb underneath the fabric!

She's also been helping me with my Six Pack stuff which I did indoors today. I do a few exercises then throw one of her toys for her. Here you can see squish square, catnip banana and a silver foil ball which she brings back to me, bless her.

I finally finished and mounted my paper-cut picture and Mike put it up on the wall for me. I spent ages putting the mounting pins in just the right place in order to get some interesting shadows and I'm quite pleased with the result:

The one in the black frame underneath is by Ian Penney, my teacher. Now that beautifully cut writing is something to aspire to!

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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.