Extreme Knitting Redhead: Where do I begin?

Sunday, November 29, 2020

Where do I begin?

What a year this has been. Everything so very different. Scary news every day. Information and misinformation abounding. It's all completely overwhelming isn't it.

I've tried to write another blog post several times but kept giving up 'cos it just seemed irrelevant and overwhelming.

There's been lots of knitting and crafting but I will have to spend ages taking photos to get up to date with all that. Thanks to the plethora of so-called 'virtual' events, my running has kept me sane and I've run many more miles than usual this year despite not being able to take part in any real-life events.

I've also just finished my 3rd wave this year of the Six Pack Revolution - I'd originally only signed up for the January wave to get me ready for the running challenges I had planned but when everything went wrong and Covid took hold I just did another wave and then another. Suffice to say my fitness levels aren't too shabby as a result!

I have hundreds of photos to share - wildlife/Nature/plants/the garden/Shelley/views from my runs and I just don't know where to start so I'll have to plunge right in and get something down or I'll never catch up.

I'm hoping that sharing these few photos with you on here will encourage me to start writing again.

Early morning mists from my runs

Stunning sunsets

Shelley's antics

Part of the front garden renovation project

Mrs Duck and babies

Gorgeous mohair cardigan

The must-have necessary accessory du jour!

I'm hoping that posting this will make me want to share some more. In the meantime, stay safe everyone.

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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.