Extreme Knitting Redhead: Back again and about time too!

Tuesday, September 2, 2025

Back again and about time too!

I don't know exactly why I'm not still blogging - it isn't as if there isn't anything to say as I'm always taking photos and writing notes on Facebook. I just seem to have got out of the habit of blogging on a regular basis. So I'm going to try to rectify this forthwith (yet agaiin!). It was the Swifts that made me think about this. I was watching out of the bedroom window as they gathered on the telegraph line in readiness to fly away to warmer climes. They were completely unfazed by my presence so I was able to enjoy their chattering until all of a sudden they all just flew off, as if someone had sounded the leaving bell! They migrate to Sub-Saharan Africa covering an average of 6000 miles each way and they use stopover points such as Portugal and France to rest and refuel for their gruelling journey. WOW! When I researched their journey I learnt that they are a globally threatened species with declining populations. I felt honoured to have witnessed the start of their epic journey.

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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.