I can cope :)

This last month has again been full of lows and highs. My Mum who is my Dad's carer was taken ill and my Dad had to go into emergency respite care. He was diagnosed with Alzheimer's last November and then my Mum was taken into hospital. She's now at  home but has carers twice a day to enable her to return to how she was before she was taken ill. My parents are both 88 and have been together for 66 years. My Doctor has given me some very sound advice "do not think about the what if's" I was getting so stressed out and what with my slow healing fractured left foot I was beginning to think I can't cope. But I can. I've reduced my hours at work for the time being until decisions are made and my foot has healed.


On the writing front I've had some amazing highs I won Flash rounds 8 and 11 on The Angry Hourglass. Interior Decorating  http://t.co/KZEw7ALR9k and The Weight  http://t.co/2wtCJBoan7 . also on 101 Fiction Alcohol was chosen  http://t.co/32TY5zc66a


I'm trying to take each day as it comes and live in the present. Not easy but I'm practising :)

Highs and Lows

Sad times, my beautiful, loving sister died on January 24th 2014 after being diagnosed with a terminal brain tumour 4 years ago. She lived life to the full and never said Why me? I will miss her so much, my big sister looked after me in so many ways. The funeral was Wednesday, one of the worst days for weather, winds and heavy rain. Standing at her graveside we all smiled saying it was Hurricane Celia doing it her way.

Then I heard my stories, 'Friends' was shortlisted for January 99fiction competition http://t.co/wor8BPT057 and 'Feathers and Beads' was runner up in The Angry Hourglass Flash Frenzy Round 6 http://t.co/gTb5TBhdOs   Highs and lows of life.

99 words

Just found out my 99 word story have been placed as a reserve winner in December's  99words competition http://99fiction.net/page/reserve-12 The winner was amazing I liked it very much and could see why it won.

Have just written and sent another story for round 3 of Flash Frenzy. Really enjoy writing stories from picture prompts, this one was piles of coins on a table. My imagination raced to 30 pieces of silver and I had a Grandma dying in suspicious circumstances. You can read the entries for this round and the previous rounds at  http://t.co/HRNHZChRkX

On the March Fracture front :) have seen a Foot Consultant last Wednesday and after an X-Ray showing the fracture was at last healing was told to stop wearing the Beckham Boot and to get back to walking. Think my foot has got used to being at rest and when I walk on it, it continues to hurt. So next week I'll be walking more each day to raise my tolerance levels ready to return to work in 9 days time. Wish me luck :)

Not a winner ......

'My Soda Keep' by Karl A Russell was the worthy winner of round 1. My little tale received good feedback from the judge and I look forward to round 2.  Read all the stories and the feedback here  http://t.co/BJVh42NvX6 Hope the next photo prompt gives my imagination scope to run wild. I'm sure it will :)

Flash Fiction Competition

Decided I've had enough of feeling sorry for myself and yesterday submitted to a site that is holding rounds of story telling. My story 'Dolly' you can read here  http://t.co/BJVh42NvX6  I wrote it from the picture prompt. I respond well  to a picture prompt and wrote this in about 20 minutes, edited it for 5 minutes and sent it off. Yes one of my biggest faults is I do not edit enough. I think what I've written is good, send it off, then re-read it and think "Oh No!!" I have been much better lately and write something, leave it for a while and then re-visit it.  This competition has a 36 hour window so I had to write a bit quicker :) At the moment there is only 4 entries and I'm hoping there will be a lot more.

Let you know how I get on :)

New Year

Appointment at The Fracture Clinic on New Year's Eve. The consultant was really nice as usual and smiled as he told me to be patient. March Fractures take a long time to heal. One thing I'm not is patient well it has been over 10 weeks now. He gave me an option of rest or an operation. I've taken the rest one :) He's given me four weeks off work and referred me to a Foot consultant. I'm hoping by the time I see the Foot expert I'll be healed and walking.

I'm not sure if this is karma because I've never had much patience with people with sticks unless they are very old and then I'm in awe at their persistence to be mobile. I've been blessed with exceedingly good health over the last 60 years with only my tonsils extracted. I'm leaning compassion at my own expense but not readily as I'm berating my foot each morning when I wake up and it continues to hurt. Maybe that's the problem I should relax and let my body heal itself. I truly count my blessings as my sister has a terminal illness and each day she faces it with fortitude.

My friend says use these four weeks to start a novel. I'll probably write a few flash fictions.

Saturday I went to my Auntie Molly's funeral. She died on Christmas Day morning aged 89. I have such good memories of her and her sense of humour. My sister and I stayed with her when I was six and my mum was sent to a hospital in the countryside when they thought she had TB, fortunately she had the lesser of two evils pneumonia and recovered. My dad has newly diagnosed Alzheimer's and after his sister's funeral he kept saying I didn't recognise anyone. My mum sobbed through the hymn 'the Rugged Cross' because it reminded her of her step-mother Gertie who sang it all the time.  My mum at that point was grieving for Gertie. I adored my step grandmother she was one of the nicest people I've ever known, my mum said she didn't have a bad bone in her body. I love my family :)
Treasure yours






      

Merry Christmas Everyone......

Christmas Day was really lovely this year. My parents, daughter and her partner and their two and a half year old son spent the day with us. Mr T cooked a fantastic lunch and in the afternoon we all went to see my sister at the nursing home where she now lives and her son was visiting too. Later on we spoke to my son and his fiancée on Skype, they are living in Poland.

My Dad who has just been diagnosed with Alzheimer's  said he would remember this Christmas for ever. I'm not sure he will remember much of it this morning. My lovely sister has a terminal illness and has problems with her short term memory so I'm sure she will not remember we all visited yesterday but I felt so happy and privileged to be with four generations of my family.

I have a canvas of a photo of myself aged about 10 with my sister and our parents feeding the pigeons in Trafalgar Square, London. (Fifty years ago :) I look at it most days and count my blessings. My son gave it to me knowing how much I loved the original photo.

 

 

 

 

This is a photo of me wondering if my head will fit the Christmas paper hat :) 

Happy Christmas everyone and wishing you all a very prosperous NEW YEAR .