The view from my window

The view from my window
The view from my window

Wednesday 31 August 2022

More this and that!

Finally the weather broke last week, and while we've had some rain and the temperatures have dropped to between 25-30°C it's still lovely out - and a real pleasure to feel some oomph coming back! I generally feel bleh in the summer so I don't know why it always takes me by surprise! I felt like I had no energy or motivation to do anything other than sit on my butt but hopefully that will change now!

Mist settling over the mountains behind my house.
Scenes like this always make me think of my mom's
village in North Wales!

It's nice to be sleeping better with the cooler weather, although I've noticed my feet have been "restless" in bed - which I put down to being on them so much. Then the other day I spotted an advert for "detox patches" for the feet - I guess related to reflexology - advertising patches for "ionic foot detox and Meridian therapy" (containing various medicinal herbs etc.), claiming they could ease tension in the feet, help you sleep better and detox the body! The write-ups on Amazon were a bit "iffy" but for €20 for a 100 I thought "what the hell" and bought them. And would you believe it, by jove I think they're working for me! Now I wouldn't know if they're "detoxing my body", but when I woke up the next morning the aching was gone and that restless, heavy feeling seems to be kept at bay. Now it may be a load of old codswallop but since I'm interested in this kind of thing anyway, I thought it wouldn't hurt to give it a shot - and I'm actually pleased with the results!

While I was on Amazon I also bought two 3-packs of Moston LED rechargeable lights since I reckon we're going to be in for a few power cuts this winter (we always get them), and thought I should get better prepared and not rely on the crappy flashlights in my drawer. I charged all six last night, put three in strategic places upstairs, one in the kitchen and two on the cellar steps/basement - and I'm delighted with them! I've made a note to myself to make sure I keep them charged, but what a good purchase they turned out to be!

Moston LED rechargeable lights!

Jordan had last week off as he wanted to do some final running around before going back to work and use the remaining few days of leave to redo their balcony. He took up the horrible wooden flooring and laid concrete tiling, redid the railings and set up a BBQ/fridge area. He did a great job of it, although I'm sure having Charlie help made it so much easier!

That's not their balcony - he's just
preparing stuff there!

I drove into Geneva last week to have lunch with a friend and crikey is that place all dug up! I was really glad I know Geneva well, having lived there for five years, because half the roads are blocked off and you're pretty much left to your own devices to figure out how to get around!

So with my new "zen" energy starting to come back I've slowly been decluttering inside the house and working on the raised beds in my garden in order to prepare for any autumn planting I might want to have a go at (lofty aims I feel, but who knows)! I attacked a couple of drawers the other day and they took ages to sort because one was full of receipts that I wanted to look at and the other was full of jewellery and odds and sods that needed to be gone through. I actually found a fitbit in an unopened box which I reckon I must have bought while the last one was on its last legs and then never gave any more thought to it. (Note to self, the walking is not going that well this year so it's time to put that fitbit to good use, methinks)! I also paired up and sorted tons of junk jewellery (I think the polite word is "costume jewellery", but we all know what I'm talking about) and boy did I have loads of pairs of dangly earrings - which probably looked quite nice when I still had a neck, but now - not so much! So off to the charity shop they'll be going!

In the garden, the damson bush has only produced about a dozen measly damsons this year, but the peach tree has gone nuts - I guess it likes the prolonged heat! The peaches aren't exactly eating quality, but are perfect for jam-making, so yesterday I cut a load up and set to making peach jam. Only problem was, I went and sat down outside to read "for a minute", forgot the jam and now I've got a jar of what can only be described as a solid, burnt, orange brick!

In other news, I got quite a shock last week when my oldest nephew (the son of the brother in Wales who died a couple of years ago), called me to say that his younger brother was in hospital after having a stroke. Say what???? The guy is only 52, doesn't smoke, hardly drinks and has a job that keeps him physically fit! The good news is that as it was a relatively minor stroke he was only in hospital a couple of days and they think they can handle it with blood thinners, but to say it was a shock all round would be an understatement! The oldest brother went down to visit this weekend and they drove past the house where I grew up before coming to Geneva at age 21. Now I thought they were going to demolish those houses but apparently they've been done up and the estate renovated quite a bit. The junior and infants' school used to back onto our garden, so if I was ever late for school I just climbed over the fence! Well apparently the school sports fields have completely gone and been replaced by new school buildings while about 200 metres down the road (where the filthy old River Cole runs), it's been done up and looks pretty nice now! The down side is that in the article my nephew sent me they were talking about still having to fish shopping trolleys and wheely bins out of the lake! Maybe it's not just England, but I have no idea why people can't respect these places - I certainly don't see that kind of behaviour in France where I live! But to destroy and pollute something that was intended to give pleasure is just beyond me!

Babbs Mill Lake

And finally, for some years I've been following a blog dealing with narcissism. It fascinates me, having had the misfortune of working with the narcissism poster girl. I'm not on there very often now but occasionally pop in to see what's going on. Well one lady wrote about how the cheating narc she had once been married to got a job with Zambian Airlines after their divorce. He was a flight attendant but she described his uniform as "all gold braid and chains" and which wouldn't look out of place on a five-star general! Anyway, she and the children were living in a small mining village in Yorkshire and one time her ex came to visit the children. She described him as a man who wouldn't walk 20 metres if he could drive it, but the first night he got all dressed up in his "military uniform" and found a pretext to walk the mile into the village twice in the same evening! Knowing a little about "dour" Yorkshire people (Steve was a Yorkshireman) and having seen a few episodes of Last of the Summer Wine, the visual she described tickled me to bits!

Last of the Summer Wine!


14 comments:

  1. Tile will last forever, smart move. No junk jewelry here, but tons of T-shirts, some from back in my Navy days. Wow!

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    1. I always kept old T-shirts for "the times when I'm going to be doing some painting", and of course they never got used. Now I live in them so I'm thinking it's time to get rid of all the smarter, work clothes and other stuff that I'm never going to need. But oh my heart breaks when I look at all the beautiful high-heeled shoes I either will never wear again (I'd fall over), or never wore in the first place!

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  2. My husband and as just 50 when he had his TIA. It was a scary several months and has never 100% regained all coordination he lost. He was in good health too, seemingly. I hope your nephew has a good recovery. Charlie is quite the helper.

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    1. I didn't know your husband had had a TIA and crikey 50 is young isn't it, especially for someone who is seemingly in good health! This particular nephew is a worrybot anyway so I think he's going to have a hard time dealing with this, but I hope as time goes on he will see that it can be managed. Trouble is, as a colleague who had just had a heart attack told me, he feels like a cracked pot just waiting to crack again!

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  3. That is a cute picture of son and his son. Babies do like to help. Maybe you could get a battery charger as backup to the rechargeable lights. As soon as I looked at the feet, the first thing I saw was "left ear." My left ear hurt for over two years. I could have used some help...lol. What is a link for those patches or whatever it is.

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    1. The kids are really great with Charlie and have endless patience so of course he's always in there "helping". As for the patches, I don't think they would do any harm, even if they do no good. I can't seem to include the link but you could google Nuubu detox patches for the feet. They contain various medicinal herbs and include charcoal so the patches are black when you take them off, but for me they really seem to have taken away that "heavy, aching" feeling! Good luck, I hope they work for you!

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  4. Glad it’s cooled down for you - that blog entry certainly abounds with pent up energy! It also reminded me of the time I had a rather intense foot massage somewhere in the Far East, when I kept being told this area resolves kidney, heart, stomach etc.. issues. Unfortunately my feet are so ticklish, I don’t think anything got resolved but I did get to have a good laugh!

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    1. I LOVE having my feet massaged but I'm a bit ticklish too so I have to be careful not to kick the other person! But now, I'm thinking I might look up reflexology and see if there are any study courses available. Why not eh?

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    2. Years ago I was in China town in San Francisco and saw a foot reflexology sign and went into a tiny dingy spot and an older woman worked on my feet. I have NEVER felt anything like it. When she was working on my right foot I could hardly stand it because it felt like fire coming out of all my toes on my left foot. She knew connections I never knew about!! Legs/feet have never felt so good! For a few days:(. I live in Minnesota but would die to find that place and go back!!

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    3. I would DEFINITELY try reflexology (I just looked up training courses!!!), all the more so in Asia. I remember getting acupuncture once in my feet and he told me it would give me a warm feeling in the pancreas and bingo, guess what happened. It's fascinating stuff isn't it, and I truly believe we in the west could learn such a lot from eastern medicine!

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  5. What a busy life you live!
    It is hard to give up certain items of clothing, isn't it? Even when we know we'll never wear them again. Good for you for getting rid of the costume jewelry. That will make someone happy.
    Children love to help until they're old enough to actually do it. Then it somehow doesn't interest them in the least anymore.

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    1. How about getting rid of the clothes that haven't fit in 10 years!!! Even if I did lose weight I'm sure they wouldn't be in fashion and I really have no reason to wear them so why keep them, right! Actually the hardest thing for me to get rid of is books, but since I notice they are disappearing when I put them in the book exchange I can live with that. As for Charlie, yeah, he's into everything and even has his own tool kit, just like daddy!

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  6. I saw the add for the foot detox pads and wondered if they really were any good. I think I'll give them a try now. Like you said, it can't really hurt anything.
    Such a cute picture of father and son.
    Books are hardest for me to get rid of as well, especially cookbooks.

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    1. As I say, those patches seem to have cured the "low ache" in my feet. I can't say what they do for anything else as I don't have pain anywhere but I'm always open to that stuff. Oh and I made your white chili - another new favourite recipe! Thanks a lot!

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