My first gay wedding and other stuff

I've just been over to England and stayed with Oliver and Emma and my beautiful granddaughter. 

 

I went for my first gay wedding.  The traffic from St Austell to Plymouth was atrocious and I arrived about ten seconds before the service started.  The grooms both looked lovely and the general theme was red.  It was a happy service and the registrar was a smiley and relaxed woman who officiated well.

 

 

Here are the happy couple, Mike and Andrew, in the Register Office garden - so lucky to have fine weather for the photos.

 

 

and the beautiful getaway car

 

 

 

Brett, Mike and my son Matthew at the reception

 

 

Matthew just before he gave his best man's speech - looking more relaxed than he had for the previous few hours!

 

 

When I left St André last week lots of things in the garden were still in bloom. I've come back to dead heads although the veggies and polytunnel plants are doing well.  It's still much milder here than it was in the UK.

 

 

I could now do with Ryan back here again.  He was a Workaway volunteer who came for a couple of weeks and helped me with the garden, veggies and animals.  He arrived just after I came out of hospital which was great as he chauffeured me around while I couldn't drive.  He was from Northern Ireland, 27 and a very willing and pleasant chap. 

 

 

When I'm away I can never wait to get back to the animals, particularly the cats.  Here they are all lined up on the sofa once I'd lit the woodburner and sat down with a mug of coffee.

 

 

It was a good trip back and, as usual, I came back loaded to the gills in the Landrover.  Luckily a friend's husband drove me back as he has a brother in Cornwall he wanted to visit and he unloaded when I got back - thank you, Glyn.

Three things I like:

1.    Seeing Mike and Andrew so happy on their special day.
2.    The kindness of the nurses at the local surgery who changed my dressings every day.
3.    Being back home where I belong.

My progress, Mia and the garden

It’s a much better weather day today after lots of grey, drizzly days here.  Much more sunshine and I’ve had to open the landing windows and the outside doors to take the heat from the woodburner away as the sunshine has warmed everything up .

 

On Wednesday, I piggybacked on an appointment my friend, Jackie, had with my surgeon so he could check out the large haematoma on my left thigh.  He said it was normal to get bruising as the blood leaked downward but when I showed him the area he did seem surprised at the size of the swelling and thought it would take about three weeks to reduce. 

 

The nurse came in this morning to do my anti-coagulant jab and I said I’d do them in future as it’s not rocket science and I’m sure she’s got much better things to do.  Someone will still come in twice a week to change the dressings and perhaps take blood for analysis.  Everything is still pretty sore but my tummy muscles are definitely getting stronger and I can withstand a small sneeze or cough without being reduced to tears now.  It’s generally easier to move around although I don’t have a huge amount of energy yet.  Andy or Flick continue to come in and do the animals for me and even guests staying in Small Cottage have helped me with reaching things from high shelves and loading the bottom of the dishwasher – people are very kind.  

 

My daughter, Libby, had her tonsils out last week and is suffering at the moment.  Unless you have personal experience of an adult tonsillectomy - I had mine out at 18 years old - I think it is impossible to understand the level of discomfort and pain this apparently minor op generates.   I feel really sorry for her and wish her an as quick as possible recovery.

 

My beautiful granddaughter continues to thrive and here are three of the latest photos of her.   The first shows her enjoying bathtime.

 

 

 

Mia doing her first press-ups.

 

The one below is Mia at seven weeks  and is my current favourite.

 

 

The bunches of grapes on the vine in the garden just need a little more sunshine to ripen fully, so we will have to trim the leaves back enabling the sun to reach them.  The ones that have ripened are sweet and lovely.

 

 

The honeysuckle flowers have now turned into lovely red berries decorating the wall to the driveway.

 

 

The Campsis next to the outside door has also finally flowered a bit after being cut down quite severely at the end of last year to try and stimulate flower production.  Although I do love the flowers I don't feel it earns its keep and think it probably needs replacing with something more productive and attractive.

 

 

Three things I like:

 

1.   Being able to sit out in the sunshine again.

2.   Friends visiting and caring.

3.   Just being back at home again - there's nothing like it!

I survived my operation and am back home again - explicit photos which everyone may not wish to see

I am now back home again after my abdominoplasty operation to remove the spare skin from my abdomen after having lost over 11stone/72kgs with my mini gastric bypass.  My usual gastro surgeon performed the op - Dr David Lechaux.

The photos are explicit - you have been warned!  The first one shows me marked up the evening before the day of the operation.

Although I had traditional internal stitching, the external wound was closed with glue and medical grade honey.  An innovative system of a dressing connected to a vacuum pump was then connected which kept the wound stable and the dressing in absolute contact with the forming scar.  This photograph was taken after the operation showing the new type of dressing and before the corset was fitted.

The next photographs are of when the vacuum dressing was removed on the Friday after the Monday operation.

And now a photograph of the more conventional dressing applied once the vacuum dressing had been removed.

I was discharged the following day and my good friend, Jackie, picked me up and brought me home via the Pharmacy for dressings and anti-coagulant jabs and via the supermarket for lemon meringue icecream and baguettes.

Overall the experience was fine and thanks so much to the people who visited me while I was in Yves le Foll hospital. 

I am now not allowed to drive for far too long and have to take it very easy.  The corset stays on for eight more weeks. 

I have overnight developed a very large, swollen, fairly unpleasant haematoma on my left thigh which is extremely uncomfortable.  I shall see how it goes and the nurse has told me to ask for a doctor home visit if it gets any worse.  Fingers crossed for the moment.

Three things I like:

1.   Being back home in my own bed.
2.   That I didn't take out the stairlift after I lost weight and didn't need it anymore - it's very helpful at the moment.
3.   Being back on the internet and in touch with the world at large.

Harvests, butterflies and my granddaughter

Yet again I lost my three month prescription this week.  I put it somewhere ready to go to the Pharmacy but when the moment arrived I couldn't find it.  The receptionist kindly arranged for another one for me to pick up and while I waited for it to be signed I wandered outside and saw these wonderful thistly-looking flowers over two metres high stretching into a blue, blue sky.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Beautiful isn't it?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

An equally beautiful bloom - a passionflower on my pergola.

 

 

The lanes have been filled with tractors and combine harvesters and here is one local farmer getting in his hay crop.

 

 

My harvests day after day are keeping me in veggies and eggs - here is one day this week.  I love the shiny aubergine and am eating tomatoes in lots of meals now all the different sorts are ripening.

 

There are butterflies everywhere in the garden but they particularly like the buddleias in the main flowerbed.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The weather's been so good that I decided to get the large rug from my sitting room shampooed and dried in the sunshine on the terrace.  As soon as it I came inside the three cats appeared and started playing on it. 

 

 

 

Purrdy slept there for most of yesterday afternoon.  I usually do this earlier in the year, at the start of summer and leave the floor bare until the colder weather starts but I am late because of all the rain we were having a few months ago.   I also stripped the covers off the settees and armchair and all the cushions and got those laundered and dried too while the sun was drying everything so well.

 

Here are two photos of Mia - she's definitely got yawning off to a fine art whether she's with her Daddy or Mummy.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Hard to believe that my lovely granddaughter, Mia, was a month old on 27 August - she is growing so fast.

 

 

Three things I like:

 

1.  The thank you card my lovely German guests made for me and gave me tonight.

2.  Getting my under cupboard lights working again - thanks, Andy, finally I can see what I am preparing in the kitchen.

3.  The free books and DVDs I collected yesterday which will keep me occupied when I go into hospital on Sunday week.