back door photo 30 June

I nearly forgot about this! Ooops! I'm getting worse as the year rolls on! :oO

getting to know you using Photobucket

The idea of this is you're meant to go to Photobucket dot com and put the thing you want to find into the search box, then copy and paste the image into your post. But, instead of doing that, I copied the images into my own Photobucket so that I'm not using anyone else's bandwidth.

1. What is your first name? (type your name followed by "name" or "sig" so you don't only get photos of people you don't know)

2. What is your favourite candy?

3. What is your relationship status?

4. Favourite color?

5. Celebrity crush?

6. Favourite band?

7. Favourite movie?

8. Family pets?

9. The state you were born in?

10. Your occupation?

11. Describe what you look like

12. What kind of car do you drive?

13. Hobbies?

14. Favourite TV show?

15. One word to describe you.

Here are my answers:

1. What is your first name?

2. What is your favourite candy?

3. What is your relationship status?

4. Favourite color?

5. Celebrity crush?

6. Favourite band?

7. Favourite movie?

8. Family pets?

9. The state you were born in?

10. Your occupation? - Ha! This one made me laugh! This is "housewife"!

11. Describe what you look like

12. What kind of car do you drive?

13. Hobbies?

14. Favourite TV show?

15. One word to describe you.

a bit of a d'uh moment

When the nurse was here yesterday, she asked me if I was still taking painkillers. I told her, proudly, that I wasn't.

I explained that I had been taking paracetamols and ibuprofens after breakfast, lunch and tea every day since March. When we'd been in Ireland, though, we weren't having meals at set times (other than breakfast) and some days I'd realise I hadn't had my lunchtime or teatime tablets and hadn't really missed them. So, when we came home, I stopped taking them altogether.

The nurse looked at me and said "Are you in pain?". I said "Only slightly" to which she replied "If you're in pain, why aren't you taking painkillers?".

I said I thought I could manage without them and was happy that I wasn't filling my body with more chemicals. She just looked at me and said "That's not worth worrying about. If you're in pain, you need to take painkillers. Believe me, you get no prizes for not taking them and you'll feel so much better if you do."

She suggested that I didn't need to take both types again and, if Ibuprofen doesn't upset my stomach, I'd be better taking those.

So, yesterday, after lunch, I took some Ibuprofen. I kid you not, within 20 minutes, my right wrist, which had been aching for days, was "all better". And other bits that I didn't realise were aching - weren't. Talk about a d'uh moment!

Well, believe me, I won't be stopping taking them again any time soon!

Douglas

The nurse was here today to follow up on all that has been going on with me since I was diagnosed with psoriatic arthritis.

She asked me how I was feeling. How I was getting on with the meds. Had I met the podiatrist? The Physiotherapist? The occupational therapist?

She asked more detailed Qs about the meds and how they were making me feel. Was I sleeping better? And so on.

And then she asked me about my home life. Who lived in the house with me and what was his reaction to my diagnosis? Was he supportive of me?

I told her that he does the hoovering now because I just can't move the monster we call our hoover.

He carries the dirty laundry basket downstairs for me on Monday and Thursday mornings - and carries the clean laundry back up again on Monday and Thursday afternoons too.

He puts the wheelies all the way down the drive on a Friday morning instead of just through the gate as he used to leaving me to pull them down the rest of the way to the kerb.

And so on and so on!

He has always been supportive. Even when we didn't know what the heck was wrong with me, he'd do little things to help me.

So, let me tell the whole wide world what I will tell him when he gets home from work. I love you, Douglas. I don't know what I'd do without you. Thank you for being you!

I don't walk properly!

I was at the podiatrist this morning. Guess what I learned - I don't walk properly! Funny - I've been doing it for a really long time and haven't had any problems! :oD

Apparently most humans don't walk properly but don't realise it because they never have cause to go to a podiatrist! I bet all those humans are doing just fine not knowing they're not walking properly!

Anyway, I've got some insoles to put into my shoes to help me walk properly again. They might cause leg and back pain but I've to put up with it as much as possible. If it gets really bad, though, I've to stop using them.

The bad thing is, I can only use them inside shoes that have backs on them ie not in sandals. I don't wear many shoes with backs in the summertime! In fact, unless it's pouring rain, I doubt I'd wear them at all.

But I'll just have to find some I can wear because I've to go back in August and she'll expect me to be used to the insoles by then. And maybe walking properly!

back door photo 17 June

I thought about picking up the chairs but the wind is so strong, they would have just fallen over again by the time I got back to the back door! So, they'll just stay down for now.

a new header to match!

Wow and wow again! I made new blog header and managed to get it to fit in without any help from any tutorial! Some days I just amaze myself! LOL

wow! it worked!

I've been messing trying to make a new background for my blog. I used the tutorial here which I played around with and made slightly different. (If the day ever comes when I follow a tutorial/recipe/sewing pattern word for word, watch out for blue snow!!)

Anyway, when I tried to upload it the other day it wouldn't work. No matter what I did, my wee starry bit and stripey bit wouldn't show up. Grrrr

So, tonight I tried again. I'm 99% certain I did everything the same as the other night but that 1% made all the difference because it worked. Woohoo!

I'm going to have to get rid of the balloons at the top because they don't quite go with the starry bit and the stripey bit and, if you know me even slightly, you'll know that I like things to match. Avatars, text colours *have* to match my siggies. Yes, it is sad! LOL

But in the meantime, I'm just going to admire the starry bit and the stripey bit and pat myself on the back for managing to get it to work!

Ireland - photos at last!

Okay, I narrowed the photos down to 78! I hope the page doesn't take too long to load! Here we go.

The Catholic church in Fermoy

The bridge in Fermoy - over the Blackwater River

The Church of Ireland church in Fermoy

3 very scary sculptures outside the church of Ireland in Fermoy. I have no idea why the 2 on the outside have no faces - very creepy!!

The next few are views of the countryside as we headed through the Gap of Dunloe.

The sheep made us laugh! We followed them for about half a mile before they turned into the farmyard. They obviously couldn't read the sign on the gate which said "no entry"! :oD

These next ones are of Muckross House. There are several old farms set up to show how the farmers lived and worked.

Anyone who has read any of Nora Roberts books will know that she often talks about the fuchsia hedges in Ireland. I never really believed her until I saw this one. And there were lots more throughout the countryside!

The weir at Cahir

Cahir Castle

Swiss Cottage - nothing to do with Switzerland. It was built as a country retreat by a rich Irish family. We were told they never actually spent the night there!

The Rock of Cashel which is a ruined abbey perched on a rock.

The view over the countryside from the top of the rock.

The view over the Glen of Aherlow, just south of Tipperary.

Bantry House - Bantry

Bantry Bay

The stable block at Bantry house

The Atlantic Ocean as seen from Sheep's Head.

The memorial to the lives lost in the Air India crash in 1985. The dedication around the sundial read
"Time flies,
Suns rise and shadows fall,
Let it pass by.
Love reigns forever over all."
I'm not ashamed to say I cried.

Views over the Celtic Sea at Clonakilty on the south coast.

St. Finbarr's Cathedral, Cork.

Only 2 doors this holiday!

One of the many bridges in Cork. It's built on 14 islands - Cork, not the bridge!

Cork's skyline

This church is nicknamed the streaky bacon church because of its colouring!

The old gaol - yes, that's how it was spelt in the old days.

This church was meant to have a much grander spire than this but, in the middle of the church being built, the potato famine happened and so a lot of the money for the spire was spent trying to feed the hungry. The minister then asked the people of Cork to help build the spire and this was as high as they could afford to go. I think it looks all the better because of that story!

A memorial to Irish Patriots.

Kilkenny Castle

I wouldn't like to cut this back lawn!

I was amazed at how this photo looked - look at that reflection!

Jerpoint Abbey - a ruin

Sunset over the River Blackwater in Fermoy

These next few are taken at Bunratty Heritage centre where there are old buildings from all over Ireland and a few farm animals.

I was quite glad this Irish Wolfhound didn't stand up. I'd lay bets he'd have been as tall as I am!

These deer didn't bat an eye at all of us humans oohing and ahhing over them.

Some photos of the garden.

This was a stone cottage brought in from County Clare. (Any Nora Roberts readers will know that's where the Born In trilogy was set - so Maggie probably lived in a cottage like this!)

These piggies made me giggle. They just slept on no matter what was going on around them!

This character was a noisy so-and-so!

These next ones were taken at a reconstruction of a bronze age settlement.

The man in this is not a bronze age man! He's old but not that old! tee hee

This is a wild boar and, when we approached, it came right up to the fence and stood perfectly still. It was as if it knew we wanted to take photos of it!

This is Cobh - pronounced Cove. Formerly known as Queenstown. It's where the Titanic docked just before it set sail over the Atlantic. And where the Lucitania survivors were brought after that ship had been torpedoed in World War 1.

This is a group of statues meant to illustrate the people leaving Ireland because of the famine. The exhibition was another tear jerker.

The church in Cobh.

All over Ireland the houses were painted in bright colours.

Another family setting out over the Atlantic hoping for a better life.

More views of Cobh harbour.

This was our final view of Ireland as we flew over it to come home. It's not too clear but, if you peer closely, you can see the patchwork of fields.