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Casey and Gibbs supervising the new deckingIf June was a month of celebration, then July has been a mixture of procrastination, inactivity and frantic typing.  The procrastination is on all my writing projects: I have three books all in the AF (Almost Finished) stage and I can’t seem to settle down to finish any of them.  One is actually finished but as it’s a sequel, I can’t send it to a publisher without having finished the one before it.  At the moment that one requires more editing.  The third book is about my journey of living with leukaemia and although I’ve written the final chapter, there are a few chapters here and there which need to be written up and maybe a couple of others that need fattening up.  So, yes, I do have some writing projects which I need to finish off.

I also have some dressmaking/home furnishing projects to get off the ground, having bought the material to make my new great granddaughter, Paisley – who is 2 months old – a patchwork quilt.  Never having made a quilt before I now feel I might have bitten off more than I can chew so the material is in a bag in a cupboard waiting for me to get brave and deal with it!

The inactivity came about on different days at different times because my back keeps going into spasm.  The pain is so intense that I do cry out which brings Casey running to see what’s wrong with me.  All I can do is sit on the sofa propped up with lots of cushions behind my back and I try not to move. It is agony and when I have to get up to go to the bathroom – a time when Casey will take advantage of the fact that I’m up so ‘as you’re in the kitchen, I’d like some dinner please’ – I inch along the hallway, into the dining room, going at a snail’s pace.  Then curses, I have to bend down to pick up Casey’s dish, reach down into the Felix cupboard and bring out a box of Felix, take out a sachet, return the box to the cupboard, before finally bending down again with the replenished food bowl.  While Casey is tucking in, oblivious of the pain I’m in, I continue inching my way through the kitchen to the bathroom which is next to the kitchen.  Actually sitting down on the loo, and again, trying to get up again, is fraught with further pain spasms and I eventually emerge from the bathroom, bathed in sweat and tears.  Not a pretty sight!

The frantic typing that followed the periods of inactivity while my back was in spasm as I tried to catch up on emails, letters to family members and friends, and a few articles for this month’s update.

Casey on the new deckIn amongst all this I’ve been watching the Euros – the football – and cheered on Iceland and Wales. Two teams that weren’t expected to do very well, but against all the odds, reached higher rounds than expected. As Chris Coleman, the manager of Wales said: ‘We dared to dream’ and that is now the new buzzword – dare to dream.  Both Iceland and Wales were knocked out but what was so remarkable was the way their supporters reacted in defeat.  Instead of ripping up the shops and fighting with locals, they behaved with decorum and pride in their fellow countrymen.  Both really showed the rest of the teams taking part, how to behave, not only on the pitch but off it as well, something the England supporters could take a lesson from.  

And the decking is virtually finished and if we do ever get more than two days of sunshine in a row (that will be our summer!) then I’ll be able to sit out, chillax, read, edit the manuscripts of perhaps one of the three books, or just enjoy listening to the birdsong with Casey and Gibbs lying on the decking nearby.

Who knows – while I’m editing the manuscripts, I may even send them off to a publisher – and they may get published.  Encouraged by the efforts of Iceland and Wales, I, too, am daring to dream.

A Cats Prayer

Lead me down all the right paths,
Keep me from fleas, bees, and baths.
Let me in should it storm,
Keep me safe, fed, and warm.

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