Wednesday, February 18, 2009

happy holidays


dear readers, here you can see me enjoying the sea air, standing astride a musselly groyne. this picture is all the more notable because it is taken somewhere that herself has been averse to visiting for some time due to her nerves. regular readers will remember that herself was signed off work some time ago with precarious trauma. one symptom of this was a thing called panic attacks when she went to the city where she had worked. now to most of us a bit of panic is no bad thing in terms of keeping us on our toes, but when it stops you breathing and feels like a heart attack it has to be taken seriously.

since herself was signed off work 18 months ago she has only made a handful of visits to this scary place. but on monday himself had a hospital appointment there. the logistics of the peeps' morning, what with having a third attempt at getting a towbar fitted to the car (successful this time!) and therefore having to drop arthur the audi in the city of dread, the only option was for herself to take himself to the hospital in himself's car and then spend an hour or so in the delightful company of young dave and i waiting for him to finish.

after himself had been delivered we set off for the beach. young dave looked a little forlorn. unlike our local beach, which is full of dead things to munch (it is now known as the 'beach of death' after an astute observation by mrs window) , this city beach had nothing on it but stones. not a rotting carcass to be found. young dave had to make do with a forlorn balloon, no doubt left by revellers from the night before. this proved a lot of fun until young dave sank his teeth into it. with a loud pop it vanished into a shadow of its former self. young dave wolfed it down before herself could grab him.

other news this week - herself has constructed an awning for the back garden. one of the side effects of the drugs that himself has to take to keep superkidny happy is that he now faces a very much increased risk of skin cancer and therefore must stay out of the sun. not content with a collection of parasols herself decided an awning was a must. she put an advert on freecycle, a place where things are free, asking for a sail. a lovely man got in touch saying he had two sails she could have. so yesterday i spent an interesting day watching herself building the awning.

she borrowed a hammer drill from mr next door, who has a wealth of interesting tools. there followed some hideous screeching noises while she drilled holes for a pole to hold one end of the awning. then the other end was sorted. after final measurements the sewing machine came out in order to tidy up the edges. and finally it was done. himself came out to admire it. at this point a high wind blew up, flapping the sail alarmingly. herself said that we wouldn't normally be using it on such a windy day so himself was not to worry.

i hope she is right. we live very near to a railway. it would not be good if the awning blew across the windscreen of a passing train...

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

Sending a hug.

contemporary themes said...

That photo is BEAUTIFUL!

I love freecyle! Whoever thought of that is brilliant!

Sending love and hugs!

flutter said...

you look so handsome!

Unknown said...

How noble you look, posing on the groyne. I wonder if young Dave will ever control his urge to eat all and sundry. Many years ago, I suffered from panic attacks, so I know how awful they can be. Tell herself from me that I think she is very clever, building an awning from sails. Pen.

Jos said...

I think herself must indeed be a brave soul to visit the city of dread, under any circumstances. Well done Dave for learning the nature of temporary delight .. and well done Joker for seeing it for what it was. xxJ

Auntie Jane said...

I love the photo Joker. You are such a handsom lad.

Woman in a Window said...

You do know now that the awning will blow across the screen of a coming train...silly puppy.

And yes, that photo is breathtaking.

And lurcher, your comment over at my place in regards to my giving in to my advancing years and my embracing of my beard has me forever in your debt. Why didn't I think of that? (You've had me fricken rolling ever since.)

(AND, i know this is a long one, I owe you a read but it's going to have to wait for ink to print all of your other lovlies out. Patience?)

Lynanne said...

Leave it to young Dave to find something "dead" to eat on a beach void of carcasses. :)

Good job on the awning! Though I did have to laugh at the image of a train blinded by the sail. You better tell your peeps to stay clear, lest they fly away like Mary Poppins. :)

I agree with the others - beautiful photo!