Getting back to things

It's been an fairly static week with no major projects. I'm progressing, though, and have been out and about a little bit. At the weekend, lovely Daughter 2 came up from London without her little one to visit the (not actually very) sick, which was wonderful. Delightful as Littlest Granddaughter is, she's a bit interrupty. As it was, we had some great chats. Then on Saturday, the Edinburgh Two plus their parents plus the other granny (Nanny), who was visiting them, came over for lunch, and Big Grandson, now several inches taller than me, did some nostalgic Brioing with Daughter 2. Big Grandson enjoyed having his auntie to himself, as in the pre-Littlest days. So that was all very nice. 

On Sunday we drove along to one of the galleries and had coffee, which made a nice change of scene. Normally we would walk there along the river but... not for a while, alas. I went to choir on Sunday night and have been walking round to the nearby shop for the paper the last few mornings, and today I went up on the bus to have lunch with old schoolfriends. So life is slowly returning to normal, though I still feel as if someone has cut a large hole in my right side, and being in bed isn't very comfortable yet. Tomorrow I go to the practice nurse to get my dressing removed. I had it changed last week and that was surprisingly painful - the dressing is VERY sticky and ... well, I won't go into details. I'm just glad I'm not a man with a hairy body. 

My American second cousin heard the story about the needle in my leg and said, "You're a real needlewoman now!" How true.

It's been very wet here so even if I were able to garden, I wouldn't have actually been able to do so. The Great Autumn Cut Down will have to wait till spring, which is a bit frustrating but there we are. Our problems are nothing compared to the awful things going on in the world. It's all so sad and depressing. How can we still be doing these things to one another in this so-called civilised world? 

Meanwhile, onwards and upwards. I'm getting back to the quilting this evening after a period of laziness. 

Exercise

The Edinburgh Two are still down south with their other grandparents, and much though I miss them, I quite enjoy knowing that they're safe and happy and don't need anything from us for the moment. We went for a walk along the river on Friday, and had coffee at the gallery half way round. 

And today we went to the Botanics. 

The herbaceous border is in full flower. 

I rather like these pink tasselly things, which according to the label are Sanguisorba Hakusenensis. 

I've at last got back to working on Big Granddaughter's second quilt. I finished the front weeks ago but somehow didn't seem to have a minute to do the back, which I'm piecing together from various bits of fabric. This of course is much more time-consuming than just using a single piece - though it's too big, actually, for a single piece. Of course I'm putting some effort into getting it symmetrical, even though it's the back and she's ten and it's got dragons on it (her request) which I'm sure she won't want when she's ... well, not much older. But I'm enjoying myself. 

In preparation for my hip op, I have to do exercises. A single set takes about 10 minutes and I have to do them four times a day. Will I manage to keep this up? Well, obviously I have to. I also do more tiring exercises with weights (only 3kg, but I do 12 of various lifty things and some other sit-up/leg bend stuff) - these were prescribed by Doctor Son a few years ago, on the slightly depressing grounds that when one's legs give out, it's good to have strong arms to heave oneself about. It's all very time-consuming when one has gardening and quilt-making to do!