The Dawn Patroller had one of his days off and out. He went on a boat trip from Buckie, further up the North East coast.
He was hoping to see a White billed Diver.
Image from tinternet.
What he did see were lots of these instead.
Dolphins. I wouldnt complain!
Meanwhile I did my .59 of a mile which is from the car to the start of the sand dunes.
Although on this photo the dunes have encroached somewhat. This was taken after the last big storm, the council removed the sand. They have some amazing machines. But you cant beat people power. This lot turned up yesterday, and collected an amazing amount of rubbish from the beach. But the council were on hand to remove all the bags etc.
The sea was flat, calm today. There was no wind, it was warm. What this paddle surfer was doing out there I really do not know. Practising balancing?
I did see a seal off the rocks by the caravan site.
This photo was taken on a more normal weather day but thats where I saw the seal. Every time I took a photo as I clicked it sank beneath the waves. Hey ho.
But then I have seen these and the DP hasnt.
Not this day . Sunday, sweet Sunday.
I thought I better do a catch up. I like my blogging to be upbeat and fun. Sometimes its difficult to be positive and look at the funny side. Perhaps by saying what is to follow will help me get back to that place.
COPD is life limiting not life threatening. What I didnt expect was how limiting that would become.
Most days I cannot walk without the chariot.
That includes in the house as well as outside. To understand what COPD is like put a straw in your mouth and then use that to breathe while carrying on. Thats the training the pulmonary physios get.
But every day, unless there is over a 20 mph wind I head off to the beach and walk the Esplanade until I/the chariot can get no further
The sea air is of great benefit. Although my walk is punctuated by me hanging over the fence and regaining control of my breathing I always feel so much better afterwards. During the walk I view many, many pleasurable sights birds, surfers, kids playing, dogs being walked, kites flying, or more often plummeting !
My day consists of getting up and having breakfast. This is provided by the Dawn Patroller. He has already done his dawn patrol. And brings back his amazing photographs He does all the cooking, cleaning, shopping, bed changing, feeds the cat, and carries things for me. He does everything that would cause me to struggle to breathe. He hasnt yet taken over my being able to talk! I can still manage my own ablutions and dressing altho it takes a while. After lunch I go for my walk and then on returning its down the shed and paint.
The garden is blooming like everyone elses.
View from my seat in the shedudio.
Sith our cat.
My pride and joy the Rogersii.
Nice to see that most of what is blooming I planted before I lost the welly. The DP is now doing the weeding and planting of perennials. He is replacing the lavenders at the moment, having planted up the pots and troughs.
From the shedudio I also get a great deal of pleasure from the garden birds.
This year, a first we have Redpolls. First one, then two, now we have 2 pairs and young ones.
The pair, bit blurred.
Female.
Male Siskin.
During and after our evening meal.
As I said at the beginning. Balance the minus with a plus.
The Dawn Patroller and I have decided to donate our bodies to medical science. Just a cop out really for having to pay for a funeral, but if they have enough bodies to be going on with you can still end up having to pay for a funeral. I havent seen any of the frugal blogs discuss this so far. Death I mean. It is a very expensive event. Plus it requires a lot of organising for those having to sort it out. And for why? If my body can be used to improve knowledge for the future treatments of all thats wrong with me. Great. You die. You make a telephone call. A respectful team come along and remove your body. End of. Two years later, if you have requested it you get the ashes. No charge.
Donating your body to science is a concept most people are familiar with but few know how to go about. In fairness, those who do end up leaving their body to science don't talk about it afterwards, so the process isn't something that's become common knowledge. It's not a matter of having your carcass dropped off at the nearest laboratory; there are a lot of legal matters to attend to. But even if there weren't, there's not much a typical lab can actually do with a human body, not unless they urgently need a cumbersome and extremely morbid paperweight. The Guardian.
Basically neither of us are religious. Funerals I avoid where possible. I prefer to stick with my memories of the person alive. Not necessarily well, but alive. And there is the whole hassle and cost of organising such an event. We had, and have friends who have gone down this route and they had nothing but praise for the way death was handled. You have to discuss it with family and amend your will. It is an easy thing to do. Just google it.
But then you or who is left has the problem of closure. I went to a tea party today in memory of a friend who's body had gone off to medical science.
Well I shall be earmarking an amount of money for everyone to get totally p****d. listen to 60s music and boogie the wheel chairs and the walking frames. One can decide not to pay out for the funeral but a celebration of the life of the dead one should be just that.
A further point on death. On Friday evening there was yet another road traffic accident at the end of our lane so vehicles were diverted down and past our house. One after the other and very fast came zooming down. On the verge our new cat Martha was mown down and killed. As the vehicles tried to squash past each other on a lane so narrow we have passing places and didnt see the cat as in their haste they churned up the verge where she was. So that night I had the p**s up and the next night . We celebrate a cats life with a tree planting. Not a bad idea for all of us.
