Six (good) things on Sunday (26 August)

1. I made a small start on getting to grips with my sorely-neglected garden.  Taking a tip from others, I’ve broken it down into bite-sized chunks.  I tackled the terrace, which is immediately outside the kitchen.  I’ve always wanted a clematis there to climb up around the kitchen door, and I found one I liked at a garden we visited last week.  I just need to bring some compost in from the allotment and buy a few plants to fill up a couple of the troughs where the summer planting has long since died or gone to seed.  To finish this weekend! I’ve also made a list on my phone of the various small areas to tackle that together add up to the whole garden, and plan to work my way through.
2. Resolving to do things differently next year (which in my head starts in September).  Primarily this means not allowing other people’s priorities always to take precedence over my own.  Which in turn means developing a kind of a routine – not fixed in stone, but there as a guide to myself – a day a week for granddaughter/d-i-l; a day a week gardening for myself; a day a week for the City Farm; a day a week to see friends/family; a day a week to go out somewhere with Malcolm.  And then the weekends – I love to have those unplanned whenever possible, they feel like a treat and a treasure.  Coincidentally d-i-l suggested a regular day a week with grand-daughter, just when I was starting to feel the need for some regulars. That all feels like it might be about right, though I worry that there may not be enough ‘unscheduled’ time just to be.  This retirement malarky is wonderful, but don’t imagine it means sitting around doing nothing.  Let’s see how it goes.
3. Cycling – for the first time in ages I did a longer cycle ride (about 30 miles or so).  We’d arranged to meet a friend and walk or cycle somewhere together.  He planned a circular ride from his home in N Bristol out into South Gloucestershire.  It was delightful, and I didn’t find it at all too taxing.  A good pub lunch stop in the middle revived any flagging leg muscles.  The only downside was that my ankle was more swelled than usual by the evening.  I’m still trying to gauge what’s ok and what’s not, and really the only way to do that is to risk doing too much.
4. Getting a place on a conference for people with lymphoedema.  I’m optimistic that this will help me figure out what’s worth doing and what’s not, and what new treatments are being explored.  Its led by the UK’s (and indeed one of the world’s) leading consultant. I’m curious to meet other people who have this condition, having never knowingly done so.  I’m sure there’s a wealth of knowledge and experience out there to be shared and learned from. Not till mid September, so just a few weeks to wait.
5. Getting a positive resolution to a seemingly intractable issue.  Not mine to share, but the feeling of relief and new optimism are most certainly mine.
6. Our 40th wedding anniversary – we celebrated this with our immediate family earlier this summer by taking them all away on holiday in Pembrokeshire, where we had the most wonderful sunshiny week by the sea.  Perfect.  Yesterday was our own private and personal celebration together, which we marked by taking our bikes on the train to Oxford, treating ourselves to a lovely lunch out in a place special to us, and being treated by my sister to tea and cakes in another lovely spot there.  We sat in my old college garden and reminisced, and explored the small streets of Jericho and the open space of Port Meadow on our bikes.  The magic is still with us.