Goodbye 2013

A quiet night at my f-i-l's.  I think I've picked up a cold bug as I've been feeling a bit achy today with that dreadful feeling in the throat.

His friend RB came today.  They're old golfing buddies and it's good of R to come over every week.

Afterwards B dozed for a while and I was able to spend some time on a sketch.  Yesterday's was rather short on time and incomplete.

RESdN snoozing with the paper

T came round just before lunch to take over and afterwards I nipped off to the shops and then up to the golf club to collect the door key in preparation for tomorrow's competition.  the weather's been poor today with constant rain for about 5 hours.  Tomorrow's forecast looks similar so it will be interesting to see how many brave the hangovers and venture out.

Then home to re-scan yesterday's sketch and pick up fresh clothes.

RESdN cleaning his teeth

Looks better as a scan than a photo using the mobile's camera.  I might investigate a small hand scanner for when I'm not at home.

Now back to f-i-l duty.  The relief carer arrives on Thursday so it will give us a bit of a break.

Glad to have made it through the year.  Looking forward to the good times 2014 will bring.

As Dave Allen said - "May your god go with you".

Enjoy the festivities!

Out in the wilds again

Back up in Cumbria with my dad again. Good drive up with only one small delay resulting from someones rear end shunt.

My dad seems a bit more with it although is still having trouble reading print so I'll arrange for a visit to the optician.

Being out in the wilds means that the internet connection is intermittent - well that was all written on the 26th and it was so intermittent that it dropped out and I didn't get it back in the house at all, only sitting out in the car, so this is a multi-day catch up.

RHF watching TV

Another go at RHF watching TV

I did manage to keep up the sketch a day

Sketches from TV while watching BBC 3 Film Prom

Another series of sketches while watching BBC 3 Film Prom

Sketches while watching Con Air

Sketches while watching Not Going Out

Visited the GP to check out a few things.  Unfortunately it's upstairs although he manages to climb them OK.  He's going to have a different analgaesic to see if it will help pain management overnight.  It's clear that mobility is going to be an issue.  I think there are going to be some difficult decisions to be made in the coming months.

RHF sleeping

Looking at it now the ear looks like a cut of meat!

Sketch using measuring

Managed to arrange an appointment with the optician.  More stairs to climb to the consulting room!  No change to the prescription.  Just need to make sure that RHF is holding anything he reads at about 40 cm.  Went shopping to stock him up for the week and by that time it was quite late so decided to stay another night.  Good job I'd packed spare underwear!

Good day to go back, bright sunshine all the way back down M6/M1 although the volume of traffic was a lot higher than I'd anticipated for a Sunday and it was very slow, taking over an hour longer than normal.

Bottle, glass, bottle - not quite Tommy Cooper!

A little libation to wind down.

Now back on duty at my f-i-l's.  No scanner so this one's taken from the phone picture.  Slightly strange, the first couple ended up upside down!

Bob cleaning his teeth

And so to bed!

Chrimbo

T sending a text to say thank you

N, M and W - post lunch games

Hope everyone had a great Christmas.

Saturation point

Looked out of the kitchen window to discover that two of the fence posts were leaning and the trellis had fallen off.  Not a lot I could do about the posts.  They'll need concrete spurs.  Spent an unscheduled hour cannibalising some old trellis to create new supports and then putting them up.  The lawn is absolutely waterlogged.

Message from J indicated that my dad was feeling better today and preparing to go off to see N in the residential home.  Hopefully will continue to be well enough to go there again for Christmas lunch.  JB has very kindly offered to ferry him there and back.  What a star.

Bit of housework to freshen up the facilities.  T returned from the shops with fresh bread for lunch.

Haircut this afternoon. Thought I ought to smarten up for Christmas.  Picked up some flowers for V and then went on to D & V's to drop off chairs in readiness for our visit with T's dad and the rest of the family tomorrow.  Given a view of their new wireless speaker system and the capabilities of the app on D's iPad.

Last minute (it was ever thus!) present shopping in Welwyn Garden City and I also bought a jumper.  Filled up the car with petrol in preparation for the journey north on Thursday, not knowing how many filling stations are going to be open on Boxing Day.

Back home and some vacuuming!

Caught up with the final episode of Sing While You Work.  Must have been lovely to have the opportunity to sing in Ely Cathedral.

Sorted out T's Christmas stocking.

Had a go at a sketch for a possible painting.

Walking to the 13th green at Old Fold Manor

Now time for 'The night before Christmas'.

There's a storm comin' in

Another quiet night on the f-i-l front.  Marvellous what the right medication can do for one's well-being.

Slightly different pattern to the routine this morning although it helps to go with the flow.

T arrived at 11.30 a.m. to take over.  I took my clobber back home and then went to the golf club.  We have an issue with the honours boards.  Many are becoming full and therefore have no space for future winners of the various trophies.  I met with RM, the Property Director to review the current state of play and discuss options for the future.  Looks like we will probably need 5 new boards and a reshuffle of some of the existing ones around the building. The big question is, do we keep the traditional style or go modern?

The weather started to deteriorate and we've had almost constant rain this afternoon and evening.  Not good for the lawn.  The wind started to pick up as well and it blew one of the trellis pieces of the garage.  Might have to brave the elements and try and put it back up.

Slightly strange phone conversation with my dad who mentioned tall languages people trying to commit him.  Fortunately brother J is with him.

Out to a concert by the Lea Singers http://www.leasingers.co.uk/ tonight at Harpenden Public Halls.  Quite a lot of standing water on the roads although it stopped raining on the way there.  A mix of choir and audience carols, some supported by a brass quintet which also had a couple of instrumental slots.  Mince pie and mulled wine in the interval!

Back home, caught up with the quarter and semi final programmes of Sing While You Work.  T groomed Barnaby, the remaining guinea pig and I tried a sketch.

T grooming Barnaby (out of sight!)

  

All quiet on the western front; family tea; SHAGS curry

Well, it was a quiet night with no call on my services.

Into my f-i-l at just after 8 and helped him with his routine - shower, dress and then breakfast preparation before having a shave and shower myself and then breakfast.

Tidy up his bedroom and the bathroom just in time for T to arrive bearing goodies for the afternoon tea party.

I slope off home to pick up fresh clothes and then do some shopping before going back.

Other members of the family start to arrive at 2.00 p.m. and eventually there are 14 of us, three generations from 13-94.

After we've consumed copious amounts of tea, cheese straws, flapjack and granola bars - what a healthy diet - T brings out a bag of cut up Christmas cards which is emptied onto the table with a view to finding the pieces which go together.  Some are quite fiendish as they've been cut up in very random ways and others are more so because it turns out that there is more than one of the same card!

I nip home - I say nip, I had been intending to use the car, however I found I was blocked in, so ran/walked back.  Found a message from one of my dad's carers.  Fortunately nothing crucial, he just couldn't remember why there were 3 boxes of chocolates and a bottle of wine sitting on his dining table.  I explained that he'd asked me to obtain them for herself and her daughter (one of the other carers) and a nearby neighbour couple.  Also gave me an opportunity to have an update on her take of his situation as she's one of the more conscientious ones.

Back round to my f-i-l's.  More tea and a delicious tropical fruit cake.  I take the opportunity for a sketch of M.

M.A. on the sofa

Family gradually departs.  T starts to prepare her father's evening meal.

I'm off for a curry night with a group of golfing buddies.  After a drink in the Kings Head in Enfield its down the road to a relatively new Indian restaurant called the Savoy Spice.  Excellent company, excellent food.

Back home to relieve T.

A steady round - home on the bus

Well, fortunately the weather today wasn't as bad as had been forecast.

The Yuletide competition at Old Fold Manor GC went ahead and although there was the odd short period of rain, in the main we had dry conditions - above ground that is.  The course was quite soggy after 3 nights of rain although the greens were playable.

Team captain Graham capably led Paul, Jeremy  and myself round in a Texas scramble and we managed not to drop a shot, scored 6 birdies and ended up 9th out of 27 teams.  The winners had a gross 59 - 12 under par!

Dashed home to shower and change.  Took my bedding and the rest of the paraphernalia round to my f-i-l's where I'm going to be covering the carer's absence for a couple of nights and T kindly agreed to use her car to take me back up to the club.

First turkey dinner of the season, followed by plum pudding and a mince pie.

Eventually decided I'd catch the bus back and was fortunate to only have to wait 3-4 minutes before the 84 came along.  Hadn't realised that I couldn't use my Oyster pre-paid card and scrabbled around to find the £2.40 bus fare.  Mental note for next time!  Possibly a query to Transport for London.

Took the opportunity to do a sketch.

On the 84 bus to Potters Bar

Called in at home.  Message on the answerphone from the curate at Kendal parish church trying to arrange something for my dad on Christmas Day.  Too late to call her back tonight, I'll have to leave it for tomorrow.

Chance to update the blog before going off to my f-i-l's.  At least I've avoided interrupting T watching the final of Strictly Come Dancing!!

Paper, paper everywhere

A crisp frosty morning preceded a bright sunny day.

Caught up with a lot of paperwork today.

Had a phone call just after lunch from one of the G.P's from the practice with which my dad's registered.  Seems that my dad wanted a home visit but when the doctor arrived he wasn't making much sense. I explained what had been going on over the past couple of weeks and left him to make his examination.  G.P. called again - seems that there's nothing new to be diagnosed and in view of the current support my dad's receiving we agreed to see how matters went over the weekend.  I suspect that my dad's unable to accept the fact that he's just not able to move as well as he would like and bits are starting to fall apart.

Later I talked about pain management with my dad.  It's clear the pain he's suffering is really getting him down.  He does have access to a stronger remedy but this has other side effects which might be more of a problem.  I'll have to investigate pain management clinics.

Badminton tonight.  7 of us so we had a pairs and a one against two.  Some very good games.  The youngest, Maclaine, is getting much better (in spite of/because our coaching) and sprints round the court - well he does give some of us 45-55 years! - with great insight into where he should be placing his shots.

Tried to catch a feeling of the action with some sketches.  It's not easy!

At Furzefield Sports Centre

I'll have to see if there are some books on capturing people in motion.  Any suggestions would be welcome.

We have a fun golf competition tomorrow,  The weather forecast for tomorrow isn't looking good so it could be a wet round.  Here's hoping the forecasters have got it wrong!

Carols and quizzes, crash bang wallop

It has been a glorious day - well until the evening - bright sunshine although cool.

We take my f-i-l to the 'Open Door Café' at King Charles the Martyr church here in PB.  The café is run entirely by volunteers and all surplus income goes to charity.  They've been going nearly 10 years and have so far raised in excess of £40000.

At this time of year they have a short carol service before the lunches start so we picked up my f-i-l (relieving him from the bangs and crashes of the new boiler being fitted) and took him to the church.  He's not so steady on his feet these days, however, with a lot of encouragement and some distraction from thinking he wasn't going to make it, he did manage to walk in from the car park to the church.  Carols were sung with gusto, interspersed by bible readings from the vicar.

You can imagine the queue for lunch afterwards.  I think there must have been about 100 eating today! Still, the ladies and gentlemen helpers all coped very well and we didn't have to wait too long to eat.

Back at the f-i-l's house and the hot water is operational.  Should have heating by the end of the day.  To save some time Brian asked me to go to the local plumber to pick up some imperial/metric pipe adapters.  Anything to help f-i-l get back to the normal routine as quickly as possible.

Tonight we had the final quiz at the golf club.  Shortly before PA picked us up it started to rain heavily and just as I was starting the draft of this blog a big flash of lightning heralded a big clap of thunder followed shortly by three more flashes and bangs.  Fortunately, by the time we'd arrived at the golf club the rain had eased.

We've been called Octomaniacs this year, sometimes 8, sometimes 7 and sometimes 6 on the team.  Our good friends Barbara and Alan were in the original line-up.  Alan was diagnosed with liver and bone cancer earlier in the year and has found it harder to cope with an evening out.  He's on a new trial being run at Bart's Hospital which we are all hoping will be able to slow down, if not stop, the disease spreading.  

Here are some sketches of team members from this evening.

 

SH

PA

DA

A record number of teams tonight.  Murray's Mints came top for the second month running.  Good job they've only been coming for a couple of months as we've been top of the league (best 8 scores out of 12) for the last couple of months and although we only came third this evening, we managed to retain the lead.  Come the new year a new name will be required so we can be anonymous for a few months!

To crown the evening, my 200 club number was drawn for the special half-yearly prize.  Helps to pay some of the bar bill!

All clear for the moment

Routine check up at the dermatology clinic at Barnet hospital today.

In 2008 T noticed that I had a suspicious mole on my back.  Visited the local GP who referred me to the clinic and they excised which turned out to be a malignant melanoma, so I've been going back for regular check ups.  One of the checks identified another dodgy growth on my forearm so that was cut out as well.  The moral is - keep an eye on moles and any other abnormal growths and get them checked out before they start doing uncontrollable damage.  Also need to keep exposure to the sun down.  Plenty of high factor sun screen and long sleeved shirts and a hat.  Doesn't make playing golf in the summer as easy as in short sleeves.  Amazingly the clinic was running on time so I'd hardly sat down and begun to sketch when I was called in to the consultant.

This was as much as I could do in the time.

On the way back I called in at my father-in laws to drop off the wheel chair I'd borrowed for the trip to my dad - no I didn't use it all the way there, only for him when I was there!

F-i-l is in the middle of having his boiler replaced.  Not the best time of year to be doing this but a good job it is being done as it was very close to self destruct, as was his cold water tank in the loft which had been seeping slowly into the insulation and wooden frame support and was beginning to make its way through the ceiling.  Brian the plumber has provided halogen heaters which are keeping f-i-l warm.  Cold supply is back on although no hot water yet and f-i-l is getting a bit concerned that he hasn't had a shower today.

Walked into town to obtain the correct postage for two cards to Belgium and Eire. The wind was becoming stronger the longer I was out and I hope f-i-l's fence survives the blow.

Tonight we've had very heavy rain so no doubt the lawn will be sodden in the morning.

Phone conversation this evening with my dad elicited the information that he'd slipped on the stairs last night and hadn't been able to get himself up.  Fortunately he's having an extra support visit courtesy of the Reablement team from Social Services.  They came in and helped him up and presumably saw him into bed.  I shall endeavour to find out more tomorrow.

La Piazza

Back in the land of faster internet connections - whoopee!

Relatively straightforward run back from Cumbria, only a minor hold-up through some roadworks where it was clear there had been a shunt a little while before.  Under 4 hours for the 250 miles.

RHF watching televison

RHF asleep in his chair

View through to the hall at RHF's

We'd arranged to meet our good friends Mika & Gillian and their daughters Emily and Sophie for a meal at La Piazza, near Charing Cross Station this evening.  Only one problem - major signalling upset on the line between Potters Bar and Kings Cross cancelled most trains.  We went by car to Cockfosters - outrageous parking charge for off-peak - £5.

Great meal and Sophie kindly posed for a few minutes to catch a sketch

These are the sketches I did of my dad 

Sophie

Back on the tube from Leicester Square

On the tube back to Cockfosters

Short and curly

Took my dad into town for a haircut.

Still a very poor internet connection.  More money needs to be spent on the infrastucture out in the wilds!

Normal service will be resumed tomorrow - I hope.

Never rains but it pours

Having problems today - the internet link out in he country is appalling.  Even sitting outside my dad's house I can't upload photos!  Will have to save it for a better connection in Kendal tomorrow.

Round in the sun; Uplifting singing

Well, the golf didn't go quite to plan.  It was very cold and blustery this morning to start although the sun was shining and it did eventually become a bit warmer.  18 Stableford points on the front 9 and only 13 on the back 9 - total 31 which is effectively 5 over handicap, although only one behind the group winner CJ with 32.  Still, it's set a marker and has given me some areas on which to concentrate - driving and long irons need the most work at the moment.

After a bite to eat and a belated birthday drink in the clubhouse with the others, a quick dash back home, before heading up to St. Mary's for the 'Bring and Sing' Messiah.

There were about 30 singers waiting in the church.  I'm not sure if that was as many as had been expected.  It was led by Ben Goodson, conductor of the Lea Singers amongst other choirs.  What a refreshing change to have a conductor with such enthusiasm and drive.  I now understand what correct use of the 'soft palate' can do for the quality of the voice and understand a little better the concept of using the diaphragm to support the voice.

We didn't run through as many choruses as we'd been led to believe we were doing, although I think we probably learnt more as a result.

Mid-way through we had a break.  I'd forgotten to take my sketch book so this is a quick 5-minute drawing from a hastily taken photo!


Then back to more practising before a complete run through of 6 choruses before a small audience of about 20.

Off north tomorrow.  Hope I can get a decent internet link to be able to keep the blog going.

Keeping it going

Another day older, another day wiser.

I must plan for the blog better and not leave it until the last minute!

Came in from playing badminton this evening and then found we needed to erect the artificial Christmas tree as we've a busy day tomorrow and then I'm off to pick up my dad from a spell in hospital on Sunday and take him home.  Not back until Tuesday so there goes a couple of days.

I sing Tenor in the Potters Bar Choral Society.  Our chairman is organist at St. Mary's church, Potters Bar and they are having a 'Bring and Sing' performance of the Messiah tomorrow.  There's a rehearsal in the afternoon before a performance in the evening at 6.30 p.m.  So, I've spent some time today singing through the choruses we're scheduled to do, using the web site Cyberbass (www.cyberbass.com).  This has a number of the major choral works available, split into the different voice parts.  Very useful if you don't play piano!

It's my brother's birthday next Wednesday.  He's a keen beekeeper so I've been thinking about doing a card with a bee related theme.  I did have some photos of bees on flowers in our garden although the bee is to small so I found some images on the web (the one I used was on beeswarm.co.uk) and had a go at sketching one of them.  A lot easier when it's static.

Scan in colour

Scanned in black and white

Interesting how the reproduction differs

I hadn't realised how hairy a honey bee is.

I'm thinking of doing something abstract for the card.  This is the one I did last year.

Just had an email from Urban Sketchers London http://urbansketchers-london.blogspot.com/.  They're meeting at Borough Market at 1.30 p.m. tomorrow.  Shame it clashes with the Messiah rehearsal - another time.

Golf tomorrow morning - a Stableford competition and a chance to establish a standard for the next stage in trying to reach a single figure handicap.  Here's hoping for some decent weather.

The beginning

Where to start?

Today is the 365th day before my 60th. I've never been one for keeping a diary so far, yet, I thought it might be interesting to chart the next 365 days, set some objectives for the year and see how it all goes.

So, to begin, at the moment my main interests and activities are golf, art - in particular sketching and painting, singing, badminton, reading, listening to the radio, watching television, gardening, book art and looking after the ancients.

I play my golf at Old Fold Manor G.C. which is situated on the edge of the London Green Belt, just north of Barnet.  

10th teeing ground

I've been a member there for 20 years and am currently on the committee as Chairman of Golf.  My handicap is 10.5 and my first golf objective is to reach a single figure handicap in the coming year.

I've always enjoyed sketching, particularly on holiday.  I've undertaken a number of courses over the last 10 years and currently attend weekly classes at Insight School of Art in Barnet.  I've concentrated on acrylic painting for the last 4 years since entering a piece for a charity event at Gravelly Barn.  I'd previously used watercolour, however, the stipulation was to have a piece on a 12" canvas and watercolour doesn't go down well on canvas. I bought some acrylics after researching the Winsor & Newton guide and set to.  I made two paintings and one of them sold!

Two Rivers (light)

Two Rivers (dark)

My first art objective is to improve the quality of my sketching and in order to monitor progress, I'm setting myself the task of a sketch a day.  Today I've managed two!

We take my father-in law to a local church which has a weekly Open Door Café and these were some of the other lunchers today.

I was waiting to call my Dad.  Tricia, my wife, was on the phone so I took the opportunity for a quick line drawing.

I can also see that I need to learn how to better present my work!

So, as we're approaching the witching hour today, that's it for the moment.

If you would like to make any constructive comment on anything I'm doing, please feel free.