Eeyore at The Beach

 Hello! Did you miss me?!

 This Summer I had the idea. The idea was that I had the brilliant idea of sharing all my 'expertise' about flare-ups with you. I made a start and...(yes, you know what's coming)- I got seriously flared-up and have had to lay off Blogging for the last few months. How I laughed,( or I would have done if it didn't hurt when I chortled). 


Yup, although I have definitely got wrinklier, chronic illness leaves me at the disadvantage of always being a beginner. Each moment can bring fresh challenges. Like the sea, the colours and movement of those waves are always changing. Every day is like (that UK childhood rite of passage),  stumbling down a pebbled beach in bare feet and into the icy sea.  (NB:If you don't know what I am talking about then, congratulations on being brought up somewhere within reach of sand!)

Some days the waves are small ripples...and some days the waves are huge...and I can feel broken glass underfoot.
Just call me Eeyore.

 

I may not have all the answers to your flare-up, but here are a few things I discovered recently.

EGGS: I am a cereal girl, always have been, and along with toast ( beans on toast is my 'death row' meal),would happily snaffle museli 3x daily. A high protein start to the day makes sense for me, but I just don't have the energy to hover over a hob...

Riubber Stress Chickens!

...So here is the 'low spoons' way to make eggs in the microwave.
Mini omelette: break egg into an microwavable cup, add herbs, and salt to taste. It will take 1 min or less on 800 watts. Keep an eye on it, and when it rises up check it.
Scrambled egg: Beat egg in the cup, add milk/ milk substitute, salt etc. 30 secs on 800, check and stir. Keep heating and checking 'til you get the consistency you prefer.

TRANSFERS! Who can forget the pointless joy of Letraset rub-down transfers!!

For those of you too young to remember, this was one way we wasted time back in the 70's. Unable to sew or draw for much of the Summer, I returned to my childhood love of transfer kits (!) There is something very therapeutic about the repetition of rubbing down the figures etc, and I rediscovered my delight at making a leg stick out of a Greek urn!

IT'S A GALLERY..BUT NOT AS WE KNOW IT: It's a big sadness that I am unable to visit art galleries...but hold on...I CAN visit them virtually! Yay!

A painting by Mary Cassatt ( an artist new to me). An American painter and close colleague of Renoir.

In some ways, virtually walking around gives you more time with the pictures, without some idiot with a mobile phone standing in front of you, or getting jostled by intellectuals explaining the work to each other.
The National Gallery
 
Tate Modern

A ROOM WITH A VIEW: The cheap- as- chips solution to what to stare at all day long. Mr Elephant has put up a notice board for me. It is covered in cards, photos of the folk I love, little notes to myself.( ' NO CAFFEINE!!' ), as well as sketches in progress. This is my constant reminder that there is life in my room...and in me!

Thanks for reading. Pls share on your favourite social media.
It's great to be back!