Pain.

I have been walking everyday for over six weeks now, sometimes twice a day, especially now we have the puppy as well. You would think the walking would be getting easier!

Instead, I am getting sorer and sorer it seems...  I am a little bit worried about how much the pain is intensifying over the whole of my back area.  My left leg feels 'funny' when I walk too far as well, it started the other day when we overdid it a bit over at Ashridge Estate, but it hasn't eased up at all and starts to feel 'heavy' after a while during the walk.    But it is the back pain that is bothering me the most.

I wake up in the morning with what feels like sore muscles all across my neck and shoulders which eases up slightly but then gets worse again during the day.  My lower back aches by the time I get back from my walk, and bending down to take the dogs leads off is uncomfortable, and by the end of the day the whole back is in 'screaming' mode.

Even the spa doesn't seem to be helping much.  I have started back on the Magnesium yesterday and am hoping that it might help.

Hence why not a lot of blogging has been happening.

Tuesday Tales

So putting aside yesterday, although nursing a mild (is there such a thing?) migraine today as a result, I had a dentist appointment this morning, just a check up and all good.  

I haven't done a lot today, had a snooze, taken paracetamol with no result, cleaned out the guinea pigs, taken Percy for a walk and sat knitting or reading and of course watching the birds first thing this morning.

It was fun to see both a Nuthatch and a Robin on the bird table.  Yes it is a bit dilapidated...but it gives it character!

It was very misty this morning, a sign of the good day to come.  

There were I think three Nuthatches out feeding and one time.

The cobwebs were out in force...the spiders must have been busy during the night.

Later in the afternoon when it had brightened up I was able to get a couple of better shots.

You can tell Autumn is here, the fungi (mushrooms?) are growing in the damp grass...yes it has remained damp all day.

Now I've go to think of what to do for dinner...too much brain power needed for that decision I fear!

The Weekend

On the 1st August I endeavoured to go back to juicing and raw foods....this didn't go entirely to plan and I have deviated from this strict diet most days.  However, I have been careful with what I eat, although have still enjoyed the odd cream tea & scone and home backed slice of lemon cake!  I was very pleased to note that in the last month I have lost 1/2 a stone in weight, three inches off my waist and an inch here and there of various other parts of my body!  So worth persevering and continuing this way as I feel I have at least another 1/2 stone to lose and of course then maintain that weight which I am hopeful of doing now I have no medications doing strange things to my body and slowing my metabolism down.  I also want to step up my walking and exercise and am looking into various ideas to support this goal. 

It was a wet day yesterday, so I took some photos of the flowers in between the showers.

Have a great weekend.  

No real plans here, just the usual pottering round, some more de-cluttering and tidying...it is never ending as I am just so slow at doing it!

Bumble Bees and Busy Bees, and a little jive!

We went out for lunch today - yes third time this week - so much for my dieting!  Anyway I took my little compact Sony DSC-HX9V with me this time.  We were wondering around the garden centre afterwards and I saw the bumble bees and just had to see if I could try to capture them on film.

I was really quite pleased with the results.

Just love the sprinklings of pollen.

Earlier this week I started trying to clear and tidy my sewing studio - whilst it is still a long way from finished, things are in boxes and a couple of bags to sort through and my sewing table is finally cleared and I can actually sit at it and sew!  I am not sure quite how many months it has been since I have been able to do that (I have been sewing on the dining room table) and was it a pleasure to be in my own space again listening to some wonderful music by the greats...Nat King Cole, Benny Goodman, Satchmo, Glen Miller, etc....  just perfect!  I will continue to slowly work on clearing it and sorting through the boxes as I want to reorganise the actual sewing area so I can have two sewing machines and the overlocker set up.  I currently can't get the ironing board up in there which is silly, I really need that up and operational all the time if I am going to use the space efficiently.  It might be time to say goodbye to some of my lovely vintage machines....but then maybe not....we will see.  

Yesterday I went into London to the Pain Clinic for the first of my 'Hands Off Physiotherapy' session and I can actually say I found it a positive experience.  I really liked the therapist and got good vibes from her and feel like I will be able to work with her.  I have some 'homework' and will be seeing her again next Friday.  I know she won't be able to cure me...I have worked that out finally!  But I think she will be able to help me refine my coping mechanisms and give me some ways of dealing with the pain when it is at its worst.  There is a gym that can be used with physiotherapists on hand to give advice, so all good stuff.  Will see how it goes anyway.

1st August!

Yeah, the day dawned with sunshine!  I feel so much better today than I have the last couple of days.  Yes it is very hot, but I do so much better when I can see blue skies and the sun.

Today I started my getting back on track food and health wise.  I want to lose all the excess weight I put on while on medication and now I am feeling so much better I feel I can now tackle the juicing and raw foods again.  The first three days will be just juice as I work on de-toxing my body.

The main juice for the day is made up of:

2 apples

1 carrot

1 slice of lemon with rind left on

1/4 yellow bell pepper

1 inch slice of cucumber

1/2 piece of celery

1 inch broccoli stem

1 inch slice of raw beetroot (I actually used more than this)

Another juice I have made up to have during the day is:

1/2 pineapple,

2 apples

1 carrot

1/4 raw beetroot

handful of spinach

1 inch slice of courgette

We went out this morning to take my Mother in Law to the Butterfly World which we are now members of.

Inside the butterfly house we saw:

Inside the Ant House:

Leaf Cutter ants hard at work.

Locusts

Inside the Insect handling house there were opportunities to hold:

A Giant Cockroach

A land snail

A stick insect.

Outside we enjoyed wandering round the wild life gardens.

Bumble Bee on Echinacea

Beautiful Peacock butterfly

Small White butterfly

Dragonflies

Tadpoles

Green-veined White butterfly

Six-spot Burnett Moth & Bumble Bees