I’ve had a great time helping a friend choose a wedding dress. This one is by Molly Goddard and is fabulously girly but with an edge. We all took part in a video conference with the personal stylist at Browns deciding on the best size and length. Great service if you’re spending £2,000 on a dress! Well once in a lifetime opportunity to look fabulous.
We've all been invited to Browns for a private fitting and I guess opportunity to sell accessories for the dress. Have to wait for the end of lockdown though.
The wedding is in July. So something to look forward to and choosing a dress was a welcome distraction during the usual lockdown days.
The last couple of days have been brighter so it’s been bearable to get out into the garden and do some planting. I had some clematis for a couple of weeks but they needed hardening off so they were ok. But I had a rose and some dahlia tubers that really needed planting.
So yesterday I got my spade out and managed to plant the two clematis, the rose, a honeysuckle and nine assorted dahlias. Which should add to my garden display. At the moment it’s difficult to believe that anything is going to appear from the bare looking patch apart from the tulips which are showing up but not flowered yet.
So it's been greengrocer tulips for now:
Even Ralph is so much happier with the weather, although he’s been fighting again, I think with a new to the area ginger cat.
Food remains a major focus and we’ve had some great meals. I don’t think I’ve ever eaten so well consistently. Of course we sometimes have beans or fried eggs on toast but yesterday’s roast chicken and potatoes with aioli was delicious:
I had an appointment at Papworth last week which was a big thing having been nowhere for months. I didn’t cope well with having to get up a 5 (normal time is 8.30 or 9.00 with a gentle start to the day with toast and marmalade and a cup of tea) ; I built myself up into a frenzy of anxiety about it so of course I couldn’t sleep. Well the main thing is that my lungs are good. I was also terrified that they’d be able to detect how much wine I’ve been drinking during lockdown! But my bloods were ok.
They also gave me a zelendronic acid infusion for my bones as I was on the tipping point for osteoporosis before my transplant. The steroids I have to take (never mind the massive doses during and after transplant) affect your bones so the zelendronic acid is an attempt to slow progress of bone decay.
There were a couple of other transplant people there , one on a wheelchair on oxygen five years after transplant, and another who had a rejection after two months so he wasn’t great either. Not something to dwell on, but a reminder that there is always a possibility of rejection at anytime. People will tell me off and say not to think about it; I don’t obsess about it but I can’t help feeling vulnerable. Surely that’s normal.
Anyway I can always lose myself in painting. I think I will dedicated this joyful tulip one to my friend Lesley who has just had a major cancer op. I hope she recovers well.
I think M wants to get another cat to keep Ralph company although we’d need to be very careful I think as he may just attack it. He may look sweet here but he has a strong fighting instinct
I am obsessed with flowers, to grow and to paint, and with other painters flower still life. Here are some lovely ones by Alice Mumford:
