The day has eyes, the night has ears.

Thank you to each and every one of you who have sent positive thoughts, prayers and encouraging messages. It’s a week now since the hip operation.

 I left hospital on Monday and arrived ‘home’ to Kay and Bernie’s house to a birthday celebration lunch for Kay’s 88 year old mum. This amazing lady can walk 16 laps around the house in 15 minutes. I can 'walk/hobble' one.

Apart from the kindness and priceless friendship of K and B, there are so many fabulous things about being here to start this next chapter in my new life.
The two llamas have arrived!

Meals in the garden or on the terrace with the family are pure joy.

Life has a rhythm here which I watch and admire: the turkey, the chickens , the different breeds of ducks, the geese and the peacocks all need to be talked to and fed.
The dogs needed to be walked, the garden constantly has to be watered and ‘worked.’
Baking and delicious savory smells drift from the kitchen daily. In the evening over supper there’s lively conversation and much laughter with the woofers.*

And then the darkness arrives.

I have a lot of pain during the night, but every day the paralysed leg is waking up a little more.
Night time brings new challenges. I’m finding a way to navigate these new nights: some hours in bed, some hours sleeping in a chair. I’m keeping everything very practical. Deep thoughts and sneaky what if’s questions during the wee small hours are shooed away. I’d rather tune in the croaking frog or the sleepless peacock.

‘Night is a world lit by itself.’ ( D.F.)

‘Be strong and be brave,’ an inspiring line from a beautiful Kate Rusby song is my dark time mantra..
Robert Braults metaphor for the night’s sky - ‘A trillion asterisks and no explanations’ - is how it all feels at the moment.

‘The day has eyes, the night has ears.* (D Fergusson). I’m not familiar with being awake at night.
Morphine induced dreams are both frightening and fascinating.

I’m remembering with huge affection my roommate in the hospital, Spanish Toni. At least 18 years younger than me, she had 4 deeply curved smile marks engrained on either side of her mouth, and masses of thick blond hair. She was a ‘day ahead of me,’ and inspired me to follow her example of getting out of bed , gritting teeth and just walking through the pain.

I found myself in tears when she left.


‘Love can be a conversation about nothing, or it can be a quiet comfort in each other’s presence that is about everything. ( R Brault).

A heartfelt thank you to everybody who is helping me and wishing me well.
May you receive back exactly what you need yourself.

*A woofer is - a Willing Worker on an Organic Farm. We have two living with us at the moment.