Sweet Pea embroidered T shirt for a 4 year old (hand embroidered by Mary Addison)

One busy week of lots of sitting and sewing passed into another equally busy week though this time it was more physically active with no time for sewing and little more than a twitch of the knitting needles.

Once up in the morning Daughter No 1 settles into position on the kitchen sofa with the surgically upholstered offending limb resting on a kitchen chair. It all looks uncomfortable in the extreme but there is work to be done and she gets on with doing it come what may – whether the occasional curious cat, friendly though overly physical children or your mother asking where the cheese grater/colander/vase for the latest delivery of flowers might be. “It’s all right, I’m on mute” is sweet to the ears as saucepan lids clatter on the the cooker from the too full shelf above. With this injury any attempt to walk is difficult and stressful and though she manages coming down stairs with 2 crutches well enough, albeit noisily as the crutches catch the part of the stair without carpet, getting upstairs is a completely different matter and usually done on the bottom. It’s unnerving to see her coming into the kitchen backwards with a bottom shuffle until she hits the sofa when she can haul herself up – usually with a sigh and a very weary look. Fortunately she has top class pelvic floor muscles and doesn’t have to rush to the loo every five minutes. To help our invalid, I do what any mother would do and feed her with as much deliciousness as I can source.

Embroidered sweet pea on a T shirt for a 4 year old (hand embroidered by Mary Addison)

I think it was just after the dear daughter had just said how glad she was that I was there that I was overcome by a surge of unaccustomed zeal and decided to clean and sort out the open shelves above the kitchen cupboards. I’d previously given the semi recumbent invalid the little set of Ikea steps as a handy table, so rather than take them away from her I drew up a kitchen chair and hoicked myself up on to that, noting to myself how it wasn’t an altogether sensible thing to do. Up and down I went several times. A brief interlude for more newspaper reading followed. The Lloyd Loom chair by the window was comfortable and I could enjoy the plants in the little front garden. White and blue hydrangeas are flowering side by side. The blue hydrangea fills a giant terracotta pot and is Daughter No I’s peak gardening achievement. For years she’s been treating the earth in the pot with a soil acidifier to lower its ph and this year it’s been a success. People who pass, comment on its loveliness. Suddenly realising it was time to leave to pick up my grandson from school I made a move to get up … but found myself immobile and with a sharp pain in my lower back whichever way I tried to move. It soon became apparent I was not going to be fetching anyone from school and possibly not going anywhere in the near future.

Embroidered sweet pea (hand embroidered by Mary Addison)

Daughter No 1 looked worried. I looked worried. Somehow I made it to my bedroom, rubbed in Ibuprofen gel and managed to get into a comfortable position. I slept. At some point the son-in-law appeared with a mug of hot milk and collagen (as directed by Daughter No 1) and then at some other point I managed to way lay him to switch off the light. Miraculously I awoke the next morning much improved – still rickety and with a niggly pain but nothing too dreadful. Phew. I think we were all contemplating the utter impossibility of a summer with two invalids and no discernible backup. Having told my husband he’d have to come to London to take me back to Cheltenham (for two days of frequent back massage) I was so happy to cancel the first part of that instruction and to be able to take up my own suitcase and walk – well, take the train home. I shall return on Monday. Blissfully, I’d booked my seat and as GWR only permits one person in every two seats, the journey home was relaxing and, wonderful to relate, the day remained light for the whole journey. From the train the countryside was resplendent in sharp green shot through and lace edged with silver and white  – Ox eye daisies, frothy Queen Anne’s Lace, white campion and elder flower flowers. I wanted to read but the lure of the view from the window was too great.

Ipsden altar frontal: sweet pea (hand embroidered by Mary Addison)

The smallest person wearing her sweet pea T shirt (with pyjama bottoms – as you do when granny wants a photograph!)