Things and people to be thankful for

 We've had a lovely couple of days, despite me still not feeling up to par.  

The afternoon tea with the neighbours yesterday was wonderful, we were all well spaced out in their large dining room, with windows open for plenty of fresh air.  We had such a lovely time, it was great to spend a couple of hours chatting with neighbours, catching up - although we've seen them all lots of times in passing and had brief over the garden fence chats in the past year, this was the first time we've had the opportunity for a good get together and proper conversation since pre-Covid.  We've all agreed to make it a regular thing.....provided there's not another lockdown!  Next week they're coming over to us at the caravan, the following week we'll be in a different neighbour's house.

And then today husband's sister (the one whose husband died recently) and his younger brother and sister in law came to us for lunch, on their way to a holiday cottage for a long weekend break.  We haven't seen them all since January last year, when they all came to my mother's funeral.  Oh it was lovely to see them and, again, catch up with everyone's news.  Husband's sister J is doing remarkably well since her husband died, she seems lighter and brighter, as if her joie de vivre has come back.  Which I suppose it has - her husband had been very ill for several years and had gone downhill severely in the last year or so, which meant her life was very difficult.  Now she's free of responsibility and can live her own life, how she wants to.

I'm so thankful we have lovely friends and family - we've once again had offers of help to take husband to hospital for his upcoming operation, and for me to ring any of the neighbours, anytime, should I need help whilst husband is in hospital.  Husband's sister brought me a gorgeous plant, a purple Calla lily, it's beautiful - how lovely of her, when she's recently bereaved.

Mundi - a new reader (or new commenter, at least - welcome) - you mentioned your vet brought up the possibility of food allergies, eg grains and chicken.  We've also talked about allergies with our vet - Betty does get itchy skin quite often and I have wondered about allergies.  We live on farmland surrounded by crops, which are sprayed with all sorts of chemicals (the farms nearby are not organic) and we have wondered whether that might affect Betty.  Our vet suggested giving her brewers yeast tablets, or even Piriton (a hayfever tablet).  The brewers yeast didn't have much, if any, effect, the Piriton just made her dozy.  I was aware of grain allergies and do usually buy grain-free food (she has good quality wet food, interspersed with home made food), although I hadn't thought to check whether the dental chews and treats we buy for her are grain free (twit!!).  However, I'd never heard of a chicken allergy....upon googling, it seems it's quite common.  Which maybe could be the problem - Betty loves chicken and eats a lot of it, the homemade food I give her I usually make with (pet quality) minced chicken, and whenever we eat chicken (which we do a lot), she always has some of it.  Oh dear!  I'm going to do a trial of a few weeks reading labels carefully, cutting out all grains and chicken from her diet, and see if that has any effect on her ears and her itchiness.  So thank you for that.

I'm very, very tired, my sleeping hasn't got any better at all and I really need to break this cycle of heavily disturbed nights.....I've only been getting around 3 or 4 hours sleep each night, or even less, for what seems like weeks and weeks.  So tomorrow I'll get some Nytol - not the herbal one, the chemist only one, and take that for a few nights, it generally works reasonably well.  I've got to do something, the lack of sleep is affecting me a lot.