Penbleth
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Posts
- May 23, 13
Each day draws to its close, the good and the bad. The anxious time passes, the aggravations over.Come sit with me, however your day. Take a breath, close your eyes.
Let us sit in companionable silence for now, the day drifting into the past.
Let us sip some tea, let the stress fall away.
If you snooze I will quietly smile, for this day is done.
Lynn x
© 2013, Penbleth / L. McG.-E.. All rights reserved.
Copyright secured by Digiprove © 2013 - May 22, 13
She knew what she wanted when she returned from school. Her top, a pretty shade of jade was not to her taste. Instead she sought a top of pink, long sleeves on this rare for this year sunny day.A look in the mirror confirmed, “me!”
The tops had to be tiered not one swapped for the other.
“Are you sure?”, brought a smile, a nod. She is sure.
A pink top over a jade top, her choice, her taste, her decision.
So in the heat of evening as the setting sun streams through the window she sits and revels in her choices, points to herself, “star!”
Yes, yes you are. A star, unique and brilliant.
And utterly determined to wear the pink over the jade because it is you.
I hope your day gives you the chance to do something just for you, however unique, because you are a star.
Lynn x
© 2013, Penbleth / L. McG.-E.. All rights reserved.
Copyright secured by Digiprove © 2013 - May 21, 13
One of the most challenging aspects of parenting is lack of sleep. Those seemingly endless sleepless nights take a toll on our energy, our drive and clear-headedness. It can be pretty hard to think clearly and take a proportionate, balanced approach to our waking days, least of all those days full of challenge, when we are sleep-deprived. As parents we tend to hope that the sleeplessness nights will be confined to our children’s babyhood and that as they grow their sleep will improve. For many that turns out not to be the case.In our house sleep became a distant dream with our youngest child, for more than twelve years my husband and I dealt with broken nights and sleeping in shifts to look after her. We tried all suggestions but to no avail. Endeavouring to keep awake a child who is determined to fall asleep is almost impossible, on the few nights we succeeded rather than stay awake until 9 p.m. as we hoped we found that she would still be going strong long after midnight. Most nights we had no success and sleep would claim her at about 8 p.m. only for midnight to see her wide awake and ready to begin a new day. Night by night we took it in turns, one to watch her and endeavour to encourage a return to sleep until about 4 a.m., the other to take over after that, then all swap over the next evening.
It ate into us, leaving us drained, snappy at times and unenthused. I could take advantage of working part-time to grab a midday nap, my husband couldn’t. We began to fear it was to be never-ending. Respite nights when our daughter slept away from home and we had the evening to ourselves were a godsend, I suppose we would have coped without them but it would have been exponentially more difficult without the knowledge that for two nights a month our daughter would be off, having fun and being cared for while we could get some rest. Of course for years we lay awake wondering if she was okay and if we were going to get a telephone call to tell us there was something amiss, several times we did.
Twelve years or more of broken nights and we thought it was going to be our life story, then one night a couple of years ago our daughter went to bed and slept through till morning. We didn’t, we woke several times to go and check that everything was okay, yes we feared the worst, that a seizure had claimed her in the night, gratefully letting out our own held breaths when we could hear her rhythmic sleeping ones. The next night it happened again and then again and again until a week had passed and each night had been slept through till morning, we were elated, and strangely exhausted. As the weeks turned into months we began to feel this was it, an important breakthrough had taken place. Our strength, energy and enthusiasm began to return. We could look forward to the evening knowing we would have some time to ourselves like any other family after their children had gone to bed.
Our youngest also began to improve, herself no longer exhausted she began to learn more, say more, do more. We noticed an improvement in her temper and temperament at home, school and respite reported the same. Where each day prior to this she had been often angry and unsettled for little apparent reason now she was more open, more understanding, more capable of listening when things were explained to her. Along with the increased sleep came fewer seizures and increased learning, we felt we were winning on all fronts.
Each year as the days lengthen I feel rejuvenated by the returning sun, its only downside felt each morning as its increasingly early rays call my youngest from her sleep. We have come to expect this, we know that often she can be encouraged to lie down again until closer to a more reasonable waking time. This week however we have seen a return to waking in the middle of the night and exhaustion during the day. During those few nights I have felt the dread of a return to lengthy periods of wakefulness. Last night she went to bed exhausted, this morning she woke at our usual waking time. My entire being sang a song of relief. Tonight we will hope for the same and the cycle to remain broken.
I hope today brings good things to you.
Lynn x
© 2013, Penbleth / L. McG.-E.. All rights reserved.
Copyright secured by Digiprove © 2013 - May 20, 13
This week Bella has challenged us to share our before and after shots from images we have cropped. I must be honest, apart from those iPhone shots I take and post on Instagram I don’t tend to crop my photographs. My thought has always been that if I didn’t manage to get a decently framed shot then I just wouldn’t use it.
One of the things I have been trying to tell myself is that even good photographers don’t take every image perfectly and that there is nothing wrong with editing them. I am not sure I am completely convinced. In that vein, here are a few images I have taken over the past couple of weeks that I subsequently cropped.
Pansies from my in-laws’s garden, uncropped:
and cropped and rotated slightly to straighten.
The next one I converted to monochrome
and then cropped for a better, less cluttered perspective.
The pansies are not high on my list of favourite images of flowers I have shot, the street scene pleases me much more.Have you taken and cropped any images you would like to share in Week 4 {Crop It}of this year’s 52 Photos Project? If so the gallery is still open until Tuesday night.
Week 5′s prompt is Waterdrops, the Gallery for it will open on Wednesday. If your area is anything like mine nature is providing plenty of waterdrops in the form of rain to provide inspiration.
I look forward to seeing what everyone brings to both galleries.
© 2013, Penbleth / L. McG.-E.. All rights reserved.
Copyright secured by Digiprove © 2013 - May 19, 13
Another Sunday, another new week begins, time to have a look at the week that has past.
There was rain and more rain.
My youngest and Rosie continued their domination of the sofa as a pair but sometimes my daughter had it all to herself.
There were hearty meals to battle the chill.
And times to sit in the sunshine and shadow and enjoy a restful cup of tea.
There was work
And late night reading
There were puppies looking out of windows
And the pleasant return of sunshine to herald the week beginning.
How have you spent your week? Please feel free to share in the comments or leave a link to your own site.I hope your Sunday is fun, relaxing and refreshing before the working week begins.
Lynn x
© 2013, Penbleth / L. McG.-E.. All rights reserved.
Copyright secured by Digiprove © 2013 - May 18, 13
This weekend’s brief visit from my second son has ended, he has returned to the city to enjoy some time with his friends now that the academic year is over and their exams are done. My children are at a wonderful stage in their lives, while they have the pressures of their higher education courses they also have the freedom that comes from being a young adult with no familial responsibilities. This is their time to try new things, enjoy their lives and explore who they are and how they want their lives to be without the worry of obligations.As I mentioned yesterday we are learning as parents how to best care for our children who now are adults. I had to put that in to practice today, my son has gone back to his flat feeling unwell. I wanted to insist he stayed but I had to allow him to make that final decision.
Today when I finished work we were back to having two girls at home. Two girls and Rosie, who couldn’t wait to greet me on my return, her pleasure at seeing me certainly lifted my spirits. The house is quieter now he has gone as we slip back into our term-time routine of Hub and the girls and Rosie and me.
I hope there has been something in your day to give you a boost.
Lynn x
© 2013, Penbleth / L. McG.-E.. All rights reserved.
Copyright secured by Digiprove © 2013 - May 18, 13
There is something indescribably lovely about walking out of work to see your son waiting for you in the car. I had that wonderful experience yesterday. University is over for another year and although this visit home is fleeting, he is returning to spend some time in the city with his friends, I am savouring every moment. The joy of cooking him nourishing food and fussing over him while he pretends to indulge me makes me a very happy mum.I am so glad that my children are experiencing life, meeting friends and discovering their adult identities. I know that as parents we must have done something correctly. As I enjoy hearing their stories I am equally glad that they still want come home and be taken care of by their parents. It is a balance they and we are learning together, parenting young adults is a whole new adventure for us all.
These visits are often a mixture of looking at the recent past as we catch up with each other since we last got together, then looking back further to childhood and thinking ahead as we share plans and aspirations. Revisiting the past helps maintain the connection, reinforce the reason we are together and our place in each other’s lives. Looking ahead provides the point of focus to our forthcoming actions and activities.
I hope your Friday has been a good one and that the weekend allows you to reconnect in some way with the connections in your life.
Lynn x
© 2013, Penbleth / L. McG.-E.. All rights reserved.
Copyright secured by Digiprove © 2013 - May 18, 13
The rain is still raining, my cold is still in full force rendering my speech almost incoherent at times. Actually for the past week my voice has matched my rather mumbling brain. I would grab any spare chance I find to sleep, in the hope rest might improve things except I can hardly breathe when I close my eyes. Added to that I have has this cold for weeks and none of the sleep I have has during that time has helped so the point is rather moot.My daughter has returned from school looking pale and sleepy with a note in her school book telling me her cough has resumed. So now we are two sorry for ourselves girls trying to feel warm in the unseemly chill that is South Wales in May and glad we don’t have to venture out in the pouring rain.
Rosie is sleeping off the worry she gave us all yesterday. She went from having a hug to rampant drooling to hecking and heaving and clawing at herself. I can tell you that 18 and I were beside ourselves, I truly thought she had something caught in her throat, despite the fact she had been right with us and not eaten anything, for once. Eventually the culprit was discovered when she managed to dislodge a milk tooth. Frankly, I don’t think any of us have the stamina for a replay, her previous teeth have just fallen out. The rest better do the same or I shall be ready once more for the Home For the Terminally Bewildered.I hope your Tuesday is a little more energised and somewhat less frantic.
Lynn x
© 2013, Penbleth / L. McG.-E.. All rights reserved.
Copyright secured by Digiprove © 2013 - May 18, 13
There is something rather wonderful about coming home. It isn’t at all surprising that it is metaphor as well as a literal phrase. There is that sense of ease, of sloughing off the outside with its cares and obligations. When work is done and we are back where we belong we can let out the breath we didn’t know we held, relax the demeanour we wore to interact with others and divest ourselves of all but our essential self. It is no wonder so many of us change into comfy clothes, we are saying not just to ourselves but to the world that lies beyond our walls, “I am done with you for today, now is my time, is family time.”
Today I made my way home from work, first to my in-laws to collect Rosie, yes my dog goes to granny’s, I couldn’t leave her home alone. Together we came home, keen to get back to treats for Rosie and a cup of tea for me, then a moment to cuddle together before the girls returned from school.
Home has its own routines, its own cares and rituals but they are ours. Here we set the terms. On days when tensions arise, when health concerns or flares of unwanted behaviour occur still nothing can take from the moment when, having turned the key in the lock I step over the threshold and feel myself relax.I hope you are able to take a moment in your home today and feel yourself cosily cocooned right where you belong.
Lynn x
© 2013, Penbleth / L. McG.-E.. All rights reserved.
Copyright secured by Digiprove © 2013 - May 18, 13
No matter how long it takes, or feels like it takes, for the weekend to get here, once it does you blink and it is Sunday afternoon. The new week has just begun, before I jump into it too far lets take a look back at the one just finished.
Yesterday I wrote Carers and Caring in response to the news here in the UK that doctors have called for carers to be screened more frequently for depression and other health related issues of their own. It is a longer but personal piece based on my experience as a mother of a child with multiple and severe special needs. Please do have a read if you have not already done so.
Now, lets have a look at the week that was.
The tulips finally poked their heads above the ground, teased by last weekend’s sun, dismayed by this week’s rain.
While my youngest waited for her sister to come home for dinner Rosie just let it all pass her by, cosy and warm on the sofa.
I journalled, drank tea and finally got it together to write a piece for submission to Kindred. {Fingers crossed.}
From a wet Sunday in the garden to a cosy afternoon on the couch.Have a great Sunday everyone and to those of you in countries celebration Mother’s Day today, I wish you a happy day.
Lynn x
© 2013, Penbleth / L. McG.-E.. All rights reserved.
Copyright secured by Digiprove © 2013
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Photos
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Posts
Some days test it, today was one of those days.
A long time ago we had many pets. We had a gorgeous Basset called Meg, we had a wonderful tabby…
Fill the day.
Today, like every day, starts as a blank page. I can fill it, as I have done for the past several…
It’s respite day.
Her bags are packed, it’s respite day. She sits and waits for her father to come home to take her…
Ease into it.
The working week has begun for most people but here at Tŷ Penbleth it is the first real day of the…
Rosie’s first walk.
It’s 6 seconds of footage, a mini film for a mini dog.
She’s 12 weeks today.
Be still.
Sunday.
The canal in early Spring. ©L.McG.-E. All rights reserved.Whether you have spent today…
- Don't scare me like that.
If there’s one thing certain about a pup it’s that they love to chew. Rosie is making it her life’s mission to live up to this.
Earlier she gave up her fox to steal my shoe. I laughed as she ran with it, taking it as far from me as she could in case I retrieved it from her. Just as I was about to ask Hub to get it Rosie dropped the shoe and backing away from it slunk off and began whining and crying.
Hub lifted her and she stopped. Her mouth was examined, her feet, her ears, her body. No sign of hurt or cut, no torn out tooth. The shoe isn’t damaged and has no sharp parts, no metal or staples or other piece that could have hurt her. Yet something did, perhaps a tooth wrapped around a stitch, although there isn’t anything to see to support this on the shoe. There is nothing dangling or pulled loose.
My heart is hammering yet. Rosie, you could be the end of me.
- I know many of you don’t like Spotify playing and most don’t bother with music anyway but today has been shittastic. Time for a little Beautiful South, Just a Few Things That I Ain’t.
(No streaming audio available)0 plays
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Photos
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Tweets
- Wondering how to learn to appreciate a shit day? Hang around till it all goes to Hell. Suddenly shit looks good.
- On an evening. http://t.co/5IEpLVDWD0
- It's a style statement. http://t.co/yF9UrcTiBx
- New post, a few broken nights now, 12 plus years of it before: Sleep, I remember that. http://t.co/XkaM4RHyhL
- Bedside. http://t.co/hyAgITz2je
- Watching. http://t.co/smSQtyFq5h
- Sleep, I remember that. http://t.co/XkaM4RHyhL
- Photo: Birds ©L.McG.-E. All rights reserved. http://t.co/oYMOIG2fqv
- Cropped. http://t.co/q7MXtPwlMR
- Photo: On the street. ©L.McG.-E. All rights reserved. http://t.co/ZzqlFvfrYy
- And that's another week. http://t.co/ZhJuSV4Js9
- Photo: Watching. http://t.co/TzKxSO6q3l
- Week endings http://t.co/7p8YRmnGdx
- It just got let slip to Hub the dog had scrambled egg for lunch. Okay, her bottom let it slip but anyway, now he knows.
- You know how years ago embarrassed guys bought everything in the store then admitted they wanted condoms? I'm like that, but with ice-cream.
- Good things at the end of the week. http://t.co/wd1lvbm2BL
- No one is feeling it today. http://t.co/utMvtcxOWP
- It's wet outside, my cold won't abate and I've been ousted from my seat by my dog. Tuesday you tyke, settle yourself, you're not Monday Jr.
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Tweets
- On an evening. http://t.co/DK88Dw0pQO
- Start the day. http://t.co/6rhqmxbX3H
- Rosie is a tired little Basset. http://t.co/Rhd0aCMrWh
- Writing. http://t.co/vYRW6uc8dC
- She is, by her own admission, a star. http://t.co/ZXI5hozNgq
- So, what is everyone doing about Flickr, staying there or porting to another service? I don't want to lose the community.
- I went on a photo walk this morning when it was cloudy, now the sun is out I have to stay put with my daughter. I could weep for lost light.
- It's a style statement. http://t.co/tVhUcZHC6N
- Tredegar Park, with border. Impossoble Color Protection with SX70 SLR. http://t.co/zRrZWTIFdt
- Tredegar Park borderless, Impossible Color Protection with SX 70 SLR. http://t.co/sE0NmhOd7g
- Backless bench on Impossible Color Protection, with border, for comparison. Taken with Sx 70 SLR. http://t.co/xbxa8ZFjq8
- Backless bench, on Impossible Color Protection, minus the border. http://t.co/fWGe8xs2oH
- Morning on the canal. http://t.co/QpvmxRtAr3
- Taking care of me. http://t.co/8t1XZtUdz3
- New post, a few broken nights now, 12 plus years of it before: Sleep, I remember that. http://t.co/HOgwKzQLs2
- Lets cook. http://t.co/z6qCWRpO2R
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Photos
