Not a good day...

Poor Mum finally got her operation today, after a couple of weeks of pure mental torture where they prepped her for the operation to repair her leg but didn't carry it out. Well today she had the op, but it has not gone smoothly. She is tonight in intensive care having lost a lot of blood. The shock has affected her kidneys and there is serious concern that they have been damaged.

All we can do tonight is hope that she picks up and stabilises over night. Its been a dreadful time for everyone involved. Please say a prayer or two for Mum.

On A Roll

Yesterday was another beautiful day, not so warm but sunny and a little sun just seems to lift your spirits. A little sun also helps dry the washing and again this weekend I have have had loads and loads of that as well!!

I have been busy bead making, its fast becoming an addition, I make one bead and then think, I'll just do one more and before you know it you have been there for a few hours!! Yesterday I found a lovely black glass which melted like a dream and behaved beautifully on the mandrel. This glass made bead making easy. I am now the proud owner of a dozen multi coloured beads.

Laura came over for lunch and she asked me to make her a pendant, so I am pleased to show you her pendant made with my own hand crafted beads!! Basic but its a start.

Been Creating!!

Yesterday started off on a downer, I had planned on going to London for the March, but got up with a pounding head and feeling quite sick. I didn't feel up to getting the train and such likes so decided to watch it all from home. I dosed myself up and waited for it all to go away. The night before Carl had been rough, high temperature and shivering and then boiling hot. By the afternoon I was feeling a lot better although still not right. Poor Tom had to do the shopping and I didn't feel like cooking so in the evening they all had a Chinese and I didn't feel like it (I know unheard of!!) Today I feel much better. I just have to get myself organised to do the lunch, roast pork, Mmmmmm!!!!

I bought some new glass during the week and I tried it out and managed to make some beads that go together nicely as a set. I have some plain white beads that I can add and I plan to make them into 'something' later on!!!

Carl has a few things planned to publicise his sponsored climb, he has a mail shot going out to all the parents who have children at the church scouts,cubs and beavers. He is looking at other ways of getting his name out there. Thank you to everyone who has sponsored him, I know times are tough but its a good local cause that will serve lots of kids. If you are able to sponsor him please check out the following link -Kilimanjaro

Thank You.

Not Sure What is Happening....

Mum is still in hospital, they still have done nothing since she was admitted over a week ago. On the night she was admitted she was X-Rayed and since then nothing, they have told her that she would need a scan and an operation, in fact they have prepared her for an operation 5 days this week and nothing. We have no idea what is happening and no one seems to be able to tell us. Keith is going in this morning to sort things out, but its madness. I would have thought its in their interests to get her up and about and out of bed, they are always moaning about lack of beds. My concern is that they don't seem to have a plan of action of any sort. I will have to wait for Keith to report back...

Yesterday I had a very nice time playing with my glass, I now have some other things I'd like to try on the glassy front. I tried out a brass glass press, which was quite hard to start with, but I did get better the more I tried it, I will have to keep at it.

Beautiful weather today, bright and sunny. I am off to capture some blossom shots!!

Carl Davidson is fundraising for 1st WGC (StFrancis) Scout Group

Carl Davidson is fundraising for 1st WGC (StFrancis) Scout Group

Carl has decided to climb Mount Kilimanjaro in an effort to raise funds for the 1st Welwyn Garden City Scout Group. The group would really love to restore an electricity supply to the Scout hut in Brockswood lane, after the spur supplying electricity to the hut was disconnected by a neighbour. Previously the house had been owned by a family who were more than happy to allow the hut to be supplied via a spur on their land. The new owner is not happy to allow that hence no electricity. So please support Carl in his effort to raise around a tenth of the total required to electrify the site again!!!!

Good Weekend.

My Babies !!!

This weekend has been a pretty busy one, hospital visiting and making beads. I am not really sure what is going on with Mum and I don't really think she knows for sure either. She has been in bed since she went in last Thursday and one Doctor has said they need to operate and another has said that they don't. The latest plan is for them to do a scan today to see what is happening. On the positive side she doesn't appear to be in a huge amount of pain and she seems to be 'with it' which helps as she can fight her own corner a bit more.

In the gaps between visiting I have been fiddling around making beads. I definitely think I am making steps forward, on the plus side I can make 'similar' sized beads, although patterns are a bit more hit and miss, but practice makes perfect. I just want to be able to make pretty beads NOW!!!!!

Another thing to learn is colour combinations, some glass changes when it is heated and others interact and make pretty effects, so its trial and error until you find something you like. At the moment I am liking dark ivory and turquoise, it goes all crackly and lovely.

In my attempt to run before I can walk I have tried out silver wire (they grey and black beads in the middle) Again that is much harder that it looks. First of all I managed to vaporise most of the piece I was using then I got a load of squiggles, eventually I made some stick and melted it in to silver spots. Nearly melted my fingers at one point!

The one above are the ugly ones, the ones only a creator could love and to be quite honest I am not that struck either!!!Particularly ugly is the one on the far right, its huge, its orange and its UGLY!!!

This last lot are some of the first off of the production line (apart from the eye one which snuck in) You can see I hope that I have progressed from this motley bunch of odd shaped glass blobs.

Hope you all have a nice day, off to work, preparing for an office move which is the 4th time in 2 years, its hard labour, I hope this is the last time.

Here We Go Again....

You know how it is, just when you think that things are getting back on track and you can relax and have a few evenings to yourself again, bang it all goes wrong . On Thursday evening I got called around to Mum and Dads as Mum was having bad pain in her leg and couldn't walk on it. We eventually had to call and ambo and mum went to A and E at the QE2. I stayed with her all evening until around 1am, she was waiting for an X ray but at that stage they suspected that something had gone wrong with the repair.

Eventually she was Xrayed and the repair had shifted and needs to be done again, so she is back to square one, she is now waiting for the warfarine levels to reduce so they can operate safely. It is likely to be Monday before that happens. Its such a shame that we are starting over again.

I was not very impressed at the way she was walking her left foot instead of pointing forward was splayed out at a right angle so I am sure that must have been putting a huge amount of pressure on her injury, he leg was twisted and to be honest its no surprise that she has done further damage, I am not sure why they didn't try and correct the twist, Mum has tried to tell me that they were happy with her posture, I just can't believe that.

This week has been a tough one so I am going to chill out and make a few beads!!

Made something half reasonable!

I have spent sometime this weekend  bead making, Its a real learning curve trying to work out how the glass reacts to the heat and to other glass. I think I have just about mastered the basic donut shapped and round bead, so the next thing is to experiment above are my first attempts at making a cup cake bead. I have the basic idea but the execution needs refining!! Next time I will try a different technique and see if I can make the bead more ballanced.

I am pleased with this little lady, again I need to refine the choice of glass and frit but again its a start and hopefully I can only get better.  I think next time I may well start with an opaque bead underneath and see if I can encase it in a clear glass. Thats another art I am yet to master.

Last night we had a great night out with Raymonde and Colin, we went to a quiz night where we amazed ourselves and came joint second out of 15 tables. We may even have won if we had read the question catagories, because then we would have seen that there was a round on Fruit and Veg which without a doubt Raymondes specialist subject. Anyway when that round arrived we were handed plates and boxes containing all sorts of fruit and veg to identify. Raymonde did a fantastic job and identied every single one of them (we should have saved our joker!!) Anyway Beth decided to play a trick on her, while all the produce was being handed around she made up one of her own by taking some lettuce from the buffet and putting it on a plate taht she numbered herself. She handed that to Raymonde and she identified it, the only thing was it wasn't on the list that we had to choose from. Raymonde was very enthusiastic and just didn';t hear me telling her it was a joke!!!eventually she realised, so we handed it on to the next table for them to identify!!

It kept us laughing for the rest of the evening (hysterically!!!)

Another course???

Last Sunday I went on another course with Debbie, who in her own words is a professional course goer!! This time we went on a ceramic button making class. We had a very nice day from 10am to 5pm we made and decorated a variety of things, buttons, plaques, letters all sorts. Its a very absorbing past time. In the afternoon we decorated the mornings work and they will be fired during the week ready for collection on Saturday. I am sure that this will be something else to get into as you could do the shape making while chatting and drinking wine, although the wine may effect the quality of those products!!!Can't wait until Saturday to collect the results.

Mum seems to be doing very well and we are pleased that she is back at home. She has been getting around and is looking forward to actually getting out in the car for a look at the beautiful crocus and daffodils on The Campus roundabout. She has that trip in plan for Friday if she is able to get in the car!!

My First Beads from Home that actually look half reasonable!!!

I like pink and I was very pleased with this pair above, they are 'similar' in size, not too wonky and a nice colour. I encased most of bead in clear glass, but missed a bit near to the hole. I definitely feel encouraged that I have made something half decent!!!

These two beads were also successful (in my book) I made the beads then  messed around putting on dots and the likes. Once I had finished with the dots I poked them around a bit with a metal poker and made swirly patterns.

This bunch are all odd sizes and all an experiment for me! The pink one at the front was cream glass with pink dots I then poked the middle of the spots and covered the hole with clear pinky glass. I need to perfect that technique as I like the effect!. The blue and white bead is made using a murini chip on the base of royal blue. The third bead is a black base with orange opal frit, its all a bit dark, but I am proud of the shape.

The last bead is a spotty job but I am still trying to perfect doing dots. Its a bit like patting your head and rubbing your tummy I either over head the bead or over heat the stringer which results in very big or stupidly small blobs (not spots which are round!!!) I am enjoying having a go and I will perfect it!!!

Good News!!!!

Finally yesterday Mum was released from captivity, she arrived home during the day by ambulance. We called around last night to see them and she was sat in her chair TV on and waiting for the first carer to arrive. She came home with a huge bag of drugs which Dad and I had to sort into the correct boxes so that she knows what to take when.

Mum had her hair done during the week so she looked just like her usual self sitting in her chair . There is now more equipment around house, a commode, a white step thing and a new table she can use from the chair. The carer arrived while I was there and made arrangements for times that Mum would need help. They arrived on time last night to get her into bed, but this morning they were two hours late to get her washed and dressed. Knowing what we do about caring and the services provided this will be exactly what will happen. Second call in and already running late!!!

This week we have finally booked our summer holiday, Hurrah!!! After a lot of deliberation we have decided to go back to Holland. We are returning to Duinrell. As a holiday location it is perfect, there is a theme park for the kids, featuring scary rides and tame rides. There is a big water park with flumes and water rides and all of it is free if you stay at the neighbouring park. To sum it up I'll use Beth's words - Its the best holiday that's not Disney!!! So I feel much better now that its booked .

Finally a couple of shots from last weekend in Ypres, they have lovely chocolate, lovely cakes and I am dribbling looking at them!!!

Look at those lovely lovely cakes .

         This was the best chocolate shop !!!

From The Weekend.

We visited Tyne Cot Cemetery the largest cemetery in the area. On the day that our relative died in August 1917 there were 67,000 men lost. I simply can't comprehend that volume of people. I am trying to think of it in terms of football stadium, it is horrific. We found lots of Davidson's from Sunderland, I expect a fair few of them may well be connected to us as well.

We went to hear the Last Post at the Menin gate. This was a stones throw from the hotel. The Last Post has been sounded at the Menin Gate every night at 8pm since the monument was built in the 1930's

Belgium is overflowing with lovely little shops and houses, they all look so beautiful, very decorative. These shops are directly opposite the Menin gate.

This week we are hoping that Mum is liberated from the rehabilitation centre, they have told her that she will be free tomorrow, but they have announced today that she needs to see a social worker with Dad in the morning. She is now worried that this will prevent her leaving. Fingers crossed all is OK.

Home Again

The one thing that's makes you glad to return home???? for me its my bed. For years I have had on and off a dodgy back, starting with an operation that I had in 1988. Ever since then I have tried to look after it hoping to avoid any mishaps. For years we have slept on a fairly firm mattress because we were under the impression that was the best support we could have, well we replaced that mattress a year or so ago with a much softer one (accidentally ordered a soft one) at first we thought we had made a huge mistake and we were going to send it back, but by week two we had got used to it and now sleeping on a hard mattress is agony. This past weekend away has been with a very hard mattress, three nights of not being able to get comfortable and tonight Tom is still complaining about his aching back!!

There is loads going on at the moment and not enough time to get everything done. Mum is still making good progress although I am worried that she still isn't walking very far. I do think she will get better once she is back in her own home, something she is looking forward to.

Fingers crossed!!

Tyne Cot

Tyne Cot

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Here is one of the fallen Botwrights we left a poppy by his name, there are a few of them dotted around the place. I wonder if anyone has visited him before?

After a trip around the Market!!

After a trip around the Market!!

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Here is Beth getting her ideas down on paper after a walk around the town !! It's still raining and miserable and we are suffering the after effects of sleeping in a hard bed!!!
Yesterday we went to Tyne cot cemetery and found the inscription on the wall for Arthur R Botwright who died on the 18th of August 1917. He is in our extended family he came from Bedmond and his parents were Emma and John Botwright. It has sparked an interest in Beth and she now wants to go and research him online.
We are now chilling in a cafe it's a out time the weather changed off of the terrible miserable rain!!!

Arrived in Ypres

Today Tom, Beth and I arrived in Ypres, we caught the 12 o'clock ferry from Dover and arrived in Dunkirk 2 hours later, nice smooth crossing. We then popped into a hyper market (Auchan) and stocked up on rose before heading on to Belgium. Tonight we have been to the Last Post at The Menin gate and had dinner at Poppies.
Now we are heading in to watch a bit of TV before doing the museums in the morning!!!

New Experiences.

For my birthday I had an unusual present, a bead making kit, which consisted of a load of glass rods....

A hot head torch and safety set up and equipment.Along with everything else that you need for making your own glass beads. I have now been on a couple of courses and I have found an interest in making beads. So i set the whole lot up and got cracking making some beads. The top picture is of the product of my labours. I am having great fun experimenting with the glass and torch. The torch is a bit scary and the first lot I made took a long time. I then realised that I hadn't got the torch full on so one lesson learnt already.

I have learnt that its very addictive, I want to be able to do everything straight away, this is not possible and I need to spend some time perfecting my skills. I do think that I will be able to get there. Its all about learning how the different glasses react with each other and what effects you can get. My friend Debbie bought me a book for my birthday which I am reading, I have picked up tips from there. I am going to attempt one bead every time I fire up and keep going until I get it right. I think that to fund this habit I am going to have to sell off some of my rubber stamps, so look out eBay, if I ever get organised enough I am going to have a massive clear out.

Tomorrow we are off to Belgium for a few days. We are taking Beth to Ypres to look around the Flanders Field Museum. She is doing the first world war at school and they will be taking a trip there. She doesn' want to go with the school , so a few days away will be nice.

More good news Mum came home today to see if she could manage around the house. She did very well and is likely to be heading home next weekend when they have the carers set up.  Whoopee!!!

I'm Back

 I have had a few days away in Harrogate on UNISON'S women's conference. I woke up yesterday morning to the return of winter, a good few inches of snow. It was a bit of a shock as I thought we had done with all that and I don't remember ever having snow on my birthday before!!

We arrived on Wednesday afternoon to find that the Hotel, was not quite where we expected it to be, instead of within walking distance to the conference centre it was 2 and a half miles away!! We were left no choice but to drive in everyday. We registered on the Thursday and sat down to the first sessions. I like conferences for the variety of speakers, a lot of people have overcome huge hurdles to get up and speak. This year we had a very inspiring speech from Baroness Blood. A fantastic lady who was instrumental in the Northern Ireland peace talks and the Good Friday agreement. She is an ordinary person who was moved to try and do something for her community to make life better for everyone. She came up against all sorts or opposition but stuck at it and won out. Check her out HERE one determined lady!!!

Yesterday was my birthday so I came home to lots of celebrations, cakes and presents. I simply have not had time to thank everyone yet, there seems a lot to do to get things sorted out, a few days away seems to create a load of washing and general mess.  I did think yesterday that I was just about straight, only to open a card from Sandra FULL of those shiny confetti things, so now my floor is covered in red and pink hearts! I have until November to save up industrial quantities of the same to send back to her!!

Good news on the Mum front, she is making slow but steady progress. She is coming home on Wednesday for a home visit for the staff to see what needs to happen at home to get her reinstalled, so that's a positive move.  We have had a lot of people make contact after the article in the paper including people we met on the cruise last year who had no idea. Tomorrow I will post some birthday photos!

The Result.....

Yesterday Keith and I went into the hospital to meet with the managers with regards to the treatment that mum has received. I think its fair to say that they were very apologetic and kept repeating just how sorry they were that it had happened, they had new processes in place to reduce the risk of understaffing. All very well but it has happened again since and I have no doubt it will happen again. No amount of apologising can repair the damage that they have done as far as we are concerned.

There is an article in today's Daily Mirror, page 21 about Mum. Again the trust apologise, but its simply not good enough it should never have happened in the first place. What  I want to come out of this is an understanding that elderly people should be treated with respect and dignity. It did make me smile yesterday when they tried to tell me that they were having problems attracting staff, we are only in the middle of the biggest recession since who knows when and there are millions of unemployed people and they can't recruit essentially unskilled carers to work for them, simply unbelievable and another obvious lie.

We will continue to battle on until we get a result that we are happy with and an undertaking that they will sort themselves out.

Just remember one day if you are lucky enough you too may be a vulnerable elderly person reliant on stretched staff and scant facilities to enable you to recover after an operation or a fall. We need to ensure that everyone is treated with dignity and respect. People need to be able to have access to basic requirements of life such as access to food and water and being able to use a toilet when they need to.

Very Topical.

Today Keith and I go back to the Hospital to speak to the managers about the shambles that purports to be a caring rehabilitation centre. It seems that we are very topical, there is a report out this morning by the NHS Ombudsman which reveals that 20% of all complaints made are about the care of elderly people in NHS establishments. The very things that we are complaining about, lack of pain relief, lack of food, water, toilet, washing facilities.The lack of dignity surrounding people who only weeks before were running their own lives in their own homes are now left to lie in dirty wet beds and dirty clothes. Its an outrage and something that we all may end up having to deal with later in our lives.

Mum had a fall last week on Wednesday in the hospital. She had told the staff caring for her that she didn't feel well and that her legs felt wobbly, but  no one listened she was cajoled and bullied out of bed and she was right her legs were wobbly and she fell to the floor injuring her ankle. She was in considerable pain with her ankle and the Doctor decided that she needed to have an X ray. Arrangements were made the following morning for her to be transported to the local hospital for that X ray, in considerable pain she was dressed and was ready from 7am. The transport did not arrive that day, it finally arrived at 4pm on Friday, two days after her fall. The crew said there was no point taking her as the X ray department was now closed and they left.

We complained as we have every step of the way knowing that she was in for at least a two day wait as everything stops at the weekend. This time Keith went in and complained. He sat with Mum and rung her call bell as she was in a wet bed. They waited FORTY minutes for anyone to arrive and then another 20 for someone to assist to get her up and clean and dry again. Its an absolute outrage.

We have taken the decision to take this to the press, we spoke to them on Friday and they immediately called the Trust press office, Keith was registering his latest complaint when someone came in and told the Sister in charge the press office was on the phone. They then blatantly lied and said that she would be taken for an X ray on Saturday morning, which they never had any intention of doing. The paper phoned back yesterday and asked if she was dealt with on Saturday morning and at the time they phoned she was still waiting for treatment. The press are now taking the matter up and have asked us for photos for the piece they will be doing. The photo at the top is of Mum when she was a nurse back in the 50's. She is in the middle row on the right. I can't see anything getting any better. The staffing levels are wrong the staff are under such pressure that they can't cope and this moth they have had someone off sick on all bar three days. The staff on the whole are caring and are as upset as we are, they hate seeing people in this situation but there is only so much one pair of hands can do. I don't expect I will change the world, but I am going to be a thorn in their side until they take care of the person that matters to me.