Get (Celtic) Knotted!

“Get knotted!” was the “Piss off!” (or worse) of my youth. According to some sources, the idiom comes from the days when people were buried in shrouds rather than coffins. The body was wrapped in the shroud and then knotted at either end – hence the mild form of abuse – get knotted. Go away and die! According to others, this is rubbish and the phrase only originates from the 1930s. So who knows.

I’ve been getting myself tied in knots over some Celtic knotwork. I treated myself to this book

and have been working hard ever since. I enjoy it so much as it takes all my concentration so I can’t think about other things. I thought I would show you some of the stages in producing a design:

Stage 1: drawing the grid – the number of times I get this wrong is a bit depressing!

Stage 2: Using the book as a model, draw the guide lines.

Stage 3: It’s becoming trickier here. I stopped following the book’s instructions as I found they didn’t work for me. Draw the “ribbon”, following the guidelines, but carefully whispering “under…over …under…” leaving gaps on the “unders” to draw the ribbon as it passes over.

Stage 4: I’ve finished the outlining – look hard enough and you will, no doubt, see some errors. I’m still improving the uniformity of the width of the ribbon – you can see it is a bit variable still!

Stage 5: Using the gold pen to colour the ribbon has its advantages & disadvantages – it covers errors of over/under-ing, but it is thick and a bit difficult to control ink flow. I do like the red/gold combination though. It looks very Celtic!

Stage 6: I have to outline both ribbons, but especially the gold, to neaten the edges. Otherwise it looks unfinished. I was undecided about whether to colour the empty spaces black and finally made the decision to do so, as you can see. As soon as I had, I wished I hadn’t!

Here is the finished item:

I’m reasonably happy with it – I am certainly improving as I continue, and I love doing it. So that’s good.

Here’s another Celtic knot I completed recently for a friend:

Again, look hard enough and you’ll see errors, but I think it looks quite impressive!

As Yet Untitled…

Thank you everyone for your comments and advice: it really is much appreciated! I decided to take the shortage of anti depressants as an opportunity to try to wean myself off them. I was shocked at how I felt a few months back when I stopped taking even half a tablet a day – I really was having withdrawal symptoms, so thought it might be a good idea to try to stop. However, after about 5 days of just taking 1/4 of a tablet, I decided to go back to my half tablet a day! I couldn’t deal with the weepiness/ panic/mood swings I was having. Who would have thought a quarter of a tablet could make such a difference! However, due to my “frugality”, I now have enough medication left to keep me going until my appointment!

Mr FD is better – he is still limping when walking, but went back to work on Tuesday. He is in the office until next Monday but then he is finishing. He has about 2 weeks worth of holiday to take, so after Monday he will no longer have a job! It’s his choice, as the job has changed since he started, he’s not enjoying it, he’s bored and doesn’t like the management style. He plans on doing some DIY through the summer, and then looking for short term contracts to keep him occupied. Whether it will be easy to find work, I don’t know, but we are lucky enough not to have to worry too much about money coming in, as he has already started to draw down his UK private pension.

Weather here is quite drizzly and chilly – my fault, I’m afraid, as I changed my wardrobes over at the weekend! It’s not a job I enjoy, because there’s always a mountain of ironing to do, as clothes have become creased sitting in a box. I did about an hour this morning, but I still have a fairly substantial hill of ironing still to do! Last Sunday was very wet here, but we had some great “African rhythms” in church- we have a group of Nigerian Masters students here at the moment, so they led us in the music. Another member of the congregation who had lived and worked in Nigeria wore an outfit she had bought there. I wore my summer “jungle print” trousers but was definitely chilly round the ankles!!

(Reasonably) healthy eating is going on, but as I feared, now Mr FD can prepare his own food/desserts he has lost the plot a bit. I made some banana muffins with some brown “leopard” bananas, the idea being one muffin would make an appropriate dessert with a piece of fruit. Yesterday he had two muffins, a yoghurt and some strawberries as his dessert. I can’t say anything (or, I don’t want to say anything because I fear he would get snarky with me) and anyway, he’s a grown man, and can make these decisions for himself.

Anyway…that’s the news where we are! Nothing very exciting, just pootling on.

Oh! It was Lucky Jim’s birthday on Tuesday – at least, I found him on 16th May last year, and the vet reckoned he was a week old. So we took May 9th as his birthday. I made him a birthday hat but he refused to wear it. I sneaked it on his head when he was asleep.

Plans still awry!

So, Mr FD has been struggling to do very much. The rheumatologist was really unsympathetic, and didn’t listen to anything Mr FD had to say. Apparently, he just said “It’s gout. Lose 30 kilos. Exercise more.” Even though Mr FD had questions to ask, this guy wouldn’t listen. So that was a waste of time EXCEPT for the fact he got a prescription for avoiding-a-recurrence-of-gout tablets, as well as dealing-with-the-gout-now medication.

However, on Thursday evening, Mr FD’s lower leg began to swell again. Although he wasn’t worried too much that it was a re-occurrence of the phlebitis, we felt it prudent to go back to A&E to have it checked up. It was confirmed as the gout causing the swelling so the advice was just to keep taking the tablets.

The swelling and pain has finally started to reduce, which is a relief, and he can move around a bit more without squeaks of agony being emitted. It’s a bank holiday on Monday, so he may be fit to go back to work by Tuesday. We’ll see.

Thank you, A, for the link to the Mayo Clinic’s site. Bizarrely most of the “trigger” foods are things Mr FD doesn’t eat or drink EXCEPT the sugary foods. Aha, therein (probably) lies the problem. It’s true he (and I) needs to lose weight, so I’ve instigated a diet. Perhaps A can tell me if there is anything that rings alarm bells for her.

BREAKFAST: either Muesli, yoghurt, dried cherries, milk OR 60g wholewheat bread, peanut butter, yoghurt, fruit

LUNCH: either a salad, or scrambled egg/beans on toast, or a reduced amount of bread and cold meat/cheese. (He used to eat a lot of charcuterie, but I’m limiting it to 30g in total meat &/or cheese) Plus fruit & one biscuit/ cereal bar

DINNERS:

WEDNESDAY: Stir-fried chicken and vegetables with brown rice. /Greek yoghurt red fruit fool.

THURSDAY: Veggie lasagne Salad./ Rhubarb & peach fool. Melon

FRIDAY: Rice & mushroom stuffed peppers with mozzarella. /Rhubarb crumble & Greek yoghurt

SATURDAY: Veggie burritos with mozzarella topping & Gk yoghurt / Rhubarb crumble

SUNDAY: Pork steaks, roast potatoes, veg, ratatouille sauce /Rhubarb crumble

MONDAY: Kamchatka & sweet potato wedges. / Greek yoghurt red fruit fool. Melon

TUESDAY: Thai chicken curry with sticky rice / Fruit salad

WEDNESDAY: Lemon garlic salmon, noodles, veg./ Melon & pineapple

I’ve decided to try to keep to a regime of three vegetarian meals, two chicken, one red meat, and one fish (usually salmon) per week. The problem lies in that once he’s mobile, I won’t be preparing his breakfast & lunch meals, so whether he will keep to the recommended weights & measures & amounts is anyone’s guess! However, I’m going to be sticking to it on my part (except for the sneaky pieces of chocolate from time to time in my study! But it’s no more than one square every two or three days!)

At the same time as all this, I’ve been having to cut down on my anti depressants (having to? Not sure….) I came to the end of my prescription, in that it was for renewing for 6 months, and I had just collected the last lot of medication. I trotted off to the surgery to make an appointment to see the doctor for the next prescription. At the surgery the rule is that for a renewal of a prescription, the appointment is 3 weeks in advance , which is fine. But somehow the secretary made a mistake and gave me an appointment for 4 weeks in the future. I don’t have enough anti-depressants to last me. I know I could go back and ask for a change, but the surgery is so busy, and we’ve taken advantage of Dr Lacour’s generosity with Mr FD going back and forth, that I’m trying to make my tablets last. Instead of half a tablet a day (my usual dose) I’m taking a quarter of a tablet. It does, but I am seeing some side effects – I’m weepier, I’m less tolerant, and I prefer to be alone. Which isn’t great when one’s OH requires you to run round after them for everything (and I do know it’s not his fault! There’s no blame attached.) so I’ve not been as sympathetic to him. Ah well. It’s all part of life’s rich tapestry.

Anyway. It’s the Coronation today. And I’m not watching it on TV. But I may make a Coronation Chicken (Lite) salad for lunch!

Not quite according to plan

This week, including its planned menus, didn’t happen as expected.

On Monday morning Mr FD woke with a pain in his calf. Thinking it was a muscle strain, he went to work. In the evening it was more painful. On Tuesday there was an odd rash to go with it, so he went to see the doctor, who diagnosed the rash as an infection (probably thanks to a cat scratch) and the calf pain as…well, possibly a thrombosis, so better go for an ultrasound just to be on the safe side.

So Mr FD hoiked himself down to the Clinique for an ultrasound, while I stayed at home to teach a lesson and to cook dinner. Meanwhile Mr FD was taken for a scan, and then admitted into the hospital with phlebitis and a possible embolism on the lung. Oh, that was a surprise!

I went to see him on Wednesday – he was told he would be there, under observation, until Friday morning. He was in good spirits and not much pain, which was good. Prescribed with thigh high compression stockings he came home on Friday. Unfortunately, the stockings have caused other pains (possibly rheumatoid arthritis?) to flare up, but he has an appointment with the rheumatologist tomorrow. He also thinks that his gout has recurred, so walking is extremely painful for him at the moment. In fact, sitting or lying are also not great, as I think the pain is there whether pressure is exerted or not.

Food-wise, on Tuesday evening I didn’t feel like eating so just had toast. On Wednesday and Thursday evenings, when I was alone, I ate the pasta that I’d cooked on Tuesday. On Friday he wasn’t hungry, as vast doses of antibiotics were making him feel ill, so we both had scrambled eggs on toast, which was enough for him. I supplemented my meal with various snacky items.

Saturday Mr FD fancied pizza, so we had the one that was in the freezer – it hit the spot, as they say, and was just right! His appetite was returning. So yesterday (Sunday) we had the planned steak, which was really nice – with a mushroom sauce, oven chips and asparagus, carrots and sugar snap peas. A big fruit salad for dessert.

So, the pork and salmon are going in the freezer. The gnocchi au jambon is turning into gnocchi with bacon bits that need using up, which we’ll have tonight. Tomorrow, I think we may have chicken (which I bought on the off chance) cooked fairly simply, and then have the baked sweet potatoes later on in the week.

Hopefully, the drugs – anti-coagulants and antibiotics – will help Mr FD feel better; he’s going to check if he can take his gout medicine with his anti coagulent. I do hope so, as that would give relief. The rheumatologist should (I hope!) be able to give advice.

On a cheerier note, the swifts are on their way – a sure sign of Spring! We saw them in Roanne, from the hospital window, and I saw a couple swooping around the square yesterday. They aren’t back in full force yet, but the first harbingers are there. Hurrah!