A Christmas Card to wish all my fellow bloggers good health and happiness over this curious Christmas and for 2021 which I hope will be better for us all.
It is by one of my favourite artists, Anna Dillon and depicts Whitefield
Hill, Wiltshire in February. I suppose she could claim copyright, but it is a good introduction to her work if you don't know of her.
2020 has been a poor year for Mrs Avus and me. My heart attack in June led to me being infected by Covid whilst in hospital, which I then gave to her as well. Soon after we emerged from that (fortunately mild) she turned yellow and stopped eating and was eventually diagnosed with a small tumour on her pancreas.This was successfully removed by a "Whipple Procedure" .
But I expect you all have encountered enough doom and gloom this year. So who would have thought that our best, joint Christmas present was a phone call from our doctor inviting us two 82 year olds in for the first of the two anti-covid jabs tomorrow. Hurrah! Grey skies clear and angels sing Noël!
Try to keep safe and well, folks.
14 comments:
Happy Christmas to you and Mrs Avus I am so glad to hear that you have successfully shoved off Covid and other ailments. Have the best Christmas it is possible to have. And that is truly good news re the vaccine.
Seasons greeting to you too Avus. Yes an awful year to put behind us and fingers crossed that 2021 will end up much better than this one. All the very best and looking forward to seeing some pictures of you out and about.
Seasons Greetings to you Avus, hope you are both feeling better and no worse for the "puncture"!
Please pass on greetings to your daughter and family..as ever I still miss her blog.
Merry Christmas and goodbye to this awful year, you're both absolute troopers!
Much love, Knowlsie's.
Now remembered the name..that picture reminds me of the work of Eric Fabulous.
Love it!
I like the painting and am profoundly sorry to hear about Mrs Avus. Do you suppose the procedure she was subjected to was given that slightly comical name as some kind of reassurance for patients? "We'll Whipple it and be finished in time for tea."
As octogenarians we too have been informed by our GPs of our imminent jabs though the exact date/time has not yet been disclosed. The location has been identified and I will shortly enter it into my satnav - doubtless to your disapproval. My present unit was acquired in France last year and has proved its value over hundreds of miles. I have every confidence it will guide us to Putson Community Hall (less than 2 miles away) with similar elan.
I felt I should try and respond to Covid-19 by doing something new and, preferably, something I would dislike. To this end I sheared off the dead stalks of various plants in the garden, some of which were probably still viable, and stuffed them into green bags. I was right. I really disliked doing this but I comforted myself with the no doubt erroneous belief that the viruses - clever little bastards - were less likely to look for a home in someone who was demonstrably angry.
Chin up old chum. If you need a mental diversion spend time devising reasons as to why I should have loved my BSA 350 (with rigid rear end) more than I did. The second worst bike I owned.
Thanks to all of you for your good wishes. Next year can only be better (can't it.....?)
RR:
Well my first thought when told it, was it must be a euphemism. "just going for a quick Whipple". The sort of activity allowed to consenting adults. In fact it was far from a quick procedure as Mrs. Avus was out for about 7 hours whilst they operated. Now having a reduced stomach/pancreas/gall bladder she needs to eat little and often and take "Creon" capsules before food to aid digestion. Looking them up I see that they derive from the pancreases of pigs! So pork for Christmas..........
A rigid BSA 350? I can think of no reasons why you should remember it with pleasure! What was the worst then? It must have been really awful.
You already know. It was from the same stable. The wretched 125 cc Bantam, also with a rigid rear end.
Equipped with a carburettor so simple that, on reassembly, it was easy to return the slide in the "Full on" position instead of "Full off". Mind you, I only did it once. Faced with the screaming engine I wrenched the HT lead away from the spark plug and was thrown the full width of the back yard - say, 3 - 4 metres.
I've often wondered whether there was an alternative solution. Engage first gear, and let in the clutch abruptly? But who knows where all those revs might have thrown the Bantam?
Avus:
I have lost your comment on my recent post; don't know how it happened. Could you send it again?
I am glad you and Mrs. Avus survived your battles with Covid; especially glad you will be getting the vaccines! I volunteered to be a test subject for the Veterans Administration's research, but I haven't heard anything back.
Mrs. A went through a serious procedure! Good news that she pulled through.
Pigs are like humans in many ways and are used in a number of human medical treatments. In battlefield medicine, their skin was/is used as grafts to dress burns and hold muscles together. Pigs ear cartilage was/is used in plastic surgery. But I reckon you already knew that, eh?
Very best wishes to you both. So glad to hear you made it through the incidents, and I hope the future's plain and delightful sailing ��
Pete:
Thanks for the thoughts. Let's hope you are right!
I hope you are keeping well in the Pohangina Valley - it seems a long way away from the infective plague which is visiting us over here. My area, Kent, has the "distinction" of having the new, even more infectious variety, being named "the Kent Mutation"!
Crow:
I have left my comment again as asked.
You are obviously well into medical lore with your own background. I do hope that your visitation with the plague is as mild as ours was
Greetings to you and Mrs. Avus from Oregon. 2020 seems like a year best forgotten, but your bike ride sounds like a good memory. One of my best memories is of HH and I were crossing the North Cascade mountains on a heavily laden motorcycle in a cold and pouring rain, with snow on the sides of the road. When we got to the other side, I took my boots off and poured the water out. That was cold. But fun and memorable. We got some rubber overshoes after that. We wish you well.
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