Post 515 Quite a week

It's hard to know where to start in a week with so much happening. The highlight, of course was Christmas Day, which I spent with Katherine's family - a fabulously happy time with lots of laughing, connection and love. 

 

I am loathe to post photos of people's faces so will make do with our deserts - Carol's Yule Log in the foreground and Katherine's pavlova at the back. Both were delicious, and it will take me a day or two to lose the extra 0.4kg they added!

The hats went down a treat and the bonbons added to the laughter.

I got a lot of interest and joy from the numerous messages received from friends during the week. I am more than ever convinced of the importance of this annual effort to stay in touch.                                                 

I also had a couple of lunches with friends. Jennifer and I had several months of news to catch up on Wednesday. The Christmas biscuits she made with nieces were demolished pretty quickly on Saturday night at Katherine's place.

On Friday Lorraine and I wore our Frida Kahlo outfits to lunch at The Flying Pan. This was Lorraine's idea, and she had excitedly prepared flower bouquets for our hair, a purple one for me, a white one for her.  

I managed to convince her that it would be impossible to anchor these (right)  with either the bobby pins or the scarves she had brought along, and that we should use a couple of the florets rather than the bouquets. 

Hers was bolder and better than mine. Her dress was also a better choice (helps to try it on, rather than buying online on a good-idea impulse!). I might wear mine once more, for my Mexican Embroidery presentation, but that's it. It is a most unflattering shape for my figure. Be that as it may, we had a great lunch, after which I dashed off to the dentist for a filling. At their request I got there early, only to find my dentist had an emergency, and was running an hour late. I got away 2 hours later with the filling done and a referral to an odontist, which, of course, can't be followed up until mid-January. This is no one's fault. It is great that the emergency was dealt with. The woman concerned was unnecessarily apologetic. One day it could be me. 

On Thursday, prior to Pilates, I finally had my one hour appointment with the orofacial pain dentist. She was terrific. It turns out I have a displaced disc in my left jaw. More than 30% of people apparently have this without knowing. The jaw locking I experienced back in June occurs when the disc slips completely out of position as opposed to being misaligned. There is no cure but a range of management techniques, several of which she taught me.The first message is 'don't panic', which is, of course, what I did back in June! Understanding what is happening is half the battle.  I've been practising, and can feel the difference. 

Encouraged by the dental works, I made myself another batch of corn and zucchini muffins for lunch on Saturday, this time trying a recipe that uses buttermilk. It is a pretty good result, although I still prefer the last batch I made using feta.

One of the best thing about these, when you live on your own, is that they are good for a couple of days, either cold, or reheated.

I spent much of Saturday embroidering the wings of felt doves I had bought from the Leprosy Shop, another slightly mad project covered off in my embroidery blog. 

After picking up my grab-and-go bag of crocheted squares as I left on Saturday for dinner, when I got home I thought it time I sorted out the squares to see where I was up to with the intended baby blanket. I then spent Sunday joining and filling in. 

I now have 19 squares to go, plus the edge. I will probably continue to use it as a grab-and-go project, but now more purposefully. This was designed to use up my surplus of 4 ply cotton. It has made inroads, but there's a way to go. 

In the meantime, I have two friends about to have major operations and I'm hoping to knit prayer shawls for them. I also have fabric to make more tote bags.

The angels and mages have watched over various sunsets this week, and also, it seems, over me. There were plenty of storm clouds and gloom, but also colour, light and beauty. 

I have been blessed many times over and I am grateful.