Ticking away ... Day 712 ~ just an update ...

I visited the Lymphoedema people at Ashgate Hospice this morning ... as I mentioned once before they wanted me to say that hospices aren't all about, well, you know.

I'm having a new fitted stocking ! A Type 2 ! This is slightly 'tighter' than the one I have and will hopefully compress my leg even more than the one I have on right now. It is also fitted slightly differently at the top of my leg so that I won't have to spend my days pulling up my stocking ~ the problems we have.

I've noticed a few more people staring at my leg of late ~ perhaps I ought to stop wearing shorts. I would ... if I could get my right leg into my trousers and have a bit of room for manoeuvre.

Generally though I feel better today than I have since I came out of hospital. For the first time in ten days I don't have a bit of a bellyache so that's a relief.

I haven't really felt like walking yet either but perhaps over the weekend we'll get out and have a stroll. Walking and pumping those calf muscles is the best thing to compress the lymphoedema in my leg apparently. Best get pumping.

 

Chatsworth ~ Beyond Limits ~ 2012/8

Exhibit No. 8 of the Beyond Limits exhibition of Barry Flanagan's work at Chatsworth is Six Foot Leaping Hare on Steel Pyramid.

This one took a bit of time to find. I had the map showing the location of all the exhibits but it was rather tucked away ...



Since my last posting about Barry Flanagan's exhibits I have watched the BBC programme about his work. It's called 'The Man Who Sculpted Hares: Barry Flanagan, A Life' and it is still available on BBC iPlayer for another four days.

Whether you will enjoy it depends on you I think. I did learn that whilst the film was being made by Peter Bach during the last year or so of Barry Flanagan's life the sculptor was suffering from motor neurone disease which had rendered him incapable of speech. He would communicate by writing in a notebook though at one stage when describing his situation he wrote "It's a pisser.".

I took the photograph below through the surrounding bushes ...

 

Peter Bach spoke to many friends of Barry Flanagan one of whom described him as a "maverick". Peter Bach also spoke to a number of people who were looking at the sculptures in different countries ~ the US, the UK and the Belgian/Dutch border amongst them.

He showed some of the film to Barry Flanagan who was seated in a wheelchair and who seemed engrossed by people's reactions to his work.

Towards the end of the film Peter Bach spoke to an Irish sculptor that Barry Flanagan had helped and Peter Bach asked the Irishman if he had ever talked to Barry Flanagan about his hares. The Irishman thought for a moment, and with a smile simply answered "Yes ...".

We never learned why Barry Flanagan seemed so preoccupied with them.

The final photograph is a fairly straightforward image ...

 

Barry Flanagan died in August 2009 in Ibiza where he lived.

Since watching the film I probably like Barry Flanagan's hare just that much more.

A Farm Journal ~ from the 1st to the 15th April 1867

My great great great uncle John Bayliff Bowman lived at Summer Hill, near Monyash in the County of Derby.

The Bowman family, who were Quakers, had three farms, One Ash Grange [which John Bayliff Bowman often referred to as O.A.], Cales and Summer Hill [which he usually referred to as S.Hill or S.H.]

In this photo John is fourth from the left. My great great grandparents, Ebenezer and Hannah Bowman, are the third and fourth adults from the right. John and Ebenezer were brothers and their parents are the elderly couple in the middle, Henry and Mary Bowman.

"A Farm Journal"continues :~

 

2 - 1st - 4 Mo[nth] Very fine day at Bakewell savings bank bo[ugh]t 5 pigs 25/-

 

3 - 2 plough[in]g etc

 

4 - 3 Fine day self with Father & co[usin] E. from Ashford to C[hesterfield] M[onthly] M[eeting]

 

5 - 4 Fine but very windy sow[e]d few oats broadcast in Watricle

 

6 - 5 Wet Stormy weather very windy to 1 - 7 Fine day

 

2 - 8 Stormy wet day

 

3 - 9 Very windy & wet at times lambing goes on slowly but pretty successful no ewes poorly a few lambs ger [?] - from cold I expect lost 3 & calf died of same complaint - 2 others cured with mint tea

 

4 - 10 Fine day sow[e]d part of Watricle

 

5 - 11 Very windy & wet morn[in]g fine aft[ernoo]n plough[in]g turnip gr[oun]d etc. S.A. & I by Middleton to B[akewe]ll S.A. to Nott[ingha]m

 

6 - 12 Fine day sow[e]d rem[ainde]r of Watricle with old bl[ac]k oats bo[ugh]t of Tho[ma]s Harrison Monyash 1/6 p[e]r stone - 9 st[ones] nett

 

7 - 13 Showery - Jesse with Ebens man to fetch hay

 

1 - 14 fine

 

2 - 15 Fine aft[ernoo]n very windy & wet morn[in]g to B[akewe]ll market open for Cattle 1st time - sheep & pigs low - bo[ugh]t 10 good strong stores 24/- self to Nott[ingha]m with W[illia]m  

Chatsworth ~ Beyond Limits ~ 2012/7

We're nearly half way through ... and the theme is still largely hares.

Exhibit No. 7 is 'Sculler' ...

There is something rather absurd isn't there about a hare in a boat ... but I can see the fun in it ...

  

I went for a reflection initially before getting in a little closer ... and I did wonder whether it is a hare. 



I decided Sculler looks worried, possibly because he finds himself in a boat on the Ring Pond at Chatsworth ...

Making friends in strange places ...

One side effect of being in hospital is that you can become friends with other patients very quickly. Perhaps it's the 'us' and 'them' thing.

I made friends very quickly with G, G and M ... 

We looked out for each other and, I suppose, tried to encourage each other when things weren't going so well.

One of the Gs had a heart attack ten weeks or so ago and he would wake in the night coughing and spitting out all sorts of gunk ... so imagine my surprise and delight when he phoned just an hour ago to tell me he was home. It sounds as though he'd just got home too.

I told him to take it easy [I can tell him this from experience] and we said we'd speak in a few days. In the meantime he sent his best wishes to my family [you know who you are].

After getting frustrated and angry with the Debenhams store card people earlier in the afternoon [don't ask] it was good to hear G's voice, albeit sounding rather tired ... and I was touched that he had phoned me almost as soon as he got home.

It's good to know there are some people who are friendly and caring in this world.

Chatsworth ~ Beyond Limits ~ 2012/6

Exhibit No. 6 of the Beyond Limits exhibition at Chatsworth [which is still running] is 'Composition' by Barry Flanagan ...

'Composition' didn't inspire me as you may be able to tell from these photos ...

 

 

 

... or perhaps I'm just not quite in the right frame of mind just now.

Ticking away ... Day 705 ~ I wouldn't sell, sell cellulitis ...

... heck, I wouldn't even want to give it to you.

A week last Saturday, the 22nd September, we were getting ready to go out walking when, suddenly, I started shivering and shaking ... and I decided at 10.00am in the morning that bed was the best place for me.

I was soon fairly delirious apparently and violently sick at one point.

Over the next 24 hours I had a visit from two Emergency GPs [one in the middle of the night it seemed to me but who knows] who put me on oral antibiotics.

By 10.00am the next day, Sunday, the 23rd I was still poorly so I was whisked off to hospital in an ambulance ... and I just didn't care.

I had contracted cellulitis, an infection, in my right leg [the one with the lymphoedema] and I was in hospital until I came out on Wednesday, the 3rd October.

That is eleven days or thereabouts and I was pumped intravenously with antibiotics. The first lot I proved to be allergic to ... so they had to start again.

Well, I don't want to go into too much detail at present. I just wanted to let you know I hadn't deserted you.

As you can see from the photo below [taken and supplied by Jamie] I wasn't quite my usual bouncy self when I came out ... but I'm taking it easy now and feeling better each day.