Daily Drivel

Lots of furry babies...

My friend Helen took me out today! We went to the Cotswold Wildlife Park and had a great time wandering around taking photos (well, wheeling around in my case as I borrowed a wheel chair for the day). We were really lucky with the weather as it didn't start off too well with rain first thing but the sun did come out and we stayed dry most of the day. There was one horrendous downpour but luckily we were in the cafe having some lunch at the time.

This duck was doing a great balancing act

The lemur walkthrough was interesting. They were very curious about the wheelchair and a few of them came over to investigate. Helen has some photos of one of the lemurs licking the wheels! Mind you -
one of the babies was pretty keen on Helen's camera too, as you can see! Captions on a postcard please!

Another baby lemur

There are a lot of cute babies to see at the park right now. These super cute moorhen chicks must have only been a day or 2 old - they were still very wobbly on their rather large feet. I think we counted 5 - they were keeping Mum & Dad busy!

The prairie dogs seem to have done well this year too with quite a few youngsters to look after.Their heads and feet seem way too big for their little bodies!

Another youngster - I can't remember the proper name for this little chaps, sorry!

The penguins had a lot to say today - probably 'feed me' as it was feeding time when I took this shot - or maybe the were singing a duet?!

I didn't do too well with the meerkats today but I liked this one

And the last photo - honest! These lemurs have amazing hands - this one was sunbathing - or was he doing yoga?!

It's been lovely to get out today and do some photography - my first proper day out for 7 weeks! I fear I'm going to ache tomorrow though - it's quite hard work pushing yourself round in a wheelchair and you really notice even the smallest of slopes, although at least going down them is easy! 

Spinning :-)

I've managed to do some spinning on my Little Gem today. I did 30 minutes this morning and another 30 minutes or so this pm. while  I was watching the Tour de France. My ankle is feeling a bit tired now so I'm having a rest. I've already got one bobbin full of this fibre so I'd like to get this finished and ply it - I started spinning it months ago! The fibre is from Fyberspates. I'm using the lace flyer & fat core bobbins for this.

Getting there!

Yesterday I had an appointment at the fracture clinic. A friend took me - and she even made us sandwiches and brought cake so we could have some lunch while waiting. I took my spindle and did some spinning - one of the staff (a Dr I think) came and asked me what I was doing and wanted to know how it all worked :-)

Anyway - my xray was fine. The fracture is stable and I am now allowed to be fully weightbaring. The hospital have now discharged me to physio. I had a quick session with a physio at the hospital who went through some exercises with me and how to walk using one crutch.

Today the OT/Physio who sorted out my zimmer-frame tray thingie and bath seat came to visit me. He went through my exercises with me - which was useful because I was doing one of them wrong. Oops! Let's just say the hospital didn't really push the boat out on the illustrations so it wasn't totally clear what to do. He also went through my walking for quite a while and it's a bit better now. You really wouldn't think you could forget how to walk but it's weird - if you have to think about how to walk properly it's quite hard! We also went outside for a walk up the road :-)

I've been given the go-ahead to use my spinning wheel. I demonstrated to the chap who came to see me today and he thinks it will be great for helping my ankle recover. I'm also allowed to use my exercise bike now so that's good. It's super boring but at least I will be able to do something.

So - got to work hard at getting my ankle back in shape because I'm supposed to be going to the NEC for the festival of quilts in 4 weeks time and I've been looking forward to it for ages!

6 weeks and counting!

It's now 6 weeks and 2 days since I broke my leg. I've definitely made some progress since my leg update post a couple of weeks ago. On Friday I somehow managed to move from hopping with my good leg to just stepping sort of normally and I'm now finding it much easier to get around with crutches. I even managed to get up the steps to our front door without any help. My ankle is still quite stiff and there is still a bit of swelling but I can now put weight on it and I can stand 'square' at last! At least my foot is feeling a lot more normal and not like a jelly anymore.

I'm still spending a lot of time 'resting' (honestly, I'll have worn the sofa out by the time my leg has fully recovered!) and if I walk around too much my ankle lets me know about it. I've got another check up this week. Hoping the xray shows my bone is healing nicely and I'm hoping the Consultant says I can start using my exercise bike and maybe my spinning wheel too! I don't LIKE using the exercise bike - it's very boring - but I doubt I'll be going back to my Zumba class for a good few weeks yet and I really need to start doing some exercise again.

I'm still finding doing stuff really frustrating - mostly because of not being able to easily move stuff around. I now prefer using crutches to get around than the zimmer frame but you can't carry a plate of food and use crutches. That would just get messy!

I did do some sewing last week and made a bag for my spindle. Must take some photos. It turned out ok-ish. My leg wasn't too impressed at having to be in a normal position for a couple of hours or so and I was really tired the next day. Oops. I think when you feel things are improving you think you can start doing stuff again and then do too much - especially when you're desperate to get back to 'normal'. 

I keep thinking about how much we take things for granted when it comes to moving around and just doing basic things. I managed to have a bath on Friday - honestly, who blogs about that!? How hard can it be to get in/out of the bath? Really hard is the answer. Guess I'm seriously lacking in upper body strength - although I'm sure it has improved since I've had to use crutches/zimmer frame to get around. Maybe my planning skills are improving too. If I have to move anywhere I stop first and think about what else I can do at the same time so I don't have to make more trips than I have to!

Poor neglected spindle!

I bought this cute little Bosworth spindle at Wonderwool Wales in 2009. I bought the fibre at the same time and started spinning it in the evening at the pub where we stayed. So - I guess you'd be right in thinking I don't like spinning on a spindle! I decided to try again today because I want to take part in the 'Tour de Fleece' on Ravelry (you spin every day of the Tour de France, except rest days) and I can't use either of my wheels at the moment because they are both double treadle and my bad ankle isn't up to it yet :-(

I should have started yesterday but I didn't get round to it and I had a friend round in the aftenoon/evening. Anyway - I have made a start today (I didn't spin all this today - just added a little to what I'd already done before) and I'm going to try and work on it every day. Maybe I'll start to feel some love for using a spindle!