It's All Relative.

Despite the forecast the day was bright and sunny ...... right up until 4.00 when down came the rain.

Why the title? Well, I have a dreadful tendency to grumble and moan about things in general and I've probably become worse as I've got older. But then we hear about the destruction caused by the hurricane in Jamaica and war atrocities all around the world. Closer to home somebody I meet regularly has recently been given a terminal stage 4 cancer diagnosis out of the blue. So much suffering without solution puts my minor inconveniences right into perspective.

So while I'm acknowledging the things that didn't go right for me I'm feeling more than grateful that there are solutions and my life is pretty much okay.

 

And now for my tale of woe - last night before heading to Pilates I had enough time to do some piano practice. I made a start but then my hypersensitive nose smelt burning. I couldn't tell where it was from but to reassure myself checked all the rooms and even outside but everything seemed normal. Sat down to resume playing whereupon the smell returned and  there was a crackling from the digital piano. I quickly turned the piano off, pulled out all the plugs and eventually traced the smell to the port where the power cable plugs into the keyboard. Bother! I bought it in 2017 so the warranty is out of date. My only hope is to go to the music shop in Aber to see if they know anywhere that does repairs. Pete says it sounds like a repairable fault. Otherwise I shall have to spend a lot of money for a replacement. I've had a piano since I was 10 and even though I have never been the most diligent of pupils and daily practice is more of a wish than a reality I can't imagine not having a piano. Hmm, had an idea ...... . There's a house for sale five houses away from us with a baby grand in the sitting room. If only there was space for one here. It would fit in my study if I got rid of the guest bed but that's not an option, family visits are far more important. (It would fit in our bedroom.) 

I had a few other glitches (but nothing major) in my day which once again was beach walk, baking a Bara Brith and cushion sewing. The baking was fine and it is good to have the Christmas Bara Briths done and in the freezer. But ... as the oven was on I thought I'd try another recipe from FB. It was for a baked cheesecake using cottage cheese and yoghurt. It was not a success and had to be thrown out. I suspect that UK cottage cheese might be different or at least having a blender would have helped.

I did the beach walk first as I need to go to the pharmacy to ask about my repeat prescription since I'm getting low on some of the tablets. It will be in tomorrow I was told as I was handed Pete's medications in a surprisingly small bag. Now he's going to have to sort out what happened to the rest of his prescription. 

The cushion sewing still ended up being a trial. I've only just ordered the zips so all I needed to do was sew together strips from left over pieces to make another patchwork front panel. It was a bit tricky as I wanted to centre up the larger designs but I did it or so I thought. Only to discover I'd made a wrong measurement. Out came my trusty stitch ripper again so that I could add in extra pieces. It looks fine now but by the end I was truly fed up with sewing. (My back was aching from too much standing.) I think the last two cushions will just have plain covers.

My last bit of complaining to myself was about the fact that it hadn't rained and I could have got on with the painting. But then it did rain and that would have made me even crosser. 

A mug of tea, some painkillers and thinking about what is really important have left me feeling not cross at all but grateful that my problems are quite inconsequential.