If you weren't there - who would care?

If you weren't there - who would care?

Yes, that's me 
standing in the foyer of Sainsburys, dressed in rather unusual garb

Last year Sainsburys invited members of the Torbay Care Trust to go into their stores at The Willows, Torquay and Brixham Road, Paignton to publicise the Torbay Carers Card.  This is a card for people who help look after a family member, friend or neighbour who could not manage without that help. 

Carers carry these free cards around with them and, in case of emergency, there's a telephone number on the card which can be rung.  When the call is received at the Centre a nominated family member or friend is contacted by the Centre, who can ensure that the cared-for receives any help needed.

Carers on the Register receive a regular newsletter, they are offered discounts in certain shops and are invited to take part in relevant trainings and social events, should they wish.

So far we've carried out this publicity three times - last November, then again in February and now this week - it's hard work - but very worthwhile when we are able to tell people who would not otherwise know about the scheme.

All of us who do this work are either carers (or ex-carers) or work with unpaid carers, which does help when talking to people.

Following the success of these events, Sainsburys 

is now planning to expand this scheme 

to another 120 stores across the country.

PS Paignton now has a Carers Centre, it's based at the Library, upstairs in room 17 (which is of course next to room 2!) - May 2013. 

see: http://www.thisissouthdevon.co.uk/pictures/Healthwatch-Torbay-Paignton-Carers-Centre/pictures-18882123-detail/pictures.html

For those living in Paignton there's also a group to do with carers which discusses issues relating to carers in this town.  We meet at Paignton Hospital once every two months for a couple of hours.

and also see Torbay Carers (online) Forum: http://www.torbaycarersforum.co.uk/events.php

Hands and Smiles - from The Lions

If I stretch out my hand to you, will you put your hand in mine?

If I smile and say, “How are you?” will you take it as a sign

That all I want is your friendship, I’m not asking for anything more.

So put you hand in mine because that’s what hands are for.

If your hands are in your pockets, then they are hidden out of the way

One thing you can be sure of though, they’ll never go astray

But think of all the other things they’ll never do.

They’ll never work for others and they’ll do much less for you.

So if I stretch my hand to you, will you put your hand in mine?

Perhaps we’ll start a chain of friendly people, all in line

Our chain will reach forever, cos we’ll gather more and more.

So put your hands in mine because that’s what hands are for

Author unknown

SMILING

Smiling is infectious; you catch it like the flu

When someone smiled at me today I started smiling too

I passed around the corner and someone saw my grin

When he smiled I realised I’d passed it on to him

I thought about that smile then realised its worth

A single smile just like mine could travel round the earth

So if you feel a smile begin don’t leave it undetected

Let’s start an epidemic quick and get the world infested

Anon

(With thanks to Alan Walker, one of the Paignton Lions)

Ideas to try

Some great ideas seen on the internet, when I've tried them I hope to upload a pic of them to make this item more interesting ...

String Painting:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=5GV6WdFFBA0&feature=related

Tall Painting:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=d6egUsZvWu4
(from Sharon)

Carta Magica:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=XM3x8CGCuCE&feature=relmfu

Photocube:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=_N6o2RT-qt4&feature=related

T-Shirt Bag:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=-6yDxK68OZc&feature=related



I love this bolero and hope one day to make it:
/www.garnstudio.com/lang/en/visoppskrift.php?d_nr=126&d_id=8%E2%8C%A9=us

Escargot Escape

Snails found this morning were too numerous to crush 
and fling back into the (flower) bed as usual, so I collected 
them ready to salt and drown them but they were 

almost too quick for me.  

When I turned my back, off they went.

How I felt last week

Like someone peering out from a safe place - but is it safe?!

At least they have their friends with them for company.

Italian Cooking

Today I've been to a (free) Italian Cookery Demonstration from 

a real Italian gentleman along with several other Carers.

We learned how to make gnocchi with Italian tomato sauce, also focaccia bread, 

aubergine salad and avocado salad.  It was really yummy, and especially welcome as I hadn't 

had time for lunch due to a big traffic build-up on the Paignton ring road.  I'm looking forward 

to making some of these at home as they're not difficult.  

**Point of interest: focaccia bread comes from the word focus (fire in Latin), thus 

the fireplace as being the focus of a room.

Back garden June 2011

Ducks in a Row

Does anyone know the phrase 'Ducks in a Row'?

 Here at work they fell about laughing when I said that many carers I visit have all their ducks in a row - my colleagues said they'd never heard it before!  

So here are some ducks in a row to remind us of what 

it feels like as so often they aren't, as one (or more) have fallen off.

 These ducks look rather hip - probably how we imagine we are 

but perhaps don't come over that way?

 And here's a pic of us all, gathered behind Katy!

May and June Musings

30 June 2011
Love: A temporary insanity curable by marriage 
or by removal of the patient from the influences 
under which he incurred the disorder. 
(Ambrose Bierce)

29 June 2011
Further advice: don't lose 

your mobile the day after you lose your camera ...

28 June 2011
My advice to everyone is - don't lose your camera on the last day of your holiday 
when you could have spent the whole time away enjoying experiences 
instead of photographing them for the future ...


27 June 2011
The reward of energy, enterprise and thrift - is taxes 
(William Feather)


26 June 2011
A day without laughter is a day wasted.
(Charlie Chaplin)

25 June 2011
Saving is a fine thing. 
Especially when your parents have done it for you 
(Winston S Churchill)


24 June 2011
Better to do something imperfectly than 

to do nothing flawlessly

(Unknown)

23 June 2011

The things you own end up owning you. 

(Chuck Palahniuk, Fight Club, 1996)

21 June 2011

We learn from experience. A man never wakes up his second baby just to see it smile (Grace Williams) 

19 June 2011
If you have an apple and I have an apple and we exchange apples then you and I will still each have one apple. 
But if you have an idea and I have an idea and we exchange these ideas, then each of us will have two ideas 
(George Bernard Shaw)

18 June 2011

'Be Yourself' is the worst advice you can 
give to some people (Tom Masson)

17 June 2011

I wrote a short story because I wanted to see something of mine in print other than my fingers (Wilson Mizner)

15 June 2011

To be without some of the things you want is an indispensable part of happiness (Bertrand Russell)

10 June 2011 (Duke of Edinburgh's 90th Birthday)

It is never too late to be what you might have been 
(George Eliot)

8 June 2011

What's the difference between a Taxidermist and a Tax Collector - the Taxidermist takes only your skin. (Mark Twain).

5 June 2011

The harder I work the more luck I seem to have 
(Thomas Jefferson).

4 June 2011

In theory, there is no difference between theory and 
practice, but, in practice, there is. 
(Jan L.A. van de Snepscheut)

3 June 2011

Always forgive your enemies - nothing annoys them so much (Oscar Wilde)

25 May 2011

I'm extraordinarily patient - so long as I get my own way. (Margaret Thatcher)

24 May 2011

(Jack and Dorothy's Anniversary, 1949)

The creative person basically has two kinds of jobs. One is the creative kind - the second is the kind which pays the bills.  Sometimes the task in hand covers both bases, but not often.  This tense duality will always play central stage.  
It will never be transcended. 
(Hugh Macleod)










12 May 2011

Well it's a busy week with work with lots of people to see by Friday!  They are all lovely people and I enjoy seeing them and having a chat about them and their lives.  

This week they're all much younger than me and I realise how fast time goes and that 

we need to make the most of life, recognising and grabbing opportunities when they arise.

"They are not long, the days of wine and roses: out of a misty dream our path emerges for a while, then closes, within a dream." (Ernest Dowson)

Someone wise once said it's often not what we've done that we regret later, but what we haven't done.  So will now go and do ...

Narrowboat

When I met David and he said he had a narrow boat time-share - one week a year - I was not impressed. After all, having been in the Royal Navy for 25 years I would at least have expected a Frigate!

Because my father used to be a fisherman, David presumed I was au fait with boats - but apparently not - so the first year or so David had quite a hard time.  This wasn't helped the first year by my being unwell and David cracking a rib, so we were a pair of crocks.

By the second year I was becoming more useful and we started to enjoy ourselves.  It helped that we were travelling the same route as the first year, going out from Evesham in Worcestershire, travelling up the River Avon to Stratford, then up the Stratford Canal, and returning. 

It was wonderful mooring in the centre of Stratford, right next to the Shakespeare memorial, in fact becoming part of the tourist attraction. Boats are permitted to moor there free for up to 48 hours, the only down side being the incredibly difficult lock at the bottom (needing at least four people to man because of old warped gates and the very difficult exit at the top through a blind tunnel) no matter, it was still fun.  

One year we went to the beautiful, authentic Swan Theatre to see Cymbeline (http://www.william-shakespeare.info/shakespeare-play-cymbeline.htm).  Another year it was Ken Dodd on 'The Humour in Shakespeare' - well what we found was that there is very little, but Shakespeare gives us humorous situations - and Ken Dodd certainly did!

The following year we travelled south from Evesham to Tewkesbury, up to Worcester and then down to Gloucester and back. Again it was fun mooring on the River Severn in Worcester and in the actual Docks in Gloucester. 

A tight squeeze - very near Birmingham, the year we did the Birmginham Ring which was hard work (see http://www.canaljunction.com/canal/birmingham_navigations.htm, - a useful site)

One year we travelled north and south from the base at Market Harborough.

Barbara and Vicky, the year that Barbara joined us for half the week - which I think she found quite enough!

Vicky and Steve usually join us for part of the holiday and one year Fi came along too.

This picture shows us near the top of Foxton Locks ( http://foxtonlocks.com/)

Unfortunately we will not be going on the boat this year, so we hope to bank our week and have two weeks next year.

Sculpture Class with Michelle

A couple of years ago, South Devon College 

offered a five-week taster in sculpture, 

which sounded rather intriguing.  

I went along, expecting to make something to
exhibit in the garden:
an enormous structure, 

probably of welded metal,
to find we were given some drawing lessons.  

Then we were let loose on the bamboo, wire and clay to
make something which reflected what we'd drawn.

Our tutor, Michelle, then encouraged us to embellish
this with whatever we thought appropriate.

This was a tiny model (about 10cm) done first as a practice, rather fiddly.
So now to think bigger ...

This was the second model, made of bamboo, 

wire and clay, great fun as it was quite big (about 40cm) to handle.

Scary mouth!

Then came was the third 

and final model, much more fragile:

This was bamboo, wire and should have been
tissue paper and was difficult to keep in shape.

I was rather impatient and took mine home and covered 

bits with newspaper, tissue paper was too fiddly!

Then it was painted - great fun as the paint went everywhere 

and the structure went out of shape when it was wet.  

Eventually I hung it on one of our lights to dry each time, 

much to David's consternation.

After several coats of paint, eventually the desire effect was achieved. 

 Look at the end of this item to see what was the inspiration.  

The inspiration:

A shell from Paignton beach - about 5cm long.

Old Plymouth photos

Pictures of Plymouth, probably taken in the 1940s

Plymouth Hoe, looking west

 Tynside Pool