Tag: recovery

  • stay tuned. . .

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    Kate Davies Designs
    in

    The post-stroke rollercoaster continues. Shetland came at a great time, as I am currently having to deal with yet more life-changing gubbins, namely the fact that I will probably never be able to do an academic job again. I have spent sixteen months trying my hardest to get better, but I now have to deal…

  • waste

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    Kate Davies Designs
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    I have had a pretty unpleasant week, and have been struggling with the fatigue for a full seven days — it seems a very long haul, and there is, as yet, no end in sight. It is incredibly annoying having to pause in the middle of projects because one’s brain is not up to handling…

  • schiehallion

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    Kate Davies Designs
    in

    On Saturday, we climbed Schiehallion – another munro. Rising out of the surrounding landscape like a great, squat cone, Schiehallion resembles a child’s drawing – it looks exactly like what a mountain should look like. Easily accessible from the shores of Loch Tay, it is extremely popular with walkers, whose pounding feet, over the past…

  • mileage

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    Kate Davies Designs
    in

    Everything is so very green here at the moment. After some much-needed rain yesterday, my locale seems even more verdant. Some things are already past their best: while others are reaching the height of their powers. Down at the lade today, I saw three spectacularly bright kingfishers flitting in and out of the bank-side —…

  • gorse-ness

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    Kate Davies Designs
    in

    The van appeared at just the right moment. A few of you guessed that I’d been going through a difficult patch. It is important that I continue to keep track of my recovery, so I’m going to try to make sense of this ‘patch’ in this post. A few weeks ago, I was signed off…

  • another first

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    Kate Davies Designs
    in

    Only one ‘bad’ day last week, and as I was feeling OK this morning, I decided to try to expand my peripatetic horizons once again. I don’t think I could ever tire of walking on this path. On a bright Spring day, its shadows are very inviting. I saw a tiny wren dart past me…

  • of dogs . . . and sheep

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    Kate Davies Designs
    in

    It has been an interesting week. On the downside, there have been a couple of days of evil, all-consuming fatigue to contend with. This meant that I was unable to go across to Glasgow, and hence unable to meet up with some folk I’ve been looking forward to seeing for ages, to chat about lace.…

  • see them shufflin along. . .

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    Kate Davies Designs
    in

    There is not much I can say, except that this lopsided shuffle SEEMS LIKE SOME SORTA BLOODY MIRACLE. It feels especially good for me to pootle past the lamp-post that you can see in the final moments of this clip, as I saw it from a very different perspective just under a year ago –…

  • quietly

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    Kate Davies Designs
    in

    One year turned into another very quietly here. I am still convalescing after my latest evil wintry lurgy, and have been told to stay off the foot as much as possible. The foot does seem to be getting better, but overall I really do feel rather grim – my neurologist warned me that dealing with…

  • fuschias

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    Kate Davies Designs
    in

    I began this needlepoint back in March, while I was still in hospital. I had managed to teach myself to knit again, but it was very tiring for my left hand (and brain) and I could only manage a little at a time. So I bought a kit for a needlepoint cushion, and when I…

  • thaw

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    Kate Davies Designs
    in

    Tom has returned. His work was awarded a prize by the British Society of Immunologists (Huzzah!). Success abroad was not matched by that at home, however: the only sense in which my days alone might be said to be successful is that nothing seriously went wrong. By Tuesday I was absolutely knackered – I got…

  • at home

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    Kate Davies Designs
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    It’s still snowing here. Snow is one of those things about which Jesus definitely is Not Sure. Just check out his plum tree. . . The wee man is spending the day inside, but me and Bruce have been out with the camera. I love the transformative effects of snow, even on the greyest winter…

  • Turnhouse Hill

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    Kate Davies Designs
    in

    I surprised myself today by deciding to go for a walk in the Pentlands. I’ve been a little hesitant about this walk, as the Pentlands are one of those places that are full of memories for myself and Tom. I didn’t want to go before I was ready, and have to turn back half way…

  • North Berwick Law

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    Kate Davies Designs
    in

    Now I’ve completed my Seven Hills project, I have decided to keep up the walking momentum and to attempt a hill every weekend that the weather is fine. I wouldn’t say that today was fine – while the rest of the UK seems to be enjoying a second summer, we are gloomily swathed in what…

  • Arthur’s Seat

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    Kate Davies Designs
    in

    I was going to tell you about volcanic plugs and St Anthony’s well, about James Hogg’s Confessions and the brocken-spectre, but as soon as I got here this morning I knew it was just about the hill and me. Arthur’s Seat lies at the heart of Edinburgh, and since I’ve lived here, it’s been at…

  • Corstorphine Hill

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    Kate Davies Designs
    in

    Autumn seems to have arrived while we were away. The plums on Jesus’s tree have been turned into jam, the brambles in the local hedgerows are all but gone, and the rosebay willowherb has blown spectacularly to seed. It seemed the right sort of time to ascend Corstorphine, which has, perhaps, the most woodland character…