Sharing enthusiasm

Gisele and Gabor returned home to nest

Blogging

I have not been blogging for a long time now because I have a very painful shoulder and neck and I know that this is aggravated when I use the computer. I usually suffer for it the following day and before Christmas a furthur debilitating symptom was a weekly migraine.

I have been trying to answer only essential work emails on the computer and to do any other writing by hand.

I have been having physiotherapy sessions regularly since November and after eighteen sessions I was enjoying pain-free days, on one occasion a whole week, for the first time since March 2013.

Over the past three days the shoulder problem has flared up again, the brilliant physiotherapist is doing her best to deal with it, one of my colleagues has a go too now and then too, and on Tuesday I discussed with a friend how a change of diet may help me towards some more pain-free days. I have started by leaving out dairy products and I will go from there to testing other foods over the next few months to see whether my body reacts positively to the changes.

I think that it is now time to get an X-ray made and to get some more advice as to how to proceed with treatment.

Feeling better

Just a few minutes ago I realised that one of the things that always made me feel good was blogging and as the pain has returned without my using the computer I have been tempted to sit down and write something.

One of my other great pleasures over the past two years has been watching on line the progress of the peregrines that nest on Norwich Cathedral spire and comparing their progress with the birds that nest on or near my balcony.

A week after the peregrines laid their eggs in Norwich, the collared doves returned to the tree outside my flat. I was enjoying an early spring day on Sunday when I noticed that the new nest, just a few choice twigs that the male bird presented the female with intertwined to form a precarious small platform, is situated even nearer to my deckchair than it was last year. I will have a wonderful view of the activities associated with egg-sitting and I hope later also the bird-rearing.

Already my neck is creaking and my shoulders are both aching so I will sign off from doing what I enjoy and hope that I will be back on a regular basis from now on, risking hurting just a bit more so I can enjoy once again one of the things that makes me feel good.

PS 

A nameless toucan in Norwich

I love the birds returning to nest so much that I recently took a toucan that my Dad had bought for me in Norwich on my last visit, to the Kindergarten group.

Ken Toucan and his nest of eggs

For three weeks we discussed, crafted, painted and watched all things to do with eggs, nests, birds and their babies, worms and learning to fly, until on the last day Toucan Ken packed his bag, and also his babies, to fly south for a holiday!  The children of course know that this really means that he will be back again when I return for the next block in May.

It is always with amazement that I watch the children’s reactions when I introduce them to one of my own enthusiasms. It is so lovely to see how they too become enthralled by it and how, through our all getting excited by nature, birds, and flowers, eggs and worms, the whole of our three-week ‘Pető Block’ evolved with a life of its own without much planning on my part.

"Ken Toucan and his brood"

Spring has been our main topic for this course so on another day last week I took my latest silhouette picture of spring flowers in to show my colleague. We smiles as two of the five year-olds asked whether they could colour it in! They of course had no idea how many hours of snipping had gone into producing it and that it was in fact a fine black paper cut-out that was carefully placed on a sheet of white card.

I had anticipated their interest, although again I was still amazed at how our own enthusiasm so quickly inspired the children’s. I had already photocopied the picture several times so we were immediately able to get started on a second spring-related project producing a beautiful collage of flower pictures – the photo will follow tomorrow.