Friday

A non-visiting day today. A full day off for both Lesley and me. Mum had started he latest Sleepy phase yesterday afternoon so would be unresponsive all day today. Lesley had remembered that her dad had a chiropody appointment tomorrow and as she’d have to be there for that decided that she couldn’t face two consecutive days with him. Whatever chaos he’d created yesterday could wait a day.

We let The Dog choose the route for the main walk. Unsurprisingly, she took us down the bridle path towards the nature reserve.

There are a number of options for routes round the lakes and we thought we knew which one she’d take. We got to the point where she gets to choose and she stopped and looked uncertain. Something had spooked her. We made the choice for her.

I’d seen the darkening sky earlier but the direction of the wind should have taken the clouds past us. The wind was picking up and the trees were making the sound they make when they seem to be trying to tell me that rain is on its way. A few minutes later we heard what The Dog had d heard. Thunder.

A thunderstorm would normally reduce The Dog to a quivering mess if she’s indoors but she carried on gamely and only stopped when the thunder got really close. She kept going. There were sticks with her name on them and plenty of water for us to throw them in. It’s her greatest pleasure and she wasn’t going to be denied.

We found ourselves one of The Dog’s favourite spots by the lake and the Throwing & Fetching of The Sticks started. When she needs a breather, The Dog will take her stick into the undergrowth. We don’t know where they came from but something objected to us playing there.

Have you ever been stung by a hornet?

This was my first time. I’ve been stung by wasps before and a bumblebee once. They’re bad enough but this hornet sting was something else. I only got stung once. The Dog got a couple of stings but one got caught in Lesley’s hair and she got several stings on her head.

We beat a hasty retreat. The Dog took us on a route away from the water that she would never normally take. Out onto the road and back home through the village.

We thought we’d get back home before the rain started and we very nearly made it. We got soaked to the skin. But we did make it through the front door before the hail started.

Hours later, we were still all feeling very sore and very sorry for ourselves. A trip back out to the local pharmacy did bring in a little relief but it wasn’t the restful day off we were expecting.

Author’s Note

My Mum is in a nursing home in a small village in the Thames Valley. The photo is not of the home. I used an AI image generator to give the reader some idea of the home she’s in.

All, some or maybe even none (you’ll never know!) of the names have been changed to protect privacy and hide real identities. If you think you recognise someone then let me know and I’ll edit the post or remove it entirely