With just five weeks to go in #MyTime countdown, today we’ve been talking about our diet and what we need to stay healthy into the future.  Well, I’m not expecting to be gaining lots of retirement time to be able to make changes, or take things at a different pace, as I hit this milestone, and I don’t expect to be able to slow down just yet.  So, if I am going to be continuing at a pace then I need to be sure I am generating sufficient energy and well-being to keep going and that means keeping active – physically, mentally and socially.  So, some careful thinking and planning in #MyTime activities, I think, to secure improvements in nutritional health.

A beautiful sun-shiny, clear blue sky, warm, Spring day today and although I’m sporting a broken wrist, I managed to do some one-handed gardening.

Enjoying the garden’s Spring gifts

A bit slow but I managed some effective weeding around the terrace and some of the raised beds.  I’ve been quite frustrated that I haven’t been able to do much in the garden so far this year so it was really nice to do, be in and around the garden all day, and see the results after just a little effort.

For #MyTime I want to be able to enjoy the garden, both gardening, gathering the produce – vegetables, fuit and flowers – and sitting and enjoying in the garden spaces.

The daffodils on the terrace Spring border are now giving way to primroses (always plentiful in Primrose Cottage) and it won’t be long before the lavender surrounds us with swathes of blue and heady scent.

If I can garden one-handed then I should be able to keep gardening and enjoying the spaces for more of #MyTime.  So, with just six weeks to go in my countdown, I want to include enjoying the garden in #MyTime.

Albert Beeson – photo taken November 1984

You went away.  I kept it cool
I saw your shadow in the pool
Often I sighed.  Sometimes I cried
I had to live.  I must not die.
Deepness of Love from there to here
Brought misty eyes into the clear
My arms if weak would gain the strength
Once more to hold my darling wench

A poem by A E Beeson

I’ve given a gift of poetry this week – a book for a birthday – Ted Hughes’ Crow – and I’ve listened to some storylines and poetry by WB Yeats at the Bridport Story Cafe, then I have dipped into some poetry penned by my grandfather several decades ago.  Sometimes I write a little something myself – a poem, a haiku, a lyric for a song and yes, I would like poetry in #MyTime, my quiet time and sometimes my noisy time.

We’ve had a few smiles whilst skimming through my Mom’s photo albums since her death.  I’ve brought them home with me to scan in some of those of which I didn’t already have copies.  And I think actually,I do want photos around in my future.  Not necessarily in frames around the house but definitely ones I can visit from time to time either in albums or online.  So, for #MyTime I’m going to note that I may well want records of events so that I can revisit them.  So I will continue to take photos but I do need to remember to store them or print them – we all know phones can lose everything just at the wrong time!  And also to make a note of who is in them.  I’ve got lots more to look through over the coming weeks, and am starting to populate my family tree with photos where I have them too, but there will be time, in #MyTime.

What an intense couple of months this has been.  Since the new year, my mother’s health has declined rapidly until her death a couple of weeks ago and we said farewell to her at her burial on Friday.   Of course there are still all the practical things to sort and the grieving to be acknowledged but now, my focus returns to me and mine.

I’m reminded that #MyTime was about discovering the things that I want to spend my time with, when I have it.  Now, I don’t want it all to be about looking back, I’m open to new things and I hope I will have the courage to try and do new things.  I may not always be able to do everything I want to though.  I’m nursing a fractured wrist at the moment (yes, what was that about self-care in week 29?) so whatever I choose to do I need to make sure I am able and actually, sometimes, I may need help to achieve it.  I certainly couldn’t have done some of the clearing tasks this last weekend if David, my partner, hadn’t been there to help, and so many other things too.  What’s more, over this last few weeks, I’ve had so much emotional support from friends that I couldn’t possibly feel alone.