Catching up

It's been 4 weeks since I last wrote and during that time life has been busy with a trip to Switzerland and my surgery. There has been very little time for sewing but I have managed to do a little embroidery on Constance.

Switzerland was a fabulous experience as always. Over the ten days we had heavy rain, snow, thunder and lightening, large hail stones and absolutely glorious sunshine. The holiday was exhausting but we all had an amazing experience and I certainly came back home healthier than I went. We hiked up into the mountains and visited Bern to see the bears, paddled in a glacial lake, enjoyed lots of hot chocolate, tried to reach the top of Jacob's ladder, enjoyed a backwoods workshop and lots more. I'll do a separate post tomorrow with some photos from Switzerland.

Following Switzerland I had my surgery last week. As was always planned I had a flat mastectomy with clearance of the axillary lymph nodes. The surgery went very well and I stayed in hospital overnight going home early on Saturday morning. I've had hardly any pain, only needing Paracetamol occasionally, which was great as I'm a little bit of a wimp when it comes to pain. The drain came out today and I feel really well. I'm busy doing my arm exercises three times a day and trying to remember not to use my right arm to lift anything heavy. 

OK so I'm probably not resting as much as I should be but hay life's too short. Yesterday I had to make the choice to stay at home and rest or take a train to work for John's last day. Of course I hopped a train and went to his retirement do. It was during the party that we realised we had been working together for 31 years. That in addition to being married for over 34 years. Someone muttered about being a glutton for punishment! 

Several members of staff refer to John as a legend and among his presents was this apron, hat and mug.

Lots of photos were taken and our colleagues insisted on a photo of the pair of us.

I look a mess and I've got my redivac drain in my pocket but I'm pleased I went in for his retirement party. We finished the day by going out to dinner at our local pub.

As I said earlier I haven't done any sewing in the last 4 weeks except a little stitching on Constance. I took my stitching to Switzerland but it never came out of my bag. Last week I managed to make a start but I wanted to clear some work before I went on sick leave so I didn't get very far.

I am starting to wish there were less polka dots involved in these pieces. Maybe more strips would be a good option instead. Today being September 1st it's time to start on the next bag lady. Not sure who is this months lady but I'll sort that out tomorrow and hopefully have some time to get my machine out as well.

I'm linking this post with Barbara from Cat Patches for her Bag Ladies linky party.

I post some pictures from Switzerland tomorrow and I think I need to set myself a goal for September.

Lyndsey