The year in Woodbridge

9-15 hrs: It may seem strange to summarise a year as a graph - but hey  - I have a PhD in economic history - so can think graphs.

The source - I started to try to score how I felt on my own scale in December last year as a way of keeping track of progress (or otherwise). Each day I have put a number (which I decide on based on a list of definitions of things I think encapsulate my well being) as to how I feel in a spreadsheet - which allows me to draw lots of graphs - and stare at them from time to time. The black line is a 14 day moving average. 

The interesting thing is that it does reflect the year. The  three spikes down were (starting from March) a couple of days feeling ill, some hay fever and a finger infection. The big dip in July was when the chemo therapy stopped working. The rise was when the new medication (Tarceva) started to work, and has allowed my life to be more interesting and more varied.

It also shows that life was more of a roller-coaster in the earlier part of the year, related to fortnightly doses of poisonous chemo-therapy drugs. With Tarceva there is more of a plateau with smaller ups and downs (largely due to periods of 'overdoing it' punctuated by lazing around.) The best thing I have found to do of late is to write serious documetation for the Joomla! Documentation project - of which more in another post. This exercises the brain. I go to the gym and do a lot of walking around - which keeps the outer part of the body exercised.

I have not 'recovered' or been given my life back in the sense of living as I used to (ie having a large boat and going to the Shetlands!) or being able to rush around as I would like to do. But I have a small and nippy boat, and I have found a happy way of life here.

So - happy new year people - and thanks for reading my blog and for your responses at various times.

More weather

18-00: Same place - lower tide- different weather. It was even foggier today and it is due to last for several more days.

The good thing is that I have gone walks but not as far as I would in sunshine. So am pushing on with the Joomla! project.

More season's greetings

11-00 hrs: This was the view of the Deben that I came across as I came up to the river wall last Monday. It was breathtaking and the picture does not do it justice. It is a proper winter scene to wish everyone a good holiday. 

The river path is now open again and I am intending to walk through this view when the sun comes out - but with mud and no frost.

Later - There is still ice in the woods. I had a lovely walk through some woods and then along the whole length of the river wall.  Managed not to over-eat (yet) and have done a lot of writing and playing with screen images and layouts using Wiki-media. A happy day.

Food between the ice blocks

21-45 hrs: The ice has more or less gone today - very glad to have seen it yesterday. Black-tailed Godwit gets lucky.

Ice and mud

9-20 hrs: Ice forms over the mud at low tide - some mixed with snow. We wondered what happens when the tide comes in - does the ice float or does the water run in over the top. As the rising tide was during darkness this week - I did not observe it. But I do offer the picture to show what seems to happen.

The tide comes in and lifts some of the ice and breaks it up. This is carried upstream and  downstream on the tide. When there is no obstacle - it floats off downstream or melts. When, as in the picture, there is something  in the way, the ice stays put in large slabs. Some ice seems to stick to the bottom and get covered in mud after a couple of tides. The process leaves a lot of mud for the birds and some ice for us to look at.

Happy winter festivals to everyone

19-20 hrs:

This is my Christmas and New Year card to everyone - because I have not sent cards this year - for reasons of sloth. But I  am now saying it is because of the weather.

It is the pattern on my curtains - I bought the fabric a long time ago - when I was a post-graduate student. And I have hung them in various places and they always look great. So in sending you this - I am sending something with meaning - and thinking of you all during the next couple of weeks as we move into a new year.

It is snowing just now and has been cold here. But nothing like as snowy and cold as elsewhere. My boat is out of the water and has a layer of ice and snow on it - and I had even planned to sail it in December - before the weather started.

17-15 hrs: I have just noticed a whole week since I last posted. All well here - just have not turned to the blog this week. Most of my time was spent writing Joomla! documentation and then feeling too mind-blown to write anything else. And the usual trips to the gym and the supermarket. I also decided to have the boat lifted out of the water as the weather looks set to continue unwelcoming for sailing - so more boat-clearing.

I gave a talk to the Deben Yacht Club about whether it is really scary and lonely to sail by oneself. It was really an excuse to look at my pictures again:-

  http://www.flickr.com/photos/lornapics/sets/72157625409985288/

 

16-00 hrs: Looking left and right along the Thoroughfare in Woodbridge. As I have reported before - people around here know how to enjoy themselves! I had hog roast for lunch from a stall - - and the snow has melted.

11-25 hrs; Lookfar in snow which seems a lot for Woodbridge. It shows that I have not risked myself by going onto the pontoon - and also that I am not going to do a lot of sailing just now. The marina is starting to freeze over - helped by the layer of snow.

Woodbridge in snow and cold

17-20 hrs: boats not going anywhere from the sailing club boat park - my Laser is in the first row. My talk about sailing single handed has been put off until next week. Lookfar is covered in snow and I am not going onto  slippery bits until it all melt - annoyingly I did not get a cover over her (not expecting snow at this time as this is supposed to be the balmy South).

There has not been as much snow and cold here as there has been further north - which is something - not sure what - snow can be amusing if one has masses of thermals and no urgent things to do.

I was tired after the excesses of CISP - and have tended to do no more than go to the gym, browse around the web (mostly geology) and walk along the river to the coffee bar - not an unpleasant way of life.