What was your fasting blood glucose? (full on chat)

[ianpspurs]

Them there’s fighting words…..lace handkerchiefs at dawn, hold on dawns to early say 11:30 ish after a koffy?

Dawn says please don't besmirch my honour, you don't even know me but 11.30 will be fine if you have the usual fee: a litre of Gin and 2 ounces of rough cut. Nice girl but she could tell a tale or two.

 

[gennepher]

@gennepher

What lovely memories they must hold genn.

Thanks very much @jjraak
Yes they do.

 

[gennepher]

Good morning everyone on what at first sight is a smashing sunny day here in the dark and dangerous north. But don’t be fooled - any temperature above absolute zero is now rationed and probably taxed. Even hardy northerners are digging out wooly vests, adding an extra lump of coal onto the fire each day and going to bed as soon as it gets dark to save on candles. A new so called artisan bakery has opened in town. We called in hoping for some sourdough - it does state artisan after all. No chance. Not even a crusty bap. Loads of very fancy pastries at very fancy pastry prices mind. So, not a bakery after all but a patisserie. Gloom! Slept for 10 hours last night - unheard of. Wondering if the double flu/covid jabs have whacked me out a bit. Still, the sun is shining and we can get out for some subcutaneous vitamin D manufacturing. Art bit, not what was in my head (which was probably nothing at all) but it’s over a meter long and just sort of ended up that way. Hope you enjoy the day you have been given. I will hang out some washing,slurp some koffy and await another smashing castle from @gennepher.

Wow @dunelm that most certainly is a panoramic landscape....
I like it very much it has a feeling of power to me....

 

[Krystyna23040]

It being still morning here in the sub-Exotic East I can wish you all good morning. No known fbg to share once more. Yesterday's jaunt to Stanford went well and we found the company of friends, food, ambience of the eatery and town itself most becoming. @dunelm shame about the baked goods emporium not meeting your exacting standards but many thanks for sharing a metre of trees and uplands. @Krystyna23040 good news on the brain fog lifting though I wonder if you are being unduly optimistic in feeling that COVID will be a one and done experience this calendar year. I hope and pray that is the case for you and everyone. Here, a two day Ruby Wedding open weekend invitation has started - tomorrow is the actual anniversary - so staying totally on the reservation may not be fully compliant with the spirit of the celebration; (this) one instinctively feels that low carb really must be the apogee of a non sequitur as far as a celebration is concerned. I hope y'all have as magical a Saturday as possible.

@ianpspurs congratulations on your Ruby Wedding.

I am hoping that having the vaccine and getting covid just after the vaccine gives me quite a lot of immunity for a couple of months.

So am keeping fingers crossed.

 

[Krystyna23040]

Good Morening Ladies and Gentlemen and those who skived off the odd lesson or several when at school.

Blood sugars this morning were 6.2

I had a very strange experience yesterday afternoon while sitting in a hospital waiting room which has left me wondering about some people.

To set the scene Mrs J and myself walked into the waiting room and found somewhere to sit patiently waiting to called.

This older couple sitting opposite from us started to glare and give us both filthy looks, we had not said anything or done anything. All I can think is my appearance caused it, I have long shoulder length hair, a bushy beard, marginally obese wearing rather scruffy but clean clothes. This older couple were not particularly well dressed, so it might be my hair and beard.

Usually when this sort of thing happens me, me’s and myself will retaliate in some way shape or form, but not wishing to cause Mrs J any embarrassment I didn’t and let the matter drop, but me, me’s and myself are somewhat perplexed. Perhaps I should have been wearing my motorcycle clothing. Luckily the couple were called and I saw no more of them. Now I am in my seventies so no spring chicken.

I wish you all a pleasant afternoon and hope you stay safe avoiding people such as myself ;-)

I am really impressed with your self control @alf_Josiah

 

[Annb]

It being still morning here in the sub-Exotic East I can wish you all good morning. No known fbg to share once more. Yesterday's jaunt to Stanford went well and we found the company of friends, food, ambience of the eatery and town itself most becoming. @dunelm shame about the baked goods emporium not meeting your exacting standards but many thanks for sharing a metre of trees and uplands. @Krystyna23040 good news on the brain fog lifting though I wonder if you are being unduly optimistic in feeling that COVID will be a one and done experience this calendar year. I hope and pray that is the case for you and everyone. Here, a two day Ruby Wedding open weekend invitation has started - tomorrow is the actual anniversary - so staying totally on the reservation may not be fully compliant with the spirit of the celebration; (this) one instinctively feels that low carb really must be the apogee of a non sequitur as far as a celebration is concerned. I hope y'all have as magical a Saturday as possible.

Happy 40th Ian. Have a great weekend.

 

[Krystyna23040]

My husband looked after my father while I was at work but found it quite distressing because my father only seemed to remember his youth and his mother, but nobody else. He became quite aggressive towards my husband and thought everyone was a character from his past. He thought I was my mother. A few years later, my husband succumbed to a form of dementia and, eventually, forgot everything except one sister and his mother. When upset he would call for Alice, his sister. Nobody else would do, but Alice lived 300 miles away and couldn't come to him. Alternatively, he wanted his, long dead, mother. I took retirement from my job but he had no idea who I was, or either of his sons; even shunned me. It hurt. We did all we could to care for him but he was not happy in those last years and there was nothing we could do to make him happy. He would listen when I sang for him, but that's all.

Dementia is cruel and I always thought that, at least the patient would be happy in their own world. The best that could be said for my husband was that he was comfortable and well cared for. Nevertheless, I wanted to hang on to him for as long as possible and was devastated when he died.

Dementia is so cruel @Annb

 

[gennepher]

It being still morning here in the sub-Exotic East I can wish you all good morning. No known fbg to share once more. Yesterday's jaunt to Stanford went well and we found the company of friends, food, ambience of the eatery and town itself most becoming. @dunelm shame about the baked goods emporium not meeting your exacting standards but many thanks for sharing a metre of trees and uplands. @Krystyna23040 good news on the brain fog lifting though I wonder if you are being unduly optimistic in feeling that COVID will be a one and done experience this calendar year. I hope and pray that is the case for you and everyone. Here, a two day Ruby Wedding open weekend invitation has started - tomorrow is the actual anniversary - so staying totally on the reservation may not be fully compliant with the spirit of the celebration; (this) one instinctively feels that low carb really must be the apogee of a non sequitur as far as a celebration is concerned. I hope y'all have as magical a Saturday as possible.

Happy 40th Ian
Have a great weekend @ianpspurs

 

[gennepher]

Agree.

I feel your pain.

There is an advert at the moment about it.

"How mum died" ...many times is the gist.

Really hits the mark for me.

It's like the slow drifting away of a person you love deeply,

No matter how tightly we hold on to them, they slip out of our grip.
Until we are barely hanging onto their fingertips, and then even that slides out of reach .

' there but not there ', as we drift slowly along side them.
Inches apart yet miles away as they slide deeper into a world we can not see.

The only comfort I could take from that was, how lovely it must be for mum, that the world she found herself in, had everyone she had ever loved and lost before me, back in her life.

( The lies I told when she asked when HER mum, brothers or sisters, all long passed
Were coming to visit....)

A bitter sweet trade off, but one of the only 'good things' I could take from the experience.

She asked one day out of the blue for dad.

She forgotten who he was long ago.

He had passed away a week earlier.

I couldn't tell her, because she's be heartbroken.....& Then she'd forget.

And IF she asked again, it would just be the same grief, over & over again.

So I lied, & said he'd be up later.

She never asked again.


I suppose the only thing is where death can come swiftly on many occasions, leaving regrets at things unsaid.

the fact we get so long to say our goodbyes, means WE at least, get to hear the gratitude & love given for all they did for us .

A rather selfish emotion, but one I found left nothing left unsaid or regretted.

I think anyone like yourself & Lamont and far too many others, giving so much of ourselves, let's us hold our head up after the pain and say proudly "I did my best".

And no one could ask for more of us.

Respect.

I met first met J late 1980"s. Life kept putting us in situations where we did a lot of talking and learning about each other. I knew J was very forgetful early on. I was not sure if he had the beginning stages of dementia. His wife had just left him because of this, and gone straight into the arms of a younger person. J was 20 years older than his wife (he was also 20 years older than me).
My friend D met J, shortly after I first met him, and she disapproved because of the age difference, and said you'll be looking after very him soon as he get older, break it off now she said.

I didn't listen to my friend D.

Initially if J got frustrated when he couldn't find something, or had mislaid it, or oftentimes had sold it the week before and was looking for it. Initially I would say you sold that at...or sold it to so and so, but he got very angry with me because he couldn't possibly have done that. He sold some precious (to himself) things, but I could not stop him.. and would later demand to know what it happened to it. I learned, I could not tell the truth what he had done because it made him angrier, and he did not believe me because he would not have done such a thing with that object or whatever. And so I compromised with 'I don't know', 'I have no idea'....and 'how about we...' and I would suggest something we could do.... or I would suggest a drive somewhere....

I never knew the younger J. This was the J but I knew... for 20 happy years.

Your comment @jjraak
"I suppose the only thing is where death can come swiftly on many occasions, leaving regrets at things unsaid.

the fact we get so long to say our goodbyes, means WE at least, get to hear the gratitude & love given for all they did for us ."

In a sense I got the advantage of both of those statements. He was always appreciative of me during that time. He always thanked me for the places we went to, he thanked me for many things... I filled his days with adventure for 20 years. In return, I got to know a wonderful person despite the forgetfulness and what came with it...

In the months before he died, I drove hundreds and hundreds of miles to visit places in Scotland here always wanted to see. And I enjoyed all that as well... he did sleep in the car all the way there, and sometimes I did wish somebody would drive me somewhere so that I could sleep and arrive refreshed....

You have no idea how thankful he was, but I took him all these places, but I took many photographs and I enjoyed them as well. About a week before he died, something had changed in him and he expressed his gratitude for everything I had done and on the Thursday he surprised me with the most beautiful cream silk antique wedding dress. It fitted me absolutely perfectly. He never saw it on me. On the Sunday morning, I went very early to pick him up for one of our adventures. It was a beautiful sunny day blue skies and gorgeous clouds. But he had died about 4 am that morning.

The day before he had talked about ghosts all day and some other stuff he had wanted me to write a story about it. I sat up all night writing the story. It was an unusual story based on what he was talking about and I took that with me in the morning., but he never saw the story I had written for him...

I spoke with the paramedics. And strangely, we were joking, sort of... J had died of a heart attack... and the paramedic said it was swift, he had known no pain, but he had opened his eyes and probably thought, "Oh sh*t, I am not going to see gennepher this morning".

He would not have wanted to be an invalid and that never happened...

I had the best of all worlds. with my relationship with J

EDIT: to add context to what the paramedic said, when he said J was dead (or whatever word he used, I cannot remember now), I said, he can't do that, we are going out today, the sun is shining, the sky is blue, and those dramatic white clouds are the clouds J paints....

Paramedic probably thought I was crazy...

 

[dunelm]

Wow @dunelm that most certainly is a panoramic landscape....
I like it very much it has a feeling of power to me....

Thanks @gennepher

 

[dunelm]

It being still morning here in the sub-Exotic East I can wish you all good morning. No known fbg to share once more. Yesterday's jaunt to Stanford went well and we found the company of friends, food, ambience of the eatery and town itself most becoming. @dunelm shame about the baked goods emporium not meeting your exacting standards but many thanks for sharing a metre of trees and uplands. @Krystyna23040 good news on the brain fog lifting though I wonder if you are being unduly optimistic in feeling that COVID will be a one and done experience this calendar year. I hope and pray that is the case for you and everyone. Here, a two day Ruby Wedding open weekend invitation has started - tomorrow is the actual anniversary - so staying totally on the reservation may not be fully compliant with the spirit of the celebration; (this) one instinctively feels that low carb really must be the apogee of a non sequitur as far as a celebration is concerned. I hope y'all have as magical a Saturday as possible.

Thanks @ianpspurs and happy anniversary to you both

 

[gennepher]

Fbg 6.7

Nighttime wildlife on trailcam
Ma & Pa Badger together.
https://www.instagram.com/reel/DBj4lygo_tx/?igsh=MTA3d293M203M3lmOA==

And the same vid on TikTok
https://vm.tiktok.com/ZGdREENPY/

For this one, well over 800 views on tiktok!!
I am amazed. I am so glad that so many people are watching my videos. It makes it all worthwhile!


Creative...another ruined castle...in my garden...

The light is fading here and it's time to lock up...

Night night and
sweet dreams...

Sorry don't know what happened to the castle...I did put it on...
Try again..

 

[JohnEGreen]

Happy anniversary @ianpspurs

 

[Lamont D]

Dawn says please don't besmirch my honour, you don't even know me but 11.30 will be fine if you have the usual fee: a litre of Gin and 2 ounces of rough cut. Nice girl but she could tell a tale or two.

Dawn broke this morning.
How?

 

[Lamont D]

Happy Anniversary @ianpspurs .

Who is Ruby?

 

[Lamont D]

If there is to be a duel,
The clocks go back tonight.
Don't use it as an excuse not to be there.
I want to know the result, please?

 

[jjraak]

Evening all.

A pleasing 6.2 this am .

And a rather productive early long weekend for me

Exhaustion after a hard few days at work took care of Thursday.
Awaiting workmen then sleep was the sum of it .

Friday... I've been considering another Ebike.

Been tracking a good few on ebay.

One came up at a great price, not too far & offering what I considered vfm.

Went took a look, bought it.

Always worth a punt .
Ad didn't say too much.
So a keener eye (ok suspicious eye) on arrival .

Again spotted a few simple issues , I think people buy these but don't really seem to know much about them

( Other Ebike seller was the same.)

Came home, set to checking it over, decided what needed doing and left it until today.

Today fixed those items , bike rides like new.
So took it for a test run, as ya do.

Very impressed .

A step up from the previous Ebike.

Bigger, better, newer ...
All in all very happy.

Although an Ebike, it still needs input so I feel well exercised today ..in fact cream crackered if I'm honest.

The left thumb particularly sore, an awkward grip action I suspect, and right shoulder excessively tiring, again the culprit being a lack of such tension & use is my best guess.

Have to hope the exercise gets me back into some semblance of shape & a better muscle memory for the affected parts

But came home one happy little cyclist .

Gratuitous pics of the day
The serpentine
Marble arch
The round pond Kensington gardens
(Often confused with Hyde park next door )

And what I thought was a glorious red sky at night.

Cheers all .

 

[ianpspurs]

Dawn broke this morning.
How?

Even more perplexing is that night falls but day breaks.

 

[ianpspurs]

Evening all.

A pleasing 6.2 this am .

And a rather productive early long weekend for me

Exhaustion after a hard few days at work took care of Thursday.
Awaiting workmen then sleep was the sum of it .

Friday... I've been considering another Ebike.

Been tracking a good few on ebay.

One came up at a great price, not too far & offering what I considered vfm.

Went took a look, bought it.

Always worth a punt .
Ad didn't say too much.
So a keener eye (ok suspicious eye) on arrival .

Again spotted a few simple issues , I think people buy these but don't really seem to know much about them

( Other Ebike seller was the same.)

Came home, set to checking it over, decided what needed doing and left it until today.

Today fixed those items , bike rides like new.
So took it for a test run, as ya do.

Very impressed .

A step up from the previous Ebike.

Bigger, better, newer ...
All in all very happy.

Although an Ebike, it still needs input so I feel well exercised today ..in fact cream crackered if I'm honest.

The left thumb particularly sore, an awkward grip action I suspect, and right shoulder excessively tiring, again the culprit being a lack of such tension & use is my best guess.

Have to hope the exercise gets me back into some semblance of shape & a better muscle memory for the affected parts

But came home one happy little cyclist .

Gratuitous pics of the day
The serpentine
Marble arch
The round pond Kensington gardens
(Often confused with Hyde park next door )

And what I thought was a glorious red sky at night.

Cheers all .

View attachment 70373

View attachment 70374
View attachment 70375
View attachment 70376View attachment 70377

Wonderful photographs from a great day cycling around the capital. Good spot on the new Ebike and even better diagnosing and fixing the issues.

 

[LivingLightly]

About three years ago an elderly gentleman on the same ward as me was being treated with maggots for a diabetic ulcer that just wouldn’t heal I am not sure how successful it was as I left the hospital before the treatment had been completed but the staff seemed to be optimistic that it was working.

The modern version of this centuries-old therapy @JohnEGreen is being used increasingly here in the UK in the fight against antibiotic resistance.

Some people recoil from the thought of flies because of their habit of laying eggs on animal droppings (although not all diptera make use of dung in this way).

The larvae of Lucilia sericata are of course specially bred and sterile. These maggots are efficient at removing necrotic matter, while leaving sound tissue intact, so they're perfect for treating chronic diabetic leg and foot ulcers, which may be infected with antibiotic-resistant bacteria.


Saturday's FBG 4.3 mmol/l on waking at 6.00 am.