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You’ve got a fantastic employer. That’s great.

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Well done @Mahoney, glad you made it. I find going down slopes difficult, I can’t seem to judge distance, so a downward incline feels like scaling a cliff face. Not that I have ever scaled a cliff face, or ever will. Lovely that you have some bright weather, and you have taken advantage of that to make a milestone.

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Hi, Good to hear you walked up a slope. Did you find going down more difficult? I agree with Rups down is hard. Today I went to the supermarket with my husband, walked further than usual around the store and chose a gammon joint for Christmas even though as a vegetarian I will not eat it. I don’t mind others having it though. Not a bad day here but grey and overcast. Lilian

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Hi Lilian - I can really relate to your walking triumph! A year ago I could walk 100 yards to the end of the road with my wife following with the wheelchair to get me back - and that felt like real progress at the time. Now I can go further, quicker and better but lots more still to do for next year. We do literally learn like our grandchildren do, and I realise now how hard they are working. Good luck and best wishes - Bruce

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Hi Bruce, thank you for your reply. I hope you continue to make good progress. I still have to use my rollator outside but I am trying to walk unaided in the house. I don’t look very elegant but at my age I don’t care! Best wishes to you and your family. Lilian

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I use a rollator for outside, but I use a stick indoors. I have a tendancy to fall, and break bones because as well has having had a Brain Haemorrhage in 1996 I also have Osteoporosis. I don’t care how I look, as long has I am safe.:blush:

I have a lot of confidence with my rollator. I cannot use a stick and balance, I could do with professional guidance and at the moment that seems unavailable because of covid. I am sorry to hear about your osteoporosis. That must be very hard for you. We do keep trying though and it is so encouraging to know that I am not alone. Thinking of you.Lilian.

Dear Mahoney. I also don’t care how I look. I am so glad that I survived. How are you? Lilian

Hi Lilian, you are certainly not alone. On sites like this one you always have someone to chat to.
I chat on one for Osteoporosis as well. It is good to chat to someone who knows exactly what you are going through. Chat with you soon I hope.

Hi. I too am having a good day. I always tend to look on the bright side. I feel lucky that my family were quick to realise that I was having a stroke and got me to hospital within the hour so that I had the clot busting drug. I now enjoy the progress I try to make each day. Sometimes with success, sometimes not. Good to talk . Lilian

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Hi Crick. I am not sure whether you are male or female? Is osteoporosis a female condition. I know little about it. Does it affect your mobility? How has the stroke affected you? I find this site very useful for making contact with other stroke survivors. Hope to hear from you soon .Lilian

Hi Crick. I have just re read your message and apologise because you had already answered some of my questions . Regards Lilian

Hi Mahoney Best advice I had recently was plan & live one day at a time. Don’t get to ambitious & dwell on what the future will be. Let it come at its own pace. Have to move in month or so & my brain such as it is was working overtime when it should be taking it easy. But it was positive advice kindly given & I’ve taken it on board. I find visiting this site definitely lifts me . Stay safe Pds

Hi Lilian, no need to apologise. My name is Christine, I am nearly 68. I had my 1st brain haemorrhage in Feb 1996, and the doctors thought it was a viral migraine, so treated me at home, so they thought. I had my 2nd brain haemorrhage in March 1996. That one did the damage, they told my husband that I might not survive. I was in hospital for 12 weeks. As you know, I still have problems, but I am still here, thanks to my living husband and two great children. That is my story so far. XX

Hi Colin thought it was just me having problems with S/A& forum. Have poor signal here, keeps dropping out & that combined with cognitive processing was shattering me . 6 months after coming home used site all time & was great help, then felt maybe I’dlost plot. Still hit & miss now. A lot of it could be signal problems & as I’ve mentioned never been a Bright Spark . Was bought IPad for Christmas & set up by son who works in IT. Off you go now told ! No still floundering. Stroke Group has fellow who can give me a session of help! So will find out this week if it is me. Still I’m determined to get there . Was thinking that because strokes are so variable maybe that’s problem

Hi Christine. Thank you for your reply. I am considerably older than you but you sound much younger than you are. What kind of work did you do? Are you retired now? Good to talk.Regards Lilian

Hi Lilian.
I had to finish work when I had my brain haemorrhage, I was only 42 years old. I used to work on a sweet and Chocolate stall in a indoor market. I couldn’t do any work now, only what I can manage at home. My husband does all the cleaning, I sit and prepare the food for our meals, and we share the cooking. I have been out to our local town today, to do a bit of shopping. We are going out for lunch tomorrow, it is my husband’s 70th birthday. I don’t know what I would do without him.
Regards Chris x

Hi Chris. Thank you for your reply. You must miss your job,I expect it kept you busy. I would be very tempted to eat the chocolates rather than sell them. I don’t help much with the cooking just advise. My husband says interfere! It is good to get out. At the moment I have got a streaming cold and so I am staying in. Please wish your husband a happy birthday from me. It seems a long time ago that I was seventy. Good to talk Lilian

Hi Rups, Back to cider making, was taken aback with the botanicals you added to yours,More suited for consumption at TheKnuckers Knest by. Fribbling Squit&the magic folk . I’ve added honey to mine&on one occasion. Couple of bottles of homemade elderflower cordial? Was annoyed that family preferred shop bought to my superior blend so rather than waste it added it to fermenting 25lt .bottled it in flip_top Grolsh bottles stored them in wine rack in shed. Year later thought I’d see how it turned out, very well by all accounts as only two bottles remained the rest drunk by my teenage sons & their mates. Live in a small community no pub about 25 dwelling & old school we used three times a year. The most popular event being the carol concert & as luck would have I was delegated to make punch , did it for 30 odd year until being ‘Stroked’ & boy did I have fun. My punch was legendary.one year the local Czech s gave me a bottle of plum brandy(?) that had to be drunk by thimble full that went in , after that the light-weights demanded an alcohol - free alternative to be on offer. Few good days hope your having same. pds

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Aye, @Pds, and it all comes down to the gruit. Herbs used to flavour beer. A Scandinavian thing, if my memory serves correctly. Mugwort was a bittering agent, traditionally used in beer before hops. And wormwood was used in an old English ale called Purl. The reason I experimented with these flavouring agents was because my friend would add things like Canadian oak chips, and other additives to give his cider depth. Well, I have been using botanicals in my wine for years, as it has always given the wine an extra note or two which I think embellishes the fruit. Being that ordering oak chips, and the like from Canada or elsewhere, seemed an extra expense that detracted from my home brewing ethos, I thought I’d use what I had growing in my garden. Mugwort is an extremely versatile herb, and just a friendly plant all round. I had to toss out the cider with wormwood as I didn’t measure my wormwood quantities precisely enough, it’s not a plant to trifle with. It’s the main herb used in flavouring Vermouth, and of course has its notoriety in the bohemian drink, absinthe. Recently, I have discovered that the baked dandelion chips I added to the gooseberry wine works a treat, so I may try that with cider. I also, dried some burdock root and added it to a blackberry wine, and have also got some decent results. Meadowsweet is another fantastic flavouring agent.

It’s good to hear from you, and that you are having some good days. Such a relief. For me, the good days are what I live for, albeit, the feeling of false promise at times. However, my good days are days when I can just about function at a reduced rate, but enough to handle minor tasks. I still have a long way to go, and feel enormously like a work in progress at the moment. Broken but not beaten. When I was in hospital, one night, I had a deep, deep dream. I was in my orchard, and for some reason mowing before the luring threat of a thunderstorm. It was a balmy evening, and the sky had that marvellous grey marbled hue that makes everything appear as if framed in a photographer’s light box. People from my past were acknowledging me, but I just waved them on their way without entering into any discourse. Anyway, when I woke up I thought that everything I had gone through was a dream. The reality of being back in the hospital was such a startling let down, I physically sank into my pillow with a groan. I can still feel the weight of that moment, it was quite intense.

So, your punch seemed to have packed a punch. Was the plum brandy homemade? I am keen to start making brandy this year but have in mind, blueberry brandy. I have this winter, racked twenty bottles of wine. I hope to do another twenty over the summer with all that spring and summer brings. I’ve had three quite awful days, the thing is, much of the obstacle is getting past the lack of confidence, irrational fear, dispirited mood, and anxiety. Once these are in check, recovery then can be approached earnestly, otherwise, it’s a mess. It reminds me of part of one of Baudelaire’s poems, where he writes “One morning I got up feeling sullen, sad, disconcerted, and fatigued by idleness, with what seemed to be a desire to do some grand and radiant deed! And then I opened my window, alas!” - The Bad Glazier.

On these off days, I can barely function. To be honest, the brewing keeps me going. It’s a process that needs to be tended and has its timing. I have two crab apple trees in the orchard, have you ever done anything with crab apples? Mostly, I feed them to the pigs but even then, they are not that enthralled with the votive.

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