Deathly Cramps

By 11:00 yesterday, the sun came out. The predicted wind and rain storm failed to arrive and so Her Highness and I enjoyed a lovely early morning walk in mild weather through the trails of the 707. Although the sunshine had not yet arrived, the cloud layer overnight kept the forest warm.

When we got home a decided to try to make something to take to Eoin and François’ place as a hostess gift. They make extraordinary appetizers, so I was not going to make some. Instead, I decided to temper some chocolate and make some marshmallow filled chocolates. But I was certain that I’d screwed up. I need a new thermometer because the one I have was not working. It was giving me four-digit readings, so I’ll be going on Amazon later today. But when I popped the chocolate marshmallows out of the mold, they looked okay. I was stunned.

Once lunch was served to all, Her Highness and I went to Elder Cedar to walk. My plan was to leave Sheba home while I was out for dinner, so I wanted the two walks and late in the afternoon we went to Rollo Park to play fetch. When we got to Elder Cedar, she was very keen to walk. She roared ahead of me and then ran back to me with sheer glee in her face; I’ve never seen her do that before. It was a very lovely walk.

Once back home, I travelled with Graham Green’s aunt while Her Highness recovered from our walks. I’m really enjoying the book. And I was very disciplined all day about my diet. I did, however, lick the spatula when I was making the chocolate, and I had a taste of the marshmallow to ensure that I’d not put in too much vanilla. 

I made chocolate leaves to top each of the chocolate marshmallows that I made. I have always had success with making chocolate leaves in the past, but not yesterday, and I have no idea why. It took three tries of painting Salal leaves, cooling them in the fridge, and then carefully peeling the chocolate layer off the leaves before I had a leaf for all five chocolates.

At 15:00, we went to Rollo Park to play fetch. I wore her out and then we came home, and I had a spa while she had a huge drink and then curled up to sleep. Soon thereafter, I fed everyone their dinner and then I left for Eoin and François’ place to have dinner. I was very keen for their food. We had homemade pizza, and it was absolutely delicious. Plus, we had butternut squash soup that was pure perfection. What cools E&F are! And their friends, Connie and Kyle, were lovely people and fun to chat with. It was a wonderful night, but it ended badly.

I came home and went to bed. It was 22:00 and after less than a couple of minutes in bed, I was up on my feet trying to stop my left leg from cramping. It’s like a switch is thrown and my leg severely cramps up in both the thigh, and calf, plus my foot twists outward and it’s very painful.

Standing up and walking and shaking my legs didn’t stop the cramping, but it seemed less painful, so I got back into bed, and both legs cramped up, so I was getting into bed and then getting up to walk and shake every two minutes, and then my arms started cramping as well. It was one Hell of a night of vicious pain, and it went on until 1:20. That’s the last time I looked at my watch. By then I’d had 3.5 hours of constant pain, so I took and Ativan, and sleep eventually overcame me. And thank God!

Today began early. I was up at 6:00 (thanks to the Ativan, I got an extra hour of sleeping), and we left here at 7:40 to go to Gabriola Automotive to have my tires torqued. And then we went shopping, after which I took Her Highness walking in the very wet 707 Park. When I finally got home, I was very happy to be warm and dry because it’s very windy and it’s raining heavily. We’re in full storm mode

The rest of the day is going to be sweet. I shall be reading and preparing materials for tomorrow with Aidan who’s coming for lunch. I’m going to make laksa and my Asian salad for him. I just happen to love both dishes. But mostly, I’ll be reading. We’ll walk in the forest if, and when, the rain stops. Tonight, it’ll be wonderful to be cozy and warm while I watch a movie. I just hope we don’t have a power failure.

I took my first selfie during the sunny break yesterday.

And this photo was quite an accomplishment. I lodged
my camera in a tree and was able to activate the shutter
using my watch. This is a fabulous way to take photos.

Above and below: two trees at the medical centre in
full Autumnal glory.

Memories of this past summer with Jay (in his hat) and Eoin,
François and Steve, who took the photo. I'm still terribly sad
about Jay's passing and I miss him every day.