It was Kayleigh and Lucy's wedding anniversary on Saturday, so I've been on cat and tortoise watching duty while they've had a weekend away at a fancy spa hotel. They're back today though, so the last cat visit will be this morning.

They've also decided to get two new kittens. I suspected they'd get another cat after losing Aeriel, but not this soon and certainly not two of them. Thankfully, they're not arriving until the end of the month, so my pet sitting duties have been pretty simple.

James starts his annual leave today, so between that and his usual days off he's not back at work for a fortnight. We can't afford to go away this year, but will be having day trips out on some of the days.

Over the weekend, we saw How to Train Your Dragon, which I enjoyed. Went for walks at the country park, the beach, and yesterday, Beamish again. Though, yet again the place was really busy, so once we'd done our walk we just left, going against the tide as many many more people were queuing to get in. Even the staff were surprised how busy it was, but I guess between it being a lovely sunny day and Father's Day, people just wanted to go somewhere nice.

Pauline invited us to tea, so we'll be going there later. First though, it's class this morning, the first one for a fortnight. As it's getting warm already, I suspect I'll be scooping my sweaty self off the floor once it's finished. Then, after class finishes, we both have a check in and weigh on Rosie's fancy scales. It's unofficial as we've both technically graduated the programme, but it'll be nice to see where we're at and have a talk.

I mentioned we had a beach walk, well, it was a cold, foggy day that day, but that meant the dolphins came into Roker bay. I stood watching them for ages, there was such a big pod, and they only left when word must have got out and lots of boats came into the bay. ( a couple of photos )

1) how the hell is it Friday?
2) this has not been a great Friday

Things to look forward to:
a) the forecast is now clear of rain on Sunday so I should be able to take myself over to the H-Mart
b) new ep of Art Detectives drops on Acorn on Monday
c) last Quantum Bang stories get posted over the weekend

Art Detectives is a somewhat typical British police procedural, except there are very high levels of nerdiness with the DI. There were points in ep 2 where I thought he might've totally forgotten about the murder. He didn't but yeah, historical nerdiness. It's quite fun. Although, as it seems with most British mystery series, the DI has a (somewhat) criminal father - as opposed to a long-missing wife, which appears to be the other trope.

I Zoomed with conference!roomie on Sunday. We have future plans to go out to Hanford in a couple of years, once they've finished working on the B Reactor. Assuming, of course, there's still a national park to visit.

Late yesterday afternoon, my psych messaged to ask to reschedule our appointment to today. And the only times she had available were, gosh darn, during the department end of the semester get together. Due to budget cuts, it was bring your own lunch and they'd bring games. I was very glad to have a legit excuse to not go.

I ordered groceries this afternoon, but apparently radishes were out of stock by the time they packed my order. So now I have these 2 turnips which I will have to find something to do with. I'll cut up and roast one of them. I'm not sure about the second one. Mashing is always an option but that doesn't sound appealing right now.

I'm currently off salad, for reasons no one probably wants to hear about, so I'm in search of non-starchy vegetables to have instead. Hence the turnips (and someday the radishes). It's a really big pita because the starchy ones are so good. And salad made it really easy to get servings of veggies and fruit in one easy to eat package. *sigh*

It was a nicely productive day on Thursday.

Started with an early trip to the tip to get rid of a huge bag of garden waste and a couple of bulky but broken electrical items, so it was good to do that bit of decluttering. Plus, the tip shop was closed for a delivery so no chance of buying more stuff to fill those new gaps*g*

From there we called in to see my in laws for a bit, then it was onto the hospital as James had a physio appointment. Unfortunately, his appointment was for 11am, which is a horrible time in terms of parking, and we had to circle the whole site for nearly 30 minutes before a lovely lady pointed to a free space in one of the car parks we'd already gone through three times.

Each time he goes to physio, I expect James to be discharged, but nope again. While his elbow break has healed beautifully, he's lost muscle in his shoulder and still can't bring his hand to his mouth without propping his arm on a surface, or bringing his mouth down to his hand. So, more exercises to do at home, and he's back in a month, and will apparently need to keep going until that muscle is back.

Left the hospital and headed into town as I had an eye exam booked for 12:30. I only wear my glasses when reading books, but had noticed recently things were getting a bit fuzzier reading without them, so figured I should go for a check-up.

Turns out my right eye has got worse, but the other is still the same. So, new reading glasses for me. But what you don't want while sitting with the optometrist is for her to say, 'well, this is rare and don't worry, but….' Turns out I have a very narrow drainage channel around the iris of my right eye, while increases the risk of Angle closure glaucoma. Everything is fine pressure wise right now, but she gave me a leaflet about symptoms, saying if I get any of those to go straight to the eye infirmary, and I'm now on annual eye checks, which I guess is a good thing.

Rosie finally sent the change of day survey, but along with those came some suggestions to express interest in other options, which sound great if they happen. Included in that, actual cooking demos, well-being walks and various other exercise options. I ticked an interest in all except for badminton, which just sounds like a disaster in the making for me if I tried it.

Then she emailed again yesterday to say the class Monday coming is also cancelled as she's off on annual leave. Which is a shame after also being cancelled this last Monday. But, it can't be helped and as she's getting married later this year, I suspect this is the time Rosie's booked for her hen do.

Yesterday was forecast for heavy rain showers all day, so we decided to go to the cinema. Saw The Salt Path on a 11am morning showing, and really enjoyed it. Left Odeon and went to Subway for dinner, then checked the cinema listings again and saw a screening of Karate Kid -- Legends, was about to start, so went to see that too. The film hasn't been getting good reviews, but I actually liked it, even more so as a load of young teen boys were watching too, and they all started applauding at the end, which made me smile. I also saw the full trailer for the new Downton Abbey film, and I'm looking forward to seeing that later in the year.

Today we've driven to a jumble sale as Cat Lady Kay from Consett Cats had a fund-raising table there, and we wanted to support her. I only bought a book, but left a donation, so it was worth the drive.

This afternoon I intend to catch up here, and feed the tomato plants. Then, more binge-watching of Mobland later. What a show that is, it's got me gripped.

I am home! Where I apparently left the kitchen light on when I left 2 1/2 weeks ago.

I usually unpack right away but I am so not there. I went through the mail, emptied my backpack as it had the laptop and all the cords and cables as well as some food, and took a shower. I've had something to eat and am contemplating a grocery order for tomorrow. Although I do need to go out and pickup prescriptions at two different pharmacies; the curse of ADHD meds still not being consistently stocked. hmmm.... it's looking very wet and humid tomorrow. Maybe just the one pharmacy which has terrible hours and will only hold my prescription until Monday; also the closest one.

I should be boarding my flight home right now. But I got sick yesterday. Throwing up, etc. That was fun times. At least I'm visiting the parents and not stuck in some hotel room. I got my flight changed to Friday. I'm feeling ok today, though very tired. And my face hurts because I missed about five doses of various allergy meds yesterday. I should have at least taken the nasal sprays, but I felt so awful it didn't really occur to me.

I'm short on some of my medications, but I'll just have to live without a couple of things. I was able to order overnight delivery of one of my allergy meds and an OTC version of one of my prescription meds, albeit in twice the strength I usually take it but it'll be fine for a couple of days. It's one I don't want to miss as missing a dose almost immediately causes my chronic cough to return; not great for traveling! I parsed through what I've got this morning and made some decisions about what to take on the days I have left. At least it's only a couple of days and none of it is life-threatening if I miss a couple of doses. I haven't not taken my depression meds since I started taking them eons ago, so that could be interesting. I'm saving those, my ADHD med, and my bp med for Friday, my travel day.

ETA: Woot, remembered my mother has the same depression meds though a slightly lower dose!