BUSY, BUSY, BUSY

PHEW....what a busy day. The sun has shone beautifully since first light but unusually for us we haven't been out in it at all! There's just not been the time!
Mick woke up with no problems this morning and after breakfast I gave him a bit of a bed bath and a shave. Got to have him clean and fresh for his Birthday weekend visitors. This all took quite a while and I also changed a few of the cushion dressings that help protect him from pressure sores. The most awkward one is the one on his chest; where his left arm clenches in so tightly. That little sticky out wrist bone bit (Pisiform to the medically educated) stands really proud and digs right into his chest just to the side of his left nipple. The sore area is quite open and I keep both that and the bone on his wrist covered to give a double cushion protection. Of course in order for me to take off the old dressing and put on a new one I have to really pull his arm away from his chest. This causes him a lot of pain....he really winces....but I talk to him the whole time...telling him how brave he is etc....and somehow he puts up with it. Pain can be very tiring and as much as I would loved for us to go outside it was obvious that Mick really needed to rest and sleep. Which is exactly what he did do.

I had plenty of work to do in the kitchen anyway. With two sets of family visiting this weekend and roast dinners to cook both on Saturday & Sunday; any pre cooking I could get done was going to be well worth the effort. I don't want to be stuck in the kitchen for two days and some food items can easily be prepared beforehand and reheated with no detriment to their taste. That said; I spent the rest of the morning cooking cauliflower bake, carrot & swede mash, creamed leeks and prepped the parsnips. Of course I did gaze longingly out into the garden and every now and then would take a quick walk up to the back gate to............(actually to do nothing...just to enjoy the sun!). After a good lunch Mick fell back tos leep again and that gave me a chance to make the Black Cherry Upside Down Pud for dessert tomorrow...this reheats beautifully in the microwave and will go down well with some cream. Of course Sunday's veg etc will have to be done on Sunday (can't really cook that far in advance) but the Cherry Custard tart for dessert that day is already in the freezer so just needs defrosting. As you can probably guess Mick loves Black Cherries and will have no problems with having cherry desserts two days running.

If I don't get time to drop by and see you over the weekend......HAVE A GREAT ONE!