Roast stuffed pepper, minted lamb koftas, savoury couscous; mixed berry turnover and ice cream

My morning started early yet again today, when mum knocked on my door half-dressed to ask what time church was. My reply was along the lines of “not yet, go back to sleep”, which she did for about an hour before knocking again, then another half-hour, before “where are my glasses?” At that point I gave up on trying to sleep, put in my contact lenses to help look for the missing glasses, and “never mind, they’re here”. 🤦‍♂️

Mum then decided she didn’t feel well enough to go to church, and went back to sleep, because of course she did. At least I got an hour or so of quiet reading before having to get on with the day, so I suppose she did me a favour.

After that, and later on some of the stronger painkillers, she was much better and brighter, which is good in many ways but also prompts some of the saddest moments as she is suddenly aware that all is not well with her mind.

And with that in mind (heh heh), I seem to have been doing a lot of complaining recently. My life is certainly a bit sh… err, rubbish at times, but it might do me some good to write about the sunnier bits:

• One of us saying something deliberately silly, the other taking it further, and it ending with both of us leaning on the other, laughing uncontrollably.
• Watching the local wildlife. Mum may not always remember the names of the birds and butterflies, but she generally knows what they are, and what’s important about them (e.g. that the butterflies with orange bits on their wings are some of the earliest ones of the year), and enjoys telling me what they’re doing¹.
• Sitting quietly, side by side, playing games on our respective devices, occasionally glancing up to comment on something but otherwise simply coexisting in peace.
• The daily routine of exchanging hugs goodnight, sleep tight, love you…

This afternoon I persuaded mum to go out for a very brief walk; we turned back sooner than I wanted because mum’s back was hurting her, but I was actually glad we did as 20-odd yards into the return my feet went from numb to painful, and I was very glad to get home and sit down.

Dinner ended up being a bit makeshift as I seem to have run out of planned meals before I have run out of week. I got some dried flavoured couscous out of the cupboard, made it up with boiling water then spooned it into a halved (slightly wrinkled) red pepper, topped it with a slice of a somewhat hardened cheese, and put the result in the oven to bake. It wasn’t exactly genius-level cooking, but mum always enjoys roasted peppers (as do I, for that matter), and it went down pretty well.

The koftas were ready-made from Tesco, and were fine: a decent meat content (77%) and a nice minty taste.

Then we had mixed berry turnovers, from Iceland: a little light on the filling, and what there was of it was vaguely sweet and fruity but otherwise not overly flavourful, but I enjoyed mine (even with a slightly caramelised edge).

So that was today. Tomorrow I need to try to sort out my transport to Tuesday’s hospital appointment, but for now I can enjoy the last bit of the day: mum will shortly head to bed and I will head back into my book, maybe (definitely) accompanied by the rest of the hazelnut chocolate. Which is, of course, another thing to be positive about.

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1. Often despite the fact I’m sitting three foot away and can see what they’re doing just as well, but this is a list of positive things. ↩︎