Confessions of a Free Range Prolapsed Catholic

                                                                  On November 10th, 2018 the Chapel at St Joseph’s Lochinvar was terribly damaged by smoke after a long smouldering fire, which started […]

My best friend suffers from and lives with CRPS , Complex Regional Pain Syndrome.  An energetic, intelligent, force of nature herself, she is frequently and for extended periods of time, forced to a screaming halt by pain that comes from nowhere, inexplicable and incapacitating. At its height she cannot stand being touched where ever the […]

It had been a pretty big couple of weeks. 12 days of anticipation, one day of travel leading to, I thought one day of Sabbath! Pacing myself was going to be the answer. These couple of weeks had been preceded by a couple of months of uncertainty, anxiety, health scares for Triple L – heart […]

She came back! Poked her head around the door, impish grin through her smiling eyes behind her glasses. ” Hello!” Not radiating confidence but a definite improvement! Elegant long, black skirt. Hair with a bit of a lustre…shampoo. Still an intricately woven plait. “Can you help me with my bills?” Details aside, I said I […]

Yesterday I met a woman who had no food. She had no food because all her money is spent on food for her animals. Her hands shook, constantly, her eyes darted about as if waiting for something terrible to happen. Like a frightened child, quivering and shivering in a corner in the dark. We talked, […]

This morning I had an attack of melancholy. I checked my facebook memories and found images of my Dad that I have used on various anniversaries of his death since facebook became a communication tool for me. Twenty years ago, in the afternoon I went to visit him after work. He had pneumonia. He was […]

Four a.m wakes me again. I have a head cold and a tickly throat. It’s hard to maintain one’s decorum when one cannot breath through one’s nose! Awake for more than an hour now. The song from the musical Calamity Jane ricochets around my head! Waking up to snippets of music is not at all […]

I turned 67 on August 1st. I received a message from the only older sibling I have left, reminding me that 72+ is the goal. Neither of my deceased older brothers made it to 72.  This presents a bit of a strange novelty to us because in the generation before us, most of them lived […]

It’s 3.36am on Mothers’ Day and I am sitting up in my pjs having just made a cup of coffee. The dog is snoring away in his bed swathed in the multicoloured blanket I knitted for him. The windows rattle a bit as the wind  gives them an arctic blast and I am just about […]

My recent acquisition of a new hip reminded me of earlier experiences I have had , comparatively recently as I have acquired new body parts, firstly my trust pacemaker, secondly my new knees. I don’t do hospitals well. The beds don’t fit, the painkillers stuff up my bowels, the ever present noise and eternal lighting […]