Berries, stitching, hobbling

Berry picking is good physiotherapy - it requires a lot of balance and coordination. It's also really delicious. I got an entire bowl full today, and a large mixing bowl the other day. There are still plenty more on the bush in the garden, but they aren't really to be picked yet. My mum and I are going to try to make jam with them this week. Fingers crossed for glorious, delicious raspberry jam!

 Fingers stained reddish purple.

 

On another note, I finished another (albeit far smaller) cross stitch project last week. The frame is to big, so I need to get a smaller one, but I really wanted to see how it looked framed. I also still need to press it so it lies completely flat - ironing alone didn't do the trick. Nonetheless, I love it! For those interested, it is the Seashore Sample by Madeleine Floyd and took approximately fifty hours to stitch.

I'm now onto the final cross stitch project that I wanted to complete before school begins in September and a return to normal life. I'm craving that return. I feel like I've been shut up in this house for ages. The loneliness and isolation have by far been the most difficult part of this entire fiasco. That, and wondering if I will ever recover and return to normal. I'm starting to get a bit desperate; having school to look forward to is immensely important. It's like this one thing I've been cloning to for months and months, no matter how horrible I felt, discouraged I was, or the news I got from my doctors/surgeon. And now it's almost within grasp, just a little longer. The butterfly project will help me get there. If taking a year out of my life for health issues was good for anything, it was making a dent in my pile of cross stitch projects. Several big ones and a many smaller ones are now complete - my place is going to look so lovely when I move out.

Speaking of school and a return to normal, my walking is improving every day. I wouldn't say I can really walk without my cane yet - it's more a hobble than anything else. Yeah, that's right, I'm a hobbler. But things are going really well with the cane. On Thursday I walked for half an hour. Thirty whole minutes. And I'm not exaggerating that either or rounding up to make it sound better. I timed myself, so I know that I actually walked thirty minutes. The goal physio has set for me is and hour, so I'm well on my way.

On a final note, I decorated my cane. It just looked so drab. Drab, sad... Not as drab as my crutches looked, but not nice either. Also, it seems like a good number of people in this city all own the exact same kind of cane. I don;t know how many times now I have been out and caught myself thinking "Hey, that guy has the same can as me!" I thought it would be nice to make mine look a bit different. Plus I'm young. Young people shouldn't need canes, and if they do they should be hip and fun. It's amazing what a difference a bit of ribbon and tape can do!