Jackie is not one to spend a day in bed through illness. Her cold has now developed into a severe chest infection. This morning the productive cough continued and she had a throbbing headache – itself a rarity.
It was clear to me that a home visit was required. Once through the system I managed to convince receptive others of that. A quick phone call from a GP resulted in a speedy visit from two paramedics attached to the surgery; a thorough examination by them; an immediate phone call back to the GP; a prescription sent directly to the Milford Pharmacy for antibiotics and steroids which Elizabeth collected for us within a couple of hours, bringing with them a bunch of flowers.
Jackie was able to come down to sit in her chair for the afternoon. She even went to sleep in it – a first.
I did find time for a quick dash around the garden with my camera, where
the copper beech
and the Japanese maples are fast shedding leaves;
rose hips, especially if I haven’t been able to reach them for dead heading, add their own seasonal colour;
shadows stretch across surfaces like that of the orange shed;
primroses have forgotten the month;
the winter flowering clematis Cirrhosa Freckles is well aware that we are in December;
and this viburnum is not sure.
Our blackbirds are tucking into the crab apples. This one enjoyed pecking at the fruit beneath the leaf at its feet until it saw me and sneaked off into the shrubbery with it.
This evening we dined on my sausages in red wine, with cauliflower, broccoli, carrots, and boiled potatoes chopped by Flo with which I drank Mendoza Malbec 2020, Dillon and Flo drank elderflower cordial, and Jackie abstained.