Day 206

At Kirsty's baby shower.

Kirsty, whom we have known since she was about 6 years old, is having her enormous second baby the day after my birthday.  The females of the house all went to her baby shower today, a lovely Devonshire Tea with beautiful cups and saucers and delicious food which kept on coming!  Just when you thought you couldn't fit another bite, more beautiful sweet things appeared which you just couldn't resist.  I feel as though I don't want to eat again for a long time!

The bunch of women had such fun together, and so much laughter and hilarity emanated from our room that an old couple walking by looked in and asked us if we had a stand-up comedian in the room!  The old man added, as they were walking on, "Well, I thought that you had a male stripper in here!" 

Buying the presents is always such fun, the babygros/onesies are impossibly small, the colours amazingly bright, the toys so gorgeous.

A whole new little person will arrive in a month's time, with tiny little perfect toes and fingers, with little frog-limbs and a whole new personality of its own.

This morning we swam in the very cold sea, lovely gentle waves, and your body does eventually become accustomed to the temperature.  Bright sun and big fluffy clouds, and a warm wind which feels like a berg wind but of course isn't. 

I don't think I will get much drawing done in these two weeks, although I have planned to, so perhaps there will be more photographs than drawings for a while. 

The poison ivy saga continues: Tim got me the stuff recommended by an old friend, which does indeed work, but I think it basically achieves this effect by sand-papering off your skin along with any remnants of urushiol, the poison ivy ingredient to which many people are allergic. So now I have a raw and weeping area where all the bumps used to be, which I hope will heal very soon!  Good grief, I could qualify for the life of a Spartan at this rate!

This afternoon, after having to rip the fabric of my skirt from where it was stuck to my wounded leg, then finding the afflicted region glued to the seat of the car, Jess bought me some gel healing breast pads, which adhere to sore nipples and apparently work very well on poor destroyed skin of the inner thigh too!