......is when something unexpected or unforeseen happens as it did during the past seven days to me. Retired in the evening feeling normal and woke up in the morning unable to put my foot or leg to the ground. It was necessary to bang on the floor for help, I wonder what I would have done if I had been alone? As each day past the pain and disability in my knee deteriorated rapidly. Luckily when I eventually got in touch with my doctor, she saw me quickly, and within two hours of the phone call I was armed with some anti-inflammatory pills. She diagnosed inflammation behind the tendon in the front area of the knee. The experience during those first few days made me appreciate just how difficult it must be to be disabled and unable to carry out the most mundane or simple tasks we do each day. It is such a relief to be back to normal thanks to my doctor and our great National Health Service.
Soon we shall be exploring sites from classical antiquity, hopefully in lovely weather, something that requires stamina and a good walking ability.
There is no blue without orange and yellow
Vincent van Gogh
In a letter to his brother Theo - Vincent once wrote "There is no blue without yellow and orange, and if you put in the blue, then you must put in the yellow and orange too, mustn't you?"
Be like the bluebird who never is blue,
For he knows from his upbringing what singing can do - Cole Porter
Once in a blue moon
Cotswold Church
Blue skies
Smiling at me
Nothing but blue skies
Do I see
Ella Fitzgerald
Blue eyes
"Now she looks pale and small, but her eyes make me think of wide open skies."
Veronica Roth, Allegiant
Local Bluebell wood
Blue and green should never be seen!!!!
Blue horizon
Cape of Good Hope, South Africa 2017
No matter how far you travel, the horizon is always far beyond your reach.
******
"When we look up, it widens our horizons. We see what a little speck we are in the universe, so insignificant, and we all take ourselves so seriously, but in the sky, there are no boundaries. No differences of caste or religion or race.
Julia Gregson, East of the Sun
I'm sorry to hear about your painful knee, but I'm happy that's it's all better now. We are so lucky to have the NHS. I love those photos and the beautiful 'blue' quotes. Blue is such a calming and relaxing colour. I know blue is used to indicate cold, but in reality it's the blue flame that burns hottest, the blue stars in the night sky are the hottest, new born stars. Blue is a beautiful colour :) Best, Jane x
ReplyDeleteI am very much a blue girl Jane - going for a colour to wear invariably turns out to be navy blue, but dressed up with various different colours.
DeleteMe too :) I find navy is so much kinder to my pale complexion than black. I have quite a few navy dresses that I wear to meetings and when I feel like dressing up I add one of my colourful scarves. Did you know that blue used to be the girls colour and pink was the boys colour? Blue was considered soft and delicate, while pink was considered masculine and strong. Interesting x
DeleteThat is scary to get disabled out of the blue, cross your fingers and don't feel blue but enjoy the blue arts around!
ReplyDeleteLuckily I do not feel blue but it was thought provoking being unable to get around properly even for a few days. Happily I am now completely back to normal.
DeleteGreat and wonderful the sky shelters us all, without any differences.
ReplyDeleteLet's enjoy all the beautiful blue around us.
Great photos.
Have a nice weekend
Warm hugs
Maria
Divagar Sobre Tudo um Pouco
Thank you Maria, and hope you have a nice weekend too.
DeleteI hope your knee is better Rosemary! Lovely blue pictures too...
ReplyDeleteLove from Titti and a rainy island
Completely better again - thank you Titti for your kind comment.
DeleteGlad they fixed you up so quickly! That must have been a scary experience for you (not to mention painful).
ReplyDeleteThank you Debra - as it happens, and luckily for me, it was very easily remedied. However, at the time and before you know what is responsible your mind tends to work overtime on other alternatives.
DeleteDear Rosemary,
ReplyDeleteHow frightening that must have been for you at first. I am so glad to hear it has been successfully diagnosed and treated so quickly. XXX
Blue has always been my favorite color. Now that I think about it, my favorite clothes are blue and my bedroom has always been blue.
Dear Catherine - As it happens I was fortunate, but until I knew what the matter was it was a little frightening not having done anything that I could recall to it in the previous days.
DeleteIt looks as if we are a pair of 'blue girls' then.
Dear Rosemary,
ReplyDeletePlease take it easy. You must be well so that you can go on your trip. Take extra medicine along, just in case. I'm so sorry that you had to go through so much anxiety and pain.
Dear Gina - thank you for your concern. I shall take the remaining inflammatory pills away with me - just in case. Better to be safe than sorry.
DeleteBeautiful blues!
ReplyDeleteYears ago I was in an accident and my left knee took the worst of it. At the time the doctor said I'd probably get arthritis in that knee. Sure enough, I feel the ache especially on cold winter days.
Poor you William - hope that it doesn't get any worse for you.
DeleteThat is a gorgeous portrait of Van Gogh; years ago my husband and I visited the museum in the Netherlands that has a huge collection of Van Gogh paintings arranged in order of when he painted them. Love him. I hope your knee is healing quickly.
ReplyDeleteYear ago I too visited the van Gogh Art Gallery in Amsterdam, but since my visit they now have a brand new contemporary gallery which would be lovely to visit sometime.
DeleteHello Rosemary, What a scare, and what a relief that they were able to treat your problem. Do take it easy, because these things really take a while to heal completely. I like your "blue" theme--such an interesting collection of quotes and images.
ReplyDeleteTake good care, --Jim
Hello Jim - thank you for your kind concern. I intend to keep the tablets going for one more day just to make sure that it has totally cleared up, it was a great relief that it did.
DeleteMy 'out of the blue' led me on to this 'blue' theme.
Thanks Jim.
I wonder where the maxim, "blue and green should never be seen" came from. Odd as they are the dominant colours in Nature. Take care of the knee!
ReplyDeleteI love blue and green Susan - what could be more lovely than those bluebells framed by new chartreuse green beech leaves.
DeleteI have always found the quote confusing - sometimes people do say 'blue and green should never be seen except with colour in between'. Either way I disagree and mother nature does too.
I am so happy that the knee was readily remedied, it is awful being immobile.
I love blue flowers, sky and sea. I am sorry that you suffered and you were terrified of what happened. It's good that you've already had these discomforts quite quickly. Greetings.
ReplyDeleteThank you Giga - I am very happy that the problem turned out to be remedied quickly and successfully.
DeleteIt seems that blue is a colour popular with many people.
I am glad to read that your knee problem is being resolved. It's startling and frightening when things like that happen out of the blue. Blue is my most favourite colour, and always has been. I remember my mother saying "Blue and green should never be seen, except in the washing machine." I do love the way they go together, though, and those bluebell woods are wonderful. Enjoy preparing for your trip!
ReplyDeleteThank you Lorrie - it was a great relief to get back to normal again. When you don't know what is wrong your mind races ahead of you with all kinds of different likelihoods.
DeleteDear Rosemary,
ReplyDeleteSorry to hear about your knee problem and glad to read that after treatment you are feeling better. Enjoyed your wonderful blue post and all the lovely photos and quotes.
Wishing you a wonderful holiday and take care.
hugs
Carolyn
Not off quite yet Carolyn - but thank you.
DeleteGlad to hear you are recovering , I too have problems with one of my knees, hope this will never happen to me ! Love this post about 'blue' starting with an Ipomea ( I think) which is one of my absolute Summer favorites !
ReplyDeleteYes, these Ipomeas are a great favourite of mine as well Jane. Some years I have better luck with them than in others. Thank you for your kind comment.
DeleteDear Rosemary, So pleased to know that you are functioning well again. Such events, 'out of the blue' hopefully happen when there is someone around to help.
ReplyDeleteLove the way you worked blue into this post. I like pink in all it's shades and have never really favoured blue, but now I will think of blue in a different way, or many different ways, as you have done.
Dear Betty - you should try a pink post, I did one once and called it 'In the Pink'.
DeleteThat would have been a shock. I've also had mystery ailments where I've went to bed fine, no hard exercise during the day or strains of any kind, then woke up with a really painful arm, leg, neck or back and no idea at all what caused it. Weird.
ReplyDeleteDear Bob, I expect it is an age related thing, but I am so grateful that it turned out to be far more readily curable than I imagined at first as it deteriorated so rapidly.
DeleteSo pleased your knee is now as it once was. Not good at all when we lose something we take for granted.
ReplyDeleteThe photos are lovely.
Thanks Margaret - sometimes I think that many of us are perhaps too complacent with regards to our health.
DeleteHow frightening. Glad to hear you are on the mend now. The blue quotes and photos are lovely. My school uniform was blue (13 years in the same school) and for years it put me off the colour. Now I wear it a lot and like it. I am sure you will enjoy your upcoming holiday.
ReplyDeleteThank you Betty and I have just noticed that you are wearing blue on your profile photo too.
DeleteI'm glad to know that you are much better. A sudden health problem is scary. Having good mobility is so precious. Many of us reading your blog can also be thankful for the NHS who come to our aid with a medical diagnosis and helpful treatment. I like all your 'blue' quotes with lovely illustrations.
ReplyDeleteI hate the way so many people malign the NHS, especially when you see programmes about the ground breaking operations that they carry out in our hospitals at the forefront of medicine and the total dedication of the doctors and nurses.
DeleteKnow exactly what you mean regarding these so sudden health/medical issues which just appear out of the blue Rosemary!
ReplyDeleteScary, and makes one suddenly realize how we can lose our mobility and independence when least expected. So glad to know you received treatment and are doing better, and that the NHS came through for you. With travel in the near future you need to be in good shape - that's why I'm being extra careful these days too!
Gorgeous images - the bluebell wood and the ocean will keep me going as I look out into the gloomy very chilly morning, along with those wonderful quotes and thoughts of blue Morning Glories climbing the porch come summertime.
Take care dear - you are in my thoughts.
Mary x
Dear Mary - when you don't know what the problem is the mind tends to work overtime especially with all of these scare stories of strange viruses and bacterias such as sepsis etc, but luckily the doctor soon had me back on the straight and narrow. I wonder what people did in the old days for inflammation such I had when these anti-inflammatory drugs were not around.
DeleteIt now feels as if we are leaving winter behind and the nights are getting so much lighter again.
Some years I am really successful with my Morning Glories and other years I am not. However, I give them a shot every year hoping for success.
Dearest Rosemary,
ReplyDeleteThat was a great theme for your blog post and I thought, oh, after that frosty picture now some blooms surprised them!
It indeed is scary, like I woke up that one morning and couldn't get off the mattress.. being almost totally paralyzed.
After all the scare it does make us realize how lucky we are each and every day for getting around. Maybe slower than we once were but still, a blessing for being able to! Lovely post with lots of thought and wishing you further good healing.
Maybe Costco in your area does sell the 95% curcuminoids: https://www.pinterest.com/pin/375980268870219122/ Both of us use it for years and it is great, without any side affects or negative impact for my kidneys.
Hugs,
Mariette
Thank you for the information Mariette - I have never been to Costco, and I am not aware of one being particularly near to here. However, when we were in Sri Lanka we did visit a plant nursery specialising in Ayurvedic healing medicines and were given a talk about the various properties of herbs and spices used in the Indian continents including turmeric and its derivative curcuminoid, they mentioned that it was excellent for inflammation. I will further investigate.
DeleteDearest Rosemary,
DeleteYou can easily obtain it from Amazon.uk: https://amzn.to/2Givyip
💙
Thanks Mariette💙
Delete💙
DeleteHow scary that must have been for you. People that live with sudden disabilities must go through some very sad stages before arriving at acceptance. Thankfully you didn’t have to do that. My very active husband has had terrible back pain since Sept. today he goes back in for another spinal shot just before we depart on a trip. I so enjoyed the verses and photos of the color blue.
ReplyDeleteI feel for your poor husband Janey - as it turned out I was very fortunate. All appears to be normal again thank goodness.
Delete