Unasked

With a changed perspective, everything looks different.

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The wild carrots made interesting outlines against an early sky.

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On Thursday, the first of a series of appointments after a blessedly long period with none.

A steroid injection in the hip was a very minor thing, but lying prone on a hard, flat surface is somewhat uncomfortable for someone with my defects and because I was concentrating on them, I never even considered a more recent problem that I should have mentioned.

As the nurse lifted my left arm to strap on a blood pressure cuff, stabbing pain shot into my shoulder and down my arm to the elbow. I gasped, but not emphatically enough as the nurse continued to manipulate the arm. I’d been thinking that perhaps the recently diagnosed capsulitis had healed and wondered if upcoming therapy sessions were really necessary.

At least I got the answer. Fortunately, the pain soon subsided.

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Having learned that yarrow is good for digestive issues, I decided there was nothing to lose by trying it, so Grant made me an infusion from flowers and leaves, then retired for the night, but apparently he was anxious that it might have had an adverse effect, since he popped up again not long after to see if I was alright! I was, of course.

While I wouldn’t say I was keen on the taste, it wasn’t dreadful and this morning I tried a chilled version which was easier and perhaps it did soothe the fire in my stomach.

It is surely better to find natural cures for what ails us, no?

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Wednesday afternoon was so fine, we had to go for a quick spin.

After the recent heatwave and wildfire smoke, it was particularly enjoyable to breathe fresh air and feel warmth in the Sun as opposed to oppressive heat.

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We meandered south with no destination in mind.

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Considering last year’s disastrously dry summer, it was good to see such radiant green fields.

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As we drove along, I saw two different sorts of pretty purple wildflowers in the fields but alas there were always inaccessible so I had to settle for those that grew along the road’s edge.

Also very pretty. I love wildflowers.

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It has been pointed out, quite rightly, I think, that much of our scenery resembles the county of Wiltshire in England, where my mother was born and grew up.

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Wiltshire is the county that has recorded the most crop circles – 380 since 2005. I actually saw one there once.

Perhaps they are out of fashion, as it’s been some time since I heard reports of any.

As a very young woman, Mum left her tiny village and went up to London.

It was always up to London and down to Urchfont.

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Urchfont was once named the best kept village in England and it has been considered one of the prettiest. My mother’s family remained there until my grandmother died, after which my aunt and uncle (siblings) moved to Devizes some miles away, where my aunt was a nurse.

After I was sent to live in America, I did not go back to Urchfont for decades and when I was taken there very briefly by a friend, I barely recognised it.

The cottage where we visited when I was a child had long since been demolished and even the house that the family subsequently moved into had gone.

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But the inn, dating in part to the 15th century, and the 13th century church are still there.

And somewhere there generations of my maternal family are buried.

How I would enjoy wandering through that village now, if I was able. It’s funny how differently we feel about this sort of thing with age and the benefit of hindsight.

Or perhaps it’s that the mind is no longer cluttered with day-to-day busyness that is so distracting. As a young woman, it is not that I wasn’t interested in the past, it was simply that I did not have time or the brain space to consider it.

How many questions would I have posed to my parents and grandparents!

But they remain forever unasked and unanswered.

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