2021

Hello dear reader 🙂

I wish you a positive and healthy 2021.

Below, is an update. I tried keeping it brief.

I hadn’t meant to be away for so long. When living with chronic poor health you have to prioritise with far fewer things as energy and ability allow.

I had the assault to sort out, a book to write, dogs to take to-and-fro the vet and I slept a lot. I wasn’t in the right state of mind to blog either.

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Talk of the assault follows/you may wish to skip…

I found it incredibly difficult talking about – and dealing with the aftermath of – the assault that happened end of July last year, which resulted in a poor, disappointing outcome. I feel let down by the police and the powers that be since my attacker wasn’t prosecuted nor punished – despite the mental and physical trauma (the thumb of my dominant hand still broken, six months on), the lengthy statement I gave and visits to the doctor and hospital for x-ray scans. The attack was taken too lightly; I was called paranoid when I mentioned the connection between an abusive family member and the attacker who are friends. Next time I will know that I won’t be protected by the law.

It is insane when one has to watch their back from close-blood-family. I continue to keep my physical distance and whenever the aforementioned abusive family member attempts to connect in any manner, she receives the Stone Treatment. Well, I found out it’s officially called that, but all I have in mind is to keep silent watch over her – a kind of emotionally distanced wariness that entails keeping her in check – whenever our paths must cross. There are no normal affectionate words from me. There is no space for relationship-building discussions when one is being continually abused by that person. That person does not have your best interests at heart. They want power over you. They want to use and exploit you for their own sick twisted end. I’m aware of her now and again complaining to our mother that I don’t want a relationship with her. How insane!

End of talk about assault…

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And so, in my heightened anxiety and anger, I withdrew inside my writing world. I had a crazy deadline to meet – self-imposed, just to see if it was possible to complete a book of short stories relating to my favourite animal and genre before Halloween.

Outside the cocoon, the yap of the China virus, the reminder to be utmost careful, yet people are still approaching you TOO NEAR, and people are holidaying here like it’s the end of the world.

John and I took my little dog, Twiglet, to the vet. I realised to my horror that both testicles hadn’t descended – just the one – which carries a high risk of cancer. I love my dogs too much and I couldn’t put Twiglet through that. Thank goodness the operation went well. The only drawback is, he’s putting on weight too easily. Poor little dog got immensely hungry after the op and turned into a wider twiglet shape – that was straining the very definition of the word twiglet. The weight is, fortunately, back down now.

Here, a recent photo of Twiglet:

It was at the vet’s, on two occasions that people – other animal parents – got too uncomfortably close. Whenever I have to go out I respectfully try to keep a distance. I haven’t a great immune system, so it’s for myself and them. An elderly lady, seemingly in good health, noticed my hesitation at passing her by at close quarters whilst we admired the flowers at a gardening centre. She said it was alright for me to pass by if I didn’t mind. We’re aware of the infection, and by that I mean we’re all aware: just that some aren’t taking it seriously. It seems it’s fatal for some certain people (80s+, chronically ill, people with obesity, people of colour?) and mild for others. I much prefer to physically distance myself from others than to wear a cotton facemask. I have asthma and it makes it even harder to breathe – thus, in my country, people with asthma are exempt from having to wear one. The facemasks aren’t 100% at keeping the virus at bay. But I do ‘suffer’ wearing one when seeing the doctor, out of respect for him/her.

I think the best anyone can do is to strengthen their immune system (vitamin C – ascorbate acid, 1 level teaspoon; vitamin D in countries where there isn’t much sunlight; zinc; adequate protein – women need to watch out due to losing blood with menstruation; daily walks outside; reducing stress; keeping body weight to normal levels). And minimise physical contact with others. When the vaccines are working we will not have to worry too much.

I took some photos with my new Canon PowerShot:

Usually I did photo-taking with my Kindle Fire but the camera quality worsened since the last time resulting in blurry photographs. I yearn for a DSLR to take macro-photography of insects and flowers, but could only stretch to a Canon PowerShot SX 730 HS. It has a stupendous erection(!) zoom resulting in brilliant photos of the moon (scroll down to see).

We bought some robin food when online shopping for the dogs’ meds for the year. I then realised we hadn’t a place safe enough to offer it up to the small birds (they need Safe Spaces too). So we then got an inexpensive but well-built, wood-built bird table, sent all the way from Poland. I lightly sanded, acrylic painted and varnished it. It hangs in the same tree as the bird house.

The very same morning I hung up the table we had two visiting robins! You cannot imagine how happy that made me.

Below are some more photos from my garden:

Hibernating hydrangea:

Rosehips:

And with an ‘effect’:

The plants are sleeping in the garden, though some are awakening. They look messy. While *others ‘didn’t get the memo’. It’s too cold to garden yet.

*Morning Glory:

A close up:

Here’s a photo of the succulents on the bathroom window sill. Complete with spider-web (I don’t have the heart to evict the spider):

And my bedroom cyclamen. The poor thing has grown into a straggly mess, in search of more daylight:

And a close up:

For those who are wanting to lose weight, I recommend 24-hour fasting. It really works! I’ve been fasting ever since reading Doctor Jason Fung‘s book The Obesity Code: the bestselling guide to unlocking the secrets of weight loss for five months now.

I fasted in my early twenties but was afraid it wasn’t healthy. If fasting is done correctly, it is indeed healthy. I find it much better than severely cutting back calories. I now aim for 1500 calories a day with more protein than carbs.

Here is that beautiful photo of the moon I took:

Christmas was quiet, nice enough. I was grateful for the festive food (I cooked salmon in our airfryer since the conventional gas oven is broken), the gifts, the company of each other, the animals, and a warm house.

I handmade Christmas cards for John’s and my mothers:

and:

Did I finish my book deadline for Halloween? If I had kept a certain story short, I believe I would have finished all the short stories on time. Instead, this particular short story, DOG BUSH, grew and grew into a novella. So, it’s a compilation of nine short stories and one novella. About 40,000 words so far. DOGGED should be out by this October.

Here are some January 2021 primroses for you:

.Take good care of You. xo

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Copyright Faith McCord 2021

Story and artwork belongs to Faith McCord who is the author and artist holding the copyright. This is not a public domain work. Worldwide rights.

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