Beard

Despite all of the sad things going on in mine and Jo's life at the moment, we are both upbeat. Hence the upbeat, semi-smile photo.

I have decided to give the old hairy face a month of growth. Jo isn't keen on facial hair but a month of growth won't hurt. Part of the reason for my sudden need to grow a beard is that most of the men I work with grown beards and shave them off with amazing regularity. Why, I don't know but one thing I can do is cultivate facial hair, so why not do as the others do.

Mind you, if they all decided to jump in a volcano I won't be following. I am an individual you know.

Seriously though.

After a long and rewarding day at work I came home, fed the animals and went to visit Jo's Dad. It was doubly rewarding because not only did I get to spend some time with a wonderful man, but I also got to race around the suburbs at night on my bike.

Dad still looks like he is not long for this world but it is testament to the fantastic care he is getting that he is actually a little bit more responsive today. To my delight I managed to get him to smile and even laugh today. Proof I believe that even though he has dementia, he still understands a lot of what is going on around him.

The highlight for me was kissing him on the head as I left, telling him I love him and hearing him mumble "I love you" back. That was unexpected and made my day.

I came home, Jo was doing an afternoon's work at a local vet surgery, so I made dinner with what was at hand: frozen veg, packet mash potato, packet shepherds pie mix. None of it had meat in it so I made a vego shepherds pie. It was very tasty. Here's to improvising with food.