Baking with Ella

Norman wakes me at half past five and I let him out into the garden, it is cold dark and wet outside, he soon returns and we go back to our respective beds. After ten minutes he whimpers again and when I put on the bedside lamp, he is sitting by my bed with his paw up. This is most unusual, I can't see anything unduly wrong with him, but he persists and I do the wrong thing and put a travelling rug on the end of my bed and let him sleep there until breakfast. In dog years he is ninety, so I tend to cut the old boy some slack. Eventually we get up about seven thirty and he watches me while I make tea, toast and fry the kipper I bought yesterday evening. It is unsmoked and the full Monty, head, tail, bones and eyes. I like the smell of kippers, but not all day and not all through the house, so I close the kitchen door and open the window. Once it is deboned and the head and tail trimmed off, it tastes wonderful, I put a little in Norman's dish, but he is unsure about it until I break off a piece of fish and feed him by hand, then he becomes a convert to kippers. After breakfast I phone Leslie's daughter, Margaret, to express my concerns about her dad, she has also noticed some changes since the suspected TIA, we agree to keep an eye on him and stay in touch. She is visiting him tomorrow and I on Sunday. Liz, the care worker, is taking him to Waitrose shopping this morning. We collect the terriers from Cherry Burton and park down Newbald Road again, the forecast said it would be much colder today, but so far it isn't, the wind has swung to the North, although it isn't very strong. We make our way through the woods and Teddy chases a squirrel up an English elm, and looks bemused when it runs straight up the trunk, as if to say, "how the hell did you do that?" I take his photo, but he runs off as I snap him and I am left with a nice picture of the tree amidst its autumn foliage. I keep my wits about me today and gather Dolly back to the lead at Black Mill, before walking across the common to Burton Bushes. We pause for a while on Brandon Barker's bench, enjoying the presence of the large ash and elm trees before continuing on our way. There are no after effects from yesterday's run and my legs and joints are moving freely today. On my way down the hill to the car I take another snap of the Westwood, looking East, with Beverley Minster and Saint Mary's church in the distance. Any town in England would be blessed with either of these gothic architectural treasures. We drop off the dogs and arrive home for a quarter to one, the kipper has made us both thirsty, Normy drinks a whole bowl of water and I make a pot of tea and put together a smoked cheese and salad sandwich on whole meal bread. After lunch, I clean my boots and the moccasins that I usually wear with my jeans and then read the Guardian until it is time for my swim. The last of the schoolchildren are just leaving as I slip into an empty lane at around a quarter to three. I warm up with 4 x 100m mixed medley swims. Going up the length, I alternate two strokes butterfly with two strokes breaststroke and on the return length, four strokes backstroke with three strokes freestyle. It provides a one hundred percent, total body workout. I follow this with 4 x 200m in each of the four strokes, though the butterfly is broken into four fifty metre repeats. By now my heart, lungs and muscles are all fully primed, so swim 4 x 200m individual medley and then warm down with an easy 4 x 100m set of IM's. I feel on top form again, just sbout back back to normal fitness. The pool is filling up with kids and their mums and dads, ready for swimming lessons, as I take my shower. Once dressed, I keep my flip flops on, and change into my shoes and socks in the cafe, as the changing rooms are packed, and you are not allowed to wear outdoor shoes in there, except for a small area by the door with benches for changing. I order a tea and then on my way back to Tickton, collect a baguette to accompany the salad Nicoise that I am making for dinner. I took a yellow fin, tuna steak out of the freezer and left it to defrost before driving to the leisure centre. In the supermarket car park it is decidedly colder, the strength of the North wind has increased considerably. Back home Norman waits eagerly for his dinner, and my first job is to open a tin of dog food for him. Mindful of the cold, I pop a heavy fleece over my sweater and then walk him down to the bridge. It is dark as we make our way back down Green Lane, families are arriving home from work and there is a happy buzz, as they anticipate the weekend. Indoors I prepare my meal, it only takes as long as the tuna takes to fry, I turn it whilst knocking together the salad and slicing and buttering the baguette. Norman begs in vain, the steak is very tasty but not big enough to share. After dinner I make a coffee and then phone Liz, Leslie's care worker and more or less repeat the conversation I had with his daughter this morning. Liz confirms that she had taken him to Waitrose this morning and that the trip went without any problems, although she noticed he was becoming very single minded, almost obsessive, about certain things. Hopefully with everyone alert for problems and looking out for him, he may get back to how he was before the probable TIA. I Put a load of shirts and socks into the washer and then read my book for half an hour and then decide to bake as I am out of my oatmeal biscuits. While I am at it I knock out a plum pie with some "ripen at home" Victorias that I bought during the week, it only takes an hour from start to finished product. Pleasant work, particularly with Ella Fitzgerald for company. To bed around eleven.