Here are my answers to  Cee’s Share Your World 31 July 2017

If you had to have your vision corrected would you rather: glasses or contacts? Or what do you use if you need to have your vision corrected?

I had excellent vision until my early 40s and then strange things seemed to happen.   A child at school would show me her work and I would get irritated because she put it right in front of my face and I would pull back in order to read it. They all started this and I realised it wasn’t them it was me.  I was becoming long sighted!  So I bought a pair of those glasses you get from pharmacies and used them for reading only.  But after a few years I realised that I needed a proper eye test.  “My eyes are fine,” I told the optometrist ” I just need reading glasses.”  But she showed me that I actually needed ‘varifocals’ because I could not see properly at all!  My ego was deflated but once I got the varifocals it changed my life!  I did not have to take my specs on and off and I could see properly all the time.  I loved my specs.  I have no desire to wear contact lenses. Spectacles rock!

Difficult question – I will have to say – BOTH.  When I was a kid I adored cats but my mother wasn’t so keen on them – however, she allowed me to have a cat until I developed an allergy to them – my eyes streamed and my nose ran.   We always had dogs and I loved my dogs.  Later in life I had both and I tended not to react to my own cats.   My favourite dog ever was a black cross spaniel type dog that was my constant companion and went running with me every day.  I just had to mention the word ‘takkies’ (sneakers) and the would bark and wag her tail in excitement.  When she became old I had to stop her running with me but still her tail would wag and she looked so sad when I refused to let her come with me.   It was so sad to have to let her go when her kidneys failed.

We had one more dog after that and then settled for cats.   The cats, Shadow and Mia, are still with my daughter and she has adopted another but now that we’re retired and travel often, we don’t keep pets.  We just keep dog biscuits for the ones who visit.

Mia and Shadow

If you were to buy a new house/apartment what is the top three items on your wish list?

This not going to happen ever again.  I lived in my last home for 30 years.   Our current home was our holiday house and we’re getting it into shape to suit our final years.   I’ve written posts about this from time to time.  Right now we’re working on the garden.   But to answer the question – Kitchen with accessible cupboards for my old age – drawers come to mind!   Plenty of cupboard space.   Pretty garden.

What inspired you this past week?  Feel free to use a quote, a photo, a story, or even a combination. 

Willie inspired me this week.  He has some great ideas about what we should do with our garden. He’d already helped with some of it but more needs to be done! We had a long chat, looked at some pictures on the internet and planned what we would do in a ‘dead’ part of the back garden as well as what we do in the front.  Today we went shopping for paving, pots and stone and also had a truck load of soil delivered.  Soon the landscaping and further designing of the garden will begin!

Our Garden before we started the revamp

Part of the front garden where Willie designed and planted our rockery.

The other half of the back garden where the Milkwood has been tamed.