Pilates. BBQs and failure.

On Wednesday I went to Pilates for the first time. Why have I not done this before?!! It was brilliant; a bit like yoga but slightly more intense. The music was acceptable, the clientele non-threatening and the stretchy rubber band thingy rather fun. I went in with an 'I can do this' attitude and when the teacher kept asking if we could feel it in the abdomen/ intercostal muscles I really couldn't - not until the following day that is; then I struggled to sit upright in bed in the morning! This week I shall be better prepared and not quite so gung-ho about it all. I did really enjoy it though and this is one item on my 50 list that I shall definitely be keeping up.

There are no photos of the session, so here are a few that I took at the weekend. The weather was glorious again and L had just finished her term at Uni, so we had a celebratory BBQ to welcome her home.

Squirrel Nutkin on the bird table - I had just been commenting to R that we hadn't seen him in a while and then there he was, eating the left over cake.

Veggie burgers and hot dogs - R isn't the best at BBQs, so we are always rather surprised when food actually appears.

Hamish joined us by the river - he is wearing his Christmas present pink harness and thinks he looks very handsome!

Enjoying the blue sky through the eucalyptus tree

....... and the willow

..... and the camellia.

On to Monday. Remember when I tried to donate blood in February? I had to fill in a consent form to allow them to contact my GP so they could check that it was safe for me to donate with my heart murmur. Well, my GP gave us the go ahead and I went again on Monday, armed with my consent letter and completed form.

Here I am arriving

....... here I am drinking my pint of water and waiting for the finger prick test to check my haemoglobin

..... and here I am back at home having had a blood test to confirm that yes, I am slightly anaemic and they won't take blood!!!!

Cross, me? I was livid - not with the NHS staff, they were only following guidelines, just in general. That's 3 times I have been to the centre, bought a car park ticket and 3 times I have returned a failure. I think because I am veggie, I just run on a slightly lower haemoglobin level. I have no symptoms but even if I were to take iron supplements and raise my level, I couldn't donate for at least a year. So, I give up! I have tried and it seems I just can't give my A rhesus negative away. Enough.

The above photos were taken by L as I ranted and she laughed at my ranting. Note to self - apply hand cream more often to avoid the 'hands like a lizard's elbow' look.

I hope you're having a good week. Has anyone else been as unsuccessful as me in the blood donating game?