Tag Archives: sleep

RDP Sunday: Sleep

Posted in Ragtag Daily Prompt by
I could call this photo “Find the Cat” but if you look carefully you will find our Fluffy sleeping amongst Mr. Swiss practice drum set. It seems that cats do not hear what they do not want to hear. A drum set is not exactly the ideal place for a sleep, but if you are a feline you take over.

Otherwise yesterday night was my favourite night of the year. Since Spring something was missing in my life, and yesterday night I found it again. Yes, the missing hour arrived. Imagine in the morning the alarm sounding at 7.30 a.m. and then I realised it was actually 8.30 a.m., my hour had returned. This continued throughout the morning and after ironing my washing I realised I should hurry to get dinner cooked. No way, I had not yet altered the time on the oven and micro wave. I thought that cannot be that I only have a few minutes to begin cooking, but when checking on my automatic timing machines which seem to be steered by some sort of satellite, I realised that I had gained an hour – again. This was perfect, what a wonderful day.

We should really change the clocks monthly, perhaps even weekly. Think of all the hours of sleep we would gain,

RDP Sunday: Sleep

Daily Prompt: Two Right Feet – or left

Posted in challenge by

What are the things you need to do within 30 minutes of waking up to ensure your day gets off on the right foot? What happened the last time you didn’t do one of these things?

Horseride path castle Waldegg

The things that this enterprise want to know. This is not me on my horse taking a morning gallop after waking. It is someone on the local path to the castle. I found it a good subject and took the photo from the car window whilst we were driving home from shopping, although this is not what everyone wants to know. You all want to know what I do when I awake from my sleep. I have two waking ups per day. The major wake up is the morning, life re-visited, and the minor wake up is at the beginning of the afternoon, which is a recovery sleep from the morning.

The major wake-up takes place in the early morning hours, although it has been known to happen in the middle of the night when nature calls. It is a regular routine generally. As you get older you no longer take chances.

1. You realise you have survived at least you think you have. The sun has not yet risen, but your inner self tells you that it might. I stretch out my hand, left hand, to the iPhone parked on my bedside table and hide it beneath the bed clothes. I do not want to blind everyone with the rays of illuminated numbers. What is the time? 04.30? Oh shock! I might attempt to visit a certain place for a natural biological necessity. There might be the noise of a cat meowing in a distant room which I ignore. That is her problem. I turn and give it another try. If I am successful I fall again into oblivion. If I am unsuccessful I fall into oblivion, but a different oblivion. Who cares? It is not yet my time.

2. I hear movement around me meaning that others are in the world of the living and I decide I should perhaps join them, so I think about it. I make a second check on my iPhone and feel reassured when the time is not yet past 7.30, knowing that I can remain in the horizontal position. My day actually never gets off on the right foot because my feet do not want to be placed on the floor, they resist, they prefer resting between the covers. Eventually I cannot postpone the dreaded moment and sit on the bed ensuring that everything on my body is in place. I might feel a twitch, an ache or a pain but this is OK. I know that I have made it through the night.

3. It is action time and I make my way to the computer, supporting myself on the way with hands along the wall. I connect my two iPads and iPhone to the electricity to give them their daily life. Actually when I think about it those gadgets are so lucky. I wish I could connect myself to some sort of source of energy and return to a sense of being awake and ready to go. I carry my laptop to the kitchen and place it on the table. I get a cheerful “Good Morning” from Mr. Swiss who is busy doing early morning stuff like making a cup of coffee, checking his mails and perhaps replenishing a bowl of water we always have outside in the garden for the felines. They love drinking water early in the morning outside. If it is a cold morning, the ice has to be removed from the water remaining from the day before.

4. Time for breakfast. First of all I check my blood sugar to see if breakfast is an option. If it was not an option I would eat it all the same. Yes I am a dare devil in my golden oldie age. It is then time for the big switch on. Whilst the bytes are pulsing through my computer I spoon out portions of cereal, being careful not to splash the keyboard and yes, I do this all within 30 minutes of arising from my bed. I am a live wire in the morning I know. In the background there might be the sound of a vacuum cleaner biting its merry way through the dust of yesterday.

If, due to unforeseen circumstances, this does not happen (a doctor visit, an early morning appointment somewhere) then I could have problems. Rushing early in the morning leads to a sinking of the blood pressure, leads to discontentment and then I am a miserable cow. I might utter profanities, might be short tempered, and generally hate the world. Even my iPhone feels neglected as it might be switched off to avoid complications. I do not like receiving early morning phone calls. Unfortunately what I classify as early morning, others classify as daytime.

So world, there you have it, the shape of things to come. I never honestly thought it would ever happen to me. In my younger years I would spring out of bed feeling refreshed, except for those party evenings when I only actually got to bed in the early hours of the morning. Yes, life changes, be warned. It is not always a merry roundabout of fun. YesterdayI never thought about what I have to do, today my thoughts have taken over, shall I or shall I not? On this happy note I will leave you all, but do not forget, this could be you one day.

Daily Prompt: Two right Feet, or left

Daily Prompt: Frame of Mind – Beware

Posted in Challenges by

If you could paint your current mood onto a canvas, what would that painting look like? What would it depict?

Clouds over Feldbrunnen

I am sure this tableau says it all. The daily prompt has arrived whilst I was enjoying my daily lafter lunch sleep, enabling the food to digest and sailing away to another dimension on a darker  level.

We will begin at the beginning, the top of this masterpiece. The cobwebs are present, clouding a clear thought process, and there are some forks of lightening. This is easy to explain. The pains of a golden oldie tend to collect during the sleep phases and are quite concentrated when awakening. First of all there is an inspection tour to be made Am I still breathing? Can I move and is my brain functioning? It is often the case that a double inspection has to be made as the thoughts are still disturbed by various aches and pains caused by the fact that age is creeping up on you: slowly and stealthily. These problems reach their peak in the waking phase, but no worry. It is a regular occurrence and the body adjusts.

Somewhere in the distance a cloud approaches casting a shadow and it appears that everything is under a layer of fog. This is normal, I do not worry, I just find a better position in my nest to relieve any remainders of cramp that are still present. Of course this complete process is beneath a muddling blanket, its forks spreading over the complete picture and preventing a clear state of mind. The cloud has a silver lining so it is not irrevocable.

In the meanwhile the sounds of life are filtering into your ears. You can hear a feline meow and feel a rhythmic up and down of paws, a kneading motion, on the bedclothes. During your golden oldie sleep you are not alone. Tabby has arrived and noticed that his slave is relaxing. There are times when Tabby mistakes his human slave for his mother. I can excuse this as felines are generally short sighted. I do not have whiskers or large pointed ears, but it might be that I snore purr in my sleep which brings memories of a mother cat tending to her brood. Eventually Tabby falls into a feline state of sleep, which is neither awake or slumber: somewhere in the middle, always ready in case there is a change in the human pattern of sleep and if a danger approaches. The postman only rings twice as we all know.

Now a precarious moment is approaching. My thoughts roam to a question, shall I or shall I not? I mean arise. This has to be considered. It might be a shock to my system. Primarily I sit on the edge of the bed and if I survive I arise, and stand in a vertical position. In the meanwhile Tabby the feline has decided to leave in case I might tread on her tail in my state of uncertainty.

As my painting shows, the trees are now clearer, which symbolises objects in the room. I grasp for my iPhone next to the bed and am confronted with a blurred screen. This is possible if I forget to wear my glasses. I grope for my spectacles and turn again to my iPhone. I switch the phone to receiving. During my golden oldie sleep it is programmed for flight mode. Figuratively speaking this is not so wrong. I often take a flight in my sleep, and it has been known that I have almost fallen out of the bed. Flight mode on the iPhone means that if someone somewhere wants to speak with you, they cannot, they are blocked and I do not hear them: a perfect setting for a telephone. In the meanwhile Mr. Swiss has switched the main line telephone into oblivion and all our friends and neighbours have been warned that Mr. and Mrs. Angloswiss are not available for two hours after lunch.

And now you can see the golden sun slowly rising at the bottom of my creation; my state of consciousness is returning, I am almost there. I stand on wobbly legs and move towards the bedroom door. Everything is in its normal place. I take my lap top and place it either on the kitchen table or outside on the patio table according to how the weather is. If the staff at WordPress have not had a rip-roaring party the night before, a daily prompt will be waiting.Of course, there are afternoons when the laptop takes second place and they let me out for a visit in town.

Such is the midday painting of Angloswiss . It might be, of course, that I wake in a bad mood, something has disturbed my golden oldie sleep and then the painting resembles more “The Picture of Dorian Grey” that changes with the moods of the subject, consult Oscar Wilde, he wrote the book.

Daily Prompt: Frame of Mind – Beware

One minute at a time

Posted in Poems by

How can life go past one minute at a time
When today life is stress, and not even mine
The day must begin so early in the morning
Perhaps work is awaiting, no time left for yawning
A quick cup of coffee, and a bite perhaps to eat
The minutes go fast, I am now on my feet
On my way to my workplace as fast as I can
Over red lights, skipping traffic, oh world what a plan
It’s now time for shopping, we do not live from air
It’s lunchtime, grab a bite, watch the clock, how unfair
Back to work, time is passing, I wish I was home
I think I am getting the timeless syndrome

When I look at my cats, just sleeping all day
They understand life, being stressed does not pay
When I start to despair, I have to sit down
I would like to relax, do away with the frown
Outside it had snowed, I was cold to the bone
Then what did I see, now something had grown
Although it is February and time is so bold
I saw the first crocus despite all the cold
It was then that I realised that life was in rhyme
Nature knows what it does, one minute at a time