Ups and Downs

I'd like to introduce myself. I'm a mother of four (grown-up) children, a grandmother to three and I live in the north of Scotland near the shores of the Moray Firth. 
When I first had an idea for a blog, I was in full time employment - albeit made up of two part time jobs - and wanted to make my carbon footprint a little smaller.  I'm the proud owner of four hens, grow as much of my own food as possible, and, after a break of forty years or so, decided it was time to get back on a bike.  Plus, like so many people aspiring to make their fortune, I am, on occasions, writing a novel. 
I thought it might be an idea to share the successes and/or failures of my endeavours with the world but it's amazing how things can go wrong isn't it.
Firstly I got cold feet.  Who on earth would want to know that my cabbages had been infested with the  Cabbage White Butterfly larvae, that my hens had scratched up the onion crop or that I'd got stuck with the novel after 36,000 words?  Probably nobody, at least not those who had better things to do, like making a living or reading War and Peace.
Then, unfortunately,  in February I was made redundant from the wage paying job.  This was a blow.  I needed this job to stay afloat financially as in the other one I am a self-employed dog walker and, as all self-employed people know, the amount of work is completely dependent on how many people are willing to employ you. On those days when the work pours in, which are few, I can walk up to twelve miles and end up totally knackered, me not being in the first flush of youth you understand.  In fact I'm a lot closer to my 60th birthday than I care to think about.  But when I only go out once or twice I have to count the little piles of money I've earned to work out how much there is for petrol/food/electricity, end up depressed at the result and turn off the hot water yet again.  Still, I decided to look on the bright side, to be ingenious and to make the best of a difficult time.
Until I fell off the bike. 
To be fair, it was a dignified fall, a gentle roll to the left, landing on the grass verge and, to the best of my knowledge, wasn't witnessed. I wasn't hurt and jumped up, brushed myself down and climbed back on a little nervously, thinking of the saying 'you never forget, it's like riding a bike'.  Hum. 
Maybe in the passing of forty years my bike-riding memory cell gave up waiting to be re-deployed and  departed to the Great Velodrome in the sky.  I'm still waiting to find out as we've been experiencing the usual Scottish spring weather of rain, hail, snow and gales and I haven't ventured out on two wheels since, despite the cost of putting petrol in my car.
All isn't lost however. I've been given a greenhouse, my latest pride and joy, and am raising hundreds of seedlings in the hope that I'll be able to sell some of the plants and then eat the rest of them when they have grown  - if the hens don't beat me to it.
So, is my glass still half full?  Well, it's been up and down.  On some days when the sun is shining and the dogs behave it appears to be brimming over, on others well, perhaps it's best not mentioned. 
But I'm here, still walking, still tending to my plants and hens and still filling in the job application forms.
Wish me luck!