General Chat

O so pleased to hear from you EOS we were getting worried and hoped you were ok.

You have a nice contented weekend too.
Have you been doing anythig nice?

Anng thats men for you only make you more work than what they do for you!! I can't understand how they did'nt cover things up.

How lovely to see you Elizabeth, I hope that all is well with you.you have a peaceful weekend.

Dear All

Hello

Hope you all have a peaceful and contented weekend.

Take gentle care
Love Elizabeth, EOS
xx

Vera I am always surprised when you talk about your outing as from what you were saying if you were travelling on the A12 in the Chelmsford direction it is not a million miles from where we lived 1968;to 1973 not that there were any garden centres there then. I think we had one small garden centre when we lived there. Garden centres are everywhere now but we’re unusual then and were usually called nurseries,

Shame that you didn’t get all that you wanted it will be better when all cafes can open.

As you know we love you chatting to us so don’t stop.

Mandy you will get fed up with sewing zips in. What are you going to make with the material?

The mess I have to look forward to clearing up is horrendous. So much dust and dirt why they didn’t cover things up I don’t know. I said I would clear things away but Charles said no need.

You've been busy Mandy. We've had a lovely sunny day but there's been a very cold easterly wind.

Evening all,

Oh what a beautiful day it's been when we sat out for our coffee we had to sit in the shade .
I've been stitching again Chelsea had another school skirt that needed a new zip ,goodness knows what she's doing with these skirts for the zips to keep going probably taking them off with out undoing the zip i should think any way thats done and i had to mend Katies bag the magnetic clasp had pulled out of the material so i just moved it down a little and stitched over the bit where it had pulled out .

Mel thanks for the news from Frank i hope his back pain soon eases and that Ros can get some relief from her painful tongue ,it must be awful for her to eat any thing .
Ann that's good OH has had his second jab and the queue soon moved so he didn't have to wait to long ,Colin goes next Wednesday for his second and son goes on the Friday for his second , i think i will have to wait a little longer for my second it's only about six or seven weeks since my first .
I don't know what i will make with the fat quarters ,i bought four different lots as it was hard to pick ,i liked them all ,i did take a photo so i'll see if i can send it ,i'm still trying to find my way with this new tablet .

AnnG i hope there's not to much mess to clear up,don't go pulling your stitches ,now you need a little rain to check there's no leaks ,we could really do with a little rain the garden looks so dry .

Mel i have pricked out my Mariglds and my Dahlias ,i've put all my toms in the bigger pots and they could soon have some canes put in the pot ,my cumbers are about four inches high and soon need bigger pots or they will snap off when i repot them
I need to read the packet to see if i should nip the tops out of my hanging basket Sweet peas as they are growing well .i've never had them for hanging baskets before .

I wonder how Gills OH is now and if Sandra is in her flat ,i expect she has been busy .

Vera it sounds as if you really enjoyed your time with your friends in the garden with scones and cakes and then having your hair done too makes you feel good .

Tomorrow i need to go to boots for my tablets and i think we might try a F&C lunch if there's not much of a queue i might get some.

A beautiful sunny day here but there is still a cold wind. I had quite a good night last night. I woke several times but went back to sleep quite quickly.

The mess made by these jobs is horrible AnnG but it will be worth it to get a new roof on your conservatory and have it water tight. You can take your time over clearing up. It’s a shame about the lights but it might be best to get new ones and get them put up, and you will know that T would have liked them.

It’s good that you have had your second jab Mel and so has Ann’s OH. We still have to be sensible and careful but it does give you a little bit more confidence to shop or go in a garden centre.

OH is still taking his anti-inflammatory pills but his back is so much better and he is walking more easily so we decided to go out and do the errands we couldn’t do the other day. The plan was to pop up to B & Q for a couple of bits OH wanted, then go into town to the picture framers who are now open, then a nice drive through all the back lanes to our favourite garden centre to have a coffee in their outdoor seating area, then look for a small composter, a nice pot, a couple of plants and some bedding annuals.

Well, it didn’t quite work out! OH got his bits in B&Q, and we started off. After a couple of minutes I realized that he was going totally the wrong way for town. Yep, he had forgotten the picture framers. Once I had pointed this out to him he was all for turning back but I told him to go on to the garden centre. The trip through the lanes is usually quicker than the main road as it cuts off Colchester town and going a couple of exits down the A12 and it is much prettier of course. Not today. We got stuck in a long queue of traffic behind a bus and a farm vehicle and it took forever. I was surprised at the fields of rape in full bloom. I reckon they might be harvesting it a bit early this year.

Eventually we arrived at the garden centre. First we looked at composters. We found the perfect one for size and the price was OK as well but when we moved it we realized it didn’t have any base. Presumably you were meant to stand it straight on bare earth but ours has to go on a small concreted section as the back of our garage where I already have a mini plastic greenhouse and our 3 bins. I can’t have compost liquid leaking all over the place there so that was a no-no. I found a pot I liked, the man of the house measured it and declared that it was too small for my needs. As I hadn’t said what I wanted it for and he was huffy at not getting the composter I got cross and we ended up not buying the pot. The plants there are always healthy and beautifully set out but they didn’t have the specific ones I wanted so I ended up with 3 packs of 6 bedding annuals. They had sold out of million bells but I got French marigolds, a mini chrysanthemum that looks like a little white daisy and a plant that I can’t remember the name of. It’s in the garden and I am upstairs and not going down to check, but it is like a smallish succulent but with pretty flowers. The final frustration with our visit was that the outdoor area to the restaurant was closed as well as the indoor bit so I didn’t even get a coffee.

OH wanted to go to the picture framers this afternoon but I was thoroughly fed up by then. He said that he wanted to get it done but I pointed out that the picture in question has been waiting 18 months so another few days wouldn’t matter. However I relented and said I would go with him tomorrow morning.

This afternoon one of my granddaughters facetimed me as she thought I would be amused at what has happened today. Apparently on a local freecycle site she saw a chap who was offering some books of plays to anyone who could make good use of them. As she is another of my granddaughters who is very “into” drama she contacted him and he was pleased to let her have them. Today she got them and showed them to me. Their large refectory type table was completely covered with piles of these books – there are well over 200 of them! She was laughing as she told me she hadn’t even got a bookshelf in her room. I pointed out she didn’t need a bookshelf, she needed a library. I asked her what her father (my son) and step mother thought about them. Step mum just said Oh My God and Dad hadn’t yet seen them as he had gone to his office for his first face to face business meeting in over a year. We did have a good laugh together but she is a lucky girl to get all those books for free.

I had barely put the phone down when my son rang on his way home from his meeting and we talked for over an hour (with me saying at regular intervals “you are watching the road, aren’t you?”). I didn’t tell him about his daughter’s sudden increase in reading matter. I thought I’d let her surprise him.

I see I’ve gone on a bit again. The trouble is, once I start, I feel as though I am just chatting to friends and tend to ramble on. Please, please tell me if it’s all too much.

Yes I have Anng. They are a nuisance getting in all my pots on the patio and the strawberry barrow.

Nearly straight then and you can have a good wipe down of your surfaces just tpo make sure they hav'nt left a lot of dust behind.

Got my backache again and I hav'nt done much. Did prick out my Statice seedling and plants 18 hole with two sunflower seeds in each. They were the packet oh bought me at Christmas I think. Got a lot of Honesty seedling up with just their two leaves. Lovely round ones just like the seed.

Toms are growing well and I am turning them every day as they are in the uti room facing south. I have mixed up a weak feed for them with osme Vitax Seaweed feed. I used to use Maxicrop but Mole Valley don't do it now they so this one so I am hoping its the same sort of thing.

no they are still here Mel. Just finishing off I think. they have hoovered the floor and moved furniture back in but I bet the have not cleared all the dust off the surfaces. I think Charles is just petting the stuff across where it joins the wall that hopefully keeps the water out.

You do seem to hahave a lot of weevils Mel

You've got a nice selction of colours in your osti's Anng. Hope you are getting straight now have the workmen finished now?

Just put the meat on for tonights pie and I have been in the shed and tipped out my last years Glowing embers begonia thinking I had got it through the winter again and when I looked at it it looked soft. Yes you've guest it it had the dratted weevils in it so I shall have to see if I can get myself another one. I bought the last one in Mole Valley but I may take a look online and see if Ican get some on there.

So that is both of you with second jabs then Ann.

It is a lovely day here but I am incarcerated in the house. can't get ot to the garden as both ways blocked. stuff everywhere. Charles just asked to borrow my hoover. Looking at the floor that should fill the bag. Luckily i still had the old one in here as the new corsless one is not put together yet. The roof is almost on but everywhere is a right mess I think it is going to take me a while to get straight

It is a good job we don't know how disruptive these things are going to be before we organise them isn't it?

Afternoon All,

Yet another lovely sunny day!

Oh Vera those scones you had yesterday sound delish! I could make some scones and have the strawberry jam but only that squirty cream which isn't quite the same and tends to vanish. My food order is Sunday though so I might buy some as a treat! :-D It was good you could have a chat with your friends and you will have needed that scarf after your haircut.

I lost my purple Osti over the winter Mel and it is another thing I forgot I had bought yesterday. I have a deep purple pot I put mine in. Glad you have had your jab now, OH has had his too. We thought he would be a while as there was a queue along 2 sides of the big event hall, but it was moving quite fast so he was soon done. They weren't insisting you use their facemasks this time either. All very well organised again and more vaccination stands were open this time.

That's good your friend will do your dressing for you as well as your hearing aids AnnG. I would just replace the lights too. If they were quite old, they may have needed replacing shortly anyway. I want to get some lights around my arbour where we sit and can see them from inside.

Better get a COT ready for my zoom meeting now.

Do you know which one is breaking or producing the broken ones?


I have four Osteospernums to plant out. A red a cream a gold and I think an orange.one but can't get out into the garden today to do anything.

Yes Anng purple smae as I had last time. They had yellow ones there too. May get one of those tomorrow when I go for the paper and a few bits if there's still a nice bushy one there.

Had three broken eggs this morning. Its getting a bit much now.

Mel the lights were string lights fixed all along the insides of the ceiling bars which had to be taken down. I wouldn't ask them to put them back they were probably damaged getting them off. Maybe I will get new ones later and when daughter next comes she can help put them up.

Was it a purple osteospernum you bought?

Back and had a cuppa. Popped to Hatherleigh after the jab and it was nice to have a ride out when I was'nt driving. Got the petrol for the owers and then came back to Shebbear and picked up our scripts and I bought a osti a purple one like I had a couple of years ago. came home and had a cuppa and put some washing in which is now ready to go on the line.

Anng I suppose the boys did'nt want to damage the lights if they dropped anything. Can you ask them to put them back up for you? I would. I too love to have little lights everywhere in the garden. Nice of your friend to offer to change your dressing on your back and so much better than trying to stuggle with it yourself. It'll be nice to see her and have a chat.

I need to get myself some more solar lights as mine are a bit old now and some don't work anymore cos I left them out int he winter.

I am chatting away to myself here now!!
Good job I was all ready. I went downstairs twenty-five minutes ago and there were 3 of them in the conservatory they had already taken down all the hanging things (which he had said not to bother with), being young men all were tangled up on the table but what has really upset me is that they are also taking down (I had of course not thought about this but they have to) all the lights T loved lights and the conservatory had a lot. Of course they could be replaced but I doubt I will do that. I am staying away from them as there are three probably un-vaccinated young men in there.

The friend who was coming to see to my aids couldn't make it yesterday, she is coming tomorrrow instead. And she is going to check/change my dressing for me.

Lovely sunshine and supposedly 7 degrees out there but felt cold to me when I went to check the plants I left in the greenhouse (they are fine) and to open the back gate and garage. I have had breakfast and am now wondering what I am going to do all day with not being able to get out into the garden even to sit really. won#t be able to go throough the conservatory and to get into the back via the front door is via the path past the conservatory side where they will probably be working.

By the way
HAPPY SAINT GEORGE'S DAY <3 <3 <3 :-D :-D :-D :-D :-D

Morning Anng and all,

Bright again here this morning and 6 degrees at the mo.

Just having a cupa and going in the shower.

Slept well and hope you all did and at the mo they backs not too bad but I hav'nt moved around much yet. I have had a blimmin good sneeze and blow my nose.

I have just seen a net curtain cobweb behind my screen now how did I miss that??

Just seen photos of Prince Louis who is 3 years old today. What lovely happy looking children those three are and how like George Louis is. They all have such lovely smiles.