General Chat

good morning all 14 degreessemi bright. Not much to do today except finish sorting stuff for son's. probably pack tomorrow. Can't take a lot of clothes as there is nowhere to put anything so most of it stays in the case.

Ann it all depends on the post, nothing anyone can do really to make sure anything is delivered on time. sometimes the old days were better!!!
Hopefully you will finally get straight today. Are you pleased with it now it is finished?

Afternoon Eveyone,

It's very windy here and my hair is due a cut so I soon looked like a scarecrow when we went for a breakfast bap earlier at a garden centre. You can pick three items to go with it so we both had egg and mushroom, then I added tomato and OH added beans and we did a swap of half of those between us. We had a quick look at The Works, and called at the shop on the way back as OH said the painter was coming at 11.00am to put the ensuite door back on and put the light fitting and fan pull cord back up. I was convinced it was later around 1.00pm, but he still didn't arrive then so I texted him at 3.00pm and he said he'd come at 5.00pm, which he did. Apparently things he needed for today's work got delivered to his home address instead of the customer's so it put them all behind.

I'm glad the Verbascum arrived ok Mel and I hope you get some plants from them. I can't believe George will be 16 either! I still think of them as young boys and remember the Reindeer that pooped that you got them one Christmas. I managed to mess up my PC by downloading a 'free' version of office on it. I have a student version I downloaded from a disc that I use, but it isn't supported now and there's a delay while it 'configures' when I use it. All went well with the download but when I looked at my excel worksheets on a stick the headings and instructions were all in German!! I looked at what I had downloaded and there were so many files with letters after like it-it or nl-nl and if you clicked on each there were great lists of more files. A bit of googling told me they were different languages and I managed to uninstall them all but it took ages. There was no option to pick a language when I did the download, so I'll make do without it!

I also posted your card on Tuesday AnnG so like Mandy hope it might arrive before you go to your son's. It sounds like it will be best to pack a bit of everything like you say with things you can layer on top if needs be. The sedums were a good idea as they will stand the heat better and not need watering as much. Does Skinny still visit you? We had a new cat in the garden this afternoon. A ginger tabby and white.

Mandy you certainly have the knack for growing cucumbers! I used to find the white flowered beans had less flowers bitten off than the red ones if that's what is happening to yours. When they grew a lot of rape seed oil on the farms round here, the black little beetles used to bite the flowers off our beans when they started flowering. The farmers are growing less of it now though so I might try some beans again next year. We had a whistling kettle in the caravan years ago and my first MIL had one too. She also use those fancy knitted teacosies on her teapots. I seem to remember knitting a black and orange one myself.

I'm off to bed now as I'm shattered after starting cleaning the ensuite and putting some things back at last. I'll finish doing the shower tomorrow. I managed to do a wash as it stayed dry here today.

I sat this morning having my coffee and there was a whistling noise outside and It made me think of the whistling kettles that were put on the hob to boil ,you had to take off the little stopper thingy to stop the whistling and then I thought oh and we had electric kettles that didn't click off like the kettles we have now ,if you put the kettle on and forgot about it you would come into a kitchen full of steam ,it was like a fog and you just had to hope the kettle hadn't boiled dry , funny how one whistle can bring on a memory.

OK Mandy not arrived yet but the post is all over the place. Don't worry though, I knew when son picked this week that I would have cards waiting for me when I get home. So,ething to look forward to.

Afternoon all,

Nice sunny day and 22 degrees so just comfortable for a few jobs in the garden
Mel our beans are Scarlet Emperor, I shall get some lime and try that on them ,I think its the worst year we've had on the other hand the cucumbers have gone crazy ,picked four more bringing the number to 52 lol
Goodness George's 16th doesn't seem that long ago you use to say the little boys next door .
Anng I posted your birthday card on Tuesday second class bit early but you mentioned going away so I thought you might get it before you go .

That should have been back door inside and out.

I have just clean the kitchen and diner windows and the back inside and out. Em's been for 2 dozen eggs and we had a natter. Its their BBQ tomorrow night for George's 16th birthday and he's having friends over to camp in the field. I hope its not going to be raining for them. I have that mizzle todayhat makes everything wet.

Mandy try giving your beans a spray each day. If you have any give them a drink of lime in water, garden lime not lime juice if you have any!!! Do you know what the variety is? I have grown Benchmaster this year.

I used to find strimming the most exhausing thing I did I am so pleased I don't need to do it now.

I have just planted the three Sedums that I bought yesterday in pots so that makes that area look better.

Morning girls,

Bit grey here this morning and its 16 degrees and pc is telling me rain in 2 or so hours time.

You are always saying that you wish you had my energy but you get a lot more done than I do Vera as it takes me so long to walk around. I only go at a snails pace and have to keep stopping to get my breath. When I do something in the garen it hardly shows.

Hips playing up today must have been yesterdays bit of strimming I shall have to try to swing from my waste if I an find it!!

Good morning all 15 degrees here but it seemed to be a fairly cool night and I slept well. I have to start to sort out stuff to pack today. It looks like being hot when I am at son's, That happened in 2021 when I was there over my birthday but I hope it doesn't get as hot this year as it did then. (40), although they are well stocked with fans of carying sizes. difficult (as usual) to know what to pack as I have not been told if they have made any plans, I suspect not, life is a little more chaotic there than daughter's or here. So a bit of everything I think.
Other than that nothing planned.
Well judging by the jobs that you got done Vera you seem to have found some energy yesterday so I hope you got some sleep last night.

Evening everyone,

This might be a slightly shorter post than usual as I am shattered. It was another bad night but surprisingly I've felt OK today so have tried to get on with some jobs. Now I am feeling tired and a bit headachey.but pleased with how much I have managed to get through.

You are all doing so well with your tomatoes. Ours are a dead loss this year. Good job the blueberries have done well or I would be really depressed

I got about an hour's gardening done but in 2 x 30 minute sessions. I tidied up and cut back a couple of plants and did lots of deadheading, including my lovely agapanthus which have now gone over. I wish I could keep going for longer. I wonder if Mel would sell me a bit of her energy.

I also washed all the towels and did the ironing and a bit of dusting, made some phone calls and tidied some papers. Oh, and cooked our dinner of course. One of the phone calls was to the surgery as I had a note on my script last week to say that my tablet review was overdue and to ring to set up a telephone consultation with a clinical pharmacist. When I rang I was really surprised when I was told the first available appointment was 5th September but it's just struck me that she may be going on holiday for 2 or 3 weeks. Anyway it was booked for 5th September and then the receptionist suddenly asked me if I would like it to be face to face rather than over the telephone so I said yes please. I've got a couple of things I want to discuss and I think it will be easier if we are face to face.

Today would have been the 55th birthday of our daughter's late partner, so another day of memories for her. I sent her a message last night and she texted back to say she was planning "to pop along to see him" today. It was a woodland burial so it is a very calm and peaceful spot.

It has been a beautiful day though it did get very hot this afternoon. At the moment my bedroom feels very hot so I might be having the fan on for a while before going to sleep. I hope you all have a good night's sleep tonight.

Went up the top to see if Aaron had been and he had'nt so I started to strim the edge of the wall. got so far and the battery ran out. I went on to the lopper and Aaron arrived and had trouble starting the chain saw (which is mine) I started to lop the branches off the dead trees he was going to cut up and the battery ran out on those too. So we both went in for a COT. Then he camedown with the petrol for the chain saw as BIL uses a super dupper one at about £22 a gallon but it is good for the strimmer (his) and my chain saw.

Mucked the tv up at lunch time and it kept coming up with an error so I had to put a code in. went to the site and could'nt find where to put this error code but I had deleted stuff on the tv I should'nt have so I had to sort that out and get the tv back on U& Drama etc.

They say these thing are meant to try us and I definately had my fair share today. Why is it that when you plan things you're going to do evrything else goes wrong and gets in the way?

I must get the dustbin out now as they come so early in the morning before anyone is up.

Annx and Gwyn The seeds arrived safely today thank you very much. I will now go and sprinkle the poppy seeds and do the Verbascum in a small seed tray.

Just picked the last 4oz of blueberries. Watered more plants. 20 degrees here.

18 degrees here now and still sunny. I have swept the patio and watered the plants in pots on there. Need to pick more Blueberries and I have some more toms ripening. The wind the other day blew a lot of the flowers off my runners on the decking but I do have a nice lot of beans coming along.

Your toms look good Anng I can't resist the sungold and they are usually eaten before they get a chance to go in the fridge. Picked the short beans yesterday and more cues and today there's another one to pick so Aaron may get that one as I have one in the fridge.

Good morning all,
Just sent a photo of some of my tomatoes this year, I have already eaten a lot.

15 degrees here and sunny. Had 3 loo visits in the night then woke at 0630, went back to sleep and woke at 0830, good job I am not going aywhere this morning. Just popping to the local garden centre this afternoon with Cynth to spend my £5 birthday voucher which only lasts for August.

Morning Mel, morning all,

Bit fresh here this morning 15 degrees but the suns shining and it should be a bit warmer than yesterday .
The wind was very strong yesterday we had to pull the runner beans back a bit as the canes were beginning to bend over ,not sure how many beans we will get there seems to be loads of flowers but they are just dropping off so there's no beans it's not been a very good year for runners .
Tomatoes are gradually turning but one or two of the big ones are brown underneath .

Mornig all,

Nice bright sunny morning at the moment. Woke before light for the loo and then went back to bed thinking I would get another hour or two but no just lay there hot kept trying to find a nice cool spot so in the end I got up.

I had to sign in today to be able to post.

I have Aaron coming today to clear up the rest of the dead tree and I may go up and cut some more off the top where my willows are.

Afternoon All,

It's been very windy here today this morning and a few showers again but is sunny and calm now.

OH can't remember what his cholesterol levels were Mel, but they told him they weren't bad at all. The private rheumatologist said everything was likely caused by the arthritis. I think the statins are to help stop a build up in future now his heart is damaged. Fancy sending the boxes but not all the lids! Will you ask for a refund? I finally got one once the refund option was back on the site.

I love the ice cream van surprise turning up Vera! Did it play a tune? What a brilliant idea for a surprise. Good news on the MOT then and you should have the car back tomorrow which is good. I hope you get a better sleep tonight. Try counting some sheep!

I think you just have to be patient Gwyn. I know OH took a while to get back to his old self after he had pneumonia.

I find myself waking at the same time in the night too AnnG. It's as if the body likes to stick to a timetable. I need to do more washing but keep hanging on because it keeps raining here.

We called for a coffee at Costa this morning but never got round to doing much else other than admin. OH has gone to a match with his friend again, at Solihull this time so he will be late home.

A beautiful sunny day here, breezy at first, but calmer than yesterday, although we got nothing like the awful weather experienced by the nothern areas.

Thank you for asking Vera. I would say I am much better than I was, but just don't feel right. I'd love to go back to feeling how I did pre- A&E and the pneumonia episode.Energy levels are often very low, so I find myself having to pace my days a lot more and not overdo it. The phone call on Monday largely focused on the results of blood tests requested by the rheumatologist, when I'd seen him recently.Markers for Sjogrens syndrome were stable, so it is thought that that is not the reason for fluid lingering in the chest. I am expecting follow-up echocardiogram and CT scan any time soon, so we'll see what they show.

In the meantime we are trying to prune out some of the items that somehow have ended up here in an effort to make more storage room for the things we do want to keep. I'm sure I've never even seen some of the things before!
The charity shops should do well.

Easy meal tonight. Daughter here loves stuffed marrow and we had one last night. There is enough left for tonight and extra veg is prepped so when daughter has finished work, it will easily be cooked.Interestingly, daughter likes it "like Gran used to make", stuffed with sausagemeat,which we buy from the butcher in town, but when we saw her siblings on Sunday, their recollection is that my mum used mincemeat and gravy :-S

Busy day tomorrow, so I won't be around to post, but I like to catch up with all your news, when I can.