General Chat

12 degrees and sunny at the moment now ind. a bit annoying as I want to cut the lawn but with both Tesco and friend coming I doubt if it will get done. Maybe if Tesco had one of their early days, but it doesn't usually work like that.

Not little balls Mandy long strips of greean about up to two foot long. look on line at goose grass. that is the one.

enjoy the garden party Vera.

Morning all

It’s cold, grey and we’ve just had some rain :-(. It is not garden party weather. I’m certainly going to need that fleece, if not an anorak and umbrella! I hope it’s better in your neck of the woods.

I’d better shower now and decide what warm clothes to put on. Enjoy your day.

Morning Girls,

Quite bright here this mroning and lots of cloud inthe sky but some blue patches too. 11 degrees here and pc says sunny.

I took all the plants out the container Em gave me for my birthday and put four Brachyscome plants in it, two white a mauve and a magenta. Its on the patio now. I tied up the sweet peas and the clematis in the pots and the one by the end of the patio as that was getting out of hand.

My roses are out and their flowers look bigger this year too. I was only saying to oh that they have done well this year. In fact everything seems to be doing good this year flower wise. My one disappointment is the clematis mum took a cutting of. Remember I sent pics of it last year, it flowered and flowered and had buds this year and then clematis wilt and died. I have cut it back a lot but I don't think its going to come back. Normally I would'nt bother and just take it out but as mum took the cutting and was successful I am loathed to part with it.

Morning Anng, morning all,

A few black clouds about and there been a little drizzle but the Suns trying to show itself ,I hope it stays dry so we can get outside but it's not very warm in the wind so we shall see how it goes .
Yesterday I planted up six hanging baskets ,I have some more to do but I'm waiting until I can find some nice begonia plants for them .
The roses are a picture this year ,the pink one is so much better than last year the flowers are much bigger and the flowers on the yellow one are huge .
I think the plant you were talking about yesterday is what we call Sticky Bud ,little balls that use to stick in our cars fur and I'd have the job if trying to pull them all out .

No family coming today so if I can't get outside I might get some stitching done.

Hope it stays dry for your garden party Vera doesn't look as if its going to be very warm so you might need that fleece.

Morning AnnG and All,

It's dry here at the moment but rain is forecast so I'd better get moving. Slept well which is good, so I think the walk first, then the garden before the rain starts. At least there's no lunch to get today. Lots to do and my painting to start as well.

Hope you enjoy the garden party Vera and that the fleece isn't needed!

Good morning all. dry but dull and 10 degrees so far. I need to cut the lawn but Tesco is due this morning and a friend is coming for coffee so I am hoping the forecast rain stays away. Have to wash my hair as well seeing that I messed up yesterday.

I think I like sticky willie best :-D

It used to be used in medicines years ago. Yes Cleavers is its right name but also called Goose Grass,Catchweed Bedstraw, or you could call it Galium aparine.

Sticky Willy I have tons of that too but that is easy to pull up as Anng said.

Afternoon all

No sign of sun today but at least it’s dry.

You are very skilled to make all those little bits and pieces Mel and they look very realistic. You must have lots of patience. I particularly like the hyacinths.

What a shame about your hair appointment AnnG. At least it’s not long since your last appointment so your hair won’t be too long yet. I’m having mine cut on Monday. I think your long sticky weed is the one we call cleavers or goose grass. I had never heard of twitch till I came on this thread and Mel mentioned it. I remember googling it and finding I knew it well but had always called it couch grass. It was the bane of OH’s life in our old house but, touch wood, we don’t seem to have it here.

I had a Dobbies voucher as well but spent mine a couple of weeks ago when OH had a hospital appointment as our nearest Dobbies is close to the hospital.

I washed towels and had a good dust through this morning while OH pushed the vacuum round and then I spent about 90 minutes in the garden. I’ve got a trough planted up with red geraniums and a big pot with white ones, and I planted another trough up with dwarf antirrhinums. I washed lots of pots and deadheaded the rhodanthemum and scabious which seem to bloom pretty much all year and now are really getting going. I’m a bit concerned as the temperature is supposed to drop right down tomorrow night so I’m hoping there won’t be a frost.

A friend is 75 tomorrow and her daughter has arranged a surprise garden party for her, and all our crowd are invited. She thinks she is just going to her daughter’s for a family meal. Not knowing about Sunday, she invited a dozen or so of us ladies to tea in her garden yesterday. It was a bit surreal. We all gave her birthday gifts and were very careful not to mention Sunday. So tomorrow we are all going to the daughter’s house, men as well this time. The weather is forecast to be no warmer than 14 degrees so I might be taking a warm fleece.

We’ve also had an invitation, along with the rest of our Close, to afternoon tea in next door neighbour’s garden on Thursday. As they said, we haven’t had a residents’ get-together for 30 months and the Queen’s Jubilee is a great excuse. I notice one of the neighbours has today put some bunting up outside their bungalow . It looks quite festive.

I think it’s time to put the kettle on for our afternoon cuppa and then I need to think about tonight’s dinner. Enjoy the rest of your day everyone and sleep well tonight.

That's a nuisance AnnG but at least you hadn't already walked there. I know that weed but can't recall the name.....some kind of burr I think. The seed balls stick to your clothes too. Twitch grass grows about 9 inches high and has broader blades than lawn grass. It puts many runners out underground and strangles everything. If you don't get every bit of runner out it will sprout and spread again. I think Couch grass is another name for it. My voucher is till 2nd June.

Well I've sorted out a pile of newspaper puzzle pages OH saves for me and thrown out some old magazines, sorted my tablets, ordered tomorrow's lunch, cleaned the cooker hob, wiped the front door down, put washing away and filed some things away so need a COT now. Better just check if the greenhouse needs watering first.

Well that was stupid. I had two appointments booked for hair both Saturdays one 12pm and one 2pm. I was convinced today was 2pm and stupidly didn't check. so I missed my appointment as it was at 12. Luckily I thought to check before I left home, I had my shoes on all ready to go. so have had to phone and apologise and now tracey can't fit me in before the next appointment which will be 9 weeks after the previous one. I have messaged them to see if someone else can do it in two or three weeks time. I am sooo annoyed with myself. Luckily it is still only 2 weeks since my last appointment this one was booked already when we had to mess around with appointments first with hairdresser's Covid and then mine. But it needs washing now as I didn't wash it knowing it was being done today.

I am not sure what 'twitch' is so have no idea if I have it. One I do have is one that grows as a long string and is very sticky, it is easy to weed but is going mad in my front and back garden. I suppose as I am now free this afternoon, I had better get out there and do some more weeding. :-D :-D

Nice to have a voucher to spend in dobbies, I think I have one as well so better check the date on it.

Afternoon All,

I wasn't up till 10.00am and then had a nasty surprise when I got in the shower to find it was freezing cold!!! OH topped the water up on the boiler and it was fine again. This boiler seems to need more topping up than the old one did. We have had some sun this morning but also a lot of grey cloud, so I hope the rest of the washing dries before we get any rain. It's 15 degrees at the moment.

We were hoping our neighbour that that has been away would be away this coming week too so we could get some work done in the front garden, as I want to save some plants that are close to the tree that's coming down, also to prune a shrub next to it, but we heard them return this morning. No sign of their caravan yet which a company tows for them, so maybe they are just here for the weekend and will be going back again. They did that last weekend after 2 weeks away.

Mel we had a big patch of twitch here years ago and had to dig all the plants out. Then after we dug out what we could of the twitch, as it grew again we kept spraying the shoots with weedkiller all summer and didn't replant till no more twitch grew. We had a problem with mare'stail too after it escaped the pond and had to keep spraying it, but it died eventually. Then it was convolvulus spreading from nextdoor on the front but I fastened plastic bags of weedkiller on the shoots with that to kill it. Now we have a nasty small leafed creeping clover with yellow flowers which came from nextdoor's lawn on the front, but now keeps popping up in the back garden as well. I told OH to dig out every scrap as soon as he saw it but he didn't realise how quickly it spreads (I had it in the past at my old house) and didn't keep on top of it and has been shocked how much of it there is now. At least he is digging it out when he notices it now. That's a better idea to have the trailer to chuck stuff in rather than keep wheeling the barrow. Is the turf trail for the Jubilee event?

OH has cut out a voucher for Dobbies for £5 off a £25 spend, so we might venture there at opening time next week before it expires. Cases are very low here now, under 40 in our district last week. I shall still be happier when I've had my 4th jab in July though.

I hope it stays dry for your walk to the hairdresser AnnG. I love it when my hair is tidy again and back under control. We get a head massage too which is always nice.

OH has gone to a local match this afternoon and tomorrow he needs to empty his car boot etc ready for Monday. He's also had a wad of papers for some cases he has to deal with so will be poring other those tomorrow too. I have ordered lunch in for tomorrow so I can get on with some planting. Better check the rest of the washing is dry now.

Morning Anng and all,

Got up early for the loo to sunshine and blue sky again. Thought I would go back for a hwile as oh was still in bed andthen woke up at 1007 am. He was outside working on the turf track and still is.

Beautiful sunshine again this morning but there are big white clouds inthe sky today and yesterday ther were none at all.

Cleared more dead stuff up the border yesterday and oh brought me up the big trailer so I did'nthave to go and empty my barrow. The twitch has grown a bundle this year and oh says I am never going to get it out and I know it but I just have to have a go at it each year so I can see my lovely plants. The peonies are just coming out.

Brought my Amerillis in from the shed yesterday and she's a lovely pink and white. I know its not called that now but I can't think of the name they changed it too. I have waited two years to see it flower as I bought three before lockdown for presents and aunty Joy did'nt get hers so I thought I better plant it. It did'nt flower that year but had leaves all winter in the shed and I kept looking at it this year and saw the bulb had got much bigger nad the leaves were still lovely and green and then I spotted that there was a bud coming up and now it opened yesterday and has a good flower each side and two more smaller ones each side of those. Its years since I grew one of these and got that one to flower every year, a red one.

Good morning all, bright and sunny here at the moment 0730 but only 5 degrees, hopefully it is going to warm up later Might get a bit of gardening done but won't do too much as I have to walk to hairdressers later for 2pm appointment.

I actually started to reply to the photos Mel and remembered that you wouldn't receive it. It all looks great very realistic.

Our abstract photos all went down very well and it was an interesting afternoon. Just a talk next month then Historical photos for July and landscape for September.

sent pics of the latest project. Going up the border now and blow the arm.

That's a coincidence AnnG as our painting this week is about more abstract effect. I confess I don't really like abstract because I don't really understand it I suppose. We have been asked to reduce detail or emphasise eg the lighting. Your talk next month sounds interesting. There's no need for appointments at our tip now and I suppose it does get very busy at times and liable to jam up, even with 3 lanes around the outside of the bays.

Well I managed a 1 lap walk and the ducks were pleased to see me. The Moorhens were there and also 4 tiny chicks today. Leave us out at night with just a pond and we wouldn't last long but these tiny black pompoms thrive! Their parents were more attentive than the duck parents though and I had to throw hard to make sure they got some of the bread. The parents were taking the bread straight to their chicks and letting them peck it from around their beaks. Typical I didn't take my camera with me as I wanted to use the camera case to put my mobile and house keys in. When I got back to my car there was an identical one parked next to me which was a surprise as my car isn't very common now as they stopped making it about 10 years ago. It was even the same colour. It's a wonder I didn't try to unlock the wrong one! lol.

OH has gone to a meeting in the city. He will soon have to find a different route as they are closing roads and all sorts soon to build lots of cycleways and pedestrian only bits. I don't think they want cars in the city at all and have reduced the traffic lanes and removed a flyover. It will be interesting to see how things pan out as without cars to carry shopping in, some, like us, will shop elsewhere and since the pandemic more shop online than before. If the city loses it's shops, it will be space for all the houses needed I suppose and will be better than losing so much of our lovely green countryside.

Back to some paperwork now. OH has done everything he needs to ready to collect his car, so he can have a clearout of his car boot before Monday as he carries too much in there. I have been carrying a pile of magazines in my boot for ages that are for a friend's hubby, so I ought to get those to her rather than keep them in my boot and using more fuel.

Better see if the washing's dry now.

good to see you Mandy pleased that you were just busy.

It sounds as if your tip is getting organised now. Have they had a change around since Covid when they were appointment only. Maybe they are just stopping you to tell you where to go to save vehicles not getting to the right containers and causing jams. Ours is, I think still by appointment.

the subject this month is not one I enjoy. Abstract. Not easy and I am still not sure I have got it right. I will let you know when I come back this afternoon. We have a subject most months but we have got one of our members doing a talk on composition next month, He is the oldest in the group and a very profficient photographer, member of Gloucester camera club so should be interesting. Only problem is he has a very soft voice so I might have trouble even with my aids.

What a performance it is at the tip now. You can't even go in without a man stopping you to ask exactly what you are bringing. We had to go to number 20 and 22 for our two things and there were a lot more bays with higher numbers but I didn't notice if some were repeated. Goodness knows what we will do once we can't lift things up and over the edge of them.

There you are Mandy and of course we missed you! Yes our gardens do need a lot doing just now and it does make you tired as you say. I can remember once when we bought our cars together each getting a bouquet as you say. They would put them on the back parcel shelf. It was a nice gesture, but I doubt there will be one now. I'm glad Colin liked the bricks on my painting, especially with him having done building work......! It certainly was a different kind of painting and thinking about it, it is good that artists in the past recorded mundane, everyday scenes or we wouldn't have known about them now would we. Not one for the wall though like AnnG says, but thought provoking like Vera says.

I had a chuckle at your OH's mystery card Vera. Just make sure when you use it you don't send it back to his sister!!

What is the subject for your photography group this afternoon AnnG or is there not one every time?

Mel I have just asked Dr G what his tennis elbow pain is like and it doesn't sound like your pain. He says his elbow has a deep ache, just in the elbow and it doesn't shoot anywhere like his sciatica does. It also has swelling come up on the outside. It was a good idea of Mandy's though. Is your arm/wrist swollen at all? It sounds like you may have to see the doc if it doesn't get better soon. I find things do take longer to get better now though. Speaking of which I am going to see if I can do a 1 lap walk next and feed the ducks again. My knee seemed much better going to the tip and up the garden this morning. I've put the washer on too so I hope it doesn't rain.