General Chat

Looks better now. daughter strimmed the lawn ans SiL mowed behind her and it looks good now, reduced to a good length to dry out.

The basket that died was over watered, when I tipped it water flowed out so I did the same to all of them, all sadly over watered. Hopefully if we have a couple of dry days they will recover all but the worst one and I have new plants for that one.
We also went round the garden centre and I got some compost and some more plants so have a busy week ahead of me.

We got home in good time, so much better than last friday. Traffic was heavy but moving fast. Traffic going South West was almost at a standstill again and that was just in gloucestershire so it looks like the same as last week. We stopped at a garden centre for a coffee and I managed to squeeze two replacement plants into the car. Can't see yet what is wrong with that basket, the lawn is awful, so long. SiL was going to cut it but it has drizzled all the way home and here too. rain was not forecast for today here so that is really annoying. Goodness knows how I am going to cut the grass.

Meant to say yesterday I know who is eating the eggs, its Mona one of the older ones. She may haeve to go we'll see!

I now need to clean them out.

Well I did a post earlier and then the leccy went out so I'll try again.

Morning Anng and all,

Safe journey home today and you will be able to see whats happened to one of your hanging baskets. It could have been the wind we had at the begining of the week that blew it to bits or blew it off its roots. Still you will be able to see when you get home.

Nothing sort of day today with grey sky and a big buzzard has just flown over as I looked up to seeif there was any sign of a patch of blue. There were two magpies up the garden this morning eating that rabbit oh shot last night so perhaps he's seen the remains of that.

Did any of you see about the man who spotted two very very rare lobsters that were yellow. He was in Leicester and he got the manager of the place to donate them to Birmingham Sea Life.

https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/weird-news/man-saves-two-lobsters-pot-24197109

Have a read its interesting.

Good morning all

Safe journey home AnnG. I hope your baskets and garden are flourishing when you see them.

Oh dear Mel, it wasn't your day yesterday was it? It can only get better. Sending you lots of good vibes for a lovely day today <3

That's good that your 2nd jab is now booked Mandy. I wonder when they would have got round to you if you hadn't phoned. We had our 2nd one after 10 weeks but I know every area is different. It's funny that you mentioned having 2 single duvets instead of a king-size as I have been considering doing just that. We've had individual duvets when we have been overseas, particularly in Germany. It doesn't look so elegant but I would have a nice quilt over the whole bed and just take it off at night.

Island - you're a girl after my own heart . I love made up words that describe things exactly and "distraughtedness" is perfect.

I hope Frank is OK after his fall and it would be good if Gill popped in just to tell us she's OK.

It's a lovely day out there, perfect for gardening but I won't be doing any until my back has eased again. Aren't backs a nuisance? Everyone I know above a certain age seems to get back problems from time to time. Sometimes you can go to bed in agony and wake up fine and other times the bloomin' aches and pains linger for weeks. I'm getting really frustrated seeing all the things that still need doing. OH says he will do some for me which is good but even more frustrating as I want to be out there doing them. OH's neck is improving now and he went for his walk again this morning.

This afternoon I am going to one of the ladies in our group for a birthday tea in her garden. OH is going to put a heat pad on my back before I go as I suspect I might have to sit in a low garden chair which won't be very comfortable so the patch will help. I've bought the birthday girl one of those wall ornaments that can go inside or out. It's a butterfly and I expect she will put it up outside. She likes ornamental things like that so I hope she's pleased. We do buy each other birthday gifts but try to pay no more than £10. This butterfly was originally a lot more but it came down in price in a spring sale and I had a 15% off voucher so I got it for about £9. Several of the group tend to give a £10 voucher for somewhere like Boots or a garden voucher but I always think it's nice to have a surprise gift to unwrap. I do think quite hard about it and try to match the gift to the person. One of the girls put a £10 note in a card for my birthday but I didn't like that, though of course I thanked her nicely.

I'm rambling again aren't I? Time to stop. Enjoy your day everyone.

Good morning kick out time is 9am so it is all systems go here now.

The meal this evening was nice. I had barbecued pork ribs followed by brownie and clotted cream The brownie was much too big for me O.h and I always used to share a sweet annoying when I have to leave half. It was a nice evening and my treat for them taking me on holiday.

I am a bit nervous about seeing my baskets when we get home. Lady who is watering is not a gardener and has sent me a photo of one of the baskets which she says is not doing well. Actually the plants are all dead so goodness knows what has happened there. I will have to replace the plants. Hopefully we will get home in time to visit the garden centre so SiL can help with some compost. They will leave very early Saturday I think to go home.

Oh dear a Frank another fall, do take care

We do have a king sized bed but oh often sleeps on top. He also has a thinish quilt thing mum had and sleeps under that. Its only when its really cold he comes under the quilt. He usually helps me with the cover as he can give it a good shake but it nev er seems to work with me and then I end up walking around the bed a million times. IU did'nt want to ask him today with him working on the mower deck he was all dusty amd had paint all over his hands.

I hope Frank is not too bruised after his fall. I wonder where it was this time.

Safe journey home tomorrow Anng. You will notice how your plants have grown when you get and see them.

On a better note oh shot two rabbits this evening before dinner so thats two down.

I have parked my wheelbarrow by the rose tonight and put three pots in front of it. Oh did say he would make me some netting rings to go round thing so we will see.

I found out tonight that the old mower is'nt working either so that need seeing to as well.

Oh dear Mel, now the mower! Best start afresh tomorrow. :-S

I'm glad you are booked in now Mandy. I wonder if you would of heard if you hadn't rung? So son and family are still waiting to hear the test result for Lewis. I hope his croup is getting better now. It's a good job you can go and collect their food order from Aldi for them. I expect there will be quite a lot to collect too. That's good your tum is ok now too.

The glass man arrived true to his word and seems a nice man, all smiles. :-) He didn't need to come inside, but measured up the 7 panes of glass including the frosted ensuite one and says he can get the same pattern for that so no need to replace the opening window glass as well. He says he will email the quote tomorrow and should get be in a position to fit them in about a fortnight so that all went better than I expected and should soon get done. :-)

Tomorrow we are up early to get to Bensons Beds down the road on the retail park to hopefully order a new bed for the second bedroom. We use both bedrooms a lot so we sleep better and OH says it is like sleeping on a mountainside now with the lumpy mattress!! lol.

Glad you had a nice day AnnG . The garden sounds very nice with those lakes. Hope your meal later was nice too. I hope you have a good journey home and that the roads aren't as busy as before.

Oh no Mel your not having much luck with things today

Oh was going to cut the top lawns this afternoon. Guess what the better mower would'nt start. It was working when he parked it there last night. So its not his day either. He fiddled with it all afternoon.

Evening all,

Much better day here no rain but we could have had a bit more sun instead of all the cloud .
My tums ok, today ,I've been shopping for son and family and tomorrow they have a click and collect from aldi so I'll have to go and pick it all up for them ,son rang again but still no result he has to ring again on Saturday now if they haven't heard by then.
I rang about my jab and spoke to a nice lady who said she could book me in so I have an appointment on 7th June so thats sorted ,I didn't like worrying them but it was nearly twelve weeks .

Oh Mel your poor rose must be so disheartening when they help them shelves to your best plants .
Do you have a king size bed , perhaps you could try two single quilts on the bed ,its suppose to be better if you do that as when one person moves they don't then disturb the other, plus it would be so much easier for changing the bed and hanging them out .
You'll be glad to get to bed and have a better day tomorrow.

AnnG at least you've had a couple of dry days to finish off your break away , shame you couldn't get a table to have the cream tea there but I suppose as it was lunch time they were then getting busy ,safe journey home tomorrow.

Ann thats plug adaptor sounds handy ,I have a job to pull plugs out some times .
Thats good you have someone coming to sort your glass out in your windows .

Oh no Frank not another fall have you hurt yourself, take care hope your not to bruised .
Hope your back soon eases with the heat patch Vera ,no more gardening for a day or two .

Yes the gardens were lovely, even though there were a lot of people there we were all well spaced out, it never felt too crowded. It was such a peaceful gardens quite strenuous if, like us you want to see it top to bottom, there were lots of seats though as well and among the plants there were some lovely sculptures. It is still hard not having T to discuss things with when walking round but I am never made to feel like a spare part both daughter and SiL are very good, very thoughtful. It has helped that T and I had never Ben to this part together.

Oh Mel it's not your day today is it! It's partly because of the effort changing duvet covers that I use a sheet as well and then change the cover less often as it is like an eiderdown then. Also cooler in summer to just leave the sheet over you. Have you tried turning the cover inside out to put it on? You just slide each hand up inside to the two corners, grab each corner of the duvet through the cover and let the cover slide down your arms over the duvet. Even if you are small like us it gets it mostly on and just needing a shake. What a shame you broke the fairy wing.....will you be able to stick it back on with something?

I have phoned someone recommended for replacing our misted windows and he is calling later on his way home to give us a quote. It is the windows across the front and the study on the side at the front that we are doing where the sun moves around. It will be great to be able to see through them properly again. More need doing in the conservatory but we haven't decided whether we are altering that yet.

OH has put the pots on the back wall so it is beginning to look more colourful out there. A bit of weeding has started his back off so he's left that for today.

My switched 3 way plug adapter arrives and is in use now and much better as I can switch my pc plug off at night on the adapter instead of having to pull the plug out every time since we have had the SKY booster to plug in as well. I hadn't even realised you could get them before.

Sorry you have had another fall Frank and aren't feeling too good. I know you must feel you are always phoning them, but I think you should see the doc about these falls. It might be your meds that need tweaking that are causing them. I hope you feel better soon.

I wonder how Gill is getting on now the alterations are happening at last. From what I remember from doing similar things, a dustpan and brush and damp cloth are always to hand. I hope Sandra is getting sorted out and that Gill found someone to take the furniture to her flat.

It sounds like the gardens were still nice to see Anng but a shame about the que when you returned.Everybody must have had the same idea with it being a nice day to walk around the gardens.

Well another disarster this afternoon. You know I said we had a baby bunny down here over the last week. Well I have just gone and looked at my plants outside the shed and it has eaten off my lovely campanula AND my new achillia the one I have had on the patio all winter and repotted this week and put it down outside the shed. It had 6 lots of flower umbels coming up on it and I bought because the bees and butterflys like those flowers. It now has just about two flower stems on it. Its just not my day today and I shall be glad to get in bed tonight.

That’s a real shame about your rose bush Mel. Why do deer always eat the plants you like and ignore the ones you dislike? We don’t get many cobwebs here, or maybe I just don’t see them. Anyway I hope your day has got better.

I’m having a bit of an “ off “ day as well. I put bags by the door ready for a Tesco delivery this morning and got a bit worried when they didn’t turn up. I went online to check if there were any delays and discovered that I’d booked an afternoon slot and they were coming between 4 and 5 pm. I was sure I had booked this morning,

Then I decided I couldn’t waste the good weather and I must do some gardening but my back wouldn’t let me hump heavy bags of compost about and I wouldn’t ask OH while his neck is bad so I couldn’t do everything I wanted. I did manage to plant up two pots with nemesias and a variegated geranium and cut back a few plants. I also got our little sack barrow out and moved some pots around to different positions and I gave several plants a bit of a feed. But, oh boy, my back was so sore by the time I came in and OH put a heat patch on for me.

Finally I went to wrap a birthday present. First the roll of wrapping paper that looked quite full was, in fact, almost used up and there wasn’t enough to do the present, then I found the birthday card I wanted to put with it was missing it’s envelope. Oh well, these things are sent to try us .......and they do.

Thank you for OH’s and dil’s birthday wishes.

I hope you enjoy your garden visit today AnnG. I don’t think I know that place so please tell us what you thought of it.

Love the cow Ann. How do you get the hairs on her face so realistic. I feel I want to give her a stroke.

Not another fall Frank. I hope you haven’t done much damage and will feel better after a good rest.

Island, you will never stop missing your little fella. 25 years on I still miss my old girl Tess. But the pain of losing them does ease and you just remember how many happy years you had together and be glad for those years <3

Mr Tesco should be here any time now so I’d better get the wipes and spray out ready. I’m going to be more selective this time and only wipe down stuff I’m going to be using in the next couple of days instead of wiping everything as I usually do.

Back now and all packed up for tomorrow. Marwood Hill garden was very good even if it was miles off the beaten track down single track roads with very few parking places. It is a private garden originally started by a plantsman. Not a lot of formal garden but lovely (steep) woodland walks with three lakes and a large bog garden. The camellias were finished and the hydrangeas not yet out but lots of box plants and rhododendrons, bluebells and wild garlic. Lots of trees including large Eucalyptus, Redwoods etc etc. The only problem there was the cafe was very small, ok when we first got there so we had a coffee on an outside table, there was only one inside that we could see, about six outside fir take away coffees. Lyn wanted a cream tea but when we got back at lunch time there were loads waiting fir tables. We ended up at the Old Station Inn again where she and Joe shared a cream tea and I had a lovely prawn sandwich. I couldn’t face a cream tea as that would have been T’s favourite. It was a good day out. Tonight we have a meal out at a local pub called The Pack if Cards.

O( I forgot to say belated birthday wishes to your oh and dil too Vera.

I have had a horrid morning. I did all the cobwebs in the bedroom and kitchen. It took me ages to half make the bed then It took me ages to get the bl**dy great cover on the silly little line, Also the rose bush incident and then blow me if I did'nt break my faries wing off that was the last straw. The good news is that I remembered in time that it was the library this morning and got 5 new talking books. I had to wait ages as it was one person in at a time and Les bless him took yonks.

Did lunch and have the blimmin HUGE cover to get onthe quilt now and then maybe I may get int he garden after putting the second wash of towels on the line.

Afternoon all, SORRY I haven't beed posting,but I am not feeling to good. Had a fall this morning, and shook me up.

Morning All,

Sunny here too but I do feel weary today. It must be the stuffy Midlands air.

Belated Happy Birthday to your OH and DIL Vera. I must say I sympathise with him as OH had a stiff neck before and while we were away and was fed up with it. Some ibuprofen did the trick once we were home.

Glad you like the cow, which turned out better than I thought it would in the end. :-)

Island I expect you are bound to come across things your little doggie left or hid that will be upsetting. They are signs and reminders of his happy times though. When I moved into my previous house, for years I would find bits of bone as I was digging that the previous owner's dog had buried.

Oh Mel, what a shame about your lovely rose. It was looking so healthy from what is left too. It can be soul destroying to see your hard work spoiled like that. I wouldn't have thought they would bother with roses and their thorns but the shoots are soft and tender I expect. It's a pity you couldn't fence to keep them out of some of your borders and save your plants. It must be like a posh restaurant to them with the variety of plants they like. You need OH and his digger to build a moat around your garden!! My runners didn't grow and I had to buy some plants and my Nasturtiums took ages to come up and I only have about half a dozen. I don't know if I said, but I sent off for some cue seeds yesterday and they should be here by Saturday.

I hope Lewis's test result comes today and that Mandy hears about her second jab and that her tum has settled down now.

I hope you enjoy Marwood Hill Garden today AnnG. It is a lovely day for it and maybe less strenuous than yesterday's garden.

OH said they sat apart at individual tables well spaced last night which is good and there was sanitiser on each table and everyone was masked.

Better look at how lunch is doing now. A strange mix today! Old potatoes used up as wedges with a garlic crumb on them, mediterranean roast veg, scampi and cauli cheese bakes.