General Chat

Ann if you keep on doing it and doing it it works ok. Have another go. They say when you get heavier you get more hard skin on your feet. Perhaps your needs new batteries? Don't press hard or it dos'nt work.

Evening All

Not on holiday yet Mandy..It is on Thursday we go :-D.. Ouch you and Frank have both been it the wars !!!!.What with all your fingers and mine !!!!.

Today we have all been to Althorp (Princess Diana's family estate).There was a Food and Drink Festival on.The weather was not great,chilly and a bit of light rain at times.But we had a lovely time .

Hannah and Gareth have just gone off to a friend's husbands 40th .No doubt they won't be home until the early hours. James has taken them and they will get a taxi back.
Just doing Burger and Chips for James and Scampi and chips for Chris and I.I don't really feel very hungry at all so will just have a little and then it is going to be an early night.I need to get these fingers all taped and creamed as they are getting really sore again now.

Gill,our garden is so dry too.Chris had the sprinkler on nearly all day yesterday ,plus the hose on the flowerbeds .It is getting a bit desperate now with lack of some decent rainfall.

Will say night night now .I hope we all have a good sleep tonight :-D

Mel, I got the knack of keeping the pressure off after a while, also to use an old toothbrush to clean the roller so it stays abrasive! ;-)

Thank you Mandy and yes I will send a pic of the jewellery when I finish it, also the necklace Gill. A friend has sent me a pattern to make nice beaded rope to hang a pendant on that I would also like to try, but in smaller beads to make a thinner rope. That is annoying Mandy when you cut yourself and it dries nicely and then you go and open it up again!! I've done that with paper cuts! When OH got home, he said the neighbour was there again and sweeping some of the bits up! We think he gets a bee in his bonnet about things. When he was sweeping all the drive the other day he told OH he was fed up of looking at it so decided to sweep it. (there were no weeds or anything on it that we could see, yet he's left the weeds in his gravel on the front) What a good idea to do a window box with herbs.......I'd like to see a pic of that if you take one!

When I saw the Cherry blossom out near here I thought about you and wondered if you missed your tree this year Frank. We are missing the nice pine trees at the end of the close now they are gone. Looking at a house isn't quite the same is it!

Well, OH said the painting exhibition might be on over the weekend so I checked and it is so I can go tomorrow. We go to the carvery near there on Sundays anyway so it won't mean an extra journey. It means OH will be with me though so I'll just have to ignore him if he starts saying 'look at this', 'did you notice that' too much! I think there's a craft thing at Misterton Hall tomorrow (I'd better check hadn't I ;-)) and we could perhaps pop in to that as well.

I hope your poor fingers are more comfy when you have creamed them Jane. I bet the trip to Althorp was interesting. It is a place we have in mind to visit some time in the future.

I think I'm ready for an early night now and OH wants to watch something we've recorded so night, night everyone........sleep tight!

Night night al those going to bed early.

All I have managed today is one lot of washing which dried ok and the lunch and then 18 more sausage rolls this afternoon and then the dinner. Now all my jobs are over and there's nothing on the tv I want to watch so I may watch something on catch up. I hav'nt seen Gardeners World yet and probably last weeks Countryfile.

Morning all,

We have some sunshine this morning but grey clouds in the sky too. I hope it stays like this today and we don't get that awful cold wind.

I think its up the border today if it stays ok as I really need to some weeds out and some things tied up or supported in some way.

Morning my girls, Evening to my Australian one too, xx


We still have this North Easterly breeze/wind, it seems to get right inside me, Yesterday I had the heating on and the Halogen heater, and I still felt cold.

I am going into the kitchen to prepare dinner for tonight, and get another COT.

We went to Althorp when Ros's dad was alive, soon after Di got killed. We enjoyed it then, but I don't think our legs would let us do it now.

Ann your neighbour sounds a bit weird , why would anyone sweep a road when tomorrow it will be just as bad. Sausage short of a BARBI. :LOL

Have just had a request from Val next door. Can we water her garden and pots when they go to St Ives next week. WHY they should ask I do not know, THEY NEVER WATER THEIR GARDEN WHEN THEY ARE THERE. Of course we will anyway. !!

Hope everyone enjoys their Sunday, and don't work to hard in the gardens, xx

Afternoon Everyone
It has been a lovely morning here and I think really warm. I think I will sit outside for lunch and get topped up with a daily dose of Vet D :-D
H &G are just having there lunch now and then will be off.

I have just ordered 6 pairs of black cotton gloves. I can't be doing with these white ones.They look so grubby all the time even after hey have been washed.

Just going to get a load in the washing machine.I need to keep on top of it now before we go away.

How funny your next doors asking you to water the plants Frank.As you say they don't bother normally.

I will BBL

Like they don't bother to mow their grass. How does Val seem these days Frank? You seemed to think she was going a bit doolally once before?

Afternoon all

Sunny again today after a cloudy day yesterday.

It sounds like you had a lovely time yesterday Jane, I was just saying to OH this morning that I might have a look online to see if there is anything interesting we can all go to in our area.

You never know Frank if you water their plants and they start looking better it might encourage them to water their own plants when they get back..........Oh is that a flying pig? LOL.... Miracles do happen sometimes though.

Your neighbour does sound a bit daft Ann, maybe he has OCD, it'll never stay clean though with all the lorries splashing muck all the time. Enjoy the painting exhibition today, lucky it was on over the weekend and that you're near the area anyway today.

I've been pottering around the back garden today. I needed to put some grass seed down where the old apple tree was taken out, but I was a bit disappointed with the seed as most of it was dust with just a tiny bit of seed in the pack so I'm not sure if any grass will grow. If it doesn't then when we cut the front lawn back into a circle I'll use the excess grass for the back garden. I've done that before and it worked although it's a bit of a job. I found some sweet pea seeds Sandra bought me for mothers day last year, so they've now been planted. We were so busy last year I'd completely forgotten about them, luckily the date on them was 2019

OH has painted the table and chairs, watered the new plants in the front garden and put some extra holes for drainage into the new pots we bought the other day ready for me to re-plant some of the pot plants that have grown out of their old pots. So we've been quite busy so far today. The dinner is on so I'm keeping an eye on that while Sandra is watching GHOST. I recorded it last night for her. I've seen it many times and have told Sandra about it, but she's never seen it. She's up to the part where he has just turned into a ghost after being killed in the street.

Better go and check the dinner, see you all later.

Afternoon all,

Lots of cloud today the sun keeps trying to peep through but there's to much cloud to see it for long ,the wind is quite strong too.

We're off to get some netting to stop Max getting the stones off the little walled gardens , the little devil keeps eating them , every time i let him out he makes a bee line for the gardens .

White is not the best of colours Jane the black should be better you should get a few wears from them before they need washing .

Thats what I thought Mandy. Black will not show the littlest f dirt which white one show the min you touch anything. Good thinking Jane.

Off out in the garden now as I have done a few jobs indoors and the sun is shining its head off and there's no wind so I am going to tie up the clematis, string the one by the gate down to the garden and then go up the border. Wish me luck that oh dos'nt want a coffee yet and I can get on. ;-)

They only sell white cotton gloves in the chemists so I am glad to have found the black ones now. Also if I needed to wear them outside they wont stand out as much as the white ones.
I am going to have a bath in a minute using that lovely Oilatum .I haven't been able to have one since H &G and James have been here all weekend and my skin needs a good soaking.

Have your hands cleared up completely now Mel ?

Naughty Max eating the stones. Some young dogs just love to do that but they can cause blockages in the gut/stomach. I think I might have said before that a Lady I knew had a Red Setter that ate so many it had to have a major op and its stomach was FULL of stones !!!

Gill I hope your grass seeds to grow.We are waiting to see new patches of grass which Chris has re seeded.It is all in the patches where he had to get the Moss out of the lawn.

I reckon H&G should be back in London now.Hannah was driving as I think Gareth might have had a bit of a hangover LOL. She brought back some big garden pots and garden tools that we had given her for the last house.But as there will be no garden in the new place she can't use them. She is hoping that she may be able to fit the Farmhouse table and 6 chairs in the new flat.We have had them in our garage now since she had her house in Market Harbourugh . But I have a feeling that the table is just going to be too long.It would be nice for her to actually have it back again and use it as it is really nice ,but just covered up here with loads of our stuff piled up on top !!

We should have gone to Althorp today as the weather is so much better than yesterday. Chris bought lots of Liquorice there.One very rich block of the stuff. I had some last night and oh my goodness what an effect it has had on me ! I have had to take an Immodium :-S... Chris on the other hand is still waiting for it to work. I really shouldn't have had any as I have no trouble 'going' so it serves me right. :-S

Good Afternoon Everyone

,I haven't been on here for a couple of days so I hope everyone is ok, I will try and get round to reading all the posts later.

Paul and the girls have just left, they had roast leg of lamb and all the usual veg plus Yorkshire puds. Paul usually comes back for tea but because it's his 51st birthday tomorrow so he's going round to Sam's and then onto her Mum's for tea. Tomorrow he's off to Cornwall for a couple of days to stay with Mark and his wife, Mark has been one of his friends for ages, he and his wife moved down there a couple of years ago it's near St Austell and she breeds collies..

Ruby is persisting on getting on my lap so bye for now

Evening All,

Good idea to prevent Max getting too obsessed with the stones Mandy. My word you never know what will come next with puppies do you!

I see you are giving up your Marcel Morceaux act with the white gloves Jane. The black will be much more practical as you say and you won't look as if you are about to start directing traffic!! :-) I wondered if those plastic finger stalls would be any good for keeping the cream on, especially at night, but maybe it is better to let the air get to your fingers.

We went to the art exhibition after lunch. Luckily for me they had a lift as it was upstairs. It was a bit tiny and antiquated though and had 2 sets of doors with the inside ones that folded. OH took one look (he hates lifts!) and headed for the stairs to meet me at the top. Some of the paintings were layered to give a 3D effect like decoupage and others had beads stuck on them. Most of the paintings were done in watercolour though which I have yet to try. There were also photos on display and some of those were really good. I must sharpen up my camera skills!! Then we went on to an arboretum that was open today at a school in Market Harborough. Imagine that in your school grounds! It had some interesting trees including a Japanese Foxglove tree and a Cork tree. Some of the trees were over 100 years old.

I'm envying Paul going off to Cornwall Anne! The hedgerows will be full of pretty bluebells and wild garlic. I have to wait till September now.

Gill your garden must be looking so different now after all the changes and now you are sprucing up your garden furniture too! I had to repot quite q few plants while we were redoing our garden but all of them have done well since. That grass seed doesn't sound very good so I hope enough germinates, but at least you can use some of the other turf you will remove if it doesn't.

Frank I can't believe your neighbour asking you to water their garden when they don't bother with it themselves? Maybe they think it will look as nice as yours when they get back!! lol. :-S

Well the neighbour next to us (with the dog) came to tell me she is having her drive and path around the side jet washed on Saturday so I can move my car well out of the way. I thanked her as she didn't used to tell me and I couldn't get the marks off my old car in the past and damaged the paintwork trying to shift them.

Well I'd better see if I can order some of the beads for this latest necklace.

Evening all from a very weary old man. After getting dinner ready, and Ros being out with Carolyn, I decided to get the new shelving down to the greenhouse. Once down there I had to clear the old unit and dismantle it, there was so much stuff on it it took ages. It's now in situ, and Ros has replaced all the plants on to it. The bottom shelve was full of plant pots, which are now in a bag. I have put a notice on the village site, so hopefully someone will want them, and take them away, otherwise they will go in the Bin.

I didn't come indoors until after 4.30 pm. After watering all the beds and patio pot. Dos watered the greenhouse. The new hose on the reel is leaking so I have that to sort out tomorrow. Would you believe all the connections for the hose were in a package at the bottom of the reel. I had to pull 50 metres of hose of the reel to get to them. How STUPID is that ???

Val has her good and bad days, with no help from Tony, she has more BAD days than GOOD. He sat outside this afternoon while she was on her knees trying to do a bit on the garden. LAZY SOD !!!!

Jane I think it's a good idea to have black gloved. They won't stand out as much as white. Can you not put loads of cream on your hands, then put your gloves on. You could then perhaps wrap them in a clean tea towel, to save it going everywhere.

Paul should enjoy his few days away if the weather stays like we have had today. I have been striped to the waist in shorts all day. Just going to get a shower and put my dressing gown on.

Ann, When Conrad and Jan have taken us to Portugal, we always eat at a restaurant that has CORK TREES. One year they had just been harvested, with the cork all stacked up ready to go the the factory.

Mandy I never had any trouble with my Labs eating strange things, I wonder why Max has got this habit, I hope he soon gets out of it, or he will be under the KNIFE again. !!!

I shall watch a bit of Tele, then have an early night. I need a good nights sleep <3 <3

Did'nt get up the border but had a good go on the front of the bungalow. It was a mass of moss and weeds and you could hardly see the stone paving at all. There was stinging nettles in the corner of the porch where the hardy fuschia is so they went for a start. I had'nt noticed just how bad it was and I walk past it twice a day at least to feed the chickens.

Ann our hedgerows are full of bluebells and hedge garlic and wild garlic and campion. I even have some campion down the bottom of the back garden by Prickley Hollow as I think it is so pretty I spread the seed about.

Did you manage to get the beads you wanted?

Yes I got the beads ordered Mel. Hopefully the colour combination will work ok as you never know quite how they will look! We have the red campion in our hedgerows but no garlic and only a few bluebells just in a few places. We have lots of that cow parsley? at the moment. I don't think it is Hemlock, but it's a wonder we didn't get poisoned as children as we were always cutting hollow stems from plants to try and make music pipes we could play!! I didn't know there were 2 wild garlics!

It must be very difficult to keep on top of the weeds in your big garden Mel, a bit like the Forth Bridge!

Off to bed now. OH has already gone as he has started a sore throat and cold so no kisses for him!!

We have the hedge garlic which is short and has leaves like a campanula and tiny white flowers like candy tuft and masses of the garlic you can eat in the garden but the season is not too long. We like the flowers of that in a salad and the leaves goes nice in a cream cheese or on new pots.

we also have cow parsley or cow mumble as I call it. We also have Hemlock which has black marks or dark purple marks up the stems.


we also have a funny garlic type chive that has the most beautiful seed heads of tiny bulbs. I shall have to send you some as the leaves come out before chives and they are good on new pots too.

We have the hedge garlic which is short and has leaves like a campanula and tiny white flowers like candy tuft and masses of the garlic you can eat in the garden but the season is not too long. We like the flowers of that in a salad and the leaves goes nice in a cream cheese or on new pots.

we also have cow parsley or cow mumble as I call it. We also have Hemlock which has black marks or dark purple marks up the stems.


we also have a crow garlic type chive that has the most beautiful seed heads of tiny bulbs. I shall have to send you some as the leaves come out before chives and they are good on new pots too.

If you put crow garlic in the search box you can see pictures of it and Jack in the Hedge.

Morning all,

Another bright and sunny day today and at the moment there's not a cloud in the sky, just blue forever.

Ann I love the copper beech leave, the first one where there are only a few and you can see the hairy edges and the flowres on the foxglove tree are a beautiful colour. I don't think I have ever heard of it before but you can see where it gets its name from.