General Chat

Like Mandy we had a heck of a storm in the early hours. It started with rain at about 11 pm, that eased off a bit and then the storm proper started just after midnight and seemed to go on forever. I suppose the worst of it lasted about an hour but we were still getting odd little rumbles of thunder at 3 am. I thought it would clear the air a bit but it seemed as hot and sticky as ever so, needless to say, I didn’t get much sleep and got up at 7.30 am feeling very grumpy.

The coffee morning went well. This group is like any group of people AnnG; there are some who will always help and make an effort and others who just come along and don’t do anything, but that’s OK as long as they spend some money and swell our funds for speakers etc. Whoever hosts it usually provides the tea, coffee, milk etc though they can be reimbursed if they wish. This time plenty of people took cakes, plants, books and raffle prizes. It would be easier to just put our fees up but then some people would probably drop out whereas they will happily spend their money if they are getting a nice few hours out. As well as Club members the hostess invited several of her neighbours who were happy to come and swell our coffers as well. We got there at 10.30 and left at 2 pm and there were still a few people there. We got 2 prizes in the raffle – a very good bottle of port which pleased OH and a small book of country and coastal walks in Norfolk. It’s a nice little book but I think our days of going to another county and walking for several miles are over now.

I was quite tired when we got back so I haven’t done much this afternoon apart from preparing and cooking our evening meal. It has been very hot again and at the moment my bedroom is like an oven so I think it will be a restless night. I just walked around outside and it’s a comfortable temperature in the garden. I could do with a bed out there.

I see that some of you have been busy in the garden. Mandy I hope you haven’t strained anything in your side. It’s so easy to do when you’re stretching. It’s good that your knee is a bit easier. Do you think your aches and pains are down to the strawberries Mel or perhaps you have been doing a bit too much in your garden? I hope you both recover from all the aches very soon.

Fingers crossed that it is third time lucky with the medicine cabinet Annx. I hope the physio is helping OH with his neck pain. I moan and grumble about my aches and pains but it must be awful to be in so much pain all the time. My OH finishes using the cataract drops tonight and next Saturday he has his post-op tests at Specsavers. His distance sight is so much better that I think he may only need to have some reading glasses.

I am now going to make some overnight oats for my breakfast and then have a quick read of the paper before taking my book to bed. Stay cool and sleep well everyone.

Mel hope your aches and pains are better now ,oh to many strawberries can upset your tummy .

Ann Max really doesn't take any notice of thunder and lightning which is good ,our dog Bonnie really hated a storm and would hide in the corner and shake bless her .
Well I got some cutting back done and cut the grass ,the roses are really turning brown I cut as many as I could but it's such a job you think you've cut most out but when you stand back there's loads more you've missed.,the bin is three quarters filled now and it goes out tomorrow for Monday emptying.

Knee hasn't been to bad today I do think the ice pack has helped but tonight the muscles in my side feels a bit tender with all the stretching to cut the bits back so Colin rubbed some volterol on for me so I hope we can nip it in the bud before it gets bad .
Suns shining now its a lovely evening .

Oh I meant to say Jake managed to book his driving test for....... ...... November !! They said there was a long wait and they were right .

I spent half an hour cutting off all the now dead rambling roses clusters
And then cutting back a honey suckle that Jake had reduced to a trunk in the spring it seems determined to grow but I would rather it didn’t

Still a lot to do out there but the bin is three quarters full and it is another week before it is emptied.

Afternoon All,

Mixed weather here with a very overcast sky and breeze, but now it is blue sky mainly and still some breeze which is very welcome even though it is warm breeze. We popped to the shop after I had watered the pots and grabbed a few more handfuls of weeds, particularly with any showing a flower to turn to seed. With the neglect it got last year the garden is full of weed seeds waiting to sprout so I don't want there to be more still next year.

I have now ordered medical cabinet No. 3 and this will match the mirrored cabinet being all stainless steel. As this one is taller, I could get a narrower one and it will leave some extra leeway in the space behind the door. It is a little deeper which means my meds/paracetomol/antihistamines etc will fit with the ends and expiry dates showing which I like to do. Fingers crossed it will be ok! :-S We decided to leave going to the Post Office with the parcel till Monday as we realised Saturday is not good for parking. OH has sorted some books for the charity shop and I have some things to take as well and we can drop those off at the same time. OH has been for his physio session on his neck.

Mel I always leave a few of the self set Foxgloves. We seem to have a few white ones as well as the mauve. They are such unusual flowers aren't they and it's lovely to watch the bees scrambling inside. That's a nuisance the trailer is stuck and needs clearing out. I was stupid yesterday and left the garden bin lid open, so we were lucky we avoided the rain last night, although it would have helped the garden.

AnnG I spoke too soon about the slugs and Hostas as I notice one of the potted ones has some holes in the leaves this morning. Speaking of which I wonder if anyone saw the fascinating bit about snails that Chris packham was telling us and showing a video of a few nights ago. I remembered they were hermaphrodite so each being male and female, but apparently they have sword darts they use to fight each other with to decide which would be the male and which would be the female when they mate. Afterwards the sword darts are lost being no more use. I see you are on watering duty too now. OH never thought to ask our neighbour how long she was away for, so we'll just have to keep an eye on the cars in her drive till they move.

I hope Vera managed to find some cake at Sainsbury's to take today. I hope they do well with what they sell as well. The orange cake should be nice in a trifle and a useful standby.

Mandy you had quite a downpour last night. I thought it might miss you being as it missed us. I hate the thunder and lightning when it's bad. Does it bother Max? I remember Jane used to go downstairs and sit with Chester. It's good the garden got watered and that your baby runners weren't knocked off the plants. Good luck with the deadheading of the rose. It sounds like a big job with all the lovely flowers it has.

Morning girls,

Dull and rainy here this morning and its 15 degrees and pc says partly sunny so lets hope its right.

For some unknown reason I have woken up with aches and pains. I suppose it could have been the BIG bowl of Strawberries last night. I did'nt save any I was a pig and ate the lot all 4 oz of them.

Did you all sleep well?

Just the shop to do this morning then perhaps if it dries up a bit I can do a little fiddleing in the hsed. I have some repotting to do and a wheelbarrow full of road sweepings that also full of ater and has a flat tyre so I can't move it. It will have to be dug ou9t quite a bit beforehand. I was going to dump it along the side of the sunflower workshop and plant more things there. The foxgloves have been good planted along there and the bees love them. Wherever a foxglove comes up I leave them, I even have them in the road down to my shed.

Hope you find a nice cake for the do today Vera andI wish you many raffle prizes. Have a great day.

Morning Anng ,morning all,

Very overcast this morning and we had quite a storm in the early hours ,some very loud claps of thunder and the lightning seemed to be all round ,it lasted a good three quarter of an hour ,heavy rain too so that will fill the water butts .

Ann I'm glad OH got home OK it must have been a worry ,he won't do that again ,years ago you never bothered about going out and not having a phone you relied on the phone boxes .

Vera it's disappointing when the cake doesn't turn out as you hoped and after spending time doing it too ,hope you can find something in the shop to take ,you have a nice selection of things to take with you.

Anng you have a lot to water with cynths then as well as your own so you could do with some nice rain .

Mel that was good of bil to stock you up with bits for the birds and if Robbie has more young you'll need it .

I noticed we have quite a few tiny runners appearing I was hoping the heavy rain wouldn't knock them or the flowers off but I looked this morning and they seem OK.
Really need to do a bit in the front garden a bit of dead heading on the white rose which is hard as there's so many flowers on a stem and the grass needs cutting but it's a bit wet to do that until later , really looks like it could rain now its gone very dark.

Good morning all, a few spots of rain but I don't think it will come to anything. Pity as i now have cynths pots and baskets to water for 8 days.

Pleased OH got home with no problems Ann. When I am going somewhere the following day, I always sort my stuff ready to take, the previus day/evening. As we get older ourmemory takes a bit longer to 'kick in'.

Vera I am sure the orange flavoured cake will be very nice as a base for a trifle. Does everyone take as much as you do for the various stalls? Hope it goes well anyway.

Nothing at all planned for today so a bit of gardening if dry and a bit of working through 'the list' if indoors.

Feeling a bit vulnerable now with Mac's house now empty and Cynths now empty for eight days. It used to be great from the time we moved here until a couple of years ago. that was when the ones who had young families when we moved in, one by one decided to downsize and move. Now all the 'new' people have young families or no families and are of a generation who seem intent on keeping themselves to themselves. Very pleasant if you come face to face but otherwise not seen. Sixteen houses in this cul de sac and only nine occupied by people who have lived here 30 years.

I'm please oh got home safely Annx we rely on our phones so much now and I always feel lost without mine if I forget it or panic if I can't find it. Its a good idea to lay all the things he needs out before a trip even to footy.

Not done much this afternoon just watched a bit of you tube. It has rained all afternoon so I did'nt feel like doing anything after being out all day yesterday and the house needs a clean and the spiders need sucking up with their webs. The only good thing about a rainy day is you don't get the flies about.

I think Robby is feeding another nest of chicks as I see him go to the Acers over by my pond and today two robins flew from there both with poo sacks which they wiped on the big Ash tree. Iv'e not seen any of the young Robins from the first brood about in the garden though.

Hope you all have a good night sleep tonight and sending wishes to Gwyn.

I'm glad OH arrived safely home Annx. The cake is now in the freezer and will end up as the basis of a trifle at some time. It's orange flavoured so should be OK in a trifle. I think I've found out why it didn't rise properly. It's made with SR Flour and a couple of spoons of baking powder. It suddenly occurred to me to look at the baking powder and sure enough it was well out of date. I suppose it's like yeast and, once out of date, loses its oomph. I had a look at cakes in my freezer and I could take a box of jam tarts and a swiss roll but they don't look very special so I'll pick something up at Sainsbury's on the way.

I've found a couple of books that can go on the book stall. I've only got one plant for the plant stall - a nice viburnum - and I felt bad about that so had a think. I've got more daffodil bulbs than I want now as they have expanded a lot over the last few years so I have made up some packs of bulbs. I'm giving them Dutch Master and Silver Standard as I have plenty of them. I've also got a nice solar wall light to donate as a raffle prize and a neighbour who is unable to go has given me a bottle of fizz to put in as a raffle prize as well..

No thunderstorms so far but the air is "heavy" and it's still very hot. I think I'll have a cool wash and sit up in bed with the fan blowing on me. I'll read or watch something on iPlayer.

Yes he's home now AnnG and really annoyed with himself as it's so important to have his mobile with him now. He usually switches his mobile on as soon as he gets in his car to go, so would have realised, but in case this meeting was cancelled he switched it on when he got up and left his phone on the bedside drawers. I didn't say much other than suggest that he lays out on the table all he needs to take with him each time before he goes out as he needs his spray and painkillers with him now. He did take water with him and he managed to buy a chicken sandwich to eat in a break they had. He said it was an absolutely awful journey back with the traffic, jams everywhere. He said the meeting could have been dealt with in a third of the time.

Yes it is hot now and looking at the forecast for next week it still looks hot round these parts. I have done a bit of watering of the other pots from the water butts and will do those that are in the sun now later on. I find the heat very tiring and slept with just a sheet over me last night. I think I will get up early again tomorrow and do a bit out there again before it gets hot.

Just seen your post Vera and 27 degrees is very hot, let alone feeling even hotter, I would be wilting! What a shame about your cake. Will you be able to have it as a pudding with custard or maybe use it in a trifle? I have lots of Antirrhinum seedlings in the gravel I've not got round to planting yet, but I think some will have rooted too strongly to get them out without losing their roots now. The self set ones can turn out to be some horrid colours too! I see the horse is a youngster then so she's going to have fun training unless it has already been got used to most things including traffic.

It’s 27 degs and feeling like 32 and we are on an amber warning for storms from 7 pm on. I did an hour in the garden this morning but was back indoors by 11 am as it was getting too hot for me. OH planted out some seedlings of antirrhinums that I had grown but they are still tiny so they probably won’t come to much. I’ve made a cake but still have to ice it but I am wondering whether to bother as it’s not risen much. I have only made it once before and that was years ago so I made sure I weighed and double checked the ingredients and I measured the cake tin to make sure it was the right size but something seems to have gone wrong. I think I’ll be making a quick trip to Sainsbury’s in the morning to buy a cake.

It is annoying when our men leave their phones behind but try not to worry Annx. I know that’s easier said than done but people are generally kind and if OH is in trouble someone will lend him a phone and will help him. I haven’t seen many ladybirds so far this year, or aphids, but there seem to be plenty of snails around.

Granddaughter has promised to send a picture of her horse. All I know is that she is 3 years old and has never been ridden.

I am feeling very tired. At the moment I am sitting on the bed with a fan in front of me and could happily stay here but I had better go and prepare some dinner. Sleep well tonight everyone.

It is 25 degrees here now and I went out to tie something up and decided not to stay out there as it is too hot. I slept really well last night but this heat makes me feel tired.
That is a worry ann, your OH forgetting his phone, hard to imagine how he managed to do that when goig somewhere on business. Hope he gets home safely and sooner than you think.

I have not seen many ladybirds at all so that could explain the aphids. It is the first time for ages that I have seen so much destruction by aphids. My hostas are ok so far too, all in pots.

It's strange how things are in different places as I haven't seen any aphids here yet this year. Our Hostas haven't been touched by slugs and snails yet either, which must be a first. I have seen more Ladybirds and also their larvae though, so maybe they ate them all. A lot of Buddleias are very vigorous and we had to cut one right back that OH had in his previous garden. It was planted by the builder in such poor soil, but soon outgrew it's space and was huge as OH had never cut it back and it took us all morning to cut it down to a maneagable size again.

It's feeling hot here and says 24 degrees so I'd better get a cold drink from the fridge. I haven't been able to settle to anything much today as OH contacted me from the meeting he's gone to 30 miles away on an ipad of someone else's to say he'd forgot his mobile!! I'm not very pleased as he can't contact me or ring 999 if he needed to or the breakdown people if anything happened with his car. He also said before he went that he had no idea when he would be back and is likely to be delayed with traffic with it being a Friday, so I don't even know roughly when to expect him. I doubt he's eaten anything either and didn't take anything with him like we decided he should when he's out for hours.

BIL has gone as he has broken the handle on the collecter after I asked him to drop me a bit for the chickens. I meant for him to empty it on the side over the nettles but he did'nt understand what I meant. Its raining now anyway so he has gone off to do his washing and get everything ready to go to a wedding tomorrow in Birmingham which he is not looking forward too.

I had strimmed the back garden down to Prickerly Bottom so he could pick it all up when he mowed but he did'nt get that far.

Gosh Vera I laughed at your granddaughter saying she had had a “quarter life crisis”.
Bless her. Does that mean I have a three quarter life crisis and one year??

BIL did'nt even notice the trees down at the front or that I had washed the patio and decking. He did bring me 4 boxes of fat balls, a small bag of peanutes and seed and sunflower seed all of which I did'nt need and he bought me a fat ball holder that takes about 4 balls but its squirrel proof. I thought I was getting some room back in the lounge where I keep the fat balls and birds seed which is'nt as far away as the uti room for a quick pick up as I feed the chickens but now I am back to a huge pile of boxes of fat balls. Never mind I am now well equiped to keep them all well fed.

Could morning all. I seem to have wasted away the morning so far reading theMail on line and neglrcting all the jobs inside and out that need doing. And now it is coffee time so I shall get going after that.

Vera that was a lovely long read. A pity about the traffic, on days out you can well do without being stuck in the coach extra time.Still it was good to have lunch organised and waiting for you when you got there.
I am cutting the Buddleijas down and then will cut them right down as usual next spring. If they then have the same problem they can all come out. I think it might have been the weather pattern that caused it with no rain to wash off the aphids when we didn't have any real rain for about 6 weeks. Several people at the garden meeting have had similar problems with other shrubs and apple trees.

Morning All,

I was up early to go in the garden before it gets hot and have planted three pots with geraniums and added bacopa in the bigger pot. I pulled weeds as I walked around and cleared some weeds where I want to plant more Marigolds and have had enough now and come in for a COC and sit down before I shower.

Oh Vera I feel for you! A beading friend used to go to antique fairs at Lamport Hall and said how nice it was. Travel is becoming a nightmare these days with traffic and roadworks, but your meal sounded nice. We don't have the banking app either as we don't like the idea of banking on our mobiles. With all the branch closures still going on I wonder how long it will be before the one I went to the other will close. It's a worrying time for their staff too. When we called in the big Co-op yesterday, the lady in the kiosk called us over to pay with her instead of at the self serve we were about to start. She said 'it will help save our jobs!' As for your prescriptions, can you order them with your NHS app? We registered with our doctor's website at the surgery and with systemonline on there and can order our repeat prescriptions and for one off ones on their website. We nominated which pharmacy we wanted and we just then collect our meds after a few days. Sorry if you are already set up for this.

That's good you were able to contact your OH's eye clinic and that they have been able to sort something for him. With the NHS clinic OH couldn't even get them to answer the phone a few months ago and we had to keep visiting instead.

I think it's wonderful your granddaughter has got a horse! I don't know how I would have coped as a teenager without mine as he was an excuse to be able to go out! When I was aged 15 my parents moved to a house in a group of 6 with fields all around them and a ten minute walk each way to the next villages and no street lights, so I was very isolated and miles from my friends. Horses are good for destressing and giving a hug to when you have parents who never did and I always felt safer on a horse than I did walking on lonely lanes. I think mine taught me to enjoy the moment like he did instead of worrying all the time. I hope she sends you a photo we may be able to see.

The sun's gone in now and the breeze has got up. OH has gone to a council meeting at Melton Mowbray and went early expecting traffic holdups. I'd better get showered next.

Morning all,

Today would have been my mums 101 birthday.

Its better than it was yesterday with sunshine and its 16 degrees.

BIL just pulledup outside so I better unlock the back door.

Here we go with part 2. I am going to try and give you a brief outline without all the tedious detail. Brief??? I don’t think the words Vera and Brief have ever met, lol.

On Sunday OH had some problems with the first eye that had the cataract removed. So Monday morning it was a phone call to the clinic. They were able to reassure him and sort out some other drops for him and it’s been OK since but it was worrying for a while.

Monday night I barely slept and got up feeling quite ill but knew I had to get into town. I must have looked ill as OH decided to come with me so I didn’t need to drive. We carried a heavy sack of books and clothes to a charity shop, then went on to the bank. Walked in to be faced with a large notice saying our branch is closing at the end of September. We are not happy. We do a lot of banking online but only on our PC. I told the chap serving us that I won’t have a banking app on my phone. Apparently I have a choice. I can do some things at the local post office (which is the end of the counter at a small local Morrisons) or spend a lot of time driving many miles to one of the major towns and pay a fortune in parking fees. Hey ho……

Next to the Pharmacy. On my repeat prescription I have 4 things that come automatically and 1 that I have to order when I’m running low. I only take that one when needed so never know how long a pack is going to last. Never been a problem before but now the assistant said they are no longer allowed to order for a patient. I have to do it myself by dropping the script in at the surgery. They said the GP Surgery had brought this new system in. The surgery is a longish walk from the pharmacy and it was a hot, sticky morning but we trudged down. Rather than just drop the script in the box I took it to the in house dispensary. The dispenser was amazed and knew nothing of this and said the pharmacy could have ordered them for me as usual. Talk about left hand not knowing what right hand is doing.

It didn’t get better. The machine in Waitrose refused my credit card for no apparent reason and I had to scrabble around to find enough cash in my purse. That was embarrassing with a queue behind me. Went to Roy’s and they didn’t have what I wanted. Eventually got home still feeling ill and with a stinking headache as well by now. I was glad to have OH to do the driving as I’m not sure how safe I would have been at the wheel.

I then spent the afternoon ironing, having a shower and hairwash and getting our bits and bobs ready to go out on Wednesday.

Yesterday we were up early and I got some food and drink ready. Even though we usually buy a lunch I always take stuff with me since the time we were held up for hours and then were forced to stop at a service station as the driver had passed his allotted time for a break. We left home just after 8 am, drove into town, parked and walked across the road to the bus station where our coach was. We left sharp on 8.30 am and should have been there about 10.30. Unfortunately there had been an incident which resulted in the closure of a long, long stretch of the A14 and our driver had to find a totally different way to Lamport Hall. He did brilliantly but it added an hour and a half to our journey and we didn’t arrive till noon. I won’t go in to the other problems there were getting in to the place but the whole thing was turning into a joke.

When booking we had the chance to preorder a light lunch and about a dozen, us included, did that. They were all boxed up and marked with our names so we just had to pick them up. We had cheese and ham quiche and salad. The box looked fairly small but when we opened it there was a lot of salad, a little pot of coleslaw and a decent wedge of quiche, all for £7.50. They also laid out tea and coffee for us to help ourselves at no extra cost.

Apart from our coach there couldn’t have been more than 12-15 cars parked there so it wasn’t crowded anywhere. It’s not a huge place and we just wandered around at our own pace. Each room had excellent guides to answer questions or just entertain us with stories about the house or people who lived there. The gardens, I think, only stretch to about 10 acres but plenty to see and the walled garden is the largest in England. All in all, it was a very enjoyable visit. We left at 4.30 pm and the driver told us the A14 had reopened so it only took just under 2 hours back. There’s always a raffle on these trips and we won a bottle of wine.

Today we’ve been to our usual Thursday coffee and I’ve had a Tesco delivery but don’t seem to have done much else. Tomorrow I’ve got to make a cake for our Club fundraiser on Saturday and see what I can find for the plant stall and book stall and as a raffle prize.

Today is another granddaughter’s birthday. She is 25. Would you believe she has bought a horse which is being delivered to her tomorrow? She made me laugh when she texted me and told me she had had a “quarter life crisis”.

Well, you are now thinking you’re glad I decided to be brief. How long would this have been otherwise? It feels as though it will be a hot night. I hope everyone sleeps well.

Hallo everyone
I am going to attempt to do a post about what I have been up to for the last couple of days without writing a book.

First, AnnG my buddleias had the leaf problem last year. Mine were mini ones in half barrels but nothing I did seemed to help so we disposed of them. I had given a cutting of a red one to a friend and that was in a large pot and got the same disease. She simply cut the whole thing down to soil level and left it. This year it’s doing brilliantly. If yours are very big it will be difficult for you to try cutting them right down. Could you take a small piece into a garden centre and ask their advice? It sounds as though you had a lovely time at Prinknash.

I hope you managed to get round the shops today Mandy and the knee held up. I’ve heard the ice packs are very good though I haven’t tried them myself.

I’m glad you got your gun and fishing tackle sorted out Mel. It sounds like a reasonable offer for the fishing gear and I think I would have taken it too. Have your trees come down yet?

Oh dear Annx, another medical cabinet to return. This is the trouble with online shopping, you are never sure whether you are going to get the right thing. I hope the extra painkillers and the ibuprofen gel help with OH’s pain. You are doing well in your efforts to water your neighbour’s plants over the fence but make sure neither of you stretch too far or reach awkwardly. Trying to find a way to keep your emails out of spam I couldn’t find anything that said something on the lines of add to safe sender list but I found a junk button on the ribbon bar at the top so clicked on that and it came up with various options including Never block this sender. Clicked on that and the pc then told me you had been added to my safe sender list. We’ll see whether it works when you next send an email. Re. the work on the house – it is due to start on Monday and so far we have had no phone calls or emails to say it’s got to be put off again so fingers crossed.

I hope you are continuing to make a steady recovery Gwyn.

I’ve written a fair bit and haven’t yet started on what I have been doing. I don’t want to lose this so I think I’ll post it now and then follow with another post.