General Chat

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.

Ah hat was disappointing, there I was thinking there was another epistle from Vera and it was a repeat. Wonder what caused that then Vera, how odd. Sorted now though.

Well that seemed to have worked out ok then Vera but I do think we may have all read it. Must have been a gremlin in the works.

I have picked 3 more toms today and 4 oz of short beans and three cues. Not up to Mandy's amount but I only have one cue plant. I have had 7 off it so far I think I ate three and BIL had one and the three I picked today and there's still one that needs picking really.I must take one up to Aaron as he came down at lunchtime and said he was going to cut more of the dead tree up up the top tomorrow. I did give him more eating apples as he said his little daughter enjoyed them.

I do not know what was wrong with that post. Knowing it was a long post I had typed it in Word and done a c&p. It wasn't as simple as resting my hand on the space bar Mel. I was on our main computer with a large keyboard and I am a touch typist (though a lot slower these days). It wouldn't have been easy to touch the space bar for it to create that much of a blank. However, I did waste an hour this morning trying to edit it out and nothing I did would get rid of the blank space. So.......I have deleted it but I will c&p it again in case anyone hasn't seen it and wonders what the ice cream queue was all about. Here goes:

Good evening all

Another stupid, sleepless night. I think my body has actually adjusted itself to sleeping from 5 to 8 am. As long as I can more or less function during the day I'll just have to put up with it.

I hope your telephone conversation with the rheumatologist was helpful Gwyn. Are you completely recovered from your pneumonia now?

I got two wash loads on the line and a third was in the machine when down came the rain so it was a race to get it back indoors again before it got drenched. The car was collected half an hour early. OH told the chap who was taking it to the workshop several miles away and also put a note in the car to say that we would like them to replace the driver's side wing mirror. We just hoped they wouldn't have to order one in from Sweden (the car is a Volvo). Apparently they rang late afternoon to say service and MOT were complete and all fine and they were getting a wing mirror in from another branch and it would be with them tomorrow. So we are hoping to get the car back late tomorrow.

Our handyman was unable to come to look at painting our fence and give us a quote as he had misunderstood what he could do after his mini stroke. Apparently he can drive from today but has to be accompanied. He reckons he'll be able to come to us in a week or so. So, yet another delay.

This afternoon my lift picked me up and we went for tea and scones to the friend who was 80 yesterday. There were about 15 of us there. As we arrived we met the birthday girl's closest friend on the doorstep and she asked us not to leave before 5 as she had arranged a surprise. She told us what it was and recruited us to try and quietly stop anyone else going before 5 without telling them why. My goodness it was windy in that garden. We had to take down the sunshades and parasols as it was getting dangerous but we only had some spitty, spotty rain so we stayed outside. We all started with a glass of fizz, with a choice of alcoholic or non-alcoholic, then lots of chat and laughter before helping ourselves to some really delicious scones with butter, jam and clotted cream, raspberries and strawberries, tea and coffee. More chat and just after 5 pm the dog barked and raced to the back gate - the surprise had arrived. Everyone was asked to step outside and there was a Mr Whippy ice cream van with a very jolly gentleman attendant. It caused a lot of laughter. Birthday girl was presented with a large tub of soft ice cream with 4 candles stuck in it and a magnum type ice to put in her freezer for later in the evening. Then we all got to choose anything we fancied I just had a small cone . I laughed at the expressions on the faces of a few passers by when they realised the van was surrounded by all these elderly people with not a child in sight.

I got back just after 6 pm and I was very glad I had prepared a chicken salad before I went out. Tomorrow's another busy day as I must do some h/w and I have a Tesco delivery. Then friends are coming in the afternoon for a cuppa.

Fingers crossed for a good night for all of us so that we all wake up bright eyed and bushy tailed

Shopping came and I ordered the three snack boxes as they are ideal for puting overs in. They came but with only one lid for the three boxes. What a bl**dy nuisance.

Morning girls,

What a great afternoon Vera had yesterday it sounded really good with the icecream wagon coming and the ladies all queing up. I think Vera must have put her hand on the space bar and thats why the post came out with a long blank bit but if she could go back and edit the post it should be ok.

Shopping comes today and I woke late so I am all behind. I was up at 5.25 for the loo and went back to bed and fell asleep again till just past 9am.

Could have trying to find the end of the Mr whippy queue :-D

must have been something in the ice cream Mandy

Morning all,

Suns shining but it's still quite windy .

Well I honestly thought I had posted yesterday , I wondered what was going on after Vera's post such a long blank bit wonder why that was .
That must have been fun having the ice cream van turn up ,I haven't a Mr whippy for years ,loved them with the flakes in , I bet everyone wondered what the queue was all about with the ladies all waiting giggling and laughing.

Good morning all. 13 degrees and sunny and the wind has dropped. slept ok, still got up 3 times but sometimes I think I don;t really need the loo my brain just thinks my legs need a walk,

I don't know what has happened to the thread as I only get blank pages after Vera's nice long post. the afternoon 'party' sounds to have been a success Vera and the ice cream van will have been a great surprise. :-D

The rest of the thread seems ok just this huge gap after Vera's post. hopefully it will adjust itself.

No everywhere is just the same as it was this morning as I got sidetracked on minitures and the dust will still be there tomorrow even if it is a bit thicker. I did take the bin up for recycling this morning but I hav'nt even fetched that in yet. Its good they have halved oh's statin what was his reading for his colesterol?

I am about to do a meal for one beef stew and dumplings with broccoli.