General Chat

Have you got a good tan yet AnnG? I’m not so much brown as rusty! It’s been raining on and off all day. I did all the washing this morning and between showers I walked round and looked at the plants we’ve lost. There are lots of them and will cost a lot to replace. I think it’s been a combination of factors. For a couple of months before Christmas we had endless rain so everything got waterlogged, then it was too dry and we had several heavy frosts.

At the moment I feel very uncomfortable as my back started paining me again this morning for no apparent reason. I’ve got a heat pad on and am currently propped up on the bed against the pillows and with a hot water bottle to cuddle but I’m finding it hard to keep still for more than a few seconds. I might lay down and try to sleep for a while so I’ll wish you all an early night night.

sun shining now and 7 degrees. I had better get the sun cream out!!!

Good morning all

6 degrees? That’s almost a heatwave, lol. It’s 2 degrees here but apparently it feels like -2. It’s also raining. I’m not getting any exercise at the moment so had planned to walk to the Co-op and back as I wanted to stock up on a couple of bits they have on offer but I’m thinking twice about that now.

Better get some washing on as the laundry basket’s overflowing again.

good morning all 6 degrees and grey again. Hopefully the window cleaners will be here today. Had to chase them up as we have not seen them since November. It is quite a big firm and was very reliable until the end of last year. I think the problem is they also do corporate cleaning and I think residential cleaning suffers. so we shall see.

Gill, they probably are crocus as I assume you would be able to see them better if they were daffodils. I still think that with your garden sounding to be quite long, when you start on it, it would be a good idea to create a 'break/division either a third or half the way down to the end, either with trellis or a row of plants across so that you only work on part at a time. Maybe clear the whole and tidy it first though. As it is a big garden a couple of Buddleias would be good to attract the butterflies. maybe Hydrangeas or Rhododendrons. But a lot depends on what soil you have and whether the garden is open on the boundaries and therefore has wind breaks.

Morning All,

A bit brighter here this morning and it saying 6 degrees on the pc but cloudy.

Need to get up the post van again this morning with two more parcels to post.

Your dinner you used to have sounds like ours when I was a child. Did any of you have boiled beef and carrots? with peas pudding? We did and I loved it. We did'nt have it very often but it was a treat when we did. Always a roast on a Sunday like Anng said either beef, pork, or lamb and Monday usually cold meat and mash, peas and pickles.

Thanks everyone for your kind words, OH never really suffers but this time he'd had a chest infection and wasn't quite over it so I think that's why he was worse. Luckily I've never had it which I'm surprised about with being around OH both times, but I'm not complaining.

No AnnG we haven't got any snowdrops but I think we have some yellow crocuses down the bottom of the garden, well, there's yellow flowers down there and they look lovely. It's still a bit to wet to get down there to have a proper look but they look like crocuses.

I was wondering if any of you could recommend some flowers I could put in the garden, we're after large ones, both tall and bushy that come up every year. With the garden being so big we'd like something we can see from afar. I took some large daisy type flowers out of the garden last year and put them into a pot as they were in the wrong place, so if they come back I'll plant them in the garden, but I'm not very good at planning gardens so any suggestions on big flowers would be a great help.

We brought a few evergreens with us from our old place and one or two small plants but they'd be lost in the back garden so they'll probably go in the front as that garden is a lot smaller.

Love the photo's you've sent.

Oh Sandra's just rang me so I'll have to go.

My Mum used to cook boiled gammon to serve with mashed potatoes and cauliflower with white sauce in the 50s. Sunday was always roadt lamb, beef or pork plus roast potatoes and two veg such as peas and cabbage or runner bean and cauliflower. Other meals were steak and kindhearted pudding or pie always potato in one for. Or other or liver bacon and onions or maybe pigs fry in a casserole. She was a good plain cook. Never cooked mushrooms. Or curry, never rice with meat. Rice was pudding.

Mandy, thank you for the pictures of the dog and elephant. They are so cute. I love the elephant’s ballet shoes and the dog looks a cheeky fellow. I can just imagine him chatting up all the lady dogs. You are very talented. You mentioned you hadn’t been to Aldeburgh. We’ve been several times and like it there. It’s the place with Maggi Hambling’s “Scallop” sculpture on the beach. It’s a real Marmite piece, people love it or hate it. I love it (and I loathe Marmite).

I googled coprosma AnnG. It looks an attractive plant. I wondered whether we could replace our apparently dead hebes with it but it grows taller than we want. You got your food delivery early in the end didn’t you.

I hope bil can get your mowers sorted fairly quickly Mel. It won’t be long before the grass needs cutting and you have such a lot of it, you’ll be needing those mowers.

We had a bit of a disturbed night last night as an ambulance arrived to whizz our next door neighbour into hospital again. Poor man, he’s in and out like a fiddler’s elbow. It’s such a worry for his wife whose own health isn’t good. Usually he is in for a week or more each time but she rang me a little while ago to say the doctors had stabilised him and he was coming home and transport was being provided for him. She doesn’t drive so normally has to rely on friends or expensive taxis and it’s a 40 mile round trip.

On the “what we remember from childhood theme”, eating our Sunday dinner OH and I were saying how our mothers would have been horrified by our meal. Dinners were pretty much always meat, potatoes and a veg. I had done roast gammon which was unknown in our homes. It was boiled ham for salad and sandwiches on special occasions. I had also done a large tray of roast veg - baby potatoes, carrots, leeks, peppers and beetroot. Baby potatoes weren’t available, only new pots in summer, and they certainly wouldn’t have been cooked with skins on. Carrots, along with onions and parsnips, were for stews and casseroles. Neither of our mothers ever bought leeks and I don’t think peppers were readily available. As for roasted beetroot......shock! horror! Beetroot was for dousing with vinegar and having with salad. How times have changed.

I was pleased as, with a bit of shelf jiggling and careful timing, I managed to cook the meat, all the veg and a gingerbread loaf at the same time so not too expensive on fuel.

Ambulance has just arrived outside. Our neighbour must be home.

Can't make up my mind whether to order oil or not. I can't remember how much the tank holds but think it is 1500 litres. I have just dipped it and its just about a third left in there. If I can wait till next month it maybe cheaper?????

Afternoon All,

Got up at 7.15 for the loo and went back to be as the heating was'nt on till 8am, fatal woke again at 10.38am to a nice warm house. This put me all behind and I wanted to do so much today too as BIL was'nt coming.

He bought the bits for the mower so I did'nt have to pay for bits he could'nt use. Of course I give him lunch when he works so hard on the mowers or the grass. Its only a couple of sandwiches or bacon and egg or something like that. He drives 25 miles to me to help so its only fair I feed him while he's here.

I too lost my geraniums in the shed even though I brought them into the lounge after the first frost. I have also lost oh's money tree which was so big to get into the lounge by the patio doors where it usually sits for the winter, BIL put it in my shed and I covered it with fleece. There are still a few green bit under it so it may have had babies which I can resuce.

Mandy your knitting is superb and I love all the new ones. I have replied to your email with te pictures. You be careful if you have to go out in the snow if you get it you don't want to be falling over again and injuring yourself.

Yes its good to hear from Gill and I suppose hubby getting covid again from work isn't unusual with the visitors comeing to see their rellies etc. but they should be keeping the place well disinfected with vunerable people in there and for the staff that look after them.

Well I think I will have a couple of nice new laid boiled eggs for lunch today, I just fancy those.

And anyway the order arrives at 11.20 because the driver rushed so as to not be late. Nice young man.

Morning all,

Very dull and cold here nothing planned for today just keeping in the warm.

Gill sorry to hear your OH got covid again, so that twice then ,how lucky were you not to get it ,I hope he's feeling better now .

Mel hope your bil can sort out the mower for you the lawns won't be long before they'll need cutting again ,I heard the chap cutting the churchyard on Friday, I don't think they usually start cutting this early so it must be growing well.

Anng I see you've been getting a few plants ready for your garden ,that was good tesco let you know about your order being a little late you'd have been wondering where it was .

Vera I meant to say that will be lovely to be by the sea for your wedding anniversary, don't think we've ever been to Alburgh but my friend use to stay in a hotel there overlooking the sea they use to love going .
Poor old pigeon bet he had a sore head after ,it must have quite a wallop to leave a mark on the glass.

Better get a coffee now ,I've just had a hoover though as tomorrow I have my tablet review mid morning ,I'm hoping the snow won't be here so I can walk to the surgery, I think they said if we're going to get any it will be about Tuesday.

Just had a message from tesco

Hi Ann,

We're contacting you with an update about your Tesco grocery order.

We're sorry to advise that your driver is running late due to technical issues at the store. We expect your order to be with you by 12:15.

The best way to get order updates, like if there's any delays, is by adding a mobile phone number to your delivery address. You can do this by following the steps below:

Log into your Tesco.com account
Click on 'My Account'
Click on 'Address book'
Click 'Edit' on your 'Delivery address'
Add your mobile phone number and click 'Save changes'.

If there's any further delays with today's order, we'll be back in touch - you don't need to contact us.

Many thanks

*** *****

It just doesn't occur to anyone that some people won't have a mobile or, as in my case only use them for texts. They have my landline number and have used it before. I am not giving them my mobile number. but they are supposedly only 15 minutes behind. never had this before.

Good morning all very grey here again and only 2 degrees so another cold one. Tesco due today to look forward to, no subs and only one unavailable and that was miniature Easter eggs so not important. But how can they be unavailable already they can't have been in the shop long?

Good to see you Gill. Sorry OH had Covid again, I assume it was in the home so their precautions were not working well if a member of staff caught it. Anyway you don't seem to have caught it so that is good. Looks like you are slowly getting things done in the bungalow. soon be out in the garden. Well you will if things warm up a bit. Are there any snowdrops in the garden?

Mel doesn't your BiL get fed at home? :-D You make him too welcome. Sounds like you need a mower expert to look at both mowers before you spend too much more money on bits that are wrong.

Vera, yes it has been a bad winter (an expensive one) for the garden. I am pretty sure I have lost two penstemens and I also lost a hardy fuschia that was in a pot I brought into the conservatory. plus several geraniums that in previous years have spent winter happily either in the conservatory or unheated greenhouse. I also think I have lost a large Cordyline that is wrapped in fleece. It almost makes you want to give up and just rely on annuals.

the plants I bought Mel were not Crocosma. they were:-
Coprosma.
Coprosma Repens is a species of flowering shrub or small tree of the genus Coprosma, in the family Rubiaceae, native to New Zealand. Common names include taupata, tree bedstraw, mirror bush, looking-glass bush, New Zealand laurel and shiny leaf.

Unfortunately they are only half hardy so I won't put them outside just yet

Good to see you back Gill. I'm sorry to hear your OH had Covid but pleased he's negative now. It seems to affect everyone differently. OH and I both had it mid-October. In a week he was fine again and he said it was no worse than a heavy cold but it knocked me for six and it was weeks before I got any energy back. I hope your OH doesn't overdo it for a little while.

I've had a pottering about day again. I got rid of some dead plants and cuttings in the conservatory and washed the pots. It really has been a bad year plantwise. We think we've lost a whole load of low growing hebes that edge a semi-circular gravel path and I think I have lost a lot of penstemons and a rhodanthemum. Oh, and a potted fuschia that is supposed to be hardy but we brought into the unheated conservatory anyway and the ungrateful thing still died :-P I also sorted out a box in the garage and found some seeds so I need to get sowing those.

Some of you who used to post on the garden thread might remember that when we moved to our current house with it's tiny garden we put in a "pond" which was a large round plastic bowl only 12"-15" deep. It came from a garden centre but was just like a very large washing up bowl. It was great when we started on the garden but over the years, plants have grown up round it and we can't really see it now. We're also in danger of stepping in it and falling every time we do any weeding or planting over that bit of the garden. So we went out and had a look at it and think about it, took the decision to get it out and went indoors.

I was amazed a little while later to look out of the window and see my Mr. I'll-Do-It-Tomorrow tackling it today. So the "pond" has gone and the large hole left has been filled in. It will need more compost or earth as it will settle and sink a bit but we are on the way. I now have 2 bird baths and, when it's warm, I put out a very shallow saucer of water for insects so they don't need the pond anymore.

As OH had been so good I decided that today he could have pizza. I'm not a lover of pizza but he does enjoy it. I thought we would have it at lunchtime and have something snacky tonight, so I took a large one from the freezer thinking I would give him 2/3rds and I would have the rest. I wish I hadn't bothered. It was an own label one from one of the major supermarkets. The tomato sauce on the base looked like a smear of thin orange paint and didn't taste at all, then there was a sparse helping of smoked ham and pineapple and it was supposed to have mozarella and cheddar cheese. Well, we saw no sign of mozarella and the cheddar was a few flakes of cheese on the top. OH likes his cheese so I did grate a lot of extra cheddar on his portion. At least he got the taste of cheese. I won't be buying that one again and it's a good job I had done a large mixed salad to go with it so we had something nice to eat.

I've been upstairs in the study for a while now without any heating on and I am getting cold so I am going off downstairs now to find a nice hot drink. I fancy a hot chocolate but I don't want to risk a migraine so I think it'll have to be tea or coffee.

O good we've heard from Gill. Hope you get some well earned sleep tonight Gill after looking after oh for the week.

BIL left a little while ago so I am on my own again now. He was trying to get the younger mower to start. He bought two new bits for it and both are nothing like what on the mower. One was a starter switch as he is frightened he is going to break the key in the one thats on the mower. I can't remember what the other bit was but it should have had three wire connecters in a line and it did'nt so he did'nt know where to connect the wires to. Anyway here most of the morning fed, watered and sent home none the wiser about the parts and still I hav'nt got a mower that works and the grass is growing!!!!!

I did go to the hsop for my paper and delivered Em's eggs and we had a chat till the boys called out when are we getting lunch?

I am now sitting here with a nice cuppa in the quiet. BIL is lovely but he can't half talk. He did also have a go at a better picture on my TV though so its not so blue now. Sold tiny Ted on ebay this morning so he has to be wrapped up ready to be posted on Monday.

Hi all

Sorry I haven't been on here for a while. OH tested positive for Covid so I've been looking after him and before that we had a couple of workmen here sorting out the back door and putting up new guttering. OH had a negative Covid result today so is going back to work tonight. He was lucky as work rang him and asked if he'd like to take his sick days as holidays which he said yes, so he hasn't lost a weeks wages.

I've been doing a bit more DIY in the kitchen, both window sills need a bit of work doing to them, so the paint stripper has been out and the filler ;-)

With OH testing positive for Covid we never went to the kitchen place in the end so will do that next week, providing it's not snowing as the weather man said the weather is going to change and become very cold with possible snow. I thought the bad weather wasn't going to happen, but I guess it was just a bit later than it said online.

I've not slept very well lately, nothing new there, but I've had bad dreams when I have fallen asleep, so I'm shattered now. OH thinks it's because I was worrying about him being ill. I think he might be right as his chest was pretty bad and he was coughing each night. At least he's well now. He caught Covid from work, that's twice in 10 months. He was quite shocked when he took the test (they have to do a test before going back into work after days off) and asked me to take a look just to make sure he was seeing it right and he was right it was positive. He wasn't a happy bunny.

I'm glad my card arrived Vera, it sounds like you had a lovely birthday. <3 HAPPY BELATED BIRTHDAY <3

Going to grab a drink now.

Vera, thank you, I am so pleased somebody gets what I am saying (well a couple more of the friends I was with agreed with me as well But that is two museums and two exhibitions where the very same or similar reasons for paintings have been used and the actual paintings could not have been more different, both more abstract than an actual picture I hasten to add. Why do they have to have a reason connected with their perceived life to paint. Just do it!!! :-(

I am just back from the local garden centre where I had coffee with two friends and then bought three plants as they were on offer to members. On the three plants I saved £16. (Hellebore Snowdrift , and Coprosma Repens one Pacific dawn and one Pacific night.) It was good to have a chat but it was really cold walking round the plants even with a thick sweater over two other layers a scarf and a winter coat. Nice and warm when I got back indoors.

Good afternoon

It’s another cold, grey day with occasional light rain. I did see one gleam of sunshine a short while ago but it didn’t hang around for very long :-(

I know what you mean about the museum AnnG. I like a lot of modern art. It makes me think a bit more deeply but I don’t see why there has to be an explanation of the work that relates to slavery, race, a traumatic event in the artist’s life, a tortured childhood etc. Can we not just look at something and see a brilliant piece of work from a brilliant artist? Sometimes it seems to be that being white, with a happy childhood and a certain income level is something to be ashamed of. Being the best you can be is what matters, not whether you are black, white or anything in between.

Someone has just arrived and OH is answering the door so I’d better get off my high horse and go and say hallo.

I was thinking back to the museum yesterday and the contrast between what it used to be like and how it is now. It used to have a lot of old "we used to have one of those" objects which I enjoyed seeing, now nothing like that on display. It used to have lots of old paintings hanging in one room permanently on display. None of that now.

It is all very modern thinking I suppose. It has always had and still has the beautiful Arts and crafts furniture and I did think that room of displays was a big improvement.

I suppose it is more of an art gallery now than museum. However no permanent paintings on display but (in common with the museum we visited last week) there are collections on display, a room showing one artist or type of artist or a room showing similar exhibits (etchings, photos, prints etc) All very interesting, very talented people. Seeing many exhibits of the same type does emphasise it on your mind. I think the idea is to watch for collections and visit when the type of art you like is on display in a collection.

One thing I have noticed lately in our PC world. A lot of art exhibited is of ethnic origin, some very beautiful but none of it seems to have been painted or drawn or worked in other mediums for the sheer joy of doing it. all of it has explanations of deeper meanings. and those meanings all have a feeling of accusation of some sort of 'slight' against the artists colour, religion, race. sometimes I just long for a Constable, a Monet or whatever who painted what they saw because it was beautiful and because it was there. I suppose I am just old fashioned. and I admit much of the ethnic work, especially some we saw yesterday is beautiful but it is the colours and designs that make it beautiful not the hidden meaning behind it

I will get off my soap box now. :-D