General Chat

Our anniversary on Sunday, my dad's birthday, and the first day we were officaily together 23 years ago. It only seems like yesterday my knight in shining armour rescued me from a life sentance. I still love him to the moon and back. <3 <3 <3 <3

Oh I took a while to post with OH interrupting me and never saw your post Anng. That sounded like a lovely walk. I do miss the canal walks and cycle rides along the towpath near here. We used to cycle into the city about 4-5 miles on the old disused railtrack and then back home along the canal towpath. I like to be beside water too when it's hot. The river and canal are less than half a mile from us.

Of course FG, I remember it was a Westie you have now! I'm glad her eye is better today.There is a sweet Westie girl next door to us who is very good. She barks just once at the conservatory door when she wants to be let in and waits patiently till the door is opened. She will bark once or twice if strangers in the field at the bottom of the garden come near the fence, but other than squeaks from her squeaky toys we don't know she is there.

I'd signed up and watched a webinar tonight by a local panel of doctors, psychiatrist etc about coronavirus in the city which was very interesting. At least the city is now better prepared than anywhere in the country for these spikes. Lots of info and explanation of procedures in place. I'd never heard of the 119 number to call before. Some children are thriving better out of school, others not. They talked about Lockdown Liver because of people tending to drink more at home.

Our experience of the Macmillan nurses was someone with a laptop coming and spending ages interrogating MIL when she really could do without it and spending the whole time barely looking up from typing away and not engaging with her with eye contact hardly at all. Off they went and that was the last we heard from MacMillan nurses. No help or further response or follow up at all. OH was so disgusted he wasn't even interested in ringing them to ask what they were doing after that. It was a waste of his time and had stressed MIL when she was weak and very ill. We obviously didn't get a good one!

Good morning all.It is sunny, 15 degrees and really windy outside. OH has gone to golf and I have a Tesco delivery at 11-12.

Mel, in case I forget on the day happy anniversary for Sunday to you both.

Ann that sounded interesting and sounds as if they are doing all they can to keep people in the picture. And now Leicester is joined by Greater Manchester and other places with a semi lockdown. I don't see how it will work if they keep pubs open. Those young people groups are still going to meet up because there is no way of policing it. It is very worrying especially with Eid coming up. I do hope it doesn't spread any further.
I have heard one or two not so good stories about Macmillan but you have to speak as you find. After Jon died our daughter was what they call a Macmillan Champion. That meant that she was on line as a contact for people who needed advice from Macmillan for any reason to contact, she was really busy with it.
If you have the canals near you would you not think of going to one and seeing if it is quiet enough to have a little walk. Where we went is usually fairly busy but it was impressive how people were keen to stay in their groups away from others. Some people were ab;e to sit in their cars and just watch the water and boats.
I felt so much better for it.

What a glorious morning! We had breakfast outside and have just finished clearing up! MrFg is off to the farm shop for fruit and veg while I'm washing curtains! :-( it's such a lovely day they should dry easily and be ready for MrFg to rehang later on.
Anng (I think it was you!) my brain is certainly not what it was 60 years go!!! I have finished Middlemarch and glad that I persevered as I'd forgotten how much I'd enjoyed it all those years ago! I'm now thinking of tackling 'Guy Mannering' which we also read for A'level! I will give it a go, but may find myself back to Enid Blyton!!!!
Yes Annx, that sounds just like our Abby!! Her very favorite toy is a bigish teddy which she takes to bed without fail! She has got squeaky toys but MrFg has de -squeaked them as the noise can be a bit tiresome?!!!!
Better get on else Mr will be back ready to unpack all his goodies!!

Morning all

The sun is a shining :-D

As Ken Dodd would say 'how tickled I am, what a good day for.........'
Driving to the next town for a hospital appointment :-| Couldn't have timed it better(?)
We should be sitting in a shady part of the garden drinking tea and the dog snoozing in a cool spot. I could weep :-(

Good for the tomatoes though.

Enjoy whatever you do today

Morning all,

Lovely morning here too this morning. I see you have been chatting away about dogs and their toys. When we had our last dog for mum from the Blue Cross rescue center she new every toy by name and would go and get whatenver you asked for and her favorite was Green Frog. Once again I had to de squeak them as she drove us mad with all the noise. Mum used to exercise her with a tennis ball which she hit with the tennis racket I got her and Tessy would charge up the orchard after the ball. She was a cross border collie but not very big. One day she shot up the orchard atree and I heard the bong as her head hit the trunk but she still went after that ball and brought it back to mum for more.


Hope Jane feels less tired today and can get on with something. Sending love and wishes. <3 <3 <3

Morning all,

It's going to be a hot today ,at the moment we're sitting outside with a nice breeze, later when it gets to hot we'll be in near the fan.

Just picked a load of runners,to ms and six huge cues ,tomorrow when it's cooler I'll make Piccalilli.

Son had a letter a couple of weeks ago asking if he would take part in the antibody research for Covid ,it's a test you do at home and yesterday he had the test come he did it and it said that he hadn't had the virus ,I don't know if there will be more tests but it's nice to know he hasn't had ti.

Yesterday we spent ages trying to put new cord in the garden brolly ,it's the newest one of the two we have ,the other one was so easy to do this one was a devil and it's still not done we cut the cord to short so we that to later when it cools done outside.

When I went to the shop yesterday I noticed the Stitches and craters had decorated a tree at the top of Church st with crochet and knitted rainbows ,also there was little net bags round the trunk with masks in for people to help themselves to and a note asking them to donate to any charity they liked, it said the new masks would be added each day so if you got into town and had forgotten one you could just help yourself from the tree ,also it said they had been left 72 hours before being pinned on the tree and each bag was marked ladies,men or children so you didn't have to touch more than one bag .

Hope everyone can stay cool , BBL

Morning Everyone
What a scorcher it is.I have showered and washed my hair and am now sat in front of the fan.I might be here all day lol.
It’s too hot for me to be outside.I have to be careful apparently with sun due to the chemo.
Hannah has gone to Twycross Zoo with 2 friends and a little one.Thay have all gone in their own cars.Its going to be very hot there so hope they manage to find some shade.
I think you Mel will have the best temperature where you are today.
Looking at the forecast I think we are about 10 degs hotter here :-S

My old dog used to eat the squeakers in his toys if he could.We too then had to de squeak .
Try and stay cool :-D

FG no it was not me, I have never read Middlemarch, I do find the classics hard to read these days.

Island, certainly not a day for the hospital, I sympathise, although they do seem to keep ours cool. hope all goes well with whatever you are there for.

Mandy, I bet that tree looks lovely and what a kind idea re the bags with masks in. I do hope the idea is not abused.
Jane yes you should stay out of the sun, not hard to do when it is so hot. 31 degrees here. I don't think I would like to be at a zoo, smelly on hot days.

I am all hot and sticky now Tesco delivery finished.all wiped and put away and he was here three minutes before time. I really shouldn't be allowed to do these orders on my own! Still we won't run out of vanilla ice cream. When I added one vanilla and one salted caramel, I didn't notice I already had two vanilla on the order (and why I ordered two I have no idea). So I have three vanilla and one salted caramel Good job it is hot weather It will get eaten I know but the freezer is crammed full. Please don't let it go wrong!!!

Good morning my lovelies,

Yes it's a blinder of a day here also. They say it's going to get up to 35 degrees later.

Ros is down at the veg patch, sorting out what is ready for harvesting. She pulled a few radishes last night, and they were full of little holes, where the worms had been at them.

Carolyn and John are off to Hastings for a week. She rang Ros this morning, asking for some elastic, as she wants to make some more face masks. I nearly said "Do what we do, BUY SOME" but I bit my tongue lol lol

The hospital rang Ros this morning about her treatments for these water infections. They are doing a Telephone Interview on the 12th August at noon, which will last AN HOUR. What on earth will have have to talk about for that length of time.

I have the mower out, so hope Barry doesn't forget to call, and do the lawns.

Lewis is in Harvey's bad books. Yesterday Lewis and his mates were playing football, and the ball went into a bed of STINGING NETTLES. He just walked into retrieve the ball and got stung all over his legs. Harvey gave him something to take and something else to rub on his legs. Which he POO HOOED the idea. This morning at 4.00 am he woke Harvey, to ask where the ointment was, as he was in a lot of discomfort. I think Harvey told he where to go.

Lewis is coming up at lunchtime to see us on his way up to his friends at Sheffield. He will drop off my Credit Card. He is staying at his friends tonight ,and they re flying to France to see Julia until the 11th August.

Ros's god daughter, borrowed a excerise machine from me a few years back. I have asked for it to be returned numerous time. I had a message on FB this morning, offering to buy me a new one, or wait a week, as she is abroad on holiday, and she will bring it back when she returns. ABOUT TIME.

The blooming hospital are on the phone again, confirming her next weeks appointment.

No breakfast again this morning, so I am going to get a sarnie and a coffee. Stay safe in this hot weather, xxxx

I miss hearing about your dog Jane and the things he got up to especially at Christmas with all the wrappings. Dear old Chester......... <3

Its really really hot here today 26 in the car

Apologies Anng, it was SuffolkVera who commented on Middlemarch!
Those curtains are on the whirlygig and are nearly dry!! This afternoon we are going to give Abby a bath outside! She loves being washed but outside she can make a good old mess and it doesnt matter so we turn it into a game for her - fun for all the family!!!
Glad you're not feeling too bad Jane, from what you're saying the cap would appear to have worked. Brilliant! :-D

Missed you there Frank. You shoud have accepted a new exceriser instead of the old one as she may have worn it out!!!!!

Just going to do lunch now.

Gosh, it is hot. 31 degs at the moment. I mustn’t complain as it’s lovely to see the sun and, with a bit of luck, it might encourage my toms to start changing colour. They are very obstinately staying green.

I didn’t have too bad a night. I did wake a lot but went back to sleep fairly quickly. OH was up by 7.30, breakfasted and out for his walk by about 8 am but I like to linger over that first cup of tea and potter about a bit before I have breakfast. I did think it might be too hot later on so I went for a walk soon after 9.30. It was hot even then but there was a bit of a breeze so quite pleasant.

We had a lovely afternoon with my brother yesterday. We had a good journey in both directions, about one and a quarter hours each way which is about the shortest time possible if you stick to speed limits. We sat under umbrellas in the garden for about 3 hours, just chatting and laughing. At the moment he is well and it was good to see him. He also pulled me up some beetroot from his garden so I’ll be cooking that tomorrow when it is a bit cooler.

Yes, Fg, it was me who mentioned Middlemarch. I haven’t got very far into it yet as I do a lot of my reading in the middle of the night so prefer something lighter, but I might read another chapter or two this afternoon. My memory is terrible these days. I can’t remember if we had another novel for A-Level or not. We certainly had T S Eliot and some Wordsworth and our two Shakespeare plays were Hamlet and The Tempest. Here’s a memory – I went with our English teacher and half a dozen other girls to see Hamlet at the Old Vic and Ophelia was played by a very young Judi Dench in one of her first major parts. We didn’t realise then how big a star she would become, particularly as we girls were far more interested in John Neville who was playing Hamlet. Well, we were around 16 and he was quite handsome, lol.

I’m not surprised Harvey was miffed at being woken up at 4 am Frank. I bet Lewis will think twice before wading into a bed of nettles again.

Hope the hospital appointment went well Island and hope your seized up hand is less uncomfortable now.

Mel, I am having real problems with the penstemon cuttings. I’ve been successfully taking cuttings from penstemons for years and there’s only ever been an occasional one that has failed to root. This year I took 8 from the Alice Hindley (the darkish purple one) and 8 from the ones that had reverted to red. The Alice Hindley look OK, they are upright and the few leaves I left are nice and green but within a couple of days the red cuttings had all died. So I took another 8 red ones and the same thing has happened. I’ll maybe have one more try and if I have no luck I’ll wait till spring and see if I can get something from the new growth.

Funny things are happening in our garden. At the beginning of lockdown I bought 7 plants online from Beth Chatto, a good reputable nursery. 5 went in the gartden and 2 little fuchsias went in pots by the front door. They’ve all done really well and thrived. In fact my neighbour remarked on how beautiful the fuchsias were and asked if I could take her a couple of cuttings at some time. About 10 days ago OH watered them in the evening and they were fine. The following evening I went outside to see if they needed watering and at least 70% of the leaves and flowers had fallen off. It was as though they had had a sudden shock. It was really weird. I brought them into the back garden and tidied the plants up and am watering them very carefully. They haven’t dropped any more leaves and, though they look a bit sparse, they are looking more lively so I shall need to look after them through the winter and hopefully they will recover for next summer. I emailed Beth Chatto to see if they had any idea what can have caused such a sudden leaf drop but I haven’t had a reply.

There’s nothing that has to be done before cooking dinner and that’s just going to be salmon with some salad so easy-peasy. I am now going to sit in front of a fan and have a read. Stay cool.

Good afternoon, phew it is clammy hot here 32 degrees

OH playing golf Got to the 16th hole and his legs wouldn't carry him any further so he sat down. And they called up the club house who drove out and collected him and took him back and poured water into him. He was carrying water but I have said before he should not be playing in this heat. He was OK after a couple of pints of water and another of squash so he sat talking to the others when they came in and was fine to load up the car and drive home. I have dared him to go out in the garden this afternoon. i imagine he was dehydrated.. I think he will think twice about playing 18 holes in heat like this again He has had lunch and is on his computer and seems fine so just too much exercise in too much heat. It has not affected him before but as he gets older I am sure it is more of a strain.

Vera so pleased that you enjoyed your visit to your brother and it is good that he is well.
Strange about your penstemons, the plants in our garden definitely don't like the heat and I don't want to water them while it is so hot so will have to do it this evening. Odd about your fuchsias as well although they can have all sorts of weird problems. Have you checked for rust and vine weevil?
I did A level English Lit in my 30s I think we had to read Vanity Fair and great Expectations. Shakespeare was a Midsummer night's Dream and we also had Chaucer I think A Nun's Tale plus Wordsworth. or Keats (can't remember.

I opened all my car windows today as it was so hot. We've had the day of the ants and the roof is covered. Oh has just gone out to close them all for me.

Vera was the sun on the fushias when oh watered them as water on the leaves could have burnt them. I get vine weevil a lot in this garden and especailly up on my patio with the pots around. I have another one that needs looking at as I am sure that one has them too. Annoying when the plants are expensive like the heucheras.

Don't worry about the cuttings fo me just try them for yourself. I find sometimes if I heap soil up at the bottom of the plants they root into that and you can cut them off lower down and get good cuttings that way. I hav'nt put my new one in yet!!

Oh it's all I needed, I thought I would make show this afternoon, and pop in to have a chat. I just lost my CHAT. So will wish you all a nice cool evening, you can but hope.

I'm looking forward to that first pint later, when we go out for a bite to eat. I bet it won't touch the sides. lol lol xxxx

Afternoon all

Boy is it hot here today and it would happen to be the day the flying ants decided to show their faces. I'm killing them one at a time as they emerge from under the fridge, OH is out all day and I can't move the fridge on my own, so I'll ask him to help me move it later and have a good spray. I forgot to buy the stuff that was mentioned the other day, but the spray is very good and works straight away, so once they're all dead I'll brush them up and mop the kitchen floor.

Pleased to hear Abby's eye is better now FG, it sounds like she loves her bath outside, fun and games for everyone this afternoon and just the weather for it.

I would of accepted a new exerciser to Frank, like Mel said it could be worn out by now. My mum gave me 8 tomato plants but they've not been as good as the ones we normally buy. I have noticed one or two more toms and still have lots of flowers which I sprayed with water as Mel suggested so I hope it works and all the flowers produce toms now as there are lots of them. Some unfortunately came to nothing and the flowers fell off leaving no toms behind. It was a friend of my mum's who planted the seeds so I don't know what type of tomatoes they are all I know is they're cherry ones and very small ones at that.

Sorry to hear of your bad experience with the Mcmillan nurses Ann, they were really good when OH's brother passed away and very supportive to his wife and children. I guess it's like FG said, it depends on who you're dealing with.

I forgot you had solar panels Mel, yes, you've probably made a lot over yesterday and today with all the sun around. It's come over cloudy here now, so I'm expecting some rain later, it was forecast to rain with the dreaded thunder storms I hate.

Hope the fan is helping you Jane, I think it's hotter where you are than here and it's been to hot for me to sit outside for long, even in the shade. I hope Hannah and her friends had a lovely day at the zoo. It's certainly been the weather for it.

Going to watch practice two of the F1 now, One of the drivers has tested positive for Covid19 and can't race this weekend or next. The driver to take his place had to have a test, but luckily he's okay. Apparently the one who tested positive went to visit his sick mum in Mexico and has somehow caught the virus, but they don't know who off. I'm wondering if it might of been on the plane as I believe the air is circulated around inside the plane as it travels from one country to the next. It's a bit of a worry now he's in the UK

Is clouded over here now but still very hot.

I am cooking steak onions and carrots for a nice meat pie top have with new pots and greens.