General Chat

The charity lunch went well. It was a village affair in aid of Christian Aid.
About 40 people turned up, and we raised over £700.

Four kinds of lovely home-made soup, and a good selection of sandwiches - also a cake stall and raffle.

I've brought home some left-over chicken sandwiches, so that's tea sorted! I'll add some salad.

It's a lovely warm sunny day, but the grass is still damp, so no grass cutting today. Hopefully tomorrow or at the weekend. It grows so fast at this time of year.

That was a good amount to raise AG and a nice social event to go to.

Esme is at another hospital appointment with her mum, they are intending to collect Eve from school at 5pm as she stays late on Thursdays for choir. so I am on standby in the hospital appointment is running late. I hope that they will be out of the hospital on time, so fingers crossed again.

Well the crossed fingers didn’t work, they haven’t gone into their appointment yet, so we will have to pick Eve up

So glad your lunch went well ArgyllGran and a fab amount raised. And you didn't have to cook either....bonus :-D

Linda, hope Esme got seen and all was well..

I have just realised that we haven't seen Sylvia posting since the 2nd May when she had her Covid booster. Just now on the BBC website, I'm seeing wildfires in Canada but not sure which part she's in. I really hope she and her hubby are well and ok.

Sylvia, if you can message to say you are all fine, that would be reassuring, you are missed on here.

Florence in the hebrides

I have sent Sylvia a message Florence, so hopefully she will see that.

Esme just had an ENT appointment as a follow up to her hospital stay recently. She had a perforated eardrum on one side and an infection on the other. She had to go back to the ward last week and the doctor thought he could see a small hole in one eardrum. That turned out to be wrong. As part of her condition she has excessive amounts of wax in her ears, so she goes to the hospital regularly where they try , usually in vain, to get her to let them hoover her ears. This time, when they looked, the doctor said that the hole was actually a grommet which she had fitted a long time ago. It must have been buried in the wax for a good couple of years, but had come to the surface :-S. They managed to hoover it out, but still couldn’t see her eardrums, they needed the big hoover, but that makes a loud noise and Esme wouldn’t let them do it. She doesn’t like loud noise and like lots of autistic children, she has ear defenders when she needs them.
Her ears are bunged up with wax all the time,but she manages really well despite that.

Oh ty Linda, hopefully she will respond.

Poor Esme but its amazing how she manages bless her.

I heard back from Sylvia and she is fine. She had her daughter staying nearby for a few days, then it has been unseasonably hot, so she can only use the room where her computer is in the evening. She said that she is also having lots of trouble getting onto GR, but will be back when she can.
I normally use Chrome as my browser, just a historical thing as I have lots of bookmarks in nice little files. If I try to import them into a better browser, they don’t look the same, so I just stick with Chrome. From time to time, I have real difficulty getting onto GR. as well. I use my iPad most of the time and it has Safari preloaded, so I use that for GR and never have a problem, but I use Chrome from everything else.

I gave up on my old watch and ordered a new one last night, it is arriving in the next half hour which is exciting. It has an ECG built in which I am not sure is a good idea :-
I will have to order a new strap as I don’t like the default ones Apple Watches come with. I like my current metallic strap, but I think that it will be too small for the new watch.

OH is putting the tiles on the downstairs loo, I am not sure I like them, but it s too late now. :-(. He doesn’t seem very happy about how it is going, even though he has done lots of tiling in the past. Luckily there are very few to do down here. He has the bathroom to do next, so isn’t looking forward to that.

You are so lucky to have such a hard-working, willing, and multi-skilled OH, Linda!
You seem to be a great team.

It's hard to tell from a sample tile what a bigger area will look like.
It's the same with paint or wallpaper - a whole wall looks very different from a sample or test area.

Another very warm and sunny day here. In fact, it's much warmer outside than it is in the house.
The grass is drying up nicely, so I'll cut it later, when it's cooled down a bit.
I'll still have to be well covered up, though, trying to avoid the ticks which infest my garden, and the whole area.
Almost every time I go out into the garden, I find two or more ticks on me afterwards.
Pinhead size, but potentially dangerous things.

The garden smells wonderful at the moment, with bluebells, azalea and "Montana" clematis all in bloom at the same time. Always the best time of year here.

Afternoon all

Grrrr another thick foggy day!

But on a lighter note......we completed the property sale and I have just received my monies. Its all a bit surreal and like winning the lottery I guess.

Anyway, its been a slog but now can take a chill pill.

Got my clinic consultation in Edinburgh all booked but now to book flights and hotel.
Earliest appointment is 28 Jun! I just hope i fit the criteria to get the laser procedure.

Linda, glad Sylvia replied to you and that she is ok. Quite relieved as when i suddenly realised she hadn't been on here for a while, all sorts go through your mind.

Oh dear, having an ECG on your watch means you will be looking at it all the time! Hope you're not a worrier.

ArgyllGran, your garden sounds and smells wonderful but yes those ticks can lead to Lyme Disease if you dont get them out so one does have to be very careful indeed.

My sinuses are really bad today and have given me a bit of a headache. if the fog would clear and I can get fresh air, i'm sure that would help.

Florence in the hebrides

Ooh, you can have a shopping splurge Florence :-D

It is odd AG how the tiles look so different in different areas. In the downstairs loo, they look very dark, but he has started in the bathroom as well and they look much better there. I think the downstairs ones will look better once the walls are painted, at the moment the walls are white in there which is too much of a contrast.

I have been playing with my new watch. It says my heart is fine , the oxygen level says 97% which is a bit low., but it is measuring it on my wrist. I do have one of the finger sensors, so I will check it with that as well.

I have horrible hay fever today, so I will go and look for some tablets in the medicine drawer, although they will probably be out of date

WOW!

I got into GR and into this thread. First time in over a week during an evening visit (my evening time).

Thank you for the concern, I'm sorry I worried you, but it was the whole combination of daughter visiting, some important legal business while she was here, then the heat ............. it got to over 28C in this room on several afternoons and early evenings ............, plus the GR problem.

I use Chrome as my browser, hadn't thought about trying another one. I will remember that tip next time.

Daughter was only here for 6 days (4 business days), but we managed to get a lot done including setting up powers of attorney between him and me and daughter with me and with him. It took 2 visits in 4 work days with our notary public, shorter period than is usual, and then daughter had to find another notary who would counter-sign all the signatures she needed to put on her versions. Something about how BC set up the Notary Public Act that was mean to avoid a conflict of interest??!!! Anyway, it is all set up now, and we can put the powers into action immediately they might be needed.

The weather has been beautiful, if rather hotter than I like! The plants are loving it, still producing more and better flowers than in previous years. But, yes, we do have over 100 wildfires in our province of BC, although only one is "of note" ....... which means it is either affecting "structures" or can be seen easily from a highway, and most of them are in the far north. That one fire "of note" resulted in one city was evacuated last week, people had to drive almost 500 kms to find shelter, and are still not allowed back.

FWIW, I live right on the coast in the southwestern corner of the province, about 30 miles north of the US border. Lots of trees and grass in the city of course, and we do get fires, but nowhere as dangerous as elsewhere in the province (hope those words aren't going to jinx us!).

Take care everyone

Afternoon all
Sylvia, so glad you have manged to post as I suddenly noticed you hadn't been on for awhile and was quite worried, something was wrong. Hopefully the wildfires wont affect you. Good you got the POA all sorted, it takes ages doesn't it. My brother made me a POA on himself and his wife and there was pages and pages to read and sign!

It was quite a lovely day to begin with, sunny but breezy but has now gone dull and the temp has dropped.
We were outside doing loads today including filling and lining my wooden planters that I had painted awhile ago. They are both outside now lined and full of soil ready for some plants soon. My lupins were hanging down so i managed to straighten them and support with sticks and some little cable ties. They look much tidier now.

We have a mammoth job after tea watering everything as last 2 days we had fog and didnt need to.

I have found a nice narrow black 6 drawer chest that will fit behind my bedroom door. It is to put all the small craft supplies in as everything is cluttering my own chest of drawers on top and looks so untidy. It is self assembly but hey....i am the flat pack queen dont you know :-D :-D :-D

Should arrive next Saturday.

Hope all is well with all looking in today.

Florence in the hebrides

We sorted our POA’s years ago, it is really silly just to bury your head in the sand and not get them in place in time.

I have a stinking cold, I haven’t been well for days. OH is coughing as well. I thought that it was just hay fever, but it is definitely a virus, poor Eve has it as well.

On Friday night, my daughter asked if we wanted to go out with them on Saturday to Ilkley. They were going to look at a hot tub showroom, then to the toy museum. It would only take a few hours and wasn’t far away, so we said that we would go.
I didn’t feel well, but de decided that I would be OK. They have a car with the three rows of seats, so we can all fit in. The hot tub showroom was amazing, they had the huge swim spa’s which of course Esme wants, she loves hot tubs and would be in twenty four hours a day if she could. A family near here have a disabled child and they have one of the huge swim ones. They let other disabled families hire it for one or two hours to help with the cost, so Esme gets to go. My daughter is just starting to look at what they can fit in and afford.

We had lunch out and went to the toy museum, poor Eve was feeling really rough, so we were glad to get back home. I went to bed about six o’clock and must have gone to sleep,early. I woke up and looked at the clock thinking it must be morning, but it was only half past twelve. Thankfully, I managed to get back to sleep. I feel horrible this morning, so won’t be doing much today. Esme FaceTimed from her play room at 9am, so I spent a long time playing with her and her toys.

Morning all
Oh dear Linda poor you, hubby and Eve. That's the problem, we don't expect to get ill in the summer but very often there are viruses that thrive in the heat and warm weather.

I hope you all get over it fairly quickly. But also, you have been so busy moving etc and running around at 100 mph, that your body needs you to slow down and rest a bit.

Its not a nice day here and the fog is coming in over the hill.....again!

I may strip both beds today and get them all done. Grass cutters coming tomorrow and the back lawn now needs cutting as the grass has suddenly taken off with a huge growth spurt!

My Coleus plant has done amazingly well since it went outside and is absolutely huge. Not sure how much bigger it will grow but the pot is now really too small. I did pinch out the side shoots but its still growing.

Well I had better get dressed now and be productive.

Have a good day all.

I have just been out to do some watering as I didn’t do it yesterday. Everything was fine apart from the two hanging baskets at the front which were very wilted. I have given them a good watering, but I will have to do them every day from now on. I have a probe which I stick in the plants to see if they need water and they have all been fine with the occasional watering and the rain. It was a lot hotter last week though and the baskets have very little soil for a lot of plants.

It is very sunny out there, but all I want to do is sit inside and read. OH is tiling the bathroom again. He has some very fiddly ones to cut around the sink and toilet. From the amount of chuntering, it doesn’t seem to be going well.

Well although it is overcast, its breezy and I managed to wash all the bedding and its on the line now blowing in the breeze.

We have had to water the pots most days apart when when it was thick fog as the air is warm and drying out the soil. my big beast in the cauldron takes a lot of watering but really pleased it has taken as lots of new leaves and hopefully more flowers will follow.

Seeing buds on the roses and fuchsias have really grown a lot.

Suddenly, we have colour and the front garden looks so bright and cheerful.

It is a cloudy cool day. I did some washing and most of it went in the tumble dryer. The things which don’t tumble have gone on a drying rack outside, rather than on the washing line, that way I can just lift the rack in to finish drying them inside as I don’t think it is going to be warm enough to dry them outside

I went to the nearby retail park to collect an order from the M&S food hall . It is much easier to order things for free collection there than to have to drive into the main store in Harrogate.

I feel horrible, so have come for a rest on the bed before lunch.

Afternoon all
Lovely sunny and warm day here today.

Not a lot of chores to do today really as up to date with washing etc. Grasscutters came and lawns all look neater and tidy now.

Just had a local chappie to come and give me a quote for a Polytunnel 6mx4m. Earliest to put it up now is August, buts fine with me, Just waiting on the email with the cost!

Sorry for you not feeling well Linda. is hubby ok or is he unwell too? Hope you feel better soon.

You must be so pleased that you cannot get your tunnel.
As it won’t get to you until August it means you will have plenty of time to sort out how you want things inside Abd time to plant a bit of winter veg. Enjoy!

Yes, I'm making plans as it will have raised beds either side on what veg to plant etc.

Obviously flower season will be over by then well almost, but that's fine..

I need to phone my friends hubby who is a joiner so he can quote me for a workbench down the middle with shelves underneath. I can store all the pots and trays etc to keep it all tidy. They lay this gravel all over the base. Its included in the price plus i have spare bits of carpet and lino as well.

The amount of compost i'm going to need will be huge!! I shall have to make some enquiries about getting it in bulk maybe from somewhere local who deliver as dont think my postie or the courier will be happy delivering so much and they wont carry round it round to the back garden either but a delivery man might if i smile and make him a cup of tea loli

Its still beautiful and sunny here and really warm. Daughter is sunbathing!

It's a lovely sunny May-like day here, although there is a gusty breeze blowing the trees and shrubs around!

Today is a Federal Holiday, celebrated in most of the provinces and territories ......... commonly called Victoria Day :-D

It's the modern static Monday version of what used to be celebrated on May 24th, celebrated on the last Monday before May 24th ......... Queen Victoria's Birthday :-D :-D

When we first came here, I was convinced it was named for the city of Victoria, the capital of BC, but couldn't understand why everywhere in Canada also celebrated it!

Thee is also a serious aspect to this date ............ it's seen as the beginning of spring, and it has long been the date when it has been considered that planting seeds across the country can begin, because there are usually no more frosts occurring over night.

Here we live in what could be called the Banana Belt of Canada, and OH would often sow at least some of his seeds in late February or in March, but other areas are much colder. There are still forecast of snow in some areas today!