WEEKLY CHAT (non-osprey) SUNDAY, AUGUST 6,2017

I would be excited, too dibnlib:  I'd love to go!  But my OH doesn't fancy it, sadly. Half of the fun of a holiday is the anticipation, so you have plenty of time for that!!

Thanks to Clare for more lovely pics, you do get about!

OG - Hope today has gone well.  I sometimes have a restless night, I don't know why - most of the time I sleep like a log. But I'm not much use to anyone if I miss my precious sleep.

Rain here this afternoon, so I buckled down and finished off the trouser sewing, by hand. Not sure if I like the results, though - will go and try them on again shortly to see if they are acceptable. They're very shiny and elastic material, so sliding around as I sew.

More Flower Show pics:

As I said, the weather was wet and quite windy, so in most of the pics you will see people in raincoats and hats! We went to get a cuppa at a Tea & Coffee stall, and sat at a table with a couple who had come all the way up from Devon on a coach trip. They had seen some famous garden or other in The Midlands, stayed the night there and then come to the show. Sadly they didn't see much of Cheshire at all on their travels.

Here are some flowers being blown by the wind - but they are giant ones!!  --- made of knitting, would you believe!!

The people running out of the rain and into the Flower Arrangement Tent may have been unaware that they were underneath a giant spider:

We had just been looking at the children's entries, done by local schools. They were imaginative and colourful, but very "busy" with lots of things added which had been made by the children.  I didn't photograph any, though.

A pretty garden being admired:  this one was much shown on the TV - it was the garden made by a dementia charity and was colourful on one side but had beds made of chamomile on the other side:

more, showing the beds:

I think most people had mixed feelings about it!

This one was much shown on TV too -- it was on three levels, with a balcony from which to admire everything, then a garden below, and then a sunken garden underneath all of that.

The planting was pretty.  I spoke, standing in the rain, to one of the organisers of this one and she said that they were hoping that they had sold the whole thing which would be transported to where the new owners lived.

This is the sunken garden, supposedly peaceful, with a bench along one side to sit, and a fountain dripping down into the flowerbed.

Above all that was the best bit!!

Good evening, all.  Had a good – and busy – day.  We went around all the patio containers – including wallpots etc – snipping and weeding where necessary.  I had a chair and most of the time was just making “suggestions”!  I do need to tickle the surface of the alpine troughs, but think I can stand long enough to do them one at a time.  Had a brief light shower just before dinner, but OH will still need to have the hosepipe out and water all the garden.  First bud of the Balloon Flower started opening – can actually see the petals move apart!

Clare – was it a music festival at Thirlestane Castle?  There seem to have been so many this year, although our Lockerbie Jazz Festival (usually September) has been called off!  Those sheep look as if they were sheltering from the midday sun under the tree.

Dibnlib – wheelchair is only for occasional use for transfers – should speed things up a bit.  Will probably use it also in narrow shopping places – like M&S food where the scooter is too clumsy.  How nice for you both to have a holiday booked to look forward to for a whole 11 months!  I was surprised your OH never had a posting in Germany – most RAF people seem to have been there at least once!

Linda – that fabric does sound difficult to handle, but I sometimes wonder whether we sorry too much about the finish of a job like alterations – after all, how many people are going to inspect the hem of your trousers?  Liked the giant knitted flowers!  The ladies at our church “Knit and Natter” have been making knitted fruit for some project or other – very effective.  I remember seeing those two gardens on TV – and I was unsure about the beds in the dementia one but was very impressed by the one on three levels (guess that height of structure would need planning consent).

OH got so carried away with gardening he now has a ladder up the porch to remove a weed from the gutter – and even the hosepipe to flush it through – hope he won’t dribble down the walls and windows!

Just popping in to say thanks for all your news, pics etc. The past couple of weeks have been busy, tiring and emotional. I'm trying to keep active - it definitely helps!

I know what you mean about no one looking too closely at my handiwork, but they won't hang right if I don't get it done neatly. Frustrating. Once, I bought some similar ones in a Sale but then found I couldn't cope with altering them. I asked a friend's "little treasure" who does alterations, to take them up for me, which cost ten pounds so rather negated the saving I'd made. (They do look good on, though!).

Hope you can put on a pic of the balloon flower when it opens!  Well done to Chrisy for naming it.

OG   OH had a  6 month detachment to Belize before we met. When we married in '80 we opted not to request an overseas tour as we always had a dog and would have had to quarantine our friend. Some people were happy to do this but we decided it was a no no. He did have a detachment in '87 to the Falklands and I was at Leuchars with Harvey. Nowadays of course all the RAF bases in Germany have long gone. I certainly enjoyed my Germany tour at RAF Wildenrath which was near to Munchen Gladbach and very close to the Dutch border.

DIBNLIB - church acquaintances here were in Germany a long time so sent their teenage son and daughter to boarding schools in Scotland; but when they retired, the Son decided to make his home in Germany!

The weed in the gutter turned out to be A Cabbage!!!

Back from very frustrating day dealing with daughter's docs, who all seem to be needing to switch apts around for one reason or another.  Then she had an appointment to have her hair cut but the stylist postponed that until later and then was 45 minutes late!!  Grrr.  Mostly sorted today's stuff but we have two appts tomorrow and not sure daughter will keep the second one, which isn't completely necessary.

AQ; So sorry about your trip. I can imagine how that feels to see your "escape" postponed.  :-(

Lindybird: Loved the three-level garden too.  

Clare: Looks like a lovely time away.

Completely knackered from today's to-ing and fro-ing with more tomorrow and just discovered we are out of insulin syringes for Lightning, so awaiting call from vet.  Also power will be off tomorrow, so we're busy organizing freezer/refrigerator contents....  And I'm supposed to be driving to Arizona Saturday, but may try to postpone until Sunday.

Have read everyone's news - thank you! - but eyes are crossing and dinner is looming on the horizon.