Weekly Chat (Non-Osprey), 15 July 2018

Diane, Annette and everyone inquiring after me: Tornado was about 70 miles from here but did a lot of damage to historic buildings in Marshalltown. Always hate to see that but no one was injured. I had 2 inches of much needed rain (I'm sure it was because I had just finished washing all my windows) :(

OG - I hope the toe improves quickly. That makes it really hard to get around.

Lindy - love Bonnie's new bed.

AQ - the Tart poster was hilarious!!!

Good evening everyone.

I have just about caught up with all the news. Read with interest. Thanks to all.

I have been operating on very few brain cells recently. Granddaughter was here for two weeks. I loved having her here, but as others have mentioned, it is hard going

the second time round. My OH was not well for most of the time, either.

I look after our communal gardens here, and the hot dry weather is causing problems. It is a well established garden, but no irrigation.  We also have several box plants in containers, and eleven containers of geraniums and agapanthus.

They look lovely, but are high maintenance at the moment.

There are also three new trees to water. Another resident helps a lot, and another lady helps out sometimes.

We have a gardener who visits once a week. He is a 'character' who can be a bit

grumpy, but we get on fine, and he likes his coffee!

The forecast was 25% chance of rain today. I decided (correctly) that that wasn't

high enough, so spent a large part of the afternoon watering hydrangeas etc.

Good that you went to Tatton Lindy.  I went there once when we lived in Chester. I remember it clearly as it bucketed down all day.  Very sorry about your friend.

I see that Annette has been very busy recently. Then back home to sort out your fountain (amongst a few other things)

Heather also always seems busy with family. Oh! and gardening.

I would love some of that rain bjane, but not the tornado, even 70 miles away.

Regards to all.

Hi folks, not been on all week so just trying to catch up with news.

OG - not sure yet what may be causing falls, trembles, but seeing the specialist in August so might know a bit more then.

Well, just read through and you all have been busy with various things going in your lives. Do hope that alls well with you all.

Lindybird, loved the pics of Angelsey, at least you got away for the day in the end. See you are going on another cruise later in the year.

See you are going to Tatton for the flower show, don't forget to post some pics, they are always welcome, Lindy.

We have just paid for ours today and have been looking at the excursions on offer.   Have decided to go on 1 in each port of call - mostly so we can see a bit of the islands we are visiting. Going into the travel agents next week to try and book them. Done a bit of background browsing on the internet and printed off one or two pages of info plus info on the tours we want to do.

Sunday sees our local Cricket Club hosting a fun day for Help the Heroes charity with two T20 matches being played. Should be quite a day.

We have seen the first rain, albeit light, for the first time in eight weeks. Hardly enough to set the grass growing again. Next weeks forecast is set to get warmer again after a day or two of unsettled weather.

We learned my cousin's husband died the other week and the funeral was today, however we could not attend as it was in Norfolk and my OH had already attended a funeral/thanksgiving service for a cricket colleague earlier in the week  so didn't want to put pressure on him to take me all the way up there.

Apologies for the long epistle, have a good weekend all.

It was sunny yesterday, though a chilly wind. Out I went weeding, perched on my step-stool. After 10 mins I noticed big black clouds; scuttled inside just before a heavy downpour of rain and HAIL. Ten mins later OH departed for bus stop under blue sky, not a cloud to be seen. No idea how much rain we had, as I use the nearby airport record . . . and they reported not a drop all day! Farmers are starting to complain. Crops have been sown using dryland techniques. The sheepfarmers are feeding hay to preserve the last of their flocks which they can’t sell anyway for reasonable price. (Query, why are meat prices still so high?) One farmer said he’d had 50 mm rain instead of usual 250 mm.

OH has been diagnosed with Parkinsons. What we suspected but he was reluctant to visit doc. I do see some improvement, whether it is just knowing what or whether the medication is working, whatever.

Evening all:

Lindybird:  Love the sound of caramel ice cream, but I could probably choke down strawberry if need be.  I noticed that salted caramel treats were big at home when I was there in April and now I'm seeing it here too.   Sorry your friend didn't make it to Tatton  Hope you got some pix.

Heather: Is SiL back to work yet?

bjane: I saw video from Marshalltown; seems like Indiana is in the crosshairs tonight.  :-(

Diane: Stay safe!

Rosy: How large is that communal garden? So you have help only once a week?  That's a lot of work, especially with the drought.

Lynette: Remind me - where is your cruises headed?  And when?  Have fun on Sunday!

AQ:   Sorry about your OH, but hope the meds can alleviate the symptoms and maybe some coping suggestions from those in the know will help.  Awful about the farmers; their lives are so very dependent on the weather.  It's a hard life.

OG: Hope that toe is better; very hard to perform en pointe when people are trampling on your feet.  :-)

Bought a new hose reel today (ours fell apart right before I went to AZ) and started tidying up the lavender bushes, most of which are on their last legs with lots of dead wood and unruly growth..  Am casting around for some seriously maintenance-free replacement...

Friends who alerted my OH to the fire up the road from us while I was in AZ are coming for dinner tomorrow evening.  House is still a mess but OH promises to wave the vacuum at the living room floor tomorrow if I dust.  I told them to leave their white gloves behind!  :-)

Good Morning, All.  Goodness, a lot written on here recently.

Sorry to hear about your OH, AQ. Hope the meds help.

Cloudy here and quite cool compared to the recent heat. Back later.

It has been an interesting week weatherwise here. We have had the odd trickles of rain but we have had several overcast periods which, I must say have provided much cooler temperatures, it has been a respite period as it looks like it is now on an upward trend again.

We have ventured into high tech in the kitchen and bought an air fryer. It cuts the cooking times generally by half and on our uses so far (still on learning curve!) it produces things like steaks far better than under a grill. I it looks like a well worthwhile addition.

I have had two interesting letters this week one from the surgery and one from Gloucester NHS. The first was a request to book another blood test. Interestingly it had the specific things GP wants testing. A quick look on the NHS website it indicates he suspects an underactive thyroid and more interestingly when checking the symptoms I clearly identified three of them, dry flaky skin, tiredness (which I had put down the effort of being a full time carer) and muscle aches which I had put down to getting older. Results should be interesting. The other one was my appointment for ultrasound scan. I was dreading this as there are major roadworks between us and Gloucester. We have two community hospitals in the Forest and, amazingly , I have been booked into one of these. I guess someone used some initiative! Hey ho guess its back to cleaning up now.

Hello FB - I'm glad that you have got your appointments. I had to look up 'dry fryer' online, I had no idea what it was! I usually only buy things if my  family have already got them and think they are good. Too many of my purchases, in the past, have ended up in their homes! OG has a steam oven, I believe and that is one thing that I am curious about, also. I don't know if any of these things would be suitable for me, I don't cook much now, except when the family are here.

Speaking of which - son and his family are coming next Friday, for a week. So I will make a special effort with Bella! The new baby will only be four weeks old. Some journey for them all, I think.

My eldest daughter ( has qualifications in child care) has given me a perspective on Bella's behaviour. Her screaming and biting could be linked to her poor speech. She is still in the 'oral phase'. I knew, once upon a time, about all this kind of thing but that was then and this is now! I have forgotten so much stuff. Lucy says that children in her nursery who have poor language skills get frustrated because they can't  effectively communicate their frustration and resort to the aforementioned screaming, etc. Simple when you think about it. I wonder if Bella has a hearing problem. I will watch more carefully during this next visit.

LYNETTE - it will be good to find out what is causing your problems. I have been thinking about you.

ROSY - That is quite a responsibility, with the communal garden. The other resident who helps you - is that regularly or on an ad hoc basis? I know that you would have volunteered for that job but in this hot and dry summer, and with your OH not so well, it is a lot of work.

LINDY - has your friend been informed yet about the results of the doctors' discussion re any future treatment? Looking forward, as always, to your pics of Tatton.

More replies due, I know - but will come back later -