Weekly Chat (Non-Osprey), 13 September 2020

Good morning all  - Ive been quiet as Ive been in Essex dog sitting for my Sister-in-Law who was in hospital for 5 days having chemo and a PICC line fitted. She has non Hodgkin's lymphoma and needs a course of aggressive chemo plus possible stem cell therapy. She lives on her own so I said I would stay in the house as her dog is 15 and has various ailments. She does not have internet so I couldn't use my phone much.

I too have been invited for a flu jab which is booked for next month and then yesterday I got a text from the surgery asking me if I would like a free pneumonia vaccination - has anyone else had one of these?

I can stay long as I am working at 8 today and have Son and family coming for the weekend and the weather looks good so we can all get out and get some sea air.

Take care everyone and I know its not easy but try not to let the daily grind of bad news get to you - I have always been a  news hound but just lately I feel like I'd rather not know.

Good Morning. Sunny here and "good" weather predicted for the next few days, which is nice for those longing for a weekend off work. My OH is now off on an all day golf competition which is an annual event, although they won't be having the traditional meal together afterwards.

AQ - How annoying about the library books. We have a lot of new places being told they're having new restrictions of various kinds, recently, due to worrying rising figures of infections. It just makes me shout at the TV "stop meeting each other!!!"

Harelady - I know what you mean about the news. I've always tried to keep up with what's going on but am increasingly turning to my phone to see the latest stuff, rather than watch too many TV bulletins. That way I can glean some of the "other news" rather than the continuous grind of virus stuff, which is wearing.

Must get off and wash my hair etc as a busy day ahead: we go to Wales tomorrow for a long stay so have to get up to date in the house & garden. Lots of things coming to an end in the flower beds now, and my Nerines are beginning to open.

Meant to say, sorry for your sis in law, Harelady, it sounds as if she's going through the mill. Good that you can help out with the dog.

Hope things are better for J this week, OG, and that your pain abates so you can relax.

We have a sedum in the front garden and yesterday were treated to the sight of loads of beas and 5 butterflies feeding on it. Lovely morning here so will go to Dornoch with Benson. Catch up with all your news later.

Good morning, all. I've just Googled both nerine and sedum - Dibnlib, what variety is your sedum? There seems to be about fifty dozen of them! Nerines look absolutely beautiful.

It's another lovely morning here, though that wind is distinctly autumnal.

I've long since stopped watching the news - it features our excuse of a PM too frequently and you can't trust anything he says.

Morning all:

Harelady: I've had a pneumonia vaccine, but there are two and I'm not sure which one I had (will have to ask doc at annual tune up). There's the Pneumococcal conjugate vaccine and the Pneumococcal polysaccharide vaccine, the latter ostensibly for the over 65s, but I gather it depends on your medical history and is something to ask your doc. Hope your SiL gets through the chemo without too much discomfort.....

AQ; Our 'normal' library online network hasn't been fully operational since Covid started. Now we have just three that share and two of them are quite small. Also, it seems to take ages for them to transfer books from one branch to another - sometimes I think that's a volunteer job for me - driving books back and forth around the countryside. Anyway, that's why I've been buying books from our local independent bookstore the last few months and by the time you've ordered from Amazon and paid shipping (I'm not an Amazon Prime member), it costs almost as much as at Chaucers. Of course, there's Costco, but they don't need my support.

OG: How's that leg? Has it healed up yet?

PatO;  Yes, I suspected you weren't serious!  :-)

Lindybird:  Enjoy Wales.

I'm going on a pilgrimage to several discount stores in the region today; am also taking some frozen breakfast burritos that OH said he wanted, then changed his mind, to grandson, who will eat most things. Grandson was here a week ago and forgot to take them home and I'm tired of seeing them in the freezer.

Next week I'm determined to tidy up the garden, which has been sorely neglected this summer. When we were planning all the work to be done in the house I was sure I'd be able to catch up outside, but it didn't happen....

CLARE Sorry haven't a clue what variety the sedum is. We have had it a good few years now and it has really grown. We planted the neurones Lindy mentioned but unfortunately only 2 of 6 have come to anything and they are not actually flowering yet.

Nerines can be grumpy, Dibnlib! You might have to give them time to settle. We once planted an entire row of them beneath a hedge, for my mother in law, but they only grew a little, then disappeared. We didn't know at the time that they rot if in soil conditions which are too damp.

Edit:  They're really strange, too, in that they have the leaves first, then they die back and the flower stems shoot out of the ground on their own.

Have a great time in Wales, Lindy!

Arghhh   Ruth Bader Ginsberg - a wonderfully smart woman and a judge on the U.S. Supreme Court, died this afternoon after a years-long battle with cancer.  I think we all knew she was very ill, but I was praying she'd survive beyond the election and Trump leaving office in January (please God!).  :-((  Now the Jerk in Chief will get to name another Supreme Court justice, and his slimy little sidekick, Mitch McConnell, speaker of the Senate, will do his best to get an alleged Christian onto the Court.  I keep thinking it can't get any worse......