General Chat

Good morning all, a bit grey here but already 13 degrees. After all the excitement and loud music my sleep pattern was disrupted as I didn't get to bed until 11.30 and I had a really bad night for sleep. finally woke at 0845. up and dressed now but I think it will be a slow day. Luckily all the planting was finished yesterday so it is back to weeding and clearing old pots today.
glad you sorted the mouse Mel, I had trouble with mine the other day and changing the battery eventually solved it. always a good idea to switch the whole thig off and start again that often sorts out any updating problems. Yes I rely on the PC for contact with people as well.

The ballet was very impressive. The first time I have been to a live performance and uncanny to feel you are actually at the Royal Opera House as you can hear the buzz of the audience. In between scenes/acts we had Darcy Bussell and a man whose name I missed talking to us and explaining the meaning of parts of the ballet, the costumes, the dances and the miming, that was informative and interesting. The cast was huge and all performers were excellent The leading male was fantastic (Matthew Ball) and one of the three leading ladies was so very good (Kristen McNally). Her stamina and flexibility was unbelievable. I am not a ballet lover but I recognise skill when I see it. How she gets her legs to do what they do I have not got a clue.

Mandy thanks for the message from Mel, bet that made you jump at first!

I'm back!!!!!!!!!!!!! I managed to get the mouse to work again. It just would'nt appear on the screen so I changed the batteries in it and it still did'nt work so I did it again thinking they were no good. till no joy so I turned the pc off on the box and left it.

Turned it back on much later on after coming in from the garden and it worked ok. I was so relieved I can tell you as its my contact with the outside world. :-D

Hope you enjoyed the ballet Anng and that Vera's bruises are getting better.

Off now so see you all in the morning I hope.

Evening all,

Firstly I have a message from Mel she has trouble with her pc so don't know when she will be able to post as she said it just died on her ,hopefully she will be able to post again soon .
She rang me and just for a second I had to think who it was ,it was nice to have a chat.

Vera I hope your not to bruised after your fall ,how lucky you were not to break any bones .

Anng I hope you enjoy the ballet tonight and you've got your plants all planted up .
You asked if Jake has a girlfriend ,no no girlfriend that I know of .

It's been a very warm day here, I had to nip to town to put our prescriptions into boots and got a couple of things I needed from the pound shop then when I came home we put the canes in for the runner beans .
Got my line of washing dry and luckily there's no ironing that needs doing in that lot so all folded and put away in the airing cupboard.
I had some pots that had some small Lupin plants in but they died off over the winter so I emptied the soil out from the pots and they all had monkey nuts buried in them ,the whole nut with the shell not just the peanut ,so the Squirrel has been busy ,he'll have a shock when he comes hunting for his nuts

Morning all,

Bright sunny morning here in deepest Devon and pc says near record ?? 12 degrees and sunny. Echo says its 13 degrees and to expect a high of 19 degres

I too shall be inthe garden today and finish off what I started yesterday and maybe a bit more. I have to move a lot of pots that have dead flowers in but the orchids have come up in a lot of them and I don't want to throw those away. They have even come up between the decking round the big pond and the wall of the patio.

I don't think its going to be a very good apple year down here as there was'nt much blosome on my trees.

Enjoy your screening tonight Anng and be careful in the garden today. Don't overdo it so you can't enjoy your outing.

Good morning AnnG and all

13 degrees and sunny at the moment so it should be another good day.

Yesterday I spent the morning washing and vacuuming, then we went with 2 other friends to tea at someone’s house and I caught up with paying bills, answering emails etc in the evening. OH is shortly going to drive me into town for some shopping and a hair appointment.

Enjoy the screening AnnG. I was going to book for Sleeping Beauty but decided I just couldn’t fit any more into this week

Better get moving as OH is getting the car out. Have a good day everyone.

Good morning all up early as I had slept well and had enough sleep. sun shining so far although pc say mostly cloudy and 18 degrees. I assume that is the forecast as it is 9 degrees according to Alexa, Mostly gardening today until I go out at 6'15pm to see the live screening of sleeping beauty ballet with friends.

Had a good trip to Dobbies and bought some plants to fill the gaps. They still have loads of plants for sale so no real problem getting what I wanted. I was surprised though that some of the plants were still quite small. Hopefully they will pick up once planted I. Larger containers. It was a good afternoon anyway. Planting to do tomorrow.

Went in the garden this morning and was having a chop down of weeds by my shed and a sweep up when the shopping arrived with my nice man Dan. I was having a burn up of weeds on the road sdown to banty when he arrived. Did the wipe down and then rang the garden centre to ask about new diaphrams for the air pump to the big pond filter as I can't clean the filter without the air making it bubble like a cauldron to get all the muck out. The garden place gave me a name of a pond place to order them by and I rang them and got those ordered and they should arrive tomorrow. Then I had some lunch and now I am going back out in the garden again.

Morning Anng and all,

Sky is a bit grey here this morning and pc is saying mostly cloudy and 11 degrees. Its been bright earlier on when I got up at 6 35 for the loo it was sunny then with the deer out the back and two great big rabbits feeding by the chicken run.

I am itching all over today and think the midges must have got me whilst gardening yesterday. I must go down the docs and get some antihytamin tabs they should have sent to Sheb shop. They never get anything right they sent me dispersable asprin instead of my gastro resistant ones too, lucklily I had some I had bought because they used to so that to oh too and he would'nt take them only the ones you could swallow.

Good morning all 7 degrees here but supposed to be warm later. yesterday it was very hazy all morning then the sun came out until it clouded over in the evening. I had a good wander round Cheltenham but didn't buy much just a couple of bits I wanted, no clothes. today after lunch mt friend is taking me with another friend to Dobbies garden centre to get a few more plants I want.

Pleased that you had a good weekend with family Vera, sounds like you packed a lot in. A shame though that you fell before it even started, it sounds as if you are going to be covered in bruises now. Strangely I always take a spare pair of glasses with me when I go away, it must have been difficult managing without them but you were fortunate not to have fallen on your teeth if you went right down on your face. My friend fell like that once and had a fortune to spend on her teeth. also you didn't break any bones which is good. I hope the bruises soon heal anyway.

Mandy wow, Jake is 18, as Mel said, where did those years go? A young man now not a boy. Has he got a girl friend?

Mel sounds like you need to have a day off from clipping and cutting to rest your arm. Everything grows so fast this time of year.

O what a todo Vera poor you going down like that I hope you sleep well tonight.

I can't believe Jack is 18 today Mandy I still think of him in the photos of the pool in your garden. 18 I can't get over it where did all those years go?

Lovely to hear from youit s been a bit quiet on here lately with Vera away and Anng off out somewhere.

I came in from the garden at 7pm today and nw I think I am getting tennis elbow from all the cutting down I have been doing. I did the Xocordia on the corner of the lawn, the rest of the forsythia, some bits off roses and a load off the fig tree. I now have the big trailer full but could'nt face trying to get the mower out of the leanto to move it so I have left it up the garden and may do more tomorrow.

Hallo all

We're back home now after a good few days away. I'll just give a quick summary as I'll be typing forever if I give you all the details of our little trip.

OH and I, his sister (who lost her husband last year) and his brother and wife all stayed with his youngest sister and husband. At various times we were joined by some or all of youngest sister's children and grandchildren. As you can imagine there was a lot of catching up to do so lots of chatting and laughter.

On Saturday we went to Quarry Bank Mill, a NT place. Plenty to see and do there and we had a very interesting tour of the Apprentice House. The boys and girls were mostly taken out of the workhouse and apprenticed at the mill. It was a hard life but the mill owner was quite enlightened for the times and the youngsters were quite well looked after. Even when they misbehaved the punishment was to work an extra hour at the end of the normal working day, rather than the beatings and awful punishments that went on elsewhere.

In the evening 14 of us gathered for a pre-booked meal at a nearby pub and were given a room to ourselves which was good.

Either side of the weekend OH and I had a night in a hotel we have visited before near Peterborough. It's about halfway between our house and OH's sister's house so broke the journey up nicely and on the way back today we stopped off at Anglesey Abbey for a few hours. We've been there several times before as it's an easy drive from our house and there is always something different to see in the gardens.

The only downside to our lovely few days was that we arrived in the area OH's sister lives and decided to have a quick look around before going to the house. Would you believe that I managed to have an argument with the pavement and the pavement won? I crashed down on my knees and then fell forward flat on my face so I now have 1 bruised knee, 1 very bruised and grazed knee, some interesting bruising and swelling over my nose and under my eyes and a ruined pair of glasses. I actually think I got away lightly as I went down so hard that for a minute I thought I had broken my nose or a cheekbone. Although my glasses are ruined, they did protect my eyes.
It's been very difficult as I have had to manage without glasses or wear my sunglasses all the time. Fine during the day but not so easy at night at a dimly lit meal table. Now I'm home I have dug out some old glasses. They are not quite the same prescription as the ones that are damaged but they're better than nothing. I don't want to pay out a small fortune to get my glasses remade until I have been to the hospital again in about 3 weeks' time as I think they will have to be changed then anyway.

Happy 18th birthday to Jake, Mandy. Did I blink and miss him growing up? 18 already! I hope he has had a wonderful day.

I am getting tired now but wanted to post something tonight as I may not get a chance to come on much more this week. We have a hectic week again. I must do some h/w and gardening if I can this week. Also tomorrow we are out for tea at a friends, Wednesday I'm getting my hair done and doing some errands in town, Thursday I am at a friend's birthday lunch and Friday is OH's birthday.

I'm going to take myself off to bed now. It's earlier than usual but I can't stop yawning.

Afternoon all,

Just back from sons ,its Jakes 18th birthday today so we nipped there to give him his presents.

It's a cloudy day here we have had a little sun but it's a much cooler day and quite windy too, Colin has decided to come in as there was a few spots of rain .

We have had two helicopters hovering about for ages just over the town ,don't look like the police helicopters and people are wondering if it's for the new lot of The programme The Hunted as one has a camera on it plus there's been cars in a village with people filming .

Morning Ang and all,

You can be sure its true as my Phodo is in full bloom and it always turnsz hot when that in flower and burns it all up. It does this every year.

I need to get out in the garden and do something as my border has'nt been touch and the big poppies are out and the bearded iris and the roses on the wall are flowering.

BIL has left the big trailer up there for me to cut back a few shrubs so I better show willing before next weekend.

Good morning all, sunny out there and 9 degrees. Not sure what I am doing today might go to cheltenham, if I stay home it will just be more gardening.

I have just seen a news flash on line that a mini heatwave is expected. Be nice if so but probably not true.

BIL turned up and wanted to try the spiker on the mole hills on the front field so it threw me a bit as he dos'nt come on a Sunday as thats the day he goes back up country to work. A three hour trip.

Suns been out all day and its really beautiful. I forgot to put my washing out on the line but did it not long ago. I should go up the top and see what he's done and set more traps as I had another mole city up there.

Morning all,

Been busy in the garden and had trouble with the tablet ,son had to sign me in to Google again but it's all sorted now I hope .

We're off to sons in a while Lacey has a school trip away for a few days and goes today but son says she's now having a bit of a wobble about going bless her ,big thing going away from mum and dad and she's a daddy's girl likes her cuddles .

Nice and sunny here ,yesterday was really hot we had to sit in the shade when we stopped for a drink .

The walking greenhouse is done :-D got some of my plants in and later we hope to get the runner beans plants in the garden .

Better get sorted bbl

\I hope its not just you and me again today Anng and that Vera is having a good outing with the family.

I slept like a log last night.

Morning Anng and all,

Its a nice sunny morning here and pc says partly sunny and iyts 12 degrees so a BIT WARMER down here./ sorry little finger caught on the cap lock.

Just having my first COC of the day and I shall start by feeding the wild birds as I see they have eaten practicly every on the feeder and they also need the bird bath cleaned and refilled. The min the sun comes out it goes pink and looks disgusting and they still drink from it!!

Then I am going to have a go at dressing my Tudor man for the dolls house.

Good morning all. sunny and 6 degrees b4edding in the wash. Tesco due 11-12.

Yes Mel a good tour guide makes all the difference. He is only in his early 30s I guess and he was saying when he started to research his family he was amazed to find that as far back as he went his whole paternal family had been born and lived in Gloucester and it was in the exact area we were in. How amazing not to have to search the whole country. I am sure he is an amazing English teacher to 11-18 year olds as he says he loves his job.

Daughter last emailed me from on board her flight to Crete before take off. So hopefully she is on her way.