General Chat

Good morning all. Up early to make sure of catching the bus but a bit too early really. I didn't want to go back to sleep.
Oh yes my front garden border is full of grape \Hyacinths. I wish the leaves were as attractive as the flowers.

Going back to smells. I was thinking that there are some I don't like but they are usually when travelling on public transport. Cigarette smoke, stale cooking (frying) oil, strong perfumes such as 'Poison', garlic any of those embedded in clothes I find horrible.

I hope it turns out to be an easy journey for you tomorrow AnnG and that you have a good chat with them. I'd forgotten we changed to our summer uniforms after easter. I remember we wore our summer dresses (red or green gingham) with our blazers, but if we wore our macs with our summer uniform we had to wear our hats as well.

You must be right about our easter holidays then Gwyn. Maybe I'm remembering the much shorter time off we had at work. I have some bluebells but mine are pink and I brought them from my old house over 20 years ago. I must check if they are about to flower as they are in a sunny spot, but where it can be windy. I've never thought whether they are english or not, but I suspect not being pink. I am overun with grape hyacinths. They look lovely when they are in flower but not afterwards.

It is very strange that I actually like the smells you all dislike. I like the smell of honey, roast meat, hyacinths, linseed oil and live honeyed parsnips. I don’t always buy honey because of keeping sugar down but I like honey on bread or toast too.
I can’t at the moment think of smells I dislike except gloss paint.

I don’t remember how long holidays were at Easter but I know we did have a holiday as when we returned to school we had to wear our summer uniform. In my case it was square necked candy striped dresses and we had to have at least one I. Our house colours. Mine was blue.

I hope all goes well with your hospital visit AnnG.
I'll be thinking of you making an early start.

Interesting to read about all your dislikes of certain smells.
I really don't like the smell of meat roasting and I only have to hear mention on a cookery programme or KFC advert about crisping skin or fried chicken and I feel the hairs on my arms prickling. In fact I can feel it just writing that :-0

A chilly day here, although bright and dry all day. I never got into the garden to tackle our ivy, which seems determined to take over. I don't mind it so much in the real winter months, as it probably provides a cover and food source for small creatures, but it is getting the upperhand, so needs taming. I saw an old gardening programme on TV this morning and Carol Klein was talking about trying to increase the ivy in her garden.
It does very well here with no help whatsoever !

Ann
I think we must have had a fair while for our Easter holidays, because every year, either at Easter or in the summer, we travelled to Wales to see Mum's relations. I certainly wouldn't have had time off school, so we must have had at least about 2 weeks off school to make it worth the long journey.
Our local school breaks up this coming Thursday afternoon and goes back on 15th April.

I walked to see if I could see the swans a few days ago. They weren't there, but I think there was a flattening and gathering of reeds where they nest. There were 2 large swansdown feathers on the 'nest' area , so watch this space.

Bluebells are almost out in our front garden, which catches a lot of sun. They are the Spanish ones, so not the pretty deep blue of the native ones, but a welcome splash of colour to show that warmer days are ahead.

Evening all,
Its been quite cloudy here today and not very warm we had the odd glimpse of the sun at times but not for long .

Anng I hope all goes OK for you tomorrow at the hospital and you manage the buses OK ,we'll all be thinking of you .
You've had a busy day I see attacking the ivy and getting on in the garden .

Mel the cat cave was for son's two cats .

One smell I can't stand is linseed oil it really turns my stomach, Hyacinths I have in the garden but they are to strong for me to have I doors ,I remember the teacher having the Hyacinth bulb in those funny shaped glass vase were you could see all the roots in the water .
Still light here so next week when we alter the clocks it will be light at half seven ,I much prefer the lighter evenings.

Vera how were the Muffins are there any left ,they did look good .

Sisters birthday tomorrow so I hope I feel OK to take her card and present

Oh I understand now Mel. There's a lot to do to keep a pond in good order isn't there. I can remember green water being a nuisance when I kept tropical fish. I seem to remember putting blue stuff in the water that cleared it which was ok to do with just a small fishtank.

Shame about your parsnips Vera and I can imagine doing just the same myself. I have a bottlebrush shrub that is doing the same as your Hydrangeas, small flowers and less of them, plus some of it died back with last summer's heat. I was wondering whether to dig it out and get rid or give it a short back and sides to see if it rejuvenated it.

I don't like the smell of honey either. The carvery we go to went through a phase of putting it on their roast parsnips and even OH said it smelled awful and we never fancied any parsnips while they kept doing it. OH has those hot honey and lemon drinks if he has a cold and I don't like the smell of those either.

OH has just told me that the children at his schools have a two week break for easter, so the shops and eateries will be busy for a while now, but the traffic will be less. I'm sure we never had such long easter breaks when we were children, but can any of you remember what you had?

Goodness, AnnG, it doesn’t seem a year since you were saying that your step great-granddaughter had been born. Time does rush away when you’re older. Happy birthday to the little one. It sounds as though you have had plenty of exercise today with a walk and gardening. You will probably be gone by the time I come on here tomorrow but I’ll be thinking of you and hoping everything goes just as you would wish.

You were awake very early Annx. I had some pain from my back yesterday and expected to be kept awake half the night but I slept quite well for a change so feel brighter today. It’s funny how different smells affect us. I can’t bear the smell of honey so I never use it. I do buy it for OH as he likes an occasional slice of fresh bread with honey but he has to make it himself and I hardly breathe till he’s finished eating it. I do like the smell of Christmas box and would you believe we also have one in a pot right by our front door. I am sure we were related in a previous life. And you are not the only numpty in town. I wanted some pieces of parsnip out of the freezer to roast with the potatoes and meat for our Sunday lunch. I keep a large bag in the freezer and just take out what I need but I couldn’t find it anywhere till I went to the fridge. There at the bottom of a veg drawer was a large bag of browning, defrosted parsnips. Instead of putting them back in the freezer last time I used them I had put them in the fridge. Doh!

You’ve been busy with your pond and garden as well Mel. Make sure you don’t overdo it with your bad hip. It’s good that your Bil can help you with some of the jobs.

I hope Mandy is feeling a bit better today.

I’ve managed a bit in the garden today as well. I’ve done a drastic prune on a couple of hydrangeas. They are the paniculata variety and aren’t pruned quite the same as the mophead or lacecap ones. In previous years I’ve just pruned the new growth back to a couple of buds but the last couple of years the flowers have been smaller and the plant is very twiggy with no good new stems growing so I’ve been reading up about it. Apparently what I’ve been doing is a light prune but you can do a medium prune or a heavy prune and that’s what I am trying this year. I’ve cut the woody, old stems down to about 8” and am now just crossing my fingers and hoping for the best. If that doesn’t give them a new lease of life they will be out of the door. I also dead-headed all the daffodils in the flower bed though I have later ones blooming in pots.

It's been sunny on and off today but there’s still a cold wind and the temperature is supposed to go down to 0 degrees tonight so that might mean a frost. Brrr

Spent another half hour out there still attacking the ivy. I have got a lot down but there is still more to be cut back. I didn't want tp stay out there any longer as my back started to ache and I need to be reasonably fit for walking from bus to hospital tomorrow. A pity as it is a glorious day for gardening. I did do another job that Monty said needed doing. I have three strawberries in containers and he said I needed to tidy and feed them so I did that. :-) :-)

No Ann it was a UV strip light he put in as there are two in the UV fitting and one had gone. I am getting a lot of green in the big pond as the blanket weed has started to grow with there being a bit of sun now.

I got sidetracked doing the sweeping up on the road and did some of the strawberries instead so now I have to go and have a sweep up on the road down to my shed theres a lot of moss on the road which I have had a rake on but now needs a good sweep. With the wet winter we've had the moss is everywhere all along the front of the bungalow which is the north side.

Been out in the garden since my last post and raked up all the sticks off the rosd from the big ash tree and potted up 7 strawberry pots and runners. Just come in for my pill.

That would have been a pleasant walk in the sunshine seeing the spring bulbs and tree blossom everywhere AnnG. I'm adding a few bits to my family tree while lunch goes down and before my potter in the garden.

Lunch was nice but silly me, I put all of the carrots in the slow cooker instead of saving some to cook for lunch. What a numpty! I thought there seemed a lot of carrots in the slow cooker as well, but the penny still didn't drop. I had to use some frozen peas microwaved instead.

Did BIL fit a strip light because it is better than the green bulbs Mel? You do the same as me with weeds you pull out. I put them on top of the rock borders for the sun to dry out if I haven't got a humper with me and pick them up another time unless OH spots them and picks them up. Were your latest makes in today's parcel things we had seen before?

Now to pore over the choice of bathroom fittings for a while.

Had to come in and rest and have some lunch. spent about 3/4 of an hour cutting the small lawn that is left and fighting a load of Ivy which is rooted behind the shed next door. He never does any gardening now (he is several years older than me) so I have to try and deal with it. It is tangled with the clematis and Monty told me to cut out the dead wood to let new shoots grow. hard to see whhich is which but I am giving it a go, it didn't flower last hear anyway. It is a very old one.

I shold put some washing in but everytime I do it the clouds come over so I think I shall leave that and clear a bit more of the weeds at the base of the Clematis in the front and have a sweep up round the pond as I pulled up some weeds and left them on the slabs.

BIL has been and fitted a new strip light in the filter shed as one of the green bulbs had gone that kills the green.

I am going to have a little go at the garden now before lunch.

11 degrees here now and sunny and I am just back from a walk to take stuff to Irene, I then went on round the park to the next estate and back via estate roads and the adjacent main road. I suppose it was about a mile. Had a coffee now off to potter in the garden.

We have a Christmas Box shrub near the front door that has a nice scent early in the year, but now it's got bigger the perfume is overpowering. I find Hyacinths the same. I remember years ago, when we had a platform of railway sleepers up the garden with a wooden chairs and table combination on it, I planted some lovely, yellow achillea in the border behind. I've just asked OH what they smelled of, as I could only remember it wsn't nice and his answer was 'rotting meat!!' We also used to have a tall Iris with flowers that smelled of germolene.

I've cleaned the fridge out and am resting my knees with a COT now before lunch is ready. OH has fetched the first wash in and put most of it away and put out a second wash to dry, looked at some of his work and is in the garden doing some weeding. His BP seems fine with the home checks, so he's glad about that.

Morning Anng and all,

Gosh dos'nt time fly, a year old it only seems like a coupl;e of months ago you were saying you had a new step great granddaughter.

9 degrees here with a high pollen count. The other day I went out in the garden and could smell the laurel which is not really nice as I can taste it.It runs right up the east side of the garden and really wants a bit of a cut down. Its all in flower. The magnolia looks great at the moment too.

Just one little parcel to do up today and I think I will try doing some painting.

Morning All,

I'm early today as I lay awake from 5.00am so decided to get up at 7.45 am and get some jobs done! The slow cooker is on doing some chopped pork with onions, carrots, swede, half a parsnip with a dash of mustard and horseradish in the gravy. The washer is on again and the veg for lunch all prepared.

It's gone up to 8 degrees here AnnG and the sun is trying to come out so I might go in the garden like you and start some weeding for a short stint. I noticed the garden bin has a bit more space now it has settled a bit. Happy First Birthday to your little step great granddaughter. She will probably be crawling or standing now and copying words. After words for mum and dad I think my siblings soon learned 'NO'! lol.

Good morning all 7 degrees, dry and patchy sun at the moment. Nothing planned for today (That seems to be the story of my life at the moment. Probably some tidying in the garden. and I do need to walk to the post box to post Easter cards. At one time they would be timed to arrive at Easter but these days can't rely on the post office to do that.
My Little baby step great granddaughter is a year old today, that has gone really fast.

Got back at lunch time and have had a banana sandwich and a jam doughnut with my pills and a glass of water.Mandy te cat cave is wonderful and I am sure it will be well used by the cat. Did you say you had made it for someone? I do hope your blood test shows something up that they can put right for you its so horrid when we don't feel right and worrying too.

Yes Ann just think of us all as we will all be right behind you giving our support and love. <3

I had a good spend up and now I feel better. I did the library thne went and bought my new telly handset and some peanuts in the pet shop and back to the car. Then I filled up with deisel and went to Waitrose where I boughtmy self some nice un dyed smaoked haddock, some pepermint creams and a small pack of shortread.

Its 7 degrees here and I have a very cold biting wind and pc says partly sunny but the suns been out all afternoon and most of the morning.