Yawn Yawn Wakey Wakey 2025

No menagerie here at the mo but more crunching after my morning juice and coffee arrived. Both cats had had breakfast by then but she ate the lot leaving nothing which is unusual.

I've been pottering upstairs getting my sewing machine cleaned and packed for uts trip on Wednesday and getting together the materials I need for this afternoon's workshop which is to make a holder for embroidery circles. Now I have a Crown Prince sliced into wedges and roasting ahead of making sticky baked pumpkin for dinner when I get home.

Lovely sunny day today but no gardening. Should be the same tomorrow tho and I can get dirty all day.

Enjoy Troyes @Busy-Lizzie - another place on my wishlist that's not do-able in a day trip. OH is going for a long weekend of golf near Saintes on Friday so I have some quid pro quo due buy maybe best to wait till spring now.

Glad you have arrived safely @Liriodendron and that you have power. Are you there for fun or odd jobs too?

Have a good day all.

 

Good afternoon to you all!!

Sunny and warm this afternoon and the strong winds have died down.

I too, am a member of the Loose Loo Seat Club. It was newly installed in January and lops to one side. I shall endeavour to get down "to business" and see if I can tighten it!!

That may be good news about the beta blockers @Goldenlily26 I had the same experience with some prescribed eye drops this summer. I ran out and couldn't get a repeat prescription but my eyes were much better. Hmmm. I think we are all being duped somehow. Glad that Gin is responding to some work @Penny_Forthem A good move. Apparently, this year is a good year for ceps so I am looking forward to a pan full fried in butter with parsley and garlic. I was going to say something about the woman in Melbourne who knocked off her in-laws with her Beef Wellington and mushrooms.....but I won't! @Liriodendron Safely home-ish - hooray!
Thank you @Obelix-Vendée I make socca a lot, especially from August onwards when the tomatoes are at their best. I use this recipe Socca Niçoise But, on the TV programme the Socca was almost like a parmesan tuile and he put little crevettes grises and dabs of mayo and it looked quite delicate. I just wondered if anyone had any inside information!! The recipe you posted (thank you very much) was what I had found - I did try it yesterday as I did some Elizabeth David Piedmont Stuffed Peppers at the same time. Yum!

On a sad note, my bestie in Melbourne lost her battle with cancer last week. She had a very positive attitude right the way through - promising to come over and dine on fine food in the village square here. Is it sad though? She had wasted away to about 35 odd kilos and it was very difficult for her husband. It is more frustrating and angry, than sad....in my opinion.

Onwards and upwards. Enjoy the rest of the day.

 

So very, very sorry to hear about your friend @Tui34. I feel that once we get to a cetain age we hear more and more stories like this. My condolences to you and to her family.
I have had a day of concern too. A few weeks back my middle brother had gone for his annual health MOT and following the blood test his PSA readings were higher than the Doctor expected so he was sent for an MRI scan. This identified some abnomalities in his prostate and today he is having a biopsy done. He had to wait a week for this because he had to stop taking one of the pills he is on for this week prior to the biopsy. As soon as he knows anything he will be in touch.

 

Adding my condolences too, @Tui34
A worrying time @Ladybird4. I hope he doesn't have to wait too long for the results (and keeping fingers crossed that all is well).
It's been lovely and warm today.
All the tomatoes are now picked (plus a kilo of green for DiL's mum for chutney).
The brown bin was emptied today, so now I can be happy filling it up and clearing the greenhouse.
Also got all the 'stuff' ready for art group tomorrow.

 

Hello folks, thought I'd posted this morning but obviously not!

Condolences to @Tui34. The passing of a close friend is always tough.

Trust your brother will be ok @Ladybird4. It's not necessarily cancer of course as my OH had that done and was one of the lucky ones. Just has to take pills so it doesn't get bigger. I was horrified when he walked home from the hospital straight after the biopsy - he was supposed to phone me to collect him when ready but thought as he felt fine he would walk!

So glad you made it over to Lismore @Liriodendron - good to hear from you and that you now have leccy.

Enjoy your trip to Troye @Busy-Lizzie and your workshop this afternoon @Obelix-Vendée .

It's been a fine, sunny day so we've been busy cutting back the overhanging ivy from the top of a fence - very carefully as we think the ivy's keeping the fence upright. Not a nice job though so we gave up by 4pm when it was still warm enough to sit outside with a cuppa.

 

So sorry to hear that, @Tui34. And a worry for you, @Ladybird4. Hope he will get good news very soon.
Pleasantly warm and some sun today. Went to the seaside, had a pleasant walk and also dropped off a bag of clothes at the charity shop. When we got back, I helped OH saw up some fallen branches for the green bins, and I also filled two of my new containers with compost. Baby steps, next job will be to plant them up, but one task at a time! My wrist is still playing up, so I’m still having to take it easy. I think I’ve found out what caused it, no more trying to read my iPad above my head while lying down in bed! I’ll have to sit up properly and rest it on the covers instead!

 

It's a working holiday, @Obelix-Vendée . I have paintwork to wash, bedrooms to paint, and plaster to patch in the living room. Then if there's any dry weather I'll be ripping out brambles and nettles. Not an outside day today, and electricians came this morning to PAT test all movable electricals, so I've been preparing one of the bedrooms - some carpet tiles need attention, as well as needing to evict a lot of spiders before painting. But I'll hopefully get time for the odd walk, and need to visit neighbours etc., in the next fortnight.

 

Good evening everyone. Brother has had the biopsy done but has to wait 2-3 weeks for the results. He was only in hospital for one and a half hours. I'm glad it was picked up so quickly. Now we will just have to be patient.
Goodness @Liriodendron, you certainly have got your work cut out there. Speaking of spiders, its that time of year when you step into the garden and feel the little string of spider silk against your face and hair as you walk. What's more, if it isn't the spider silk its the crunch underfoot as you squish a mollusc! Yep, Autumn has arrived!
I am off to watch Uni Chall now so I will bid you all goodnight and see you tomorrow.

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Really sorry about your friend @Tui34. It's always sad but I can understand and sympathise with your anger and frustration. Hugs.

We had a visit from Fred this pm, a lady who had been operated for problems with her carotid artery only then to be diagnosed with cancer of the pancreas and that it had spread into her lungs. She's just had surgery for the lungs and will now have chemo before they tackle the pancreas. She's lost at least 25 kilos since last June and is looking well on it as she had them to lose but it's all rather drastic. The worst is that she was an oncology nurse till she retired so knows what she's in for but is being very brave and seeing us all together again seems to have given her a boost. We all hope so.

I hope your brother is OK @Ladybird4. BIL has just been diagnosed with prostate cancer but they've caught it early and he's been having hormones and chemo is starting soon. He's widowed now but has good neighbours and friends to help him thru that plus his 2 sons are not too far away.

Goodness @Liriodendron I hope you have time for some fun while the paint dries!

I'm getting worried that our fine, dry weather will suddenly end and we'll then be drowned for months like last year - so much rain we couldn't get out to plant, transplant, spread the mulch - so, all being well, tomorrow is a gardening day with trees to plant while I have OH to help with holes.

Have a good night everyone.

 

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A very good morning one and all. It is a very mild start to the day here - I just can't keep up with all these odd days. They seem to alternate between being cold to the point of uncomfortable to being mild and holding out a promise that it will be a decent gardening day.This morning I am very optimistic.
Thank you for your encouraging words re my brother. Greatly appreciated.

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Good morning. Bright and sunny here but a bit fresh tho it will get to 20C later.

More admin for me this am - mostly dealing with a woman whose shilling is definitely short of a few pennies/sandwich short of a picnic brain - and then OH is helping me dig holes for trees. I have 3 magnolias to plant where I can see them and an elm and a common or garden elderberry to plant where they can just grow quietly for wildlife.

I hope everyone is able to get some gardening done today or other fulfilling/necessary activities.

 

Condolensces Tui34. I know what you mean. Having recently seen my children deal with the slow death of their father, I felt it was almost inhumane to see him kept alive for 6 weeks before he was allowed to die. I know a lot of people will disagree with me and it prompted me to fill out a Living Will to avoid the same thing happening to me. I knew about Wills but had never heard of a Living Will. Of course we feel sad when we lose someone we care about, but at least they are at peace and out of their pain and misery.
Good luck to your brother Ladybird, such a worry until you have your the results.

My ap. with the cardiac nurse was a big non event. She wasn't bothered about the side effects troubling me from the beta blocker, she suggested I take it before I go to bed, to sleep through them. She told me to stop taking the child's dose BP tablet, it was doing nothing, she has prescribed a different tablet. She reminded me I have a damaged heart which is not working at maximum capacity so I will not feel 100%, I sort of felt I was being unreasonable to expect to feel better than I do. She is the nurse who told me when I came out of hospital, I could drop dead at any moment, no warning, or I might live another 5-10 years. I suppose it is called facing reality, a cheerful soul. I have decided to give the new tablet a try, see how I get on and if I go
backwards I will stop taking the beta blocker as the nurse did comment I have the choice of taking medication or not.

Today is a clear up/rest day. I spent the whole morning prepping and assembling the cassoulet, before going to the hospital, I did a quick shop afterwards so was shattered when I finally came home.
I have spoken to my neighbour about her chickens. She apologized and thanked me for being so patient. She has caught one and put it in a coop. He is protesting loudly, only 4 more to catch. She is going to give them away or release them in her father's wood as they are already feral.
Poor Gin, what a very unsettled start to his life. I am sure he will learn, given time, that he is going nowhere now he is with you.Lucky boy. Yesterday my neighbours mad springer jumped onto her kitchen table and ate half a bag of sultanas. She had to take her to work to be given an emetic as they can be poisonous to dogs.
It is a lovely day again, we are supposed to be having a week of it so plenty of gardening to be done for you all. Enjoy.

 

Another lovely day. I almost wish I wasn't going to art. I don't have to go - attendance is sporadic for most people, but I have to pay my subs.
We have had written feedback from Dave, the trainer, with strategies for going forward with Gin. He agrees he has a lot of bad habits to correct, but we're not aiming to compete at Crufts, just smooth the rough edges.

 

Your nurse sounds like she needs some "bedside manner" training and empathy @Goldenlily26.

By the time I finished dealing with the incomplete picnic person and done other bits of admin I only had time to get the elm planted. It's over the back of the ruined farmhouse between it and the boundary with the eejit neighbour who is allowing his side to fill up with wild brambles and a now overgrown conifer hedge so the elm can grow as big as it likes. Hope it's happy as it will be a great resource for all sorts of insects and birds.

Lunchtime when we'd finished with that but it's a gorgeous day so more fun this pm.

Enjoy your art class @Penny_Forthem and good luck with training Gin. We ended up sending Bonzo to spend a week at home with Belgium and Crufts agility champion and he came back perfectly behaved but then went back to being nervous about strange noises and people but was otherwise fine for us and very loving and daft. Our kind of dog.

 

Hello all.

We will soon be at Calais. OH is taking a turn driving so I've just popped in.

I read about people's friends and relations who are ill so sending sympathy and hugs.

Can't look at phone anymore as it will make me feel carsick.