Hi everyone! Still alive and kicking - more lively some days than others. Sunday is a good day for me in that I have my dear friends S and T each week for a couple of hours. Today, as often, I have several jobs lined up for T - a letter to post in the box opposite (I can no longer go that far) and a message for the milkman in the morning in our secret place. He comes at 5am so there is no catching him unless I happen to be having a sleepless night. At present I am sleeping like a baby so no making cups of tea at dead of night.
Friend E is coming for sherry in the morning at 10.30 so I look forward to that - we always find plenty to chat about (as ladies who sherry always do).
S and T went a while ago but I dropped off to sleep - perhaps as well as I intend to stay up until ten tonight to watch Simon Reeve's "Wilderness". It is a wonderful hour if you like travel programmes. The first episode was in the Second largest rainforest in the world (the first being the Amazon) in The Congo. Last week he was in the wilds of Patagonia with the Pumas who were magnificent animals - not by any means tame but certainly not afraid of humans.
Speaking of animals - in case you don't live in the UK you may not have heard of our escaped monkey! He escaped from his 'home' in a wildlife park somewhere in Scotland - somewhere near Kingussie I think - and has been 'on the run' for about a week - spotted now and again in various villages around the area. He became adept at dismantling bird feeders to get at the peanuts and villagers were I believe asked to take them in. But most of all I love the way he was finally caught: LURED BY A YORKSHIRE PUDDING put out for the birds.
In these days when all the news is so dreadful - both at home and abroad - wars, stabbings, attacks with a corrosive substance, terrible, terrible days, isn't it good to have just a little bit of light relief?
How are your gardens doing, those of you who live in the Northern Hemisphere. (Pam feel free to tell us of your Australian garden. We are within spitting distance of Spring now so it will give us something to look forward to). I have golden crocus, a few purple ones (they never seem to do as well as the 'ordinary' golden ones), snowdrops, Helleborus Niger - four plants all in full flower with snow white flowers and a host of different coloured Winter primroses - red, orange, yellow, cream and purple. The one or two really sunny days have brought them out. Today is dull, windy and chilly with that thin, drizzly rain than soon gets you wet through.
I am just going round drawing blinds and curtains and washing up ready for my carer coming at 6pm to help me get ready for bed. I have one night each week when a carer doesn't come but I think shortly I shall have to have her as it is becoming harder by the day. Last Friday I accidentally pressed my lifeline button while getting ready for bed. My answer button machine is in the sitting room so I didn't hear her asking if I was alright. Alarm bells must have started ringing as she telephoned me on my mobile (I always sleep with it on my bedside table) to make sure. Lifeline is a really excellent service. Do any of you have it?
Hopefully back tomorrow. See you then.
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40 comments:
He was a gorgeous little monkey wasn't he, if you ask me he let himself get recaptured. It must have been a full time job finding enough food and keeping warm at this time of year, far better treatment and care in the monkey house with meals delivered and keepers for him to make fun of. :-)
Remember when the ten o'clock news nearly always ended with Trevor MacDonald or Co saying 'And Finally ...' and then a nice happy news item or something to make you smile before bed. It's in short supply these days isn't it or maybe we are just led to believe it is, the good news is out there if we look.
Went for a wander around our very soggy garden this morning, down to see the hellebores which I can't see from the house, both yellow and purple crocus out, daffs not open yet but buds nicely formed. I cut some camellia and willow which is just about to bud, so I have a lovely vase full to watch over the coming week. And we've had a little sun as well!
I am glad your friends pop in for a visit. That's a fun way to spend the day.
I haven't noticed anything coming up in the garden yet. We are just warming up a bit now and I still have a small pile of snow out front.
Nature programs on TV are always enjoyable. The monkey seemed to evade capture for a while. How funny that it took a YP to finally draw him in. Your Spring flowers emerging has to be very welcomed and lovely to watch. All my Spring bulbs are still sleeping with nothing showing. Having your friends visit sounds like good fun. Sherry hour is lovely, isn't it.
I'd not heard about your monkey episode, from over on the other side of the pond. We've had blasts about new warlike news on our evening news for days. And then there's our election beginning to roll out. Spring flowers? I bought a new Kalanchoe at the grocery the other day, to have some more color in the house. It has magenta flowers.
Sounds a lovely Sunday and it's wonderful that you're sleeping like a baby at night!
I so enjoyed the story about the monkey on the loose in Scotland and am also glad he's safely returned to his troop at the wildlife park. It is uplifting to hear/read these light & happy stories.
Hellebores are blooming like mad in my garden, and daffodils have poked through, and here & there you see tightly wrapped buds. It won't be long before their sunny yellow blooms.
Wishing you a good week!
Your escaped monkey made the News here in New Zealand.
I don't know anything about a monkey. Enjoy your evening and blog when you feel like it. I enjoy your comments and your friends visiting is better for you than any blog. Visitors are worth their weight in gold.xx
Trusting your good taste
Pat I searched for about 30 minutes and was able to find a way to see
Simon Reeve's
Wilderness online here in the USA(rural NY state)
So this evening I will watch that.Our weather is still too cold to think about planting anything outside.It's nice to see your positive attitude today,thank you,Mary
The comic monkey-shines made the news here, too, and am glad the monkey was safely caught.
It's good you have a button to call for help as needed and an occasional "oops" call to them is nothing to fret about.
We're having warmish days (12*C) but it's still cold at night (-2*C). The purple crocus are starting to bloom!
Hugs!
There are signs that spring is slowly coming around here. Daffodil leaves are coming up, a friend said she saw snowdrops In a garden.
I’m glad to hear that you are getting lots of visits from friends and family and that the wonderful carers are tending to your needs.
Lovely to see your post and good to hear you have friends visiting.
Enjoy the wildlife on TV
💐🌞🌿
It sound like a wonderful day with dear old friends...just what the doctor ordered!
My mother-in-law used to have lifeline, but she could never remember what the button was for. We age from either the neck up or the neck down.
But what I really want to know is who can correctly pronounce Kingussie? And for those clever clogs who can, another one I had to learn quickly when I lived up there was Ballindalloch.
Greetings, dear WoG!
If my math is correct, you should be enjoying your wildlife/travel program this very moment. I enjoyed hearing about the monkey that escaped. Wonder where he acquired a taste for Yorkshire pudding?... Your catchy "...as ladies who sherry always do" made me giggle. Sounds like the beginning of a limerick! (Perhaps a new poem for you to pen?)... I'm happy to report I can see tiny tips of snowdrop leaves in our back garden. It will be awhile before they are up and blooming, but just seeing the leaves pushing through gives me hope... Very happy you have lovely friends and carers who come and go and brighten your days. "See" you soon!
Love the story of the monkey lured by a Yorkshire pudding! Your garden must be looking so pretty. I noticed that the south facing bank opposite the flats where I live, is covered in snowdrops, shortly to be followed by primroses.
Each of the residents here has a 'lifeline' pendant and bell pulls in every room, such a good idea and reassuring for relatives of those of us who live alone, not to mention ourselves.
Glad you had such a pleasant day.
Spring in the north of Alberta is still a couple of months away, sigh. Strangely, we don't have any snow which is a first in my lifetime. A summer of drought is looming ahead.
Tasker I think it is Kinussie am I right?
What a lovely day you have had! I enjoyed the story of the escaped monkey. It sounds like finding some of his favorite foods was worth getting caught!
King-yew-ssie. The other is bal-in-doe-loch with a short 'a' not balinderlock. But the intonation has to be right too. And don't take any notice of me because I have silly English ears.
This to Sue in the first comment. At our house we call those positive stories at the end of the news the "Suicide Prevention Story". You're right those are hard to come by these days. The writers must have to really scratch around to find them.
The only thing that I have flowering in my yard are some clumps of snow drops. But I did see one being visited by a bee this morning. Some daffodil tips peeking out, and iris tops beginning to come up, and I think I see some winter aconites coming out, at least something that is in their general vicinity is poking some green fingers out of the dirt, that's about it. But the daylight is hanging around longer every day which is extremely encouraging.
What a nice day wth good friends! And your garden must be very springgg-like alweady. Our garden is facing north-east, and it has almost no sun at this time of the year. The only plant flowering at the moment is the witch hazel. The bulbs all stay safely in the dirt, a few of them were poking out in early January but were promptly killed by the hard frost and lots of snow we got later.
Our blogging friend Neil (Yorkshire Pudding) posted about the monkey some time last week.
Your garden sounds very spring-like already! On my walks last week, I have spotted snowdrops and crocus, too. The hellebores in my planter on the windowsill (a gift from my Mum) are doing very well - the white one, that is. There is also a red one which is struggling and has not yet showed a single blossom.
My mother-in-law in Ripon has a Helpline button, too, but she either misplaces it or her cat sets it off accidentally. I am sure the Helpline people are well used to false alarms, but of course they always have to follow up.
Simon Reeve's "Wilderness" programme last night was one the best wilderness programmes I've ever seen, what a superb area of beauty both above the ocean and below it. How wonderful to live in a place where you are isolated from all the horrors going on in the rest of the world.
My Mum used to have a lifeline button. One night she fell going to the loo, but the lifeline was hanging on the door of the wardrobe in the bedroom! I think she managed to crawl back to press it. After that she had a sensor under the mattress that sent an alarm if she was out of bed for more than 20 mins . One night she had moved away to the other side of the double bed and was surprised some time later to find 2 paramedics standing by the bed! ( her neighbour who used to get a call had decided she was too old to be going round at all hours and I was miles away!)
Frances - I sometimes press accidentally but once the receiver of the call, when I apologised, said "that's the sort of call I like - no panic just a chat!"
Derek - exactly my feelings too - and weren't the people so lovely - and as for those whales - exquisite. Would everyone could be so gentle and deep thinking about nature and the need to care for it.
Tasker - same here - I woke at midnight and thought "I should have told Tasker that not only is the g missed out but the u is pronounced 'oo'. But the Scot is never fooled by a non-Scot trying to pronounce a.word - I think one could live there a lifetime and they would still know you were a 'foreigner'
Thanks for your responses they spur me on!
I always enjoy your posts.
We have just had a new bathroom and kitchen so stayed in two separate holiday lets, both local but both had so many more small birds in the gardens than we ever get here. The first one had lots of bulbs ready to flower, they must be well established. Your garden sounds great to look out at.
The lady across the road somehow fell into her empty bath and was there all night, her pipeline was on the kitchen cabinet. Another close neighbour noticed her light had been on all night and fortunately my husband was able to get into the house through her unlocked garage door. My mum had one, they are really a necessity if you have limited mobility and live alone.
Pat, I am so glad you have friends that visit. Friends are vital to our lives! I know that mine sure are. I have an android smart watch that is connected to my phone. It has a "fall alert" feature, which I set up to alert 911 should I fall and not respond to the alert. A few days ago, I must have set the watch down roughly enough for the alert to go off, but didn't get to it in time to shut it off, and sure enough, the 911 operator called! I am glad to know it works.
Did they put the tranquilliser in the Yorkshire Pudding? I may never trust a Y.P. again in my life.
We've had some scorchers of days in Sth Aust. Weave, frizzling the leaves - thanks for asking. Pam, Aust.
It is the people that Simon meets that make the programme. Last night’s episode was too late for me and I will catch up today. I was keen to go to bed to finish reading Life of Pi by Yann Martel, our book group choice for tonight. I expected not to like it having heard or read so much about it over the years (it’s been made into a film and most recently a play with puppets) but instead I enjoyed it immensely for many different reasons. Have you read it Weave? I foresee an interesting philosophical discussion at book group later. My daughter is now living and working remotely in Scotland and immersing herself in the mountains and coastline and history and wildlife. I am sorely tempted to join her. Sarah in Sussex
Early this morning I heard the tawny owl tu-whit too wooing, and I thought is that a sign that spring is coming with courting by the birds. Those helpline buttons seem a very useful invention. It gives you a link to the outside world when needed. Take care.
Sarah - I think I might have read it when it first came out - I seem to think I found it hard going. Certainly didn't find it memorable.
Tom - don;t think they are all that good for you so give them a miss if you are at all suspicious. Don't think they tranquilised it though.
Thanks everyone for interesting comments. Too tired to put on a post now but it was lovely seeing my very active great grand children. (7 and 2)
A nice, chatty post! You make me want to give sherry a try. I had not heard about the monkey, but what a funny story. We had a kangaroo running...or hopping...around our county for a couple years. I think it finally was caught or just disappeared.
This weekend I saw that my hellebores are blooming! Daffodils are up, as are some iris, but my crocus always seems to be very late. I went to a seed store in Amish country and bought an embarrassing amount of seeds. There was a huge variety, and ibam afraid I was like a child in a candy store.
What syllable is accented, Graham? My money is on the second. Bal IN doe lach. Let me know.
I love your blog Pat Ballindalloch is just a few miles from me Ball in dalloch sounded as spelt, i live in Craigellachie 😁 Craig ell achie the ch in both cases soft not k
You learn all sorts of things on your blog Ms. Weaver
Good to hear from you again, always interesting. High summer here and very hot 30dgC. Luckily I have access to a pool which I use every afternoon. The heat is ripening the tomatoes beautifully but the scarlet runner beans have folded. Keep up the good work, look forward to reading you, and yes the monkey news made it here.
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