Heat

 It is very hot - up in the high twenties and destined to hit the low thirties tomorrow.   I am pretty useless in this kind of weather - always have been.   I watered my tubs and will do it again after tea but other than that my Chiropodist has been and for a day or two I shall feel I am walking on air.

The Commonwealth Games are over; it is the closing ceremony tonight then the City of Birmingham will return to normal and life will go on.   But it has been good to see the Stadium almost full every day and to see the encouragement the crowd had given to the athletes.

My tubs will all be thirsty again by now.   M, my neighbour, kindly watered my tub nearest to her this morning which helped me a lot.

Nothing more to tell today, too hot to think.   What I would do if I lived permanently in a very hot climate I can't imagine!!   See you tomorrow.

A Good Philosophy!

 My friend T has a philosophy very much like that of both of my husbands;  it consists of one line, "Never throw anything away; it might come in useful"!

Of course it does help if you have more or less unlimited space.   With my farmer this was of course true.   With M, my first husband, it was not so true but he still tried to stand by it.This did mean that on occasions he came unstuck like the famous time when friends called to see my husband's instruments he made (he made early musical instruments) and when the friend asked to see in his shed he opened the door and my ironing board fell out.

But to return to friend T.   I have a drawer in my bedroom which has been irritating me because the bottom has been falling out of it.  As you know I have been tidying and  reviewing my files and had only one drawer left to do.   This I could not do so this morning, when friends T and S called, I asked T for his opinion on the drawer.   After close inspection he said something to the effect that, "I might have a piece of wood that might fit that - and after coffee off they went home."

He has just returned having found "just the piece" which has now been fitted in the bottom of the drawer, strengthened and all put together again perfectly.   Everything is back in the drawer, done, dusted and back to normal and when I tried to thank T he said that it was just the kind of thing he liked to spend his time doing.   That's the kind of friend one loves isn't it?   So thank you dear friend!!!

Watering tubs.

I read an article in The Times at 'Tub Planting Time'suggesting we branched out a bit and took a wider view rather than planting the same old things like pelargoniums, alyssum. lobelia and the like.   So I did just that, adding just a few Pelargoniums, grey leaved foliage plants - the same old things I put in every year.  Now, as they begin to go into August , if I do a serious survey I have to admit (and this is   a suggestion remember) as they are coming to the end of their tub planting time that the old favourites are doing far, far better than my new suggested ones.   Yes, I know that the Summer has been exceptional, I know I am a year older and watering is not so easy to do, but the tubs  planted with grey foliage and Pelargoniums are a beautiful sight whereas those planted with dahlias (not too bad) and various bedding plants and frequently dead headed are telling me each time I dead head them that they have 'had it'.

Although my road was not built as a road for retired people, many of the inhabitants have lived here for  thirty or more years and so it is now most people well retired (several in their nineties) and only a very few bother with tubs - (too much watering and it will be even worse if a hosepipe ban comes in)

Off now to put today's lunch (minced beef pie with a variety of vegetables and good gravy) in the microwave and watch The Commonwealth Games.  See you tomorrow. 

P S    Good that John got to Sitges this time isn't it? 

Hello

Lovely evening here.   There has been a lot of cloud all day  but now in the evening there is sunshine and the wind has dropped a lot so it is pleasant.   I have been tired all day - it is always the same if I have a jolly day with a lot going on I  am tired for a day or two afterwards.

Still nothing special to do over the next day or two so I can relax.   There will still be tubs to water.   Sad but I shall not do them again after this year - it is getting too much for me to do  especially if we get a hosepipe ban and I have to carry cans of water.   When P and D came over the Pennines yesterday they remarked on how the rivers were fairly full and we had already noticed our local river, The Ure was nowhere near empty so maybe we shall escape the worst of it.

It is a sad situation really because yes, the reservoirs are quite low but the Water Companies are guilty of wasting a huge amount of water through water leakage so it is hard to know where to lay the blame isn;t it?   What do you think?

That;s it for today friends - almost time for my    Pinup (Monty Don of course).  An hour of him and I am sure I shall feel quite perky again and my tiredness will have faded into insignificance.

Goodnight dear friends.

A busy day

Yes, a busy day but such an enjoyable one.  When you have led a busy and interesting life old age can be frustrating but one really has to try and make the best of things and get on with it.

My friends from Grange over Sands arrived at half past eleven (it is about   a two hour journey through beautiful countryside across The Pennines and it has been a glorious   day so  the journey would be lovely.)

We had to meet friend W at the restaurant for twelve so it was ten minutes sit down and then on the ten minute journey to Middlemoor.  Lovely gardens, brilliant disabled access, nice wide spaces between tables  and very welcoming staff -perfect for a Summer's day.

Friend D says I must not repeat the menu as it is boring and I am sure he is right.   So sufficient to say we had a super meal - lovely food, nice company, excellent service.    When I explained to the young man waiting at our table that I couldn't hold my coffee cup because of my shake, he  went away and returned with my coffee in a lovely mug with hens on it.

There was also a gift shop and I was able to top up with super cards for all purposes.   No matter how many cards I buy when I am out and about there always comes a time when I have a birthday (or in this case a silver wedding) coming up and no suitable card to send.   And I always think cards are too personal a thing to get someone else to buy.

Now, at half past nine, I am more than ready for  an early night so shall sign off.   This day of doing something different - whilst it has been very tiring= it has done me a huge boost and when I get up in the morning I shall be greeted by a vase of golden sunflowers - another boost.

 

Visitors tomorrow.

Friends coming tomorrow four of us are going out to lunch - not far - only as far as Middlemoor, a couple of miles from home but with lovely food, so no effort on my part.   Then my dear Carer is making me one of her splendid salads for tea and this will just be a case of adding things like mashed avocado, green olives   with feta, cheeses, chorizo,   pate and Danish Pastries; that won't take a lot of effort either.

I have just been out into the garden to do a bit of dead-heading where I can reach and to water my tubs.   In spite of quite a lot of rain this week the tubs were desperate for a drink.  Now at a quarter to nine in the evening it is already feeling Autumnal - breezy and needing a cardigan.   How quickly Autumn has come round this year.

I am still feeling lacking in News but at least tomorrow I shall be able to tell you what we all had to eat.   See you then.

 

Warmer

 After a pouring wet start it is now a warm and pleasant start to the day.  Friends P and D have rung to say their new car has requested a jolly run out and they are coming over to lunch on Thursday,   We are still juggling various lunch places and menus but the very idea - whatever the form it takes of an outing in a car, a new venue, a nice menu and jolly company is attractive.  When one is more or less housebound and reliant on others for seeing the outside world, any trip out is welcome and is much appreciated.

Well England won the Ladies. Football Championship this evening - I am so pleased for them, they have worked so hard for it.   I have also watched the Commonwealth Games - especially swimming and gymnastics - both have been spectacular and have shown just how much dedication the sportsmen and women have to put into it.

Off to bed now.   See you tomorrow.

Marbles?

 Am I losing them or am I losing them?   Last evening my son called by quite late with more covid test kits.   I have run out of them because I have been testing every other day since my neighbour went down with it.  I was preparing for bed.when he called -  I was taking my hearing aids out in fact,

This morning as usual I rose early ready to greet my carer when she arrived at seven.   In fact I had a tablet to take half an hour before breakfast so I was early to rise.

As with most folk I suspect I have a routine each morning -sit in my chair, switch on Breakfast TV for the News, put in my Hearing Aids so that I know I have them in correctly and  I can hear what the news reader is saying and can adjust the TV accordingly

I put in the right one, felt on the table for the left one - - - it wasn't there.   Where was it?   Panic button got louder and louder in my imagination as I searched.  I went through the house, running my hand across all flat surfaces.   No sign of it.   I took my slippers off in case I had dropped it on the carpet.  The nearer it got to my carer's time the more I panicked.   By the time she came through the door I was in tears.

She never panics.   She made me sit down and tell her the tale.   "Right," she said.  "Let's start with the obvious place.   Is it in your ear?"   You have guessed it.   I had slept with it in my ear.   Since breaking my hip I can only sleep on my back so once my head is on the pillow I don't move it.   So there it was all the time - still in my left ear.

I have told you before what a brilliant carer she is, how she solves every problem for me.   Well dear readers, she has done it again.

Friday again.

And how quickly days speed by.   And while we are at it - how quickly the nights draw in.   Last night I closed the blinds at half past seven.   Helped of course by the fact, contrary to everywhere else in the country it seems, that we are having cloudy skies and very heavy downpours (have just looked out of the window and the sun has momentarily come out and there are a couple of orange tips fluttering around the antirrhinums.)

Opposite my bungalow is a building plot kept by the man who built the estate - presumably to build somewhere for himself sometime in the future.   Quite often there is a black cat who sits there on the edge of the long grass coming in and out of it - on the constant lookout - as cats usually are. All around us are wood pigeons and the two are not friendly with one another.   This morning as I walked down my drive with Priscilla to meet my taxi for the hairdresser, I noticed that the road outside my bungalow is littered with pigeon feathers.   Oh dear.   Has one of the pigeons come to a sad end?   And oh dear -why can't I feel sad?

Do the Powers that be in your area appear to conspire against you?   Friday is Market Day here today and we are one of the places where there is a thriving market with a variety of stalls = two really good greengrocers with excellent quality fruit and veg; a really good cheese counter with cheese from all over Europe, a free range egg stall, a nursery stand selling all kinds of garden plants and giving really good planting advice, a fish stand with fresh Whitby fish, a tool stall with everything from tiny nails to big long nails and  the right size hammers to knock them in.    In addition to that it is also Cattle Market Day and the Cattle market is right in the middle of the town and does a thriving trade in the buying and selling of calves and larger cattle.

We get a lot of tourist trade here in Summer, much of it passing through into Wensleydale and stopping off here in Leyburn and dropping off their busloads of tourists here for a coffee on their way to the Wensleydale Creamery to tour the Cheese Factory. On every day but Friday - market day - the tourist busses can park up in the Auction Mart but not today of course.   Imagine the scene.   What do the powers that be choose to do when they want to do some kind of repair to the kerb or a street light or whatever?   Which day of the week do they choose?  A ni ce quiet  Monday when there is nobody much about apart from tourists sitting in cafes around the market place enjoying their coffee whilst their busses are parked up at the auction mart?   Of course not.   They choose a Friday of course!  They put up their traffic lights nice and early so that this are choked from the word go.

Just typing this has tired me out so can't  imagine what it has done to anybody driving a bus through here.   I am off to make a cuppa.

Disaster

 I really do hope that nobody has been seriously injured but when my Times had not arrived by nine this morning I rang the Newsagents only to discover that owing to an accident on the M62 the papers are held up.   It is now after one o'clock and still no sign of them which makes me think it must be a very bad accident - hope things are alright.   Compared with a bad road accident my missing my morning paper is mere chicken feed.   Lives and bad injuries are far more serious.   So I am now going to resort to a Wordle or two to satisfy my need to brain exercise before my evening stagnation sets in.

 

So far it has been a wet morning with a very grey sky.   It has just stopped raining and the patio has dried up so I may have to go out and water my tubs soon.   I found out when watering my tubs last that in spite of heavy rain my tubs were very dry and one particular grey leaved plant was beginning to die.   Hope I have caught it in time.   I'll be back soon with something to say I hope (even if it is only to give you my wordle score.)

Hardly had I started when my Times popped through the letter box and soon after I started  reading it then friend M rang to say she would come over for a chat.    When you live alone there is nothing better than a friend popping over for a chat.   And together we had a lovely afternoon chatting about this and that.    

I had intended to watch the Opening Ceremony of the Commonwealth Games but sad to say I switched off after half an hour as I just wasn't in the mood and was not enjoying it at all.    Now, at just after nine o'clock I feel more than ready for bed, so wash up the tea things and put them away and then off to bed for me.

Until tomorrow: