Thursday 31 March 2022

The return of winter.

 Six inches of snow this morning.   I knew it before I got out of bed - somehow the light shining under the blind was too white.   It has gradually gone as the day has progressed but now and again a heavy snowstorm sweeps in.   The forecaster says a couple of days of this stuff then a bit warmer.   Can't come soon enough.

My last couple of days has been taken up with arranging my Booster Covid 19 injection.   These days things like this get me in such a fluster, my shaking gets worse and to quote my son I  'get in a  state'.  First my son found me a place in Northallerton - twenty five miles away.   Then my friend M told me that perhaps I could get it in Hawes - a little local market town.   I rang but couldn;t understand what they were saying, so friend S rang and - to cut a long story short I am getting it there in a fortnight.   S is taking me and, would you believe it, when asked about disabled access for me the chemist said not to worry - he would come out to the car and give me the injection.   People are so helpful.

I have just ventured across the road to the letter box - it is my God-daughter's birthday and I needed to post her card.  That  wind is cutting.  I am not surprised Rachel's cats had no desire to leave their comfortable cushions.   It is freezing cold and the North wind is blowing.

The North wind doth blow

and we shall have snow,

and what will the robin do then poor thing?

He'll sit in the barn

to keep himself warm,

and hide his head under his wing, poor thing,



Tuesday 29 March 2022

Sudden shock.

Too right!   Ten degrees cooler this morning after yesterday's rain.   It has not rained today but it has not been sunny either - just dull.   But the plants in my garden have all grown considerably overnight and are saying 'thank you' in no uncertain terms.

C ovid jabs for the over 75s are now available here but the nearest place I can get one is at a school almost thirty miles away.   To have a taxi there, get it to wait for me and then come back would cost me about seventy pounds which does seem rather a lot. My doctor rang me this afternoon about another matter and she suggested I wait a few weeks when they will probably be available at local chemists.  So that is what I intend to do.

Friend and neighbour H came round for a cup of tea this afternoon and, as usual, we chatted about old times.   We spoke of how things are now and agreed that we have probably lived through the best age.   Unless things drastically improve this does not seem to be a good time in which to live and really the future does look not all that bright.   Or am I just being pessimistic?  The idea of bombing and shelling a country into submission and killing thousands on both sides seems unthinkable to me.  And all that has happened so far is that the side which was invaded has fought back with such ferocity that things seem to be stalemate.   There was a picture in the Times today (among several others, all equally telling and going a good way to showing that every picture is worth a thousand words) showing a Ukraining soldier burying the decomposing body of a Russian soldier by the side of the road.   My immediate thought was that the young Russian soldier, most likely a very young conscript, as most of them seem to be, was somebody's son - he would never go home, his family would never know what had happened to him or where he was buried.   And the people plotting and planning are all far from where the action is taking place.   What a cruel world we live in.

 

Monday 28 March 2022

Late on Sunday evening.

 Late in the evening after a lovely Mothering Sunday. Friends called for a chat this morning.   Sausage and mash from my freezer for lunch.   A lazy, dozy afternoon and then on six o'clock my son and his wife arrive all ready for our pizzas which arrrived dead on the dot of  six fifteen.   Hot in their boxes on the doorstep and then hot on to our heated plates and a jolly half hour eating, chatting and generally having a pleasant relaxing evening.

It is now Monday lunch time.   I should have known better that to try a post late at night.   Pins and needles in my fingers, shakes and trembles in my arms - all make it pointless so I stored it until today.

There is welcome rain here this morning - it has been falling all morning.   Yes, I know my front lawn needs cutting and H next door is diligently doing a couple of hours in her garden each day but I am sure both H and my gardener would acknowledge that this gentle rain will do more good.  I don't know how warm it is - I haven't put my nose out  of the door, but my heating is set at 20 and it is not on so it can't be all that chilly.

Roast chicken and roast beef for lunch today - mycarer had a Mothering Sunday carvery for various people yesterday and included me  - I am sure it will be delicious.

Mr Blackbird just flew past my window at a cracking speed - it is obviously all stations go there.  Someone asked about blackbirds here in the UK.   The blackbird and thrush are in the same family - song thrushes are  in decline but their song is considered superior.  We do get fieldfares and redwings (also thrushes) in the winter and you might see a ring ouzel if you are lucky.   But by far the most common of the thrush family (turdus) is the blackbird one of our most loved birds,   Here on our estate it is no exagggeration to say that almost every garden has one.

Lunch (heating in the microwave for five minutes Rachel as I write this)calls and smells delicious.   See you tomorrow,




Sunday 27 March 2022

Make the most of it..

 because tomorrow winter returns with a vengeance with temperatures down from 17 to 5 by Wednesday.   Several repotting jobs I had been intending to do have now been put on hold.  Today is not quite as warm as it has been but the sun is still shining into my sitting room and warming it up nicely.   As British Summer Time starts today I fiddled about doing this and that last night only remembering at the last minute that the clocks needed to go forward so I didn't get to bed until midnight.  So I am rather tired today.

I must make an effort to wake up as today is Mothering Sunday and we are having Pizzas  round about 6pm.    Also a book of Raymond Carver short stories through my letter box last evening along with my card.   So a lovely day all round.

Friends S  and T called this morning but didn't come in as T has had a very bad chesty cold - not covid I hasten to add,   Because my son and his wife are coming round this evening I got my carer to test me for Covid this morning - I showed negative but always best to test when someone is coming.   It has rocketed up since all precautions were removed.

I fancy Mr and Mrs Blackbird have started constructing their this year's home judging by the amount of activity there is in the hedge at the bottom of the garden.   I wonder if they will stop this week when it turns cold (maybe snow by Thursday).

Speaking of time I have just looked at the clock in my computer room (also my bedroom) - my dear carer made sure the clock had been put on an hour before she left yesterday morning.   They could be here in an hour for pizzas so must get moving.   See you tomorrow.

Friday 25 March 2022

How goes the day?

Some days I wake up with a modicum of energy which, if I spread it gently, can last more or less all day.   Other days I wake up pretty lacking in energy and however hard I try none appears.   If I have a caller sometimes that generates a bit of energy from somewhere but it tends to disappear at the drop of a hat.   I suppose this is because of my age but I do find it trying because in my younger days I could usually whip up some energy from somewhere.

Yesterday I did quite a lot of bits and pieces as well as a good long blog post.  Today not only can I think of absolutely nothing to say but I have done more or less absolutely nothing all day.   At about half past four I did drag Priscilla across the road to the post box - it would have done in the morning as today's post had already gone but I felt it would do me good.   It did and I had a chat with H next door who was working in her front garden.   She is the same age as me and has similar views on energy.   And so we struggle on.

It has been a lovely Spring day again but the weather forecast shows a 'cold front' sweeping down from the Arctic with a North wind.   So at the beginning of next week we can say goodbye to Spring for a few days at least.   So don't put those winter woollies away yet!  See you tomorrow. 

Thursday 24 March 2022

Cowardy custard!

 As we said when we were kids in the playground.   Well I  am no kid now - pretty decrepit in many ways but I try.   But I have to admit to two cases in the past week when I have been a coward and I am ashamed to tell you.   There was a day when I would have been thought of as that haridan in the bungalow at the top of the road.   But not any more.

About a week ago, just as the six o'clock news was starting, I watched a lady across the road with a dog.Dogs like to sniff where other dogs have been so fair enough - it was identifying various dogs, but then quite suddenly it left an identifying poo.   Did the lady pick it up in a poobag?   No she did not.   She just strolled off and left it on the grass at the side of the road.   There was a time when I would have been out of the door like a shot and shouted across the road for her to pick it up please.   Did I?  No I did absolutely nothing.   In the first place the effort of getting up, getting the garage door open, getting Priscilla out was all too much effort and secondly I don't wish to be identified in that light when I am old and live alone.

Then yesterday there was another instance.   Opposite my bungalow is a building plot which belongs to the builders who built the estate.   I presume they may be leaving it until they retire and can build a bungalow for themselves, or maybe they are keeping it as an investment (the way housing has shot up round here it is a very good investment.)   Here and there on the site (which is grassy) are clumps of snowdrops and daffodils.    Lo and behold yesterday afternoon a grey haired lady in a red anorak turned up with a spade over her shoulder and attacked a large clump of daffodils in full bloom.   I watched her in horror as she attempted to steal them.   Luckily after  about ten minutes of digging, still having not managed to uproot the first clump, she looked around to see if anyone was looking (I was but she didn' t spot me) then, like one of the seven dwarfs, she put her spade over her shoulder and marched off down the road.   And I did nothing.

I am ashamed dear bloggers.   This is not me.   It is still troubling me today but the effort is all too much and I just can't be bothered.   Both small incidents but many small incidents make for one large one.   When I go on my daily walk - only a round the block short one - I encounter the same by now familiar items of rubbish - the odd beer can, two or three discarded masks, various chocolate    wrappers, a quite large piece of white polystyrene-I feel ashamed that I am not either collecting them up in a sack for Priscilla to carry back to my rubbish bin or writing to the council to say they need collecting up.   And I look at the gutters at the side of the road - gutters which used to be swept at least fortnightly by the council but are not any longer and are now thick with the detritus of last year's Autumn twigs and leaves and I vow to write to the council and ask why.   But then I get home and the sheer effort of getting out the writing pad and envelopes, typing the letter with my shaking hands, walking to my desk with my Zimmer frame to get a stamp from my desk, walking across the road to  post the envelope (not I hasten to add in my slippers) is most likely to no avail.   So I, like everybody else, lets sleeping dogs lie.

But , the Spring sun is out. the birds are singing,  the tete-a-tete daffodils are at the their best, the weather forecast says a few more days of this before it breaks - all we need now is for that wretched war to somehow end, for the "powers" to agree to stop the dreadful suffering and for everyone then to join in a rebuilding programme and get those refugees home.   They have no wish to be refugees - they want their homeland.   Oh that they could have it.



Tuesday 22 March 2022

Soldier on.. Might even go in my slipper

 What better way is there of soldiering on than to order a few plants for the garden.   So I have done just that.   I have already been for my walk and had my lunch.   My lifeline lady has been and we have had a good chat which has resulted in my paying a little more to have my 8pm to 8am slot transferred away from my son and  on to the service.   I do not like the thought of him being called out in the night and having to leave his invalid wife on her own.   Now I find that for seventy pence a week I can change this and add the time to the lifeline service, so I have done just that.

Another Spring day although not quite as warm - there is a cool haze,   I have ordered an aster Winston Churchill, 2 geraniums - Anne Folkhard and magnificum and Helenium Red Jewel.   These will hopefully go into the bed which is down the side of the lawn at patio level where I can reach without any steps.   Now I shall go over to the post box and post it off to Claire Austin in Newtown on the Welsh Borders, where I buy all my plants.   I am determined to bring cheer to our lives - gardens make such a difference.   Just walking round each day I see how folk are 'pottering' - doing a bit each day (we are mostly 'oldies' around here so it is a bit at a time).

Blackbirds were singing their beaks off when I walked round this morning.   Not quite as good as a thrush but better than nothing.   I have not heard a thrush (he sings his song twice over, lest he can ne'er reccapture that first fine careless rapture). since I moved here from the farm, although the farm is only two fields away.   Similarly swallows and house martins are rarely seen whereas we had swallows building in the same nests in the barn every year and house martins under the eaves.

Well dear friends I shall be off to post my plant order.   I might even go in my slippers - it is only across the road and there is nobody about!!

Monday 21 March 2022

Time

 Tomorrow it will be five years since my dearest farmer died.   Time is such a strange thing.   In many ways it seems like yesterday and in other ways it seems like forever.   When I think it is thirty one years since my dear first husband died I can't believe it.   But I always feel sad on these days.   One looks back on memories of happy times together - memories which are not always of "memorable" things.  Sometimes a memory of one or the other of them pops into my mind.   Often with David it is seeing marsh marigolds which we both loved.   With my first husband it is often a painting I see in a television programme - an artist we both loved or a place we visited together.  But these memories become more vivid around these anniversaries and make one sad.  I shall be pleased when tomorrow is over.

At the height of the day today it was a lovely day - still, sunny, warm.   And on looking round my garden there were honey bees, bumble bees, butterflies, all manner of wild life.   Frustratingly I can no long garden - it is all I can do to hold on to Priscilla and stay upright.   I walked round the block with difficulty - pulling myself up out of the chair presents difficulty but I make myself do it hoping that it will get easier if I do it every day.

Book group will soon be here (first Monday in the month) and it is my book for April so I have started reading it again this afternoon sitting in a shady corner of the garden.   I think I have mentioned it before.   It is William Trevor's "Felicia's Journey" - certainly not a laugh a minute but Trevor is a brilliant story-teller and from the first word he sets the scene brilliantly.

See you again tomorrow dear blog-friends....

Sunday 20 March 2022

Is it me?

 Is it me or is  it everybody else?  My son passes on books for me to read.  I have just bought him a copy of Salt  Slow - a book of short stories by Julia Armfield and I must say I read a lot of it before I passed it over to him.   I am now waiting for his opinion.   It was greatly  praised on publication.   I quite enjoyed the stories but some of the didn't seem to me to have a beginning a middle and an end. That seems to be the way writing has gone these days.  Stories often just seem to be what I would call 'episodes'.   It is obviously me that has just not kept up with styles of writing.   Have you a book of short stories you particularly like?

Here once again it has been a bright sunny day with just a breeze but the breeze seems to be coming off the North Sea which does make it just a bit chilly.   Looking back to last April (yes I do know we are not quite there yet) it did show itself to be 'the cruelist month' as I remember we had a lot of frosts and gardeners lost many plants they joyfully decided up to then had survived another winter and lived to tell the tale.

But my violas outside the front door in pots have without a doubt put on more growth in the last fortnight than they have done the whole winter and they are now merrily in full bloom - and what a joy to see.   When I went to check that the front door was locked at bedtime I opened it to look out as there was a perfect moon and a sky full of stars.

Another weekend bites the dust - a new week begins tomorrow.   I wonder what this week will bring.   Let's hope it is better news.   In the meantime take care fellow bloggers - I'll see you tomorrow,

Saturday 19 March 2022

The best laid plans.....

We had planned (me, my son and his disabled wife) to have a pizza for tea tonight.   They have bought a new light-weight wheel chair and were intending to give it a try out.   Now for some obscure reason we find the nearest pizza parlour is closed.  It doesn't matter for me - I had a prawn salad with a jacket potato for lunch - I always eat at lunchtime.   But they always eat in the evening.   So our plans have been revised.   They are having a sandwich at home, I am having a sandwich here and then they are coming round for a coffee and a Danish (I had bought Danish pastries for afters in any case.)   Never mind - we can try again next week.

It has been a lovely day here today, cloudless sky - but now in the early evening it is turning chilly and the heating is just coming on.   So I shall close the blinds, set the trolley, turn the heating up and await their arrival.

Like many of you I am avoiding the News this weekend.   Feeling helpless and then watching it just makes things worse.    See you tomorrow.

Friday 18 March 2022

Sanity

 For my own sanity I am having a day when I don't speak of any of the troubles in the world at present.   It doesn't mean I am not aware of them but I need a break.   Hope you all feel the same.

I have been on my walk.   It is the most beautiful Spring day.   There must be two or three hundred purple and yellow crocus out in my garden.   I do wish I could show them to you but my shaky hands and having changed my camera together means I just can't manage to transfer the pictures.   I will try again after lunch but don't hold your breath.

I walked out early because the forecast spoke of the wind getting up and Priscilla hates the wind.  But consequently I met different dogs and their walkers.  First of all I met the girl who lived opposite until three months ago when they moved to a bungalow much bigger in the road opposite.   As usual when we came face to face I didn't recognise her or her baby or her dog,   It was not until I asked her baby's name that I realised who it was.   Now I imagine her going home to her partner and saying 'Poor old dear - going gaga - but she is nearly ninety'.   Still - hope I'm not and we had a lovely chat.   I also stroked dog number one - a cocker spaniel.

After another hundred yards or so B caught me up - we were both going the same way.   Our talk -- as usual-- did rather concentrate on knees.   I know the complete history of his and he knows the complete history of mine.  And come to that his dog knows the complete history of both.   But he is a lovely black retriever and was a gun dog.  B was out on a walk about five years ago when he met a game keeper he knew up on the moors.   B had just lost his dog and the gamekeeper said would he like a replacement - and so this retired gun dog came home with him.  Now fourteen he is showing his age and is going grey all around his nose and mouth.   And, like B, goes slowly.   So that was dog number two to stroke.

And finally, just as I turned into my drive (John will be green with envy) I met two ladies (mother and daughter) and each had a beautiful bulldog on a lead).   We chatted a while.  The male dog was (to quote his owner) "standoffish" but the bitch was a darling and thoroughly enjoyed a good stroke.

I also chatted to a man already out tidying his front garden after the winter.   Everyone likes praise for their efforts in the garden - and he was no exception.

So there you have it.   If you count my carer that means I have already chatted to six people this morning.   Spring has come.

Wednesday 16 March 2022

Tired

 Today I have been so tired that I have slept most of the day.   I had to be at the doctors at just after 9am for sister to take a blood sample.   I had to go before having any breakfast and I didn''t arrive home until 10am.   By the time I had had Weetabix and a banana which my carer left ready for the milk and a morning cup of coffee and read The Times it was lunch time and, of course, because I had breakfasted late I didn't eat much lunch.  By then it was raining, I dropped off to sleep and really slept most of the afternoon.

After  weeks of terrible news from Ukraine two brighter pieces of news today - first there seems that maybe there is a break through with peace talks there (it would be even better if there could be a ceasefire while the talks were taking place.)   And tonight the wonderful news that Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe is on her way to RAF Brize Norton - free at last.   There will I am sure be hurdles as the little family settle in to life as an ordinary family again - but the first hurdle has been crossed and I am sure we all wish them much happiness and peace to get to know one another again.

That's it for today - I have slept  a large part of the day but I am ready for bed.   So goodnight friends - see you in the morning.

Tuesday 15 March 2022

The Ides of March

Well I never had to beware them - they were always lucky for me because seventy years ago today - March 15th 1952 was my first wedding day.   My first husband, Malcolm, and I were married on that day, had one son and were married for thirtynine very happy years. 

Then after just over two years of widowhood the farmer and I married and we had almost twenty four years of equally happy marriage.   I count myself very fortunate indeed. 

Today I took all my aches and pains to the doctor together with my 'little list' (she was very  pleased and said she wished everyone would do it as it saved time) and she prescribed various additions to my medication.

Sunny day here today but by no means a warm one.  I am off to make myself a cuppa to settle down and watch Ben Fogle In the Wild.   Wonder where he is tonight.

Monday 14 March 2022

Monday

Today promised a lovely day but has gradually got more and more cloudy and has been quite a dreary day really.   Luckily the crocus and tete a tete in my garden have cheered me up no end.

Because it is the first of my visits to the doctor tomorrow afternoon I decided to make notes of what I wanted to discuss with her.   My memory is not too bad but at 89 it is not as astute as it once was, so rather than think of something when I am half way home - best to write it down (and put it in my handbag so that I remember both the notes and the mask which is obligatory at the surgery. )

W came round with her much more sophisticated computer 'stuff' (can't be bothered to update) for our usual fortnightly zoom with P and D and would you believe they had FORGOTTEN.   After waiting for ten minutes we rang them and they were full of apologies but we shall not let them forget it.

See you tomorrow. 

Saturday 12 March 2022

Red Letter all last week

 Well blog friends it is weeks since I managed to walk all the way round my old walk - not since before the bad weather.    And in view of the fact that in another eight months I shall be ninety I had begun to think that that was the end of my serious walking. But after going just 'round the block' all last week, when I looked out this morning and saw it had stopped raining and I felt reasonably strong - and there seemed to be only a light breeze, I decided that when I got to the bottom of the drive I would review the situation.

I did just that, took the bull by the horns and yes, I managed, slowly but surely, to walk all the way round my old walk.  I arrived home after three quarters of an hour satisfied and tired that I can still do it.   Now I must begin to build up my walking strength again by not missing days but by keeping going.

After an extremely wet afternoon and night last night - and still raining when I awoke this morning - it is now bright blue sky, sharp cool breeze and a mass of crocus everywhere you look.   If only we could do something to stop the suffering in Ukraine then we could take such joy in the arrival of Spring.  Why does possession of someone else's land become so very important at the expense - so far - of thousands of lives whatever the nationality they are ?   A life is a life - every soldier is somebodyy's son, every child is an innocent who knows nothing of any of it.   For God's sake let somebody see sense.

Friday 11 March 2022

Thinking.

Thinking about the Ukraine or watching the flow of refugees streaming into neighbouring countries does tend to keep the whole thing uppermost in our minds.  Reading about it - even in a reputable paper (if there is such a thing) does tend to fixate the mind on the whole issue, trying to avoid the issue completely  is impossible.   So what to do?   A donation to Red Cross or similar charity does make one feel one is doing something.   War is terrible and as somebody said in their blog today - there are Russian mothers grieving too.   Why is it that the people who plan and cause the wars are never the people who actually stand at the chalk face so to speak?

The day has deteriorated here.   A pleasant warm and sunny morning has now become a pouring wet evening and by half past four all blinds were drawn to shut out the miserable sight outside. 

See you all in the morning. 

Thursday 10 March 2022

Another Day

 Another awful story emerges from Ukraine - the shelling of a childrens' hospital and a maternity unit. I read in The Times more of the details and read of British Surgeons giving crash Courses on line about what to do with the terribly injured - first to divide them into those who have no chance of surival and those who stand a chance - before they start.   Also, and this is something one doesn't necessarily think about, these surgeons who are at the work face so to speak, are specialists in one area of medicine and have like our specialists over here, waiting lists in their specialist subject.   These lists - and this includes such things as children who urgently need cancer operations - have been put aside so that the hundreds of urgent casualties, often with multiple injuries across the board can be operated on and lives saved - often at the cost of others.    It becomes a case of luck in many instances.

That is all I can bear of it today.   Sorry - I want to chat, I want to blog as usual- but there has to be something lighter too.   There is only so much I can bear.

My son is 64 today( Happy Birthday Dom) impossible to think it is that long since he popped out.   He is an only child but I have to say he has given me a great deal of pleasure and I feel proud to be his Mum.

My dear friend P, who lives in Grange over Sands but lived and taught for years in Wolverhampton at the same time as I did, has sent me this morning a photograph and an article about a mutual friend, long gone, who was herself a refugee from Russia at the end of the Second World War and who settled in Wolverhampton.  Hopefully he can now send me instructions on how to enlarge the print!  

So many stories of sadness from those days and now it is all happening again and there are millions on the move. People who now have nothing but the clothes they stand up in and hopefully their lives and the kindness of strangers.  The least we can do is to send any spare clothes or money to the Red Cross - anything to help.   And just let us hope it is soon all over.    See you all tomorrow.

Wednesday 9 March 2022

Wednesday

The daisies are out in profusion everywhere today - not a sign of one when I walked  round yesterday - today they are on every verge and they are a joy to see.   Daisies, pansies, polyanthus, primroses, crocuses, a few tete a tete daffodils and plenty more in bud........it must be Spring.    So let's rejoice at that whatever is going on in the world.

Several degrees warmer today and - as the forecast said it was going to get windier - I walked early. Now, after lunch there is a lot more cloud and it is quite windy.   All the bin collections apart from grey bin have been too and my tidy mind rejoices when the blue newspaper bag is empty, every empty box has disappeared, the plastics/glass box is empty and so is the green garden waste bin.  Alright, so they soon fill up again but nevertheless just for a while all is neat and tidy in the garage.

So far Spring seems to be on course but I read in The Times this morning that because Winters are just a degree or two milder on average some swallows are staying here rather than make the journey back to Africa.  T he British Trust for Ornithology had reports of 12 swallows around in the South West during January - not many but a start.  Mighty oaks from little acorns grow and all that.

So on the whole todays post is celebrating the beginnings of a new season, the tidiness everywhere especially in our gardens before the weeds have begun to grow and plague our lives if we happen to be tidy gardeners.  It doesn't mean I have forgotten all that bad things going on in the world at present - it just means that nature continues regardless and we should celebrate it for keeping going - not giving up.   See you tomorrow.

 

Tuesday 8 March 2022

Spring

 Yes I think I can say that Spring has been in the air today - the sun has shone all day and somehow it seems to have made everyone I have spoken to feel a little more positive about things.

I have got back into my stride.   I needed to catch the morning post so  I got dressed straight after my wash , made the  bed, put the breakfast pots into soak and got Priscilla read for our morning walk (it is the day when when my carer doesn't come).

My first chat of the morning was with H, my neighbour, already out in her front garden making a mental note of jobs that needed doing when her gardener arrived.  Then it was over the road to the Post Box (it is my son's birthday on Thursday) and round the block as briskly as I could go.   I walked up the alley as quickly as I could to keep up with a lady with her dog and we had a nice chat.   Then, almost as soon as I turned back into the top of my road I met G, the electrician, who crossed the road for a chat (he is semi-retired).   So by half past ten I had had three long chats and I had only been home half an hour when school friend J rang for a chat so I haven't done so badly today.


I will be back tomorrow dear blog friends.

   Until then.....

Monday 7 March 2022

Book Group

 Sadly, S whose book choice it was, was unable to come to book group because he woke up with a bad cold.  Also, after singing the praises of the Jan Morris book I was the only one who found it an unqualified success  But we had a really good discussion on it and that is the important thing.

There has been an improvement in the weather and I was able to get out for a walk with Priscilla straight after lunch.   I must get back into condition and I found the strength this afternoon to walk round the block again, which is a start.

Like so many of you in Blogland I am finding it impossible to watch the News.   I feel I can do nothing and I find it all so distressing.   Am I cowardly for avoiding it?   I am trying instead to concentrate on some of the beauty in the world.   The Spring is showing itself at last - my garden is alive with golden crocus and they are giving me such pleasure.

I'll be back tomorrow,   Until then........


Sunday 6 March 2022

Book Group

 Book Group here in the morning - our chosen book being Stewart's choice - 'In my Mind's Eye' by the travel writer Jan Morris: her last book before she died in her ninety first year.   She calls it 'a thought diary' and it consists of 188 separate entries - one per day - and each about a different topic.    And such food for thought and so many topics for conversation it contains.    And what is more I just can't think of any other way she could have given us such a book.   Really you could take anyday in the book and extend it enough to fill the hour and a half of our meeting.

I have just been taking the day 44  and those of you who know me will immediately realise why that particular day appeals = it is about nostalgia and as I am  almost the same age as she it naturally  appeals to me too.

She speaks of how in this case just a song came into  her head and eventually the chap who was singing it and then the whole episode.   Yes nostalgia's a fine thing - all these memories sit there in our minds just waiting for something to give them a little jog and then we're away.

If you want a good read to pick up and put down at random you  could do worse.

Saturday 5 March 2022

At last a pleasant sunny day after some days of fog and cloud.

 It is good to see the sun again and I did at last, for the first time  yesterday walk from the hairdressers to the opticians but that was all I could manage,    The trouble is we are not yet at the stage of having several  'walking' days in succession and I so soon get out of condition.

It is now 5.37pm, still light, and as I sit typing this the rooks are crossing on their way home to the rookery for the night.   I do love to see them.   And looking into the garden, the crocus are at last out in profusion.   It is good to know that everything is stirring at last and March is here.

And writing these words reminds me that Monday means that Book Group has come round again.   It is a while since I read our set book.   I need to get my note book and make a few notes ready for Monday morning.    So that's it for today - see you tomorrow.

New specs are satisfactory.   I now have a pair of varifocals, as I have always had, and I also have a pair of reading glasses and they are a great help.I just can's imagine life without being able to read.


Friday 4 March 2022

Yet another grey, damp day.

 Yes, it was off to the Hairdresser on my once a fortnight appointment today - the taxi came at ten minutes to eleven.   It was grey, murky and raining steadily - not at all a pleasant journey.   Friday is our market day in Leyburn but as is usual when the weather is not brilliant, there was hardly anything here.

I managed to book my specs appointment on the same  morning as my hair and the Optician is directly opposite the Hairdresser, so I was able to wait a short while and then walk along to cross on the Pedestrian crossing.   While crossing I had this lovely idea to walk through with Priscilla into the market square to buy myself some dressed Whitby Crab for a sandwich for my tea.   Sadly when we got to the Whitby Fish Stall there were eight people in the queue and I was due at the Opticians in 5 minutes so I couldn't wait.

So far I am delighted with my specs - I now have a pair of varifocals and a pair of reading glasses so hopefully I will be able to read again with ease.   This time I have got metal frames.   Trying to wear a mask, glasses and hearing aids has been proving impossible because my specs frames were quite thick and heavy but the new ones are lightweight so hopefully much more fitting under present conditions.

By the end of the afternoon a pale sun got out for a short time and promises to be out all day tomorrow.  The last few days have been quite depressing.

Until tomorrow  dear blogging friends......

Thursday 3 March 2022

Visitors

 Visitors arrived as planned and what a lovely, chatty time we had.   It was a dull, grey, murky day indeed but that didn't stop our enjoyment.   P and D came over from Grange over Sands.   W came, bringing with her the vegetables to cook here - leeks and sugar snaps, broccoli and buttered cabbage - all delicious.    My carer's shepherds' pie met with full approval - in fact my visitors said it was the best they had ever tasted.   For 'afters' we had small Gu chocolate and honeycomb puds, followed by rich fruit cake and strong Cheddar cheese.

Then the three  of us sat and chatted while D walked into town to the Walking Shop (he is trying to walk ten thousand steps a day).   They went off home before it got dark so that they could get a fair way in the daylight.   Whichever way they go they have to traverse the top of the Pennines and on murky days it is always worse up there.

It was good to have a day when there was no talk of the dreadful war in Ukraine and to just relax amongst friends.

I am feeling more my old self each day.   Tomorrow I have to go into town to the hairdresser in a taxi and while down there cross the road to the Optician as my new specs are ready for fitting.   Maybe then I shall  be able to read again.

See you all tomorrow...

Wednesday 2 March 2022

Wednesday

 I didn't realise until it was too late that yesterday was Pancake Day so there were no pancakes for me.   And yes, I did miss them.   I love them with lemon juice and sugar.

Never mind, it's over for another year so I shall look forward to my friends W, P and D to lunch tomorrow.   My carer is making me a Shepherd's Pie and W is preparing and cooking the veg.    I am providing the puds - fruit cake and cheese. yoghourt and a selection of fruit.   Yesterday the weather was delightful - sun and a light breeze - perfect weather for driving over from Grange over Sands through Wensleydale.   Today is murky and damp - neither wet nor fine - somewhere in between.  And it is set to be similar tomorrow.

So tomorrow I shall have something to write about after several uneventful days really.   Everywhere looks smart as my new cleaner came yesterday (she was astonished at how clean and tidy it was when she arrived).   Her name is Abigail.   When I was a small child an old lady called Abigail lived next door and was bedfast.   She had a stick on a rope to the ceiling with which to pull herself up into a sitting position.   Gosh that is going a long way back.   Memories indeed.