Can't wait to open these covers.

I have just finished reading this book, it was the Book Group choice for May. Like the other books by Mike Gayle it was an ok read. A story of a young woman's wish to become a museums curator.. well there's no accounting for taste, is there? She, named Jess, actually takes charge of what could be described as a heap of junk and presents each item as a museum piece. Does she make a success of it?  You'll have to read it to find out. I did enjoy reading it, and like other books I've read by Mike Gayle, there was an element of love in it and some twists and turns but no 'fireworks' for me. But as I have read other books by him, he must deem it worth the effort to me.

I had no other library books and then all five reserved books were ready for collection together!

True Colours by Kristin Hannah, My present choice as the top of the list of good authors.. I've read 5  other books by her and loved every one. This one's blurb says it about three sisters who are in strong competition with each another.. this will be my first read!

1979 by Val MacDermid, always a choice if I haven't anything else to read, as her books always keep me hooked and I haven't read one yet, that wasn't a page turner.

Friendly Fire by Patrick Gale, I have read several books by this author, my favourite being 'A Place Called Winter,' I have been to three talks by Patrick and he writes his first draft by hand! Anyway this book Friendly Fire, caught my interest as it is set in a boarding school and as I went to a boarding school, I thought it would be interesting, but I don't think it will be anything like my school, as the blurb states Sophie, the main protagonist has tough lessons outside school to learn, of class, sex, families and emotional disaster they can bring to even the most privileged lives.. ooo-er.. I wonder what that will be like?

Winter's Mourn by Mary Stone, is a new author to me, listed as book #1 of  5 so hope I like it as there are others. The blurb suggests its a masterful conceived psychological thriller, so can't wait to open the covers.

Reflection by Diane Chamberlain. My go to author when I want a comfortable read. Comfortable meaning, I like the stories, the writing style and I don't want to be frightened! However this book has secrets, love, lies and betrayal, a slow burning drama set in a small town still grieving for the past, sounds just my sort of read!

All these books will keep me happy for a few weeks and I'll happily traipse off to bed early each night to settle down to read. Thank goodness for books!

Chrisxx

A perfect day in the garden.

 When you plan a gardening day, first thing to do is to sit in the sun and talk about it over a coffee

So that's what we did and then walked round the garden. We started in the corner of the patio where there is this bright lime green acer, it

is doing really well in spite of the heat of last summer. Whew the heat last year! What's wrong with us we have days of rain and we complain, the sun comes out and its too hot! I really love this little tree so look after it and keep it in the cool. However our garden is SW facing so it does get very hot.

Before we started any weeding Dh wanted to pressure wash the patio; he does love that washer we bought and togs up in his wellies. First time he used it he didn't and got wet shoes and feet. I tried not to look when the splash of it sprayed the French doors windows, which the window cleaner had cleaned Wednesday, but hey ho, the patio is clean!

So as Dh was happy I walked round admiring our garden. We have a lot of free flowers, self seeded aquilegia, in a variety of deep purples and mauves, all towering above the lower growth of plants yet to flower.  

So pretty and I welcome them. Expert gardeners say they are hussies as they don't care who they pollinate with, so you never know what colour they'll be!

    And I love the drifts of Forget Me Nots, all arriving without being invited, but who cares when they put on such a beautiful display, each year. One year in another garden a friend and I sowed some Forget Me Not seeds. He was always boasting how well his were growing, while mine were merely tiny green shoots. He asked if I wanted him to come to see mine to give me his advice. What a cheek I thought.. but as it happened the Saturday before he was to call round, while shopping in the supermarket, they had the plants so I bought 3!

Wasn't he surprised?? Ha ha

And I have to show you this grape vine, I'm training it up the pergola and its doing really well. Its several years old and has travelled with me from other gardens but this is the first one in which I have planted it into the ground. We have lovely grapes, deep purple and sweet.

We've sat outside under an umbrella as it has been very hot; ate our evening meal out there and listened to the trickle of the water from my little water feature. Here she is, called Gladys, just like my Aunty.

I bought her with money left me by Aunt.

The water comes out of a flower on her hat, trickles round the brim and then down her shoulder. I absolutely love her!

Its been a perfect day.

                      Chrisxx

A Penny Book Shop!

 This little shop with the odd shaped rounded window has opened up as a little café by Fran, who has a 'pod' café on the front prom.  We might pop in just to see it, because my Aunty Glad rented it in the forties.  She was the aunt, who brought me up and paid for me to go to that private girls school. The shop is just round the corner from the street  where we lived.

It was a 'penny' book shop, that is a shop where you paid a penny to rent a book! I have no idea how that worked, I'm just remembering what she told me. She also sold items, because during the war people did what ever they could to survive.

Of course I don't remember this, but I do have somewhere a photograph of me sitting on cushions with a harness on in the  window. There was a pile of rhubarb in front of me, which was from my grandfathers allotment, that she was selling! I was about 18 months old, which was when my mother was ill, and my Aunt was baby sitting!

When I saw it on the Porthcawl FB page advertising its opening as a café, I had to go and look after we'd been to SW. (Slimming world) yesterday. Silly I know and can't possible be true, but when I thought about it, I thought I could remember smelling dusty old books!

What strange things our memories can conjure up! Although there is the probability that I spent some days there after my mother had died, when I was about 4 or 5 as I think I remember it being a narrow shaped interior with shelves of books.

I must look for that old black and white photo.

Chrisxx

10 Positives about you?

 At our SW meeting last week we were asked to think of 10 positive and /or good things about ourselves.

Me,, ummmm ??

People compliment me on my complexion. 

I have good nails. umm

I smile a lot.

and???

Prompted then by our SW consultant. 

I keep on trying.

I'm a happy person.

I compliment other people.

I give good ideas and suggestions 

And then I umm-ed and Ahh-ed and Dh said that I was a good supervisor when he gardened! Ha ha

And also I don't snore.(yes he can)

So now you know I'm not exactly scintillating! ( But I do have good skin and nails!)

What about you?

Chrisxx

Sorted!!

 Yeh, our handy man can do what I want and just like you suggested Maggie I'm having it on the side along the bungalow wall.. with a grab bar on the wall and a hand rail on the steps. It can be extended right down a further two steps onto the patio, so I am really relieved  and happy.

There's a variety of these hand rails on line. so we'll talk it over with Chris, our handy man and what batons and decking we need. and he can do it when he's finished the job he's doing now. I feel so happy and can sleep tonight as its been a worry.

Thank you for the comments, it is difficult with trades men, they're thinking safety and the look of something, but if its not suitable what's the point. When the steps were first done, when we moved here, they were ok for while, but I've not been properly well for the last two years and I think I've lost confidence and my balance isn't as good, but I'm doing exercises for that . Also my increased weight hasn't helped.. but that's going down at last!

Chrisxx

Workmen...Such a headache!!!

 This what was here when  we moved in,  Straight away I could see I would need a hand rail and the bottom step was much too deep.

It was the tail end of lockdown and trying to get a builder, wasn't easy. But I found one who could come that weekend, we'd only been here a week. Great I thought and we went ahead accepting his quote of £1750 to build new steps.

And this is what they did.. looks good doesn't it? They were professional, experienced and knew what they were doing, but....they didn't listen and I got talked into some super looking steps, which are too deep. I kept saying they were too deep and I needed another step and rail the other side. The owner of the firm kept saying we'd lose patio if they made them any shallower and build another step out.  So I decided ok,  they're ok, I can use them although they are a bit awkward. I put up with them for a while, then Dh and I put planks of wood on them to make them not as deep.

Then when we were having the patio laid last summer, the workmen said they could make them better and permanent, so safer.

And we ended up with these 'add ons'.. they're ok, but because they're not the full length of each step I am nervous using them incase I miss the step and still no handrail the other side!

So what to do, I want steps with a handrail each side and the increased height the full length of each step

So we've had a builder to look at them, grrrrr      

I've said to Dh I am not going to let a builder tell me what I need! Once again I was given the argument we'd lose patio??? No point having one if I can't get down to it! And the patio is a lot bigger and wider since we had the hedge out and the fence put up. He also waved a 'red flag' at me by saying, if I said yes there and then, he could do it for less, so he was a 'no no' in my eyes!

So?? What can be done? Dh says he 'll have a go, but there's no need for him, we can afford to pay someone. Dh isn't a DIY man, that's not his strength and I don't want him to worry about it.. so we are in a quandary, what to do?

We do know a handy man, so we'll try him next, otherwise I will not be going out into the garden down these steps, but out through the front door and walking around the outside of the bungalow!

Chrisxx

Perhaps our NHS isn't so bad!

 I've read Andrews blog as he has listed what happened to his partner Ray. It seems he had a weak area in his aorta, which burst.

The thing is, here in UK men are offered a scan at 65 years to check for this and Dh and I remembered his well, because we nearly missed it. 

It was a couple of months after I broke my arm and Dh had been given an appointment for an aorta scan. We'd never heard of it, but all men are offered it at 65 years. It was booked for 4:30pm, in a clinic in Wickford. I was still having an afternoon nap after lunch. as I was still having bad nights with my arm. Suddenly I woke and could hear Dh in the kitchen making an afternoon cuppa. I looked at the clock, it was 4:05! I had slept and he had forgotten! We drove the 5 miles as fast as the speed limit allowed and arrived just after 4:30.. there wasn't a problem, as there was a wait, because the room had several pregnant women there, Dh was the only man! 

His scan was fine, and to be honest, we've never really thought about it till now. So thinking about that, we realised we do have a lot of preventive checks here in UK. 

At 60, we had a sort of MOT, which is when Dh's blood test showed he needed treatment for high cholesterol and high BP.. Me?? being over weight I was fine!  

There are regular checks for:- Bowel cancer, Breast scans, (ouch!) Prostate checks, and a variety of jabs given to older people to prevent them getting the diseases. We've had jabs for pneumonia, shingles, flu, plus all the covid jabs, I have one booked for next week, which will be my eighth. So perhaps our NHS isn't so bad after all. 

Life can be gone in a flash.. so get your checks and take your tablets, most mornings I ask Dh if he has taken his tablets just incase he's forgotten, he rarely has, but I asked all the same!

Chrisxx

Dark thoughts

 I should have thought this yesterday, and I shouldn't have let the shopping experience drag me down! I knew I was being grumpy but couldn't shake it off.

But our evening steak meal was very nice and Dh cooked it beautifully, so I was grateful for that. 

I had a bad night I was awake for hours and got up to read, because I just couldn't get comfortable in bed, even though Dh woke and helped me with the duvet, so I was covered. I can't pull it over me with my right duff arm. Then wouldn't you know I needed the loo again! So I grabbed my kindle and dressing gown to read in the lounge. Usually in my arm chair I can sleep with my feet up on a stool. But I was in the wide awake club with thoughts whizzing through my mind. I read a little but couldn't even settle there, then I felt cold. The temps dropped quite considerably last night and being hypothyroid my hands and feet get really cold. So I thought I'd try to sleep in the bed again. 

Dh was sleeping quietly, I could see the duvet moving as he breathed. And I think that was the cause of my sleeplessness, some one in a FB gardening group I follow, had reached out to the group that day, to say, his wife had failed to wake that morning and he was distraught. Poor man, what a sad thing to happen. You go to bed together and one of you doesn't wake up; what do you do next?

Then I read Andrews blog that his partner of 44 years had died, presumably suddenly as he hadn't said his partner was ill. 

It all preyed on my mind and the thoughts of death brought back that several of my friends have died in the last few years. 

So no wonder I couldn't sleep with such dark thoughts.. 

As I was wriggling back into bed Dh stirred and asked if I was alright, he knew I'd not been in the bed for a couple of hours. So I just mumbled I was a bit cold, so as he is the lovely man he is, he curled up behind me to warm me up. It was still a while before I could get to sleep, but I took comfort in his warm loving cuddle and eventually my eyes closed. When I woke Dh was in the kitchen I could hear the click of the kettle lid, so a cup of tea was on the way. 

I got up, weary but determined to smile and be in a positive mood.

Thank you my love for being there, day and night and I am grateful for everything, my life, still going at 81, even with this duff arm. I've survived the ops, the inconvenience, the pain and the limited life I have now; not the life I had before breaking my arm, I miss driving but most of all I miss playing the piano, but I have a comfortable life which is as happy as I want to choose it to be!

Chrisxx

Never again!

Dh asked could we pop to Tesco yesterday afternoon, a Saturday? It might be busy he said, but then it might not! Why did he want to go? The steak he had ordered wasn't available, so we didn't get it when we had the delivery on Thursday, and he really fancied it for our evening meal.

We went and yes it was busy,  but not too bad, so he kept saying?  As we only had a few other bits with the steak, we decided to use one of the self service tills. Right away it was a bad idea; we needed a shop assistant, it didn't like our own bags!  We waited and waited while she ok-ed some ones alcohol. Why did we think we could sail through the self check out? Then, because we had some paracetamol we needed her again! We always said we'd never use a self check out on principle, and because they always seem to go wrong as soon as they see us! So annoying and to my way of thinking, it doesn't save time.

Then in the very large entrance there were about 7 young lads bouncing around as though on a rubber bouncy castle. Shaking their collection buckets and making racket, exciting squeals and shouting. I was afraid one would bounce into me, it doesn't take much to over balance me.  The adults with them seemed unaware of their noise. I expect it was just me, old and out of the stream of the joys of youngsters enthusiasm, that found them out of order. So annoying I thought, what were they collecting for? It wasn't clear, but it was a boys football club.

Saturday shopping?? Never again! But the steak was very tasty and we had English strawberries from Kent, delicious!

Chrisxx

A pleasant day in our life.

 At Slimming World the scales said I hadn't kept to the food plan, but truth be told my gain could have been greater! But its a new week so I'd better not suggest a coffee in town, as I have tasted a Costa's Tiffin, wooooo it was loverly! I remember making something like it when my children were little for their birthday parties. 

The recipe is really easy, Rich Tea biscuits, broken up, chocolate, syrup, soft brown sugar, glace cherries, raisins and cocoa powder. It is very calorific, but worth it, but I won't be making it!

When we came home the decorator said he would be finished in the afternoon and he was; it looks absolutely super and very white with red tile paint windowsills. The tile windowsills were here when we moved here and although not my choice, they look ok. So now we need to paint our bench and we are going to buy a new door mat.

 We love that bench and in the summer we sit there and say 'hello' to people who pass and most stop and chat. Dh used to sit on the outside wall, when we lived in Leiston, not that many people passed by, but the farmers in the tractors waved as they drove passed. 

This is our bench when Dh put in new wooden planks and painted it. At present it looks a bit faded but won't take a lot to get it looking like new again.
So the decorator has done a very good job of painting our bungalow, we are very pleased and we'd have him again, so we may have our bedroom painted next.

The decorator was admiring our seedlings and veg patch and said our garden looked lovely, and thought it all looked as though we knew what we were doing. We did say we'd been gardening for a 'few' years! He is a budding enthusiastic new gardener. 

Later on my potted on my Alicante tomato plants, all looking good. I'll do some more potting on at the weekend; hope the rain stays away.

And that was our Friday, not exciting but very satisfying and would have been even better if the hedge cutter had turned up at 4 to give us a quote, but 'dim problem,'  I have another one coming tomorrow morning. How was your day?

Chrisxx