My Son.

 60 years yesterday my son Simon came into the world. It was a Monday afternoon about 5pm, when, with the help of the one Midwife on duty, I staggered to the delivery room.  Everyone else was on their break, I was the only one in labour.

She told me, as I lay there, she had just returned from a year delivering babies in S Africa.. And with her help he was born. No fuss, no doctors and the music being piped into the labour ward was the 'Mamas and the Papas,' singing, ' Monday Monday.' 

Compared to my daughter's delivery it was easy, and I think it was made easy by my friend driving me to the hospital in her old mini, bumping along on every bump! And an excellent experienced Midwife! His date of birth, 06/06/66

Here he is in Infant school, sitting in the middle of the first row in a navy cardi.

And now!

He is my entrepreneur son, photographer and has his ebay business selling cameras. Here he is togged up taking photos at a race course with one of his super duper cameras. Looking a bit cold, and he told me it was bitterly cold.  He's put on a bit of weight, but as he had Crohns in his twenties, that's no bad thing for him.

And this is the sort of photos he takes.

60 years, I can't believe it. And he is such a lovely fellow, always has a good thing to say to people, very good interpersonal skills and talented.

I'm very proud of him.

Chrisxx

Well would you ever??

 Have you ever stopped on a road side and bought something? I have, I've bought eggs, plants, and bunches of flowers as well as vegetables, cooking apples and a Christmas tree!

And I have put outside 'free' tomato plants, selection of mugs and some casserole dishes.. with a please help yourself note! All went..

But have you seen the latest thing?? 

Cake Sheds!

Bakers wanting to make money are resorting to selling cakes, and in some instances bread too, outside their houses.

Some have gone from selling eggs to adding flour, fat and sugar to make cakes and setting up a cake stall as it were. A cool box for the pastries and an honesty box and also a 'tap your phone here,' machine!

Good luck to them I say... what clever ideas some people have to make a living.

Wish there was one up one of the lanes here!!

Chrisxx

Getting Fit.

 So I did the Fitness Class.. altho the night before I decided I wouldn't go! Slept badly and woke up thinking I'll shower and dress and see how I feel.. my friend suggested I go and give it a try. So I did! But I had 4 worries...

First worry was over come, we were able to park, no not 'we' but Dh, was able to turn the car in the space, in front of the church on the other side , so we were facing the right way to park on the road. And we did, right outside the church hall!.

Next worry, would I stand out as a grey haired old lady, over weight,, No there were others the same, may be not so over weight

Would I stand out as the 'newbie' no there were 2 others joining then too. 

And would there be a disabled toilet... yes!!!

And the young woman, Karen, taking the class was lovely, so all I had to do was the exercises!

And I did and kept going for the hour! There were some my duff arm wouldn't do and there were 2 activities in the circuit that Karen adjusted for me. But over all I was able to do everything to the best of my ability and better than some.  I liked the chair exercises best! 

So I'll continue to go and hope as the weeks progress my legs will ache less the next day, because today they are 'red' hot!

I must admit I did feel good after it.

And any exercise must be good for me, what do you think?

Chrisxx

An unpleasant week.

 Hasn't it been blazing hot!! And my week was compounded by my covid booster jab and the RSV jab, which is for protection against chest infections. I was dreading going, but although getting into our very hot car, as on the drive it was facing the sun, once we were going the air conditioning kicked in and it was blissfully cool. The drive to Basil-end hospital takes about 15  to 20mins, all of 7 miles because of course here in Wales, the speed limit around towns is only 20 mph. Yes, very slow, but we're used to it now.

Amazingly we didn't have to wait and inside, it was cool. The needle didn't hurt, but as she dabbed the spot on my 'bad' arm I very much felt it and inadvertently gave out arggg sound. Its an automatic response, as it is very tender feeling.  I don't ever have injections in it and wish I'd asked for my thigh instead.

It was awful and Wednesday I felt ill, my arms ached and I had aching joints and a head ache. And my 'broken' arm was hell, I felt ill. I was even off my food. Dh made his version of SW zingy chicken.my favourite and I hardly ate any, although some ice cream slipped down!

So what with the heat and the reaction to the jabs I hardly slept. But by Thursday I was feeling a bit better, but didn't go out and missed the Mahjong group in the afternoon.

I was fine after a good sleep and Friday we went to the SW meeting and lost 1.5 pounds! 

So hopefully that's my jabs for a while. I know they are for my protection, but when I have a reaction, I'm not happy!!

Do you have a reaction to the covid jab?

Chrisxx

A small view of some plants in my garden,

 With this hot weather, flowers that were in bud have flowered, so my lupins are glorious..grown from seed two years ago and they are now multi-blooms.

 My latest rose.. 'Tottering by Gently,' a shrub rose with pale yellow single blooms. I absolutely love it. It's planted on the edge of the patio, I can see it up close when I sit out there.

And a moderately scented rose, 'Scarborough Fair,'  bought for the front garden in a corner, and it failed.. Or rather I flailed it and planted in the wrong place, so dug it up last Autumn and planted here and it really likes it!

Some 'Love in the Mist' seeds scattered here and they are gorgeous. I'll have them for ever now, as they self seed prolifically, well all over the place really whether you want them or not!

This rose name lost, is the Grand daughter of a rose given to me by my daughter for Mother's Day about 20 years ago.. Dh took 4 cuttings, which we grew in Suffolk, then cuttings from one of those for here. It has a lovely Turkish Delight scent. I watch it for green flies and any other bugs, its a very precious rose!

I love my garden.

Chrisxx

Would you have noticed?

 £400,000 embezzled from the SNP funds by Peter Murrell  to bankroll his lavish life style.. he bought.. 

£124,550  Motor Home

High end salt and pepper grinders £2,618.16 by French glass maker Lalique and £506.02 on salt and pepper mills from Peugeot Saveurs,

A variety of Game Consoles and video games despite having no children. Purchases included Grand Auto Theft, an Xbox console and nearly £400 on 3 Nintendo 3DS Consoles.

£3500 on a Silver wine coaster from luxury Scottish brand Hamilton and Inches.

Luxury pens, one costing £4225, a pencil sharpener too, as well as a roller ball for £2370

He bought himself a mans's Slouch Onesie !

Bottles of top Portuguese Extra Virgin Olive Oil.

3 Le Crueset Caseroles, crockpot as well as dozens of mugs.

A £3232 Jira's coffee machine, a £1866 one in 2017 and  a  £2195 one in 2018. He also bought a Smythson china  tea set in 2021 costing £2995 and lots more!

If your partner bought all this would you wonder where he got the money from to 'fund' it all.

Nicola Sturgeon denies all knowledge of it all. How could you not know, where did he put it all. 

All the china and Le Crueset  cooking casseroles, the Waterford glasses.. how would you not wonder where the money came from? 

It beggars belief that she did not know, but the former leader of the SNP leader denied all knowledge and it seems, she has been believed!

What do you think?

Chrisxx

On a very hot Bank Holiday!

 

This odd not very good photograph, is of Dh on the coolest side of our bungalow cooking on the BBQ yesterday!

We don't really notice Bank Holidays being retired, but Dh always like to acknowledge them,  by having special food!!

But it was so hot outside on our patio, over 30C as it is SW facing.

He had bought a plancha grill plate, which we'd seen on Jaime Oliver's cooking programme. Dh does like his cooking tools.

Anyway the food was all delicious and altho he'd got our patio table ready under the umbrella, we ate inside, as it was just too hot.

Sorry no photo I ate mine without even thinking about a photo.

Prawns,  BBQ chicken, rice, that we call Jewel rice as its boiled rice with chopped red peppers, peas, chopped salad onions, and sweet corn.. as well as a Green Salad, Coleslaw, and our own pickled cucumber, with Dh's sauce of Chinese Rice wine and Soya sauce.. all so delicious.

Followed by strawberries and ice cream of course!

What did you have, anything special?

Chrisxx

This is me!!

12 Things older people just don't have the patience any more.

Keeping up with new trends

Complicated technology for its own sake

Uncomfortable shoes.

Overly noisy restaurants.

One sided relationships.

Clutter in the home.

Small talk without substance.

Wining every argument.

Digital clutter and constant pings.

Lack of punctuality.

Poor quality products.

Pretending to be someone else.

What about you?

Chrisxx

Walking.

I've done the virtual walk of the Jesus trail 62.744 km in 91 days (Just under 40 miles) It should have been 90 days, but I had a bad couple of days with my cold. Its done me good, got me walking albeit not miles and miles and also made me realise how little I actually walk!

Most days I didn't start till gone 11am, so I'm going to make a better effort next time, and I have signed up for Barcelona. I've never been there and so looking forward to the street views.

In case you go walking in Barcelona and you see walkers, this is my Bib!!

For anyone curious about these walks, its........

theconqueror.events

https://www.theconqueror.events › virtual › challenges

Of course you have to pay, but over all I thought worth it.

Chrisxx

Here I go!!

 I've been looking for a gentle exercise and balance class... criky you'd think there'd be one here in my own town, but no.

My friend in New Zealand goes to one, organised by Age Concern, so I thought, yea!! Why didn't I think of that, their purpose is to care for the elderly, so they must run classes for older people.   Well of course they don't, nor did the person who spoke to me on the phone know of any, but she said she'd make enquiries. 

There are groups, but they are all jig/ dance around groups, tai chi or yoga.. so not for me. So I asked on Basil-end's FB pages, loads of answers and very suitable for me. 

So I phoned one highly recommended, but of course the one she does in Laleston on Tuesday mornings is full, but I was welcome to go to the Friday group.. we could do it if we left SW slightly early, so I'm going to give it a go!

 Next week she suggested, I don't have any jogging bottoms and my trainers squeeze my bad toe, so I shall have to see how I get on! I want to do it, but I'm nervous.. so I've given myself a talking to, so I have to pull up my big girl pants and go for it!

Chrisxx