Niggles

 Altho' I haven't got a cold, I've been off colour all week..bit of a tum, which was upset enough to warrant a dose of Imodium and then that acted too well.. but I've discovered  a dose of Movicol, 2 Sennacot and 5 prunes is too much!! 

My stomach felt like I'd been kicked by a horse, all ok now,  but to add to my moaning, a new roll of toilet paper wouldn't tear off! There were the impressions of the tear off strip, but it wouldn't tear..   But if I didn't have that little niggle I'd think of something else!

And altho' my cold has gone, I've started coughing, as soon as I lie down in bed, I start coughing, such a pesk. I've a cough medicine, but its just one more thing.

And because of my cold I've had to defer our covid jabs, so now they're not till mid May.. just one more thing to sort.

I feel its all niggles and I'm miserable.. so be glad you don't live with me. 

Dh's cold came and went and he feels fine.. humph!!

Anyway why am I complaining, I could be on a cruise ship with the Hantavirus, isn't that terrible, poor people.

And our little draenog continues to come, its such a pleasure watching her (or is it him)

Chrisxx

Such a busy place!

 

Not our draenog, but you can see the same set up for the feeding station. 

We decided our draenog is female, because last night another one arrived and she started doing the huffing, and pushed him out of the way and he went off at top speed.

She usually arrives around 9:30pm but last night she was later and then ran off. They never just walk but run, their little legs going 'pell-mell' 

Then there were two eyes peeping between the flower pots and it was a little mouse, he scurried across to the food, looked into the food station and ran off, obviously not to his taste!

Between 12mn and 3:00 am 3 cats strolled across the patio! All looked in the feeding station but couldn't get to the food.

Draenog ? was back at 4:19, if it was our one, but could have been the rejected 'lover.' 

And so our night time patio was busy.. but the magpies have a go too. One arrived while the morning chorus was in full swing.. he jumped on to the tile lid, then peaked inside, and pecked the tile,  then hopped down and managed to get a stray bit of the kibble and flew off,

But at 8:50am a squirrel arrived, he wasn't a bit interested in the food, a quick look at the food station and he was gone.

This trail cam keeps me busy looking at all the visitors, I love it. We're still looking to see how to down load the videos.. watch this space. 

Chrisxx

50P To Spend a Penny!

 

It seems people are complaining about the cost of using a toilet in the Peak District.. 50p.

The cost is for maintenance and towards the care of the Peak District. They are new and payment is by contactless payment only. They could do with some on Snowdon, because the lack of them, has meant that the pathways are fouled with excrement! 

Here in my town new toilets were build by the park and cost 50p and they are needed... however they have been out of order more than in use, because of vandalism. Some ignorant people have set them on fire and more than once!

As someone who is always grateful for a well maintained and clean toilet, I don't think 50p is too much to ask, especially in an out of the way place. 

What do your think?

Chrisxx

Proper poorly!

I have an awful cold and feel proper poorly.  Sunday night was horrible, I went to bed at 9:30 ish, early because I was feeling so wretched, headache, sore throat, hot clammy and weary.. but I could not get to sleep. I was up and down going to wee, I think it upset my bladder.

I was dosed up with paracetamol, Strepsils  and good old vick on my chest and eventually dozed off about 12:30, only to wake again about two hours later, went to the loo, and altho I was comfortable, sleep evaded me.. so I read my kindle, and as my eyes closed I sank down into my pillows and slept for about about an hour..then I was awake again, sneezing and my throat was irritating me. 

At 4:30 I took some paracetamol and Dh helped me get comfy and I slept till 7.. So what a night.. I am still sniffing and feeling hot one minute and cold the next, a proper fever.

I hate being ill, I think when you're older colds are worst.. altho this is the first cold I've had for years. We think I picked it up on Friday at SW, its the only place we've been where there were people.

I've had to self medicate with ice cream for my sore throat! 

Has anyone here in UK had a cold lately, is it doing the rounds?

Chrisxx

March./ April books

 These are just some of the books I read.

I really enjoyed this book by Ann Bennett and I think I've said in another post, that I'd not read any by her before. The story starts in 2015, when Chloe's grandmother, Lena, dies and her friend gives Chloe the diary of her grandmother. It leads Choe on a journey of discovery, trying to find out what happened to her grandmother in war time Burma in 1944. 

Chloe, herself is swept up by the romance and mystery of the Country with her Nepalese guide. The time lines between present time and the war in 1944 worked well.  And Chloe discovers things about her grandmother, she never would have guessed. 

Ann Bennett's writing of the train journeys, the trekking, were so well written I was there. Some might think it ends predicably, but read on to make sure.

***

Although I enjoyed this book by Patrick Gale, it disappointed me because it wasn't just about Harry Cane, the Canadian. wheat farmer, but his family in England. 

But still a powerful story of Harry taken in by his daughter, although she harbours resentment and anger. His gentle ways is less predictable on the next generation and he is able to help his grand daughter and her husband to resolve differences with an unspeakable trauma. But in the end, Harry has to decide if he can make a new life or will he find himself pushed out again. Worth reading, Patrick Gale is an extremely good author.

***

What happened to Sarah Jane??

Written in the present and 15 years previously. I think the two authors took a 'time' section each. 

I never once guessed what had happened and how, when two girls were snatched, how did one come back and the other never found. A fast and compelling book that I couldn't put down, a lot of twists and turns, a 5* read!

***

T. M. Logan never fails to thrill me!!

She wakes up, her husband is dead and she is the main suspect and found guilty. 10 years later she is released from prison, now on parole, Heather has to do all she can to prove her innocence and get her boys back. At the Hostel she meets Jodi, who is willing to help her prove in innocence.. a reporter who covered her original trial also can help, but is he reliable.. there are so many twists and turns, but a mother will never give up to get her boys back. If this will be the first book by T M Logan you read, you'll want to read all his other books.. such a plot with a  twist at the end, who would have guessed, but a mother will do absolutely anything and everything for her children.. a def. 5* from me.

***

***

I wrote about this book March 6 th.

***

This is Jodi Picoult at her best, fighting a lost cause and I loved it.

When  a baby dies after a routine hospital procedure, the father has no doubt who is to blame..the nurse who had been banned from looking after him, by the father.

An  emotional, prejudicial and heart wrenching story, a roller costal read. thank you Jodi Picoult.

We've actually heard her one year in the Essex Literacy Festival, she was very good and I'm so glad that I was able to go to her talk. An amazing author.

Chrisxx

Free!

 

When we moved to this bungalow, we brought with us a selection of shrubs and a few plants, but not these aquilegia, nor have I sown any. But these pop up every year, so I guess the seeds must have been in the soil around the roots of the plants we brought. 

The colours range from deep purple through mauve, pink, very pale mauve (my favourite) and to white. Their seeds have blown to the other side of the garden too. 

I pull up all the small ones when they have finished flowering, just leaving two or three to seed ready for next year.. free flowers! Excuse the mess on the pavers, Dh doesn't see what's in front when he decides to take a quick snap!

Chrisxx

Draenog!

 This is our hedgehog,  Dh got the pic. off the video which we can't see how to post. This is how our feeding station looks.

2 Bricks with a roof tile as a roof. It's to keep the cats off it and during day light, large birds!

We have the water dish in the opening and the food behind. Cats can't reach it without getting their feet wet and they don't like it so keep out, but the hedgehog wades through the water!

We are continuing to put out food and the trail camera is focused on it. Hopefully the 'draenog'  Welsh for hedgehog will be back. The hedgehog 'high way' under our fence has been used so he is around.

Over the years we've had three at once, so lovely to see them run, their little legs go like the 'clappers.'

Chrisxx

PS. And then right on cue, he arrived 9:29pm !!

Presents for ourselves.

 

When we went to town  on Wednesday, we popped into one of our favourite shops , to buy the oil and vinegar pots to go with the salt and pepper pots, we had previously bought.. 

And Dh saw a Tea Towel and Oven Gloves, with a hedgehog design so we had to buy those too.

Very pretty, but costly but its nice to buy things for ourselves, if it was for a present for someone else, we wouldn't have hesitated to buy the towel and gloves. 

The hedgehog didn't come last night so we hope he's alright. There are streets with hedgehog signs for motorists,  to take care, that there are hedgehogs around. 

Who would have thought in a seaside town, perhaps they like the sea air!!

Chrisxx

We needed something else!

 A  tempting afternoon, but all nice to look at, we only went for compost!

A riot of colours, but I resisted, because I have loads of plants I've grown myself so no need to buy, altho that hasn't stopped me in the past

However I did buy one pink pelargonium, because mine are still small.  

Only gardeners will understand how lovely it is to walk around looking at plants!

I shall be planting up my summer pots this coming weekend.. 

All the spring flowers are over, and we put the bulbs in old pots to store behind the shed in the shade.

I can't wait to see the patio with all the summer pots. 

And like the rest of UK, we're having some beautiful sunny weather, a bit too hot truth be known. We've had some pleasant times sitting with a cup of tea, under our umbrella, admiring the garden, the tuffty winter grass is back looking like a lawn, the Aquilegia is flowering and the hedgehogs are back. His/her antics running across the patio for the food keeps us occupied, watching him on the trail cam. 

Exciting times!

Chrisxx

And just like that he's grown!

 

Prince Louis is now age 8, and hasn't he lost his baby looks.  We've been shown so many little films of him being an inquisitive little boy; his antics during the procession of troops at the Queen's Jubilee.. and how he tried to stop his mother Catherine talking to him by putting his hands over her mouth! Moving from the lap of one adult to another, even his grand father Charles, who is now the King.

But wasn't it lovely to see that even the Royal children can be 'naughty' when bored!

I loved all those insights into his behavior, what a super little boy, so very 'normal!'

Chrisxx