Good news, in fact very good news,

 Yesterday I had my hospital appointment at the Urology dept, with the consultant with whom I'd had a telephone appointment last month. I was dreading it, was it going to be a cystoscopy? I hadn't had a prescription for antibiotics, so I was ready to say 'no.'

But it was fine, in fact it was better than fine it was very, very good! He explained the instances when there was blood found in my urine samples, were because my bladder was inflamed. Because when I didn't have an infection there was no blood. So not a tumour! Unlike the one Dr at the Surgery who said it could be cancer!

Such a relief,  if I could run, I'd be running through a flower meadow, jumping for joy! I'll sleep tonight because I was awake last night worrying.

Also he spoke about a new vaccine, which he has applied for the Urology Dept for persistent UTIs and I would qualify for it!! I felt like saying, give me the dotted line I'll sign now!

And he was such a nice man too, talked to me as though I had all my marbles in spite of my age! Such a relief, it has boosted my mood and I'm trying even harder to loose weight, which would help my recurrent infections.

Chrisxx

When we have the sun!

 

I have a fan on me most of the time. we don't sit out in the garden. Our patio is SW facing and temps get to 30C as the slabs are white and they reflect the sun!  

Our plants in pots sizzle and we water them every day, we're on a meter but we've never paid as much if we paid pro-rata our Council Tax, but Dwr Cymru has increased their charges to supply our water by 50%. We'll keep watering unless we're asked not to. We used to have hose pipe bans in Essex, but we did water the pots with a watering can, and watched the grass go to straw every year, But it all greened up in the Autumn.

The one benefit to me to have warm weather, my arthritis isn't as bad, but I have to be careful to keep drinking water otherwise I get a UTI.. We usually have a cold drink mid afternoon instead of tea, I have a 'Mimms' a mock Pimms.. a glass of lemonade ( sugar free) 1 tsp Balsamic  vinegar, and sliced fruit and a sprig of mint. Its really tasty and I love it.

Hope you're enjoying this weather too.

Chrisxx

Smoked salmon.

 One of the hardest thing about meals is deciding what to have.. We have loads of SW books, so no complaining about recipes, but we tend to keep to things we like. This is one we really like.....

So lunch time yesterday was smoked salmon and tagliatelle, easy to make. This serves 2.

Ingredients

150g tagliatelle

150g smoked salmon

2 Cloves garlic

100g lightest Philadelphian cheese.

Squeeze of 1/2 lemon

Chopped fresh parsley.

Method

Put pasta in pan of water and bring to the boil, simmer for 15mins

Slice garlic thinly,

Drain pasta and add garlic and chopped smoked salmon, give it a turn and a mean spray of olive oil Fry light, add cheese and mix gently and add a little of the pasta water. Mix again and give it a squeeze of lemon.

Serve with a sprinkling of parsley, and season to taste with salt and black pepper.

Enjoy\!

Chrisxx

A lot more of that please!

I'm sure I'm not the only person on a diet who thinks this, but this coming week its even more important for me because last week I lost 3 pounds!!! So I want to build on that loss with even more.

It seemed a long week, it always does when you stick strictly to plan. In fact chatting to another member in our SW group, she thought the same, that the week seemed to go slowly when you stick strictly to the food plan. And we did all week, but ate well, meals I like, even some ice cream with strawberries one day.

Sunday is my worse day, its the day, when I want something nice for tea! We always have a Sunday dinner cooked the SW way and yesterday we had a chicken with our own grown potatoes, carrots, and sprouting broccoli, followed by our own rhubarb with a fat free Banana Custard yogurt, all delicious ; but then tea?? I always used to have a sandwich, a packet of crisps and a piece of home made cake, or may be two pieces of cake! So it has to be some thing I really like and filling. 

Dh makes a very tasty Frittata of which half serves as Saturday lunch with a full salad, shredded white and read cabbage, our own Cos and Lolo Roso lettuce with chopped apple, pine nuts and green olives, so the rest is our Sunday tea, No cake but a fruit yogurt fills me up and its a good start to another week.

I can do this!

Chrisxx

Rods, Dogs, Old women?

 There wasn't anywhere I particularly wanted to go yesterday, but when I saw the horrendous down pour first thing, I thought oh no, it's too wet to be going out! I hate getting wet. 

But when Dh asked where I wanted to go, I said, no where.. I just wanted the option to go! Silly or what?

It came down like 'stair rods,' Isn't that a silly saying, most people say like 'cats and dogs. ' In Wales they say 'Old women and sticks!' Anyway it was very, very wet|! 

Dh dashed out into the garden for some lettuce at lunch time, one of the disadvantages of growing your own! LOL

When it did stop the impulse to to out had gone and we stayed in and watched some tennis. When Dh went to prepare our easy Thursday night meal, as its SW weigh day today, I switched to watch Garden Makeover.. One of the programs Carol Klein says doesn't teach people how to garden, but then some of us just want to look at the designs and the flowers and the water features, so we don't want to learn.

It was really good and I loved it.. and I love Blue Geraniums.

May be after SW we'll go to town for a coffee? That is unless the rods, dogs or old women don't arrive!

Chrisxx

The Leaky Roof

Dh does all the cooking and sometimes I help by sitting in the kitchen to support him, so he's not by himself and chat!! We unload and load the dishwasher together. I always do the 'leaky roof' Which is the cutlery, called this, because where we used to live in Suffolk, the kitchen was an extension and we'd had the flat roof replaced. I'd taken the cutlery basket and put it on the table to put the cutlery in the drawer.

When we had sorted out everything after our meal. We noticed there was water droplets on the table. We were both puzzled and stared up at the ceiling, looking for a leak! Dreading that there might be one.. then the penny dropped and we realised the water was from the cutlery basket and laughed and laughed..  So ever since then the cutlery basket has been known as the leaky roof!

Altho' Dh is a good cook, he can be messy, so yesterday I gave the kitchen a really good clean, including the cooker top, which was very messy. But once I don my 'marigolds' I can do anything!

I did not check in there after we'd had dinner, altho' I was tempted as we'd had stir fry, which can slop over the wok! It was a very tasty meal, chicken thighs with stir fry peppers, onions, mushrooms, tomatoes, garlic and a sauce of honey and balsamic vinegar, I love it!

We'll keep it clean now for days.. perhaps!

Chrisxx

Stop everything......

 The bathroom needed cleaning,

The lounge windows needed cleaning,

The lounge carpet needed a vac,

The bedding needed changing,

And the washing machine had finished.

But there were 4 British girls playing tennis at Queens

So that's what we did, we sat and cheered for Emma Raducanu, Heather Watson,  Katie Boulter, and Sonay Kartal.

It was so exciting and they all won, hurrah!

We shall watch some more and keep cheering

We love watching it and so the housework was left!

When I was 10 my Aunt bought me everything to play. A pretty tennis outfit, a super tennis racket and pushed me to join the Tennis Club. I was never any good, when the ball hit my racket my arm went back and when I did hit the ball, it hardly got over the net! So I left and had piano lessons instead! I didn't mind, it didn't interest me. 

But as I've aged I've grown to love watching it.. and so does Dh!

The washing was pegged out on the line and dried, the bed was made up fresh and I did a quick swoosh of the bathroom! Windows can wait,  because there's more tennis tomorrow!

Chrisxx

Was it fun?

 If you're as old as I am you'll recognize this little photo and remember scenes of your own like it. (Photo from the internet)

The road side picnic! My daughter has a romanticize memory of these, but as it was I in charge, not me!

Each summer we made two journeys across the country from where we lived in Essex, first to the West country for our annual holiday and then here, to S Wales  to visit my family. 

No service areas in those earlier days.

I'd have made sandwiches and we had flasks of tea and the toilet was behind a bush out of sight. With 4 children it was quite a feat.. the boys were fine, but it was me who did the treading down of stinging nettles for my daughter to squat!

How much easier it was when Service areas were built and indeed the M4 motorway in 1971.  But it still took us 5 hours, more some times!

I suppose looking back it was fun in a way, but only on the days when the sun shone. We listened to Children's Favorites on the radio, singing along to Nellie the Elephant, The Run Away Train, and others like those. 

We were off on our summer holiday!

Chrisxx

Cardi Madam?

 Recently there have been items on various news feed latewy about the late Queens choice of clothes.. It has also been noticed that Princess Anne her daughter, has been photographed wearing a jacket that her mother had worn! So even the Royals do that!

It seems the late Queen liked her clothes to be bright,  saying that as she was tiny,  she might disappear in the crowds, so in bright colours   the people could still see her.

She did indeed wear some beautiful dresses and suits all with matching hats and the handbag, which she was never seen without. But how she held her bag was a signal to her personal assistant. Moving it from one arm to the other, its said, was her signal to say she wanted to leave  and  they would relieve her and make a reason for her to leave. Was that true, who knows,  but its been reported as such.

Of all her outfits the one I love is that one, top left. It was how she greeted the new Prime Minister of the day then, Liz Truss. The Queen died a short time after that meeting.

She looks frail and is wearing a pleated skirt and a cardigan. If you look you can see the button holes on the cardigan are stretched, as though they had all, at some time been used. So not just a show outfits,  but as she relaxed at home, with a cardi to keep warm!(click on the picture to enlarge it)

Nice to see, I love my cardis and have a lot, all different colours and all wool to keep me warm!

Chrisxx

Could you be in 'The Race Across the World?'

 I am loving Race Across the World this year again.  Although some people complain there are too many sob stories I think its those that make it the interesting programme it is. 

Fin and Sioned a Welsh couple are doing well, altho she felt over whelmed with the crowds and noise in China. Their openness makes one realise, its ok if you don't have everything worked out, no matter what your age. you can get through it and thrive.

I love Caroline and Tom, mother and son, she age 61 has thrown herself into it and disclosed to him that her only value she felt was,  if she was useful at home. Taking part has shown her that she had strengths she didn't know she had. I 'd like these to win!

The sisters Elizabeth 33 and Letitia  26 are so serious, but have opened up that they have only ever had a surface relationship. They obviously care a lot about each other, but there is a lot left unsaid.

Brian 62 and Mervyn 65 spent a great deal of their childhood apart in a not too happy a home.  It made it all the more emotional when they had their first photograph together in years and vowed to go on more holidays together.

Without the sob stories The Race Across the World, would still be entertaining to watch, but this extra layer serves as a reminder that every single person you cross paths with in life. has struggles you may not know about. 

The emotional parts of the show are thought inspiring, and the show wouldn't have the same impact for me without them. Its not a travel programme, its a show of lives and relationships and I love it.  

Chrisxx

Blue cleaning??

Dh and I have a cleaning order, I do 'tops' he does 'bottoms'!

So in the bathroom I clean the sink and the surround and he does the shower, which is a large walk in one. I also do the toilet.. neither one of us mind cleaning the room that a lot of people don't like to do. We both had jobs where we were shown how to clean.. me, my student nursing, Dh, the Navy. Our very first jobs too!

We bought this to clean in the shower, because its very easy to get a discoloration in the grouting.

I'm not advertising this, altho' it does work, but to say, when we were in town yesterday, there was one just like it in a charity shop window for a fraction of the price we paid only last week! 

Altho truth be told we wouldn't have known what it was if we hadn't bought one.. I had never seen anything like it before!

Dh uses it and says it does the job a treat! But then we wondered why someone would have abandoned it, as from the box  it looked as new as ours?

Rather disconcerting and why has my blog writing gone blue??

Chrisxx

Oh no!!

 Monday morning Dh took his first cuppa of the day and sat on the new bench, while I was still getting showered and dressed; the sun was glorious. We have our on line Welsh session at 9:30am and we're both often bleary eyed, even going to bed earlier the night before. I would have joined him,  but I love that first cup of tea sitting comfy in my chair with a quick flick at the news of the day. He is determined we use the new bench! 'I will sit there tomorrow,'  I said

Yesterday early it rained, much needed again for the garden, so no sitting outside. When it had stopped, off Dh went to do the peering, that gardeners do over the plants and shrubs.. I heard him call out, and went to see what the shout was about. He was standing by the Buddleia.. 'you'll never believe what I've just witnessed'.. he said. Evidently a sparrow had snatched a caterpillar, yes the one that's a good one, bashed it on the ground and then ate it!!! So that's the end of that, because when we looked there wasn't one caterpillar left. All gobbled by sparrows and they have the very best seeds, sunflower seed hearts and a peanut butter thingy to feed on, so why did they take those caterpillars, we feel cheated!!

Nature can be so cruel!

Chrisxx

Dr Appointment.

 Yesterday afternoon I had a Dr's appointment, I had been asked to attend, so the Dr could talk over with me, that letter from the consultant Urologist at the hospital.

Very nice Dr, new to me, the umpteenth one I've seen! Anyway surprise, surprise the proposed Cystoscopy date had come and gone! So the strong antibiotics I had taken was in vain.. yes they worked and killed off all the bad guys, but they also killed off some of the good ones too, so I had some uncomfortable side effects, but hey ho I survived. 

So this Dr is writing back to the Urologist to arrange for me to have the cystoscopy and I will be given anti-biotics to cover me against an infection. Beats me why an investigation that can infect a patient is deemed ok? 

He said it is important to remove the possibility of a growth. I asked what will happen when it shows NAD.. No abnormality detected? His answer, it will determine that it is not a tumour.. So it may have the same results as before and I'll just go on from one infection to the next.. not great but at least I'm having something done and if I get an UTI I'll get treatment!! But it doesn't fill me with joy, I think I'll just be one of 100s of women who have recurrent infections for no apparent reason.

Chrisxx

A good one or a bad one?

 You never know what is good or bad in a garden  Dh's mother used to stay with us, at different places over the years. She was not a gardener, and she couldn't understand why people had go out into their gardens every morning. And what were they peering at!

Last year our gooseberries were decimated by the Gooseberry Saw Fly Caterpillar before we even realised. So this year we have been vigilant and checked our two bushes every morning without fail.. no destruction of our bushes, lovely leaves but very few berries, awww!

So when Dh saw this on our Buddleia bush we looked it up. Looks nasty we thought, not a cabbage white they're bright green.. does bright colours mean its poisonous we wondered?

It is in fact the caterpillar of the Mullein moth and its quite common to find it on Buddleia leaves, but not so common where we live.

So we feel quite pleased it has decided to chose our garden and are watching now. for it to pupate and develop into this beautiful moth.

    So its a good one to have.

Chrisxx

Bikini polka dot melyn bychan

We always used to go to the library every Saturday morning, but here its not in the main street of the town, and its up stairs with a ramp for people like me, so we don't go as often. I don't understand why disabled people have to walk so much further with these U shaped ramps! I've missed going to town, so yesterday we made the effort and were in town in our favourite coffee shop by 10:00 am. There were a lot of people around, holiday makers? And white whiskery old dogs in push chairs; they always look so comfy!

Dh wanted to go to get his after shave moisturizer and I needed a card so we walked down the main street, me avoiding the broken blocks, I've seen two people trip over them so I'm very careful. I keep hearing that physio's voice saying, 'Lift your foot higher than you think!' My legs are struggling at the moment, I walked too far the other day and they keep telling me I did!.

We did sit for a while and listened to a band performing in the Band Stand, singing summer type pop songs in Welsh! It was very pleasant in the sun and enjoying the music. 

We were busy in the afternoon, Dh cut the grass and I potted up some foxglove seedlings ready for planting out in the autumn. I already have lupins and aquilegia so we should have good size plants by then.

And we are benefitting from the garden, as we're eating our own lettuce and we have sprouting broccoli all growing really well and if you need rhubarb or garlic come to us!.

A rather pleasant Saturday for us.

Chrisxx