Aches and pains, but it was worth it!

 I do have a lot of pots of spring bulbs,  but having seen Monty's  on Gardener's  World, and all his ready planted,  I wanted more! So a few evening ago with nothing of interest on TV, I looked for some bulbs I fancied.. 

I know some people don't like Grape Hyacinths but I love them and these white ones are so pretty..

I fancied these yellow crocus in my shallow bowl shaped pot..we have an assortment of colours planted in our front lawn, but they've all come up purple!

And who could resist these pale bell shaped narcissi, called 'White Petticoat Daffodils,' and so pretty and delicate/

Yesterday the sun shone, so after lunch we togged up to garden with the bulbs to plant first. As we stepped out of our French doors there was a light 'miserling' of rain! It's not heavy we thought. so we carried on. We work together rather than we do different tasks, because we get more done that way. The bulbs were done in no time and all topped with grit..

We cut down the single dahlias stalks and top dressed with spent tomato compost. I pruned the grape vine; we had the last bunches a few weeks ago. We had left 2 more bunches, as they get sweeter, but for the first time ever a big bird (magpie?) had eaten them! And then Dh cut down spent plants in the flower bed parallel to the bungalow wall and we were done...  but we were a bit soggy and my aches and pains were awful. I won't do that again. The other two flower beds will be done on a dry day!

The white patio is a bit muddy but a good rainfall or a couple of buckets of water will sort it! But we're very happy we've made a start to get our garden winter ready.

Chrisxx

Pam Ayres.

 FIFTY SHADES OF GREY BY PAM AYRES

The missus bought a paperback, down Shepton Mallet way, I had a look inside her bag;...T'was "Fifty Shades of Grey".

Well I just left her to it, and at ten I went to bed.

An hour later she appeared;

The sight filled me with dread, in her left hand she held a rope and in her right a whip!

She threw them down upon the floor, and then began to strip.

Well fifty years or so ago I might have had a peek, but Mabel hasn't weathered well, she's eighty four next week!!

Watching Mabel bump and grind could not have been much grimmer and things then went from bad to worse, she toppled off her Zimmer! She struggled back upon her feet a couple minutes later, she put her teeth back in and said

"I am dominator!!"

Now if you knew our Mabel, you'd see just why I spluttered, I'd spent two months in traction

for the last complaint I'd uttered.

She stood there nude and naked bent forward just a bit I went to hold her, sensual like and stood on her left tit!

Mabel screamed, her teeth shot out;

My God what had I done!

She moaned and groaned then shouted out:

"Step on the other one!!"

Well readers, I can tell no more, Of what occurred that day. Suffice to say my jet black hair,

Turned fifty shades of grey!!

Never read the book but love this daft poem!

Chrisxx

None so queer as folk!

 Yesterday afternoon was our end of year U3a Gardening group meeting.  Called a 'Celebration of a Successful Garden Club year' and took the form of a Bring and Share meal.

We always look forward to it as its always nice to share and chat gardens and more.

Yesterday was no exception.. and that odd man turned up again. We've noticed him at other events too. He doesn't come to regular monthly meetings, only when there's the food ones! Summer time he drank the wine that some members brought. Yesterday he sat near us. We had taken flasks of tea to drink along with the food and he asked me if the 'girls' made the tea and coffee as in other groups?? I asked him what 'girls' and he played deaf! Anyway he helped himself to a plate full of food several times. And as the members who brought along wine were sitting away from us, he got himself a glass of water.

He hardly spoke, fortunately some one came sand sat near to me so I was spared him sitting next to me. When we were giving out the Secret Santa presents, he took one even though he hadn't brought one? So I suppose one of the leaders went without. He left when we started to clear up, so strange.

But we thoroughly enjoyed ourselves, lovely food and lots of laughter. And it was a good gardening club year. 

The group has been asked to give help and ideas for the Eastern Prom, garden strips. Redone, when the whole area has been re-built  to reinforce the sea wall. The firm that did it has had total failure, as the plants chosen and trees, all died in the salt air.  So an interesting project to plan next year.

That's the lovely thing about gardening, there's always next year!

Chrisxx

Old recipes.

 I felt a bit foolish yesterday, as Dh wanted a recipe for a cake and I knew I had it in my folder of loose recipes.

So as I started to go through it,  all sorts of recipes came to the fro.. some written by my Aunty Glad. Ginger Beer, Sticky Jaw Toffee, A Boiled cake, Welsh cakes! Her writing was very rounded and clear, but now faded and the papers stained and creased, where I had used them.

I could hear her voice telling me what to do and I was a bit weepy, she died 1990 so many years ago, but her voice sounded clear in my ear. 

How come our minds can do that after so many years have passed? 

Chrisxx

Last Christmas

We were all ready to go for a walk yesterday afternoon when the heavens opened and we were stuck in on a Sunday afternoon.

And so we watched this lovely little film and thoroughly enjoyed it.

Sometimes you need a bit of of a 'cheesy' film.. it was fun and light and sad too.

And 'Wham' sang all the way through and that was lovely too.

Try it and see for yourselves, it chased away the rain and now we're in an early Christmas mode.

Chrisxx

Old Friends!

 Yesterday morning a friend came for coffee, we were in school together when we were 7 and altho her family moved away for a few years we kept in touch. 

We came from vastly different back grounds. Her father had two shops in the town, news agents, one was in the village just outside of town which she managed. I used to call in to see her with my children, when we lived there in the sixties and she used to spoil my children  allowing them to chose a book or a small toy as well as giving them sweets.

We laughed and laughed yesterday., when I used to threaten her with the dentistry bills I might have to pay out with all the sweets they ate from her.

I do have some lovely photo graphs of my two children and her outside the shop in the brilliant sunshine, I must look it up and others.

I always said my second child's labour and delivery was easy, because she had driven me in her little mini at top speed to the hospital over every bump there was on the road!

It was lovely chatting yesterday and remembering those sunny days when we were young. We've known each other for 75 years!

Chrisxx

You have to laugh!

 It was -1C when we were getting in the car to go to SW yesterday morning, although I didn't feel cold as I was wearing winter weight clothes, instead of my thin cotton dress.. I was expecting the scales to show a gain with the extra weight from my clothes, but no, I maintained my weight. I was very pleased, as I knew my extra clothes weighed 1.5lbs, yes I had weighed them! So now a new week and a downward trend to get below a certain weight before the big 'day.

And this is so laughable I had to write about it. It seems that in an area in UK, a council has asked gardeners, who use the garden refuse bins, to place them in a sunny spot in this cold weather, because the bins are freezing to the ground and the operatives are unable to lift them to empty then! Would you believe it?? It was even suggested to put them in a shed, till it was close to collection time to keep them warm! We don't know what time our garden waste is emptied as it varies from fortnight to fortnight, we actually pay £45 for 20 weeks and there's no room in our shed, is there room in yours? 

Laugh and keep laughing, it will keep us warm!

Chrisxx

Book Group

 Our monthly book group in the library has been moved to 12:00 md, so no hanging around yesterday, as we had to get into town, park and then walk to the library.  Altho of late we've been showering fairly early, well I say early, but before 10 am, so probably late for a lot of people.  Its because if I'm awake in the night, when I do get back to sleep, I sleep on past our usual get up time. 

We spent the first few minutes discussing our Christmas meal booked in December at the Italian  restaurant, where we went to for Dh's birthday. He and I have already decided what we'll have! Once we did get round to discussing the book, the general opinion was it was a 'nice' read, nothing to write home about.. so 'The Keeper of Lost Things' was shelved.... but then we were joined by a young man, who had come to join our group and had read the book. 

He had delved deeply into the book and had formed opinions on the characters, their emotional relationships, their inner feelings and compared it to another book and film. He never stopped talking, I had to jump in when he took a breath, to say 'Moving on,'  what did one of the other members think about it. So that's going to be interesting in the future if he comes back. He had come on the bus from Maesteg, so why to our little library?

Our next read is Josephine Tey's,  'The Daughter of Time' so an easy read. I read it years ago. but can't remember it!

Bitterly cold today only 2.4 C and we've had a frost. I'm going to be pounds heavier at SW tomorrow with all the extra clothes I'll be wearing! 

Hope you're keeping toasty warm where you are.

Chrisxx

How I made the collage, step by step.

 I did this on my phone, but I must take better photographs!

On your phone select Gallery  

1.Select 'create'

2.Select pics you want.

3. Under the pics looking at your phone, select configuration you want.

4 Click save

5. I then emailed it to myself, so it was in a folder on my laptop

I can't see another way to be able to use it on my laptop at the moment.

Hope this helps

Chrisxx

I can do it!

 So many silly little things give me a joy in my heart.. I have at last found out how to group photos and I'm thrilled I can.

Yesterday because it was cold and wet our walk was in the new big B&M in Bridgend, and the shelves were full of Christmas decorations and toys. So gave me the opportunity to take some pics and play.

Here are my results, not wonderful but a start.

Chrisxx

Can't wait for bed time!!

 Isn't it lovely when your day goes just right? I wanted a copy of Kristin Hannah's  'Winter Garden.' An ebook via my kindle was the cheapest, so I bought it to read in bed. Annoyingly it failed to down load. So I cancelled it, waited a bit,  bought it again.. Didn't down load again, so cancelled it again. I was really disappointed, but looked and found a paper backed copy on ebay, from Awesome books, only  £4.91, cheaper than an ebook and no postage. The kindle version was £5.99!

It arrived yesterday via the Post Office, I saw the Post man through the kitchen window and rushed to the front door and had a lovely chat with him. He thought our car number plate was Ipswich, in fact its a London one, although we bought it in Suffolk So I practically had his life history, as his in laws are from Suffolk. It was really nice hearing about him, 'I'm not Welsh,' he said, just living here. And indeed he didn't sound Welsh either. I felt proud to say I was from here, born here and moved back home here four and a half years ago.

I couldn't wait to get to bed to read my Kristin Hannah book last night.  Amazon have returned my money, I've never had a problem with money being returned by Amazon. 

So I was a very happy 'bunny' what bliss!!

Chrisxx 

In Training?

 

It was lovely to see Prince George with his mother, Catherine Princess of Wales at the Royal Albert Hall Remembrance Day Service.

Is this the royals gently introducing him to the duties that will be expected of him as a future King?

All three children have a close relationship with their parents and it is well known in school holidays,  the children's needs come first with both their mother and father.

Like a lot of the general public I do like to see the Royal Children, always dressed beautifully, altho we've seen a certain Sheep design cardigan passed down to the younger children, just as in the ordinary families! And Charlotte wearing the same coat on several occasions.

Chrisxx

Getting things done.

 We took our time yesterday and had a relaxing morning and then did umpteen little jobs in the afternoon. Really we felt we should have gone into the garden, because after the rain the day before, the sun was brilliant. 

Dh decided to make the marmalade that he's been going to do for a few weeks using the tinned prepared oranges, called Ma Made. He never used to use this till he married me! He spent hours slicing oranges and it was all delicious, but so is this!  So we have 8 jars of marmalade, 6 lbs on a shelf in our pantry.

While he was making this I did somethings I've been meaning to do too. 

I checked out the spices and herbs in a drawer.. 32 were out of date! I think we brought them us when we moved here! The kitchen smelt of spices as we emptied the little pots.. Trying to find the out of date, 'date' on the pots was unbelievable, so tiny and in different places. Some however was easy to decide as the spice was solid inside!

Then I tackled the drawer with all the kitchen rolls of paper, foil and plastic bags. Little pots of pills had spilt in there and there were some batteries. Now all tidied and the batteries in a small crate.

We both felt really good and happy that we'd actually got some little jobs done. It will be the garden next week and then it will be safe to 
start a jigsaw! Sometimes things take a lot less time than you think and the feeling of satisfaction when they are done makes you wonder, why you didn't get them done before!

Chrisxx

Would my life have been different?

 My mother would have been 109 yesterday, she died age 26.. I often wonder how my life would have been if she'd lived and my father had been De-mobbed earlier.

I was pushed here there and every where as a small child, and when my grand mother was in one of her temper tantrums, she often shouted she wished she'd sent me to the work house, well she was born in 1887.. but I survived, probably because my aunt paid for me to board at that amazing school.

But I wish my young life had been different. I tried really hard to give my own children the childhood I didn't have. I read to them, I played with them, we went to the park, I took them swimming, and anything they needed for school they had...  and the best, no second best. It wasn't easy their father was mean with money, but I could sew, so I made clothes for friends children, altho I never took any orders for clothes I didn't think I could do!! But it gave me extra money.

When my daughter started dancing lessons, when they had shows, I made a lot of the outfits and my daughter had free dance lessons. I think one year I made 6 tutus , whew they were difficult to make! I belonged to WAM, Working Association of Working Mothers. And through it I organised a swap group, so my son had football boots and a friend's daughter had ballet shoes!

I never let the worst of things get in the way of having fun with my children, When I found out about the full facts of my 'ex's life style,' I wanted to leave, but how would I afford to live.  My best friend told me about the extension college of a University in the next town. She looked after my youngest when I went for the interview.. and 3 years later at 39 years of age I got a B.ed and I had a job teaching, which   meant I could support myself and my children, altho only my youngest was really still at home. My Ex and I had a big discussion of how we'd go on and it lasted 4 years, but it didn't work out and I filed for a divorce. It wasn't easy or pleasant, but most holidays I returned here, to my home. Only my two aunts were alive and they were only too happy to see me and who ever of my children were free to come in those 4 years.

In 1987 I bought my own house, and we started living free of lies and deceit, altho I couldn't afford the Hair Dressing Salon I used to use and had a cry in the shower about a perm that went very frizzy!!.. Since then of course in 2004 I met Dh and he is the husband I thought how husband's should be. He's kind, loving and thoughtful and we live very happily. So would I have ended up here with Dh if my mother had lived? I still have quiet weeps looking at her photograph. I was two and a half when she died and I have a very vague memory of her in a bed..I never stopped wanting a mother.. but it wasn't to be.

I do look a bit like her. 

Chrisxx

Mornings or Evenings??

 When I worked full time I used to get up about 5:40 most mornings. I sent a text to my friend or she sent me one, just to say we were still breathing! I went straight down stairs to let out the dog, I had Boysie then and Kizzie my cat, I made myself  a cup of tea and took it back upstairs.. Boysie used to come up with me and made himself comfy on the bed. I had an ensuite, so showered with him in view, and every other day washed my hair.

I was back downstairs in my undies with my dressing gown on by 6:30. I usually had a cereal or porridge, another cuppa, made my pack lunch, gave the animals their breakfast and at about 6:45, had on my clothes and I took Boysie round the block.. we'd be back home by 7.. All this with no sound, no radio or TV, I liked it quiet. On mornings when I didn't have my hair to blow dry, I played my piano for about 20mins..then coat on ready to go. I settled the dog, loads of kisses and orders to be good, no piddles in the kitchen please, made sure the kitchen door was closed, and he had fresh water. I had  a lady check him at l:00 pm ish. The cat had eaten and gone, she came and went via an upstairs fan light window!

My school bag was by the front door all ready, so all I had to do was pick it up and step the few steps to the car. I was usually driving the 20mins drive to school by 7:25..

I did this for years and I liked the quiet.. so these days when people bounce up to me before I'm awake, its like screaming in my head. Last Friday when we arrived in SW I wasn't well, I'd been awake for a couple of hours in the night and felt 'delicate!' Its difficult to make some people understand that you don't want hugs and loud noise in the morning! Dh knows!!

So I'm sure the person who thought I needed cheering up and loud chat, was surprised when I pushed her away.. but if I hadn't I'd have started screaming, instead of my protestations to just let me be! I am not a morning person, are you?

Chrisxx

The Jab

 
Yesterday I had my umpteenth covid jab and apart for my second one, this one has made me feel proper poorly.

Arm aching and hot feeling and even worse diarrhoea fortunately  we keep a well stock medicine cabinet, actually is a drawer!

But not just myself, in fact Dh is the same.. we had a laugh because we only have one toilet and I said what would we do if we both needed it together... Dh's answer, some one could use a bucket outside!!! 

But we felt better at bed time and with two paracetamol we went to bed. I shall be having a day or two resting.

Chrisxx

Always Remember

 Eleventh hour on the Eleventh day of the Eleventh month

We will never forget.

Chrisxx

A delicious meal!

              I'd be very surprised if you didn't like this

Ingredients for 2

2 Salmon cutlets

8g butter (2 syns for SW)

400g Mushrooms

 500g Spinach

50g Fat reduced Cream cheese (Philadelphia or similar)

Salt and Pepper to taste

1 level tsp whole grain mustard

2 tsp lazy Garlic or 2 cloves

1 tbsp Water

Extra side, French Beans.(optiomal)

Method

Cook salmon in the butter and put to one side.

Gently cooked the sliced mushrooms in the same pan

Add spinach and garlic and mustard, salt and pepper and cook gently till spinach is wilted

Then add the cheese and water till the cheese has melted 

and let it sweat down.

Place salmon on top of  mushrooms and spinach and place lid on pan.

Allow it all the slowly cook through and the salmon is hot.

Cook French Beans to serve with salmon and veg.

Serve and enjoy.

This is absolutely delicious and we will be having this regularly.

Its so nice to find a new recipe for SW!

Chrisxx

Me Walking!

 Porthcawl Park Run takes place each Saturday. Its 5K from the harbor to Rest Bay and back.

On average there are about 300 plus runners, a lot doing it for a charity but many for the fun of it! 

Fun?? I used to think that walking was boring, but I've got better and I must admit it has helped me.  And it was a gloriously sunny day yesterday and it felt warm, so Dh and I went to the front promenade and had to park on the bit of road where Blue Badge holders are allowed to park. On sunny days people flock here and every where is crowded, so parking is difficult. 

We usually park at the same place mainly because the pavement is tarmacked and so I don't have to worry about uneven paved areas. My legs are a lot stronger, but I still walk very carefully and I'm happy to let people over take me!! I'm still paranoid about falling so hang onto my wheels and with the physio's words still in my head, I lift my feel higher than I think I need to.

We avoid this 'pod' too tempting to have a short bread biscuit with a coffee. (It has changed owners now)

Friday when it was raining we went to Aldi to walk up and around their wide aisles!! We did buy some bits, but we still have our groceries delivered from Tesco.. if its too wet to walk out next week, we'll walk the aisles of the Coop!! At least I'm walking!

Chrisxx

Great TV

 Did you watch it? We did and loved it!

Alan Carr was amazing, I think he won, because each time he was asked if he was Traitor he laughed and giggled his way out of the question.

So many iconic scenes, Celia's fart, the singing under water, the explosion in the last game.

Will there be another so dramatic, I wonder?

But now to take its place in Celebrity Race Across the World. I think Anita Rani and her dad will win, altho Dylan Llewelyn and his Mum Jackie's slow start might prove to be a winning strategy..

Anyway I'm loving it so far!

About time we had some decent programmes, after all we pay the license fee! It has seemed sometimes the schedules were all for young people, especially Saturday evenings, but its us oldies who stay in and watch TV.

Chrisxx

The Day After..

 Many thanks for all your comments about my UTI,  its becoming a real problem in my life. Our Surgery is having problems, so you can't get through to see a Dr and recently one has left, so they are even more pressed to see anyone from our 16,500 people who populate our town. There is just the one surgery. I have written twice to the Practice Manager and spoken to him face to face, but unfortunately the dire situation persists. So many people complain on the town FB page; I always comment and suggest they write their comments to the Practice Manager, if enough people did, there might be changes.

The 17 steps are from my bed to the toilet, not a stairway! I leave the door open, so its easy and I don't flush every time to save water.

Anyway in spite of being up drinking tea at 5:00, Dh had joined me, I didn't feel too bad yesterday. I went back to bed and he stayed up because its our Tesco delivery in the morning. 

When the rain stopped in the afternoon, we ventured into the garden to plant the foxgloves and aquilegia seedlings I had sown ready to plant out now.. We still have weeding and tidying to do ready for winter, but we'll do 20 minute sessions to get it all done over the next few weeks when it's dry.

Being outside made me feel loads better, and it didn't feel cold.

Gardens always make me better!

Chrisxx

WITS END!!

 This week has been a roller coaster of misery for me.. once again I am struck down by a condition that now seems to be chronic and the only person who seems to care is me! I know I've seen Drs and had tablets but I'm still unwell. Did you know that A&E departments give out free tea, coffee and sandwiches and biscuits? Neither did I till my 6 1/2 wait on Monday afternoon!! I eventually saw a young Dr who asked me had I tried Cranberry juice?? I could  have screamed.

It was a nightmare, he gave me some more antibiotics and they have relieved my symptoms, but here I am up in the middle of the night, because I can't sleep and I'm in and out of bed like a yoyo staggering the 17 steps to the toilet!

I think I'll have to see a Dr privately, I can't go on like this,  I'm over tired and at my wits end.

Chrisxx

A happy day.

 We had such a lovely day on Saturday, in spite of the wind and rain! We set off for coffee and croissants, and as we parked the rain stopped, and gave us a break to get to Costa. Of course as Dh has a loyalty card he had a free cake for his birthday! 

We met people we know and chatted and after, while Dh went to the butchers for a rib of beef for our Sunday dinner,  I walked through town to get some tooth paste. I met some one from our gardening group and we chatted about our next meeting, which is our review of the year and celebration, our 'bring and share meal.' It reminded me we would need to buy some presents for the secret Santa.. we needed 2 lots,  as our book group meal has secret Santa pressies too. 

And I found the perfect presents, something I'd like myself. I was so pleased  . 

Dh was happy too and came walking towards me, smiling like a Cheshire cat. We drove home via Rest Bay, which had about 50 plus surfers! And quite a few people on the beach watching. November 1st and only 12C that is dedication!

We watched from inside our warm car, well we're a bit old to be surfing in November!

Chrisxx

Birthday happiness and an unexpected bonus!

 

Today is Dh's birthday and he's had a lovely time.

Yesterday we invited some of our SW friends to join us for lunch at an Italian restaurant and we all ate as though we didn't belong to a sliming group!

Dh and I had pizza because we never have that at home, we brought more than half home as it was too big to eat in one meal for us. Dh had a starter too, Calamari Fritti and I had a taste, wow it was amazing. All six of us had something different and we all  thoroughly enjoyed our meals.. I had Profiteroles for pud, Dh had Tiramisu and all our plates were cleaned. It is so nice to go out and eat normally when you're dieting!!

Such a super time, good food and loads of laughter!

And an absolutely unbelievable letter in the morning for Dh was from HMRC, tax dept, he's had a very substantial amount of money from them, as they had under paid him 21 years ago!! We were whooping it up in our lounge this afternoon. Who would have believed it?

So a lovely day all round and today we have some treats planned for our evening meal. I can see its going to be bread and smell for me the rest of the week before I step on those SW scales, but it was worth it.

Chrisxx

I feel I missed out.

 I am so annoyed because I think I've missed out in life. Mariella Frostrup has been television, promoting her new cook book for women going through the menopause. There is so much talk about that and the perimenopause today. I don't know how other women of my age group dealt with this, but I just got on with it. Nobody knew what I was going through. My best friend, when she got to the 'age' made some muffins supposedly for women going through the 'change' and they were very tasty, but were they good for me? I don't know I just wolfed them down with a nice cup of tea, which I think did me more good than the muffins!

The same it was when I was pregnant. I can't remember anyone going over board when I got to 12 weeks, it came and went. Nobody ever asked me to feel the baby moving and then jumped for joy when they felt it. I didn't have a Baby Shower, yes, I had presents when each was born, but nothing frivolous, a bundle of nappies and a knitted cardi were my gifts and I was very graceful for them. 

Today young people celebrate all different stages of  being pregnant and you can buy all sorts of baby items. I'm always delighted to hear of someone expecting and am happy to feel the baby moving.. and the delight on the expectant mum's face is lovely to see, when I say, yes I can feel the movement. 

So is this way of life today and why do I feel I've missed something?

A lot today is finance, not all couples can buy all the extras that are lovely to have but not an essential, but when you look there are some lovely things out there. This is an example; a blanket on which you you can record your baby's age. Isn't this a lovely idea? And of course there is photographic evidence of the different stages and that didn't happen in the 60s, shame but we had birthday and holiday and Christmas photos, but not every smile! I would have loved something like this for my children.

Ah well at least my children were well dressed and fed well.

Do you think you missed out?

Chrisxx

Does it matter what books you like?

 If I know I have to wait anywhere, I always take a book with me usually my kindle as its light to carry and fits in my hand bag. I was happily sitting with my kindle, when a lady near to me, remarked that she likes real books. I just smiled and said, 'That's nice' and carried on reading. Then she came and sat beside me and leaned over as if to see what I was reading, so I helped her and said 'Its a psychological thriller.' She looked my sort of age. 

'Do you read Harry Potter books?' she asked, I thought where did she get that from. 

'No they're not my sort of book,' I replied and moved away. I really wanted to say, if they were the only books on a desert island, on which I had been cast away, I'd lie on my back and read the passing clouds first!! 

What is wrong with not liking certain genres? A relative of mine used to extol the HP book's virtues and thought they epitomized good against evil. I am not his greatest fan, so let him have his say, but always left the room when he was pontificating.. Why am I writing about this now, because recently his son age 25 has self published an ebook, a kindle book. Its not very good, but he's finding his feet, so still learning, His father hasn't read it, but he is boasting, as though its a best seller. He asked me what I thought, I said J K Rowling has no need to worry! I did say to his son it needed to be developed, but a good effort. 

I'm living far away from them now and don't feel the need to be pleasant all the time, so give him and his wife a swerve. Saves me the anguish and I'm too old now to be bothered.

Chrisxx

An author to treasure.

It wasn't difficult to buy these Richard and Judy book club choices, when I saw there was a T. M. Logan and Freida McFadden books in the group. However I've found David Baldacci not an author I enjoy so I swapped it for 'Frankie' written by Graham Norton.  Graham Norton is an excellent author. He engages the reader in the first few pages, and I've read all his books and never been disappointed. 

Frankie is an old lady that needs a carer after a fall, and the person who turns up is not the person she was expecting. Damian is a young Iris man. He sparks memories in her and the book is the story of her life from post war Ireland to 1960s New York, the reader is immersed into her very different life. Her painter husband, their Bohemian life style, a world in which Frankie's friendships and relationships are too intense to last, but as Frankie's past is slowly emerges, her spirit and endurance are revealed as undeniable and unforgettable.

I loved this book, its a sensitive and beautifully told story and one you'll be sad when its over. I highly recommend this book, as I do of all his books.

Chrisxx

Perfect!

 The best days are those when you don't need anything extreme or special to happen to make it great. You just appreciate and enjoy what it is and that's perfect enough.

And that's been my Sunday. We had a delicious chicken dinner with our own sprouts and baby potatoes, plus some cauliflower and French beans from Mr Tesco, superbly cooked by Dh and then stewed rhubarb and a Banana Custard yogurt, which finished off the meal perfectly. I would have loved this but kept to the SW food plan.

And then we watched the rain running down our windows, and we might have dozed!!  We welcomed the early evening with the clock change, drew the curtains and settled in the warm of our home for the Strictly results, and our choices are through to dance another week, hurrah!! 

What did you do?

Chrisxx

The Words are in the Pictures.

Chrisxx

Stress!!

Our surgery has a good on line system to ask for regular medication. So I try to request my 2 regular tabs a week before they are due. This month I missed the date and so I requested them just days before I ran out. There was no problem requesting them and I checked the next day,  and they had been authorised, so I waited 3 days to allow the chemist to make them up.

When we went to collect them, the one lot was missing. When I asked why I wasn't told they had been unable to get them, the answer was there is a shortage.. I asked, but why hadn't they let me know? Grrrr it was like talking to a repeating machine. I asked again, why  hadn't they let me know, and she kept repeating they don't know what will arrive each day.. to which I replied, I hear and understand what you're  saying, but why didn't you let me know, never mind you couldn't get them, why didn't you let me know, I'm asking you a question??? 

We gave up Dh phoned another Chemist and they had them. I had to get another prescription from the Surgery which wasn't too difficult as there is prescription dept. And we drove to town to get them, whew. I was just a bit stressed I didn't want to run out of my tablets. So in future I will request a paper script and collect it, instead  of having the prescription electronically delivered to that chemist! I can phone around and find a chemist that has my tabs. It was so annoying and stressful!! And stress I can do without!

Chrisxx

SSCO... And stuff!

 Don't you want to scream some days.. Wednesday afternoon we decided to go to Dunelm Mill, as we needed some new non slip shower mats. As we left the house I did say to Dh, don't let me buy any 'stuff' I have enough, as Dunelm Mill is a kaleidoscope of colourful cushions, towels, duvet covers and artificial flowers, glass jars, cutey little boxes, and all sizes of containers, in fact anything you might fancy you think you need for your home and more, and all the things you don't really need at all.  I said, I would just like some new hand towels in the bathroom. 

Once we were in there, we looked at the side sleeper pillows as I have one and we thought Dh might like one, then Dh suggested I might like some new towels, as I don't seem to have the medium sizes, I like two towels when I dry after my shower. I choose a set that matched the bathroom colours and put them in the trolley and the pillow. We then choose 4 new hand towels, all the same colour, so into the trolley they went and then the two new non slip shower mats. 

We moved into the china section and saw some really lovely Denby stone ware dishes with a mute green edging, the colour of our wall tiles in our kitchen. Boxed in Dinner sets of 4 and reduced.. so yes into the trolley it went too. 

Then there were some liners for the basket of our Air Fryer, just what Dh was looking for..the trolley was more or less full, so we trundled off to the check outs..Shock horror they were all SSCO = self service check outs! I asked the one worker there, was there a check out not Self service, she pointed to one at the end of the counter , but it was cash only!

So we started going through items, I was not a happy bunny. Then we came to the boxed Denby and no bar code, the woman stepped forward, she couldn't find the bar code either. So she started the mumble, mumble into her mouth piece, but bobbing back and fro checking other customers, as they used the self check outs, still mumbling into her mouth piece....... talking to the store room, or the time it was taking could have been the Moon, of even Mars?? We waited and waited, I was getting fed up and if there had been a John Lewis or M&S near I'd have walked out saying we'll go else where. 

Eventually she got the price, I stepped forward to check that it was the reduced price, she checked again and it was.. but oh so slow.

We've decided that next time we really NEED to buy from there, we'll take a couple of hundred pounds and go to the one cash check out!!

Chrisxx

My Bête Noir!!

We have a lot of laughs in our SW meetings, and members tell of their greatest pitfalls. It seems that at the moment Aldi's cheese aisle faces the chocolates and all sorts of Christmas goodies. Last week, one member gave us a demonstration of herself, slinking along sidewards to view the cheeses, but without seeing the chocolates. It was very funny, she hammed it up and several members admitted to doing the same thing.

Chocolates don't tempt me, but there is one aisle in Tesco that does. I walk along very slowly drooling at the vast display of ....... sandwiches, there are hundreds.. Not just your common Cheese and Pickle or a BLT, but Ham, Turkey, Stuffing with seasonal dressings, or two Cheeses and Salami, and there's Pigs in Blankets Sandwiches. And what about finest Scottish Salmon and Cream Cheese;  Chicken and Sweetcorn triple sandwich or even Honey Glazed Ham, Red Leicester and Festive Chutney and also Finest Tesco New York Deli inspired  Pastrami and Emmental!! To name but a few...what choices, my mouth waters and I look opened eyed at such delights!

Sunday tea was always a sandwich, after we'd had our Sunday dinner, but the SW food plan only allows one piece of wholemeal bread or 40g of a  cereal or some nuts, as a healthy extra, so a sandwich at tea time eats into your syn allowance and made with just one piece of bread, isn't that filling, so I don't have one. boo hoo.. and just one of those packets of Tesco sandwiches would be my meals for days, not just one meal! I've watched young girls, take a packet of  sandwiches, crisps and a chocolate bar and I long to be young and eating anything I wanted again! The thing is, I didn't eat like that when I was young and shops didn't sell those sandwiches anyway! But I can but dream and drool in that aisle! Do you like a sandwich?

Chrisxx

Talking dirty!!

I've had four nights of insomnia, but then two nights ago, apart from my usual loo visits, I slept for 9 hours! But it seems sleeping that long isn't good either! The day before yesterday Dh and I abandoned going out, as I was so late waking. 

We sat together 'wool gathering' on the side of the bed and then we talked 'dirty!!  What about, food of course!!!...'the dirty word,' as it can be difficult to think of something that's the SW food plan and not just the usual. Evening meals need to be filling, otherwise we feel like picking! But our grapes are still going strong, and they're very tasty to eat in an evening, so not so bad to eat lots of.

But we had this as our meal with our left over chicken.

Using up left over chicken for 2

Cold cooked chicken cut into chunks (Approx: 2 breasts)

2 Rashers of bacon, fat removed and chopped and lightly grilled

1/2 Cauliflower, chopped up

1/2  Onion, chopped up, not too small.

Small handful of broccoli chopped up.

Par boil veg and onion

150 g. pasta twists.. cook.

Make cheese sauce

In 150ml milk add 50g grated cheddar cheese, heat till cheese melts, add tsp mustard, tsp garlic granules and stir in tbs corn-flour.. till thickens and boils,  season to taste.

Pour over chicken, bacon, veg and pasta.. stir and heat through thoroughly and just before serving sprinkle on last 10g cheese.

It was delicious and very filling (For SW it was 1.5 syns for the corn-flour, cheese is the Healthy A choice) For dirty talking it was wow!

Chrisxx

Phones or Books

 Dame Jacqueline Wilson has said parents on phones are the cause in falling literacy in children. If the parents don't read, how will the children learn the pleasure of books? Do you agree I wonder?

I can't remember one day of my life, when I didn't read. I can remember, when I had my first baby I used to read while feeding her, especially if it was a book I was enjoying. Then as she got older I read to her while feeding her! And all four of my children were actively encouraged to read. Saturday mornings was a visit to the library. Once one of my son's girl friend, when he was in his twenties. was astounded to hear that's what we did every Saturday and asked why, he answered to change our books of course! 

It wasn't like that for me, my Grand mother, being of the Victorian era, thought reading for girls was a waste of time. I did most of my reading at the library after school. The librarian kept my book and that suited me.. my grand mother didn't really know what time school finished, so that was fine. Also my aunty had books, so I sneaked those to bed and there were some sexy romance ones, so I was well educated in those matters!! And of course my Aunt paid for me to go to that private school, when I was 10, which were the happiest days of my school days, and as a Boarder I loved it. So books were my life and how I lived.. 

It is strange how some people remember you, when I was in a Slimming World group, when living in Billericay one of the helpers there, started to talk to me and said she remembered me because she worked in the library. She told me how all the staff remembered me, because I trooped into the library every Saturday followed by my trail of four children!  

I think children of today are missing out, where's the adventure, the scary moments, the monster under the bed, and fizzy pop and jam sandwiches if you're not reading? 

If there was ever a day when I couldn't read I'd be bereft!

Chrisxx

More Money than Sense!

 'More money than sense,' was one of the sayings my Aunt that brought me up often said! And the other night I heard her saying just that to me. 

This is our present book club read, I decided to down load a sample onto my kindle to see if I liked it. I didn't read the previous month's book, called 'The Durrells in Corfu', I didn't take to the a TV series and I didn't like the book either, so for once didn't read book club choice. 

So I thought I'd check this new book on my kindle ..it was reading nicely and decided I'd read the book in the morning and I settled down to sleep and was asleep in no time.  However, at just after 3:00 am, I was in the wide awake club, so picked up my kindle to read and carried on reading the Sample... then I got to the end of it, and it was so easy to press 'buy this book' from my comfy warm bed.  And yes that's when I heard my Aunty Glad's voice saying...more money than sense! I am enjoying the book!

Chrisxx

A lot to do...

 We have loads to do to get the garden straight before winter sets in.. we've planted new bulbs in pots, and the new rose in the garden. And the new front pots are planted up, we added some wall flowers in them, the scent in the ones last year was lovely as we opened the front door.

We've dug up the damson tree we brought with us from Suffolk, as it was a new one, but it has never fruited, altho it had some blossom last year but it never came to anything. So that one bed looks fairly tidy. But we have foxglove seedlings and aquilegia to plant, some weeding and the grass needs cutting one last time and two more flower beds to weed and tidy.

All we need is the 'umph' to get going, so perhaps tomorrow??

We did sweep the leaves from the front yesterday, we get a lot from the tall trees that border the school drive about 100 yards from us. Then popped out and bought a tub of yellow chrysanthemums and new pot, to have by the front door. 

It looks very bright and pretty and we felt we had done something.

Is your garden ready and tidy for winter?

Chrisxx