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

Children and Phones.

 I was interested to learn what teachers thought of the Government's decision to ban phones in school, so phoned some one I know, who is teaching in a Comprehensive school.. Her immediate reaction to my question was to laugh! She reckoned not what was needed, but the law that Australia has brought in to ban Social Media Sites to young people under 15 was a much better law.

My friend was saying that young people are on their phones out of school for 8 hours and more, missing sleep to keep messaging and looking at social media! They have a constant dialogue about some items on social media, and my friend said I'd be shocked to hear some of the things they talk about!

Evidently the young people openly talk about some quite 'risque' sites.. There are always some with their heads on their desks, because they are so tired..Parents admit they are unable to stop their children from using their phones in their bedrooms.

I wasn't shocked to hear that, years ago, I listened to parents stating their frustration with their children watching TV in their rooms,  late into the night. I didn't say, but I always thought who bought the TVs!!

My own children didn't do that, because the second TV was not upstairs in their rooms, but in the dining room, so I knew what they were watching and be control of the Off Switch!

Thank goodness mine are all grown up and I don't have the worry of what mine are up to, altho', they do cause me concerns, but we can talk as adults.

Parenting these days is not easy, what do you think?

                       Chrisxx

Walking

 Thank you for all the ideas, I'm working on several.. Standing on one leg while cleaning my teeth is a big no no for me, falling in the bathroom is my biggest fear, so I'm extra careful in there.. our walk in shower has non slip flooring and non slip mats and a grab bar!

Walking I can do,  all I have to do is increase the distance so we're off now to walk along side the beach at Trecco..

Flat and no pavers, my sort of walking area, although the sea breeze is blowing I might need my fleece!

Have a happy sunny day all.

Chrisxx

You don't need to tell me.

 I'm very unfit.. don't know what happened.  I've not run anywhere for years neither can I jump, but I used to be able to balance on one leg and now I wobble!

I think in the winter we hardly went out, cold and wet is not me, altho; I used to go out walking, if it wasn't raining, but this year we didn't. 

When I was in the garden yesterday I went to bend over to grab a dandelion flower to stop it seeding, as digging it up is a big spade job, they have such a deep tap root, and I suddenly felt nervous. I was afraid I'd over balance, so got my walking stick and I was fine. But I didn't like that feeling and I remembered over balancing the year before last, and going down like a tree being felled.. so I need to exercise and do some balancing exercises. 

I did try to find a class, but none here suitable for me. Lots of people gave me names but really not for me! I can't see me in leggings moving to music. I did a few years ago, but that's not me anymore. We have a treadmill so I must give it a go, its just so boring!!

However I am doing a virtual walk,  Kirsten ( letterfromhome) mentioned the Conqueror virtual walks, and so I'm doing that logging my daily steps.. its encouraged me and keeps me focused!

I'm not going to be able to run a marathon, but I am aiming to walk further than a mile, I can't at the moment. 

Any ideas?

Chrisxx

The garden liked it!

 Wednesday afternoon we had our book group meeting at the library. The building that is away from the main town street and up steps.. So I walk, up the ramp, what we call the 'long' walk.; the one good thing is that it ups my daily steps!

A recently new joined member wasn't there and I was very glad because, last month, all she could say about the book was that it  was rubbish! She said that several times. I found that very offensive.. how rude! The person who runs the group said nothing about that comment, so I was going to this time. But she wasn't there!

The meeting was 12md to1:00, so ends at our lunch time. We usually trot off to Costa for a cheese toasty and coffee, no cake, we eat our own SW Hi-fi bar! When we came out, it was tipping down with rain, I wear one of those plastic hats! I'm not getting my hair wet! My mac only covers 3/4 of me , so couldn't wait to get home to get changed. I hate rain... At home we watched the rain coming down in sheets on our perfectly tidy garden, hurrah!! Just what it needed.

A month ago it was looking awful and we were grumbling that  we had given ourselves too much work, by digging the three flower beds, and now tidy, the plants have filled out, there are buds and new growth and the grass is back short.. so we're pleased with our efforts and we have loads of plants growing in our little plastic green houses to add to the flower beds.

We're ready for summer, so bring it on! What about you?

Chrisxx

We past the 'very' road!!

 We drove past the place and didn't even realise, but it was on the Wales news later.. 

Evidently a body was found in a chest freezer of a house after her Dr asked the police to do a welfare check on her. It wasn't known how or when Sylvia Philips' 89, had died.

Her son was charged with preventing the lawful and decent burial also with fraud having claimed her benefits.

His case is in the being heard today 16th April in the Cardiff Courts. 

We actually drove past the road, where the police were finding the body without our realising! 

How can someone do that their own mother? Money of course, how awful. You just don't know what's happening in the town where you live sometimes, do you.

Chrisxx

A lovely read (There may be spoilers! )

 Every now and then I chose a book for comfort and this was an utter pleasure to read. I loved it!

It started with Veronica whose marriage to Spence comes to an abrupt and shocking end, when her husband tells her of his new love. She is more than surprised and suddenly finds herself in an apartment and needing a means to support herself.

She sees an advert, that asks for a companion by Mariah Ellsworth an Olympian, injured in a shooting, in which her mother was killed. Her mother, Rachel was a food writer, so Mariah wants to follow up on her mother's notes about cafes in London, Paris, Marrakesh and India, and needs help, both physically and to help write the book, that her mother had planned. It perfectly suits Veronica, as its over the Christmas period and her three grown up children are spending it with their father. 

And so the story of the complexity of their relationship through the countries they visit, starts.

Letters written by her mother lead them to the different cafes.

Henry a photographer who worked with Rachel joins them. I loved Veronica and although Mariah had her difficulties, they do bond and so do Veronica and Henry!

Like me you may be enchanted by the sights, sounds and colours of the places they visit and the food sounds delicious. 

Although I haven't visited India, I have Turkey, so I knew the sweaty feeling, the dust, the smells and markets described in the book. The trip should have been one of inspiration, relaxation and contentment, but it is not a journey of a gentle adventure, but plagued by personal trauma; Veronica is dealing with her divorce and a manipulative ex and Mariah is trying to put her mother's death behind her and deal with her constant physical pain.

As the story progresses you find yourself teetering between rocky moments and graceful landings, and wanting Veronica and Mariah to come to a place of resolve. 

I just loved it and it will stay with me for a while.. I've read Barbara O'Neal's books before, but this, her latest is in my view her best..it gave me that warm fuzzy feeling that I need now and then.

I read it in three days, well I do need some sleep! 

Chrisxx

Is it Trump?

 A photograph of the pet shop window.. squeezy toys for dogs with Trump as the figure!

I wonder if they'll sell..

Very inventive of a dog's toy developer.

So funny, I shall look next time to see if they have sold.

A good replica of Trump, what do you think? And he's going to be bitten, roughed up and tossed around, just what some  people would like for the real one?

Chrisxx

When you don't know what to say.

 

When I was 15 a girl in my class was involved in a car accident. She wasn't killed, but she did have a serious head injury, that meant she had to have major brain surgery.  When she was allowed home, two of us went to visit her.. she was very pale and she had lost the vision in one eye.

We didn't know what to say to her, so we read Keats' poems with her and this from the Bible, because we thought it was beautiful language. We did have such a romantic view of life.. Something happened yesterday and these words came to me and I remembered Judy. She didn't come back to school that summer and her grave is in Newton Church grave yard. 

I  go there sometimes with a flower,  to remember that girl who read Keats' poems with Susan and I..

Chrisxx

WOW!!

With all the news of Artemis 2,  it reminded me of our excitement to see the International Space Station when it came over our bungalow three years ago. It literarily crossed over us going West to East at the  exact time that was forecast,  6:37pm!

These are the Artemis 2 Astronauts

So I looked the International Space Station up, and wow it was live. You could see it moving across the Atlantic ocean 1:49 pm yesterday 09/04/2026

https://issinfo.net 

How amazing is that! I find this sort of technology fascinating, especially as we didn't even have a television, when I was growing up in the 40s and 50s.

The next time is will be over UK is May 2026!

Watch out for it, its thrilling to think there are people up there all the time.

It obits the earth approx 16 times a day!! WOW! An obit takes 90 minutes at the speed of 17,500 mph. There are 6 or 7 people in it at a time staying approx 3 to 6 months, altho one astronaut stayed for 12 months!!

What a wonderful world we live in and how amazing too.

Are you as amazed as I am?

Chrisxx

Am I a Failure?

 Recently I read an article on what older people are advised to do.. you don't have to, but it seems you'd be healthier and happier if you did these things.

Walk every day. ... I try to.

Go out at least three times and a week and socialize. ... not three times every week, but we do like to get out and about.

Tidy up your living area before bed.  Ha ha, we always have books around, but the cushions are tidy.

Always leave the kitchen clean after cooking.. we do this together, but there are occasions when we're tired  and things are left till the morning. 

Clean basin and toilet every day. This is done every other morning by me.. Dh cleans the shower twice a week.

Keep up to date with paper work. We have lidded boxes into which we pop letters and sort them all out regularly.

Make your bed every day.. Ours is done after we've showered and had breakfast, leaving it open to air. Although sometimes. when we're in a hurry to get out for an early appointment, we rush off and forget.

All seem feasible and things that most people do without thinking, however as you age some activities are difficult and they take longer than they did, when you were younger and able. Also you don't always want to walk, rain puts me right off going out, and sometimes I don't feel like being sociable. I've met people with whom, I don't want to socialize! 

I personally don't mind a bit of clutter, this is our home, not a show house! And when someone once remarked to me about not doing your dishes at night, 'what if something happened to you and the kitchen was a mess,' she said.  I replied that people would think.. 'poor love, she can't have felt well, she hasn't done last nights dishes!' And when we've got home and found the bed with the duvet opened back for the bed to air, I've had a lie on it and rested for a minute or two!

So what do you think, everything spic and span or a 'living home,'  comfortable for you?

Oh dear, what is the best way to live, I wonder?

Chrisxx

When the sun shines!

We are excited to see that at last our garden is bursting into life. This is our flowering cherry, the upright type. 

And altho' we're very happy to see this, we're ecstatic to see our peach and plum trees are full of blossom and we can see that they have set fruit. This year we might have a peach each, instead of sharing one and more than one plum each too!

The last few sun shiny days have been glorious and we have been out in our garden getting it straight, and enjoying ourselves.

Pelargoniums, tomatoes, cosmos and dahlias have been potted on and more cosmos seeds sown. You can never have enough cosmos! Dh has sown lettuce seeds and thinned out the carrots. 

Everything in our little plastic green houses, has grown, so we're looking forward to a garden full of colour. Dh also planted the bare rooted geraniums I'd bought, altho he did plant one where we had some germinated California Poppy seeds, which are no more! Ah well, just as well I had scattered some seeds in another bed!

Elegans

I've planted these bulbs, never done these before, so hope they come up, as the photograph looks so pretty.

While I was potting on the seedlings, I listened to the audio version of 'The Women' by Kristin Hannah and it was wonderful. I heard bits of the story that I'd forgotten, when I read the book!

And I'm really enjoying my book I'm reading at the moment, by Ann Bennet.

'The Fortune Teller of Kathmandu,' not my usual choice of book, but I like a gentle read on my kindle for when I'm awake at night, (note I've said.... for when I'm awake, not If I'm awake!)

Don't you love the world when the sun shines and in the garden with Dh fills my heart with joy.

Chrisxx

What would you have done?

 I wonder what you would have done if this had happened to you?

I had a phone call from a friend on Saturday and we had the usual preamble of .......'how are you, how's the family, have you any holiday plans, etc' And then she started to talk about her daughter's teaching job. I nearly stopped her because I know someone, who is teaching at the same school. They've just had the dreaded OFSTED.. and it didn't go well.

I listened quietly while she told me how well her daughter had done. I knew she wasn't speaking the truth because no one in the school had an excellent report.

I should have made some excuse, like someone at the door or something, to end the phone call, but I didn't.

She back tracked a few times, and I felt very awkward, as the lies grew, to cover what she had said originally.

I did manage to say Goodbye, but I felt so  bad and now I don't think our friendship will weather this and I'm sad.

What is it that we can't accept that sometimes, we just don't make the grade. I worked through three OFSTEDS, two had good reports and one not so good, in fact the school report was pretty awful.. all three were stressful to the extent that I bought new clothes so I wouldn't have to worry what to wear. But I survived and carried on teaching for years after that. 

What would you have done?

Chrisxx

For people who don't live in UK, Ofsteds are whole school inspections, usually over three days.

Happy Easter and Every Blessing.

 

Chrisxx

Late but still funny!

This was  a SW April Fool Joke, naked weighings! The response from our group's FB page was ... yes please!!

We are still laughing about the occasion, when a male person took off his belt, stepped on the scales and his trousers dropped down. He was decent underneath, with a tidy pair of boxer shorts, but it still raised great shouts and laughter.

Removing items of clothing before the scales is a regular thing or even changing into lighter weight clothing. 

I wear the same clothes every week, but not my cream coloured waist slip, as I weighed  it on our kitchen scales and it is 12oz so that's practically a pound!!

I can't wait till it warms up a bit more, so I can wear my light weight cotton dress and no half slip, just a bra and knicks! That first week I could even be slimmer of the week!! 

Who knows??

Chrisxx

With reference on how to cook 'brains,' those of you who know will have realised, I forgot that you add chopped parsley into the mixture, that looks like scrambled eggs,  before serving!

Good Friday

 

Chrisxx

How to Cook Brains.

 'Allow it to soak in salt water for an hour, then peel off the outer coating, cleaning off any bits. Put in milk over heat and cook for 15 minutes, no more. Then pour milk into a roux and mix thoroughly. Babies love this and eat this being unaware what it is.'

This was the instructions given to a young mum, trying to get her baby onto solids by her own mother! And is in the book I'm reading by Patrick Gale! 

I wasn't given brains to eat as a child but tripe and onions arrived once, that I do remember and I hated it. 

I don't think i ever gave my own children offal to eat but I do love pigs liver and we have it as an occasional meal. liver and bacon and onions is a favourite meal.

My little dog Mari loved liver too and I often cooked it for her. On one occasion it was gently cooking, when my Ex arrived home and remarked, 'That smells nice,'

'Its for the dog,' I replied and nothing more was said! 

These days you don't often see it in shops. I wonder with the increasing rise in the cost of living and food costs rising, will we see more offal to buy, what do you think and would you buy and eat it?

Chrisxx