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Evening Crackers!
Firstly, BM so pleased to hear Harry is on the mend and your blood pressure is returning to normal again!
Apologies for not being able to stay longer before but the garden has summoned me all this week. Gardening season has now fully commenced and I had a day when I ached from head to toe.... However I've done my bit, I've fought the roses, long and hard and eventually won the battle and I've weeded and tidied up so it's all looking promising and the daffodils are out and the tulips are finally starting, which tells you how far behind we are to England. The vegetable garden the husband has dug over alone - thankfully! And now it's due to rain all week long after a hot weekend. We need the rain the soil is so dry but I don't like these extreme temperature drops and then highs, never knowing from one day to the next...
And I'm struggling with not having hot water on tap with no solar heating and having to heat it manually with logs which takes hours, moan, moan. But that's another thing that is good about our little group, discovering when you read everyone else's problems, it's not just me walking around with a thunderous black cloud over my head! Well I took on board your comments BM about 'life' and I'm celebrating the joys of STS today having been to the UK and although I stayed away from the chocolate and crisps again, I did come face to face with a couple of hot cross buns which I failed to resist!
I'm aiming to STS again this coming week too as tomorrow we have to attend my sister-in-law's graduation in Innsbruck. Yes, a major achievement at 39, it's taken her 10 long years with 2 kids but at the end of the day it's her 'celebration'. I'm sure I will feel differently if my own daughter gets as far, but here in Austria where Uni is still free, because of her age, the tax payer has funded/subsided her monthly with a generous allowance, plus as she's not married to her partner she hasn't had to work either, so has studied at leisure for pleasure for many years! But the icing on the cake, we received an email from the partner last night, instructing us how we have to contribute towards her gift - a trip to Barcelona! Ola! And frankly I don't want to!
I fear I'm sounding like a bitter old lady and my lovely daughter is concerned I'm beginning to look like an old lady! After skyping with me, I'd spent an exhausting day in the garden - I looked so dreadful, she sent a text to say she is worried how I've gone downhill rapidly in the last 2 years! It was rather sweet! She is so naïve. Sadly it's just life and it is catching up with me, but now she's gone I have let myself go in as much because I don't need to collect her from school and meet other mothers, I don't bother with make-up, I wear dreadful old work clothes around the house and I only bother to highlight my hair and hide the grey when I go to England and have to face my mother!! So what will the recent weight gain it's downhill all the way. However since losing 2lbs and getting back within 5lbs of target, I feel more in control but I need to work on my attitude and perhaps get out more as I'm becoming a bit of a recluse, wallowing in self pity!
To keep me occupied until the daughter returns in June I have an immediate task - to paint her bedroom. I thought the day would never come! At last the horrible wall to wall cinema size posters of the Harry Potter films and Dr Who are coming down and the bright in your face yellow walls are going. It's a real tom boy's bedroom and finally she's outgrown it. She has chosen new curtains with a poppy design (a girly flower!!!) from Laura Ashley and I've ordered a lampshade in the same design and more fabric for cushions. She has a poppy from the Tower of London display which she wants as her main centre piece. She has to decide which photos from Anne Frank's house and Amsterdam to frame and she has a photograph of herself with the Nobel peace prize winner Jodi Williams who she met at a Peace Jam conference last month and wants up on the wall along with her certificate and this week she met a holocaust survivor and has another photo. It's to be a history themed room to relax and recharge when she is home, so it will be in neutral colours. I will await the arrival of the curtains to match up the background before I order any paint after my hard lesson learnt with cream coloured paints!
Well rant over and I must stop as I need my beauty sleep before my long day ahead tomorrow....
Be good Crackers!
P.S. Forgot to mention I saw a family riding in a mobility buggy at the airport, taking a selfie with a selfie stick to get them all in!!!!0 -
Have returned from my looooong day - perhaps I over reacted a tad in my rant yesterday!0
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MITM, your long rant, was two cups of tea worthy and very justified! I put my son through Uni on my own and it was hard work. I received no government help and after all the taxes I have paid over the years it miffed me a whole lot! My son eventually had to take out a small student loan to help me out. (he was also working weekends at a bookstore). It seemed to be that Britain doesn't want working class families in their Uni's. However, that's my rant over and it was a few years ago now so it's all water under the bridge. I do think it was cheeky to expect you to pay for a holiday though after your sister in law has effectively been on "holiday" for 10 years.
Your Daughters bedroom sounds as if it will be amazing. I love Laura Ashley prints and patterns. In fact I had a pink cotton LA dress on as I read your post. Her framed photo's will be a unique and brilliant focal point.She made me smile at her comments. I thought like you did, oh the naivety and innocence of youth. I too wear no make up and live in comfort clothes through the week. Her time will come as did my Daughters who is equally forthcoming with her comments lol x
Congrats on a STS, I laughed out loud at the people with a selfie stick, what on earth is wrong with these people. I caught the Metro to the city yesterday to get a hair cut and could not believe my eyes when a family made their young son lean against the train to take a picture of him! I could not believe the danger they put that little boy in, my heart was in my mouth! Thank goodness lots of places are now banning those awful sticks, it will never happen here though. The national pastimes are eating and shopping and constantly taking selfies whilst eating and shopping.
Ok I have ranted and procrastinated long enough, the laundry awaits.......
Bracken and PB, hope you are both well and having a good weekend.
Take care all, BM X0 -
Hello Crackers. I have greatly enjoyed catching up on the recent posts. BM and MITM, what a lot of drama you have had recently. BM, I do hope Harry is recuperating well now. What a worry that must have been with a fish hook- removing one is definitely not for amateurs. Veterinary care here is expensive too. Interestingly, it often seems from people I know that dog and cat care is more expensive than horse care. Certainly there are a lot of extras that the clinics seem to push and of course, most clinics also offer grooming and training. On the other hand, the horse vet does not offer a lot of fancy extras although over the years the number of vaccines that are recommended has really grown. My horse gets yearly flu, tetanus, as well as strangles and West Nile virus shots plus a couple of others I can't recall at the moment. MITM, you certainly deserved to rant especially re the gift. I think most people resent enforced or pressured giving. It sounds as if you deal with the same kind of gift situations as we do here. I, and others, often comment on how gift giving has got quite out of hand. The gifts given at wedding showers are now like what used to be an acceptable wedding gift. There is also a trend for people to ask outright for money for a wedding trip or to subsidize the downpayment on their house. MITM, that is quite an epic trek for you to get home- no wonder you are HANGRY at the end of it. Your daughter's room sounds as if it will be very beautiful but also unique. I think it is a real credit to her that she will put up the photos of her Ann Frank trip and with Jodi Williams- a lot of girls would just want a singer or even a female model they would like to look like.
After having the first really nice spring week and thinking spring was finally here, this past week was absolutely awful again, including a day of waking up to find the ground covered in a light layer of snow. All week it was too cold to do any gardening work. It improved this weekend but only moderately- not really warm, just less cold. I was able to get quite a lot of outside raking, some bush pruning, etc. done. I also hung some laundry out for the first time. I bought some pansies and prepared them in a nice clay bowl to set on my front steps so that was a bit of a pick-me-up. A few plants are slowly starting to show but the leaves on trees and shrubs are still just budding. Yesterday I was invited to my brother's for a barbeque. Some people bravely sat on the deck and ate there but had quite heavy coats on. I chose to be comfortable and sat inside. Nellie, however, was beside herself with joy. There were three other dogs for her to play with and she got to jump into a large pond. I got to give her a good bath before she came into the house when I got home. I have finally finished my taxes and just have to mail them now
so that is a pressure I'm glad to finish with. I must leave off now but hope to be back soon. Regards.0 -
Good evening Crackers,
I am sorry I have been absent for a few days. I had the dreaded phone call. My Dad was in hospital. It turned out to be a small stroke (TIA). Thankfully he is now home, but as you can imagine I had my bags packed and flight numbers ready. He is on a host of medication and has to drastically change his lifestyle. He is teetotal but does love rich foods. So bless him he has a lot of changes ahead. My children said he still has a slight droop to his mouth and slurs a little but looks a lot better. It's at times like this I just hate living away from my family.
So I will hopefully catch up on the posts in a day or two. I have tried to keep eating well, but it's the least of my worries this week. I will just grit my teeth when I weigh on Saturday!
Take care all, BM x x0 -
BM - so sorry to hear your news but glad to hear your dad is home and I understand how you feel. My father had a mini stroke from stress. After having bowel cancer surgery he had severe pains at home and went back into hospital and had it whilst waiting on a hospital trolley for a bed. That was six years ago and although he couldn't drive for 6 months, you'd be non the wiser today he's as fit as he ever was.
Stay strong, thinking of you.0 -
A very quick pop-in but also sorry to hear of your father's TIA. It must be so dreadful being so far away and your had unexpected trips home only too recently for illness and death. But as MITM says, people do make good recoveries from mini-strokes especially today when there is much better intervention I believe. MITM, we too have stories of patients waiting on trollies for a bed even though our health care system is reconned to be quite a good one. Take care all.0
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Thank you both very much for your concern. MITM, I'm so pleased your Dad has made an excellent recovery from both CA and his stroke. I worked in the NHS for over 20 years and at the end of it all I was at times quite embarrassed by the way patients and their relatives were cared for. Unfortunately the trollies in corridors is such an everyday sight now no one takes much notice these days. Bracken, thank you also, I hope you get some lovely weather so I can hear more about your garden and Nellie! I live vicariously through you and MITM with your beautiful gardens. I miss hearing about LMV's too.
We have had a bad storm (fork lightening etc) every day for just over two weeks. In fact we are at the tail end of one now, so I am popping out with Harry who is thankfully none the worse for his fishing hook experience!
(I thought about it after I wrote here re my Father, and wondered at how I feel so close and connected to the "crackers" when we are all so distant miles wise and have never even met! I came on here and told of my Dad's illness before I told friends at home I have known for years)
Take care both, love BM x x
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Hello Crackers. MITM, congrats on doing well re weight this week. BM, I hope your father is making progress. Today looks to be a sunny warm day but yesterday was decidedly cool again. Leaves on trees are slowly appearing so there are patches of green around the branches. I have a few crocuses still out and some hyacinths and daffs and even a few tulips though they don't do well in my soil and shade. I finally set out a few pots of pansies at the front of the house- a reward after spending a lot of time cleaning and raking again. I'm still getting a lot of birds to the feeder as they don't have a source of food. One type of bird is the goldfinch which turns a dull brownish yellow in winter but now is a brilliant yellow again with some black. I don't often get them at my feeder so have been quite pleased.
I am continuing to tutor my student, the sister of a boy I tutored last year. However, she is much keener so it is more pleasurable. She has been doing To Kill a Mockingbird. Romeo and Juliet are next- quite a traditional curriculum for Grade 9 but not done in all high schools.
I have bought a Fitbit Charge HR, feeling the need to get back my exercise mojo, as they say. The store clerk assured me it was easy to install. Why would I think a twenty-something young woman would understand my level of technical skill or comfort? I did try but was stymied fairly quickly so called my friend and former colleague who looks after my computer maintenance. He has a program on my computer that allows me to let him log into my computer from home. This really helps as he is very busy himself. He tried to set me up last night but after an hour it was not up and running so will try and do so tonight. It is much more complicated than I imagined- with a twenty plus page manual. However, I really am hoping to master it.
Am off soon for the hairdressers. Regards all.0 -
Good morning Crackers!
Well although I've been popping in daily I haven't had time to linger long... Busy week last week, all week long, all work no play - because we missed last weekend's shift growl!!
It didn't rain as forecasted until the end of the week, in fact it was exceedingly warm the day I ventured out into the garden and cut some of the grass. I may not have done any formal exercise but I burnt calories gardening which perhaps explains my surprise weight loss. However having proudly logged in my jubilant result it all started going downhill! It had snowed the previous day (yes just like you Bracken sheer Spring madness and after the warm day) then later it turned to rain. Bank holiday May Day was bleak, gloomy and cold, raining hard non stop. I'm glad I'm not young and expected to sit up protecting the village Maypole from neighbouring villages during the night! I had made a banana loaf bread (Nigel Slater recipe full of dark chocolate) to celebrate Mayday mainly for the husband but I couldn't resist a heavenly slab! That would have been fine but my husband was doing too many tasks and was being in my opinion, over demanding in what he wanted/expected us to do and I knew (sensible, realistic, female) we would not be able to complete what he wanted in the time. At 1am we called it a day and I was correct but in my frustration whilst hanging around for him, twiddling my thumbs late in the evening, I scoffed 1/2 a litre of ice-cream I was tricked into buying because it was 30% discounted and once again it was nothing special!
Who was I more cross with the next day, husband, me or the scales?!! Well fortunately it was a sunny day and much to my amazement the field outside our house was a mass of buttercups when did they come up?!! So sensible head screwed back on, scales are just being unreasonable so ignore, husband was doing a wedding, so I made the most of the weather and pottered in the garden until the evening shift. Another long day Sunday but the orders are now complete so back on track for the time being. I can't say the same for the scales yet!
I have decided upon the perfect cream for my daughter's bedroom. Whilst testing and comparing against the various shades of cream in the house, where I can see yellow in those, the one I've chosen for her room has a pinkish tint. The curtains when they arrived, the poppies are a cranberry red delightful! So that is my current project for this week before we start planting in the vegetable garden but we have to wait for the moon to be in the correct position! I have cleared and cleaned the bedroom and taken down all of the posters which took over an hour there were that many! I'm sure it's going to take an hour to fill in all the holes which is my next task for today.
BM - I hope your father has continued to make a good recovery? Fantastic loss this week. Bracken - I take my hat off to you being so bold and buying a Fitbit! Any joy setting it up? Have you thought to ask your student - kids know so much more I find!!! My daughter is currently madly revising for her English Literature exams, she did Romeo and Juliette as did I many years ago! I loved the original film. PB - how are things?
Right to work I must go. Be good Crackers!0 -
A quick pop-in as I must get to the garden. leaves are now at that lovely stage of being half-out- everything so full of promise. Hostas are finally pushing through which fill up a lot of empty space. Also some lungwort- I'm not sure of its proper name but really like it not only for the pink and blue small flowers on one stem but the mottled leaves continue to look nice after the flowers have gone. That is why I also like columbine.
I have my Fitbit up and running and so far am very pleased. The store clerk told me there was quite a high rate of return because people felt they were inaccurate but so far mine seems quite good. However, I don't wear it if I am in the house much as I consider that hand movements might skew the step calculations too much but do use if for incidental walking aside from my planned walks with Nellie. So far it is motivating and pushes me to do just a little bit more. My friend was able to set it up for me from his home computer for which I was grateful.
MITM, enjoyed your post. Very interesting about the Maypole - you have very lovely traditions where you live. Had to laugh about the ice-cream- so easy to be seduced by a bargain or the unexpected. Most recently, my younger sister who is very kind ( she will drop me off a box of the first pansies she sees or make up a little Easter gift) had been to a nice bakery in Toronto and gave me a special cookie- it was unbelievably rich and rather large but I hate to ask her not to give me food as I think she likes to because I always give gifts to her three girls for birthdays and Christmas and a little in between but I do not have children. Your daughter's bedroom sounds as if it will be a wonderful retreat for her when she comes home. MITM and BM, you are both doing very well with tackling weight- congratulations. PB, I hope you are well. Regards all.0 -
Another quick pop-in. Suddenly it is not just warm but getting hot and by Friday, Saturday, it will be 28/29 degrees. I really hate to complain after the cold but everything seems extreme now. Even this afternoon, 26C, it was hot working in the garden under the sun. However, I got a little more done and when it got too hot I went to a garden centre to buy some new cocoa mat liners for a couple of hanging baskets. Nellie and I went to the stable and I finally got on my horse again. Hardly anyone rode much this past winter. I had not ridden for so long that I needed some help to get back to it; the stable owner has kindly offered to have herself or her daughters ride my horse first to settle him and to help get him fit again. It is only fair that he returns to work slowly after a long layoff but it was really lovely just to be back in the saddle again, even it I was mostly just walking. I took my Fitbit to the stable but found that the grooming action is enough movement that it is interpreted as steps so my today's log is not very accurate. However, that is what I am trying to do- experiment with different activities to see how it affects the calculations. I am finding it really good for distance walking and other incidental walking as I mentioned earlier. I also got my bike out today, gave it a good cleaning and added air to the tires- good to go now. I'll try the FB with it to see how it responds to cycling.
Must get Nellie in as now dark out. Regards.0 -
MITM and Bracken, thank you both for the kind words and support during this difficult time with my Dad x x I am so pleased to say he is much improved. My Daughter told me yesterday he looks and sounds so much better and is returning slowly but surely to his old self. It's going to take a while but we are optimistic.
Bracken, I am delighted you have a fitbit, yours is much more advanced than mine. I am happy you have it all worked out, I find it does give you the extra nudge sometimes needed to do that bit more.
MITM, it felt like all was well in my world when you hit the ice-cream! lol x it reminded me of when we all joined at Tesco and you telling us of your fondness of both enjoying ice-cream and then maybe enjoying it a bit too much and too often! (I am still like that with cheese and crackers).
This week Harry, after recovering from his head wound had developed a limp. It came from nowhere, no cause could be found and then it went as quickly as it came. 2 days after that he got his head stuck in railings. He ran after a lizard who slipped through the gap and Harry tried to do the same and got stuck. Suffice to say the fire brigade were not needed but it was a close call. It really is like having a very naughty child!
Happy Mothers day to you both, I had a bouquet of white roses off Harry and a lovely card. MITM I'm not too sure when it is celebrated in Austria but I hope you have a lovely day . Bracken, hopefully Nellie and you can get a lovely long walk and she will not get up to mischief today for you. Although I am positive she is a much better behaved dog than Harry can be!!
Take care and enjoy the weekend, PB hope you are OK?
BM x0 -
Hello Crackers. A rather long post has just inexplicably disappeared into cyber land-very frustrating and as I am rather tired, not to mention sore from a lot of gardening I don't have the heart to redo tonight. Will try again tomorrow. Regards.0
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Good morning Crackers!
... and I was so looking forward to reading your post Bracken! How very frustrating!
Funnily enough BM - I thought my love of ice-cream was diminishing after no longer liking my old trusty favourites, however my faith has been restored as over the weekend (on offer!) never one to give up, I came across a new cappuccino brand which was delicious. At 750ml and 918 calories I think I can fit that in as my future weekly treat!
Well Harry maybe a cheeky little dog but he knows how to make up for it with white roses! It was Mother's day here and I discovered my daughter had left behind (after her Easter trip) a beautiful Mother's day card (they have dreadful cards here not worth sending in my opinion) from England of a pile of brightly, coloured teacups because I am a teabag! And 1064 calories worth of dark chocolate from Hotel Chocolat; Pecan Brownies, Burnt Caramels and Salted Soft Caramels. Fortunately they are individually wrapped and being dark chocolate I don't think even I can eat too many in one sitting and I will share with the husband if he behaves!
Unfortunately I registered a gain this week (not a shock!) but I'm surprisingly feeling up beat and motivated! Maybe that is down to the glorious weather but far more likely because I allowed a rare photograph to be taken, whilst out walking with my husband on Sunday and it shocked me! Talk about 'middle' age spread, I looked a blob that last half stone has got to go, 4/12's of the year have vanished and I've been carrying them round doing myself no favours for the last 4 months. Plus the husband asked if our outdoor pool has opened yet and that sent shivers down the lumps and bumps as I visualised myself beside the pool! It's time to exercise again, time to find time! Rather than delete the photo (my usual reaction!) I'm keeping it on my mobile as a constant reminder....
So I intend along with the general gardening to do my 8 minutes with Jorge, walk and salsacise as in 5 short weeks I'm off to the UK again.
Be good Crackers!0 -
Here I am again, making another stab at a post after last night's cyberfiasco. I've been very busy in the garden of late. Until Sunday, this was during very hot and humid weather, far from seasonal. However, with the heat we also got some much needed rain and plants and trees seem to have mushroomed overnight, especially my hostas. I have spent a lot of the gardening time (and have the sore back to prove it!) pumping out and cleaning my concrete fish pond. I have written about this pond previously under the banner - "be careful what you wish for." It is now clean and empty. While I was working at it, I did take some pleasure from having a robin close by, watching me and hoping that I would bring up some worms with the leaf debris. I have got my planters and pots quite well organized, filled with new soil. I have some planters already filled with annuals. It is a bit early here but the garden centres seem to have them at their best now. I find that much later they are root bound and leggy so bought some particularly nice ones which were also on special offers. I also bought several hanging baskets of begonias, again at a great price and really lovely plants. However, last night and tonight I have had to put everything in the garage because now there has been a sudden drop in temperature (5C tonight) On Saturday, I was supposed to ride my horse with the help of the stable owner but when I got to the barn, we decided it was too hot/humid to ride. It was 30C. horses can become quite ill from sudden changes in temperature and unaccustomed exercise. It is all rather frustrating. Oh for more temperate weather.
BM, I am pleased to hear that your father is on the mend but I'm sure his health is an ongoing concern for you.
Well, Harry has certainly had a time of it, hasn't he? As for Nellie's behaviour compared to Harry's- I'm not sure she would win a contest! On Sunday, I took her to my brother's. He has a lovely rural property. Nellie was wild to see his dog, Syrius but ran amuk through flower beds which my brother and his wife have worked really hard on. Then there was the swimming pool incident. She lept into the pool which was still covered but had a large puddle of water (from the snow melt), causing my brother to mutter about the threat of damaging the cover. She finished off by tearing down the embankment and plunging into the natural pond- at least, the only problem was that she then needed a thorough bath when we got home. And now I shall tell Nellie about Harry's roses!
Congrats to both MITM and BM- I've seen you have both posted recent weight losses. MITM, your naming of those chocolates conjures up some of my favourite flavours, especially salted caramel. However, I too find that dark chocolate is self-restricting. I've often wondered why. MITM, your comments on the photo are interesting. One often reads that motivation should be positive but I think that sometimes either negative or positive motivators can work though I would say that pervasive negativity about oneself is not a good motivator. You seem to be using the photo without letting it get you down which is good. I've been trying to keep up my walking and biking along with the garden work and am quite pleased that I am feeling somewhat physically more fit than a few weeks ago.
Must leave for now. PB, I hope all is well with you. Regards all.0 -
Hi Ladies, a quick pop in, we are taking Harry to the park soon before it becomes even hotter. I absolutely loved having both your posts to read. I don't watch any "soaps" (none on here) but I love a dose of the latest happenings in your lives. It's like my own personal real life soap! (but in a really good way:)).
Bracken, I laughed out loud at the thought of Nellie jumping on the pool cover. Lovely to hear another dog has "moments of madness" too! MITM how thoughtful of your Daughter to leave a card, and the chocolates sound amazing. I rarely eat ice cream or chocolate, but funnily enough my favourite ice cream from our Ben and Jerry's at the moment is the coffee one. Also last week whilst out shopping with a friend, she had saltedcaramel ice-cream at the Haagen Daaz (spelling?). I had a teaspoon full and it was really good. Shewas amazed I had a ginger and pear iced tea and said no to all the different ice creams and concoctions they have there. I'm just thankful I don't have a sweet tooth or I would be the size of a house. I have enough trouble saying no to cheese!
I STS the same this week, not too sure how I feel about that, I am losing weight so sloooowly. However I started with a Jessica Smith DVD this week. I thought "it's just walking, how difficult can that be?". I have done it 3 times and by Thursday I couldn't lift my legs into the bath or sit down without grunting with the pain in my bottom and thighs!! It really is just walking in a small area to music, albeit different steps and directions etc. If the no pain, no gain, method of exercise is true I am onto a winner! lol x I have only completed the 1st 30min walk but Oh how I ache! I clock up over 4000 steps with just the 1st part and I am so hoping I can stick with it. I had to peel my little cotton t shirt off my back, so if sweat is fat crying, whoo hoo!
Ok Harry is trotting around here waiting impatiently so I will pop in again later.
Hope you both have a lovely Sunday, (PBWHERE ARE YOU???? I would love to know how the interview went and if you are settled in your new house x x)
BM x x
PS I am sorry for the words with no gaps between them, my lap top is doing it's own thing again. If I try to put a space there it just wipes everything away!
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Hello Crackers. Well it seems as if I am alternately complaining about the heat and then the cold but that it is the way it seems to be here at the moment. Last week was unseasonably hot, although the weekend was quite lovely for our Victoria Day long weekend holiday. However, it was hot and humid enough on Saturday that again it became an issue of my horse not being able to do much work so I did ride him a bit but the barn owner's daughter who would also ride him a little more to get him into shape did not because of the humidity. Although I am only doing a short ride, it has been enough that my riding muscles are definitely feeling it. Now today and until Saturday, it has become much cooler again with expected overnight temperatures of only 2C- so I spent a lot of time this evening covering up plants with a tarp or moving potted ones into the garage again. It seems as if I might as well just keep them in groups or by the garage for the next few nights. Also because of this change in temperature, I have not been able to do some touch up work with the coating on the pond as it needs 24 hours to cure and it keeps threatening to rain though in fact it has not actually rained for several days. A brother from Calgary and his wife are visiting here for a week so it has also been busy with either entertaining him or going to a barbeque at a sister's with other family members. Today as I mentioned was cold and threatened rain so I was happy when I had a phone call from a former teaching colleague who was in town for a dental appointment about stopping by. We had a lovely couple of hours visit and it was really nice to sit and relax- something I don't seem to have done much of lately with so much gardening work everyday. My friend is a great dog lover and indulged Nellie's exuberance so Nellie also had a good day. This was in contrast to last night when she was really freaked out by the noise of neighbouring fireworks, so much so that she would not eat her dinner (she eats her last meal late) and ran to lie down at the foot of my bed with her head almost underneath the bed. BM, I shall take some solace that a fellow Cracker is also dealing with aching muscles. Also, I'll second your thoughts on PB- I'm missing her too and wondering how things are going for her. Regards.0
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Good afternoon Crackers!
Apologies for my absence ladies although I do always pop in, I've just had no time of late to linger!
Well like you Bracken our weather is all over the place - my window box flowers are all planted up ready but are also in the garage, alongside the potted plants as the temperature is suppose to really drop in the next couple of days, with even snow forecasted on the mountains! So I'm not chancing putting anything up just yet and the tomato plants are doing a merry dance between the shed and sunning themselves on the terrace! However the vegetable garden is all planted up and as we obey the rules of the moon all is growing well!
My daughter's room is now finished. I laughed when I read about your aches BM/Bracken as I too was in pain from painting all that up and down and then the ceiling almost finished me off! I have sent off for some samples of fabric to make extra cushions to contrast with those that are the same as the cranberry red poppy curtains and the light fitting. If I can find what I'm looking for and my daughter approves I will also get new shades made up for her old table lamps. I also painted the inner window frames which desperately needed doing I discovered, once I had removed the net curtains! The outer also need painting but are currently hidden from view by the apple trees so can wait until I've more time in the autumn. Instead I have moved onto a lovely little window 2 floors below.
We have a new post box provided by the Post, which we agreed to have positioned under the window, which is below the front terrace, beside the garage. So the Post who are now so time pressured, can drive down the road and almost drop the post into the box rather than run up across the front garden, up the steps to the front door! The good news for me I won't need to clear the snow, during the winter in time for the postman each day as I can reach the new post box via the basement back garden door, under the covered terrace. But having to now collect the post daily in an area where I've only ever noticed what is going on in the garden, I'm now having to look at this window and seeing for the first time the peeling battered paintwork! I'm so ashamed! So this is my current project keeping my fingers occupied and fortunately (or not!!) as all our windows are double framed I can just take them down and do the work inside which is just as well as it is currently pouring here. My late father-in-law whose been dead now for nearly 20 years, use to have a pair of window frames continuously to work on in the basement workshop (before I lived here) and I'm beginning to understand why now, as there are 56 window frames alone on the 2 floors we mainly occupy and as they are wooden frames they need constant care with the extreme elements.
Well my frames need a second coat of paint so I must press on - be good Crackers!
P.S. It has been over a month since PB last logged on should we send her a message which might pop up in her normal email account?0 -
A very quick pop-in here. MITM, it is interesting how parallel our weathers have been running. All your painting makes me exhausted just hearing about it- 56 frames no less. I managed to get half my pond recoating work done today. MITM, it would be great if you could message PB- if you do so, could you add my name as a Cracker who is also thinking of her. Regards.0
