Good afternoon all. It was a great morning starting with gym at 5am…grocery store…mall for some additional walking and a stop at the “Five Below” store for a phone charger cord.

Just finished a late lunch of - Haddock (Baked), 5 oz, Baked Scallops, mushrooms, broccoli, homemade Cole slaw – DELICIOUS!



Jackie – Love the view from your “sick room” and fresh air always beats a lot of dust. Can only imagine the pain you are experiencing from where they probed the lymph nodule…so tender. With regards to weather, Central New York has always been a bit crazy. I can recall sweating in my Halloween costume and also years I wore a parka underneath. Same for Christmas – can be green or buried in snow. Think you are right on the micro as a gift – although one year as part of her present I threw in a new “Dust Buster.” She had actually been begging for a replacement. We don’t go crazy for birthdays (or even Christmas) like we did when we were young. I think it is simply, if we truly need something we will buy it. The older I get the less I “need” things. For now, waiting to plan a getaway as soon as things open up.

My potassium levels are ok… but I have been reading up on magnesium and how it is widely used to treat leg cramps….so we shall see.

Look forward to the petrol grass trimmer story! Please be good to yourself and don’t try to do too much.

Sandy – In truth, since I do the vast majority of the cooking she wouldn’t get excited about an early micro gift. However, she loves the new toaster she bought this week, because she uses it every morning. She would in fact love anything to do with the yard etc. She is still on Cloud 9 because of all the mulch we bought and will soon be laid out – silly girl.

Glad you hand is improving – always better to be safe than sorry. Like you 80’s is in the forecast for next week. Can’t wait! What snow we received is now gone as of today.

Lin – The treats were wonderful as planned and Jean had a great time with her girlfriends of 40- 50 yrs. As I mentioned to Sandy, she loves yard related items etc., but normally I will shoot for things of a personal nature…stylish Sneakers (Ked’s, Van’s etc.), a new yard flag (she has a big collection) and I normally give a gift card… It’s much easier for her to get maximum “bang for her buck.” Right now we are shopping for granddaughter Brooke who turns 6 in a couple weeks….last year it was a drive-by with horns, balloons etc because of Covid.

Hope all is going well with the cards, old washer and groceries.

I can tell Jean is done watching the only soap she watches downstairs (The Young & The Restless) and I left the kitchen a mess. Told her to please leave it alone for me to clean. It still amazes me that we never fight over who does what… it all just fits.

Bye for now. Bob

Joyce was talking to Darren when I took Jill for walkies so I nipped over and said "okay Joyce, come clean, are you moving?" And she said yes they were for the above reasons. Although Harry would try the patience of Mother Theresa, I rather like Joyce, so we had a hug and I said I'd miss her, and I will and it will be strange not seeing a line full of their unmentionables blowing in the wind every Saturday. Harry spent the afternoon cutting back the grass which was growing onto the dirt drive and then he laid all these bricks in two straight lines on either side, whacking them with a great big mallet. I've never seen the place look so posh!

It was great fun PATSY, me, Mark, Michael and Mary Jo speculating. Mike and myself proved right whilst the Ms merely thought he was getting rid of his inventory to settle down in his rocking chair and retirement. I can't see that happening if he's been driving up north to put his treasures into a storage locker! Joyce said he's going to make her a dining room table but she'd scoffed at that and said she wasn't waiting around until she's my age to get it.

Life will be awfully dull when they've gone. Nothing like a good moan to cheer one up. Of course we could acquire even more interesting neighbours. For instance just before we all moved in we thought we would be living next door to a little old house with a little old lady. She was carted off because she didn't like an apple tree in our front so she set fire to it. Harry bought and then pulled down the little old house and had half built a two storey house when they ran out of cash so for two years we looked at an inner shell whilst he, Joyce and their then two little girls lived in it. One night we woke up to the sound of fire engines and going outside (I lived in the finished basement then with Mark, Mary Jo and baby Derek upstairs) in the dead of winter we found Harry's pot bellied stove had exploded with sparks drifting very close to our roof. So that part of the burnt wall and hole was covered with tarpaulin along with the unfinished walls. I kid you not, people drove slowly by to stare at the house and the town inspectors were forever knocking on their front door. Soon after the fire Mary Jo, Mark and baby Derek moved on to better things, but I stayed on, upstairs. Very brave of me looking back. Nothing ever happened in the quiet village I left behind in Derbyshire. (Apart from meeting Prince Philip of course!). The day Harry put the outer cladding on was truly a red letter day in the history books!

I've had quite an exciting life all told these past 40 years!
Anne.

Yesterday was St Georges day, Englands national saint. I didn't mention it yesterday because poor St George gets somewhat overshadowed by that Patrick fellow and I didn't think you all would be interested anyway. However I couldn't resist today! So belated greetings at least to JACKIE sitting in merrie England.

Lovely scene from your window Connie. Sort of beats my side view which is slowly improving sans huge lilac.

Did a wee bit of weeding yesterday. Mikes coming over so might get more done whilst he walks the Bean. Happy days are here again.

Time to dig out my gardening jeans and Beaver printed tee shirt!

Happy gardening friends or whatever you are doing on a promised 17 degree day!
Annsie.

Last picture of my spindly Christmas poinsettia four months later. I don't think she will wither and die now!

Jackie -- yes, indeed we spend hours mowing every week. The picture I posted shows only about a third of our property. We have a total of three acres - about 0.1102 km. We have two tractors - a larger one with a 60" mower and a smaller one with a 42" mower. This time of year, we mow twice a week. When it gets hot in the summer, we don't have to mow as often.

Here's a picture of the front of the house and the garden that takes up a lot of my time. I'm not sure how long I'm going to be able to keep this up. It gets harder and harder each year. I had planned to do some weeding today but it is raining (again). We need the rain to make things grow but sadly, the weeds grow right along with everything else.

Lovely acreage Connie.

The sun has just popped out and tomorrow we may see warmer temperatures. That would be fine. The lows are still in the 30’s so will sit on my hands again.

Back to a card that I am working on. I am cutting out little pieces for some flowers.

Jackie, take care of yourself as you heal. I hope your weather stops tossing you around.

Anne, it will be a time to bite nails as you see what happens next door. From what you’ve said, a tear down and a new mansion is certainly a distinct possibility.

Stay safe everyone.

Lin🙋🏼‍♀️
❤️❤️



I love strawberries.

Hello and a very wet and cold dark day here. However, it is Saturday and I still love to celebrate weekends just like we used to when we were still working. Yea for the weekend. I confess to diving into Amazon etc. and going on a small shopping trip via internet. I actually love internet shopping better than in the old days, trudging around malls etc. bargains are great but finding exactly what I want is even better! Agree?

All you gardeners would be appalled at my flower beds etc these days. I fear we have lost interest and energy to keep them up. I do love pretty flower beds. I keep hunting for a lawn care service to handle this. We also have about three acres of old growth forest. Abundant wildlife make it their home. We love that! We even have the occasional small elk herd that stomps through our yard and neighbors veggie garden. They are like gangsters. Nothing scares them, they wade through fences and tear up flowers by the roots. But they are magnificent animals. We still kind of like them.

Anne: believe me when I say, your plan sounds perfect. I would love living right next door. Actually Damon is multi-cultural. He loves Latin culture. He speaks rudimentary French, and conversational Spanish and Italian. Not sure how that happened. I barely speak English! He would enjoy living in a large cosmopolitan city like Toronto. He isn’t as thrilled with Portland because recent political unrest has destroyed much of the PNW charm. Downtown looks like a war zone.

Jackie: I am impressed that you can carry on with your activities with arm in a sling. I know I would have dropped something heavy and broken dishes, cups and made things so much worse. I would be like a wounded bird failing about with a broken wing. I know life is exhausting while favoring your arm. I hope you can feel comfortable finding and accepting help.

Connie: your grounds are a lovely park. If you can keep up with the work, it is so satisfying and healthy. Our grounds used to be quite lovely. They are wild now and we keep trying to manage things. We are a bit older than you and we can’t seem to keep everything up. Thus.....John and I practice that art of soft focus. We don’t let our eyes focus sharply on things we can’t attend to at the moment. It is a method that keeps me from from going berserk.

Lin: the strawberry teapot is a new favorite. I seem to be drawn to funny and cute. Elegant and refined teapots take my breath away. I seem to envision myself tripping and breaking those lovely pieces.

Sandy: enjoy the movie night with the family. We are hunting down a movie for tonight as well. Knowing John it will involve car chases and explosions. Arrrrrrgh! Oh well! Saw the academy award nominations and most are not my cup of tea. We are all going to be watching kid movies.

Shrimp paella tonight with tossed salad. Spicy with a bit of KICK!
Patsy☘️

After another sleepless night I decided first thing to remove the pressure bandage on my arm and oh, the relief! My arm looked like one of those strange crinkly dogs but thank goodness, I was able to gently rub life back into places it belonged. Don’t worry, the notes brought home from the hospital suggested I keep that bandage on only as long as I could stand it so they knew how it drives you mad in the end feeling a million spiders crawling underneath. That done I’ve been able to enjoy a splash of a wash before walking the pooches with neighbour Louise in our local woodland.

Patsy, no real chance of dropping dishes because as soon as a meal or drink was consumed they piled up in the kitchen sink until this morning when I couldn’t stand to look at them even one more minute. All washed up! I’m rudely independent so struggle to ask for help even from my lovely neighbours but they have worked this out over the years so don’t ask, just do what’s needed! Debbie brought me a bunch of tulips along with a couple of items I’d asked her to pick up at the local store and did make me laugh when I said she didn’t have to and her response was she’d bought a bunch for her partner and they were buy one, get one free!!

A beautiful garden Connie and I agree with Patsy, it is a healthy pastime so long as you can manage. Mine is more a cottage garden so the weeds that love our climate can hide away until I’m ready to be mercenary. There’s that saying about a weed being a plant in the wrong place so that’s my philosophy. Oh yes, I remember your beautiful Afghans and understand your tears. What a story about your rescue of Sadie. She’s adorable and definitely a smiler so of course you were never going to give her up after fostering!

Wow Anne, your poinsettia has recovered in an amazing way. My poor thing didn’t last 5 minutes! Unless a new buyer wants the plot next door for development I think Harry’s attempts to hide weeds and rough areas won’t work for long. I wonder if that’s how he works as a builder. 🤭

Sandy, little information was given about the sling so I only wear it now if walking or I feel discomfort under my arm. Poor George is terribly stressed about the destruction of the cottage indoors and general upheaval so my operation was another thing to worry him as he reads my mind so well. These 3 days without the builders and me being home all day has settled him a bit and both get tons of TLC so we’ll get there. Jamaica for a holiday next year is a brilliant idea and definitely something to look forward to.... rum and sunshine! What more could you wish for on a special birthday? 😆

I could eat that teapot Lin, it’s wonderful!

I’m going to my greenhouse where I can stay out of the blustery wind and pot on desperate seedlings. Aubergines, sweet red peppers and red Russian kale requiring attention. The sun continues to shine so I must also fill a few containers dotted round the garden for the birds.

Have a safe Sunday.
Jackie