THE TO DO LIST GETS LONGER

I have a good many jobs to do before my son returns on Sunday evening and have been working my way down the list throughout the week.,my problem has been that the to do list keep son growing.
Please with my progress on Thursday evening I was rather hoping to find time on Friday to watch a little of the Royal wedding, unfortunately the telephone call which I received during dinner changed all that.
I can be a little absent minded at times and on this occasion I had mixed up the date of the Allotment Society open day, I had thought that it was next Sunday, I was wrong it is in in fact taking place on this Sunday. This meant that I spent a good deal of yesterday baking the masses of shortbread I had promised to the cake stall and rummaging about in cupboards to find jars of chutney and jam from my rapidly dwindling store for the produce stall. Then there were the plants to pot up for the plant stall and finally I rounded up a pile of unfortunate Christmas gifts and odds and ends for the Bric-a-brac stall. This and a donation for the fund will I hope be deemed a sufficient contribution to this important local institution. All of this with a shopping delivery , cleaning the bathroom and then having to pop out to buy the things which I forgot to put on the shopping list took up the whole day.

I did manage to see quite a lot of the wedding during the late evening. I loved the dress, it is clear that the Duchess of Cambridge has a wonderful sense of style and the evening dress was beautiful. The young lady has realised that a very pretty girl only detracts from her charms by wearing too many frills and furbelows. While we are on the subject who on earth chose the hats worn by the Duke of York's Daughters, I do not mean to be bitchy but they looked grotesque, surely someone could have given them a hint. The trees in the Abbey were lovely,indeed to whole occasion was wonderful, and the crowds were a tribute to the couples popularity. It seems a pity then that already the media are trouble making, the dresses were too plain, the couple did not walk among the crowds after the wedding,how much do these people want? It was a terrific show and I for one shall let nothing detract from that.

Having worn myself out yesterday I awoke this morning in the knowledge that I still had six dozen cherry biscuits to make the weekends bread to bake , the kitchen to clean , the floors to hoover and steam and a pile of ironing to do , I admit to feeling somewhat overwhelmed by this. I shall have to take time out tomorrow to attend the open day and now my son has announced that he intends to arrive home in time for dinner and could I please cook a roast pork, it gets worse every minute.

During the course of the morning as I fizzed around the kitchen for some reason the theme from the Television series Wonder Woman kept flitting through my brain, wishful thinking I expect.

The baking done I was very hot and decided to take a look at the church yard behind my cottage over which as you know there has been much strife. I cannot begin to tell you how happy I am to report that the strimmers have stayed their hands up to now this spring and the cow parsley is a waist high cloud of white between the ancient tombs and all about the cuckoo pint spears are showing their strange wonderful flowers again. In the short space of my visit I saw wrens, Black caps and discovered to my great joy a thrush feeding her newly fledged young and flitting about among the flowers were orange tip and tortoise shell butterflies Nature is coming in to her own again, and I hope that now these inhabitants will be left in peace along with those laid to rest so long ago.

I had had quite enough of working indoors and so I decided to ignore the ironing, which will come as no surprise to you and headed for the garden to work there instead. I took a risk and planted out some courgette plants and some pumpkins and squashes. I have left some under cover to hedge my bets in case of any frost in the next few weeks, fingers crossed.
Dinner this evening was a cold meal of new wholemeal bread with salad, new potatoes, air dried ham with olives and sun dried tomatoes, beetroot, cold asparagus and some nice fresh prawns for me. NO cooking hooray. We followed this with some fresh fruit and cream and very nice it was.

Having cleared the kitchen I went upstairs to tackle the ironing at last while watching the news channel, well I thought I may as well get all the depressing stuff over at once!
Now my time is my own until Pa takes his bath which I hope will be soon so that I can go to sleep.
My son comes home tomorrow so there will be the fatted calf,or in this case pig to deal with.

THE ROYAL WEDDING

It occurs to me that I have not yet mentioned the subject which has occupied our news papers and T.V. news channels for some time the Royal wedding. Prince William was born just six weeks after my own son and I have always had an interest in his welfare. I watched as he walked behind his mothers coffin,a young man marked out by destiny and already marked by tragedy.

Now he has chosen a beautiful young woman to help him with the arduous duties to come and with all my heart I wish him all the happiness which elluded his lovely mother. It is understandable that people are interested in the Royal couple just as they were fascinated by Diana but we should remember that it is our insatiable curiosity about her private life which contributed to her misery and arguably to her death. After all had she not been trying desperately to escape the press hounds she would not have put herself in to the situation which ultimately caused her death.

Having a tradition of Monarchy is a large part of what makes this country so special as they play a large part in fixing our identity in the rest of the world. The Royals work hard in representing us to the world and spend a good deal of their time engaged in state business. There are some who say that as they are paid by the government they are the property of the people, frankly this is rubbish.
Any of us who work for wages and who have an employer realise that we must work for our pay and no one could say that out Queen does not give value for money. I wonder though ,how we would feel if our employer insisted upon knowing what we did I our own time, what colour pyjamas we wore to bed, what we ate for lunch. What if he insisted on sending a camera team with us on holiday to find out what we were up to and intruded upon our most private moments< it is of course a ridiculous notion and yet it is exactly what the Royals have to deal with.

At the moment Katherine and William can do no wrong and the press love them.. The media have worked people up to fever pitch and good sense has gone out of the window. Let us remember that this same adoring media will, if it sells more papers or makes their show more popular turn upon the young couple and publish half truths ans idle speculation of the most hurtful kind.

The death of Princess Diana caused a surge of unprecedented grief world wide, but do we remember now all the stories of her eating disorders, her relationships, how everything she did was criticised in some quarters. Even Prince Charles had one of his cronies tell the B.B.C that Diana was unhinged. I suspect he took this action deplorable as it was in self defence as he was at the time being shredded by the press. No matter which side we took did we remember that we were watching the unravelling of a family and not an episode of a soap opera, I think not.

I am not one of those people who is obsessed by the Royal family and probably have less interest than most in their doings but I am a human being and so let us remember are they.
We should enjoy their wedding day in any way we can, let us watch if we wish, the wonderful spectacle and let us wish the couple well in their future together. Let us then try to understand that they are entitled to a little privacy while they encounter and deal with all the problems face by a newly married couple. Their problems will be played out in the public eye and often amplified by a voracious press. It does not matter if we love the Royals or if we hate them we must remember this time that when they are off duty what they do is non of our business, We can temper the presses outrageous behaviour by being more moderate in or own,

It is being said how much the young couple are loved by the people so let us remember today and show that love by treating their privacy with more respect that we allowed the adored Diana.

THE CAT CAME BACK AND SO DID THE SPIDER !

Ever since the arrival of my new desk Twiggy has been less than happy with the change,as you know it has been her habit to sit on my desk with me as I write my blog. Having learned how to type I often find myself typing with one finger while stroking the cat with the other hand.

Last night my little friend accepted the new desk at last, and explored all the pigeon holes at on the top under the lamp and then at last curled up beside my net book and asked to be tickled. I was very pleased and as for the cat, I have never known her to purr so loudly. Status quo is restored and we are happy again. I must say I was surprised that she disliked the new desk so much as at first she had not seemed unhappy, my theory is that the desk when it arrived had a the rather musty smell of old furniture and perhaps she is fine again now that the smell has gone. Whatever the reason it is good to have her back .

I decided this morning to do some cleaning, I have been awake for an hour or so and it seemed like a good idea to get on with things so that I would be free to do some more gardening later in the day.
I gave my room a good clean, having the windows open all day has brought in a good deal of dust from the building work across the road. During the tidying I resurrected a very large spider, which had been lurking under the bed....horrible thought.....I caught it in my spider trap and threw it out through the window . The spider however had no intention of leaving and clung to the window frame for dear life. I knocked it off and it hung about two feet below the window on a thread of cob web which of course I broke at once. The pesky spider dropped to the ground and I returned to my duties. half an hour later the wretched spider was back, leering at me from the window sill. I trapped under a tumbler and took it to the grave yard and released it, I just hope it stays there! Incidentally this is the second boomerang spider I have encountered this week.

I was just about to get some breakfast for Pa and I when I received a call from a some friends who had just returned from a holiday in France asking if it would be convenient for them to call this morning and so of course I invited them to join us for breakfast. We had entertained their daughter and her fiancé at breakfast earlier in the week and having heard about the pancakes they asked it it would be possible to have some and as I had not yet decided what to cook it was no trouble at all.

We had a lot of catching up to do and I was touched to receive a lovely present of a scented tissue box, it looks lovely in my bedroom with its white furniture, people are so very kind. We ate lots and lots of pancakes with sugar and lemon and I made their favourite tea, we keep lots of different teas for our guests all of which are proper leaf tea, I hate tea bags, you may just as well make a pot of tea and then add a couple of tissues, it tastes foul!

I was doing the washing up when I discovered that we had run out of washing powder so as we also needed a balloon for my sons welcome home on Sunday I popped out to get some. This jaunt turned in to an epic as our local florist was closed, I did a tour around the area and at last found a florist with balloons for sale,what a performance.

Back at home I changed quickly and headed for the garden. The grass needed to be cut and that was my first job, followed by the potting on of some plants and the planting out of others, The weather was perfect for gardening, sunny but with a breeze so that the work did not cause me to become too hot. Another nest of Blackbirds fledged this morning and also some Grey Wagtails were calling to their young with their beaks full of small insects caught on the river close by. After much persuasion the youngsters flew out of the nest to be feed, I would not have missed the sight for the world, they are beautiful little birds, elegant in shape and with a dancing flight that is a joy to behold.

I finished my stint in the gardens by watering all the containers and the herbaceous border and then totally shattered I went inside to cook dinner. We had decided upon bacon, eggs, mushrooms, cheese and baked beans with toast for our evening meal and it had the virtue of being quick to cook and reasonably easy to clean up afterwards. During the first course my son rang and was very chatty,my resulting cold dinner was binned. Strawberries and iced cream made up the sweet course and just as I had finished serving it I received a call from a dear friend reminding my of a bring and buy sale on Sunday.........damn and blast........I had lost all track of time and thought it was on the Sunday after. We discusses the various stalls and I volunteered two trays of short bread, a couple of cuddly toys and some odds and ends of bric-a-brac.,Sunday is going to be hell! By the time the conversation ended my iced cream had melted but it still tasted very good indeed.

It was quite late before I had finished clearing the kitchen and came upstairs to write my blog. Now it is done a hot bath beckons and my bed awaits me, complete with cat........bliss.

DAWN UNTIL DUSK

DAWN TO DARK
I fell asleep at once last night, slept well and was awake in time to keep my appointment with the rising sun. The early morning is a special time for me, I love the quietness, no cars, no people and few planes,it is easy to imagine that I am back in the real countryside where I grew up.

Even as a child I always woke early in the summer time. In farming communities almost everyone rises early but small children are not expected to climb down drainpipes at three thirty as I was wont to do. In the winter months I can happily sleep until daylight if allowed but in high summer I seem to catch the restlessness and the bustle of nature so that I can not resist joining in the fun.

There is a down side to this as I do get very tired in the early evening now that I am older and yet I still wake early and if the morning is fine my day begins with the birds. I was rewarded this morning by the appearance of a pair of Greater Spotted Woodpeckers at the feeders, They were most interested in the suet pellets which leads me to suppose that they have a nest of young almost ready to fledge. It has, for a number of years been the practice of these lovely birds to begin feeding their young on suet about a week before they fledge. Once the young birds leave the nest they are brought to the bird table by their parents and are usually self sufficient within a day or two. We then have the pleasure of watching these youngsters all through the summer.

In order to ensure a steady supply for the woodpeckers I went out before breakfast to buy some of their favourite fat blocks, the ones which contain insects and meal worms are in favoured use at the moment. On my return I made Pa and I a breakfast of poached eggs on toast and in preparing this meal we were lucky enough to have two double yoked eggs, quite a rare occurrence in these times. Once the clearing up was completed I hastened to the vegetable garden for an afternoon in the sunshine.

The strawberry plants are covered with flowers which tells me that it is time to begin the pestiferous business of putting on the nets. This will prevent the birds from taking the strawberries but as last year mice were main the problem I intend to scatter garlic about which mice dislike, if that fails I shall have to resort to a couple of mouse traps baited with chocolate. It will have to be something special to compete with the flavour of strawberries, I shall then take the captive mice to for a buggy ride and let them go as far away from my strawberries as possible. Poor little Twiggy finds herself overwhelmed by the number of well stuffed mice and gets annoyed when she cannot get inside the nets to catch them so I shall have to assist this year.

I spent a part of the afternoon preparing the leek bed and moving a few small plants in pots to their new location. Out neighbours garden needed watering and our vegetable plot too was rather dry. By the time all this was done it was time to prepare our evening meal of crab and prawn fettuccine with parsley ,chives and dried mushrooms in a crème fraiche sauce. This was followed by some chilled rhubarb with vanilla iced cream. It was a lovely meal and all the better for having taken less than half an hour to prepare.

My son is enjoying his stay in Portsmouth, however he tells me that he will be buying a pillow today as the one in his guest room feels as if it is full of builders rubble. He is better of than a friend in another room who is off to buy a mattress topper as the one on his bed is diabolically hard.
Yesterday they clubbed together and bought a toaster, a blender and some pots and pans as the chap they are staying with, having just moved in has just a single sauce pan and a kettle, he tends to eat out a lot it seems. My son is in charge of the cooking and has amazed his friends with his wide knowledge of culinary matters, I too am a little startled to hear off these hitherto well hidden abilities.....hum!

Once again I find myself very tired this evening and shall soon be off to bed, it is the tax I pay for rising so early but I do not mind at all. If I sleep as well as I did last night I shall not complain. Tomorrow morning will, I hope see me at my post in the window with an early cup of coffee and with my little cat beside me, life is sweet.

BON VOYAGE

It was barely six thirty when I found myself making coffee for my son and I. He had almost slept the clock round and looked much better than he did yesterday. We sorted out the final bits of packing and had some more coffee. Soon after the taxi arrived and my son set off on the first leg of his journey. About an hour later he called to say that he was safely on the train to Portsmouth,I made Pa a cup of coffee and the day began in earnest.

We were expecting guests for a late breakfast but as it was still quite early I made some tea and toast. The toast was made with yesterdays bacon bread, I really recommend that you try baking this bread as it is delicious and has so many uses, imagine a Welsh Rarebit made with bacon bread, or a roast chicken sandwich, gorgeous. I shall publish the recipe in the near future.

Our guests arrived on time bringing with then a gift of rhubarb from their garden. This was very welcome as our rhubarb has failed dismally this year and I am very partial to rhubarb crumble. I had a huge bowl of pancake mixture ready and I kept on cooking them off two at a time until everyone was stuffed. It was a lovely party, they are a nice young couple and are soon to be married, Pa and I are to attend the wedding in August. The young man is a soldier in the Royal Artillery, a bandsman no less. His young lady is a gifted musician herself, unfortunately she has just been diagnosed with a very serious and debilitating disease which may well ruin her career. She is very young and yet she copes wonderfully well with her difficulties and is as brave as could be. She is also very pretty with red gold hair and a fair complexion,a real Pre Raphaelite beauty. I wish them happiness with all my heart.

They left at one thirty for a hospital appointment and as they left my son called to tell us that he had arrived safe and sound in Portsmouth and was off to get some lunch. I cleared the kitchen and then cleared off to the shops for a few bits of contraband for Pa and I to enjoy in his absence.
Tonight we had lamb chops with baby new potatoes, broccoli and mint sauce, all things which my son dislikes. Tomorrow I hope to make a prawn and crab fettuccine, my son hates seafood. We are like a couple of naughty children planning our treats, we intend to eat all the lovely things which my son does not care for but which we love. I shall certainly be cooking no chicken this week although we shall have a nice brace of partridge some time during the next few days.

In his absence I shall give his room a good old fashioned spring clean,beating the rugs and changing the curtains, by the time he returns his den will be cosy and spotless. I hope also to get in to the garden as I need to prepared the ground for my greenhouse,I could not have chosen a worse time to do this as both my some and my strong helpful neighbours are away, still I shall manage I am sure, I can be very determined you know.

Poor Twiggy is missing my son already and sits crying at his bedroom door, she hates it when any of her people are away. Whenever Pa is in hospital she is unbearable,she loves us all so much,dear old puss.

It has been a long day and I am a very tired Avie and so after a bath and a hot chocolate with Pa I shall snuggle up in bed, and wait for my little cat to finish her nightly prowl, then off to sleep.
I have an early start again tomorrow but that can take care of itself, for now the days work is done and I am happy that all has gone well. I do hope you all enjoyed you holiday weekend. Good night.

PACKING, BAKING, SHOPPING AND WHAT ESLE WAS I MEANT TO BE DOING ?

Today was always going to be a busy one what with my son going off for a stag week with his friends as well as all the usual Monday chores, so it was at the crack of dawn that a bleary eyed Avie began to sort out the packing. This was not as straight forward as you might suppose as we were using this trip as a dry run for his next holiday when he is off to Sark. There is a weight limit if fifteen kilos on the ferry and as my son normally travels with the kitchen sink we thought that we had better see just what fifteen kilos looked like.

After much soul searching as to what to leave behind the bag was packed and duly weighed, imagine our astonishment when we discovered that the bag weighed no more that six kilos, I felt like a Krypton Factor contestant. This sort of mental agility test is not my idea of fun at the crack of dawn but at least the job was done.

Next came the hair cut and beard trim which consists of me begging my son to let me cut off at least a foot of hair and him negotiating me down to just trimming off half an inch. One day, I swear to God I shall just chop it all off in one go and to hell with the consequences! The beard trim is even worse as he hates the feel of a blade near his neck, he is more fidgety than a French aristo when he spies the guillotine and that increases the chances of his being nicked. By the time I had finished, which was not soon I was a nervous wreck.

All of this took place very early indeed and when all was done I made two dozen blueberry muffins some of which we ate hot for breakfast. Then I quickly cleared the kitchen and headed for the garden centre. I wished to purchase eight large bags of compost, a large container of hen muck pellets and an eight by six green house. I set of on the buggy very excited as more sheltered growing space has been something I have needed for ages. When I arrived at the garden centre I spent almost an hour trying to find someone to help me, every one I asked claimed to be very busy. I lady works there went to find the young man whose job it is to deal with large orders to be delivered and after twenty minutes was obliged to give up and return to her watering duties.

I asked another young chap if he could help me and he said that if I could find a trolley and load the things on to it he would see me through the checkout. I pointed out that the greenhouse would need at least two men to lift it and that as I was on a mobility scooter and obviously disabled I would be unable to lift either it or the eight 60 litre bags of compost which I wished to purchase. He looked baffled and then said that if I could wait for half an hour or so he MIGHT be able to spare the time! MIGHT! By now I had been in the building for almost two hours and was no nearer making my purchases than when I arrived.

All I needed was some one with a scanner to nip round with me to scan the goods required and then fill in a delivery form, ten minutes work at the most. Nothing doing. I gave up and telephoned my son who in spite of being very tired came to my rescue.

First we had a merry time trying to find a trolley as the car park is vast and there were not enough staff on duty to collect the trolleys and return them to the garden centre entrance. In the end we were obliged to follow a fortunate shopper with a loaded trolley and pounce on it the moment he had finished unloading. Even then we were almost gazumped by a large woman with battle in her eyes, we grabbed the prize and hurried off.

My wonderful, strong, heroic son man handled the green house on to the trolley, God knoweth how and we were about to sort out the compost when a young lady approached us and asked if I was the disabled lady who had been looking for assistance, I admitted that this was indeed the case. She looked accusingly at my son and then asked me if I realised that all that was required was to scan the goods and have some one fill in a delivery form.................the rest of the conversation is unfit for publication!

The goods were ordered and never have I experienced so much trouble getting a shop to take my money, and rather a lot of money too. Then they broke the news that the first available delivery slot would be a week on Tuesday. I live at the bottom of the drive which leads to the garden centre and indeed they cannot leave without passing by my front door, for this service I was charged twenty pounds and told that I would have to wait for over a week. I said that considering the trouble I had already experience trying to get them to sell me the things at all it was a miracle that they did not charge me for the privilege of using their wrenched establishment. You could not make it up!

Back at home I roasted a pan of root vegetables, onions, pumpkin and garlic as the base for a Mediterranean tomato soup and while they roasted in hot oven I baked two tin loaves for my son to take with him tomorrow and a large Hungarian bacon loaf to eat with the soup. By now I was running out of steam, and very hot indeed......hum that does sound odd....oh well not to worry.
I took a drive down to the river to cool off and bumped on to an old friend whom I have not seen for some time, we agreed that she should visit soon for breakfast and set a date in the near future, I was so pleased to see her, she is a lovely person and a pleasure to be with.

I returned home to finish preparing our meal. The roasted vegetables were soon blended with two tins of tomatoes, half a tube of tomato purree, half a small jar of sun dried tomatoes and a little salt, sugar and a dash of Worcestershire sauce.
Dinner was early as my son needed to sleep, he has an early start in the morning and so of course do I, Pa will I doubt not remain oblivious to all until I apply my fog horn to he ear .Today has been a strange one and to be frank I have spent fat too much of it indoors baking. We have guests for a late breakfast tomorrow but by one thirty I should be free to do as I please with no deadlines to meat,but this comes at a price, with my son away I shall not have to worry about getting meals ready for a set time but Oh how I shall miss his sense of humour, he is such fun to have around. When things get tough he can be relied upon to see the funny side and I soon feel better for having a good laugh. Yes I shall miss him but I am very glad that he is having a break, not just from work, but fro Pa and I also. He works far too hard at a job which is stressful and helps me so much more than he should. I hope he enjoys every moment of his week away bless him. All the same I shall be glad to hear his key in the door on Sunday night.

THE GREATEST SHOW ON EARTH

After last nights storm the air this morning was fresh and sweet., even the sky had a just washed look and I spent a happy hour between five and six thirty watching the world wake up to Eater morning. My son and I had breakfast and as he went off to bed I gave Pa a rousing “Good morning.” Not the first by an means and set about baking some bread. While I was waiting for the bread to rise something very odd happened. I was looking out in to the garden when I was suddenly aware of a very loud buzzing sound and looking up I saw a huge swarm of bees swirling around above the garden. They were honey bees and I am certain that they were from our hive in the lime tree. I was amazed to see this as bees do not , to my knowledge swarm this early in the year , I do hope that someone will correct me if I am wrong. We have a swarm of bees every year during mid June and I usually telephone a local bee-keeper to come and collect them, for which I receive a jar of honey.
I watched the swarm head off towards the wood where there are plenty old trees with holes in them , perfect for bees who are used to living in a tree house.

Bread made and breakfast over I went in to the garden to prick out some seedlings and pot on some lovely young basil, fennel. Dill and chive plants, the Russian tarragon too will soon be ready to plant out. The pumpkin bed needed some further digging , weeding and feeding with compost before the young plants go out, they like the ground to be well cultivated and are very greedy feeders, this also applies to courgettes and marrows. The plants are ready thanks to the fine weather but I shall leave them in the frame for a week of two yet. I would not normally plant them out until the end of may, this year however as they are so well grown I shall have to take a chance or they will become “leggy”.

The afternoon became sticky and I was soon tired and very hot so I grabbed my camera and took the buggy out for a spin. I have been intending to photograph the horse chestnuts and the cow-parsley all week and this afternoon with the sun shining it seemed the perfect time so off I went.

Here and there the elder-flowers are beginning to blossom which means that soon I shall be able to make our favourite elderflower and lemon cordial, mixed with fizzy mineral water this makes a very refreshing summer drink. The Rowan or Mountain Ash are also in full flower now and there promises to be a bumper crop of berries in the Autumn for my apple and Rowan jelly.

The woods, so bare and stark during the winter months are now in full leaf and all around the woods edge there is a sea of fabulous cow Parsley, or Queen Anne's Lace as we called it as children. This is such a favourite with me each umbrella shaped head is made up of masses of tiny creamy white flowers, the scent is amazing and en mass it is a wonder to behold.

Beyond the woods there are fields of butter cups, shiny gold and shimmering in the afternoon heat, the haunt of bees and butterflies. Cows do not like the taste of buttercups at all, they find them bitter and will graze around them.

This wonderful free show is there for all to see and yet every day people drive by without noticing all this splendour. These same people will pay good money to visit Kew gardens or Wisley while ignoring Spring time pouring out its very heart all around them. It makes me so sad to think what they are missing. It is without a doubt the greatest show on earth and all you need to know is where to look.

A THUNDER STORM

As I write we are in the throws of a terrific thunder storm. Through out the afternoon the sky blackened and the heat became more sultry than ever. My poor son has slept very little,it is hard enough to sleep during the day, hot weather can make it impossible. I found the afternoon too hot to work in the garden so I took a pot of Earl Grey tea out to the orchard and made plans for my new pumpkin patch with my little cat for company. It was a lovely lazy way to spend the afternoon and even though I am behind wit my digging I enjoyed just sitting and enjoying the fragrant orchard and the buzzing of the bees as I watched the birds flitting about in search of food.

During the morning the young blackbirds fledged and they spent the rest of the days as mendicants while the parent birds tried to keep up with their constant demands for food. This all added to the feeling of laziness but all too soon it was time to go indoors to prepare our evening meal of garlic cheese pasta with bacon. Left to my own choice I would have preferred a salad but my son put in a request and as he will be away next week and doing his own cooking I felt I should see to it that he ate well in the mean time.

During our meal the first flash of lightening came, a young squirrel was so startled that it almost fell of the feeder and when a few moments later the loud crash of thunder followed the poor little mite fled in a panic. I am sure that during its young life it has not seen a shower of rain let alone a thunder storm.

The rain followed swiftly falling in torrents and all the while the thunder rolled and crashed, a real cannonade. We began to count the time between the flash and the bang and before long they were almost simultaneous. I stood in the doorway watching the storm and I could almost hear the dry garden sighing with relief as the rain pelted down filling the bird baths and the water butt. I love a good storm and always watch them if I can even though I always have a headache before the storm begins I still love the drama of a darkening sky and the livid flashes. Storms during the night are even more exciting, I am considered a little odd by my family, well I am odd,I admit it, so what?

The cat twiggy hates storms and like almost all cats detests rain, I say almost all as I once owned cat who enjoyed wet weather and who's greatest pleasure was to sit under a sprinkler hose in hot weather, now that is really odd!
Twigs sat disconsolately on the door step watching the rain falling and when a sudden worsening of the storm caused the rain to bounce high of the path and in through the door she disappeared at once to sit under my bed, she is there still,poor old puss.

The air is a little cooler now and this should make for a much more pleasant night providing it does not get too steamy and the plants which have for so long depended on me for water will grow quickly now. I have known plants grow incredibly quickly after a good spell of rain, no amount of watering with a hose can ever do such a good job as a storm.
I found a few dodgy looking strawberries at the back of the refrigerator today so I put them out for the parakeets, judging by the way they have been stuffing themselves ever since I am convinced that this act of generosity was misguided as now the have a taste for them they will I have no doubt join the squirrels and the mice in raiding the strawberry beds the moment the fruit is ripe. I never learn.

The thunder has stopped now but the sky is still dark and I am certain that the storm will return before the night is much older. There is a fresh light breeze now and the air is very sweet with the scent of cut grass and damp earth, the blue black sky shows the off the brightness of the new leaves on my beloved lime trees in the lane. So much loveliness, the world is a beautiful place.

GOOD FRIDAY 2011

When I was a child Good Friday was exactly that, as I attended a Church of England school and was a member of the church choir my presence was expected for most of the services during the Easter weekend. I loved the old church on the hill, the dim light and the stone pillars, the lovely old stained glass and the odd smell of damp and polish which all old churches seem to have.

The Churches year was an important part of my childhood and I have many memories of Easter,s, Whitsun's and Christmases which I treasure. In the wild Staffordshire Moorlands spring comes late, often there would be no crocus let alone daffodils to brighten the frost seared hills and leafless valleys. In spite of this unless Easter was very early indeed we children knew were to find the gold Celandine, the ghostly pale anemone and the sweet violets which grew in a sheltered spot in a deep valley on the banks of a small stream. There would be branches of horse chestnut to collect, sticky buds we called them. These would be borne proudly in to school for the nature table and we would watch, as the days passed the sticky, glossy buds break open and the leaves unfurl long before those left on the trees. Our chestnut leaves would be used to decorate the church porch along with pussy willows and catkins. The church itself would be decorated by a daunting posse of village matrons who;s company I eschewed at all hazard, I was a Tom boy and this was frowned upon as a dreadful fault in a young lady and despised by the respectable dowagers.

Every year our head master would see to it that each child received an Easter egg, any child who could not be present would have their egg delivered by a schoolmate and woe betide that child it the egg fail to arrive at its proper destination.

Once the school holiday began most of the children ,including myself and my brother would be kept busy with tasks about the farm. There would be lambing, such excitement and the fun of baby chicks hatched in fathers brand new incubator, the first of its kind in our village. If the weather was fine there would always be time for play and we children enjoyed the freedom of the fields and woods every bit as much as the cattle who had been kept inside during the winter months.
More often than not however the weather would still be wintry and on more than on occasion snow fell throughout the Easter weekend. It was all one to us so long as there was no school and we were allowed out with our sledges.

Then there was Easter Sunday dinner, always a chicken and always eagerly anticipated. It is difficult to imagine now when chicken is so cheap and plentiful those days in the fifties and early sixties when Chicken was for special occasions only, even for us and our farm was mainly poultry.

This Easter my son will be working, there are few holidays in the media business. I made lemon shortbread today a traditional Easter treat with us and there will still be a chicken dinner on Sunday.
Only once in my life have I known an Easter as warm as this and that was many years ago. I received a severe telling of from my mother for bathing in the steam, she was convinced I would catch my death of cold....as you see I survived.

Where ever you are I wish you a happy spring festival, the joy of new beginnings is something we can all share, no matter what our faith, the year is new and we have all summer before us, speaking for myself I still feel the same up rush of spirits that the contemplation of that fact gave me as a child so many years ago.

IN THE GARDEN AND IN THE CART !

These sunny mornings are so welcome after the grey drabness of winter, it is a pleasure to get up in the morning and my dawn cup of coffee drunk by the open window has become a daily pleasure.
When my son arrived home this morning I made more coffee and he made the toast, a chat about the nights events helps him to wind down before attempting to sleep.

Once he was safe in bed I sorted Pa out next and made him some boiled eggs for his breakfast with tea and orange juice. I finished my chores in record time and headed for the garden. The air was still and the scent of bluebells was wonderful, a perfect morning to be out of doors.
I have for some time been meaning to move two large conifers and their containers from the small walled garden to the orchard, as they are very heavy I had hoped to have assistance in moving these monsters. Unfortunately when ever I have the time there is no one available ans so today armed with a wheel barrow and grim determination I set to work.

The first one was easier than I could have hoped and I made short work of moving it to its new home by the fence. The second tree was a menace, too tall to handle without difficulty, too heavy to lift without getting a hernia and to make matters worse it seemed to be loosing its needles and most of the ended up down my cleavage, and damned uncomfortable it was too. I was about to admit defeat when Pa came to the rescue with his little trolley and with him to guide the tree top I was just able to pull it on to the trolley with out having to lift it at all. I should tell you that I had to move the trees because of the squirrels who are using them as a springboard to reach the bird feeders and the poor trees were looking somewhat tatty. This has left the squirrels scratching their heads today but I am quite sure that it will not be long before they find some other method of reaching their goal.

As you might expect I was feeling less than energetic after all that but I decided that a little digging would not hurt, I ended up digging quite a large piece of ground and was felling very pleased with myself when suddenly my knee gave way and in a good deal of pain I was obliged to stop at once.
Now comes the magical part,as I sat on the bench feeling angry with myself a beautiful pale yellow canary flew down on to the grass, hopped about and then flew up in to the apple tree. For the rest of the afternoon he fitted about the garden seeming very interested in company but a little fearful of strangers. I have put out Charlie's old cage with fresh water and seed so that if the canary is hungry he will, I hope go in to find the food, there is also plenty of food at the bird tables but he seems a little shy of the wild birds. My only real fear is that the kestrels will get to him before I do, He seems to like people and so I have hopes that we will soon have a bird again.

Our first bird was a canary which flew in to the house on day and stayed. The next was a cockatiel, also a stray and a Diamond Dove found half dead in our garden one windy Autumn day. Another cockatiel followed and then of course dear old Charlie who had the distinction of being the only bird we ever purchased and who was initially acquired to keep the small cockatiel company. It worked too, they lived together amicably for six years when the parakeet died, afterwards Charlie consoled himself with music, the rest you know. I do hope this little bird stays around, I miss having Charlie Bird to talk to.
I have strapped up my knee and taken an early bath and a couple of strong painkillers which should help and I hall do no more work today. I do hope that I am better in the morning as it is a major baking day, bread must be made and more cookies for the weekend. I have a high stool in the kitchen and if all else fails I shall do the baking sitting down. Since non of us can eat shop bought bread it is a case of needs must!

In spite of my knee trouble it has been a lovely day, a light breeze is blowing across the garden and in to my bedroom window as I write, bringing with it the delicious smell of bluebells and hawthorn blossom. My little cat is mousing in the garden and in the field the cattle are swishing their tails as they pull at the new grass with must taste sweet to them after a winter in doors.
Perhaps tomorrow we shall have a bird again, keep your fingers crossed for me please.

OLD FRIENDS

Many years ago before my son was born I visited the gardens at Falkland Palace in Scotland and was captivated by the beautiful herbaceous border there. On the day I visited I was fortunate to meet the head gardener who had planted the border and of course I was inclined to pick his brains as to how he had managed to create such a perfect balance of colour and continuity. He was justifiably proud of his handy work and was a mine of information. I declared my intention to create such a border if ever I had the opportunity and asked him what would be the most important piece of advice he could give me. He told me that to have patience was more important than anything. “It takes ten years to make a good border.” He said.

I never forgot the old man and when we moved in to our cottage ten years ago I decided to create such a border. Of course I did not have as much ground that he had but within the confines of my own garden I set about doing the best I could. Some where in the back of my mind I was convinced that it could be done in less than ten years but I was wrong.

In the beginning the garden was a wasteland, neglected and overgrown so I left it alone for the first summer to see what was already growing there and was delighted to discover some lovely old cottage garden plants were still thriving amid the weeds. I spent the spring and summer that year growing the plants I wanted from seeds of cuttings as to buy them all would have been far too costly and by the Autumn I had a good collection of plants ready to set out..

We spent a whole weekend marking out the beds, cutting the paths and moving to safety anything we wanted to keep and then I spent several weeks digging the ground and adding compost and manure. A good herbaceous border needs a good start as the plants will remain in the same location for many years. The beds were cut to give the illusion of a coninuous border from the top and from the bottom of the garden alothough in reality there were four large beds and a small centre bed.It has worked well and it is only from the upstairs windows that you can see that it is not a long border at all.

The following spring the plants began to peep through and in the early years I filled the gaps in the planting with annuals like nemesia, snapdragons marigolds and allysum. The result was so lovely that in the first year the garden won an award in the London in Bloom contest. I could not believe it.
Always in my mind I could see the garden at Falkland Palace and I knew I still had a long way to go. During the following years I planted more and more specimens. Dianthus. Pinks. Lupins and introduced some biennials such as foxgloves and hollyhocks. Around the edges of the garden shrubs provided shelter from the wind and cover for the birds who were encouraged to visit the garden. All the plants were chosen for their attractiveness to bees so lots of lavender was added along with thyme, sage, marjoram and rosemary, ladies mantle,tansy and mallow.

There were times when I wondered it it would ever be as I had envisaged it all those years ago and at the start of this season I discovered that the harsh winter had killed half of my lavender bushes. This was disheartening as last year I felt that we were almost there.
I replaced the dead plants and added a few new species and behold the old boy was right, after ten years the garden has matured beautifully and promises to be glorious this summer. I am already seeing the return of old friends like the lovely perennial geraniums, Splash and the fabulous Bloody Cranes bill. There will be no need to fill gaps this year and the garden will be filled with flowers right through the summer and well in to the Autumn.

I am sure now that patience is the most important attribute in any gardeners armoury, I might have given up a dozen times if I had not received such timely advice from a true expert. I often think about the old man, he was about to retire at the age of seventy five all those years ago and is probably long dead. I wish that he could see my garden today, it is to his wisdom that I own all the beauty, scent and colour I now enjoy. There is a poem which begins . “If I could give you anything I would give you a garden.” Where ever he is my garden is dedicated to his memory, although I only met him once on a summer afternoon he has been with me all these years, a man who truly loved his work, a gentle memory and an inspiration for over half my life. He could never have known what a difference he made. To coin an old saying “God loves a gardener.” Perhaps it is true after all He was a gardener Himself, or so the bible says.

CALLERS

At a quarter to five this morning I was sitting in my bedroom by the open window, drinking a cup of coffee and watching our resident foxes dealing efficiently with a dead wood pigeon. Across the lane in the field there was a rising mist and the first finger of sunrise was tinting the sky with a delicious shade of pale pink. The breeze from the river was fresh and cool, the whole scene was prefect. I had slept very little as the pain was bad last night and yet I felt almost blessed to be there to see such wonders as the sun catching the dew on the lawn and turning each drop into a glittering diamond, flashing blue and red.
My next callers were the blue tits who queued politely to take turns at the water bowl and after them the wren. Out lordly blackbird was prospecting for worms along the grass paths with great success,as the watering we did yesterday has brought the worms to the surface.

Gradually people began to appear in the lane, some with dogs, some to catch a train in to town,I made another coffee, went back to bed as my toes were cold and fell asleep at last.
He next thing I knew the gate squeaked on its hinges telling me that my son was home from work, I put the kettle on again and made more coffee while he made the toast and we had breakfast together.

Well before nine there was a knock at the door, it was Tom come to service our gas boiler. I asked him if he minded doing next door first, gave him the key and set about making Pa respectable. An hour or so later Tom returned. Tom is a great favourite with us, he is a real live Peter Pan, he is thirty but looks about seventeen. He is kind,hard working and funny. The last time he was here his wife was expecting a child and soon afterwards their little boy Charlie was born. Tom always has time for a chat and loves home made cookies so we get on famously. The firm he works for are the most honest people you could wish to meet, a real bonus in these times. After he had finished the service he went off to meet his wife and during his lunch break brought young Charlie for a visit. We had imagined a pretty child but Charlie was much more than pretty, he was splendid in every way, bright, beautiful, rosy cheeked and with a mass of blond curls, cute just does not come close. He is also the image of Tom, a real daddy boy. We were thrilled to see the child and honoured that Tom had taken the time to bring him ., he is such a dear.

The next caller was a huge bumble bee, the biggest I have ever seen. It bumbled in through the open door but could not find its way out again, we offered assistance and finally the bee was back in the garden and peace was restored. I must tell you at this point that my little cat has recently taken a dislike to bumble bees , just last week she sat down on a large one and it took the usual measures to defend its self. Now it is a case of once bitten, well once stung, twice shy. Twiggy now takes the presence of bees in the house as a personal affront, there is bound to be trouble before long.

The day passed so quickly that I had no time for the garden today but as I was tired and as the forecast for the week promises fair weather I shall not fret about it. Some times it is nice to just relax in to the day and let things happen, so it was today.

For dinner we had a summer soup with fresh bread and jelly or shortcake to follow. The sun is still shinning as I write and I am hoping as the sky is clear to watch the moon rise tonight, she was almost at the full last night and as beautiful as a dream. She and the old tawny owl will, I hope, be my last callers of the day.

A SAD BEGINNING

Here we are again, Monday, how quickly last week went by. I awoke this morning to the sound of the telephone ringing and I grabbed the receiver as fast as my sleep fogged brain would permit as I wanted my son to wake as late as possible, he returns to work tonight. I was sure that is was my mother and so it proved to be. Now I should tell you at once that although my lovely Mama is a dear soul she only ever calls me when something is wrong, badly wrong,I steeled myself for the worst as I glanced at the clock in disbelief, so early. The bad news was the death of one of my Aunts and of course my Mother was upset. My Father had five sisters and now only two remain. Of course I too was sad to hear the news, poor Aunt Dody has never recovered from the death of her daughter last year. It must be said that we have had more than our fair share of funerals in the past few months. Mother has a tendency towards the lugubrious and began to regale me with the details of the last hours. “It was awful.” She said and continued for some time recounting all she had heard from those who were there at the end. I have unfortunately been at a number of death beds myself and how the experience could be anything less than awful I fail to see. I fear that she has a way of dwelling on such things until she makes herself ill which does good to no one.
I always feel that my grief is my own and never feel the need to burden others with my sorrow. I have been overwhelmed by grief more than once in my life in circumstances such as this and have almost always gone away by myself to sob my heart out and then cry myself to sleep, I find an audience distracting and unnecessary. After all others have their own burden of grief to bear, why should I weigh them down with my own?

Others will be distressed enough without having to comfort me. Aunty Dody left two daughters and having lost my Father I know how they must feel today. Our concern must and should be for them, there loss is the greatest and it is for them that I grieve the most, the cousins I grew up with and played with as a child. My thoughts are with them tonight.

It is true to say that life goes on and thank the Gods for it. I went down stairs , made coffee for Pa and I the went on to bake five loaves, a split tin, a poppy seed twist, two cobs and a tomato loaf. This last was at the request of my son and here is the recipe.

1 Ib Granary flour
1Ib strong white flour
2 teaspoons on yeast
2 teaspoons of salt
2 teaspoons of sugar
2 oz melted butter
2 pints warm water
1 jar of sun dried tomatoes, do not use the dried ones,as the result will be disgusting.

Mix the flours,salt ,yeast,and sugar together. Melt the butter in a large saucepan then add the water,if at this point the water is not warm enough heat the pan for a few seconds.
Add the tomatoes and the water and mix until a dough forms then turnout on to a floured surface and knead for ten minutes. Divide in to two pieces the knead again. At this point you may put the dough in to two 2Ib loaf tins or if you prefer shape in to round loaves. Cover with greased cling film and leave until the dough has doubled in size the bake at 230c for fifteen minutes then reduce to 200c for a further fifteen minutes. Test the bread with a skewer, if the skewer comes our sticky give the loaves a further five minutes then remove from the oven cover with a clean dry tea towel and leave until cool..
This bread is very good for chicken sandwiches or with cheese and my favourite, bacon butties.
I treated the boys to fresh baked blueberry muffins this morning but I was a little distracted and was rather heavy handed with the blueberries. My son has asked if the next time I bake then we can have a little more muffin and a little less blueberry. I would have to agree.
The day has passed , we are all fed, my son will leave for work soon , I shall see Pa safely bathed and comfortably tucked up with hot chocolate and then I must write to my cousins, then there will be time enough for tears.

BLASTED BARBECUES

We made an early start this morning as my son was expecting guests, even Pa managed to get up almost on time and we had our breakfast in peace and without having to hurry .This does not often happen on a Sunday.
One of my sons friends arrived with a gift of chocolates and a bottle of damson gin which was a lovely surprise and a welcome addition to the drinks cupboard,. I was one given a bottle of Australian gin by one of my sons friends and very good it was. My next job was a quick trip to the supermarket for some odds and ends and then on my return I made a jelly and a cheese cake, threw my apron in to the laundry basket and went out in to the garden.....bliss.

But not for long. The sweet smell of hawthorn and chestnut blossom was obliterated almost at once by the foul stench of barbecue lighter fuel. Why in the name of a thousand wonders do people feel the need to use the wretched stuff? Never have I used it and never do I intend to. It is easy to get a barbecue going without anything except paper ,a few dry twigs and some small pieces of charcoal to begin with building up to large chunks as the fire takes hold.
It seems to me that since most people now have central heating the art of fire lighting has been forgotten. It does seem a pity that every fine afternoon and evening is now ruined by the pungent pong of para fine and later the smell of charring meat caused by to much fat and a fire that is not really ready to cook on. I often barbecue large joints of pork, whole chickens ,fish and lamb and I never ,ever produce a smell that could offend and one except a vegetarian....moan over!

In spite of the stench it was lovely to be out of doors, I took a tray of tea and some shortbread in to the garden as I pottered about My robins were in constant attendance as usual. We are feeding them meal worms now and the feeding area,s are busier that ever as the parent birds run a shuttle service from the tables to their nests where hungry mouths are waiting for the largess. Meal worms are high in protein and fats, just what a growing fledgling needs, along with small suet pellets. Magpies, Jays and Kestrels permitting we should soon have some fine healthy youngsters flitting about the garden.

I am jolly glad that tonight's diner is quiche and salad as there is as yet not sign of those for whom the meal has been prepared. This often happens on weekend s and I try to make weekend meals as flexible as possible so all is well. However after a busy day I am rather tired and so I shall have a bath while I wait for the troops to arrive. Once we have all eaten all I shall have to do is clear the kitchen, take the hoses down(the garden is bone dry again) and see Pa safely bathed, then I shall be able to relax and enjoy the end of the weekend with a glass of Damson gin and a chocolate or two. What could be nicer that that?

HELP WITH THE IRONING !

First of all let me apologise for yesterday,s rant, my only excuse is that I get very concerned when those who hold the worlds affairs in their hands display such naivety, stupidity, call it what you will. Getting things off my chest with a good old grouching session eases my feelings if not my fears.
Yesterday something dreadful happened! There I was about to start work upon a huge pile of ironing when my iron coughed twice, spluttered and died. You can imagine my grief at the demise of this old friend. “Oh dear!” I exclaimed. “What ever shall I do?” I had packed away the ironing board in minutes and returned the ironing to the airing cupboard, I was deeply grieved!

My darling son came to my rescue with a beaming smile , he had heard my anguished cries and had ordered a lovely new steam iron from Amazon,. “Don't worry.”He said.”It will arrive tomorrow.”
First thing this morning it did. The ironing is now done......sob....moan....sigh!

Actually it is an extremely good iron with a ceramic sole plate and I must say it nipped through he ironing in record time. I is wonderful to have such a thoughtful, generous son, still a weekend off might have been nice.

Having received requests for cherry shortbread I made several dozen of these popular little biscuits today, I have hidden away two dozen for my son's friends at work before the ravening hoards descend and scoff the lot.

My desk arrived today, on time, in good condition and with two very professional young chaps who freighted it up the steep curved stairs to my bedroom with no trouble and no complaints. This is astonishing as people take hours to find us as a rule and then moan like hell when they set eyes upon the staircase. The desk is a lovely old thing, not valuable but perfectly in character with my room and the cottage .It will house all my paperwork and stationery and will provide a stable surface for my dinky little net book. I am very happy, I love old things,however I am not at all sure that my little cat will approve. She was fond of disporting herself on my desk top and having her tummy tickled while I attempted to write, time will tell.

A lot happened yesterday, on a visit to hospital I found the perfect memory foam mattress topper at the knock down price of forty pounds so I could not resist and I am glad because it is wonderful and should, in time make all the difference to my arthritis.

The cat has just paid me a visit and it is as I feared....she hates the new desk and is most seriously displeased with me as a consequence....oh dear!

Dinner tonight was a simple meal of gammon, eggs and chips, cooked to order when my son arrived home from his game. It is a swell not to prepare the food before he arrives as not only can he be a little late at times but now and again brings home a stranded friend to dinner. Neither of these circumstances bothers Pa and I at all, Our son is a thoughtful ,generous and incredibly kind young man and it is a very great pleasure to do any little thing that will please him. He is one in a million and I am the luckiest mother in the world to have such a son....I mean every word.

A QUESTION OF HONOUR

I believe that I may have mentioned in previous blogs my disapproval of the way in which the British public were shafted at the General Election last May. It would also be true to say that my disgust at the casual way in which those now governing the country have, with out compunction broken most of the promises which were at the heart of their campaigns.

Of course they have, they say no choice but to renege upon their word and continually cite the same crippled excuse that they had no idea when they made those promises how bad things were.
They seem to have not the least concept of honour, honesty or consistency.
A man,s word used to be his bond. There was a time when to go back on ones word was considered to be caddish and not the way for a gentleman to behave.

We have sitting in Westminster today a Prime minister and a …..well I know what to call Nick Clegg but I am too much of a Lady to put it into print! Both of these men had the benefit of the best education that this country can provide, they are both wealthy and I have not doubt would consider themselves to be gentlemen. They are not gentlemen, they are dishonourable and dishonest. There can be no mistake here, a man who cannot understand the binding nature of passing his word cannot be a gentleman.

Now I am sure that we all realise that politicians often find it expedient to change there minds or be economical with the truth but to sign your name at the foot of a document promising a certain set of policies seems to me a solid gesture of intent. After all no one forced him or his cohorts to put their names on such a document. It was done with a good deal of flourish and paraded as a sign of their real commitment to improve the lot of ordinary people. It worked, people admired him for the gesture, people voted for him because of his appearance of honour. What happened next is a matter of record.

It seems that these days there are those who think that they can ignore outdated concepts such as honour and honesty, this is not quite true. The public are becoming angry with the constant stream of lies emanating from governments world wide. People are tired of corruption in high places and the cynical uncaring approach of their leaders to the problems they encounter in just trying to survive. David Cameron an Nick Clegg have not the least understanding of the way in which the majority of the people they govern live their lives. In this they are very similar to the late French monarchy and we all know what happened to them.

I am certainly not advocating a bloody revolution but it must be faced that all over the world ordinary people are fighting back after years of repressive and corrupt government. These brave souls are making their protest in the face of armed soldiers who shoot them without compunction. It can happen any where if enough people cry “Enough.”

I hope with all my heart that our self aggrandising leaders realise just how precarious there situation is and change their attitudes before we see British people being Fired upon by British soldiers. They should also think of this. While they are depleting the Armed |Forces have they considered what they would do in the face of a national rebellion. There position is precarious,and it is only a matter of time before the public realise that if there are enough of them they can do anything.

Heaven help us when that day dawns!

A HOARDERS NIGHTMARE or WHAT TO DO WITH THE JUNK/

From time to time when there is nothing much on the television I watch the occasional make over show. This is a vice of which I am rather ashamed but I find them rather entertaining if a trifle far fetched. The bits that interest me are the de cluttering sections of the shows where the expert enters a house full of a life times acquisitions, photo graphs souvenirs and other family mementoes and objects de art and leaves it “much improved” and looking like a furniture show room. I am always left wondering how long the cream sofa and carpet will remain cream with a family of four children, two dogs and a granny in the house. These small details are never allowed to interfere with the flow of the designers flair and I am left wondering where all the clutter would have gone had not the family been fortunate enough to own a garage the size of a small department store!

I have moved house a total of ten times in the last forty years and each time I assure myself that never again will I cram my house full of odds and ends, no matter how useful, and that I shall religiously throw away any item which has remained unused for twelve months. It is , I am sure the nature human beings to hoard and store away the likes of Grannies copper bed warmer, or great great aunt Matilda,s rocking hours which has lain in the attic for years or Grandpa's disreputable old pipes. I am convinced that these makeover show types are the secret owners on antique shops which of course will benefit enormously from the chuck it out and buy new stuff dogma which they constantly preach.

Every one of us at some time or other have parted company, reluctantly with some long treasured but totally useless article and then discovered that it was worth good money having seen a similar article on The Antiques Road Show, purchased at a Church bazaar for pennies. How we gasp when we hear that this unprepossessing item is worth several hundred pounds. It is worth remembering that for every lucky person who finds such a treasure there is a hapless twerp who threw it out in the first place.

By now I expect that you are wondering why I am banging on in this fashion,the reason is simply this, I find myself once again cluttered up with too much junk. You see I am one of those people who buy lots of stuff for pennies at Church Bazaars, unfortunately non if the things I purchase ever turn out to be priceless.

Yesterday I emptied my huge old desk and it is certain that the much smaller new one( actually it is second hand) will not hold the same amount of stuff. I hasten to add that not all of the clutter is my own. Both Pa and my son are in the habit of loading my room, my desk and my wardrobe with things they do not have room for but which might one day come in handy. Even as we speak there are several huge boxes of Scalextric lurking down the side of my wardrobe, several chess sets in my drawers and a very large compendium of games under my bed. Since I am not allowed to throw out these seldom if ever used objects I shall have to part company with some of my own treasures....deep sigh!

I have only one consolation in the middle of all this decision making and it is this, there will certainly be no priceless antiquities amongst my things to worry about.......but just in case our Church bazaar is on the second Sunday in July..... you can never be sure, can you?

WHO YA GONNA CALL ?

Remember I told you a couple of weeks ago that the ultra sound scan had shown a few problems with my kidneys and that just two days after the scan my G.P. had called to say that I would need to see a Urologist in a hurry. Today having heard no more about it I decided to find out what was going on? I could not call my own Doctor as she is away on maternity leave for six months. I could not call the Doctor who gave me the test results as she left the day after I last spoke to her. I tried to get in touch with the Urology department but the switchboard was jammed for ages and then the signal on my mobile phone gave out. It was at this point that I decided to sort things out once and for all and without more ado I set off for the hospital.

Thankfully this “Centre of Excellence?” is not far away and within less than ten minutes I arrived at the Urology department. I spoke to a young lady receptionist with a bored expression and a nail file and explained the wretched rigmarole as well as I could. She pressed a few buttons on her key board and informed me that as far as they were concerned I was only known to them as a former patient and that they had received no referral.
Not reassured I returned home and discovered that my phone was working once again so I called my Doctors Surgery and recited the whole blasted tarradiddle all over again to another receptionist, who I must say did at least sound interested. She asked me who my Doctor was which suggested that she had not grasped that part of my difficulty was that both the G.P,s dealing with my case had left , so that there was no one to ask.

So, now we were both baffled, she asked me to hang on..... I hung......... Time passed and at last she spoke again informing me that the scan results had recently been referred to the Referral Facilitator who would in turn refer me to the urologist. This apparently is the way things are done now... all in the patients best interests of course! It also explains why with a general hospital just down the road all three of us are frequently referred to a facility which is ten miles away, presumably for their convenience rather than ours. My own G.P. tried to send me to this unit for the ultra sound scan which I eventually had at my local General Hospital, when I asked if there was any reason why I could not go to the nearest facility she told me that it was the Practices practice to push as many patients as possible to the other place.....why I wonder? To attend there would have cost me twenty pounds at least in taxi fares whereas I can reach the nearest Hospital in a few minutes on my buggy, ridiculous is it not.

Now at last I know at least that I have been referred, but to whom, confused, me too!

While all this was going on I learned that the desk which the boys are giving to me for a birthday present is to arrive on Saturday afternoon. This meant that as well as the normal Wednesday cleaning of my room I needed to empty my old desk which is totally decrepit and far to large for the room. Rather a lot of rearranging had to be done and by the time I had completed the job I was tired out, so no gardening this afternoon. I could swear I heard my son sigh with relief through two solid wooden doors when I announced my intention to give the garden a miss today!

Dinner was gorgeous, delicious roast lamb with new potatoes, baby leeks from the garden cooked in cream, diced carrots, gravy and fresh mint sauce. The milk jelly made yesterday was very good too, I topped mine with a spoon full of lemon curd, very naughty.

We have a pair of Long Tailed Tits nesting in the garden, they spend all day flitting about picking up small feathers, bits of dry moss and cobwebs. The male Black cap is using the drinking bowl in the front garden several times a day at the moment,I have nit seen the female for a few days, so she must be busy with her eggs.

It has been a funny sort of day, but in the end not unpleasant, in fact rather nice.

MERRY MEALTIMES.

Today was a little bit of all sorts,but it began with a very merry breakfast. Even Pa was sitting ready at the table by ten thirty, and we were all in a jolly mood, cracking jokes at each others expense and discussing the news with as much good humour as possible under the circumstances! Our meal was muffins and crumpets with butter and honey and home made strawberry jam.

After the dishes were done we went our separate ways for a few hours, I to the supermarket, my son to Richmond and Pa stayed in to dust his room....theoretically that is. Tesco was as you would expect during school holidays, full of kamikaze kids determined to be run over by any poor unsuspecting sap who is stupid enough to lose concentration for a few seconds. I did what I had to do and left as fast as possible. My next call was Home base to buy some more solar lights for the garden. These have proved to be very useful and also very pretty. They are quite small but they give off a good deal of light, very useful in areas where there is no power supply.

I arrived home about ten minutes before my son returned, Pa had done quite a bit of dusting but had not fed the birds or emptied the bins so we had to hustle about to get things done. Our shopping trips had been a success though and having replenished my supply of gelatine I made a milk jelly for tomorrow
MILK JELLY
2 pints of milk
1 lemon
two sachets of gelatine
1 tablespoon of sugar.

Remove the rind from the lemon in large slices being careful to avoid the pith, a potato peeler does this job best.
Pour the milk in to a saucepan add the lemon rind and heat gently until the milk begins to steam.
Pro about half a pint of the warm milk into a jug, add the gelatine and stir until it has dissolved then return it to the pan, stir again and cover with a lid. Leave for about an hour.
Strain through a sieve into a jelly mould of a clean bowl and allow to cool before refrigerating until set. This can take several hours so I always make mine the day before I want to eat it.
Serve alone, with lemon syrup or, my favourite way, with fresh fruit. I hope you like it as much as we do.

There was not much time for the garden today and perhaps that was well as I over did things rather yesterday. I did however plant a lovely Verbeena Bonarensis in the front garden and also some watering.
Tonight's dinner was a mixed grill which consisted of pork chops, sausages, bacon, mushrooms, tomatoes baked beans and jacket wedges. We all enjoy this meal and it takes no real preparation which at the moment exactly fits the bill. We had just sat down to this repast when there was a knock at the door. A young friend who we have not seen for some time had come to introduce her fiancé. She has been seriously ill for some time and we were glad to see them both , we asked them to join us and drew up two more chairs. We were a very hilarious party joking and laughing as we ate. She had on a beautiful engagement ring and her fiancé was very entertaining. I was touched to be invited to the wedding and so pleased that things are going well for her as she suffers from a debilitating illness which almost wrecked her life. She is so very brave and so very young, I wish her happiness with all my heart.
About half way through the meal there was anther knock at the door, it turned out to be our next door neighbour who is used to dropping in and who we are always happy to see, so we put the kettle on again broke out the shortbread and made two pots of tea for our guests. With the addition of a new guest we became even more hilarious, and when they all left together at about seven thirty we all agreed that the impromptu party had been great fun and invited our guests back for breakfast next week.

I am toying with the idea of cutting my hair which is very long at the moment. I shall probably decide to leave it as it is a, I wear it in a pony tail so it is just a case of wash and blow dry. The last time I had my hair short was about thirty years ago and I seem to recall spending ages fiddling about with hair sprays, styling gel and curling tongues. This last being rather to make my hair curl in the same direction all over as without the weigh and length it has a tendency to fizz about . I think perhaps at my age the Wicked Witch of the West look is perhaps more appropriate than an antiquated Shirley Temple, don't you !

THERE'S SOMETHING NASTY IN THE SHED !

We celebrated my son's first day off with a lovely breakfast of muffins and honey and hot buttered crumpets which a pot of tea and some fresh orange juice. My poor boy was very tired but happy and I made sure that he got lots of rest today.

Breakfast over I decided to continue in the garden as the weather forecast is not brilliant for the next few days. For some time I have been threatening to clear out MY garden shed. I stress the word my as I built it, it contains my tools, plant pots, nets, watering cans etc. What it also contains is a mass of trash thrown in there by Pa and my son as an alternative to proper disposal of, endless cardboard cartons from Amazon some small, some huge and filled with masses of polystyrene extrusions and blasted bubble wrap. Then there are the huge plastic bags in which large items have been delivered,it is all too easy for my shiftless menfolk to open my shed door, throw in the rubbish and forget it.
There is always a good excuse such as
a “It was raining.”
b “It was dark.”
c “The bins were full.”

Well that's all very fine but there is no excuse for not taking the debris away when.

a. It stops raining.
b. It is no longer dark.
c. The bins have been emptied.

Today I called time and having warned the miscreants of my intentions, and tomorrow being recycle day I bit the bullet and began . I needed to find my mower and strimmer as the grass is growing now but when I opened the shed door an avalanche of cardboard boxes and a huge reel of binder twine tumbled out and knocked me to the ground. My I was cross! I sat there buried under this mountain of tat wondering how to get myself off the floor when I was assisted by the appearance of a large number of huge......really huge spiders. Now I am equal to most things, snakes do not worry me, bugs, beetles, worms and slugs,are no problem, I can even tolerate rats. Spiders however do bother me. While I am glad to say that to a certain extent I am not as terrified of the blessed things as formerly, the idea of large numbers of the wretched creatures crawling up my trouser legs getting in my hair and down my T shirt was enough to get me on my feet faster than I would have thought possible. It was a horrible experience and of course knowing that they were there made the rest of the job very unpleasant It took a while but at last the shed was tidy and all my tools were within easy reach.
Note to self...buy padlock a.s.a.p”!

Having found the missing mower I mowed the grass in the front garden and them took the newly recovered strimmer to the orchard and tidied the paths,I have trouble with the strimmer these days as my balance is not good and I keep falling over, however I finished the job and was pleased with the result.
There were a good many Holly Blue butterflies about the garden today and I was fortunate enough to have my camera handy when one of these little little beauties settled down to warm her pretty wings.

Tired by now I did a little light weeding and potted on a few young plants in the bag of compost which I had found buried under the rubbish and planted out a lovely yellow osteospermum and a Black eyed Susan, both plants that I love. Feeling rather tired I went indoors to clean up and them into the kitchen where I made a big pan of soup for dinner using leeks , squash, peppers root vegetables crème fraiche and chicken stock. The poppy seed twist made yesterday went well with the hot soup and was followed by the raspberry jelly also made yesterday.

We ate early so that my son could go up to bed and I shall not far behind him. Pa and I will have some hot chocolate and then I suspect that we too will be ready for sleep.
It has been a very busy day but so much has been achieved and I am happy with everything...except for the massive dead spider which fell out of my scrunchy went I took my hair down this evening........YUK !

GROWING OLD IS A PAIN IN THE BUM !

Yes and just about everywhere else as well. I slept very little last night as various muscles and joints aired their discontent with the way in which I abused them yesterday, I must say I expected as much. When at last I managed to sleep the dawn had broken and my son was expected within the hour....for once he was on time.

During the hour or so in which I had slept my knee had contrived to seize up altogether , my sciatic nerves were jangling and I had acquired from no where a vicious headache which persisted until I limped down to the garden, pulled up a groundsel plant, bashed the root with a mallet and taken several long sniffs! I find this much more pleasant that a Feverfew sandwich which cures the headache but makes me feel queasy for hours afterwards.
After this less that propitious start I confess I was non too sanguine as to the day in prospect and with good reason. While dressing I discovered a number of large black bruises in various places, numerous splinters and to make matters worse my hand and wrist were aching with rheumatism, it is almost like tooth ache, very nasty indeed., and of course today was a bread making day. I swallowed some Dicloflex and a couple of pain killers and went out to pick nettles, the stinging seems to deaden the pain a little, well actually it replaces one pain with another,but it helps.

Some time later two large split tin loaves , two floury cob loaves and a poppy seed twist were cooling on wire trays, I breathed a sigh of relief and set about making pancakes for breakfast, Pa has a craze on them at the moment and I am glad to see him enjoying his meals again.

I decided to eschew any further heavy work for today and just pottered about with the hose pipe and managed a little light weeding. The day was sunny with a light breeze and I enjoyed several cups of coffee while sitting watching the birds go about their business. Over in the shelter belt at least one young kestrel has hatched judging by the noise coming from the nest, they kick up a terrific fuss when the parents appear with food and are have voracious appetites. I watched one of the parent birds plucking the feathers from what looked like a starling. They have a particular spot at the top of a dead tree on which they perform this ritual, hard luck for the starling but hunky dory for the hungry youngster.

A pair of wood pigeons have made their untidy nest in the apple tree at the bottom of the orchard for the third year running, she seems almost in a trance as she sits on her eggs, perhaps it is the soporific effect of her mates continuous cooing which is the cause, it almost sent me to sleep this afternoon as I sat on the garden swing under the tree.

I cooked a pasta meal for dinner, quick and easy and loved by my son who is almost finished with work for the week. Tomorrow we begin our week off and as usual it is so packed with plans that we shall all need a rest to get over it if we accomplish all we set out to do.

I am glad that it is evening now and I can soak my aching ,aged bones in a hot bath and then sink into bed. I feel every one of my years and a few extra ones today and yet after the hard work of this past week the gardens are looking lovely and are almost ready for what I hope will be a productive summer.
I am a stubborn old so and so and I am having trouble coming to terms with the fact that I am slower than I was and tire more easily since my illness. I do not feel at all like hanging up my trowel and intend to grow old as disgracefully as possible. Tomorrow I may not feel so old so the world had better watch out.

TIME TO MYSELF

It was wonderful to wake up to another lovely sunny morning and my son and I had coffee together before he took a bath and went off to bed. I decided to do a lunch instead of a breakfast today as Pa was up a little late and prepared a meal of mozzarella dresses with sun dried tomatoes and olives with a green salad and the remain if last nights tabbouleh which is very nice served cold with a light salad dressing. By the time I had baked four dozen cookies Pa was ready for his meal and we both enjoyed it very much, it made a change from eggs and pancakes.

Once the meal was over pa decided to go out to the shops , I know this will sound awful but I was glad to see him go out for a while. It is always difficult to get on with the chores while he is in the house and after he had been gone for half an hour I had finished my morning tasks and was ready for the garden. I took out a pot of tea and sat in the shade of the damson tree, now in full flower,, while I planned out the days activities. I was joined by my little cat who rolled about on the table asking to have her tummy tickled, and after a few minutes she went off to sit in her tree house the better to watch me at my labours, lazy creature!

There is still too much digging to do for my peace of mind as my health has not permitted me to do much heavy work this spring but by doing a little each day I have hopes that the ground will be ready by the time the plants need to go out. There was more sowing to do, this time some more nasturtiums and more peas, also the runner beans and French beans as well as the Borlotti beans which I dire for winter use.

Quite a few of the large containers need moving and some of the plants which they contain need bigger pots, this however will have to wait until my strapping son is available to assist me, next week I hope. My tame robin flitted about all afternoon pouncing with great glee upon any worm,s which I happened to uncover while going about my tasks, and I was pleased to discover that a pair of wrens have taken up residence in on of the nest boxes hidden in the ivy, that makes two pairs in the orchard now.

I have been wanting to put up two fence panels to fill the gape left when my nasty old landlord cut down our lilac bushes to punish us for insisting on some repairs to the house. I had the panels 6'x6' ready and waiting but I could not get the help I needed to erect them. Today I decided to have a go by myself, and much to my amazement I managed it alone. It took ages and I admit that I am scratched, bruised and shattered but the job is done at last, I am afraid that I twisted my knee rather badly but it was worth it, I shall just have to take care for a day or two until the swelling goes down.
When I had finished Twiggy inspected the new fence and gave her approval by sitting on the top for half an hour watching the goings on in the lane.

Pa was very late getting back from the shops,barely in time for dinner, Lord knows what he was up to, I am afraid to ask. I enjoyed very much having some time to myself. So much of my time is taken up these days with looking after Pa and dealing with endless visitors,that I seldom have any quiet time on my own. Of course I like company but......some times I feel as if my batteries are running low and a day by myself with no one to look after, cook for or worry about gives me time to recharge and be ready for the fray once more.

Dinner tonight was scampi and chips with a big salad and home made lemon sauce, This is a favourite with all of us in warm weather as it takes little time to cook and is light to eat.

I have almost caught up with the backlog of laundry caused by the demise of my washing machine last week, poor thing, it is almost as old as I am, I wonder if I can get my motor fixed?