A dull day

I have been plagued with this Bursa for so long, injections haven't worked (the consultant said that they might not, and the last ones haven't)  I think it has addled my brain!

I am back to square one! doing physio three\four times a day, and back to not being able to drive, which is a real nuisance when you live in a village and want to go into town!  In fact, since Mr L bought me the car, I have only driven it once!  But although I am a virtual "prisoner", I can't complain about the "prison and surroundings"

It's an absolute gorgeous village that I live in, it has a little store with a part time post office, there's a fabulous pub, doctors, butcher, newsagent, furniture shop, chemist, two places to eat, 2 hairdressers,
doctors, baker's, and more!  But, I need help with my computer, my son is in Japan with his family and away for a few weeks so I am expert less!  (and there are none that I know of here)

So, until I work out what I have or haven't done,  "it's only words, and words are all I have......"  as the great song goes!

I've digressed sorry........


We needed help to move our shed (made of tin) which was tucked away by one side of the bungalow where the boiler and oil tank are. .  (We have three entrances to our garden, as it is wide rather than long very handy)

Our really, really, oil fired central heating boiler, despite years of resuscitation,  finally gave up the ghost! It was very thoughtful of it to wait until the warmer weather (you do realize that if it wasn't for my hours of begging each day for sunshine, and warmth, you might not be enjoying the summer that we are having! (Sorry, I'll leave out the back story of plumbers in laws)

The plumber is now coming on Monday, yes this Monday (fingers and toes and everything else crossed)

So we had to move our metal shed that is round that side of the bungalow to make room for the chap to work safely (I know what you are thinking but the original gargantuan old boiler is at the other end of the bungalow, hence the lovely space we had for the metal shed!

God blessed us with a dry day, and I slathered on my thick white cream, and covered all my extremities etc against the sunshine.  (Longer story short)  Conifer hedging stuck out too far to get the shed through without dismantling it (never again will I help erect a metal shed in a bad winter, holding the frame  up on my own in freezing rain, whilst the men were in the cosy garage trying to work out the instructions (Sorry, I digress, it would have been easier with the photos!)

Long story as short as I can make it...........the conifer hedge was in the way! Soooo a quick (ish) trip home to the other end of the village for the chain saw, and big trailer!  All started to go well. albeit dusty and dirty) until we discovered that our absentee neighbour, had tied up his 6ft tall fence (posts) to the trunks of our (inherited, ancient conifer trees!  So now we have a beautiful section of our garden with tall, unsightly conifer trunks, BUT, we don't have to look at them as our garden room extension hides most of them, for now!

At last the metal shed could be lifted high above the boundary, (by the three of us) and settled in the far corner behind the tall silver birch tree, and makes a nice feature of it)  And surprisingly the shed was incredibly light and makes a nice feature of where the compost bins were!  It's screwed down onto it's base, and I have already put the gardening tools in it that I use regularly, and some planted up pots around the front and side to make a feature of it!

One weary happy bunny, keeping her fingers crossed that it might deter the neighbourhood  cats from using it as through route to get the neighbour's and making her dog go bonkers!

Thank you for popping by!  I am off to solve the puzzle of missing photos!

My gardening saga

I have been plagued with this Bursa for so long, injections haven't worked (the consultant said that they might not, and the last ones haven't)  I think it has addled my brain!

I am back to square one! doing physio three\four times a day, and back to not being able to drive, which is a real nuisance when you live in a village and want to go into town!  In fact, since Mr L bought me the car, I have only driven it once!  But although I am a virtual "prisoner", I can't complain about the "prison and surroundings"

It's an absolute gorgeous village that I live in, it has a little store with a part time post office, there's a fabulous pub, doctors, butcher, newsagent, furniture shop, chemist, two places to eat, 2 hairdressers,
doctors, baker's, and more!  But, I need help with my computer, my son is in Japan with his family and away for a few weeks so I am expert less!  (and there are none that I know of here)

So, until I work out what I have or haven't done,  "it's only words, and words are all I have......"  as the great song goes!

I've digressed sorry........


We needed help to move our shed (made of tin) which was tucked away by one side of the bungalow where the boiler and oil tank are. .  (We have three entrances to our garden, as it is wide rather than long very handy)

Our really, really, oil fired central heating boiler, despite years of resuscitation,  finally gave up the ghost! It was very thoughtful of it to wait until the warmer weather (you do realize that if it wasn't for my hours of begging each day for sunshine, and warmth, you might not be enjoying the summer that we are having! (Sorry, I'll leave out the back story of plumbers in laws)

The plumber is now coming on Monday, yes this Monday (fingers and toes and everything else crossed)

So we had to move our metal shed that is round that side of the bungalow to make room for the chap to work safely (I know what you are thinking but the original gargantuan old boiler is at the other end of the bungalow, hence the lovely space we had for the metal shed!

God blessed us with a dry day, and I slathered on my thick white cream, and covered all my extremities etc against the sunshine.  (Longer story short)  Conifer hedging stuck out too far to get the shed through without dismantling it (never again will I help erect a metal shed in a bad winter, holding the frame  up on my own in freezing rain, whilst the men were in the cosy garage trying to work out the instructions (Sorry, I digress, it would have been easier with the photos!)

Long story as short as I can make it...........the conifer hedge was in the way! Soooo a quick (ish) trip home to the other end of the village for the chain saw, and big trailer!  All started to go well. albeit dusty and dirty) until we discovered that our absentee neighbour, had tied up his 6ft tall fence (posts) to the trunks of our (inherited, ancient conifer trees!  So now we have a beautiful section of our garden with tall, unsightly conifer trunks, BUT, we don't have to look at them as our garden room extension hides most of them, for now!

At last the metal shed could be lifted high above the boundary, (by the three of us) and settled in the far corner behind the tall silver birch tree, and makes a nice feature of it)  And surprisingly the shed was incredibly light and makes a nice feature of where the compost bins were!  It's screwed down onto it's base, and I have already put the gardening tools in it that I use regularly, and some planted up pots around the front and side to make a feature of it!

One weary happy bunny, keeping her fingers crossed that it might deter the neighbourhood  cats from using it as through route to get the neighbour's and making her dog go bonkers!

Thank you for popping by!  I am off to solve the puzzle of missing photos!

Well I am still 'here' and have a new family!

First the boring bit, I am still suffering from the Bursa, so I can't walk far and still in pain.  On the positive side, the breath is still going in and out, so all's right with the world!  I have had another procedure at the hospital, "a really big ouch!" but it still hasn't worked.  So I am trying to keep myself perky, and what better way than buying some new little girls, after dear old Dolly popped her clogs!

Freckles looked so sad and lonely on her own, and my heart went out to her!

They have already found their way in to the delapidated old fruit cage, and are "cleaning up" all the black currants that didn't make it to the freezer.

At the minute they are like cheeky boisterous teenagers having fun and getting up to mischief! I can sit and look at them for hours!

Talking of sitting, I had an appointment at the hospital for another "procedure" to try and fix the bursa (after a nasty fall whilst working in the garden and catching my foot in some net fencing over a year ago.")

I have been spending hours every day religiously doing my physiotherapy exercises without fail!

I had all my hopes pinned on this (2nd) jab, so that I can get back to working in the garden, and trying to make some changes, and to be able to drive again!

No change yet, but I live in hope.

I had my heart set on making some changes in the garden, and having a dedicated Country Garden, in front of the studio shed,  fenced off! with a gate, so that I can sit in my sit in my 'studio shed' and look out onto a country cottage little garden, so that I can watch the chooks safely free ranging, collect cutting flowers from a dedicated area, for flower arranging, hopefully have a veggie patch and spend time just daydreaming!   I love my studio shed, I flower arrange in there, do a bit of arty crafty "stuff", and just sit and daydream looking out of the window, and not being smothered in my special thick suncream!

Talking of daydreaming, I was sitting in there this week, thinking back to my childhood and the walled village I lived in.

http://www.barnardos.org.uk/what_we_do/our_history/barnardos_homes/barnardos_homes_london/barnardos_homes_london_girls.htm

I wish the photo was in colour!  It was beautiful, and there were huge flower beds and dozens of gardens.  I spent ages chatting to the gardeners, they were lovely.  I always remembered them after I grew up and left.  I think that is where the 'seed' was sown in me for growing "food", flowers, shrubs!

Here's my dream 'cottage today' in the rain!

Thanks for visiting.  I'll start updating this again regularly!

I'll be back soon!

  

Well I am still 'here' and have a new family!

First the boring bit, I am still suffering from the Bursa, so I can't walk far and still in pain.  On the positive side, the breath is still going in and out, so all's right with the world!  I have had another procedure at the hospital, "a really big ouch!" but it still hasn't worked.  So I am trying to keep myself perky, and what better way than buying some new little girls, after dear old Dolly popped her clogs!

Freckles looked so sad and lonely on her own, and my heart went out to her!

They have already found their way in to the delapidated old fruit cage, and are "cleaning up" all the black currants that didn't make it to the freezer.

At the minute they are like cheeky boisterous teenagers having fun and getting up to mischief! I can sit and look at them for hours!

Talking of sitting, I had an appointment at the hospital for another "procedure" to try and fix the bursa (after a nasty fall whilst working in the garden and catching my foot in some net fencing over a year ago.")

I have been spending hours every day religiously doing my physiotherapy exercises without fail!

I had all my hopes pinned on this (2nd) jab, so that I can get back to working in the garden, and trying to make some changes, and to be able to drive again!

No change yet, but I live in hope.

I had my heart set on making some changes in the garden, and having a dedicated Country Garden, in front of the studio shed,  fenced off! with a gate, so that I can sit in my sit in my 'studio shed' and look out onto a country cottage little garden, so that I can watch the chooks safely free ranging, collect cutting flowers from a dedicated area, for flower arranging, hopefully have a veggie patch and spend time just daydreaming!   I love my studio shed, I flower arrange in there, do a bit of arty crafty "stuff", and just sit and daydream looking out of the window, and not being smothered in my special thick suncream!

Talking of daydreaming, I was sitting in there this week, thinking back to my childhood and the walled village I lived in.

http://www.barnardos.org.uk/what_we_do/our_history/barnardos_homes/barnardos_homes_london/barnardos_homes_london_girls.htm

I wish the photo was in colour!  It was beautiful, and there were huge flower beds and dozens of gardens.  I spent ages chatting to the gardeners, they were lovely.  I always remembered them after I grew up and left.  I think that is where the 'seed' was sown in me for growing "food", flowers, shrubs!

Here's my dream 'cottage today' in the rain!

Thanks for visiting.  I'll start updating this again regularly!

I'll be back soon!

  

Thank you for your lovely comments............

Well I am now happy and come to the conclusion that I have made the right decision about giving up my allotment in October.

I had a very nasty fall almost three months ago and am still suffering from a bursa on my hip where I 'impaled' ,myself on a sawn off conifer branch (in the garden hedge)!  How silly was that!  So the decision was made for me really!

It convinced me that I have enough fruit bushes, and strawberry plants to keep us in fruit supplies most (if no all) of the winter!  I have some raised beds for next year's potatoes and other veggies,  and the fruit cage is absolutely bursting with strawberries, blackcurrants, and rhubarb!   I have already made lots and lots of jams, and am still freezing the fruit for winter!  When I can scrounge a lift from Mr Lottie,  I have gooseberry bushes groaning with fruit ready to be picked, (hopefully not already been picked by other humans up there, but hoping that the netting will deter them!)

So I'll be back as soon as I can with any further news I hope!  Thanks for popping in to see me!

Goodbye Allotment

I have decided to give up my allotment plot at the end of the year.   Things have changed up on the site.  More people, which isn't a bad thing, but petty thefts/destruction, and lots of discontent.  It's just not the happy and easy going place that it used to be!

But the good news is that I am now growing quite a bit in my garden.  I have taken cuttings of fruit bushes, rhubarb, etc, and they are all growing very nicely.  I will only grow enough for the two of use, and not spend a lot of time processing the crops, cooking and freezing them. 

It's time to spend more time just having fun.

I'll be back soon with photos from the garden 'plot'.

Thank you for visiting.

R.I.P. Daisy

 

Daisy - my much loved and most favourite Pekin Bantam that I have ever had

died yesterday at the grand old age of 14 years.  

On Monday she was the last one out of the nest box, but I didn't think anything 

of it as she was getting so old.  She spent a fabulous day in the sunshine

catching insects and sunbathing with the others.

Yesterday I was up and out early and she was enjoying sitting in the 'ground floor' nest box in the sunshine in the run, and didn't come running out for food.  Off I went for my three mile walk, then back again to load my car up for my trip up the allotment.

I had a look at her and she was asleep snuggled down in the Hemcore in the sunshine.

I stroked her before I went and she didn't move.  It was then that I realised that she had died.

Oh how I loved her - what joy she gave us - she was such a treasure, but she 

lived a very very long time for a bantam - the longest lived chicken I have ever owned.

We have some lovely memories of her - and great photos - and scrummy eggs over the years.  So whilst I do feel sad (which is rather silly you will think) I am so happy that she lived a long, peaceful and healthy life right up until yesterday.

 

Me 39 He 30

 (click on photos to enlarge)

We had heavy rain all weekend (luckily after we had  been up the allotment very early Saturday morning. 

Today we made another visit to tackle

 The Comfrey plants.  With all the rain this year they are shoulder height!

 We have just finished the last of last years old potatoes.

I mashed the old spuds that were left a few months ago, 

and put them into containers  and popped them into the freezer.

Instant toppings for Shepherds Pie or Fish Pie, Bubble and squeak

and so much more!   We were unwilling to buy some supermarket potatoes, 

before ours are ready to dig up!   It was then I had a Eureka moment!

 Last year I covered up the big bed at the other end of my plot.

Mr Lottie was too ill, and I didn't have the time or energy to work on it.

I noticed a few weeks ago that the heavy covering had a couple of bulges in it!

So I made a cut and found evidence of a little bit of potato foliage which grew bigger

over the weeks.

I persuaded Mr L to investigate which he did so reluctantly

 Underneath the plastic clean and dry, not even needing to be dug up

 Were two varieties of potatoes

Some big 'jacket' potatoes.  By the time we eat these 

this years crop will be ready to start digging up! 

RESULT!

Meanwhile

 I was cutting and composting the comfrey

I am so pleased with the end result - I even mowed the lawn path!

And, and, and, at 6am this morning I did my 3.5 mile walk and did the same walk in reverse tonight!   Anything to get away from the neighbours howling hound!

Have a good week everyone.

Allotment hours worked. Me 37 He 29

Wow - I have had a busy week up the allotment - fruit picking!

I have at least 25-30lb of strawberries in my freezer.  We have eaten pounds - literally over the past few weeks, and I have made lots of pots of strawberry jam for those winter days - you can't beat a thick slice of toast on a winters evening lathered with butter and strawberry jam.

My black currant and red currant harvest at the plot has  been negligible - my fault entirely. This time last year Mr Lottie was so seriously ill and when it came to harvesting my fruit bushes I resorted to cutting off their branches, and bringing them home so that I could pick  them here and look after Mr L. So this year there is almost zero berries -well just a couple of ice cream tubs full.

The strawberries have more than made up for the shortfall though.  I picked and froze another batch of 13 lb of strawberries, and have a couple of ice cream tubs full for desserts in the fridge.

Mixed with other meager pickings of various odd berries here and there I managed to make another four and a half pounds of scrummy mixed berry  jam.  It is made of strawberries, black currants, raspberries, red currants, jostaberries, gooseberries and loganberries.

 All of which the birds would have eaten.

 It tastes so scrummy - yes I do confess to scraping out the jam pan

and eating the 'dregs'.  Well you just have to don't you!

And froze another batch of 12.5 lb of strawberries

I check over each strawberry, clean them etc. Cut the huge ones in half

then open freeze them on large metal trays.  

Once frozen I use a spatula to loosen them off the trays and pack them in 1lb bags.

I have taken the netting off all the remainder of my berries - I just can't keep picking it, so the  birds or whoever can help themselves!

It hammered it down with rain over night and today - so I feel very virtuous at having spent the hours I did this week up the lottie - and makes it all worthwhile!