Sorry guys

 We had some very bad family news a few weeks back, which knocked us for six:(

Luckily it eventually turned around and things are better and returning almost to normal. Have not felt like blogging even though I would have liked to, my mind was all over the place!

We alternated between being terrified, to hopeful, back to terrified and eventually back to hopeful and are finally heading towards recovery.

We are going nowhere this weekend, the traffic will be its usual horrendous self and frankly, we seriously need to de-stress. Even Ruby was affected, she acted very out of character but she too, is settling down. It just goes to show, that when things are pootling along nicely, a life or death spanner can be thrown in your direction.

What we do believe is, if this had happened over here, they would most likely not have survived. It happened abroad, ambulance there in 5 minutes, in surgery shortly afterwards. 6 days in hospital, 4 days recovery then returned home to recuperate. That process is still ongoing but going well and in the right direction.

One wash is all it’s taken….

 I have been using my homemade shampoo for about a year. It has been brilliant at stopping the severe itch due to a scalp skin condition our family suffer from. 

It can leave my hair slightly tacky for 24 hours before changing to silky smooth. My hairdresser comments on the tackiness so without thinking too much about it, I used normal shampoo for her yesterday.

What a mistake!

Within an hour I was scratching and it has gotten worse so today, I will wash my hair again with my own shampoo.

What are you growing this year?

 I hope to grow tomatoes, chillies, carrots, beetroot, various lettuce and other greens, dwarf French beans, radish, might squeeze in some peas, and more annual flowers for the bees.

On the fruit side of things not much. The bramble usually does well, but strawberries, gooseberries and rhubarb were all pathetic last year. Hopefully they will do better this year. Still have my red pear but it too didn’t do well.

Ah well, got to keep trying. 

On the herbal tea front, another month should see the nettle growth in a wild patch close to us. They will gradually get harvested and dried for tea. Made two jars worth last year, used one so far. Need to plant a lot more mint in tubs as we almost ran out of that.

If you have only bought commercial mint tea, lemon balm or lemon verbena, or nettle tea, your own that has been dried is way better.

Another gardening year begins!

 Last year we grew first early potatoes 'Winston'. Allegedly they weren't supposed to be very good but we enjoyed them. This year we are trying two 'new to us' varieties, Caledonian Pearl and Sharpe's Express:

They were already sprouting when we bought them and I needed to remove one or two long sprouts but the rest were stubby so okay.

Haven't got the compost/manure yet to plant them into containers but we will remedy that soon. I lost two of the wallflowers in a front pot so remedied that by buying two nice primula.

Creature comforts …

 A tv programme where slow motion animated plasticine puppets play out everyday overheard conversations.

We visited a garden centre this morning to pick up a few things, stopping in their cafe for a coffee. On the table next to us, were a couple visiting their friend who was filling them in on his latest medical news.

No matter how hard we tried, we couldn’t tune him out!

Genes for Huntington disease, inherited from his mum, patches of his brain not working properly, Ménière’s disease, vertigo etc. Doctors at the hospital who say they will refer him to other specialists but don’t.

He can apparently get around his house, go to the very local shop, just about get to the pub but can’t get home.

The mind boggles.

First lovely warm day

 It is gorgeous today and we hope to be able to sit outside to have a cup of tea, with a coat on! We tried on a sunny February day but a cold wind stopped us.

We are still ill but both feel we have turned the corner. A chesty cough has developed, still a slight runny nose and headache though. We both feel shattered. Did a Covid test which was negative. 

Whatever it is/was, we hope to never have it again!

Not a normal cold it seems

According to the surgery nurse yesterday when hubby had to give blood, fully masked of course.

She said a cold, with many flu symptoms is circulating and it is horrible. Well we can confirm that. Unfortunately for hubby, he is 12 hours behind me so can see what’s coming poor lad.

2 1/2 boxes of tissues later, we are still going, our noses are raw. Still sneezing, noses like taps, headaches, occasional joint pains, occasional sweats, very chesty with lots of coughing. I ended up back in bed yesterday, we are drinking but have hardly any appetite.

Between us, we form half a functioning human:)