Food, Fun, Family and a Little Bit of Medical........

 
Mmmmmm Chinese takeaway as Son and fiancé came for Saturday evening. It was so hot (I'm talking about the weather now not the takeaway) we had all the doors and windows open and still needed our electric air cooler fan. The heat was probably why I slept so badly, thankfully no plans on Sunday to be energetic for. 

I'd been given a locally caught sea bass that had been sitting in my freezer as Hubby isn't particularly keen so I decided to add a large variety of fish and veg to it and make a fish pie. 

Unlike the supermarket extras the bass was really hard work skinning and boning before cutting into chunks. I'm still working at getting the smell off my hands and keep rinsing from an out of date bottle of lemon juice I keep in the fridge.  Hubby did all the mash which was a big help. All worth it as it was yummy and six portions now in the freezer for other "can't be bothered to cook" days.

Blood test at the surgery was successful but far too complicated. I arrived at my appointment to be told that that nurse had called in sick and they would have to rebook, I explained the urgency of the hospital request and another nurse agreed to fit me into her already busy morning "only a blood test, won't take long" she said. She went online and found the list of what is needed, however it wouldn't print off for her the lab lables as it would only go to the printer at the hospital where they had previously tried last Thursday, this could also be a glitch following the recent IT worldwide chaos. She eventually gave up and decided to do it the old way and wrote everything out manually. Then apart from having to run around the surgery to find a long fine needle getting the four phials filled seemed the easy bit. Phew!

Wednesday morning at Specsavers I had my first pair of hearing aids fitted. In the evening we met up with our usual friends, eating at Prezzo then onto the Grosvenor pub. It was their monthly open-mike music night. I've never really enjoyed open-mike night as it's too loud to have a conversation, I think the aids did improve the clarity a little although I'd have preferred if they had improved the level of talent. 

Thursday friendM had invited me along with her sisters H&T to lunch. Our respective men dropped us all off and met at the snooker club. FriendM has recently moved back into her house at Felixstowe Ferry. We all really enjoyed the huge variety of fresh seafood she served with crusty cheese bread. This is definitely my favourite sort of spread mmmmmm. 

As my contribution I'd made this rhubarb cake. 

Not sure why but it's not supposed to look like this. The rhubarb should be all over the top covered in a sprinkling of brown sugar that once baked gives a thin shiny, crunchy surface. This time the sponge rose above it all but it still tasted really good and I was complimented by everyone. 

Friday and Daughter had to come over for a shower as hers has decided to trip the electrics as soon as you turn it on (she's called her landlord so I hope it gets fixed soon). 

Thursday night was the opening night for A Midsummer Night's Dream by Red Rose Chain Theatre and Friday night we went on Press night as a family. 

Far left with the accordion is R and I'm a very proud Grandma as always. 

The plan was I would go with Son and fiancé (Hubby was dog sitting) and in her car Daughter had M and O. One of my oldest friends friendKK should have met us there but couldn't leave a very sick relative she is caring for as no other family member was available, she'd tried so hard and was so disappointed. Then last minute fiancé decided she wasn't feeling up to coming so we went in one car and Hubby was left dog free. 

It was wonderful as always and my Facebook review read

"We were there tonight and the show was brilliant. The whole cast, super quick costume changes, the puppets, the songs, the humour, the whole atmosphere created that makes the audience clap cheer and sing along. 

I've already tickets to come again. 

Thank you Red Rose Chain 👏"

After the final applause there are always a few speeches and thank yous. This time included the background of how Theatre in The Forest started 25 years ago. Daughter then reminded us that she'd come every year for 19 of them and that R and E were just three years old at their first one and now R is in them! 

So I'm ending this week's with a smile on my face.

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Smelling The Roses......

 
This made me laugh when a neighbour sent it to me. What are the chances of another couple having the same names as Hubby and I, and performing locally. 

I went for the Oncology appointment and the consultant confirmed that lymphoma needs treatment that will control it as it can't be cured. It will be one pill a day for life that targets cancer cells to inhibit growth (it's not chemo). Told it will give unpleasant side effects which will then need to be managed but as everyone is different that's ongoing and will hopefully settle after about three months. CT Scans every four months. I was actually ready to refuse all treatment (the nine previous cancers had without doubt damaged my fight reflex) but for the first time ever Hubby insisted I have it which is what I needed. 

After two vampires made five bloodless attempts I stopped them and have now made an appointment at the surgery for Monday. That was possibly my fault as I didn't know I would be needing a blood test today so didn't drink the gallons I would normally have to as my veins are notoriously shy. 

I was given a leaflet and told the specialist/Macmillan nurse would call me in a day or two to make arrangements. I'm hoping I can start the treatment after the 11th August as I've plans before that I don't want to miss. 

Of course as soon as we came home I reported all this back to our children and my siblings. Then later I emailed my ex-work friendR as I knew her husbandJ had similar treatment for myeloma. They were both so supportive and reassuring that it made me feel a lot more positive than I had. 

Now I'm gradually going through the people that also would appreciate knowing and checking my calender and warning those we should be meeting up with later in August that I need to see how I feel at the time. 

I've also emailed the Courts to ask to be excused from jury service that I'd already agreed to, that's also end of August. 

Didn't realise I was so busy until I started to cancel and let people know. 

I will try to tell it how it is, as my diary can't just be the good bits, but that's enough serious stuff for this post. So I'll share some of my garden. 

Not too many rose blooms out although there's lots of buds getting ready. 

And the ones that are in bloom are beautiful. 

I love this huge lavatera/mallow display especially as the original came from my mum's tiny little garden. 

Stunning acanthus needs a bit of a weeding around it. 

And I've had my first ripe plum off the tree, so the others shouldn't take much longer in our current hot sunny weather. 

Till next week, don't forget the sunscreen and drink plenty.

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Looking For Rainbows.......

 
The week started well with England winning the Euro quarter final on penalties over Switzerland. I do find them very frustrating to watch so hope they play better in the semi finals. 

It's been so wet here but we were still surprised by the giant slug walking up the french door glass.

I'm always so grateful that our NHS keep regular checks on me following on everything that's been before. Sadly they've now discovered I've another cancer, this time in a lymph node. I've been referred to Oncology but told as it's been found so early it's very treatable. Keep everything crossed for me please. 

Had a special request from friendTF to be out Wednesday evening as usual, even though friendM is away. I know Hubby and friendFF would probably have preferred to stay home as it's England v Netherlands in the semi final. The five of us had a lovely meal and the restaurant was relatively quiet. After that we normally go to the pub, however as it has about seven huge screens it was jam packed, the snooker club was the same. When friendP listed all alternatives we realised they would all be showing the football and have nowhere for us to sit, so we went back to friendP's house, he made coffees and we watched the second half of the game in comfort (actually friendTF fell asleep) and England won. 

Thursday evening neighbour/friendA and friendV and I went to our local theatre where a local am-dram group performed this. 

Two of FriendA's granddaughters are in it, but always part of the crowd scenes. With a multitude of costume changes and all the leads having really good voices singing songs we all know well from the original 1960s film it was entertaining, however, all three of us said it wasn't really our taste as it was so over the top, all cast had broad fake American accents and only a few of the very large cast seemed to get the limelight. 

Not my photo but taken by M when he performed at the Ipswich Music Day last Sunday. His set ended with a huge thunder storm. 

Wet Sink and Sky.......

 
With all the plumbing checked when the new boiler was installed, Hubby was still trying to find a way to improve the pressure of the hot water coming out of the mixer tap.  Taking it all apart again he thought it must be the small bore tube inside the tap head, so he tried to drill it out a bit but only succeeded in making it unusable. We have a new tap head on order but until then we have Hubby's temporary solution! 

Two more tap heads later and it looks better and maybe a little faster. 

Lots of rhubarb to pull and I've found a new recipe for a rhubarb cake. It was yummy. Three boxes of stewed rhubarb now in the freezer too. 

Out of the blue I've received a summons for jury service! Hubby has been called twice during his adult life, I've never been called before. It's not till the end of August and I'm hoping it will be interesting, not gory or boring, fingers crossed eh? Amazed at the few people I've told many of them were really negative and expected me to get out of it. Of course I'd accepted. 

There has been almost nothing worth watching on TV for a while now (apart from sport) and a few of our favourite series have reached their final episodes ever. Then I saw this

For something to have great reviews for 20 years it has to be worth us starting. We had avoided it before as we already watched Casualty, Holby City and The Good Doctor but now only Casualty remains. Series 1 Episode 1 of GA was really good and we met so many different characters. We've watched two more since. 

I'll not say too much about last Sunday night's football, but eventually England's two goals got them through. At about 75 mins Daughter and O arrived back from Kentwell hoping to unload her tent and roofbox, but we made them sit and watch the end of the football first which unfortunately went to extra time, another half hour! While watching she told me how she'd chopped the top off her finger with an axe. I found her some extra dressings to take home. It proved impossible for her to do the roofbox with Hubby so they unloaded everything with O's help and the box stayed put. 

Glad I'd chosen a roast dinner of meatballs that didn't suffer being so delayed as it was nearly 8pm before Hubby and I ate. 

And then it was July! Gosh half this year has gone! 

Tuesday was a medical day. In the morning I had the full hearing test at Specsavers. As suspected I would benefit from aids in both ears so that's the direction I'm going. Then straight to the hospital and a quick sandwich in the Costa there, then admitted as a day patient for a small procedure. It rained on and off but thankfully we seemed to dodge the worst of it quite well all day. 

Hubby took the car back to Audi for them to sort the loss of settings problem, hopefully just a bit of software, but very annoying when all radio favourites and other things Hubby had set come back sometimes but often don't and have to be set again! He got the car back with a temporary fix as the main people still work on this as Hubby isn't the only one to have this fault. 

A very important Thursday as it was the 4th July so USA independence day, also the UK general election day, however more important for me was seeing the  Thomas Wolsey 550 parade in Ipswich. This was nearly a year's work coming together for the team and Daughter as the lead of music and school's involvement teaching the children of five schools the songs and dance moves, she also lead the whole procession of about 400 including the Colchester and Cambridge Waits musicians. 

I couldn't actually be there in person but followed all the reports on social media, Daughter's radio interviews, local press and local TV news both BBC and ITV. So pleased it didn't rain on their parade. Sorry that was a bit corny but it's been raining a lot this week. 

After all that Daughter came over to finally remove the top box from her car. You might see from the photo above that her index finger is still heavily bandaged, healing slowly but challenged with all that performing and playing, so M came too to help Hubby raise the box into it's garage roof harness. After they left we nipped down to vote. 

Friday morning we woke to our new Labour Government with Sir Keir Starmer as PM. Wonder what changes that will bring. 

I'm feeling sad about Hurricane Beryl doing so much damage through the Caribbean at the moment. Hearing my name so often on the news is making me feel a bit responsible. 

Here our forecast is for an umbrella weekend, so keep yours handy.

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