Wet Week Inside and Out......

 
Well as promised I can start this post with the new kitchen tap photo. 

This was Saturday but it didn't all go totally to plan and I got desperately yelled for to help when Hubby was stuck inside the cupboard holding onto the fountain that shouldn't have happened as the water was turned off. So I stayed close by after that and was plumbers mate a couple more times. 

This tap now has a single lever that we can use with the back of the hand on those horrid greasy or floury dough fingered moments and the top bit pulls out on a hose to reach further than the other one did. 

Sunday Daughter popped round with R, O and the dog for a cuppa or two and careful not to sit too close we did sit in the lounge! It was so lovely not shivering outside and when Hubby had finished with the F1 racing in Monaco, O played on the wii for nostalgia sake........ life is getting back to normal. 

Our precious granddaughters, R and E turned 19 on Monday! Not able to see either of them in person on the day I video called and they both answered, I was thrilled. Later in the day we did see R when she popped over with O, Daughter and the dog, so Daughter could swap cars as her's needs our neighbour mechanic again.

A bit more plumbing each day as Hubby is not happy with the hot water flow as it's much slower in the new tap than anywhere else in the house. So empty cupboards and water catching again on Tuesday. 

Wednesday I've had another check up CT Scan, results follow in a week or two. Had to be done without the contrast dye after the usual cannula chaos. 

Wednesday night's moon was called a super flower blood moon and it was beautiful. My phone camera definitely didn't do it justice, or that may have been down to the photographer! 

Thursday more plumbing! More wet towels. Actually not too wet. He reported afterwards that it was very awkward and he did manage to cut away the joint that he thought was causing the problem and replace it without any leaks! Although the hot water flow isn't brilliant it is better than it was. A moderately satisfied Hubby. 

Friday morning Hubby exchanged this

For this

Doesn't mean much to me but he's a happy chappy!

Daughter's car was expensively returned so Friday afternoon she came to swap back, bringing with her R, O, the dog and a very long length of linen for making two more Tudor shifts so she could use my large dining room table for cutting out. 

Meanwhile I made rock buns with apple and rhubarb mmmmm

Rain has eased right off lately and the plumbing is fixed 🤞 so the forecast is dry! 

Enjoy your Bank Holiday weekend but stay safe.

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Weather, Whether, Whither, With her.........

 
Very mixed week of sunshine and showers (quite heavy at times) and the forecast is much the same for the rest of the month. Thankfully stayed dry for Monday's coffee morning. 

Hubby is making the most of every dry opportunity to get more gardening done. At the rainy times he's been clearing all the old electrical stuff out of the loft as he's found somewhere that might take it all for recycling, but first he checked with Son if he wanted to keep anything as lots of it was his from previous jobs when he was more hardware and networks, he didn't. Then Hubby checked with M who came over and took away what he could make use of at his Creative Computing Club. Hubby is now waiting for the  recycle people to collect the rest. 

We have now enjoyed a ladies afternoon tea for four of us. Because of the weather we waited till this week so we could book inside. It's been far more than a year since the four of us have been together. We chose 

The Orwell Hotel as hopefully it would be less busy than a cafe and we can sit for longer (we've a lot of catching up to do) and with their own carpark we won't have to walk in the rain.  

It was lovely and we all came home with doggy boxes. 

As the pandemic had curtailed all of Daughter's performance work she had time to develop her printing skills and is now a professional printmaker mostly using quite traditional lino cut techniques. Making cards in themed sets and prints to frame and collections in book form, they are selling well. She's done many as gifts including my Christmas and mother's day prezzies and donated into a charity project. This week she is included in an exhibition. Daughter and I went to the preview, afterwards a walk along the Waterfront and stopping for a coffee as it was so sunny and warm. 

The exhibition is to celebrate Ipswich life and Daughter has very strong memories of our local centre as it was when we moved here and all her growing up years. There was a pub, lots of small shops and as it was totally pedestrianised it was a great meeting and hanging around place. 

The Centre was demolished about 15ish years ago and is now a successful Asda and fuel station. I hope the people from the flats above the old shops got a good deal and we still talk about and miss Chow's Takeaway, the best quality Chinese food with the family in the kitchen and the son on the desk who remembered all his regular customers, they just closed and disappeared. 

*just heard her print has sold*

And rounding off the week I had another follow up Cystoscopy. 

First the bad news....... although it wasn't raining, and although there were no major traffic problems, and although Hubby found a parking space at the hospital quite easily, it was incredibly windy and as Hubby got out of the car the wind took his door out of his hand and knocked it right into the car beside us! It left a small dent but in a very obvious place grrrrr! 

Hubby left a note on his windscreen and a later phone call from the driver and conversation will be continued after he gets a quote. 

Now the good news......... my three monthly Cystoscopy showed nothing untoward and I'm still cancer free 👍🏼😁🤩

Today Hubby is hoping this

Will replace this

Fingers crossed next Saturdays post will start with the finished photo 🤞

Hold on to anything that might blow away and stay safe.

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Things Revived and New......

 
Sunday was the first SERV Bloodrunners fundraising event for a very long time, possibly over a year (although they may have done one small town centre appearance last summer between lockdowns I can't remember).
They were at Stonham Barns Park Motorbike Show with a very reduced stand which was roped off so the public had to keep their distance, and no tombola or bikes for people to sit on. The event had a good turnout and they raised about £175 which was excellent. 

Oh the games we play. 

Hubby said he would be out on the drive cleaning his motorbike. When it was done to his very high standard he came in and was telling me something about needing another pannier but they are only sold in pairs, so he thought he'd go to his favourite bike shop as they may have ordered a pair for someone else who only needed one so would have a spare he could buy more cheaply. All his gear on he left saying "shan't be long".

He was gone ages, then this little conversation between us.....

Knitting update. I'm really enjoying this one and making up a design as I go. Tricky at the moment only because there are so many needles involved that I'm in danger of picking up the wrong one so I'm tying up inside a bag everything that's not involved at the time. 

I know I'm going to run out of the mustard wool so the other colours are essential, however, I need the cuffs and bottom ribbing to be in the mustard and I'm not sure how much to keep in reserve? All suggestions gratefully received. 

Beautiful bluebells still in abundance, we have whitebells and forget-me-nots too. 

And the first oriental poppy has opened. 

I would have taken more garden photos but it's raining again.

Enjoy your weekend and stay safe.

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Some Good, Some Bad and Guess What? .........

 
We went to Son and Fiancé for lunch on Sunday and it was still really cold, however their patio area has a clear(ish) perspex roof so each time the sun shone it warmed up the space nicely and windbreak sides and open front so we were outside, distanced and well ventilated but quite cosy. A lovely afternoon. 

Monday coffee morning stayed dry but was still blanket, hat and gloves chilly. By the afternoon the wind and rain had picked up and over night the wind howled at about 60mph!

I doubt you'll remember but I lost my only filling at the beginning of the first lockdown, so just over a year ago, thankfully it didn't really hurt and there was covid so I ignored it, ate on the other side and tried to keep food out of the hole as best I could. It has hurt more recently, however it comes and goes and when I nearly phone the dentist it goes away so I don't, but I'm often feeling a little sick and that could be because I'm not chewing my food properly. Late on Tuesday I was explaining to a friend why I hadn't dealt with it and all the excuses sounded a bit pathetic, so finally Wednesday morning I phoned, telling them it wasn't urgent as I'd delayed it a year already, but they had a slot for today (Thursday) 😱🥺
I'm a very nervous dental patient anyway, mainly because I have such a sensitive gag reflex. She poked and prodded and could tell I wasn't happy so kept talking and reassuring, then the injections and they were so painful I had a full on panic attack and the dentist talked faster and louder and telling me to breath and constantly saying how brave I was doing! Then she yanked the tooth out and that was so painful too. I was still shaking when it was all finished so she escorted me down the stairs in case I fell. 

Happier update as Thursday evening we had quiz night which took my mind off it and Friday it all felt fine, however I'll eat on the other side till it's totally healed. 

Next Sunday Hubby is helping at the first SERV fundraising event since 2019 and getting everything ready he realised his caps both had horrid bleached areas which haven't washed out, so I've had a go at painting them. The one on theft is before and the one on the right is after the first coat. Let's see how it dries then might need a second go. 

Hubby is very happily playing with two new phones, doing all the data/software/apps/pictures etc transfers and one will be mine when he's done. 

All working fine and it's now a case of tweeking the various default sounds to ones I'll recognise and hear from within a pocket or handbag. Also all the relogging into things that have lost their cookies 🍪 so many passwords! 

Today's weather is horrid so maybe I'll get some knitting done. 

Enjoy your week and stay safe.

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Work In Progress..........

 
Had to share our beautiful cherry tree before it loses all its blossom. 

The tree was obviously so impressive that a little later O just had to be a part of it. 

New on my needles this week is a jumper

As life in general gets busier and hopefully as the weather improves I'll be spending a lot less time on the sofa, I'm sure the end result will happen but way off into the future so I'm noting the start and you may get the occasional update but I'm making no promises. It's another experiment as it's my own made up pattern which I've made once before (top one in this post)
However, as that one was a bit big in the body and a bit tight on the sleeves and I'd now prefer slightly bigger rib edging I've tweaked the pattern, so it may not fit me at all. Next challenge is to overcome the fact of not having quite enough of any one colour wool so I'm hoping to use up a good few odds and ends in my stash but I don't want stripes I want more random patches of contrast which I've never done before while knitting in the round on circular needles (that's to avoid the horrid sewing up that I hate). Wish me luck! 

Another couple of days of car swapping where Daughter takes mine and leaves her's for Hubby to sort repairs with our mechanic neighbour, then she just returns to swap back and pay the bill when it's all done. Now another of her friends wants to be adopted by Hubby to benefit from the same looking after 😉

Hubby is now at Daughter's house installing a new back gate. 

I'm trying again to update and add to my genealogy book. I keep records and a tree for four different lines, because many years ago I lost the software it was on and so I'm working on the paper printouts, and it's hard going. Eventually Daughter and I will get this onto our Ancestry account so you add a person once and it cross references them for you. 

Because nobody has been here to entertain it's been spread over the dining room table for months so I can do bits and pieces when I can. 

Garden of course is a constant work in progress and we've planted lots of new stuff (you know that means we buy he plants and waters right?). The bigger shrubs all seem happy but these petunias and begonias seem to be struggling to settle in

The ones planted in another bed are under a bird feeder and pigeons and doves constantly walk and peck to find anything that has dropped, so I've had to cover the nearly dead plants with sticks to see if I can save them. 

And inside I've one little shoot emerged from the tomato seeds planted, but it was just sliced soft tomato planted so if anything grows it's free and no loss if it doesn't. 

Fingers crossed it starts warming up although I did brave pegging all the washing out yesterday, but also had to put the heating on in the afternoon. 

Happy Mayday.

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