Sunny and Sociable.......

 
Just two doors down from us neighbourR mentioned one coffee morning that he'd been quoted over £300 to take down his flowering cherry tree that hadn't flowered for quite a few years. Hubby has a chain saw, all the safety gear and knows how to use it, so offered his services for free. 

Son came to help and he will keep all the wood to feed his log burner. 
The two of them had it done and all the logs moved and stacked up at ours in less than two hours. NeighbourR insisted they took the cost of chainsaw fuel and a new chain plus some pocket money as a thank you. 
For me it was a pleasure to watch father and son working so easily together. 

Son and fiancé are doing lots of sorting at their house in preparation for some building work. They came across her late mother's knitting bag which made them smile. She used to go to a "knit-n-natter" group every week and as they never saw any finished knitting assumed she mostly did the nattering, however in this bag as well as various coloured wools there was a heap of knitted squares! 

Son asked if I could turn them into a memory blanket. 

They are not all the same size so it took me quite a while to play with a layout that worked. I decided to make one large blanket and a small one that can sit in their little dog's bed who also missed her so much when she died. 

I don't crochet easily and crochet is definitely the best way to join them and create a border, so the small blanket is my practice piece. Hopefully we won't need our dining room table for a long while. 

We've had a trio of social eating out and it was three days running. First was friendsM&P who entertained us at their house. FriendM cooking a lovely three course meal followed by coffee for me and lots more booze for every one else. FriendsT&F were sleeping over and I just about managed to get a very drunk Hubby home at 1am.

Then lunch from noon with friendsR&S at the Maybush pub on the river. Beautiful sunny warm day. Of course I drove both ways as I was sure Hubby would still be over the limit. 

Our third night was the usual six of us eating at Prezzo first then onto the Grosvenor afterwards so there's a game of pool for the men. 

Daughter now has a new-to-her authentic Tudor tent, so taking full advantage of the great weather, she came round to test how it goes up and ultimately store it here. Together with Hubby they laid it all out. 

And it wasn't long before the pieces became this beautiful huge space. Definitely not a job for one person and not worth her taking away for any brief stays. 

This might seem a daft question, but can you sprain your ankle in your sleep? I drove home fine in the early hours of Monday and was asleep as soon as my head hit the pillow. When I got up in the night for the bathroom I couldn't put any weight on my left foot! And now four days later it seems to finally be easing up. 

Glad it had eased enough by Friday as I had a hospital appointment and the department I needed was a very long trek through a maze of corridors. I have sight issues in my right eye and Specsavers referred me to the hospital. First the stinging drops that dilate the pupils and make everything a blurr, then lots of machines like they have at Specsavers and then lots more, a consult with the doctor then sent to another department for a deeper scan with their machine. Thankfully one of the volunteers walked us through or we would definitely have got lost. I got very clear explanations and confirmation that it's dry macular degeneration plus macular edema (so wet and dry in the same eye, trust me to be greedy). This is age related and non-repairable but they can slow it down. Mine doesn't need any treatment yet but they want to monitor closely and I've a chart to draw on daily and go back in two months. 

Hubby just called through he's made a cuppa and taking them over for us to sit by the pond in this lovely sunshine, so I'm off. 

Have fun and stay safe (covid is still spreading).

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