Confusions and Frustrations.......

 
Thought we were having the dog last Saturday so dog proofed the lounge, put food and water and her bed out in the dining room, then it turned out we weren't needed so put it all away again, then told Tuesday onwards this week. 

My brother put this tribute to our parents on fb as 15th August is the anniversary of VJ day and I have his permission to share it here. 

Thanks Bruv.

Sunday was a lovely visit from Son&fiancé with their dog

They came with birthday gifts and cake. 

Although their vase did look a little worried by my other new vase. 

This visit we did manage to have the Chinese takeaway that didn't happen last time. E doesn't enjoy Chinese so I cooked her a dinner just before ours arrived. 

After eating we had all just settled back in the lounge when Son got a message from another family member who was parked on their drive while he went abroad. The message said they were back in the UK and heading back from the airport and will be with them in 10-15minutes! Panic stations as Son lives nearly half an hour away from my house and knows his clever parking means two cars need to move and nobody has both keys. So mad pack up, hugs, kisses and gone. 

Monday morning and the neighbours all laughed when greeted by the new coffee club sign. In the afternoon Son suddenly arrived (I'd forgotten he was coming) he'd arranged with Hubby to bring over his pond frame as he's filling in his pond and our netting wasn't enough when the otters came and took all our fish. Son had taken a charity day off work and sat in on M's games week. M has gathered a lot more retro computer and console games for his school holiday event and Son couldn't resist especially as some of the games had been his.   

Tuesday morning more dog sitting confusion. Yes we had dog proofed but weren't needed. Got an apology and the message that we were definitely needed Thursday. 

E has had a nightmare getting an NHS booking! GP did the referral for a test, E got a message to phone the booking team which she did. The booking team are an outsourced company that are remote and couldn't answer E's simple question but said they'll ask and someone will ring her back, they didn't ring back. To cut a very long story short this has taken a month of chasing, lack of responses, a booking and cancelling and emails getting lost and finally found for E to now have an appointment for a test she needs another month away and E having made 14 of those phone calls! On her records all medical staff will see her condition is made so much worse by fatigue and stress. 

As we are on the subject of medical frustrations I chased for my results of the CT Scan I had two weeks ago and was told they are now taking 6-8 weeks to come through aarrgghhh! I'll be due another scan by then. 

I have to say that all the hands-on medical staff I've had contact with are efficient and caring however the NHS is very broken on its systems, recording and communications side! 

This is the last week for Theatre in the Forest after which Red Rose Theatre Company takes a very well earned break and shuts for a few weeks. R has a holiday with a friend booked. I told R we'd get her some euros to take, they will mostly use plastic but things like bus fares or buying a coffee might need cash. I did the research and found the best deal was order online then pick up in person from the Foreign Exchange inside Sainsbury. As always Hubby does the shopping and would pick up after a hospital appointment, so I gave him my passport and the bank card I'd bought them on as requested. He was refused the euros as I needed to be there with my ID. He argued but they wouldn't budge. So in store he still ordered online in his name and collected. When he got home I went to cancel my order then discovered there was a £10 cancellation fee which made me cross so back with Hubby next day to pick up my order. Not sure that was the most cost effective way to do it, but the spare euros will sit here with our spare US dollars for someone's future trip. 

Hubby has been playing with bits of frame to see what works and what extra bits he needs to order. He's also cleaned off some of the slabs. 

While over there he disturbed this little chap and managed to get a good photo. 

Sad seeing the pond so short of water but it is helpful for Hubby while sorting it out.

We did dog sit on Thursday and warned it was till late as M had included a parents evening. When M and D came to pick up the dog they said their version of parents evening was actualy nearly all of the dad's who came to play the retro games they remembered hahaha.  M's son D is now working full time there as Uni is finished. 

Hubby got a couple of hours with the guys playing pool on Friday which he hasn't done for ages. 

Very unpredictable weather with the lightest of showers and a few heavy storms all short lived but so welcome. Did mean coffee morning was a shall we sit inside or outside debate, we chanced outside and was OK. Still quite warm so doors and windows open, then a storm means a mad dash closing them and starting the day with the optimistic t-shirt but the cardigan nearby. 

Ended the week with a late message from M can we have the dog all day today while he holds his final school holiday BBQ. So I'm off now to Doggy proof again. 

Enjoy your weekend.

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Barely Bearable.....

 
...... the heat that is, my body doesn't like it especially when there is no breeze (like now while I'm typing this). I'm trying to stay inside all the time and varying the open or closed doors, windows and curtains as the sun moves around our house but definitely multiple fans on to keep lounge and bedrooms as comfortable as we can. 

While clearing a few more boxes E found the fabric she had specially bought to make the lining for this lovely crochet tote bag she had made a long time ago. 

We made a plan on design with pockets and discussed the construction method and E is happy to do the machining after I've ironed and pinned, however my craft room is the hottest room in the house so it will have to wait. 

We had about three quarters of a large water melon that nobody seemed interested in eating so in a bid not to waste it I thought I'd blend it to juice. 

Turned out to be a very labour intensive task despite putting both my blenders to work. Gradually cutting the chunks smaller and smaller and pulsing or whizzing for longer and longer but it never fully liquidised. Afterwards I had half my kitchen to clean as the sticky had managed to get everywhere! 

We enjoy most of the TV game shows and discovered that E really likes Pointless. When we are thinking of watching one E will often join us. The question this time was people who are famous in other ways and have all played a character in the same TV series (and of course I've forgotten which one now but I think it might have been Doctor Who). I knew nearly all of them and Hubby did too but E is a bit too young and not much of a TV watcher to name any. 

My eyes have problems and the TV is too far for me to focus on these as little squares in the distance so I zoomed in and took a pic that I could zoom again if need be. I'll leave the answers at the end in case you wanted to play along.

I've had a birthday this week and hadn't planned to do anything. It was Tuesday so Son was working but has told me he will come here with fiancé and their dog next Sunday. 

Hubby gave me flowers with my first mug of tea and I had a large stack of cards waiting for me to open. Also this lovely gift from friendM.

In the afternoon Daughter, O and M came over with their dog. Daughter brought a yummy upside-down pear cake she had made and it was still warm so only just made. I was told it nearly didn't arrive here as carrying it to the car with the dog's lead on that wrist as the other hand was dealing with house keys and car keys when the dog saw a cat lying in the shade under their caravan.... all lurched forward including cake but not the plate as it was firmly held however Daughter's lightning reflexes saved it all. Lovely afternoon. 

Wednesday night our usual group of six ate in Felixstowe as always and I chose Prezzo where we haven't eaten for a long time, as acknowledgement of my birthday. We weren't bothered about not seeing the eclipse but it was fun on our way there seeing all the people out in groups waiting for it. Our favourite Prezzo waitress was thrilled to see us back and remembered all the food and drinks we usually order. FriendM needed to get home early as she had her little dog and dog sitting her Son's so invited us all back to her's for tea/coffee and boozy fruit cake. 

Friends M and HM and I always try to celebrate birthdays with a meal out. HM booked us in to the pub for Thursday. Two of us are in this group's loyalty scheme and M found we could get £10 off the bill and I got a free glass of Prosecco as it's my birthday (I don't drink so M enjoyed that). Still hot so we sat outside. 

Even quiet unplanned birthdays can be exhausting! 

Friday NeighbourA needed to drive into London to deliver something to a place very near Wembly Arena so 2 hours each way traffic permitting. Hubby went with him, after we had sorted out his printing and our printing of his labels for these boxes. Thank goodness cars have air-con as they left here midday so travelling there and back at the hottest part of the day but hopefully avoiding rush hour traffic, although summer school holidays on a Friday and their route back east towards the coast is always very busy. Home by 5pm so not too bad. 

Daughter and O are now back at Kentwell being Tudors for the next week, so today (Saturday) is the first of the Doggy day care days so I'll post this now and see you next week. 

As promised...... how did you get on? 

Day By Day........

 
Saturday was fiancé's birthday and it was a special one, but we weren't going to see her so I'd sent her card home with Son when he called in last week, she had money as her gift. Not wanting to wake her I sent happy birthday wishes on WhatsApp although it now is just words whereas on my old phone I'd set up the avatar emoji that created fancy wishes as a picture or sticker that supposed to look like me, but that was debatable. 

Sorting out the freezer I came across the last two pots of concentrated vegetable puree I'd made so decided to make E some bean loaf. These two will cut up and be ideal for four Sunday roast dinners. 

Sunday afternoon Daughter R and O came over with the dog. Lovely to see them all. Daughter mostly sat in the lounge with me and Hubby drinking tea and eating the rhubarb cake I'd made in the morning, while R and O mostly stayed with E playing games and we could hear a lot of laughter. E asked Daughter for another hair buzz cut and R offered to do it. Brave as R had never done it before and brave that E let her. She did a good job but did ask Daughter to finish it off. 

..... and now it's fig season, they have ripened a little early and all at once (it's this hot dry weather). The photo below is actually last year's as this year's crop are not so pretty, they are darker and far more wrinkly but still so delicious. It's always best to eat them fresh and mostly just R and I that eat them so R went home with today's harvest in a box. Thought she could take some in her daily packed lunches but she will probably eat them all in the short car ride home. 

We had a very busy Monday, this was my calender page...

Coffee morning outside again on a very sunny and warm day, although a couple of neighbour's still brought chocolate biscuits for the table which of course melted a bit. NeighbourAB baked us really yummy cheese scones which don't suffer being out in the heat although our baker must have suffered a bit having her oven on to cook them. 

Daughter and R were ready for their lift. They were off to London to see a show and Daughter was working in Whitehall Tuesday so had booked a hotel room. They reported later that the show was brilliant. It was a long one and R was getting the last train home, but it got cancelled because someone had jumped on the line, so thankfully she had Daughter's hotel room to sleep over. They checked out early Tuesday but R's return ticket was off-peak so she had to hang around and when Daughter got to where she was playing in Whitehall it was all cordoned off with heavy police activity and though it took a while she was finally let in with others round the back of the building. R messaged Hubby to pick her up from Ipswich station and take her home as she was now limited on time to change, eat and get herself to work. But that's Tuesday, so back to Monday...

Hubby then got me to my nails appointment and Mary came out of her garage bemused when I rang her doorbell as she had totally forgotten about me but was happy to stop what she was doing (sorting and hanging freshly cut lavender for her DIL) and do my nails. This one was free as she had got it wrong on me last time. 

We got home before 3pm as forecast although Son&fiancé didn't come till a bit later and changed their minds about staying to eat so mugs of tea at least twice and sharing birthday cake they had brought with them, out in the garden with their little dog enjoying the garden and exploring the house too. 

After they left Hubby and I still fancied Chinese so we ordered it, chicken curry and boiled rice for Hubby and set meal for one for me. E doesn't enjoy the few dishes available to a vegan so we made her a burger and chips dinner. My meal was far too big so I ate a good amount then saved the pancake roll in the fridge for a lunch and divided the rest into four freezer meals. 

All this and we'd only reached the end of Monday! 

Tuesday NeighbourAB came over with this potted rose as a birthday present for me as she couldn't remember what date it is and as Son&fiancé came to visit she thought she'd missed it. She was actually a week too early which thankfully isn't a problem in a pot but might have looked sad by then if they were cut flowers. 

Wednesday I spent some time making a large amount of potato salad and played with inventing a dressing. I added to the finished box full another box of cut melon and Hubby added beers half with and half without alcohol. This went into the boot along with two fold up chairs and Hubby's tool box. 

FriendM had invited us to her house for a BBQ and we had a lovely evening.

The tool box was for M's TV problems which Hubby did fix.

Thursday I gave myself a haircut. The evil pills I'm on for the cancer makes my hair lose its depth of colour, get a lot finer, break or fall out so for a long time now all I could do was tie it back and I really needed to try something else so I chopped it right up to a long bob length to lose all the wispy ends. 

Hubby also got a message from friendM to say her lounge TV is still working fine but two other things are now a problem possibly because he changed the hub frequency (or some other technical thing he explained that I didn't understand), so Hubby will go there again Saturday morning. 

Friday was an early start as I had to be at the hospital for 10am for a CT Scan. All went well, a nurse even got the cannula in first time and painless which is rare. Results usually take a couple of weeks. 

Wow it's Saturday again so I'll post this now and start again for you to read next week and try not to make it so busy cos it's tiring.

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Surprises........

 
Last week Hubby had sealed the deal on buying his new car and paid the deposit on Thursday. I'll tell you all about it when we have it which should be about a month's time. He decided to not even tell our children so it's a surprise for them too. 

At the weekend Son came for a visit.... in his new car! He collected it on Thursday too and also kept all the planning as a secret to surprise. Like father like son eh? 

Hubby has told our children about his now. 

I'm still astounded at the coincidence. 

With another heatwave imminent I thought I'd buy two more fans and I was going for cordless for so many benefits, we have solar panels so charging is free when the sun is shining and we can plonk it anywhere there's no socket and of course no wire to get caught in hand or foot. This one advertised also as being very light weight and almost silent. Delivery was also promised as quicker than a lot of others online. Local retailers had all sold out of fans. 

I ordered two and they did arrive Tuesday as promised. I did pay a bit more than they are probably worth but overall quiet enough for Hubby to agree to have in the bedroom which he never had before and a full charge has lasted from 11pm till about 4:30am. During the day I've found it light enough to carry into the kitchen when I'm cooking. E has made good use of the second one and likes moving it to where she is. 

Wednesday evening at our usual pub we laughed a lot for all the wrong reasons. It took so many trips for the men to the bar and back to check what alternative drink would be accepted when one after the other had been discovered to have run out. It happened again when food was ordered. It started with advice that there was only one fish and chips left which was ordered immediately and everyone chose and changed each time until six of us had meals coming. Then just before they all arrived a member of staff came over and apologised that fish and chips didn't actually exist and was an error on the stock sheet, thankfully swapping for scampi was OK. This is a seaside pub and it's now school holidays so high season and pub lunches with children are very popular so I guess their deliveries got out of sync with stock control, thankfully it happens to us rarely. 

Something else that made us laugh which I'm sure wasn't meant to, was during our regular Thursday night quiz. I'm playing along with Hubby and E when there's a round on People and the question master worded one question as "Who was the mother of Edward, Charles, Anne etc?" Answer was obvious but it made us laugh that he didn't know if he should include the disgraced Andrew or not.

Earlier in the year we saw an offer from Thompson & Morgan for a large collection of mixed bulbs and tubers at a really good price so Hubby bought one. When the time was right for each thing (by their instructions) he'd planted and nurtured them since. He can't remember what he'd planted in this pot, just that it was five bulbs. 

 

Imagine our surprise when a pot full of tomato plants emerged! 

There are tomatoes on the vines too. 

Tomatoes don't grow from bulbs only from seed so we are guessing it was in the shop bought compost (we have three compost bins in full use and he still buys shop bags) or the seeds were a gift from a visiting animal. We will never truly know. 

So another hot week and shocking news reports of all the wild fires caused and spreading fast on such dry land, mainly France and Spain and this week also local to us on Dunwich Heath, very scary! Can happen anywhere so please be extra careful, maybe avoid fireworks altogether, throwing used cigarette ends on the ground, having bbq's on grass and not on paving or even leaving rubbish after your picnic especially a glass bottle which could magnify the sun and cause flames. More important than ever while we are in drought and don't have the water to spare to put fires out. Sorry lecture over. 

Stay safe.

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