Still Warm For Autumn.........

 
Pleased to report that I've finally cleared away my little apple processing work station. 

And I've plenty in the freezer now, sitting with the frozen plums and rhubarb to see us through lots of yummy deserts and cakes. 

Hubby and I helped a friend celebrate her 80th birthday. She had been a neighbour that had recently moved (not far away) and we all still keep in touch, so we shared the afternoon with the other neighbours that went. 

Son messaged Hubby to ask if he had room to store a garden swing seat for the winter, of course he made room. 

Along with a huge proportion of the UK and world, Hubby and I watched the full BBC coverage of Queen Elizabeth II's state funeral. It was amazing and must have been exhausting for the family grieving and carrying out all that was asked of them so publicly. Exhausting for all the military that were taking part that had no doubt been rehearsed and rehearsed, and the responsibility of getting everything perfect. Exhausting for all those that had to be there in person, members of the public travelling and queuing. 

We had to watch it in two halves as Granddaughter E and her boyfriend were here staying with Daughter for the weekend and going back to Dorset after they'd seen us, so we arranged for them all to come for lunch, they came immediately after the main funeral service ended.

So lovely to see them. 

Unfortunately I felt like they were rushed off a bit because our usual coffee morning had been arranged as afternoon tea instead, so with everyone gathering out on their drives my guests left while they could still drive through without having to move everyone. 

NeighbourA made scones with jam and cream for us all. 

After a lot of emails and negotiation I managed to arrange with the old work team a lunch date and a December Christmas meal date! It has been over a year since we last met for lunch and December 2019 our last Christmas meal. Lunch was this week and it was so lovely to catch up with them. The waitress didn't get us all clearly in the frame though. 

Hubby has been sorting out R's car, it is in R's name but I don't think she had actually driven it. Both granddaughters were having driving lessons until the pandemic stopped them and Son had passed on a suitable "first time" car for them which ended up in R's name as E was preparing to go to uni...... however uni didn't happen and neither of the girls have any interest in starting up their lessons again any time soon. Meanwhile, Daughter is paying for insurance, road tax, fuel and MOTs etc. So now it's charged up and running well, a few minor things sorted, MOT booked and then daughter will hopefully sell it.  

I needed a blood test and as you can see the phlebotomist found my veins a little reluctant.  

Usual night with the Wednesday gang. 

Also Thursday a girls night out as a belated birthday for me from August and now including friendJ's September birthday. We went to  Trongs Chinese Restaurant. It was really busy and very noisy in there, but we managed to talk above it and service was excellent. We all ate far too much it was so yummy.

I've just had another Cystoscopy. So pleased they are still keeping checks on me. Relieved to say all still clear. 

R, O and the dog moved in, Friday till next Tuesday.

So it's been a busy week and for the times we sit still the heating is back on. 

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More Than a Lunchbox......

 
Son came Saturday morning with one of those huge builders bags full of sand and gravel that he had left over to add a layer into our new raised bed. Daughter, O and the dog decided to have a walk from their's to here and arrived just as Hubby and Son started to empty our two large compost bins into the raised bed, so she grabbed a spade and worked with them (didn't have my phone on me so no pic). 

The bed is only about half full, so will still need a lot of top soil which is now on order. 

Remember the neighbour's flag pole? For a couple of days it had the Union Flag at half mast, definitely looks to me like it's more in our garden than theirs! Hubby quite likes it, so I'll learn to ignore it. 

As often happens we got a message from Daughter, to Hubby this time,  saying "Bit of an odd request but do you have a briefcase you no longer need?" In fact he did and I found my two as well. 

Daughter, O and the dog came over and O looked at all three briefcases and chose my old one immediately. He had to play with the combination locks to get them to reliably open and close and he was very happy. Daughter told us that he is now off to a social club for Home Ed young teens in Colchester and the briefcase is to carry his lunch in, and of course to complete his cool image. 

The dog stayed with me, Daughter and O drove off, Hubby went to play snooker with his friends and I carried on chopping apples! Thankfully I'm getting nearly to the end.

Felt a lot chillier the last few days and so many people queuing for hours and hours and overnight to pay their respects to the Queen.

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Making History......

 
Saturday we were asked to dog sit, this time for Son and fiancé. Their little dog is quite old and very anxious by nature and never left for long, so it was a big thing for them to leave her here. It was another big thing for them to be going to Wembly for a concert as that was always their life before covid but haven't done it since. This was a tribute concert by the Foo Fighters and guests to Taylor Hawkins their drummer who died. Son had persevered and managed to get tickets at the last minute. 

She didn't seem too stressed, although obviously kept looking for them and fidgety but did relax sometimes too and even sat watching cricket with Hubby some of the time. It was a very long day for all of us as they had left her here at noon and headed off after a quick cuppa, but they had trouble getting out of Wembly after the concert, then train to Stratford where they had parked and finally arrived here at 2am!

Hubby has had sleepers delivered, ready to make the raised rose bed. These lorries and their drivers are amazing, how he managed getting up our small close that is uphill with two bends and cars parked in the road. Then accurately using the crane to put our delivery where Hubby asked him to. I'm always fascinated. 

There was the moving them round to the back garden one at a time and then four of them needed cutting to the lengths for the ends. 

And this is the raised bed made. Hubby has since lined the inside with black plastic to help the wood last longer. And now it needs filling with our homemade compost (three large bins worth) and Hubby will buy topsoil. 

At coffee morning three neighbours mentioned they didn't own an Aloe Vera plant when I was talking about it so I potted up bits of mine and delivered them. Hope they take.

Thursday 8th September 2022

A sad and historic day, Queen Elizabeth II died at 96 years old, after more than 70 years in service to the nation and commonwealth. She started her job a year before I was born and was still on duty two days ago at the change of Prime Minister when she had an audience with Boris Johnson to say goodbye and then with Liz Truss to invite her to form a new cabinet. 

The only monarch I've known. 

From her passing Prince Charles, her first born, became King Charles III.

Friday Hubby and I carried on doing stuff around the house and garden as needed but also spent a lot of time watching TV showing all the tributes to our late Queen and movements of the other Royals and King Charles III arriving in London. We watched the first part of the memorial service which started with King Charles III's address to the nation from Buckingham Palace. 

We were supposed to be on grandchildren and dog duty for five days, however as a nation in mourning Daughter's weekend bookings were cancelled, so we are not now needed till Tuesday. 

RIP Queen Elizabeth II

Long live King Charles III

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A Lot Of Fs.......

 
Saturday had a lovely visit from Son and fiancé as they could finally come with my birthday flowers and card and treated us all to Chinese takeaway as it's my favourite.

My mum (first on the left) was the youngest of eight, these are six of the siblings. Sadly none of them are with us now. 

On Sunday some of their children, grandchildren and great grandchildren managed to meet. This happened now because one of my first cousins came over from Australia with her husband to see a daughter and grandchildren for the first time since all covid travel restrictions were lifted and she put out a request on our family Facebook page to meet up with as many family that could make it. 

25 of us did make it and it was wonderful, meeting up with those we hadn't seen for so long and telling all the old stories and also meeting the family we had never met in person before and getting to know them. Apart from the Australians, Hubby and I travelled the furthest with a drive of just under two hours each way and was one of the first to arrive there and almost the last to leave. Our group managed to take over almost all of the cafe outside seating area, (well we were all spending in the cafe so they didn't mind at all). It was a wonderful afternoon. 

Lovely making it to this week's coffee morning on Monday having missed the last two. One extra neighbour makes it when it's a bank holiday as he normally works on a Monday. Everyone was very chatty but when talk got round to politics and how Sunak is so wealthy how could he know what will help the poor. Then the same highly opinionated couple kept insisting the media is making everyone hysterical about national poverty which they don't think is real because one person interviewed on tv had her nails done.....I just said that us sitting there were lucky to be so affluent that we shouldn't assume anything and criticise. Hubby and I agreed it was time to leave them to it. 

On Tuesday I was treated to a meal out at The Ocean Fish Platter as my birthday gift from friendHM. Neither of us had been there before and at first glance it looked like an eat-in fish and chip shop, but turned out to be a lovely restaurant with extensive menu and really friendly staff. So good to have a just the two of us catch up. 

Wednesday Daughter came for lunch with R, O and the dog. O is teaching himself guitar with the help of various Web pages and treated us to a few songs he's learned. Managed to get this lovely pic of him totally chilled out strumming.

FriendM is back from her long month in Spain so this week we were back to our normal six for Wednesday night, eating in Prezzo first then onto the pub for the guys to play pool. Another good catchup. 

It's that time of year when the apples are ready, but as they are mostly bug attacked around the core there's a lot of prep ahead. For now we've taken them all off the tree and placed them not touching each other. Hopefully I'll get round to peeling, chopping and freezing quite soon. 

I brushed my second toe of my right foot against a piece of furniture briefly in passing and thought nothing of it, then a very short while later it throbbed and made it really painful for me to walk (yes I swore a little bit). I'm guessing it didn't take much of an impact as it was one of the toes I broke a while ago. 

NeighbourC knocked asking Hubby if he could help install a new TV as her daughter had tried and failed. Of course he did and she insisted on paying him something, no matter how much he protested. He's always so happy to help everyone but he had to take it. 

So that's a Fiancé, Flowers, Favourite Food, Family, Facebook, Friends, Fish, Fruit, one little F word and a Fix on Friday. 

Hope your week was Fun Filled.

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I'm Busy Doing Nothing......

 
The week starts and all four of us improving but somehow all lethargic, or is it fatigue or maybe boredom. So another quiet day. 

One of the neighbours whose garden backs onto ours has erected a flag pole! Seems an odd place to put it, at the end of their garden and whatever flag they intend to raise will be more dominant to us than them! Hubby does know him to talk to so if it does become a nuisance Hubby will have a chat. So far it's just a pole.

Sunday Daughter, O and the dog went home in the evening after Daughter and O had been back to Kentwell to take down the tent and pack up all their stuff, then come here and put it all away.  Monday I missed them being here. 

Tuesday Daughter reported feeling totally back to normal and I guess we both are too although I'm still getting coughing fits occasionally. We did go to Specsavers and collect our ordered glasses, so we've had a trip out. 

There's also been a lot of WhatsApp activity and emails between us, friendsL&K, friendsL&M and friendsM&G as we are arranging a group holiday in September 2023 at a special location (details to follow when it's sorted).  

There's been lots of laundry done having had house guests, so one king size, one double and two singles have been stripped washed dried and remade, plus the single mattress carried back upstairs and I'm admitting that was all Hubby and not me. 
And that's about it really, an incredibly quiet week. 

But now there's a busy weekend which I'll report on next week.

Bye for now.

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A Family Affair........

 
I'm not sure how much I'll write here this week, covid is making me feel like a full on head cold with the constantly runny nose and annoying cough, and the heat here is certainly making it worse allowing very little proper restful sleep. Of course Hubby has tested positive now too, inevitable eh? Our lovely neighbour-friendA is shopping for essential supplies of paracetamol, tissues and gallons of fizzy water.

Lots of advice on social media of cooling tactics. Read that ice packs up high help to cool the hot air that rises so cooler air falls. Sunday night put bottles of water in the freezer and Monday morning hung them. Of course Monday was a cooler much less sunny day so it's hard to tell if it's effective and there was quite a bit of dripping on the carpet. 

Monday morning the neighbours had coffee morning in the shade of our tree but of course we didn't go out. Heard afterwards there were none from number 22 as they have covid too! Late Monday afternoon we got a call from Daughter to say her and O are leaving Tudor Kentwell and coming to stay as they are positive now too, so we are now the isolation hotel keeping her house germ free for R while she is still performing. Time for a full Tesco delivery. 

Wednesday gave us a little excitement and something to talk about when it rained. Daughter feels better when she's outside so she has been practising her club juggling. O had spent a lot of time outside filming himself and then even longer inside editing. We had a premier showing of his finished sketch which was brilliant. 

O was a bit bored and went hunting through lounge cupboards and drawers, then he finally told me he wondered if I had an 80s/90s camcorder. Actually I have and told him where it is, that's it on the floor in front of the TV. With granddad's help the two of them sorted out the bag and worked out what tapes, cables etc we had, got it all charged up, practiced how to use it and O went filming. Of course it took just as long again to try all our current equipment to work a way of getting it from camcorder to digital form on Os computer so he could edit. 

Thursday evening all four of us did the quiz, which was a bit reminiscent of our lockdown days. 

Friday the dog decided I was her favourite and pinned me to the chair for a lot of the day. 

So that's about it really. The week has ended with O and Hubby feeling totally fine now, Daughter mostly better but still hasn't got her taste back and inconveniently I'm still blowing my nose and coughing all day, gotta pass soon eh? 

Hope you've had a better week.

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All In The Timing.......

 
Now the hospital Eye department is finished with me Hubby and I went back to Specsavers to get the prescriptions we were given in March and April made up. We were helped with the choosing by Leah, obviously a very experienced member of staff. Then we sat with Leah while she made all the measurements and drew over the glass. We took the 2for1 offer but have to pay a lot of extras for various coatings and we both have the top of the range verifocal lenses. My frames were dearer than his, however he has an extra "drivers" adjustment and thinner lenses which help under his motor bike crash helmet.  Phew a very large total bill, which I paid with only a little flinch and then a giggle when I nearly forgot my pin number! 

We go back on the 23rd to collect. 

Managed to visit my special friendKK. She was supposed to come out with me this week but phoned to cancel as she had to have major surgery, I didn't know she was ill and had she not needed to cancel our outing she probably wouldn't have told me until afterwards. She's now home and my visit completely reassured me she's well on the recovery road.

I've had a birthday this week. The day before I had a slight tickley throat and thought it was the incredibly dry weather. On my birthday the tickle was a mild cough and my nose a little runny, so just to be sure we both did a covid test and they were both negative. 

So Hubby and I went out to lunch, but I couldn't eat much. In the evening four of us went to Sutton Hoo for Macbeth. 
Before it started the character Porter got everyone to sing Happy Birthday to me. 

The performance was brilliant and of course I thought my very talented Granddaughter was the best one playing Malcolm. 

Because of my cough Daughter was a bit cross with me for not cancelling and they had the back car windows wide open for the hour long drive there and back. And now I've tested positive, having stayed clear for the nearly three years I thought I may be immune. So Friday feeling really rough and done nothing more than contact anyone we've been in contact with and cancelling what should be happening in the next week. Hubby now has the tickley throat. So not a birthday present I would have asked for, and really inconvenient timing...... but is there ever a good time? 

Stay very careful everyone.

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When It's Gone It's Gone.........

 
Did you ever watch Neighbours, the Australian soap? 

I did, possibly from it's very beginning in 1985. But I haven't watched it for many years. We all heard it was to be axed and when it was advertised as ending at the end of July I decided to watch all July episodes. We were out last Friday night when the finale was on, so I avoided all social media and watched it while eating my breakfast Saturday morning.  

     I thought the format was really clever, as the Ramsey Street history book got damaged so some of the younger cast were rebuilding it, they visited each resident asking for photos and written memories and they posted a request to Facebook which brought contacts from past residents, this easily gave opportunities for reliving bits of old storylines. There were also major preparations for a wedding in the street. The wedding took place in the final episode and lots of past characters returned as wedding guests. I enjoyed my trip down Aussie memory lane. 

We've decided what to do about the big hedge, it's going!

It will eventually be replaced as a raised rose bed, but there's a lot of work to do before then. Thankfully Hubby does love a big project and he's working in the shade until mid afternoon. 

The plums are now ending and figs have just started ripening, yummy! 

Actually, on the fruit subject, the apples on our tree all have this rot/disease/whatever at the core of each one. So I will once again spend ages peeling, chopping and freezing all the good bits of hundreds of apples rather than throw them all away. If anyone knows what it is and how to cure it then please let me know. 

And some very over ripe bananas soon became two banana and raisin loaves.

They won't last long. 
Now if you'll excuse me I'm off to make another cuppa as there's cake waiting for me. 

Have a good week.

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Seeing Double........

 

Saturday neighbourJ came up with flowers and told Hubby they are for me as a thank you for lending him out to fix her leak! Hubby told her she had already given me flowers and invited her in to show her. She couldn't believe she'd done it twice and told us of all the stuff going on in her life just now. She blamed the heat for messing with her head and we all laughed. As she left we saw her shaking her head and muttering to herself "I can't believe I did that!" When Son came Sunday he saw two lots of flowers and asked what event he'd forgotten hahaha. Daughter came over in the week and asked exactly the same hahaha. 

You may remember I have a problem with my right eye and Specsavers referred me to the Macular Assessment Unit at the Hospital who saw me in March when the doctor said no treatment needed yet but will see me again in two months. Well May went and so did June and July almost had too so time to make contact. It's not urgent so I used the email address given on their letter, then a week later I emailed again asking them to acknowledge receipt, then two days after that I phoned. Lots of excuses from an obviously stressed appointments clerk who then found me a cancellation slot! Which was this Thursday, that's good, at 8:50am, that's not so good! The only bit I really hate is having the drops in my eyes that make the pupils dilate as that stings like mad 😖 the rest is waiting between moving from machine to machine that tests and photographs in round and behind each eye. Optometrist looked through it all and said no change from last time so still no treatment needed phew! They can't explain the cause probably just age related wear and tear, and no cure. Keep monitoring on a little chart she gave me and go back if anything changes. It took almost till bedtime for the pupils to return to normal and my focus to feel comfortable again. 

Opening night for Theatre in the Forest was Thursday night and they had some great online reviews. 

Friday evening we stayed with O and the dog while Daughter and M went to see it, invited as it was Press Night. Daughter will be seeing it twice as I'm going with her, Hubby and O on the 11th.

So for our Friday night me Hubby and O had fish and chips from the chippy in their road and O wanted us to watch his current favourite film (he's already watched it four times) it's very funny. 

Have a good weekend.

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Don't Make Me Say It.........

 
Daughter came for lunch Monday mainly to get the dog out of the house as her landlord was sending round an electrician for the regulation annual electrics check, (in fact they've lived there for about 17 years and this is the first time). Lovely to have her to myself for a while and catchup. 

Tuesday I met with friendS and friendL for lunch, this has been postponed a few times when each friend had family with a health problem, so we had a lot to catch up on. We went to the  Belstead Brook Hotel which is just round the corner to where we live. They've a lovely restaurant area which is never busy at lunchtime (some of our topics we wouldn't want overheard), you'll never be hurried, plus they have a pensioner's menu of two courses and tea or coffee for just £11.95. We chatted away for four hours hahaha

It's lovely where I sit in the lounge when the French doors are both open as I get a great view of garden and watch the birds coming and going. 

Apart from this one spooky leaf that keeps staring at me. 

Hubby and neighbourA helped another neighbour with her leaking bathroom sink, Hubby fixed it eventually and she was so grateful that she's promised to take them out for lunch soon. I also got a "thank you for lending me your husband" bunch of roses. 

Because Neighbours (Australian soap) ends on 1st August for ever I decided to watch all July episodes to work out who is who and who is still in it and who they bring back for the finale. I last watched it about 30 years ago!  I'm pleased to report Neighbours hasn't lost its sense of humour. One of the young adults confessed to his mother that he was working as a male escort seducing wealthy women..... the portrait of the old Mrs Mangle fell off the wall 😂

Phew, see I made it all the way to the end without mentioning the record breaking heat! Oops I've said it now  🙄

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