But it won't be today. Keith has the Parkinson's nurse and the car is booked in for new rear tyres. I plan to get out in the garden now my legs are functioning properly again. I made some progress yesterday, and bought some young tomato plants too, so those have been potted on and I FINALLY have 4 trays of runner beans started off (Scarlet Emperor, which are what I always grow). To my great relief, the chap came to cut the grass yesterday. I had been looking at it and was about to take the strimmer to it, the lawn had gotten that long. The Forest of Sycamores growing in the front lawn has now been cut down and I can look out of my kitchen window at neat lawn instead of grass waving in the breeze and lots of tiny Field Wood Rush. Today I will tidy the edges and do more weeding . . .
Lawns cut, Azalea about to flower, and the Flag Irises in the pond have put on a growth spurt too. Today's job, apart from edging the lawn, is to tackle the grass to the right of the Azaelea, which should NOT be there!
Yellow is the colour of spring here - LOTS of flowers on the Tree Peony this year - I didn't touch it last winter, just let all the foliage drop off. The stupid gardener (the one who charged £60 to cut the lawn!) cut all the shrubs back in the autumn and spoilt them for flowering the next year . . . Note, yellow Potentilla in front too - and Little Whale.
As you can see, it was evening before I remembered to take the photos.
This is Pippi polishing the glass door for me. She and Lulu get shut in the Library whilst we have our meals or else we have a kitten-on-plate scenario! The paddling paws are accompanied by aggrieved yowling! She is HUNGRY she insists . . . hmmm.
This is the brim of my winter hat. Apparently you fold it over and knit into the cap to get an invisible edge. Hmmm - that will call for concentration! I'm enjoying knitting again anyway, which is a positive.
Lulu out to kill the mat!
They are now going out in the garden daily, gradually for longer. Lulu keeps close by me, and I can concentrate on gardening knowing she won't go far. Pippi is another matter - whilst she doesn't zoom straight out the gate now, she is an Explorer and I daren't take my eyes off her or she will disappear from sight. We now have yowling at the cat flap, as she just wants to be out enjoying the world, and who can blame her? I gave up with the harness, as she HATED it and when she saw me coming with it, would hide where I couldn't reach her. If I did manage to get it on her, she would slink along, belly close to ground - she was NOT happy.
Keith is poorly - having slowly developed what can only be my flu bug as he's not been anywhere to catch anything. I worry about him as he finds it difficult to get the breath to blow his nose properly, let alone cough, and his lungs are congested. I was steaming him over a bowl of hot water first thing.
I have had a change of medication for my BP - diuretics now. The other tablets made my ankles and feet swell, especially as I wasn't able to move around much this past week with my enfeebled legs. As I have always had very slim ankles, this is not a good thing to suddenly have them puffy.
I managed to walk to my neighbour's and back with some magazines for her (she's currently on crutches following a fall with her old horse, who stumbled). It's about 3/4 mile for the trip, but uphill most of the way there, so a challenge to weakened muscles, but I made it. I was glad to get home and rest up though.
Right, my St Trinian's kitten is yowling to go out again . . .
Sorry Keith is poorly - hope he gets over it quickly.
ReplyDeleteI love all your kitten photos.
I hope he sounds worse than he actually is. We will be seeing the Parkinson's Nurse today so will ask for her advice. His BP is still on the deck . . .
ReplyDeleteKittens in good form today - they bring such joy.
Well done for garden and knitting progress.
ReplyDeleteIt can be a job to do Me things when you are busy chasing your tail for everyone else!
Well, with Keith quite poorly I can't get my much-needed day out - haven't even had my Birthday Day Out yet, so I think that won't be happening now, over a month after my birthday. The garden is getting my - much-needed - attention instead.
DeleteI think cats run the biggest scam of all: they are ~ every last one of them ~ being starved to death. They are very convincing aren't they? Even when you can see the food in their dishes, you find yourself being drawn into their well acted dramas.
ReplyDeleteI'm sorry that Keith is struggling again. I have take a pill that has both the atenolol and a diuretic to control my BP. It seems to be effective.
You're spot on there Debby. They all insist that I have forgotten to feed them, even when they had extra 5 minutes earlier to shut them up!!
DeleteSo far the diuretic has helped my ankles, but when I laid down on the sofa briefly yesterday, my heart rhythym was a bit bumpy, which can be a side-effect. Yeesh . . .
Poor Keith, hope he feels better soon and that it’s a milder form of the bug you had.
ReplyDeleteTo my eye BB, you have the knack of making magical gardens. Who wants a neat and tidy garden anyway - you should read Alys Fowler on ‘weeds’ in the Guardian the other day. I have Richard Mabey’s book on “Weeds” and my favourite “gardening” book is Mirabel Osler’s “A Gentle Plea for Chaos”. I am so happy I learnt my gardening from my mum who was a creative sort but also worked full time until her late 50s as a senior nurse tutor at Westminster hospital and when she retired from that got a job in the local needlework and wool shop in Teddington, a bit like me working in the secondhand bookshop and taking my sock knitting or EPP for quiet moments. We had the most beautiful walk this morning. Out of the gate, up the lane, across the busy B road and onto the footpath across the field into the bluebell woods. Back across the B road and onto the bridleway past the ancient farm and into another bluebell wood, cross the rickety bridge over the stream and we’re on Coates common and then through the kissing gate into The Lord’s Piece. Climb the ridge for magnificent far-reaching 360 degree views and sit on our log. On the way home we cross the same stream over a different sturdier bridge and walk along the footpath through Coates common and there we not only hear the nightingale singing but see him clearly sitting at the top of a dead tree. In the background the cuckoo is calling, lambs are bleating, bluebells, spotted orchids and Stitch flower are all around and there is nowhere on this Earth I would rather be. Please go on one of your botany walks soon and report back as I am missing your walks. Love the colour of your knitting and those kittens make me laugh. Sarah x
Thank you for your compliment. The garden at Ynyswen was certainly really lovely in June with the PHM out and my Aquilegias were something else too. I spread a little seed in the gravel out front and have some splendid plants just coming into flower now. The other gardener that came last year would doubtless be horrified as he was heard muttering how I had let the garden go. Well, yes, I couldn't manage it because of having to stay inside half the summer due to pollen - THAT is why I had him here, but at £60 to mow the blardy lawn, he soon got the push!
DeletePlenty of chaos here in the garden anyway, especially at the back of the bank but I will get there with it. Now I have efficient summer antihistamines from the GP, I can be outside though I don't push my luck an always wash my hair before going to bed so I don't have the pollen in bed with me! I found 3 more herbaceous plants which didn't survive the winter yesterday so my little spending-spree at the Garden Centre doesn't seem at all uncalled for :)
That walk sounds so beautiful. Not sure if I will be able to get away to the Crickhowell bluebell woods this year now because Keith can barely put one foot in front of the other. I will do a little local plod up the hill and take wildflower photos in the next couple of days.
I'm sorry Keith is feeling poorly. I hope the nurse was able to provide some helpful suggestions for dealing with the bug. Your garden looks lovely. Pippi will keep you on your toes I'm afraid, but Lulu sure seems easy to handle! They're adorable. Little Whale is quite handsome.
ReplyDeleteI am so sorry Keith is feeling not very well, but I am glad that you are getting out a bit.
ReplyDeleteGod bless.
I hope your nurse can give you some helpful advice, it must be scarey not to be able to have a good cough or nose blow. Parkinson's is on my mind today. My very good friend and her husband both have it. On top of that she is her husband's carer as he also has dementia. We live in a remote community but, praise be, we recently were allocated a neurologist who will fly out once a month. They see him today and I am about to phone to see how it went. I will be thinking about you and Keith and waiting to hear how it turns out.
ReplyDeleteHis coughing is better than I gave him credit for but he does sound full of it. He is, of course, fighting me over whether steaming is necessary/effective, and the "extra" cup of tea I got down him at lunch time meant he didn't want another at 3 p.m. when we always have a cuppa.
DeleteSo sorry to hear about your friend AND her husband both having it. That really is dreadful, with her having to be his carer. Thank heavens for your flying neurologist.
For all your troubles Jennie it is a lovely time of the year and your garden will turn out beautiful. As for cats and kittens they keep your mind absorbed with their antics.
ReplyDeleteI'm on track with the garden now (although the soft fruit area needs some desperate rescuing!) and am enjoying thinking about my ancestors as I weed meticulously, remove dried leaves and spent Beech husks, tendrils of ivy etc. along the low wall which runs into the deeper area below the pond. I am off out again in a minute to plant a few things.
DeleteThe kittens were enjoying wandering round the yard and bank, then they heard a motorbike on the bottom road and both shot indoors. A good reaction.