A restful but productive day, and a wildflower walk

 

Here is Nurse Pippi, doing a headstand on the big container of dried fruits and bags of seeds.  She kept me company this morning whilst I sat in the living room and watched the first two programmes of Shardlake on ITVX.  I found I was able to hand stitch perfectly well and I have just finished watching Shardlake, and putting the final hand quilting stitch to the last border . . .  Assembly next.

Bright sunshine on the foxgloves during my walk this afternoon.  I braved the wind which was blowing pollen around, but at least stayed cool on my walk.  I did two miles, up the side of the valley to the phone box and back.

The view a 100 yards further on.

Rosebay Willowherb is just coming into full bloom.  All parts of this are edible and the flowers make a wonderful jam apparently.  The highlighted name gives a link to an excellent foraging page.

As is Meadowsweet.  Whenever I see this I think of the Beaker People and Mead and the Saxons and Vikings and my darling Keith who loved it too - I think he loved the link to Viking times.

A closer encounter with a foxglove.  You probably know this provides heart medicine through its Digitalin content.

These are Common Cow-wheat.  They used to grow profusely on the riverbank by the Cothi back in Carms.  This is used for coughs, colds and digestive problems.

Square-stemmed St. John's Wort.  The flowers yield a deep red oil (from the hypericin in them). This is one of the active ingredients used medicinally, along with hyperflorin.  It has been used to treat nerve disorders for over 2000 years.  It is believed its name comes from the Knights of St John of Jerusalem who used it to treat battlefield wounds during the Crusades.  More Info HERE.  

My new bedroom curtains, blackout ones, and they make a big difference to the light in the room early morning.  I love the pattern too : Emelie, with its flowers and birds.  I bought them on Ebay, still in original wrapping - for under £40 (plus postage) - originally £55 when on Dunelms' shelves.  They go well with the Cow Parsley wallpaper too. They arrived on Saturday, so I ironed and hung them straight away.

I have managed quite well with Poorly Finger.  I needed to check if I could drive or whether I would need a lift to A&E again tomorrow (check up), but I was OK as long as I stuck my finger out.  I just drove up to the Co-op and back.  I managed to get my bra on and off ok too, and ditto clothes on and off.  Washing up needed care but I put the left hand washing up glove loosely on to keep finger dry and just rinsed off plates and cutlery under warm water, mainly using my right hand.  Now I have to negotiate hair washing - left hand in glove and right hand washing. This is to remove the pollen from my hair before bedtime.