Short of Ideas - Have a look at July 2015

 HERE'S a post from smallholding days 10 years ago .July 2015 

For context - this was a year or so after Colin had heart problems and stents done, when we had decided to sell the smallholding and do some travelling while we could. We never got to do that because the smallholding took months to sell and  by November 2015 the first symptoms of  Non Hodgkins Lymphoma had started to appear and it was  diagnosed properly in March 2016.

Back Soon

Alone v Lonely

 Last week there were blog posts from various people about being alone or being lonely - not the same thing at all. 

When Brother-in-Law came over on Saturday to pick up some old ladders and a table it dawned on me that he was the first person I'd had a face to face conversation with since I went to Son and D-i-L's  for Youngest Grandsons 1st birthday on the 4th of the month. 9 days with no conversation except to saying thank you to people in shops and to the post-lady. I've not got lots of people to phone either, chatting on the phone never ever came easily and was certainly discouraged years ago.

But on the whole I'm not lonely even though I'm alone.

 

Loneliness is what I felt in the first years at the smallholding when we moved halfway across Suffolk. Colin carried on with his County Council Bridge Inspectors job, the children all made new friends at their new schools but I left behind the Cub Scout Pack that I'd been involved with for 20+ years and neighbours and friends in the villages we'd lived in for 10 years. Things got better as we got busier on the smallholding with our goats, campsite, the Smallholders Society and growing for sale but that way of life doesn't  give much opportunity for getting to know people well. 

 

Loneliness was what I felt through periods of black depression, when no one knew how to help me. 

Luckily help was found eventually and the depression  was never so bad as to be hopeless - Thank goodness........... as  that's a different thing altogether.

There wasn't time to be lonely we had to deal with Col's illness although I can see how some people feel very alone when coping with cancer. We seemed to spend all our time traveling to hospitals or waiting in waiting rooms.

 

It's lucky too that I'm OK with my own company and  don't get bored either, always something to interest me in books, on the blog, in the kitchen, with the family or on TV and in the garden when the weather is better. 

And I get complete control of the TV remote and choose what I want to eat and when. Being alone isn't all bad as long as you are not lonely.

***************

Yesterday the weather man kept say "it's much warmer today" but it didn't feel like it here, the snow was disappearing fast but I'm sure it just made the air very cold. At least I was at last able to do a load of washing as the washing machine outlet defrosted. We are forecast to have some warm days later this week which ties in with my First Of The Month weather saying ........"There is always one warm week in February".

Back Tomorrow

Sue

Mid October, Then and Now

 Short of ideas again so a look back at what I was blogging about in the middle of October in years gone by, a useful idea to remember whenever nothing much is happening

 

 Going all the way back to the first year of my blog.......

Monday, 14 October 2013

This is a good one so I'll include in full.....................

Multi Tasking on Monday

Does anyone ever ask you what you do when you are at home all day?

This is what I would tell them today.

I started by putting the eggs out for sale on the stand and then went round to let out 3 lots of chickens, give them fresh water and collect the first of the eggs. While I was outside, Him Outside was actually indoors lighting the Rayburn and having his breakfast, then putting the squash and pumpkins out for sale.After that he washed up while I wiped. Next I started the bread and while the dough hook was doing it's job peeled some cooking apples . Him Outside went out to take down the netting and gate from the front of the hay shed ( where we moved the chickens out of yesterday).

 Then we had a coffee.

 While the bread was doing it's first rising we got all the shed cleaned out with a nice lot of straw and poop wheel-barrowed around to add to the compost heaps.He finished the sweeping out of the hay shed while I went back indoors and made a batch of pastry ( It's OK I did wash my hands!). The pastry became an apple and a-little-bit-of-mincemeat pie, two baked blind quiche bases (one to eat and one to freeze) and an unbaked flan case also for the freezer. By which time the bread was ready for its knocking back and while it was doing its 2nd rise I baked the quiche bases, cooked the pie, softened an onion, pepper and courgette to make a filling for the quiche and washed up.
Him Outside was still outside but had moved around to the old campsite toilets to start emptying it prior to dismantling the inside.(It will in time be another chicken shed, if we can shift it without it falling apart!) While the bread and quiche were cooking I was sorting out all the things  that he had brought in from the loos, taking some clothes off the airer that's over the Rayburn and sweeping the kitchen floor.

Lunchtime and a sit down and blog reading.

After lunch he washed up then went off to borrow a large trailer big enough to put the tractor on and I wiped up,collected the eggs, picked raspberries, pulled up some beetroot, cleaned and boxed the eggs.
He got back, loaded the tractor onto the trailer and we had a cuppa. Then he was off again with the tractor to take it to get the hydraulics repaired ( properly this time we hope). I got some potatoes peeled and cabbage prepared and put the beetroot to cook on the Rayburn. Then I went outside to check the stand to see what had sold, check the chicken sheds for late eggs and to pick a few more cooking apples and bag them up ready for tomorrow.

He returned home again and after lighting the woodburner we watched Countdown on 4+1.( Some of the time he watched with his eyes shut - Not asleep he said!) He then sent an email to advertise the things we have for sale in the Suffolk Smallholders newsletter and I started this blog.

Time to go outside again to make sure the chickens have fresh water in their sheds before they go to bed and to bring in the things from the stall.

Dinner and Eggheads,Strictly takes Two,Washing up.Wiping Up. Shut up the chickens, University Challenge, Only Connect. Reading. Bed.
Another day gone!

 

Mid October 2014

Colin was spending some days in hospital after chest pains. This was a year after he'd been suddenly poorly and had stents inserted. He looks very well in this photo and although one blood test showed a heart attack there were no other signs and after a week in hospital having tests he was then home again.It was named the "Hardly a Heart Attack!"

The Thank-You is to all the blog readers who sent him Get Well Soon wishes

  

 October 13th 2015......................Still at the smallholding, although it was up for sale so we could downsize and travel - That was just before we knew about the  Non Hodgkins Lymphoma.

We'd been given some huge Quinces that we didn't really need, as we had some on our own trees, so I displayed them in an old basket on the windowsill hoping they'd give off a nice scent.

 

In the middle of October 2016  (we had moved to a small bungalow in Ipswich)we had just changed our plans - again....................This is the whole post.........

Plan A June 2015 - December 2015
Sell the smallholding, buy a small bungalow in town, use the caravan to visit all over the country, decide where to buy, perhaps Wales, and rent out bungalow in town.

Plan B January 2016
After diagnoses of Non Hodgkin Lymphoma, live in small bungalow in town until Colin has recovered then use caravan to travel and decide where to live perhaps Wales. Rent out bungalow in town.

Plan C  Suddenly October 2016
Spot lovely home  for sale in Suffolk countryside, abandon idea of ever living in Wales due to ongoing health problems, the wet weather there and arrival of 2 grandchildren. Make a cash  offer on house - which gets accepted. Put small bungalow on market.
All family cheering that we are not going to Wales.

Yes, after just 7 months in town we are heading back out into 'the sticks'.

We hadn't really planned to move again so quickly but when we spotted a house in Mid Suffolk on t'internet that looked really interesting, we went to look and it was just what we wanted. The sort of place we were looking for in Wales but without the rain and the hills!

So we are going to ignore the fact that Colin might have to have donated stem cells and more months of treatment. We shall ignore the fact that buying the house means we wipe out all savings and we'll have hardly anything to live on until we sell this bungalow and Col gets work pension in March 2017. We will ignore the fact that he may only be in remission for a short while and I could be on my own in the middle of nowhere and we will just go for it.
 When it comes to house buying we've always gone with gut feeling (For instance taking 2 small children to live in a caravan while we restored a very old semi-derelict property in 1983 and moving across Suffolk to the completely run down smallholding in 1992) 

The back of my  cottage up the end of the lane

 

In Mid October 2017.................................

We were at the Auction in Diss getting some trees for the "Birthday Wood". This is Col waiting to bid

( the birthday wood was Colins idea for using money he was given for his 60th birthday bash)

Waiting to bid

 

 In Mid October  2018....................................

5 Months after Colin died. I wrote about always  calling  Sumac "The Vinegar Tree" right from being little and having some in the garden by our play-shed and only finding out a few years ago that it's used as a spice with the flavour of vinegar.

 

Last Year In Mid October  2019................

I picked up the Bee spotters guide at the Eye Green Fair. I put it somewhere safe to use this year for Bee spotting, somewhere so safe that I couldn't find it!

And Now in 2020 - these old blog posts have reminded me that ........

We'd talked about me being alone here and  I did end up on my own out in "the sticks".

 Colin's Birthday wood isn't as big as it should have been due to 3 dry summers and it still shocks me to think that someone who had hardly had a day off work due to illness should  retire from work, have heart problems and stents put in and then get the dreaded diagnosis "treatable not curable" all within 6 years.

The Sumac or Vinegar  tree out the front of the house here is looking very sad, I reckon it's outgrown itself and only has leaves now on the tips of its few branches (another thing to get Brother-in-Law to cut down).

 Looking at the photo of quinces I can see the old Bramley that we had at the smallholding still covered in Apples in mid October whereas on  the tree here this year the apples were ready and falling before the end of September.

AND I've now found the Bee Spotting Chart............Will I remember where it is next summer?

Back Tomorrow 

Sue

This Week

This week................

Thank you for comments about the chutney/pickle/relish........whichever it's called in your country!

At 11am on Wednesday  morning the seasons suddenly changed from summer to autumn. I was in the greenhouse having a bit of a tidy when the wind suddenly started blowing, dark clouds rushed overhead and the temperature dropped by several degrees. There had been a lot of rain overnight and it looked as if it was about to pour again so I quickly got a bowl to pick the raspberries and hurried indoors.
Half an hour later the sun came out again, although it stayed windy for the rest of the day and overnight then so much colder on Thursday................ I LOVE the changeability of our weather!

I survived the dentist.............just. Although my bank balance took a big hit.

Bit tired this week, even too tired to go for a swim. Lots of going in and out and driving and also broken nights when the cat brings a mouse in for me, it's that time of year. Sometimes dead, sometimes alive, either way I have to get up and do something about it. Dear Polly-puss!

Here's a recipe from the car-boot bargain book "What Vegans Eat".
 Onion Bhaji Burgers - very delicious.
 I used half the amount  and didn't have any sparkling water but I did have some tonic water left from last Christmas so used that - have no idea if it made any difference, or if using just plain water would have been OK. I didn't have any coriander.

This made two good sized burgers, I had one in a bun with mayo, tomato, cucumber and chutney and the other next day re-heated with salad stuff for my lunch.


Wish I could share with you the taste of these little plum tomatoes from the greenhouse. I've been eating them by the handful everyday and

offering them to all visitors to try. These are Ildi, sweet but sharp with soft skins. More yellow than they appear in the photo and very prolific.

And finally I must say thank you to a lady from Worcester, sorry to hear your husband has the same cancer as Colin, it's a nasty one that's for sure. I'm glad you have found the blog helpful, writing it helps me so much too and yes my collection has grown - Thank you for your kindness.......... a huge surprise.



 This week I'm also grateful for

• Lunch out at Son and DiL's house
• A visit from my sister for a coffee
• A visit from Youngest and Florence 
• Lots of comments and visitors to  the blog, which I never seem to get round to replying to properly.

Hope you all have a lovely weekend, bit of a poignant one for me. Tomorrow, the 8th, would have been our 40th wedding anniversary. We didn't really celebrate wedding anniversaries but had talked about a party for the Ruby one. I'll be OK and keep busy as it's the only way to get through.


Back Monday
Sue

What Happened Last Week

Thank you to everyone for all the messages on other blogs. I couldn't believe all the blogging friends who had written special posts for us even though we'd never met and thank you especially to Pat who we had met.

I've usually shared what has happened with  Mantle Cell Non Hodgkin Lymphoma, one of the nastiest of cancers, so I hope you don't mind me sharing this final bit.

It's helped to write it all down,getting it all straight in my head.


 Over the Spring Bank Holiday Col didn't seem to be as well as he had been on Thursday and Friday and I called the hospital special haematology number and they said best call the  out-of-hours doctor who came out but his temperature etc were all OK. They prescribed a more powerful oral pain killer to try to help.

On Tuesday  night it was obvious he was getting confused and I rang for an ambulance straight away. They zoomed him to A&E and I followed along a few minutes later after sorting out what I needed.
I arrived not long after  the Ambulance and sat with him in A & E through the night as they pumped in antibiotics and saline. They were able to move him to the cancer ward about 6 o'clock in the morning and he seemed more with it but couldn't remember anything about the ambulance and A&E.

Mid morning Wednesday I went home for a while for a change of clothes and to feed the cat and spoke to him later on the phone where he said he was very tired. I felt too tired to drive having had no sleep but wanted to go back and see him so got my Brother in Law to take me up in the evening. Col didn't seem too bad, just very tired so I went home again.

On Thursday morning I got a phone call  saying things were not looking good and I probably ought to come up straight away. When I got there they had moved him into a side room, our lovely hospital chaplain friend, who had got to know us well over the years had been sitting with him through the morning until I got there and soon the doctor who had been treating him at Ipswich through the last 2 years came and said there was nothing else they could do. What was so lovely was the doctor wasn't even on call but came specially to see us, he reassured me that bringing Col into hospital a couple of days earlier wouldn't have made any difference.
 The Graft Versus  Host disease had quickly taken hold of his whole body and his lungs were affected. He had no immune system left to fight it.   I called the children with the news, our son and youngest daughter in Suffolk got there very soon . Our eldest was able to drive up from Surrey arriving early evening. It was obvious that he was very, very ill. At first he knew I was there but later he didn't .
His sister and brother in law and brother also came in to see him.

Youngest daughter went home to look after Florence as her OH was working away and couldn't get home and eldest daughter and son stayed on recliner chairs in the family room and I had a folding bed beside Colin and stayed awake almost all night with him. He was on Oxygen and a painkiller pump to make things easier.

The nurses were so lovely and kind and on Friday morning told me it would probably be that day. Youngest daughter came back and our children and I sat with him through the morning  and my sister and brother in law called in to see him. Midday I sent the children down to the canteen to get something to eat and a while later his breathing became more shallow so I buzzed the nurse and he came and sat with us and said this was it. I texted the children to come back to the ward and they arrived just as he very peacefully stopped breathing. So we were all together and stayed with him for a long time.
So proud of our children for being there with me and for each other. Eldest daughter was able to stay with me at the cottage on Friday and Saturday night and then went back to Surrey, Grandson Jacob has Chicken Pox, poor little fella and I wanted her to get back to him as they were missing each other.

At the moment it doesn't seem quite real as I've been on my own so many times when Colin had been in hospital for weeks on end. I'm guessing it will hit me later. The funeral won't be for a few weeks because of another Bank holiday and various people being away. There are plenty of things to organise which will keep me very busy, as well as the garden which had been neglected for a week.

Thank you again to everyone for all your kind thoughts, it's wonderful to know how many people are thinking and caring.

Back with proper blogging soon..........it will be a little bit of normality.
Sue

A Clever Machine

We've done our first week of two consecutive days at Addenbrookes for ECP treatment on his blood.

 Here's Col hooked up to the amazing machine they use. As you can see it doesn't hurt and  he is comfortable enough to nod off. The time taken varies between 1½ and 3 hours for different people, luckily Colin is one of the people where it works quite quickly, although we got held up both days waiting for a doctor to check him out and then  waiting for tablets to come up from pharmacy. But on a good day with no traffic hold ups it should be half a day rather than a whole day out.

Up until a couple of years ago people had to go to St Thomas' Hospital in London or a hospital in Nottingham for this treatment. So we are grateful that we don't have to travel any further than the next county.
 
The idea is to get the Graft versus Host disease under control so that his mouth isn't so stinging and sore and he can eat proper food again. Do hope it works, as being limited to high calorie milkshakes and juices with a few yogurts is a bit boring. The only catch is that it might take 6-9 months to work and we don't know how long he will be feeling well enough for the traveling.
Dates and times are booked for treatment in a fortnights time and the nurses said "do let us know if you can't come because setting up and running the machine each time costs £900!"

Once again how lucky we are to have  the NHS.

Weather forecast for the weekend is really good ....makes a change for a Bank Holiday. The  Middy in the War Years event just across the fields from us is on Sunday and Monday. Col is hoping to feel well enough to visit again, although it will have to be by car and wheelchair, rather than a walk across the field. Even if we don't get there we will hear the steam trains chuf-chuffing up the incline and see the flypast by a Battle of Britain Hurricane........ cancelled last year because it was too windy.


My other plans are gardening, another church visit and two car boot sales, all local and cheap!

Hope you all have a good weekend.......and avoid the Bank Holiday traffic jams if you are out and about in the UK.

Back Monday
Sue

A New Phase

We had a VERY long day at Addenbrookes hospital on Friday.

But there was a reason for it and sadly the outcome isn't wonderful.

The Doctors have moved Col onto a new phase of treatment.......that is keeping him as well as possible for as long as possible.

We knew that that Mantle Cell Non Hodgkins Lymphoma is one of the most aggressive types of cancer...........treatable but not curable is what they said right at the start, and none of the options he has had have worked so far, so the change to a more palliative form of care wasn't a surprise.

I'm mentioning this here because that's what's happening and plan to keep blogging because I want everything to be as normal as possible so no histrionics and wailing and gnashing of teeth will be seen here!

(and none in comments please)

So normality this weekend just gone was a short trip out on Saturday morning, an extremely busy morning on Sunday when Col's brother came with his Heath Robinson log splitter (pictured here in March last year) and split about a ton of logs which are now safely stored in the shed and in builders bags...... Winter 2018/19 sorted and probably a good bit of 2019/20 too. A cooked dinner for 4 people ( Col's sister came too) and an afternoon with baby cuddles .......pictures tomorrow. Then an evening of recovering!

Welcome to even more followers, happy to see you, hope you enjoy my scribblings from a cottage in Suffolk

Back Tomorrow
Sue

Old Photos and New News

I found the memory stick so I could load on some photos of Jacob and Florence ready to take to print out......hope Asda in Ipswich still have the photo printing machine. There were lots of photos from last year on the stick so then I had to find the photo album to see which ones I'd already printed and it was while I was doing that when I came across this photo from Spring 2002.

Kev at An English Homestead did a post about his ewe who had 4 lambs - quite unusual, and I commented that we'd had one who had 4 once, but she'd broke her leg/ pelvis having them so we had to have her destroyed and we'd bottle fed the lambs with Col's home made bottle feeding device. There are actually 5 lambs in this picture as we were given a tiny orphan lamb as well but she was fed separately by hand. For any sheep connoisseurs out there these were Ryeland.....the 'teddy bear' sheep with a bit of Shetland in their mum, she was a brown Ryeland cross and the lambs were black when they were born gradually getting browner as they got older.
Lambing each Spring was never fun......getting up to check them through the night, and it was always blinkin' cold but once they'd arrived a lot of time was wasted watching them! ( don't read this next bit if you are vegetarian or vegan!) and we made a good income from selling the fattened lambs in half-lamb freezer packs

I also found this from Autumn - 2002, our first ever pumpkin harvest at the smallholding. Later in 2012/13/14 we grew even more to sell and had about 3 times this amount every year.

Happy memories but I'm glad we're not still planting and harvesting on this scale.........it was hard on the back!

The New News is a cancer update and Great Joy (not) .........we now have to go to Addenbrookes 3 times a fortnight instead of just once a week! This is because they are trying a different sort of treatment called Extra Corporeal Photopheresis which in English means exposing the white blood cells to UV light outside the body. This is to treat the Graft versus Host Disease so they can get him off the anti-rejection drugs,so the donor stem cells can take over completely. The cancer has definitely moved to the Lymph glands and he is taking some chemo tablets that he had in 2016 ( they didn't work against the bone marrow lymphoma but should work to treat the enlarged Lymph glands). It's very important to battle on quickly. This new treatment (ECP for short) takes between 1½ and 3 hours on two days a fortnight and goes on for 3 months  before they review it, so lot's more traveling back and forth through most of the summer.

We are resigned, as the definition for that word says, " resigned to an unpleasant  situation or fact, we accept it without complaining because we realize that we cannot change it!"

Sums it up nicely.

I'm debating if I can pluck up courage to sometimes take myself by bus into Cambridge city centre  while Col is having the treatment. There are all sorts of wonderful places to visit but I'm terribly prone to getting completely lost in town centres! No sense of direction at all.

Thank you for comments over the weekend. I sometimes feel we were forced into retirement early but there is no way I could commit to part time work or even volunteering at the moment. So we will soldier on as we are.

Back Tomorrow
Sue

The Week Just Gone

The week just gone...............

Last Saturday I visited the Grand Opening of a  new Farm Shop "Hen & Hog" that has opened about 10 minutes away from us.

Very Rustic, and as I thought - jolly expensive.

I sipped a local produced Apple and Elderflower Juice - lovely, and sampled some little bits of Millionaires Shortbread from a local bakery - delicious.

I looked at the Home Raised Very Large Free Range Chickens ........£31! - yes they were LARGE (as big as a small turkey) but £31?, I looked at their home produced Proper Pork Sausages £4 for 6.

To show willing I bought a few small salad potatoes and a head of celery and then went home again.

To start with they are only going to be open on Thursdays, Fridays and Saturday mornings, which begs the question - how fresh will the produce be?

I'd love to support local businesses, but...............

The Farm Shop Rhubarb was £5 a Kg but we had our first few sticks of our own lovely pink stems for dinner on Saturday evening. Col made custard and turned them into a rhubarb fool (but without  cream....sadly). The sticks came from one of the new crowns I planted last year, better not pull anymore.
I forgot the  'photo opportunity' but I expect you know what rhubarb looks like!
                   

Sunday, we had Siskins on the bird feeder

Monday, a bit of sunshine and it was a good day as gardening was started at last. First I weeded the fruit bed. The Gooseberry bushes planted last year look good, the very old blackcurrant is still alive and the old raspberry canes are shooting.

Then I weeded the vegetable bed that's empty apart from a few skinny leeks and finally we folded back the plastic on the other bed and  got the 5 Swift and 5 Home Guard potatoes into the ground. Re- covered them with the  black plastic for a week or two while the weather warms up.
Col got the mower out for the first time this year.

Monday night I headed across to Framlingham High School for the Suffolk-East WI Spring quiz. It was a very enjoyable evening. 26 WI's from East Suffolk were represented and we ended up 12th.
There was a very funny happening at the beginning........The question-reader lady had a microphone through a speaker which, after she had asked just one question, suddenly made strange noises and then shouted "OK Left and over, up,down, right and over." We realised the loud speaker had somehow tuned into an exercise group going on in the next building. It was so funny. There was a delay while someone went round to the exercise class and tried to find out why we were picking up their frequency. But in the end another ordinary microphone was found and we were able to carry on.

 Tuesday............back to cold and wet weather and I  was off to the vet with Polly for her annual check-over and cat flu jab. I'm glad it's only 3 miles as she complains loudly all the way.

 Wednesday............ and we had been waiting for a call from Addenbrookes as we were expecting Col to be called in for a biopsy before Easter. So on Wednesday morning he gave the Specialist Cancer nurse a ring to find out what was happening. She said she would call back and they were trying for Thursday. I set off to Stowmarket to pay a bill and a bit of shopping and had just arrived in the Asda car park when Col rang me to say they wanted him in.......to stay....... straight away. So I zoomed round Asda and home again where Col had his hospital bag packed and off we went to hospital. They had decided that having him in to stay would ensure they were able to do a biopsy and lots of other tests. He has enlarged Lymph glands and they need to know why and they need to decide what to do next. We had a feeling things were not right so although it was a shock it wasn't a complete surprise. We'd been warned many times that Mantle Cell Non Hodgkin Lymphoma is difficult and aggressive.We are gritting our teeth and carrying on best we can as that's the only thing we can do.

Because of heading off to Cambridge in a rush I forgot a book but found one on the shelves in the waiting room,


  it was good to have something to read as I was there 4 hours before they decided that Yes, Colin would definitely be staying. The book was a thriller, not something I would usually read but it kept me occupied. I've read 15 books this month......good grief, just proves how grotty the weather has been and how little housework I do!

On Thursday I made a batch of Hot Cross-less buns. We tried some cheap ones from Asda earlier in the month and found they were doughy and tasteless...... I decided Home Made are best by a long way, but they could do with a bit more spice than the recipe says. I've made a note in the recipe book.

HOT CROSS(less) BUNS  (from Bread - River Cottage Handbook by Daniel Stevens)

500g flour, half and half strong white bread flour and plain white.
125ml warm water
125ml warm milk                                                 ( 50g plain white flour and 100ml water
tsp instant Dove yeast                                                if you want to do crosses)
tsp salt
50g castor sugar
1 medium free range egg
50g butter
100g mix of sultanas and currants and chopped mixed peel                                 
1tsp ground mixed  spice
1tbsp jam and 1tbsp water to glaze

This is VERY sticky to do without a food mixer and dough hook!

Combine flours, water, milk, yeast, salt and sugar. Add the egg and butter and mix.
Then add dried fruit and spice and knead with dough hook on low speed until smooth.
Cover dough and leave to rise  in a warm place until doubled in size.
Knock back dough and divide into 8 (for very large) or 12  for more normal sized.
Shape into rounds and dust with flour. Cover with a clean tea towel and leave to rise again until double in size.
Preheat oven to 200C/Gas 6. use flour and water mixed in a piping bag to add crosses ( I don't bother)
Bake for 15 to 20 minutes.
Heat jam and water in a cup in the microwave ( or in a saucepan) and brush over to glaze as you take them out of the oven.

 The recipe is stored on the separate recipe page, right at the end.

Thursday afternoon was fine enough to weed and tidy the quarter circle flower bed at last, I hadn't even cut back the dead stuff from last Autumn. It looks so much better after a couple of hours work.
There seem to be some empty spaces so I'll see what I can find at the next car boot sale.

So to today..... Good Friday, the proper day for eating Hot Cross Buns.
 In the Christian churches manner of adapting pagan traditions, these buns are descendants of small cakes made at this time of year in celebration of the arrival of spring. Even the cross was there before Christianity -as a symbol of the year divided into four seasons. At one time all bread was marked with a cross - thought to help it rise, but this was frowned upon by the church after the reformation and a cross was reserved only for special holy cakes.

Have a good Good Friday
Back Tomorrow
Sue

Feeding 2 People for £20 Back in 2015

 This library book that I collected last week got me remembering a post I did in January 2015 on the old blog.   ..............a purely theoretical look at how to feed 2 people for £20 for a week.

The parameters I set were HERE
I was imagining someone without a garden or access to markets or yellow sticker produce and only able to go to 2 shops. The cupboards were bare except for just a few things including tea and/or coffee.

Old post in italics

So..........£20 to spend/ 2 shops/only a few things in the cupboard/3 meals a day + snacks

My £20 shopping list using the My Supermarket comparison website for Tesco and Aldi

500g value cooking bacon 80p

750g.value beef mince £2.69

400g sausage meat £1

1kg value porridge oats 75p

454g value milk powder £1.15

250g.value butter 95p

250g value baking fat 39p

1.5kg bread flour 75p

1.5kg SR flour 45p

yeast 59p

value eggs (15) £1.25

1kg value rice 40p
value spaghetti 20p

2½ kg potatoes £1.15

celery 69p

1kg carrots 55p

1kg value onions 79p

pkt value mashed potato 28p

2 tins value baked beans 48p

2 tins value tomatoes 68p

2 tins value peas 42p

pkt value stuffing mix 15p

jar value mayo 40p

jar value marmalade 27p
bag of value apples 89p
bag of value pears 89p

TOTAL£19.11

from the cupboard mixed sweet spices and curry powder, sugar, stock cubes, sunflower oil, salt and pepper, tea and coffee for drinks.

This makes

3 loaves bread to have for lunches and toast for breakfast if needed
porridge for breakfasts / and or the toast

some homemade spice biscuits for snacks 

bread and marmalade pudding for one dessert if you need it

main meals

  a bacon/onion quiche feeding 2 people for 2 days,

 a pan full of beef mince/tinned tomatoes/onion/carrot/porridge oats mix to  make 2 portions spag- bol,  2 portions shepherds pie (using the packet of mash to make the potatoes last all week and probably into next week too) and 4 portions to freeze for  2 days next week 

half the sausage meat/half stuffing mix/grated apple/shortcrust pastry makes a sausage plait for 2 portions with veg and some for lunches

a vegetable curry using onions, carrots potatoes and celery
A scalloped potato meal with a little bacon in for flavouring

That's 7 main meals all served with some of the veg either tinned or carrots. I would prefer frozen peas to tinned but that is a bigger outlay.

lunches of 

vegetable soup -twice                          }                     

beans on toast                                       }            With a small piece of fruit each to follow - 

scrambled egg on toast                         }             half a pear or apple each

poached egg on toast                            }              depending on how many were in the pack

bacon sandwich                                    }

sausage plait with grated carrot salad   }

 There would be several things left so that the next week it would be possible to buy

a chicken and cheese instead of the meat

different breakfast cereal instead of porridge for variety

some dried fruit and more veg instead of some of the other buys

The rest of this post is HERE with what people said and also why I wasn't very happy with my menu plan.

So here we are March 2018 and a book with weekly budget menus is in my home - and it got me thinking and planning and researching and finding how prices have changed in 3 years and then getting a bit cross with the book!


To be continued Monday...........................................

Sue

1st PS...... Went to Hospital yesterday for results of  his CT scan and stem cell sampling................There may be problems. Back next week for a biopsy.............No light at the end of the tunnel yet...........hours more treatment ahead.

2nd PS....... Thank you for comments on second-hand shopping yesterday. I'd love to say I never buy new but I don't fancy secondhand knickers!!

February Days in 2014, 2015, 2016 and 2017...........

............A Very Long Post

I thought it would be interesting to look back via the blog to see what we were doing in early February over the last few years.................. it turned into a very long blog post!

Looking all the way back to 2014 on the smallholding, working hard and no inkling of what lay ahead.

Tuesday, 4 February 2014

A good productive day

You know how some days you can be busy without seeming to achieve much, well today I was busy and I can actually see what I've done.

The day started with my usual walk around the field to let out the chickens from their 3 different sheds, check they are all still upright and collect the eggs. Then a basket of washing was hung out good and early with sunshine and a drying wind forecast.
Next job was to get two loaves of bread started and rising in front of the Rayburn.
After a cuppa, I pricked out the next batch of seedlings comprising of a few of each of three types of tomato and a few peppers. Then the small seed trays were refilled with seed compost and some more tomatoes sown and popped into the windowsill propagator.
Then I got a shout to go over and help put the plastic over the small poly-tunnel at our neighbours. Him outside has now finished the job, the boat has been wheeled inside and our neighbour is very pleased.
I had a tidy up in the shed and then a tidy up indoors.
The postman  brought me some books that I'd ordered using my Christmas money. "5 acres and a dream" and "Skeoch - our new life on a Scottish Hill farm". Both look like a good read and both are by people who write blogs.
The bread was baked and turned out well.
The washing dried.
I covered two lots of rhubarb with bottomless dustbins to get them going.
Leeks done for fritters to go with bacon chops for dinner.

But the best job of all, which will make such a difference, is that after 4 dry days with drying wind Him Outside managed to get the middle sized chicken shed moved away from the sea of mud onto fresh grass - AT LAST!

So many weeks of rain had turned more than half of their run into  a sticky mud mess.

 The shed is on 2 wide metal skids, with a chain attached, they can be moved with the tractor.

A while later after moving water butt, feed bin, straw bin, drinkers, electric fence and the connection to mains electric for the lighting, the chickens are in seventh heaven on fresh grass.

So a good productive day.Our neighbour is happy with her boat shelter, the chickens are happy on fresh grass, Him Outside is happy to have done both those things and I'm happy with two new books, dry washing, fresh bread, seedlings growing and seeds sown.

 *******************************************************

 Fast Forward a year to 2015, still working hard at the smallholding


Sunday, 8 February 2015

Letting light in

We have a Love Hate relationship with the Leylandii hedge between campsite and garden. On the one hand we are grateful to the people who planted it because it keeps the prevailing wind off the house and give us and campers privacy. On the other hand if it's not attacked with hedge-cutter and loppers at least every other year it cuts so much light from the house and poly-tunnels.
It had spread sideways and upwards in the last 2 years and really needed cutting and although Col managed to do the sides of the  hedge with the borrowed lightweight hedge cutter, the top would have been difficult because since the hardly-a-heart-attack he was told not to work  with his arms raised above shoulder level.
So yesterday our future son in law came up and together they worked their way along. Standing on the trailer on the campsite side all the branches went into the trailer. On the house side they used some scaffolding, so we will be picking up the bits to burn during the week.

Under the horse chestnut tree the primroses are fighting their way through the dead leaves

In other parts of the garden things are much slower - no sign of rhubarb yet and only a few daffodil shoots in the bed of daffs that we grow to sell. We got a bit of tidying done in the long flower bed this  morning and tulips look as if they have come through and then been damaged by frost. Our other morning job was cutting back the Autumn raspberry canes. Col has loosened the soil in one of the beds in the middle poly-tunnel and has emptied - by gravity- a tank of water onto it. Then we will barrow in some compost ready for planting the earliest of the early potatoes.

**************************************************************

In February 2016 we were waiting to move into Ipswich because Colin had been diagnosed with one of the most aggressive types of Non Hodgkins Lymphoma and had just started treatment.

 Tuesday, 2 February 2016

 

Hair Today, Gone Tomorrow

It's a fact - people having chemotherapy usually have hair loss.
In preparation, last week I cut Col's hair with the number 2 comb and yesterday went all over again with no comb. Just in time, as he found he could grab hold of bits and pull them out.
To keep him company he then cut my hair with the 4 comb - not quite as short but short enough!

Looking at the colour of the hair on the floor you would think we had  been shearing a badger!

Our youngest daughter had ovarian cancer when she was 18. She lost most of her hair and wore a scarf for the duration. When her hair came back it was darker, thicker and curlier than it had been before. If Col's hair comes back thicker and darker he will be well pleased!

 ******************************

 Onto 2017
This time we were waiting to move to here to the cottage, Col had had a year of treatment and had his own stem cells back and we thought things were on the up




February 2017

There May Be (Faint) Signs of Movement

We've received paperwork and signed it, deposit money has gone into solicitors client account........things may be happening at last on the buying front. I'll still not hold my breath!

On the selling front we had a couple round to see the bungalow Saturday morning, they didn't say much so don't know what they thought.The agents phoned to say the couple were not sure. Shan't hold my breath there either. We are being pestered by other agents all wanting to sell our bungalow. One company have knocked on the door 3 times and sent a letter, why they think they could do better than the company we are with I have no idea. We might drop the price a bit which will move it back to the top on Rightmove, but not until we've moved out and then the agents can show people round an empty house. I've gone off the idea of letting as we know  things need doing here and we could end up paying out several £1000 before we get anything back.

The weekend was a weekend of viewing sport on TV with the start of the Six Nations Rugby and  Davis Cup Tennis, all good viewing. The GB team got through to the next round of Davis Cup because of the young Canadian player swiping his tennis ball away in disgust and hitting the chair umpire right in the eye therefore getting his team disqualified. Ouch! It was 2 rubbers each so they were playing the deciding match although Kyle Edmunds was two sets up at the time so might have won anyway. Good to see so many GB men doing well and not having to rely on Andy Murray. I think there is Snooker on all week before Rugby again next weekend. While waiting to move we have turned into couch potatoes!

The first Saturday Car-boot sale of the season at Needham Market was a bit of a flop - plenty of boots there but I think half were the same ones who were at Portman Road last Sunday.............tat! all I spent was £2 on a huge bag of kitchen paper rolls which was a saving. Although I use a dishcloth for wiping and rags for cleaning we do use kitchen roll as tissues and a few other odd jobs.

 *******************************************************************

 And here we are in early February 2018, Everything changes but Nothing changes

 I'm still hanging out washing on windy days, and have just covered the rhubarb here with an old dustbin.
No huge Leyllandii hedge to cut thank goodness, just lots of privet and hawthorn. Future son-in-law is still future son-in-law but also proud Dad of Florence
 I've not sown any seeds yet, don't need to rush now we only grow for us.
Colin's hair came back after the chemo in 2016 but just as grey as before and we are still cutting hair at home and his is just starting to grow again after the December chemo.
The people who viewed the bungalow that day eventually went on to buy it - thank goodness and we eventually moved in here on March 1st. On the 2nd we found Col's treatment hadn't worked and he started on a trial drug in preparation for donor stem cell grafting.
Now he's had donor stem cells and we have fingers crossed they will work so that he just needs several months to recover.
The Six Nations Rugby tournament starts today, Kyle Edmunds is still doing well in tennis and the first Saturday car-boot of the season is TODAY!

Thank you for comments yesterday and hello and welcome to a new follower.

If anyone knows why there is a line down the middle, which isn't on the draft I'd love to know!

Back Monday
Sue

Running Away

There was a programme on TV last week that I found sort-of fascinating. While Col's not here I get to see it.....( He just moans through this time of programme!)
 It is called Hunted and was on Channel 4 on Thursday. A load of people - 9 in this 3rd series- are dropped off  somewhere - Manchester city centre this time, and have to evade being found for 25 days to win a share of £100,000. Each person or pair have a covert camera man with them.
The people tracking the "fugitives" have access to CCTV, ATM records, phone taps and computer accounts and a  helicopter and now drones too. They have people in cars ready to follow and experienced ex- police officers or experts in psychology and tracking in an office watching everything.
As the man said "every electronic device leaves a trail" - frightening really and this country has more CCTV cameras than many others so it's almost impossible to disappear. No-one stays free for long.

I've often felt like running away and disappearing, I can remember being about 13 and trying to work out how to climb out of my bedroom window, probably after an argument with Dad.
During some of the early days at the smallholding, severe winter depression made me feel like running away from the cold and wet.
And now I sometimes feel like running away from hospitals and illness!
But of course I haven't and won't  run from anything, after all where would I go?

I've no idea how I would fare in that Hunted programme. A lady of 60+ only stayed free for about 6 hours because she got on a National Express coach and travelled to London. Once you are on a coach you are stuck really. A father and son set out for the countryside - no CCTV there but then phoned home and told their wife/mother exactly where they were - phones were tapped-  they realised what they had done and moved on quickly.
I might watch tonight, there again I might not - it's all rubbish really as they must know from the camera men where everyone is all the time anyway!

Meanwhile, news from hospital is worrying. Col keeps passing out when going to the loo in the night. (The doctor gave this a name but can't remember what he said) He's found himself on the floor 4 times now. His blood pressure is too low. Headaches aren't so bad and he's had the bone marrow sample taken that was due so we are waiting to find out what's going on. He's still not on the proper ward and doctors don't get round to seeing him until late each day and feeling a bit down in the dumps with so few visitors to take his mind off things. I can see the benefit of hospitals specializing in various illnesses but it does make it difficult for family and friends when the hospital is 60 miles away.

Back Tomorrow
Sue

Spending 2017 and Budget 2018

Carrying on from yesterday..........

I've sorted the the 2017 double entry accounts (no idea what that means - but things are written twice and it sounds efficient!) written things in columns and added them up. It's quite frightening. Don't move house I think is the main advice I can give for saving money.
For right or wrong we moved twice in a year, in hindsight we should have rented in Ipswich while we found out how poorly Colin was, but hindsight is a wonderful thing and we'd planned to travel and rent out the bungalow if he'd been well enough.
Anyway we are here and will hang on as long as possible. The value of a 4 bedroom home with an acre of land in a quiet location is unlikely to go down so we still have the chance of downsizing again but please, not yet!

The Black Book of Doom and Gloom!

 Where can I save after looking at last years frightening totals?

• The Garden - definitely.........at the moment apart from multi-purpose compost and seed potatoes I can't think of anything else we need. No trees needing cutting down next year either, that was a big expense although we now have all the wood of course.

• The Grandchildren - after we moved here, with space to store things  I got a bit carried away at car boot sales, I kept seeing bargain toys and games  that would be useful for them in years to come and of course still have things for 3 and 4 year olds waiting  in the cupboard. Also some items only need buying once - like a cot, high chair, stair gates and fireguard...... But on the other hand there is a new grandchild due in April so...................

• Cars - Surely, surely there won't be so many repairs needed this year? Having decided it would be difficult to be here with only one car with all the hospital stuff going on, we swapped the big Hyundai for another Fiesta that won't cost much if it's not used but cheap to run when needed.

• Water and Sewer - Going down from £34 a month Mrs F was paying, to less than £20 a month after we had the meter fitted and the septic tank won't need emptying next year.

• Clothes - Got myself new lightweight jacket and shoes for summer last year and Colin had to have extra PJ trousers for hospital and braces when he lost so much weight. Won't need that spend again, I think my baggy shorts will survive another summer, they're only about 12+ years old after all! What I do need are t-shirts for summer but luckily they are one of the easiest things to find at charity shops.

• Books - obviously. As my dear succinct brother-in-law said "if you didn't buy another book you still wouldn't have time to read all you've got before you peg out!" - He's wrong of course.

• House stuff - simple - don't buy anything for the house. Well, it ought to be simple until something breaks down or wears out.

• Electric, oil and LPG gas - As mentioned yesterday we are careful with what we use and have plenty of wood for the wood burner. I have no intention of feeling cold, eating raw food or getting rid of the TV. 

•  Phone/broadband. A lifeline for us that is due to increase when our contract runs out in March. We shall have to look for something cheaper. Col's mobile is £7.50 a month and mine is pay as you go.

• The Beach hut -  Bought to aid Colin's recovery and to help us adjust to town living. Now we are back in the country. I'm going to pay ground rent this year and see how much we use it. If not often then it will have to be sold.

• Food Shopping - When we were first married this was an area that I could save in, when we had 3 children and a low income I still saved here and when we budgeted to pay off the mortgage so many years earlier than the original date I saved here again. I'm not sure I want to cut back on food spending yet again, but......

As I said yesterday, should be doable. We'll see.

Spoke too soon saying we only had one trip to Addenbrookes hospital this week. Col had  headaches and high temperatures so they said "better come in". After a whole day of tests and scans they decide to keep him in so I came back alone. Good thing we had taken  his hospital bag and meds just in case.
Ho Hum............. the joys of serious illness but thank heavens for the NHS.

Back Tomorrow
Sue

  

December 2nd and the Advent Calendar

We didn't have an Advent Calendar last year, no-where to put one in the tiny bungalow. Then I thought I still had the one saved from 2015, maybe I'd put it inside the big family bible to press the little doors shut?
When we got round to unpacking all the books the lovely National Trust Advent calendar wasn't inside the bible. No sign of it anywhere so I looked around online for an Advent Calendar that would be good to look at all month and it needed to stand up on it's own too and definitely no chocolate.

Found this, snowy mountain village scene and love it. It's German, 3D and the doors and windows that open really are doors and windows!

I shall enjoy seeing what sort of things are behind the doors.....A family around a table in door 1.

Col is now in Addenbrookes Hospital being prepared for the donor stem cell transplant. This involves a week of  a type of chemo, which we hope isn't one he had before that resulted in him going into shock!
The stem cell donor has a week of injections which forces stem cells to overflow into the blood, then they have a day donating and Col gets them back the next day and that's when the problems might start. He will be in all month as recovery takes several weeks.....I'm Home Alone for December!
In a way it will be easier this time as he's been through it all before but on the other hand because he's been so well and will then  be very ill it will be harder ........if you follow. He is going into this transplant in a much better state of heath than last time, heavier and fitter.......we shall just have to wait and see. We've been warned that recovery is peaks and troughs rather than a steady climb.

The only internet connection in the ward is via the over-the-bed TV and very slow, apparently when they modernised all the hospital computer systems, good internet connection up high - 10th floor- on this ward was lost. He tried a dongle but no good either, he has plenty of reading matter and the TV and Radio to keep him occupied as I won't be going to see him more than a couple of times a week........ it's just too far and despite all the practice I still don't enjoy driving - especially on the A14 which has as much traffic as a motorway but is only 2 lanes most of the way, with numerous junctions and trucks  pulling out of lay-bys etc. Luckily Col understands how I feel, and we'll cope how we have before.

Back Tomorrow
Sue

Addenbrookes Hospital

or to give it it's other name -  Cambridge University Hospital. What ever it's called it's still huge. As well as being the local hospital for Cambridge and the surrounding areas and The Rosie Maternity Hospital is based there too, it's also the centre for the whole region for more complicated things. Which is why Colin will be in there for his donor stem-cell transplant very soon. He'll be on the transplant ward which is on the 10th floor and the air is filtered and purified up there to help with the prevention of infections.

We were there the other day for him to have a Hickman line put in ready for the chemo and stem-cell  transplant and I thought I'd take a couple of photos while I was waiting.

These big mosaics are outside where the main lift area is to take people up to the wards. Very colourful.

Down the main corridor between outpatients and the main hospital are these drawings, originally done by Quentin Blake, they tell the story of scientific achievements through history.

Close inside the main entrance is the shopping concourse. There's a hairdresser's, bank, clothes and gift shop and even a travel agent. Plus every sort of food outlet from Burger King to M&S.

When we first went to this huge hospital I was lost in 5 minutes but I've learned my way round the place now. The worst thing will be going up in the lifts to the 10th floor every time I visit Col!

Today, instead of going in on the Park and Ride bus we thought we were early enough to park on the Hospital's multi-storey car park. We left home at 6.45am but the traffic on the 52 miles of the A14 and A11 was even worse than last week, the last couple of miles to the hospital took half an hour, so it's Park and Ride for me when I go and visit him. It will save a lot of stop-start queueing.

Back Soon
Sue

Me and the Poppet

Forgive me but I couldn't resist sharing



Col took this the other day when we were in Leiston looking after Florence for a hour or so. She's a right little poser, loves having her photo taken but the lovely thing was when we arrived she pointed at me (she does a lot of pointing!) and said "Nanna".
Who knew having grandchildren would be so much fun!

 What is Not fun is that they've put Col's date to go in for the donor stem cell  transplant back by a week -  early December now rather than the end of this month - and we have to go to Addenbrookes to have Lung Function test which he's already had in Ipswich. Grrrrrr! He'll almost definitely be stuck in Addenbrookes for Christmas.

Back Tomorrow
Sue

Things I'm not used to.................

..................... getting up at 5am. and driving an hour and a bit in the dark and then another hour and a bit in the half-dark!

Colin had the sinus operation on Monday and had to be at Addenbrookes Hospital at 7.15am. Getting up at 5 is a bit of a shock to the system.........must be getting old.
We didn't know if he would have to stay in overnight so decided I'd drop him off at the door and go home again. Our DIL volunteered to pick him up if he was allowed out as she works about 35 minutes away from the hospital.
I came home through intermittent hail/rain storms that needed the windscreen wipers on extra fast speed. It was still very gloomy when I got home just after 8.15, we'd had hardly any rain here but then things brightened up and  sun came out and the wind got up. I did get the washing dry - but had to keep pegging bits back on the line.

Then we had the weird weather phenomenon that others have captured on their cameras, strange purple/red sky and the sun disappearing behind clouds of Saharan dust. I stood outside for a few minutes and wondered what our  ancestors would have thought......... no TV telling them about Storm Ophelia and sand dust being carried into the upper atmosphere!

Anyway, Col was allowed home and our lovely DIL fetched him back to their house when she finished work - and I went and collected him from there. The sun by that time was still looking a bit strange and huge, low and bright - horrible driving again.

Eventually home by 7pm, hopefully the sinus operation will stop the source of infection that's been a recurring problem all through his chemo treatment. Although he might have gone through it for nothing because the reason Ipswich hospital wouldn't do it was because they weren't sure it would be of any use! Ho Hum.

We both spent yesterday recovering  - him from the anesthetic and me from the early start and too much driving!

Back Tomorrow
Sue

Library Books and Health Update

Last Thursday was library van day and I picked up another good pile of books to read that I'd ordered and I have two left from 4 weeks ago too, so no shortage of reading matter.

9 crime in this lot.....blimey.  Also have another book about growing cut flowers - although my cutting garden is 6 foot x 6 foot whereas Sarah Ravens is 40 foot by 80 foot!
I specially requested the book about Will Scott, the author of childrens books in the 50's and 60's which I loved to read.
The Flexible Vegetarian is a bit posh for my humble kitchen, there won't be any recipes copied form this book although everything looks delicious there is too much faffing and prepping!

I took the book by Ann Granger with me to hospital last week and almost finished it due to all the sitting about waiting so hope to get through all this lot by the end of the month.

And on the subject of hospitals, Col's health and the Non-Hodgkins Lymphoma we now know more of what's happening at last. He is to have a day-surgery operation on his sinuses in a couple of weeks time. This will remove a source of infection that has been a big problem throughout his chemo and previous treatment. Then after a few weeks to get over that he will go in again to Addenbrookes - probably towards the end of November for a  week of different chemo before the donor goes in and donates stem cells which are then given to Col the next day. Then its an up and down bumpy road to recovery and hopefully out of hospital before Christmas..... Sounds like a plan. Hope it goes according to schedule but after the horrible time he had in Ipswich when he had the ordinary stem cell treatment.......in for nearly 8 weeks instead of  four weeks - we just never know.

Thanks for comments about moving/not moving. Col's dad only ever lived in two houses in adjoining villages all his life and my Mum and Dad only lived in two houses - on the same plot of land in 40 years both families thought we were odd because we kept moving but we were always climbing the property ladder with the smallholding at the top! As someone always says " good thing we're not all the same".
Mustn't forget to say Welcome to a new follower - Hi.

Back Soon
Sue

Just Too Technical ...plus other stuff

I mentioned that we had to have a new heating oil tank as the one here was very old, not bunded (double skinned) and too close to the garage for modern regulations. New oil tanks come with a transmitter that tells a plug in sensor indoors the amount of oil left and  if someone is stealing your oil. Unfortunately this little bit of technology can go haywire and emit a LOUD alarm even if your tank is full and nobody is there nicking it.
Don't you just love technology.
So many things that didn't need electricity now have lights or clocks, heavens know where all our electric will come from when we all have to have electric cars.

 We had a phone call, with just one days notice, to go to Addenbrookes so that their ENT department can check that he really doesn't need a sinus operation before his donor stem-cell transplant which is what Ipswich ENT decided after tests there two weeks ago. Ho Hum, and our little car is in the garage where they are trying to sort out what the whining noise is so we had to take the Hyundai which uses more fuel, but we took a pack up lunch of course so saved that expense. The Hyundai is going to fail it's MOT in January - the sub frame or something so we need to sort out another car soon. Serious illness with only one car won't work.
Hopefully by the time we see his consultant  at Addenbrookes  in early October they'll have made a date for him and the donor to go in and he can get started on the bumpy road to recovery.

We stopped at Tesco's  for milk on the way home from Cambridge   and I saw they had chocolate oranges on offer......Buy 1 and get 2 Free, how weird is that. So I did and they will be added to Christmas gift hampers. Buy the look of the huge almost empty box on the pallet, everyone will be finding chocolate oranges in the stockings this year!

Back Monday
Sue

Out longer than we thought

A tale of too many hours out!

Col had to go up to hospital for a kidney function test yesterday morning. This involves a blood test, an injection of a radio active substance(!) and then a blood test an hour later...................or so he thought.
He dropped me off in Ipswich town centre for shopping and planned to pick me up later, then  supermarket shopping and home in time for lunch.
I'd been in town for about an hour and a half when he phoned to say he had to have 3 blood tests - after one hour, two hours and three hours. Question was - did I want to stay in town for another 3 hours? Aaaagh - NO THANKS. So he came and picked me up after blood test #1. Then we went back to hospital, where I dropped him at the right entrance and then went and found somewhere to park - the only place I could find was right at the other end of the hospital!
By the time I'd walked the whole length of the hospital he'd had the second blood test and we went for lunch in the canteen. Then he went back to wait for 3rd blood test while I went for shopping at Sainsburys which is nearest to the hospital but my least favourite superstore and then back to hospital again and had just got up to the clinic where he was when he came out after third blood test.
Then we came home. Phew.
Had to put all the shopping away, only to discover the box of food from Approved Foods outside the front door so had to set to and put that away as well. By the time I collapsed in the armchair it was nearly 4pm.
At least I didn't have to cook dinner.

He's back at hospital to see the doctor today - I'm staying at home.

Back soon
Sue