Strange Times, End of Week 13..................

............When will I stop writing Strange Times and counting the weeks? Soon I hope.

This weeks flowers on the table are the first of the Alstromeria and the rather small Sweet Williams all from the cutting garden.

First of all a Big Welcome to some more followers - hope you like reading about life in Suffolk.

There's been a lot more rain here this last week, I got woken in the early daylight hours of Thursday morning when it looked like a cloudburst outside. All the water butts are full again so it can stop raining now and it's been quite chilly too - and, with no one to moan at me, I even had the heating on a couple of mornings and evenings. 

Two weeks after it started I finally shook off the sore throat/earache/lethargy thank goodness. I was glad it went.......didn't fancy the hassles of trying to see a doctor.

The highlight of the week was the vets deciding to re-open for routine vaccinations, just in time for Polly to get her cat-flu booster without having to start again from the beginning of a long course. They did the usual health check and found she had a wobbly tooth which would need to come out in case it set off an infecton- so it's back in for her next week - that sounds expensive - Ho Hum.

And apart from making jam as mentioned yesterday it's been another week of reading, stitching, watching snooker on TV and the occasional burst of housework. It would be possible to do exciting things like going to a garden centre - but there's nothing I need so I've only been out to the vets and post office..........


Running total of food from the garden 2020

• 9 small lettuces (I now have a gap because the next sowing took ages to get going)
• 4 Cucumbers - and 4 more given away
• a few asparagus spears
• lots of rhubarb
• Few strawberries.
• 1lb of gooseberries

This week I'm grateful for

1. Strawberries from brother in law
2. Good rain for the fruit trees

 This weekend I'm just popping out to deliver a cucumber and a jar of jam to my sister-in-law which I'm swapping for lots of puzzle pages from the local paper and hopefully will be able to see the nearest bit of the family too.
Then next week most shops can open but they might be busy so it will just be a supermarket trip I think.

Hope you have a good weekend.

Back Monday
Sue

30th January

Thank you to everyone for comments this week so far, especially about 'stuff' in the cupboards. If I didn't have room for all my possessions to be tidy then it would be time to move more out, but at the moment everything fits in, is used and tidy enough to find. I can't see any point in clearing out things that are used now and again because as sure as anything the moment I got rid would  the day before I needed it!
 So the clearing out will slow down to just books.............oh and maybe the tea towels (a post to follow sometime!) My sister and I (mainly sister as she was closer) cleared out Dad's house after his death and he hadn't chucked anything out for years- there was an awful lot of junk, don't want to leave my lot with too big a job - even if it is  hopefully a long time in the future.

There was no swimming again this week. The pool has had to put in some sort of temporary boiler as parts for their old one are having to be made from scratch. That short power surge in early January certainly did a lot of damage.

I went for the free NHS 5 year health check and the nurse asked about exercise - and of course I hadn't swum due to the above, I hadn't walked due to my walking shoes being repaired, I hadn't cycled because the weather has been too wet and hadn't gardened for the same reason! Making me sound totally lazy - oh dear. (I've now got my walking shoes back - so no excuses - except for the weather)

But, just a little bit of proper sunshine on Monday enticed me out for half an hour to start the job of cutting back all the dead stuff from the quarter circle garden out the back of the house. I often think my gardening mojo has disappeared but it always comes back with fine weather. Although the fine day on Wednesday was accompanied by a freezing strong wind which put me off.

Took Polly to the vets again because once again she is constantly cleaning herself and losing hair. We agreed that there was no point giving her another steroid injection. Instead I've sent for  one of those plug in cat-calming things and I'm going to shut the cat flap at night so the mystery cat can't come in and Polly will have to use a litter tray (UGH) night time. ( I know all about microchip cat-flaps but it would be difficult to change it on the door, plus finding someone to do odd jobs is difficult).

I couldn't believe what I found after getting my shoes back and doing my first walk  down the field and back up the lane - someone has cut down the branch of the old apple tree that had the mistletoe on it.  I thought the wind had broken the branch but No it's been sawn through and is laying on the ground under the tree

WHY? and WHO? is what I want to know.

I'm a bit cross, but nothing I can do about it.

Back Tomorrow
Sue

Thoughts for Friday

Why, when there are beds and comfy chairs, has Polly decided to sleep on top of the printer, which is on a chest of drawers 4 foot off the ground? (I keep it covered with an old sheet to keep the dust out) Cats are so weird.

Watched a fascinating programme about building model railways - a competition for teams. Who knew how many model railway fanatics there are out there?  They were mostly men of course!

I shall never moan about Her Maj's Revenue and Customs again because they've just sent me a cheque for over £700 that Colin had overpaid in tax on his work pension in the year before he died. Col said he thought he was paying tax when he shouldn't be and I said it's OK we'll get a form and claim it back in the new tax year and then you know what happened in April and  May......... I never gave it another thought.

After watching a programme about the history of the Man Booker prize for fiction I know why I don't rush to read any books that win prizes - talk about a load of loveys!

Son (our middle child) was 37 last week..........how did that happen?

The windows are filthy when the sun shines on them ................I hate window cleaning

Now that I've bought a re-chargable lantern I bet the electric doesn't go off at all this winter.

Library van due next week and I still have 5 books unread.

The Invictus Games are on TV tonight - they are so inspiring.


Probably back tomorrow
Sue

P.S Thank you for comments yesterday and hello to a new follower and goodbye to whoever un-followed!