Am I normal? Summer is here! Relaxing.....

 Summer is on it's way. Tomorrow is the first day of meteorological Summer and the roses are out 😀

----------------

I was really pleased to find Tom Hindle's latest book just sitting lonely on a shelf in the library so I snagged it for my next read.  Set in an airship this time.....

-------------------

I spotted this article in Computeractive magazine. What the heck? I'm fed up with technology and don't care if it labels me as weird.  I don't walk around holding my phone, not on the street, on a bus, on a train....I AM ME ! I AM NORMAL ! In my view, the people who walk around scrolling Insta, TikTok, messages, emails etc instead of interacting with their kids, watching the traffic, seeing the world around them...THEY are the weird ones.

Anyone agree??

------------------

Another batch of cards was dropped off at the Hospice shop yesterday:  103 so far. 

A sample below.....

Graham has gone to the allotment this morning so I am FREE to do what I like ie tidy up, make the beds, wash up, and then CRAFT !  my favourite way of unwinding.

What are you doing today?

Thanks so much for popping in.  Stay safe and well wherever you happen to be,

Angie 💗

How Long? Handwash, Talc, Toilet Rolls? Testing.......

 Since Covid, we seem to be using an awful lot of hand wash.   It's not that we were lax with hand washing before, I hasten to add. We were definitely aware of hand hygiene but Covid made us all a bit OCD about it, I think, so I'm running an experiment 😉 We use soap bars in the kitchen because Gray prefers to use a bar soap after working in the garden.  But....How long does one bottle of hand wash last in the bathroom? (from 24/05/25)

I also use baby powder and wanted to check how much I use. Yes, I know this brand has had a bad press but I've been using it for as long as I can remember.  If it has any detrimental effect then it's already too late for me to worry about it.....

It's a big 500g container and is serving me well so far.  When the brand changed the contents to corn starch, the old tubs were heavily reduced in Boots (around £2.20 I think) so I bought 6 of them.  They should last a while!

After reading about Sue Hall 'Dating a Toilet Roll' I decided to date mine and see how much we use.  The packs of 9 were on offer at £3.00 so I bought 3 packs before the offer expired.  There are only 2 of us here but obviously we will use more if we have visitors....

I would like to check the amount of washing powder I'm currently using but will have to wait until I start a new box in order to do it properly.

How long for the toilet rolls do you think?  27 at 2 per week? 3 months maybe?  We'll see.  It all depends on how often we have visitors I expect 😕 I'll let you know!

Thanks for popping in.  Do stay safe and well wherever you happen to be,

Angie 💗

A Pleasant Trip, Doomed Co-op

 On Sunday, after a pleasantly rainy night, we awoke to a beautiful sunny day ....

I had seen a local antiques and collectibles fair advertised so we decided to make the most of a gorgeous morning and check it out. Some stalls were laid out in the courtyard but it was very windy and quite chilly.  Squally showers kept the stallholders on their toes covering up their goods at a minute's notice to avoid getting everything drenched.  I felt sorry for them because, after all, this kind of event is not cheap and they are here to make a profit if not a living.  There were many more stalls inside the building and Gray and I spent a long time happily browsing the items for sale.  I felt a bit too self conscious to take any indoor pics, sorry 😳

We didn't buy anything antique or vintage but the cost was:

Parking £4.50

Entry fee £6.00 (£3 each)

Tea and hot cheese pasty each £9.00 (eaten in the coffee shop)

We shared the cost between us and afterwards we went for a walk around the park to stretch our legs and get some fresh air.  It smelt lovely after the rain.

‐------------

The day before, I needed to post a few cards and things,  and drove to the Post Office in the village which is located within the Co-op food store.  I was shocked to discover that the store was closing at 10pm that evening due to being taken over by another company.  The shelves were half empty.  The closure of the store means that there is now no Post Office and no fuel station at least until the refurbishment has taken place.  I have no idea who has bought it but you can bet your bottom dollar that it will be even more expensive for food than the Co-op

 🫣🤨

-------------

Stay safe and well wherever you happen to be,

Angie 💗

An Allotment Update, the Shape of Things to Come!

Despite  the very dry weather we've been having, the allotment is beginning to promise food to come.  We have gooseberries.....

Dessert apples....

Bramley cooking apples......

Strawberries.....

Broad beans....

There are tons of raspberry canes and Gray has planted sweetpeas in front to encourage lots of pollinating insects .......

Unfortunately we have bindweed entwined within the raspberry canes which is impossible to get rid of.  We are trying the trick of a pole for the bindweed to climb up so that we can remove the pole along with the bindweed, but there's so much of it that it's a struggle.  Gray thinks that next year he will dig up the raspberries, remove the bindweed and then replant the canes.  It will be a lot of work for a couple with bad backs 😕so we will see how it goes.....

The beetroot is coming along nicely alongside the spring onions......

The ground was so hard and dry that Gray struggled to get the supporting canes in for the climbing French beans.......

.....as well as the runner beans.  For some reason the runner beans refused to germinate this year and we only have 5 plants.  It doesn't matter because we really prefer the French beans anyway.  5 plants will be ok.....

Likewise, our sweetcorn failed to germinate despite using a windowsill propagator and we had to buy some plants from the nurseries.  This year we hope to deter the badgers who ate all the ripe cobs in one night last year 😭 It won't stop a determined badger but perhaps he will try an easier target......

How is your garden doing?  Have you had any failures? Struggling to germinate seeds?  

Gray is convinced that the peat free compost nowadays is an issue because it dries out so quickly, but we don't have enough of our own compost to use.  What do you think?

----------------

Thanks so much for popping in.  Stay safe and well wherever you happen to be,

Angie 💗

Book Bargains and What I'm Reading Now....

 Like Sue, from Eating Well on a Small Budget,  I simply can't pass a book stall without taking a peek.  Whether it's a charity shop, a supermarket charity sale table or boot sale,  I just have to check it out.  I can't even pass a bookshop, even though I can't afford to pay full price!

I did splash out £12 😲on the latest Milly Johnson book from Sainsbury's last month because I keep all of her hardbacks to read again.  I love Milly's style of writing very much......

but I paid just £1.50 from a charity shop for this one....

As you can probably tell from the photos, I like to read a couple of chapters at bedtime before I go to sleep, so it needs to be a gentle read.  Tom Hindle's book is not a gory thriller but more a psychological murder mystery in the style of Agatha Christie.  I'm really enjoying it 😊 and it doesn't adversely affect my sleep either! 😴 

I enjoyed Tom's book so much that I popped into the library on Saturday and managed to track down a previous book to read next....

 Bring it on!

Has anyone else read Tom Hindle? Did you enjoy it?

 I've got a Jojo Moyes on order from the library too.  There are some cracking books about right now and I want to read a lot more now that there's nothing I want to watch on TV.

Stay safe and well ,

Angie 💗

Gratitude, Fab Night Out and New Sandals

Thank you all so much for your kindness and good wishes for my son.  He's out of hospital but not out of the woods yet as he needs more investigations in a few weeks, once some healing has taken place.  It will be a long job I reckon. 

---------------

Tuesday night was the night of our long awaited May treat 😊  We went to see the band Talon performing at the Rose Theatre in Kidderminster.  They are an Eagles tribute band whom I've been following for years, firstly on my own, but now Graham has to come because I don't like driving home in the dark at the end of the show 😎 I'm always playing The Eagles and similar artists' music at home so I've been quietly educating Gray with regard to their kind of music on a regular basis 😂 

They were amazing as usual.  Their harmonies and indisputable talent as musicians took my breath away and gave me clear head space for a couple of hours....

If you enjoy 1970's music you would love them.  Do check out their website: 

www.talonacoustic.co.uk

There is a music video on there with their version of John Legend's  'All of Me'. Johnny Miller is the main vocalist and I'm totally in love with his slightly husky voice.  Go on...do take a peek!.....

-------------

As the weather has been so warm I took the plunge and treated myself to some new sandals to wear on the night.  £22 from Next so not a fortune and they are soooo comfy......

As luck would have it, it was raining when we exited the theatre 😏 so my new sandals got a bit damp and when we arrived home there was not a drop of rain anywhere.  Good grief.....

Yesterday ( Wednesday) however, we had an hour and a half of steady rainfall with a few rumbles of thunder into the bargain.  The garden looks so much better for it and it will have put a little water into the butts too.  You can see how dry the ground is here. I know the grass will eventually recover so I'm not worrying about it .....

Thanks so much for popping in.  Do stay safe and well wherever you happen to be,

Angie 💗

What a week: Crisis, thanks, and other news....

 Well, what a flippin' week we've had.  We seem to have lurched from one crisis to another in the space of a few days. More about that in a moment......

Firstly, I want to say a huge thank you to commenters on my last post.  You have been encouraging, kind and just flaming all round marvellous 😀 with encouragement as well as practical help.  Kim....do not despair....I'll find a way to contact you!

Reasons to be worried:

 There is a close family crisis that I cannot help with but am desperately worried about, and

Our Son was admitted to hospital in Australia for an emergency appendectomy ( close to bursting) and now has related on-going health issues to cope with.  Again, I am desperately worried about him but am too far away to help,

----------------

Reasons to be grateful:

We have the internet and I can message my Son to find out how he is

Graham has, at last, had a hospital letter with an appointment at Neurology clinic at the end of the week

All our crops are in the ground at the allotment and we've been harvesting rhubarb by the ton!

I have another batch of cards for the Hospice.  Here's a sample.....

And here's Graham fixing our electric socket so that I can use the computer 😍

I was a bit scared he might blow all the fuses but I needn't have worried.  It was fine.... 😌

Now all we need is RAIN ☔⛈ for the gardens and farmers.

---------------

I mentioned before that we have one really decent treat per month.  Well, it happens TOMORROW NIGHT !  I'm very excited and will tell you all about it in my next post.  I can't wait (doing a happy dance) 😉

Thanks so much for popping in.  Do stay safe and well wherever you happen to be,

Angie 💗