What a view!

 This is the glorious view from the pretty tea garden in Bossington village:-

Isn't it wonderful?  Just out of sight to the right of the photo there's a marquee sitting area for inclement weather days.  We could have done with sitting in there actually, the gusty wind was quite strong at times and quite chilly too, but the beautiful blue sky, gorgeous views and bright sunshine - warm when the wind dropped - drew us outside to sit in the garden.  The tea room is run by a lovely couple, cheery and exceptionally friendly, they thanked us for coming when we left.  The only slight disappointment was the very limited lunch menu - basically just a choice of 3 filled rolls, but then it is still very early in the season, they do more in summer - oh and a few crisps to accompany the rolls would have been nice.  However, the array of freshly made cakes (amazingly generous slices too), plus homemade plain, fruit and cheese scones made up for the limited savoury offerings.  We both had a large cheese, tomato and mixed leaf tiger sourdough roll, with a thick slice of lovely mature Cheddar, really nice.  Then a fruit scone with jam and clotted cream afterwards.  Husband had a pot of tea, enough for 2.5 cups and plenty of milk in a small glass milk bottle - his gripe is always that most places really skimp on the milk, with just a splash in a tiny jug or, worse, 1 or 2 of those tiny little plastic pots.  I had a cappuccino, which was honestly one of the best tasting coffees I'd had anywhere, the coffee is from a small independent supplier and roastery in Devon, it's called Voyager if anyone's interested.  Delicious coffee.  We'll definitely go again, in the summer next time, and would be happy to take guests there.  No toilets on site, they're in the NT car park, which is only a few steps away.

Another thing I've noticed with husband lately is that he simply must crack a joke with absolutely everyone we meet....the trouble is his 'humour' is quite dark, irreverent or sarcastic even, and said with a completely straight face so people don't know whether or not he's joking and often just stare at him with a quizzical look.  Sometimes I say "He's joking", other times I just walk away and leave him to explain if necessary.  As we were leaving the place yesterday, a fellow customer had just asked where the toilets were, to be told by the owner that they were just across the road in the car park.....husband said loudly "I'd run if you're desperate or you might not make it in time!"  🙄 

I wonder what the memory clinic nurse will make of him tomorrow?  He's got to go to the surgery this morning for full blood tests, requested by the memory clinic.

Plodding on

 It was back to being very cold yesterday, cloudy all day with a few spots of rain here and there, and so cold we put our heating on.  Now it's sunny again, thank goodness, although as there's a strong chilly breeze (yet again) it's not very warm at the moment....hopefully the temperature will rise throughout the day.  We're going out for lunch today, at the tea room we discovered last week.  Yet another tea room popped up on my local FB page yesterday, it also looks great, it's in another pretty little village and right beside a river, it has very good reviews.  We'll try that one next week.  We love living here, there's so much to do and see round about.....Minehead itself is pretty much all Butlins and tourist shops but at least there are 3 supermarkets, a library, an opticians and plenty of charity shops, and our GP surgery nearby plus the little community hospital.  But there are all these lovely little villages with tea rooms and wonderful views within a pretty short drive.  And of course the beach and promenade at Blue Anchor, with free parking.  Out of the 3 places we've lived down here in Somerset, this is by far the nicest, both in terms of the area and our lovely little bungalow.  We're so lucky and don't take it for granted.

Husband discovered yesterday that the blasted pigeons (there are loads here) have pulled up and eaten most of his emerging bean shoots.  Well, I did say he ought to cover them up, but he hadn't got round to it.  So this morning he's sowing more AND covering them up with fleece.  I'm going to buy some mini cucumber plants, he sowed some seeds but they've not come up at all.  The tomatoes he sowed at the same time are all emerging and seem to be growing well in the covered propagator, so they'll be ready to plant out in 2 or 3 weeks.

Life is just plodding on here with nothing much happening at the moment, which is fine by me - I'd rather have plodding quiet days than loads of drama.  I've got the end of month budget to do this morning, and some things to fill out on the calendar - I'd only done it up to the end of June, and it's almost May already - another year which is galloping by.

The freezer is now well stocked after our frozen stock up shop yesterday.  I've just got to nip into the supermarket on our way back from lunch to pick up a couple of things we've run out of and I forgot to put on my last shopping list.

I've done the first couple of rows of my 'winging it' crochet cardigan, after doing a couple of test squares in various stitches I've decided to go with the lemon peel stitch.  I think I'll do a plain rectangle for the back, with a bit of shaping on the two fronts.  I'll do ribbed cuffs on the sleeves, and then a nice edging all around the bottom, sides and neck when I've sewn it all together.  I'm going to note down all the basic info - number of stitches, rows and shaping details - so I know what to do if I decide to make another in the future......getting ahead of myself a bit here, I need to finish this one first!

The house next door which is having the barn conversion has had a couple of supplies deliveries this morning and there are builders standing around talking, so it seems the work will be starting in earnest very soon, now the householder is back from holiday.

It's not a potting bench 😡

 We have a patio area in the corner of the garden, with a small table, 4 chairs and a small 2-seater bench, it's a real sun trap.  Unfortunately, husband uses it as a work area - almost every day he shoves the chairs out of the way, mixes up compost in his wheelbarrow there, dropping it all over the patio (and rarely sweeps it up, unless I specifically ask him to).  He uses the table to sow seeds and pot on veg plants, covering the table with compost, which annoys me - I've told him numerous times lately that the table is for food and drink, it's not a potting bench!!  I've also asked him to put the chairs back where he found them, and pick up and put away all the tools he leaves scattered all over them....in short, not to use it as a working area!  There's a perfectly good concreted space behind his tool shed that he could use instead - the reason he doesn't is that it doesn't get as much sun and he is a sun lover.  Well hard luck, I've put my foot down now and told him firmly I'm not having him working on and mucking up my patio area anymore, it's for sitting, relaxing and eating.  No doubt I'll have to remind him again in due course.  I think the only way he'll take notice of me is if I write a sign in great big letters:  "KEEP OFF!!".  When I'm potting up plants I've just bought, I do it on top of his plastic tool store, it's the right height and right beside the water butt and outside tap.  And the plastic store is easy to clean off afterwards.  As I often think to myself, if I had a £ for every time I have to repeat something to him, I'd be a millionaire in no time.

I bought and potted up some more flowering plants yesterday, I did say I wasn't going to buy any annuals or bedding plants this year, but can't resist the urge to have pots filled with flowers.  Things like petunias and pelargoniums bloom all summer long, as long as they're deadheaded and watered regularly.  Our neighbour puts her pelargoniums (she's got lots of red ones at the front) in the car port over winter and they all survive, some even flowering still, no doubt because of our mild weather down here.  So maybe I'll do the same with the pelargoniums I've bought, I doubt the petunias will survive the winter.  It's obviously going to be a good year for poppies, they're springing up everywhere, including in the gravel at the front of the house, and I spotted several in husband's shallots raised bed, he claimed he hadn't noticed them (he obviously wasn't looking!).

That's another thing I've noticed with husband lately - he's oblivious to a lot of things, things that are right under his nose.  He only sees what he's specifically looking for, it's like everything else is invisible.

Going to do a freezer top up shop today, the frozen veg drawer is almost empty and I need more fish.  I also like to have a good stock of things like meat and veggie burgers, fish fingers, rolls, pizzas and puff pastry in the freezer for quick and easy meals when I don't feel like cooking.

Winging it

 After looking at lots of chunky yarn crochet cardigan patterns and not finding one that's just right for one reason or another, I've decided to wing it and make up a simple pattern as I go along.  What could go wrong?! 😂  I've been crocheting for years and years, so am reasonably confident enough to give it a try.  I'll do a textured pattern, maybe lemon peel stitch - basically 1 double then 1 treble (or single then double in US terms), or some kind of puff stitch or cluster.  I'll do a couple of test squares first to see how it looks before I decide.

I've got to go the library this morning, 2 of my books are due back and can't be renewed as others want them, must remember to renew the other 4.  I don't read as fast as I used to and mostly only read when I go to bed now, just for an hour or until I fall asleep, whichever comes first!  Then I'll go and have another look at the plants in Morrisons, I'd like to get some more pelargoniums and dahlias and maybe some petunias as well, they're on a good special offer at the moment, £3 each or 3 plants for the price of 2, too good to miss.  My flower beds are full up but I have lots of pots to fill.

Thanks for the comments about our garden.  June, you asked if they were bluebells - yes, a bed full of them and lots more scattered around.  Too many actually, especially in the bed at the back - when they've died back I'm going to dig a load up, they really need thinning out as they're too crammed together now and lots have come up blind this year.  Both my sister and sister-in-law have asked if I can send them some of the bulbs, which I will do with pleasure.

I'm feeling a bit anxious about husband's appointment with the memory clinic nurse on Friday, husband has hardly mentioned it - other than thinking it was next Tuesday for some reason.  It's only an initial short appointment, if it follows the same format as last time 4 or 5 years ago, and he won't get a diagnosis yet, that will come later after a further barrage of tests.  I guess it's a bit of anxiety about what it might mean for both of us in the future.

Lovely weather week, so plenty to keep us occupied outside.  The neighbour who's having the barn conversion work next door is back from holiday today, so I expect work will start in earnest now.

Lovely walk and lovely garden

 We went for a little drive this morning, to visit a village we've not been to before, we took Betty.  Well, it was like stepping back in time about 100 years, beautiful little place with old very pretty thatched cottages with their walls painted in lovely pastel shades, and gorgeous cottagey front gardens.  The whole place is very well maintained, clearly the residents are proud of their village and look after it.  There's a National Trust estate adjacent, we didn't go into it as we're not members, although we had a little walk in part of the grounds, along a path beside a stream - Betty had a paddle in the shallow water.  There's a tea garden in the village - we didn't go in there either as Betty was becoming restless and whiny by then, but a quick glance showed a large and pretty garden.  We've decided to go there for lunch one day this week.  I've noticed as Betty has got older that she doesn't enjoy walks as much as she used to, she gets a bit anxious and whimpers after a while, short walks are all she can manage now.  I didn't take any photos but will the next time we go.

On the way back we stopped to get fuel in Morrisons supermarket, it's actually come down in price a little.  Whilst husband was fuelling up, I had a look at their plants, they do a lovely range of plants there, very reasonable prices and the plants are well maintained by an enthusiastic and knowledgeable lady. Unlike the other supermarkets in our town whose plants look terrible, no dedicated member of staff to look after them so they very quickly look dried out and half dead.  I bought a couple of dahlias and a pelargonium, I shall go out and put them in pots this afternoon.  Our garden is rapidly becoming the sort of garden I've always wanted - lots of flowers and colour and beds full of vegetables:-

Several of the rose bushes (which were already here, albeit very overgrown and desperately in need of pruning and training, which I did) are loaded with buds, some of which are already starting to open.  There's a large white climber which had tons of flowers last year, a tall gorgeous postbox red one, a yellow one and 2 or 3 peachy coloured ones.  You can see the white climber beside the purple tulips in the photo above, I have it trained up an obelisk....the red one is in the background on the right beside the wall, it's taller than the wall already, and that's this year's growth.  It's looking like it'll be a good year for the garden, both for veggies and flowers.

Quiet sunny day, appointment for husband

 Tired today, I think the weekend has caught up with me, so I've not done much....one of my library books is due back on Monday so I'm using that as an excuse to sit and read 😉.  Husband has sowed a few more veg seeds and topped up the potato bags with fresh compost, they're growing strongly.  In fact everything in the garden is growing strongly now, with the lovely sunshine we've been having.  

We had a phone call yesterday, giving husband an initial appointment with a nurse from the memory clinic on Friday of next week, which is quick.  We're seeing her at our local community hospital, rather than having to travel to Bridgwater or Taunton, thankfully.  If it follows the same format as when husband first went to the memory clinic 4 or 5 years ago, the nurse will ask him a lot of questions and then do some preliminary tests.  Once she's given her initial findings to her team, he'll have to go again for in-depth tests, both oral and written.  No idea as yet if he'll have to have another brain scan.  They know husband is dyslexic so would have trouble with the written tests but, as they did before, they say it's not a problem, they can work around that as they have many different types of tests.  

The forecast is for fine weather all of next week - how lovely.  Perhaps we'll have a drive out for a picnic up on the moors a couple of times.

All the builders next door have done this week is dig a couple of trenches for putting in drainage, they've already knocked off for the week and gone home, they don't work weekends so we won't see them again until next week, when I'm assuming the work will start in earnest.

Back to normal and feeling good

 Happy St. George's Day, everyone in the UK.  Not that this country seems to celebrate our Saint's Day, unlike other countries.  I remember when we lived in Gibraltar for a couple of years when I was a child, I always seemed to be having days off school for one of their many Saint's Days.

I'm all stocked up with hayfever supplies now.....tablets which I take at night as, even though they're supposedly non-drowsy, they do still make me feel sleepy.  Nasal spray which I use in the morning, it works very well.  And eye drops for when my eyes are itchy and watery.

It's another lovely sunshiny day - yesterday it was bright sunshine most of the day but not particularly warm, as there was a very cold breeze blowing - as seems usual down here.  Not so much of a breeze today so it should feel a lot warmer.  Weather for the next week looks really good, sunny and no rain to speak of, so definitely garden or promenade walking weather.  Lots of veggie life signs in the raised beds now, all the seeds husband has sown are coming through, and the peas we sowed for salad pea shoots will be ready for the first cutting next week I should think.  We'll go and look for some mini cucumber plants next week, and a tray of beetroot seedlings.

My healthy eating is going well, I've already lost the 3lbs I put on over the weekend, feel much less bloated and my jeans waistband isn't so tight.  Having had chicken for the last 2 days, and the odd cocktail sausage or sausage roll over the weekend, I've had enough of any kind of meat for a while.  Today for lunch I'm having mini mozzarella balls, olives, sun dried tomatoes and mini cucumbers, with a couple of Ryvita and a sliced apple, husband's having ham sarnies and crisps.  For dinner I'm going to do wholewheat spaghetti with sun dried tomatoes, mushrooms and sprinkle of Parmesan for me, husband will have a portion of beef bolognaise with his spaghetti.  Greek yogurt and fresh fruit for dessert.  Fresh haddock in a foil parcel with lemon and herbs for tomorrow's dinner, with new potatoes and peas, followed by fresh fruit.

Blinking hayfever now

 I forgot to mention yesterday that sister, friend, husband and I went to the Blue Anchor boot sale on Saturday afternoon.  Sis and friend got a few things, I pounced on a bagful of chunky yarn balls in lovely shades of purple and lilac, I think I might have a go at making myself a winter cardigan once I've found a suitable pattern online.

Friend witnessed our signatures on the POA forms and I sent them off yesterday, so that's that job out of the way.

I also forgot to say that they all came round to us for breakfast on Monday morning, before leaving to go home.  They all got home safely, with no dramas, breakdowns or major traffic problems.

I'm getting back into the swing of eating healthily, we had feta pasta salad for lunch yesterday, sweet chilli chicken and veg with brown rice for dinner.  Today I'm having veg sticks with homemade tzatziki dip for lunch, not sure about dinner yet but there's some roast chicken left, so perhaps a salad.  Must get round to doing a meal plan.

I never had hayfever before we moved down here to Somerset, but have had it every year since, some years it's worse than others.  This year is a bad one, my nose is alternately blocked and drippy, eyes are so itchy I could scratch them out, ears and sinuses are blocked and I'm having sneezing fits.  So it's off to the chemist this morning to get all the supplies they have in stock 😂.  It's definitely not a cold, I feel fine.

The weekend

 They all arrived around lunchtime on Friday, I'd prepared and laid out a buffet.  We all spent several hours chatting and catching up with family news, and they all wanted to know what was coming up with the tests for husband so I filled them in.  Then they went off to check in at their respective holiday homes, then came back here for dinner, which went down very well and most had seconds.  The rice pud was especially well received, everyone loving it and saying how long it had been since anyone last had rice pudding.  

My girly sleepovers at sister and friend's cottage round the corner from us were so lovely, a real little break for me.  Ironically, we didn't sit outside round the fire pit in the evenings, the 3 of us sat in the lounge chatting, reminiscing, howling with laughter and even shedding a few tears sometimes.  Very cathartic.  Betty clearly missed me, as each morning when I came home she practically hurled herself at me as soon as I walked through the door....aww bless!

On Saturday, husband's 4 relatives all spent the day riding the steam train and having a walk around Watchet, which they pronounced very pretty, and they all loved the train experience.  Husband, sis, friend and I had a relaxing morning, then we took a picnic to Minehead seafront and had a wander along the promenade, the three of us taking it in turns to push sis in her wheelchair (her mobility isn't good at the moment because of her MS).  Then it was back round to sister's cottage for dinner for all 8 of us, friend had made a lovely lamb stew which everyone enjoyed (I had veggie stew).  We all slept very well that night!

Sunday we all had a bit of a lie in and relaxing start.  Another picnic, this time in the lovely Blenheim Gardens park in the town - beautiful floral displays and so peaceful, despite being pretty much in the centre of town - as it's behind the shops most tourists don't even know it's there, so it remains a little oasis of calm.  The ladies all wanted to have a browse in the shops afterwards (being a seaside holiday town most shops are open on Sundays, except in winter), so that's what we did, husband and his brother being left in charge of sister's wheelchair outside of the shops.  We all went back to bro and sil's place for the evening meal (such a good idea for us all to take it in turns to provide evening dinners).  They'd put on a fantastic buffet help yourself spread, with masses of food - too much, as it turned out, we were given lots of leftovers to bring home.

It was interesting to find out how the others all viewed husband's behaviour, they all noticed a difference in him - private comments to me later of "Very forgetful now", "Grumpy old man", "Gets lost in the middle of a story he's telling".  During the buffet meal on Sunday, husband was first up to the table to get his food, not encouraging the ladies to go first and not getting a plate of food for me, as he would always have done in previous years.  He also didn't help with any of the prep when I was doing the food on Friday, nor the picnic prep, nor did he help with washing up.  All of this was noted by the family and remarked on to me later.  A couple of them said it's like he's forgotten how to be a gentleman - or even a husband.  Which is sad but true.  

Apart from a few sticky moments with husband, it was a really lovely weekend and we all enjoyed ourselves immensely, we all said we'd love to do it again.  Betty loved having lots of people making a big fuss of her.  My sister and sis-in-law, who each have small dogs (left at home with relatives), each texted when home to say how tiny their dogs seem in comparison to the big chunk that is Betty! 😂  One of them has a Cavalier King Charles spaniel, the other a Maltipoo (Maltese Terrier x toy poodle).

Both husband and I slept well last night, I've recovered and feel raring to go today, amazingly.  I've felt a bit bloated and sluggish from all the rich food (and lots of carbs that I wouldn't normally eat), so am eating very healthily and lightly for a while.

Gone

 All our visitors left for home mid morning.  We've had a fabulous weekend, I'll tell you all about it tomorrow when I've had a good long rest!

Another crazy idea

 Husband has been looking at cars on the internet, he's thinking of getting a smaller car with cheaper tax and insurance, and an automatic so he doesn't have to change gears.  As I've said before, he seems to think he'll pass any DVLA driving assessment with flying colours, I have my doubts about that!  I've told him he's jumping the gun and should wait till he's actually had an assessment and we've been to the memory clinic.  The saving grace is that he wouldn't be able to sell our present car or buy a new one without my help, and obviously I'm not doing that for him just yet.  Another one of his crazy ideas or obsessions 🙄

Up early to finish off the last few jobs before the guests arrive at lunchtime.  I doubt I'll be posting much, if at all, over the weekend.  Have a nice weekend everyone and I'll be back Monday, probably.

Danger?

 I had a phone call yesterday afternoon from a man with the Older Person's Mental Health team, he asked if I was able to speak freely and in confidence, I said yes.  He then asked firstly if I was in any danger or felt threatened by my husband, I replied firmly no not at all.  He then followed up by asking if I had a place of safety I could go to in the event that I did feel threatened, to which I said yes.  (I haven't specifically, I'd just get out of the house).  Then he asked some general questions about husband's behaviour and state of mind, including whether I thought husband was at risk of harming himself.  He's not - except by accident!  It was all a bit unsettling and uncomfortable actually, although I understand and appreciate that they're taking me seriously and doing a safeguarding check.  He said husband will be allocated a key worker who will come to see us in a couple of weeks and do some preliminary memory tests.  I confess to feeling a bit rattled by the speed of everything, but I guess it's better to know sooner rather than later, when treatment may not be an option by then.

Anyway, I've got lots of small jobs today to keep me occupied, before all the guests arrive tomorrow.  I told husband I'd need his help to get through them all....he grumbled about it until I reminded him that 4 out of the 6 guests are his relatives 😜

I've not slept too well the last couple of nights, which is understandable, lots to think about.

All being done

 Thank you for all the comments.  Some of you have mentioned how it's all becoming very real and daunting now......well, yes and no.  We're only at the start of this new phase of the journey, husband of course has not yet been diagnosed with any type of dementia.  However, we've been living with his declining cognitive abilities and behaviour for quite some time now, so that aspect of it is nothing new.  One thing I will say - I've been telling friends and relatives for ages how things are and have often felt (well, realised even) that some of them don't really believe me, think I'm exaggerating or having a moan for no real reason.  Well now they're realising it's a distinct possibility I've been right all along, so I feel somewhat vindicated.  Especially since our GP immediately took me seriously and agreed with me.  

On the subject of the GP, we had a phone call late yesterday afternoon from the surgery, booking husband in for a full range of blood tests at the end of this month.  The GP was as good as his word and had notified the memory clinic immediately, and it is they who have requested that husband has these bloods done.  How's that for service?  I'm impressed.

I have this morning filled out the forms online for both types of LPA, just need to get a friend to witness our signatures and do a certification, this will be done at the weekend, my sister's best friend will do it (it can't be a relative).  I've actually been meaning to do it for ages, just haven't got round to it before now.  I guess all this stuff will be prompting me to do plenty of things I've been putting off for one reason or another.

Set in motion

 After the initial couple of hours of chaos and noise yesterday morning, it was actually reasonably quiet for the rest of the day.  The builders were mostly concentrating on the bungalow across the road, only dumping a few loads of hardcore in the garden behind us.  Same again today, no real work has yet started beside us - they'll probably wait till Friday when our visitors arrive 🙄😂.

Well, I went to see husband's GP this morning, it was a good and positive experience.  Whilst I was explaining husband's symptoms and changes in behaviour etc, the GP said he immediately thought it's almost certainly a form of dementia, and said so.  He was very kind and said how sorry he was, which made me cry, he handed me a box of tissues.  He's doing a referral today back to the memory clinic, he says the wait time is probably weeks rather than months, which is good.  He also thinks it a very good idea for husband to have a driving assessment conducted by a DVLA specialist instructor.

The GP said it may turn out to be something like a lack of calcium or some other mineral/vitamin, he said he'll leave the memory clinic to organise their own blood tests and scans, as even if he did some, they would want to do their own.

He also said that I should consider the future and accept that, depending on the type and progression of whichever form of dementia it may turn out to be, it's likely that in due course I most likely won't be able to cope with husband on my own.  A sobering thought.

Husband is still in denial, he didn't really question me about what was said, but did accept it's probably a good idea for further tests at the memory clinic.  He's actually quite chuffed at the idea of having a driving assessment - he thinks he'll pass with flying colours.  I'm not so sure about that, I think it's probably more likely that he'll be given a restricted licence - either for just 6 months or a year, at the end of which he'll have to have another assessment, or perhaps restricted to daylight hours only or just local journeys.  He only does local journeys now anyway.  I'm relieved that things have been set in motion now.  

I'm packing my weekend bag today and writing up my shopping list for Friday.  The weekend looks good weatherwise, I should think sitting round the firepit will be a definite!

Oh, and when we got back from the surgery, there was a present waiting for me by the back door.  It's gorgeous and was a real pick me up, thank you so much, it couldn't have come at a better time (you know who you are! xx).

A giant pain in the backside

 It's been bedlam here this morning and our peace is totally shattered.  Just after 8 this morning a large flat back lorry arrived, carrying 2 huge construction vehicles, a digger and a dumper truck.  It parked literally right across the entrance of our little cul de sac, totally blocking access to/from our road and making it very difficult for other vehicles to even go past the lorry, we have narrow lanes in this little old village.  Right now, 08.45, the lorry is still there.  Minutes before this lorry arrived, another builder's supplies vehicle turned up, with lots of equipment and supplies to be unloaded.  The builder is starting work today in the garden right behind our fence - actually, he's also building a new bungalow across the road, he and his men appear to be working both construction sites at the same time.  The weather is forecast to be good, sunny and quite warm, from Friday onwards, so we were planning to sit out in our garden with our visitors, having lunch out there.  It won't be very peaceful though, will it?!  And with the new fence erected by our neighbour only being chest height, we will be visible to the builders, as will they to us.  I'm trying not to become totally despondent about it, there's nothing we can do.  It's so bloody irritating though....the digger is now in next door's garden trundling up and down digging up the ground and Betty is already barking her head off at it.  And the neighbours who are having this work done are currently abroad on holiday, lucky them!

We have to wait in this morning as our housing officer will be coming to do our monthly alarms test, once she's been we'll go out to do a couple of jobs in the town, I think it'll be best to take Betty with us, husband will stay in the car with her whilst I do the necessary.  We might even go for a drive to Blue Anchor for a walk on the prom afterwards, it'll be better than staying here listening to all the racket.

I dare say we'll get used to all the noise during however many weeks (or months) it'll take for all the work to be done, it's just so blimmin annoying and means our enjoyment of our lovely garden will be spoilt this year.  Right now though my nerves are frazzled, noise has always been the thing that irritates me the most.  The lorry has now just left (09.10) but the big dumper truck is blocking the pavement, so people will have to walk in the road around it.  Don't they realise this is a sheltered housing estate full of elderly and disabled people?  😒

Yummy simple dinner for tonight, and sister's firepit plans

 Husband fancied burgers in rolls with spicy wedges for tonight, I didn't, not even the Linda McCartney mozzarella burgers I like.  I fancied something plain and simple and homemade - so I've just made mac n cheese, with a homemade really cheesy sauce.  Actually, it's not macaroni, it's orecchiette, as that's what I've got, a nice Italian made pasta rather than the mass-produced cheap stuff.  The sauce I made with mature Cheddar and Parmesan for a good strong taste, I added chopped chives and black pepper to it.  I've just tasted a spoonful of the pasta and sauce and it's gorgeous, no doubt it'll taste even better later on.  Got some cheesy garlic bread to have with it.  I ought to have a side salad too, for the fibre, but have gone off the idea of salads at the moment, after the horrid D&V episode the other day.  I've got plenty of fresh fruit in so might make up a fruit salad for afters.

It's a day of short sharp showers and sunshine breaks, cold wind again too.  I did washing this morning but only put a few things on the line that's just outside the back door, in view of the showers, the rest is on the clothes airer, it was in the car port but I've just brought it inside, it wasn't drying out there.  I didn't want to be traipsing inside and out again with armfuls of washing every 5 minutes.  The forecast is much the same for the next few days, possibly being better for next weekend - I do hope so.  My sister said she'd like for her, her friend and me to sit in their holiday cottage garden around the firepit there in the evenings, drinking wine and toasting marshmallows!  Nice idea, but it'll be a cup of hot chocolate and possibly toasted crumpets for me, I don't drink alcohol nor eat marshmallows 😂

Sis is really getting excited, she's messaging me every day with a countdown and suggestions for things they'd like to do.  Like me, she's a carer looking after her disabled husband, although he's housebound so worse off than my husband.  But again like me, sis rarely gets a break or holiday, so it'll be a lovely carefree few days for both of us.  Their adult kids and a couple of good friends will be looking after her husband (and dog) whilst sis is down here.

Husband's youngest sister, 17 years younger than him, in fact the same age as his son, says she's really looking forward to seeing him again, she worked out it's around 11 or 12 years since we saw her last.  She'll notice a big difference in him, I'm sure.  As will we see a difference in her - apparently she now has severe arthritis and walks with 2 sticks, we're all getting older and more infirm.  I'm just thankful we've reached our ages and still have all (most) of our faculties.

The dreaded self service till experience

 So it could have been the salad that caused my food poisoning....thanks for that, Happy Introvert, it hadn't even occurred to me.  Now I know.  Thinking on it, husband has twice had an upset stomach after eating bagged salads in the past year or so, I wasn't even aware it was a thing.

We went and did a tiny top up shop this morning.....as I only had a basketful, we went through the self service tills.  Husband is a nightmare with these tills - I reminded him to place our shopping bag on the bagging shelf properly.  But, as has been the case before, he left the bag hanging off the edge of the shelf by a couple of inches, so the scanner wouldn't work - first mistake.  Once he'd pushed the bag back, the scanner still wouldn't work - I glanced sideways to find that husband was leaning on the edge of the scanner - mistake no. 2.  Once I could start scanning (when he'd lifted his arm off), he was very slow putting the scanned items in the bag, resulting in the infernal machine announcing "Please place your items in the bagging area" three times in a row 😒.  Don't you just hate being told off by a machine?!  And then, to add insult to injury, I'd bought 2 packs of paracetamol, which meant the blasted light was flashing red and a message on the screen told us we needed to wait for someone to come and verify our ages - husband said, very loudly "Do I look like I'm 14?!".  No, I thought but didn't say, but you're acting like it 😂😒  Hence why I much prefer husband to wait in the car whilst I do the shopping by myself - he insisted on coming into the shop as he wanted to look at something.

It's gone very cold and blowy here again today - in fact it must have been pretty cold overnight as our heating came on in the early hours.  I hope the weather's ok for when our visitors arrive in a week's time.  I'm pretty much all prepared foodwise, just got to go out next Thursday to get some fresh bits for the buffet lunch. 

Husband's side of the family want to go on a steam train trip on one of the weekend days, we won't go with them as we've been on it before a few times and sister isn't that keen on going, so husband, my sis and her friend will do something else.  In any case, although it's a very picturesque journey partly along the coast then travelling inland through very rural areas, being an old heritage railway the carriages are old and decidedly uncomfortable, I had terrible backache for several days after the last time we went on the train.  It is nice watching the steam trains go through the stations though, and I love the sound of them, we can hear them from our bungalow. 

Well that was a waste of a beautiful day

 Yesterday morning I think I had a case of food poisoning.  It started off with a very crampy stomach ache whilst I was writing the blog post, I initially didn't think much of it as that's a regular occurrence for me, a result of the Metformin I take for diabetes, it's known for causing stomach upsets.  However, it very rapidly developed into diarrhoea and projectile vomiting (sorry, TMI I know).  All I can say is I'm glad our toilet and wash basin are right next to each other, as I needed both at the same time 😳.  For the next couple of hours I more or less lived in the bathroom, then once the D&V stopped I was overcome with tiredness and slept in my recliner armchair for 2 hours, highly unusual for me during the day.  When I woke up I felt so much better, the whole episode had lasted around 5 or 6 hours.  But it meant our picnic in the park had gone out the window, on the nicest weather day this year, what a waste of a beautiful day.

I can't remember the last time I was sick.... husband was fine so I can only assume it was something I ate, we had different meals for dinner Tuesday evening.  Husband had gammon, egg and chips for his dinner, I had fishcakes and salad, perhaps it was the fishcakes?  Although I was feeling better by late afternoon, I thought it was prudent not to eat much for dinner yesterday (obviously I'd had no lunch), so I just had a little scrambled egg and a few beans.  Husband had sausages with his bigger portion of eggs and beans.  I feel ok this morning.

It's not picnic weather today, the temperature has dropped and it's cloudy with the possibility of some showers.  Never mind, there'll be another nice sunny day soon.  I've got the rest of the cheap Easter veg to deal with today, think I'll make a pot of spicy carrot and parsnip soup and another tray of roasted roots.  I'll save a couple of carrots for a cake to make tomorrow - carrot, date and walnut.... except it'll be pecans not walnuts, as that's what I have in.  The cake will be frozen for our visitors.

Lovely day yesterday, even nicer today

 It was a lovely day yesterday, both weather wise and job wise.  I got washing on the line first thing, it dried easily in the bright sunshine with a moderate breeze blowing.  Husband did some jobs in the garden - erecting the supporting cane structure for the climbing French beans we'll be putting in.  He also planted the courgette plantlets - I thought it was a bit early for them to go out, but he covered them up with fleece and insists they'll be fine (I hope so).  He sowed some more carrot seeds and some dried peas - I've read lots of times that people sow ordinary dried peas for cooking bought from the supermarket, they use them as pea shoots for salads, picking them when young....sounds good so we thought we'd give it a go.  We soaked them overnight first, as recommended.  He watered and weeded as necessary, then sat in the garden enjoying the sunshine in the afternoon.

I made 2 cottage pies - I don't have a dish large enough for a big 8-person one (nor a big enough oven, come to that, seeing as I've only got my Ninja multi cooker, another air fryer and a microwave).  So I made 2, 4-serving ones.....there was enough of the meat mixture left for another couple of meals for husband - it all went in the freezer.  I also made a raspberry and blueberry sponge-topped pudding, it'll do us for 3 days worth of puds.  I don't put sugar in the fruit, and cut down the sugar in the sponge mix by 1/3 to 1/2, I've reduced the sugar in baked goods for a few years now, it makes little difference to the taste and husband has never even noticed.  We shouldn't really be eating sweet or carby things anyway, due to diabetes, but at our ages I don't feel like denying ourselves simple pleasures once in a while.

My cleaner didn't come on Monday, due to it being a bank holiday, so I did a couple of the jobs that she normally does.  She did offer to squeeze me in yesterday instead, but I said it was fine, I'd manage.  I didn't want her having to rush through her other jobs and have a longer working day to accommodate me.  It was very kind of her to offer though, she is so thoughtful and caring.  I sat out in the garden with husband for an hour in the afternoon, it was lovely if a bit breezy.

Today though there's almost no breeze, bright blue sky and very warm already, it's going to be a gorgeous day.  We've decided to take a picnic and go to the park in town, people have been saying on our local FB page that the flower beds and blossom trees are looking wonderful right now.  Dogs aren't allowed so we can't take Betty (we wouldn't anyway as there are dozens of squirrels in that park, which she'd be wanting to chase).  It's usually very quiet in there as the park, although being in the centre of town, is hidden behind the shops so most tourists don't realise it's there.  It's very much a local secret.  It's busier in the summer holidays, there's a bandstand and lots of events take place in the park, which are publicised on posters and on FB so more people get to hear about it.

Early morning surprise

 Happy Easter to those who celebrate it with families, happy Sunday if you don't.

We woke up to a surprise first thing this morning, when husband let Betty out into the garden.  I always go out there with her, as she sometimes feels the need to start digging in the flowerbeds, which obviously I don't want her to do......husband, however, just stands in the doorway, mostly oblivious to what she's doing.  This morning, however, she started whining and scrabbling about behind his plastic tool store, obviously after something.  He thought a mouse, but it turned out to be a hedgehog, Betty was batting it with her paw (it had rolled into a ball)....it's the first time we've seen a hedgehog in this garden.  Husband immediately started shouting at Betty to "leave it alone and come here!" - of which she took no notice.  Betty is very single-minded and stubborn when she's up to something, and husband's response is always to shout at her.  I've explained to him numerous times that shouting will have the opposite effect - it just excites her and raises her adrenaline even more, and she's hardly going to come to him when he's shouting at her - who would?!  He got a piece of wood and was trying to block her from getting to the hedgehog, I got a treat (the best way to get her to stop doing something is to distract her with something else) and said to her, quietly but firmly "Betty.  Come.  Here" - which she did, so I quickly got her inside.  It helped that it had just started raining (a short sharp shower) and she really doesn't like being out in the rain.  Since then, of course, she keeps wanting to go in the garden....to play with her new toy!....but we haven't let her as yet, husband has taken her for a walk around the estate.  I'm happy we have a hedgehog here (it's escaped to safety somewhere now, thank goodness) and hopefully Betty will forget about it within a couple of days....meanwhile, we'll have to keep a closer eye on her in the garden.

Aren't these gorgeous, I do love bluebells....I think they're the Spanish ones though, not British, which is a pity but they were here already when we moved in.  They're still very pretty regardless of origin, although the Spanish ones apparently are more vigorous and can overpower native British ones.  Over the years they've become very crowded and lots are now coming up blind, so once they've finished flowering and are dying back I shall cut all the leaves back and dig up lots of the bulbs to thin them out.  I'll ask around to see if any neighbours want any.

I'm still processing the cut-price veggies, still have loads of them, particularly carrots.  I made a big panful of potato and carrot mash yesterday and froze it, today I'll do a trayful of honey and ginger roasted carrots and then freeze.  I think I'll do a carrot, date and walnut traybake cake as well, again to freeze for when the next visitors arrive.  Had a video call with sister yesterday, she's getting really excited, her friend who's driving is not now working the night before they come, so they'll be able to leave to come down here around 8 am, which is good, it means they'll get here for lunch.  Husband's siblings are also planning to get down around the same time.  I'm well organised for food provision, thankfully - I have to be organised in advance, for the sake of my sanity.

Love my garden

 It's a dull drizzly day so no gardening or washing today, at least it's not cold although it's quite windy, as usual.  Mixed weather forecast over the weekend, with Monday being a bright sunny day by the looks of things, so we might go to the boot sale, they hold it on bank holiday Mondays as well as the normal Saturdays.

The first thing I do when I get out of bed in the mornings is pull back the curtains and have a look at the garden, I have a lovely view over our back garden, husband has a nice view of the front garden where the bright yellow wallflowers are now in bloom.  Lots of the perennial shrubs and flowers I planted last year and the year before are now bursting into life, growing strongly and will soon fill out and bloom all summer.  We now have 6 trees along our border fence - 3 Ceanothus, different varieties, 2 blue and 1 white.  A green acer we already had in another part of the garden, now moved to a large pot beside the fence, it looks happy so doesn't seem to have minded being moved.  A tall bushy tree that will have pretty white clematis-type flowers, I can't remember what it's called.  And now a Magnolia Susan (my birth name....well, Susan, not Magnolia!), gorgeous deep pinky purple flowers, I bought it yesterday.  My lovely Mum bought one for me about 20 years ago, we had it in our front garden up in the Midlands, we couldn't bring it with us when we moved down here to Somerset as it had grown too big to dig up, I was very sad about that so am happy to have another one, it'll remind me of my Mum.  So once all these trees start to grow upwards and fill out more, which they're already starting to do, we'll have a lot more privacy.  

The veg raised beds are coming along nicely too, as I said the other day we already have shallot sets growing well in one raised bed, spuds in several old compost bags (we always grow them in bags, they do pretty well), carrot seeds sown in another raised bed.  We have little yellow and green courgette plantlets and tomato seedlings under cover in the car port, waiting to go out when the danger of frost is past.  Husband will be sowing climbing French beans into another raised bed early next month, and we'll buy some mini cucumber plants then as well.  The strawberry plants are coming to life, and the blackcurrant bush we were given by our neighbour last year is growing strongly, I love blackcurrants so am hopeful of fruit this year.

I'm beginning to really love our garden, it's going to look so good (and be so productive food-wise) this summer.  It's come a long way from the sea of gravel and very neglected roses and a few shrubs when we moved in.  I'm also so glad we got rid of the 3 horrible half dead leylandii trees that were in the middle of the garden, they weren't very tall but were very wide and took up loads of space and were so ugly, that was one of the first jobs we did in the garden.

The garden was obviously loved at one time by the previous tenant, but she eventually became too unwell to take care of it and her partner did nothing, he had no interest in the garden according to our neighbours.

Food aversions

 Chris from Always Smiling blog has put on a post about offal today, wondering if people will start eating more of it as prices shoot up.  Chris mentioned brains and tripe - neither or which I'd ever eaten, they just didn't appeal to me, I was far too squeamish for that.

I used to eat all kinds of meat, although the only offal I had was liver and kidneys.  Before I became (mostly) vegetarian, I had been struggling for a few months with eating beef and offal....I just wasn't enjoying the flavour or texture anymore, it tasted too strong to me, my tastes seemed to be changing as I was getting older.  I wasn't keen on lamb either, for similar reasons, although lamb always used to be my favourite meat.

One day we were invited to our friends for dinner, we'd been there for meals numerous times and they were good hosts.  On this occasion they served up beef stew - we'd had it there several times before.  I didn't know before we went that it would be beef stew, and at this point I hadn't actually mentioned to anyone, not even my husband, that I was going off the taste of some meats, beef in particular.  I didn't really give it much thought actually, just thought maybe it was a phase I was going through.  Whilst eating the stew however, I noticed some chunks of something which didn't look or taste like beef - I thought perhaps it was kidney, but something about it didn't suggest kidney to me.  So I asked what it was - and was told it was heart.  I was immediately horrified - I had never (knowingly) eaten heart before, it just wasn't something we ever ate at home when I was a child and I'd certainly never bought or cooked it.  I didn't make a big issue of it, just left the lumps of heart on the side of my plate - I think husband ate them.  I don't know if they'd put heart in their stews before, most likely they had, I just hadn't noticed, it was only because I was developing this dislike of beef and other strong tasting meats that I'd noticed it on this occasion.  Well, that was the beginning of my turning to vegetarianism - not that I've ever told them but it was that heart that put me off of most meats.  

As I've said before, I do occasionally eat a little chicken, I use chicken, or sometimes pork, mince in dishes like cottage pie or lasagne.  I occasionally, perhaps once every 3 or 4 weeks, eat a couple of sausages.  Bacon I do really like the smell of and sometimes think I fancy a bacon sandwich on a weekend morning....each time I have one though, straight away I realise I didn't really enjoy that and won't have it again for several weeks.  I sometimes make a pasta bake, quiche or risotto with a little chopped bacon in, but it's very much as a flavouring and not the main part of the meal.

Nowadays, I wouldn't touch any kind of offal with a barge pole - Betty loves liver (so does husband) so I do sometimes buy it for them.....husband cooks it and I have to leave the kitchen, as I really can't stand the smell of it anymore, it makes me want to heave.  Is there any food any of you readers dislike intensely now, after perhaps eating it quite happily years ago?  Annabeth, maybe my celery aversion is in my genes, never thought of that, I've always, always hated it and can't ever imagine wanting to eat it.

Today I'm making bread and a sticky ginger cake - one of husband's favourites, he especially likes it warm with icecream, cream or custard.

Like being in a horror movie!

 Thanks for the comments, seems we all have frustrating stories of bureaucracy!

When we left Bridgwater yesterday afternoon (husband had a tooth out and I did a bit of shopping), it was a lovely bright sunshiny day, pretty warm at 18 deg according to the car thermometer.  About 5 miles along the road, however, the temperature quickly dropped to 11 deg and we drove into fog.  Not even misty, but real proper fog!!  It was really odd, one minute it was a lovely almost summer-like day, the next we were suddenly in November.  Quite eerie actually, almost like we were all of a sudden and very unexpectedly in a horror movie!  A few more miles down the road and the temperature started climbing back up, the fog disappeared and it was back to being sunny, albeit with a bit of cloud.  Very strange, never seen anything like it.

I bought several packs of the cheap Easter veggies and am prepping and freezing a lot of them today - well, while they're this cheap it'd be rude not to!  First off I'm chopping and sauteing onions, carrots and parsnips - a kind of soffritto if you will, but using parsnips instead of celery.  I have always loathed both the taste and smell of celery - I used to not like lots of vegetables, peas and good old spuds being the exception, but over the years have grown to love most of them (just as well seeing as I'm now almost a vegetarian....well, flexitarian as someone said).  Celery is the one exception though, I just cannot bear it for whatever reason.  Even cooked into a stew or something that someone else has made, I always pick the bits of celery out and either leave them on the side of the plate or give them to husband.  He assures me that you can barely taste it when cooked, but I'm not chancing it! 😂  I'll use some of the sauteed veggies in a quiche today, some for tomorrow in a pasta dish, the rest will be frozen.  I'll do a big tray of roasted veggies at the weekend, enough for several meals.  I like roasted roots as a Sunday dinner with some stuffing and a Yorkie and gravy, or cold with mayo and a sprinkle of cheese as a salad for lunch.

A dull cloudy day today but sunshine tomorrow, so another garden day then.  Husband has started sowing some veg seeds outside in the raised beds, he's already planted shallot sets and put all the chitted potatoes in bags of compost yesterday.