Saturday, 23-05-26

Good morning, everyone.  Welcome to a warm and sunny start to the Bank Holiday weekend after a hot day yesterday when it was so very nice to have warm fingers and toes.

After SW group yesterday morning, I went to Morrisons and stocked up on healthy fruit, veg, lean protein, whole grains - all that Good Stuff - before getting it all away and doing a bit of garden stuff until it felt a bit too hot.
I dug out my fans for the first time this year, had a minor panic over where I put the controls, found them just where they ought to be, and now the fans are set up, one in the bedroom and one downstairs, ready for when needed.

This morning, it looks as if it is going to be another lovely day.  I've got a load of washing on the line already and I've moved a few things around in the garden.

I just wanted another foxglove photo - they are going to be so lovely this year!  As I took the photo, I thought the background wasn't as lovely - that egg chair does really impact, so I moved some stuff around.  I've also taken off the cover (about time) and need to give the cushion a good old scrub so that's in the list this morning.

So now, along the side, there's the egg chair and then my mini fruit trees ending with the blueberry and a couple of foliage pots in front.  It looks nicer in reality that it does in the photo.

No tomatoes in pots this year!!

I've moved the pot of bamboo in front of the garden room and the grey one to the right holds dead bamboo so I need to deal with that and then I think that pot is where I will plant the olive tree, when I get it - it is certainly heavy enough!.

The egg chair was hiding the mirror 'window'; I think it looks nicer when it shows, even when it needs a good clean!

I can't remember if I told you about the rhubarb pot but I don't think I did.  Chris and I have been talking for weeks about getting some rhubarb and we have both just done it.  Chris and Steve ordered a large pot (it says it needs plenty of depth) and then it came they had sent two!  They were told to just keep it so I have bought it off them for half what they paid so we each have a good pot at half price.  Excellent!

Another thing I did this morning was look up the price of John Innes no 3 compost which is recommended and have ordered some to arrive Tuesday.  So Mr Rhubarb will just have to stay in his smaller pot until then!

I won't get any benefit this season, of course.  All the advice says give it a year so the roots can establish.  But next year and subsequent years . . .

Anyway, it has just turned nine, the day started early and, when it gets really hot later, I can rest up in front of the fan, if necessary.  Or sit out in the egg chair.  Or in the garden room.

I have to admit, I rather miss the dappled shade that next door's birch used to cast in my garden but on the other hand, the light is so much better.  Can't have it all and our gardens are really far too small for such a big tree.

I've rambled on enough, haven't I  Time for what one of my favourite vloggers calls 'The best meal of the day', i.e. coffee.  Have a lovely day, everyone.  xx

A Trip to the Poppy Factory and a Boat Trip down the Thames

Hi, everyone.  Yesterday I went on another Broomfield Coach trip, this one to the factory that makes all the Remembrance Day poppies and wreaths, employing veterans from the armed forces who would otherwise not be able to find employment for various reasons, mostly linked to disability they incurred while serving.
(There's also a factory in Edinburgh that makes for Scotland - the poppies are different)

The factory is based on Richmond upon Thames so that's where the coach took us.
It was first founded in 1922 on the Old Kent Road to offer employment opportunities to wounded soldiers from WWI but the whole poppy idea began in Flanders.  It seems that poppy seeds can remain dormant in the ground for a long time and will spring into life if the soil is disturbed.  Trench warfare meant that large areas were churned up and turned over and in 1915, up they came. vivid and red.  Soldiers pressed the petals in their service book and some sent those pressed petals home in letters.  So poppies became associated with battle, death, injury and disability in the minds of families at home, helped by a short poem written by a soldier in the field, John McCrae which I think you will all recognise.

In Flanders Fields

By John McCrae

In Flanders fields the poppies blow

Between the crosses, row on row,

    That mark our place; and in the sky

    The larks, still bravely singing, fly

Scarce heard amid the guns below.

We are the Dead. Short days ago

We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,

    Loved and were loved, and now we lie,

        In Flanders fields.

Take up our quarrel with the foe:

To you from failing hands we throw

    The torch; be yours to hold it high.

    If ye break faith with us who die

We shall not sleep, though poppies grow

        In Flanders fields.

We had a very interesting talk before enjoying a hot drink and piece of cake (delicious).  We were encouraged to explore the Visitor's Centre, read all the info on the walls and have a go at making poppies.  

The long stemmed poppies, slightly more fancy, are used for the thousands of wreaths made for groups and organisations all over the country.  We had a go if we wanted but were not allowed to take them home.  All these will be used this year.  It feels good to be a little part of it.

The poppies we all know and wear are made using a very simple shaped block of wood that enables anyone with dexterity issues to be successful.  We tried using our non-dominant hand - just one hand needed - and it really was easy.  I came home with two!!

We didn't go into the actual production areas - some of the people there are mentally unwell and lacking in any confidence and it would be cruel and distressing for them.

There was a shop by the entrance and, guess what - I got my fridge magnet!!  I also bought a poppy pen, a poppy plate and a poppy mug, both in bone china and a great way to support the work as well as a souvenir.

Here's a link to a YouTube video (there's quite a number on YouTube if you want to explore further.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d1H54dnxCf8&t=40s

And a few photos I took.

This is King Charles' wreath.  I thought the wreaths were discarded after use but, no, after a time they are collected up and sent back to be repaired as necessary and re-used.  There was also the Prince of Wales' wreath and the wreath used used by the late Queen Elisabeth.

Wreathes used by some of the armed forces - all reused as much as possible.

Finally, posted with their permission, here's Ray and Jan Spiller, the lovely couple that started and continue to run the Broomfield coach trips, supported now by the coach company they use, Kevendys.

They truly are the loveliest, most generous and caring people I know.

When time was up, we set off down to the Thames (literally one road and some gardens away) to wait for the boat ride.  That's when people ate the sandwiches they had brought with them.

There's not  lot of info about the boat trip.  The Thames is the Thames, it is tidal for quite a distance and we had to wait for the tides to be right.  I had a great seat, right at the front, and clicked away merrily.

Here's just some photos, a few with comments but, really, they speak for themselves.

The view from where we were waiting.

Really wouldn't mind living in one of those - except for the low flying planes every five minutes or less!

I had a cheeky glass of wine on the boat - as did quite a lot of us!  It felt very luxurious!

The Albert Bridge

Been there on another Broomfield trip.

I wouldn't like to even begin to guess how much these apartments cost!

The old ILEA County Hall in the Olden Days.  I came here for my first ever job interview - not that you could really call it an interview.  You had to be stunningly bad to not get taken on by ILEA in them there days!

And the Eye. of course or, as one little reception pupil wrote, 'i went to the lun dun I' - such a brave attempt.

And the end of the journey.

The coach was waiting close by for us and home we went.

It was a really lovely trip.  We were so, so lucky with the weather.  It was warm, even on the water, but not hot and the whole day was very restful.

The next one is a week on Monday and it's back to London to see Paddington.  I am SO looking forward to that!

Living the best life right now and feeling so very blessed.

Friday, 22-05-26 - just a quick one . . .

 . . . to say I haven't started uploading the many photos I took yesterday.  I'll get them done after Slimming World and post a proper thing later.  Just to say it was a lovely day yesterday - and I got a fridge magnet!!  😁

See you later.  xx

Thursday, 21-05-26

 Good morning (just) everyone.  Better late than never as the saying goes.

Yesterday was busy but I got plenty done.  I went to Personal Training, went on to Longacres and B&Q and found some bedding plants and some rhubarb but the tomatoes looked newly pricked out, minute and no way plus there weren't any cucumbers.  

So later on I drove out the Grenville's which is a proper nursery, rather than a garden centre.  They had some excellent tomatoes plus some cucumbers, four for a fiver so I came home with a tenner's worth.

I spend the rest of the afternoon in the back garden and things look a lot more organised now.

Two cucumbers.  One should produce minis and the other should give me the usual sized ones.  Fingers crossed.  I took off the top half of the soil in the pot and replaced it with some chicken manure pellets (phew) and good stuff from the bottom of the compost bin so they have no excuses.

There's eighteen tomatoes, all in the blankety bed around the edge so the cane supports look quite Heath Robinson-ish at the moment but in four to six weeks' time, it should look good and productive.
I've got Shirley, Gardener's Delight, Honeycomb, Sungold, Roma, Alicante, Rapunzel, Red Plum and Sweet Millions.  No fancy pants types this year and, in fact, I don't remember seeing any 'heritage' types.  I've had them all before and I know they are tasty and prolific.
I've always had them in pots before so it will be interesting to see how well they do with deeper roots - the few I had in the bed last year did really well so fingers crossed.

As for the rhubarb, I need to get myself a big, big pot and some good soil - I think the RHS suggested John Innes no 3 (does that sound right?) and I will also add chicken manure and some compost soil.  I've never grown rhubarb before but I gather I just leave it this year for the roots to establish and cut the stems back at the end of the fruiting season.
More fingers crossed!

Today I have had a good old chat with Chris and now I'm off on a coach trip.  A tour of the Poppy Factory followed by a boat trip from Richmond to Westminster where the coach will pick us up and bring us home again.  It should be very interesting and the weather forecast is OK
the poppy factory

Have a lovely day, all, and see you tomorrow.  xx

Wednesday, 20-05-26

Morning, everyone!  How are you all?

I was super chuffed with myself yesterday.  As you may know, if you are a customer, Virgin Media has a new router that they are distributing and mine arrived yesterday (I ordered it last week while on holiday and was getting a bit concerned as there was a five day window to get things all set up).
Simple, it said, very easy.  Ha!

Now, I have skills.  I make a mean loaf of bread.  I can knock up blankets galore.  I can read music.  However - technology is not a skill I own.  It terrifies me when they say insert the doofah into the whotsit and press the thiggumybob button for 3.258 seconds precisely . . .

(it feels like that anyway)

I looked at the back of the current router and aarrgghh!  I turned into a Corporal Jones for a few moments before calming down, tracking back all the many wires connected to the back - only to find that most of them were things I no longer use.  My 'land line', a storage thingy, the old PC that no longer works - that sort of stuff.  

After dealing with all that, it WAS easy.  There's even a button you can press to connect without having to put in a long and random password and also a QR code to get the password if needed.

However - my TV box wouldn't connect so I had another 'don't panic, don't panic' moment before Steve reminded me about settings for the TV box.  So when Thermione wouldn't connect, I knew what to do.  
He also told me there would have been an easier way and that was just to change the new router password to the old one online.  Why didn't the instructions just say that, eh?

My blood pressure is back to normal again now.  Just!

Then I worked off some of my aaarrrggghhh on the garden - moved some pots around, got the tomatoes in and did some weeding and tidying up.
So that was good.

Today is a day of changes.
Lindsey asked me could I change the time of P T to either the morning or later.  As I had a meeting in the morning, I chose the later option.  Then I had an email telling me that the person I was meeting with couldn't make it so I was able to change the P T time to the morning which suits me so much better.

So after P T I think I will go on to a garden centre and seek out some more tomatoes because why not?

Phew!  xx

Tuesday, 19-05-26

Morning, everyone.  As seems to the the way with the weather, yesterday started sunny but clouded over by midday and come the evening it was raining.  At least today is different - it's already raining!!

I got my first lot of tomato plants (I never have any luck growing from seed and anyway I like a variety) yesterday.  I headed straight for Abercorn's as they were the only place that did sungolds last year and, yes, they had some so that was good.
I left them sitting out overnight intending to plant them today as soon as I have worked out how I will arrange them.  They're going in the blankety bed this year although I am sure some will go in pots too.

I want to move some of the containers around - that's the joy of containers, they can give a new look just by being in different places.

The herb/foliage  bed has gone a bit rampant!  I need to cut things back somewhat.  That sage was nearly dead a year ago and it only stayed in because I couldn't be bothered - and now look at it.  As for the oregano behind, it's quietly taking over the whole bed!

And, finally, the foxgloves Val gave me are doing really nicely.  I pulled up a whole load of babies earlier in the season and can see I will have to be ruthless.  There's one I want to move to the centre.  It's come up at the edge in totally the wrong place.  You'd think it would know better!

Oh, well.

(photos taken in the rain, apologies for the dull colour!)

I really do want to get those tomatoes planted out so, rain or no rain, that's on the list today.  I'd also like to look for a few more tomato plants and I also want some bedding stuff as there's quite a lot of gaps.

It's Groove first though but not the walk.  We are fine weather walkers!

Better get ready and start the day.  Have a great time, whatever you have planned.  How's your gardens coming along?  I know some of you are very experienced gardeners with wonderful gardens.

See you tomorrow.  xx

Monday, 18-05-26

Hi, everyone!  Hoping you are all doing well.  The sun is shining again after overnight rain and I suspect Lindsey will have circuits outside today.  I hope so anyway.

Yesterday was a bit of a lazy day.  I did some clearing out, some tidying up and got up to date with my finances.  April and May have been spendy months because of holidays but I did anticipate that and saved so that's good.  I would like the rest of May and all of June to be more frugal as long as nothing goes wrong, needs replacing, etc.

I didn't get that online training done and I didn't get my tomato plants so that's on the list for today/tomorrow.

Today starts with circuits, as already mentioned, and then it is a Kay-day so by lunch time I should have a shiny home.  While Kay is here, I'd like to take advantage of the sunshine and do some gardening.  It shouldn't take long, it just needs doing.

So that is me!  How about you?  Do you have a good day planned for today?

Stay safe and well.  xx