Saturday

 Good morning everyone.
Once again, I am so grateful for your love, care, prayers and thoughts.  I know that a number of you have or are going through similar concerns about loved ones and this makes your comments even more precious.  Thank you all.

There is no change.  Dad is drifting in and out and ward staff are making him as comfortable as they can.  John visited yesterday and will go again today.  I'm not sure at which point Covid rules stop applying but I am fairly sure they will let me resume visits when John has to go home, even though the rules say only one person.
I've had no messages overnight so, presumably, things remain the same.

I came home yesterday.  Dad's washing machine sometimes trips the electrics and I had a load to do.  Yes, a long way to do a load of washing but Ann next door was on holiday (back today, I think) and next door is empty.  Also, I needed to come home.  Does that make sense?

Anyway, I have done the washing, Dave and Anna came round in the afternoon and Beth in the evening so I was able to fill in the gaps for them.  They are all very fond of their grampy.  

I haven't taken photos but the garden is looking fruitful.  The clematis is just amazing; you can hardly see the leaves for flowers.  The geranium looks to be taking over the whole bed and has smothered several other plants so I will have to thin that after the flowering season.  It would look good in a medium-large pot so I must look out for one at some point.

I picked some strawberries and ate them pretty much straight away.  The blueberries are actually starting to turn a gentle shade of blue now and I'm glad I netted them.  It looks a bit Professor Branestawm-ish but is doing the trick.

There are millions (well, maybe a little fewer) cucumbers around five or six inches in length, looking very fit and healthy and should be good to pick in around ten days or so.  As for the tomatoes - they haven't lengthened quite as much as last week but there are loads of flowers and more baby tomatoes, not to mention side shoots (which got their come-uppance yesterday).  

The new autumn fruiting raspberry is - er - fruiting!  Ooops.  Maybe it's just because it is the first year and next year it will revert to autumn.  I must look at the ones I put in the allotment and see what they are doing.

And talking of allotment, I will, of course, take a look, tie up anything that needs tying up, pick strawberries and, I hope, broad beans and take them back to Dad's to share with John for dinner.

And that's it really.  I hope you are all well and, once again, a really heartfelt thank you.  xx