Yawn Yawn Wakey Wakey 2024

Moved on from Pateley Bridge today, via the Angel of the North,


and Morpeth, to just outside Edinburgh.

 

Yes well @Ladybird4 and @Liriodendron. It began as the Yorkshire version with dried fruits and chopped mint and that uses shortcrust but then morphed into raisins and chopped candied peel and spices and butter in a 25cm pastry case. Looks yummy but we'll have to wait and see.

Our two cats are dead easy to give worming pills to and failrly easy to do the tick and flea treatment but Cosmos is a terror for shaking off his collar when he gets his usual abscess after a pawful of feral claws gets stuck in his hindquarters. While that all gets cleaned at the vet's he climbs up me to snuggle into my neck. Won't stay on the treatment table. Cute really but very hairy.

I bought some short purple Michaelmas daisies a few years ago to grow in fornt of of my white, cream and pale yellow roses. They insist on being a metre tall annd white so swamp my roses. All being well they'll get moved next spring and replaced with smaller plants.

 

We had another cracker of a sunrise this morning, before leaving Yorkshire.

 

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A very good morning everyone. Aaah @RowlandsCastle, you passed by my birth place then. Super pics - thanks for sharing them. Just ask me who's a twonk then! All that baking yesterday and the coffee morning isn't until NEXT week. Grrrrr. Your version of the Eccles cake sounds absolutely delicious @Obelix-Vendée. I wonder if I can freeze coconut pyramids???

 

Good morning everyone and a Happy Sunday to you!

Dismal and drizzly here so probably slippery out so I'd better be careful. I am walking unaided but I take one crutch with me when I am walking outside which I hook behind my back with y arms, as the physio said not to hunch over the crutch. Thorax first, heel, toe.

Oh how I wish I could get out into the garden though! I started to cut the string on the tomato plants yesterday when I was collecting the turning tomatoes. The nurse said "no more than that" !! It's too dry anyway, to try and get plants or stakes out of the ground. Another month and the plants will have yielded their fruit and probably some decent rain to make the ground more pliable.

I have a question if you don't mind: I was watching Garden Rescue this morning (I like the revisited episodes) Series 3: N° 20 Stevenage. In front of the orange wall to the right were some very tall, broad-leafed plants with yellow flowers - about 2m tall. Would anyone be able to tell me the name. Usually, the presenters give the names of the plants but not this one. If anyone could help, it would be appreciated.

I have changed the summer stuff to winter stuff. I have tidied and washed out the sauces and spices twirly cupboards and catorgorised into Chinese, Indian etc ingredients. I am getting bored here inside as although my pain has diminished considerably, I need another 3 weeks before I can do any heavy lifting etc. so as not to pop out my hip!!!

I am reading an oldie at the moment after ordering Birds of Prey and Monsoon for my lovely friend from Montpellier for Christmas and found Golden Lion (on Borroxbox) which I have started - looks promising. Getting more adept at cryptic crosswords too. Wish I could find some here, but even ordinary crosswords are hard to find. (in english).

I hope you all have a pleasant Sunday.

 

Good morning @Tui, I've sent you a link for cryptic (and easier) crosswords.
I was wondering if your tall plants could be Jerusalem artichokes?

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Morning all.

We had a lovely day by the sea at Southwold yesterday. No one swam, the sea was a bit choppy and the water of the North Sea looked silty and sandy. We had lunch on the pier and walked along the beach to Granny's old house and back through the town. Then we had ice creams by the pier and the children played in the arcade. The sun shone for us most of the time.

The family will go after lunch today.

 

Sounds like you had a wonderful time @Busy-Lizzie. More lovely memories created.

 

@Tui34 I think the yellow flower is an Inula Magnifica. I have one. It's a big plant with big broad leaves and big yellow daisy like flowers with lots of narrow yellow petals.

 

Morning everyone, we had a good dry day in the garden yesterday, started to tidy up, re-potted two Acers, with help from the garden men, they are too big and heavy for me to lift now. I planted up some narcissi, but I think it's still too early for tulips, so they are still in the bags.
Allotment AGM today, it will be interesting to see how many turn up, the turn out is usually low. We have a real issue with people not wanting to get involved. Too many keep saying "I just want to do my plot" we can't get them to understand that the plots won't exist if they are not properly managed.

 

Thank you @Ladybird4 and @Busy-Lizzie They both look like the plants that I saw but the leaves were broader and the flowers smaller at the top. But - no worries as I like them both. I am looking for plants against a white plastic wire fence to hide next door a bit.

I made a puree of Jerusalem Artichokes one Christmas, at the suggestion of one of the teachers at school. Mother-in-law turned her nose up but most enjoyed them......until the next day!!! I still like them with a bit of butter - now that I am on my toe!! So I may grow some. I suppose I would have to rip up the plant to get to the root - but then I imagine it would grow again.
Thank you for the suggestions.

My artichokes have started growing again, so I will dig some up to take with me to my new abode.

 

Morning...just! Very dreary day.
Been reading about the new entry and exit system being introduced in the Schengen area from November. The death knell for any plans for us, it seems. Gone are the days when we joyfully hitched up the caravan and hit the road.
I've got my dad's passport from the late 30s, when he went on holiday with a friend to Germany. It's stamped with the wehrmacht stamp and accompanies a photo album. He was asked to take 'interesting' photos for the UK army, and smuggle them, hidden in the back seat of the car. Obviously, I don't know what they were, but some made it into the album. It makes fascinating viewing. I wonder if there's anywhere that would like them, as not sure they mean much to family. Can't think of Dad as a spy, somehow!

 

Morning all, we had a good day out yesterday in the sunshine, up to the ancestral village in Oxfordshire, then lunch at a lovely French run restaurant/bar. OH drove in his new car and was very gratified when another bloke complimented him on the look of it.

Not sure what I'll do today as the weather's completely changed to overcast and wet. I've done a towel wash and must do some ironing later. Not feeling very energetic and my joints hurt, especially my fingers first thing in the morning, probably due to the reduction of steroid pills.
Must look into glucosamine, what brands can people recommend please?

Glad you enjoyed your family day out @Busy-Lizzie.

Why do the new Schengen rules affect your plans @Penny_Forthem, I thought once you'd registered, the IDs good for 3 years? No different to the American visa scheme that's been around for ages surely. Mind you, if you have to do it online, it's probably as bad as registering for the NHS app!!!

@Tui34, it's fortunate that you've had your new hip done at the start of the wind-down to winter isn't it rather than the spring season when the itch to get out there and do something would be far worse. Are you planning to move house soon though, I must have missed that bit of info?

@Allotment Boy, hope the AGM goes well, seems that no-one wants to run any organisation any more. Most of the clubs/societies we belong to have the same issues and I'm afraid I'm one of the people who also don't want any responsibilities either. Been there and done that.

 

Our accommodation for two weeks, thanks to Mrs R.

We are on the third floor, in the roof!!

View from the lounge.

 

Visited two castles this morning.


Crichton Castle


Borthwick Castle.