March mumblings...

19th March 2018

Let's make some changes?
It's interesting to see my blog stats in retrospect, and work out what make for my most viewed posts. I didn't set out to make this one thing or another, and it is always interesting to know what things people are looking for, and what things they'd find useful. A fellow MS blogger said she was looking for information about paths and seats. Last year I wrote about furniture I'd seen at the Knebworth Garden Show and a company which designed sensory gardens for children with special needs. I have been told that my eldest child may have Aspergers so I will be looking to see what would be good in our garden for those needs.
The gardens each daughter built last year have had mixed success but were overtaken by couch grass before the snow hit. We haven't had the lawnmower out yet this year as the intermittent snow has hit each time I thought about it. I've planted extra bulbs but I don't know if the minus temperatures this month will have had any effect on those developing plants.
The necessity for a soakaway for the new extension we built on the house has seen the removal of the barbecue so we have to look at developing a new barbecue area and new hard standing areas for tables, which are currently sitting on the grass.
I think one of the cheapest ways to do this is to purchase a ton bag of gravel from a builders merchant? But too small aggregate will entice local cats to use it as a litter tray. Too big and if the ground is at all uneven, the large pieces will never settle.

Market research...

27/3/18

 

Chocolate eating?
It’s nearly Easter break and all is happening either too fast or too slow and it’s a little one's birthday tomorrow... so I am escaping into London to do some Market Research. Or rather someone is paying me to go in and answer some questions about MS and I get paid. I’ve done a few of these in my eleven years diagnosed and they just reinforce how similar and different MSers experience is. But I have charged gadgets and D printed out a map.

When I moved down to London in the 90s, I jumped on and off public transport and spent hours going from one place to the other and visiting exhibitions and going to shows, eating out and spending so little time in my many different flatshares. Nowadays it’s a whole different period of my life and we have very little spare money, and it’s difficult to justify living this close to London if we don’t try to make it part of our lives. 

Now I am reluctant to use the Underground and plan journeys walking and by bus, which given its public transport system, is no bad thing!

As you know, I am only partly employed and spend a lot of time popping around North Herts as an exam invigilator which is something I have become so used to doing it’s not a difficult job but my pocket could really do with earning more, hence the market research. It’s an evening one which means no babysitter required but I’ve left the house without taking my Tec(fidera) and I will just have to see if a late night train gets me grazing for something to eat it with when I get home...

The train is now approaching Finsbury Park and one of my journeys suggested on Google said change here and go to Euston but it’s the age old issue that actually walking from Kings Cross is fifteen minutes maximum. Get my steps in that way too.

And I signed a confidentiality agreement so I can tell you NADA! But actually it was just like getting five ladies in for a chat, and talking about stuff we don’t get the chance to face-to-face and in a comfortable room. We all had brain fog moments and things on the tip of our tongues... Leaving the offices at nearly ten pm was an eye opener as to why I do the commute so little, but reminds me of my younger self and the manic way I lived once.

We’ve agreed to stay in touch (if I can master What’s App) and the plan is to meet up again.

And I ran for the train and now I need to know whether to brave the toilet on the train... disadvantages of being an hour from Kings Cross? Braving the toilet on the train...

My step counter was up to 19,000 yesterday and I feel it in every part of me, and I have a birthday girl to entertain and chocolate to consume. Happy Easter and Adios x

Open Gardens helpout

A helpful map to the cakes!

History of the area

17th March 2018

Hot Soup and cake!

I have said I am a fair weather gardener but even I know the Brits will visit other people’s houses and gardens in all weathers... Today was such a day when I was a volunteer helper at a lovely garden in Mid Herts which was open today in the light snow showers none of us anticipated...

Helpers in the barn, including
one of Luton's MS Branch

I’m not sure of the final head count but considering how lovely it was yesterday, to get more than sixty visitors was the sign of an important local property and popular members of the community. They got over 800 a few weeks ago, hence the call out to local MS Society members to help out. Open Gardens is an institution across the country and it allows us to see different landscapes and corners of the country we wouldn’t normally see. Additionally, the MSSociety is a major benefactor to the proceeds of the scheme this year. All of which is another reason to indulge my favourite things - gardens and cake - but I arrived this morning without any money (my purse had been raided for my eldest's Gang Show treat the night before) and not wearing quite enough layers, so I partook of several cups of hot hearty soup and a few homemade cakes, and when my poorly husband (he is badly affected by the car crash last week) picked me up, he treated us to more cake, donating to the cause. I hope Sarah-Jane and Co’s efforts have been worth all the hard work. There was a huge team of local helpers, and lots of lovely home cooked goodies with helpful gluten free and nut free varieties. When I ventured out from the goodie barn I was able to see a small fraction of the garden and the fire pits which had been helping to warm the intrepid visitors.

March detritus!

16th March, 2018

Meshes for the renderer to make sharp corners laid on top of our new bed...

Polystyrene insulation...

It got worse again... my new rugged sleeper bed was suddenly used to hold tiles and render corner pieces! Seriously bemused and not a little bit fed up of the disrespect for garden features.

The extension is close to being finished so this is just a byproduct of that, but I really want this rubbish to disappear, without taking the stuff we can use.

Packaging...

I’d like to be as ecological as I can be but this extension is full of polystyrene and plastic wrapped elements and it’s all going straight into the nonrecyclable bin. Our kitchen was sent over from Italy readymade to be installed and each element was wrapped in cardboard and polystyrene. I hope it will be worth its lack of ecology.

Looking forward to the day we can order a great big bag of gravel to cover the hardcore, bricks and stones.

March delights!

12 March, 2018

Stuff gets in the way...

Mother’s Day should be restful and time to ponder but not when your husband writes off his car the previous day... I correct that, another driver slammed into his car in a supermarket car park. The car which was a classic of its type was effectively written off. Argh!

So I choose to share with you some little treasures I spotted in the garden today...

We also have a recycled kitchen object to add to our garden furniture: the butlers sink which I grew to loathe in the kitchen will find a new location filled with plants, yay! 

March already?

6th March, 2018

March started with a cold blast!

The garden seriously suffered last week as did we! The subzero temperatures couldn’t have come at worse time as our build is midway so we were enclosed but without insulation or plaster on the new bit. And the kitchen was pulled out so we are using the bath for a lot of our washing, both crockery and clothes! But the plasterers came in on Friday as the Letchworth snow was disappearing and finished on Saturday. Our kitchen comes next week...

It’s also been World Book Day and my daughters dressed up for the occasion, one with the blue wig as shown. But the pic also shows the extent of the LGC snow. I called it a bubble for a reason, we weren’t sent the extremes of the rest of the UK.

And then today I was asked to help at a garden for NGS which is opening on the 17th March, so I am hoping to get some pics for the blog and the lowdown from the homeowners (I am soooo excited!) about how it feels to let people in to see your bulbs? Last year they had over 800 visitors.