seems like old times

I haven’t blogged all Summer, in fact not since Spring. We have been a little preoccupied with Bri’s back. He had two bulging discs and couldn’t lie, walk or do much of anything except do Richard III impressions. He had a wrong diagnosis for the first eight weeks from a NHS physio who said he wouldn’t ever get any better because of his age and there wasn’t any difference between an X-ray and a MRI scan. What hope do we all have I wonder? Well, let me tell you, she was wrong, wrong, wrong. We went to a fantastic chiropractor called John Lang, who lots of our neighbours had recommended and after just a couple of goes Bri was on the way to standing up straight and in far less pain. Meanwhile we had our beloved Lottie to do. So I had to step up and get dirty (not unusual for me though). Doing both our parts was tough and when I thought I was failing, help came from our friends, Pam and Paul from up North and they put the weeds in their place and helped me get some sense back on the plot. Terry, our good ole brother came and although he got stung from the wasp nest, managed to help us plan the guttering for the shed and clear the bags of rubbish we couldn’t compost. Lesley and Angela came for a picnic down the shed and planted flowers but I am proud to say I managed the rest of the summer better than I expected and came Joint First for Best Small Plot. Bri is almost back to normal as John Lang is a miracle worker thank goodness.

Also over the summer, Henry and Ferret left for a new home up the road, over a roundabout, up a hill a bit to a bigger house and we missed looking after them everyday a lot. However, Henry decided he would come back and visit us as soon as his three months of being locked in had passed and today, six months later, Ferret turned up and took up residence in his always spot in our back bedroom as if he hadn’t been away. Tom (his daddy) is fetching him and Henry after work. Molly was really surprised and we think pleased to see them again. She has been lonely, after all, her life had been spent seeing them everyday. While we have been home so much I have started and finished a scrap quilt which is now on our bed. We also won Joint First place for Shed Dressing. We did the Mad Hatter’s Tea Party. Yvonne hand painted tree trunks and we made leaves from crepe paper. I made Alice and the Mad Hatter with pillows off the bed, Issie’s blonde play wig , a blue dress for Alice and Top Hat for the Mad Hatter and a very large white rabbit borrowed from Yvonne’s school. We had lots of fun and it only cost us 50p.

This weekend we harvested apples from the plot which were plentiful but not as plentiful as my dear little pear tree who gave us 400lbs of pears. Yes, I am not exaggerating, 400lbs. We have shared them with all our neighbours, relatives and friends and I am making Italian Country Pear Cake a lot. I did go out in the dark and give it a big hug and a thank you when no one was looking in case they thought me crazy but what else could I do? It was a wonderful harvest from such a little tree.