🦞 The Lockdown Gang still chatting 🦞

Doodle. No luckily the immunotherapy doesnt make DH feel ill but what it does do is make him itch! He scratches like mad day and night. Has tried lots of antihistamines prescribed by Drs and different sorts of ointments but none seem to have any effect. Do feel sorry for him but it drives me mad when he’s scratching especially in bed!
Grammaretto Luckily DH gets free hospital transport which so far has been very good. Pleased your helpers are being so helpful. So windy today but good for drying washing! Our next door neighbour has been laying a patio today and the noise has been something else. Theo hasnt been out all day and I dont blame him.

The cost of the alarm does sound a lot Jan but I guess it's worth it for peace of mind. How kind your DD is to "babysit" you.

I hope your DH is doing well on the immunotherapy. It certainly is a long way away. How does he travel?

Doodle I'm glad you were given the all clear at the hospital.

I hope Kaimoana is recovering well from her surgery.

I continue to enjoy my French couple. They worked in the garden today while I did my volunteer shift on the till at our community store. That took my mind off my pains.

When I came home I saw the Helpers had trimmed and shaped the willow bower -something I can't do - involving a tall ladder and long clippers. This evening they cooked a delicious tomato farcie (stuffed tomatoes) yummy.
We then played Boggle and I introduced them to some English words they haven't heard of 😂

Tomorrow they will go to the French conversation class where everyone loves to have Native speakers.

How was your exercise class Ixion

Jan it’s good to have the alarm for help if you need it. Hope your DH is coping well with the immunotherapy. I don’t know a lot about it. Does it make him feel ill at all?
Grammaretto so pleased the new help are nice people. Spag Bol would go down well with me too. Hope they get lots done.
ixion hope you got through the exercise class ok. Good practice for the cheerleading.
I went to the hospital today and have been discharged now, they are happy with my scar so no more visits necessary.

Hello Kaimoana great to hear from you. You do sound very cheerful which is great. When I was in hospital I spent a few days on a ward with a lady with dementia. As soon as the lights went out she woould start banging in the bedhead and showing. Im sure the more the lovely nurses told her to stop the more she banged!
Your lunch sounds great. My DH has gone off to hospital 50 miles away for his immunotherapy session and my daughter is here babysitting her mother! Its just in case I fall! Getting a Careline alarm soon so I can press a button if I need help. Must admit Im horrified by the cost £400 a year!
Once again great to hear from you. Jan xxx

ixion I found watching the young Fearnley a tad painful but he did well.

So good to hear from Kaimoana. Thanks Doodle for sharing.

My Frenchies arrived and are lovely as I knew they would be. I almost forgot my pain. They are eager to start attacking the jungle and cooking for me.
I cooked some Spag Bol which went down well.

The charity bookman took away another 20 boxes of books.

How nice to have the time away with your old friends NotSpag

Night night Lobstars. I am very tired 😴

Meant to say, Grammaretto.
Well played Master Fearnley - the final score doesn't reflect how well he played!

Well , Kaimoana seems quite chipper in her news to you Doodle, doesn't she?
I hope it's for real and not to allay fears.

Have your French assistantes arrived, Grammaretto? Helpful and willing hands, hopefully, to give you a lift one way or another🤪.
How are you feeling today? More mobile? But no heavy book lifting just yet!

Old dears' exercise class tomorrow - weary just thinking about it and wishing, most sincerely, that I'd done, as gently suggested, a few of the manoeuvres our lovely girl lady suggested. I'm still ready for a cuppa and a lie down after the first 15 minutes warm up.

Never mind, I shall be positively skipping about in the end - one to watch when the cheerleaders strut their stuff when the season starts. 👯

Well dear lobstars I have news.
Kaimoana has been in touch and said I could share her news with you. So here it is in her own words.

I think the day is not too far distant when I have to give up my PC but I shall battle on as long as I can.
Beautifully sunny day here so not so bitingly cold as it was all last week when I was in hospital.

I sm just back from a community lunch (chicken in sauce, noodle and broc and choc pud and tinned peaches for afters).
I enjoy the company too.

Hospital was a series of misunderstanding and people panicking without any cause but it was because they cared about me.
Thus, once you are in The System ther is A Process and it is very, very slow.
I lay in a ward of 4 people two of whom had dementia and shouted day and most of the night .
Ah well, at least I was warm, safe and had free food (far too much of it actually) 3 times a day - and extras. 🙂
I hope this is readable, please feel free to use any of it to keep my lovely friends updated.

So good to hear from Kaimoana again.
Hope all are ok x

We have been away for a night to see The Spooky Men's Chorale with some (old) friends

We see them rarely but it's always as though we haven't been apart
Every time we say "let's not leave it another six, seven, ten months this time.
We all laugh like drains. They are such a joy - and we are all so very lucky to still have each other
🥰

spookymen.com/

It was, Doodle.
Now I am catching up with everything that didn't get done today😉.

Moving house is so difficult Grammaretto. Everyone has their idea of what’s best. Stick to your guns and choose a place that’s right for you,

Is tennis on ixion. 🤣

Suggest DD finds you something, then point out the pitfalls.

Hey ho, back to the tennis🎾 .

You're right Doodle. I don't want to be stranded.
You should hear my DD on the subject. She thinks I am very foolish even looking at these unsuitable houses.
I have another viewing for yet another unsuitable house booked in. No harm in looking.... 😅

Doesn’t sound the sort of place for your Grammaretto . You need somewhere with more space. You’re used to big rooms and high ceilings. Something too small will be claustrophobic.
Please don’t get anywhere that isn’t close to other people or easy to get to local shops. The older we get it’s easy to become isolated if you can’t drive anymore. Sorry it’s not my business and you know all this anyway. I would love you to get somewhere you’ll be comfortable and happy.
Glad you’ve got a new helper coming.
Ixion we’ve had rain here today too. I was sorely tempted to go and dance barefoot on the grass……..but for the neighbours I might. 🤣

Being a tight fisted Scot albeit an adopted one I make my own slug beer.
A couple of spoons of dried yeast, some sugar stirred into water. I pour it into jam jars and plant them near the most vulnerable ones. It works well especially if I remember to check them often.

I tried the tens machine. It was tricky to set it up but I did and it pulsated as it was supposed to. I can't say I felt any improvement after an hour or so. The heated wheat bag is very comforting.

It isn't very warm here. I've just warned my French Helpers, who arrive on Thursday. I've told them to bring warm clothes and waterproofs.😟

I'm not sure how MM's crowdfunding is going. I know he's on holiday.🏖️

I've been watching the tennis. My old neighbour's DGS is Jacob Fearnley who is through to the second round. 😊

Oh poor Grammaretto☹️.
Has your TENS machine arrived? (Any problems, I will send you mine pdq. Just say). I'm not sure if or how they work, but the tingling sensation, if you ramp up the dials, provides a definite distraction from the initial source of pain!
Take your time over decision making if you are not 100% well in mind or body😉

Do you know how Music Man's crowdfunding is going? Is he a viable bidder/purchaser yet?

I was wondering, NfkD, whether you would be opening up your gardens again this year - it's every two years, isn't it? You have posted some lovely photos in the past!
And Kira continues to live the full and contented life she deserves❤️. Is she over her initial 'clinginess'?
Do you still have your camper van?

It's been raining quite heavily here since late afternoon- joy!
All doors and windows open at the same time but the smell of the damp on soil was indicator enough that rain was on the way.

It would be good if the puddles deterred a hidden brigade of slugs or snails which have forged a nocturnal path to my tall galvanised planter of finally planted delphiniums. Unlikely.
No beer for traps. Plenty of Scotch if they'd like that. Or sitting up all night waiting on target practice.

Can't believe I just wrote that. Joke, dear reader, joke

Well remembered Doodle about the cornice. It was indeed the same person and this time I met her lovely DH.

How interesting NotSpaghetti to watch the craftsman at work.

The wretched pain is getting me down. I feel for all you who are suffering too.

I think I will need to cancel today's viewing.
Not made a decision yet on the offer.

The cottage we saw yesterday (my pal who loves houses came too) would fit in one of my rooms. Also it was 2k along a country lane from the nearest village/shop/bus stop.

May I join in please with thanks ixion for sending our love and get well wishes to Kaimoana

And prayers🙏

Yesterday my kind friends, the book team came and tirelessly spent most of the day sorting and disposing of another swathe of books, papers and ephemera.

400 visitors NfK that’s amazing. What a great turnout.
Ooh how lovely to have a dip in the sea especially with your DS and DGS . I haven’t seen the sea for ages and I miss it.
Grammaretto so sorry about your bad back. Hope your purchases help.
Lovely to have visitors like that. I remember a while ago you had the cornice rebuilt. Was that the one?
Thanks again Ixion . Please send love from us all back xx

Thank you!
Sending love for a steady recovery.

Message from Kaimoana -

Love to my lovely Lobstars

How wonderful Grammaretto to have watched a plaster expert at work.
I spent a happy few days intermittently watching master plasterers recreating curvy details on different cornices. In additionhat beautiful movements if layering rather than moulding.

Thanks ixion for sharing Kaimoana news.
Like NotSpag I hope it's the planned surgery. Thinking of her🤞

Crikey! 400 visitors Nfk I wish I'd been there 😊 must have been a wonderful if too hot weekend especially ending with your swim.

Quite a coincidence that your stomping ground was mine, if only for a year in my case as I went on to study ceramics in Kent.
I still see one of my house mates from those days who's an artist in Cambridge.

I've been feeling so bad with my sore back. I've ordered a wheat pad and a tens machine in the hope that it can't do harm and may do good.

Relief came briefly in the form of a sweet couple who rang my bell and she said "remember me?" I gradually did and invited them in for coffee and cake.
She was the plaster expert who rebuilt my cornice after my first ceiling fell down!
She asked her DH to see if he could guess which bit she did, he couldn't as the join is invisible.

They are both plasterwork restorers and work all over the country if not the world.

Night night Lobstars xxxx

ixion thank you for letting us all know about Kaimoana. I do hope it's nothing horrendously serious and she'll soon be back with us. And thank you for passing on our best wishes and that we're all rooting for her.

It seems strange to me that people think Norfolk (Nfk) is a lovely place to live. I've not lived anywhere else except Norwich and the Broads, but there are so many lovely places in Britain which, to me, make Norfolk look boring. But certainly there are many places here which would suit your description NotSpag. Although it's best to avoid the posh bit of the north of Norfolk unless you can afford a helipad!

It also seems strange to hear you reminiscing about Norwich Art School Grammaretto. It's huge now and apparently one of the best in the country. I lived (with DH!) in a flat at the top of Grapes Hill when we were first married and push started our old car down the old hill many times. We also watched those terrace houses being demolished, and the new big roundabout and dual carriageway being built. Must have been around 1970. I worked in St Giles Street. My grandmothers both went to the Quaker Meeting House in Goat Lane. It was very much my part of Norwich. We could have passed in the street many times!

I'm just recovering from our town's open gardens weekend. Including mine. It seemed like a good idea to volunteer it so as to get me off my backside and actually doing some weeding. It all went really rather well, despite the heat, with over 400 visitors over the two days. I thought all was lost on Friday when the temperature really went up, as one side of the garden was in full sun and everything wilted badly. The outside thermometer nearby read 43 degrees!! Incredibly though, with lots of watering, despite the warm night they all recovered!

Met up with DS and DGS at Mundesley this evening for a dip in the sea. Including Kira who swims very well, but kept trying to rescue me. It was bliss nontheless.
Now off to bed!

Oh poor Kaimoana I hope this is the "planned" surgery rather than an emergency

And hope you are doing OK too Naughtyneine

Great news ixion thank you for letting us know. I’ve been very worried. Hope that whatever treatment she receives is good and she’s well cared for,