Soop's friendly KITCHENERS

It must be absolute hell ann60, I think you too deserve
One of my sisters in law was in a similar position to you. She said once that she had always dreaded turning into a old lady being closely followed round all the shops by her husband and it was awful when she realised that had come true.

I was vicariously enjoying your afternoon to yourself when you posted about it earlier Alea. It sounded so peaceful.

It is at least two years since I was in the house a!one. I do get out a few ( a very few) hours but never get the house to myself to do b****r all or to lie on my bed and read if that is what I fancy. I would also love to make a private phone call,that is impossible, if I go to my bedroom to call he follows me and stands at my side.
He has a dental check up in the morning but of course I have to go with him.
to all who deal with this.

I know this is something which might be seen as tactless to those of you who are on your own and NOT by your own choice, but I have a friend whose DH has Alzheimer's and she absolutely shares my point of view - it is LOVELY to have the house to oneself for a bit. DH has to be taken to everything so while I am able to get out and he is happy enough to have a quiet afternoon reading etc, I am rarely at home without him.
It's OK if he stays upstairs in his study but he has taken to sitting downstairs with me -oh I do feel anti social !!!
One afternoon a week he goes to a Philosophy class, this term they are looking at modern philosophers , today Descartes and Spinoza, and it is just the intellectual stimulus (and company) he needs. And I get my afternoon to myself

How to keep Nelliemoser happy.
A lovely sunny day, and a meet up with former colleagues at someone's lunch time retirement do.
Getting out in the garden when I came home.

A step ladder and a ball of green garden twine, scissors and a Clematis Montana.
I am still training the clematis stems up what was the remains of my side of neighbours over hanging leylandii.
All the clematis which was cut back severely with the tree branches is making very good growth and will soon be flowering. I find tying up plants very relaxing.

It might be rather different when I start tying up the prickly Rambling Rector rose.
Be good all!

dusty The posy of wild flowers is perfect. A lovely photo.

Well, I'm feeling very untidy and I smell of turps. The outside painting jobs are tiresome. Wooden window frames (thanks a lot to MacS) who, being a retired architect, would never consider easy-to-maintain UPVC windows. Honest to goodness, at our delicate age, we shouldn't have to fiddle faddle. A wipe down with Flash would be more to my liking.

Charleyg Rory and Bracken are lolling in the sunshine. After this morning's mini adventure he has slept until just half an hour ago. Then he yawns, stretches, ambles to the kitchen, squeaks for his bowl to be filled...not a bad life for an ex-feral cat.

number Well done! Wee mees deserve to have a life. I'm also glad that Rory no longer (has the energy) to hunt and kill. He's far too laid-back for such capers.

anno Maple is a beautiful tree. The leaves really do glow in the sunlight.

Alea Do you remember the song - 'Silence is Golden'? I had the record when I was in my twenties.

I must dash. Wash and brush-up time. I shall be doing my pal's ironing tomorrow morning. Once I return home, I shall catch up with you lovely lot.

Wild flowers

Gagagran it's interesting that a similar thing happened to you. I'm glad that you had no lasting ill effects. It's not something I'd ever heard of before but Alea's useful link (what a coincidence!) has had me googling Post Prandial syncope,despite knowing I shouldn't, and it infers that it is yet another thing that is more common as we get older. Hopefully our own doctor will provide more reassurance and alter any of DH's medication if necessary.

soop it sounds as if Rory was worried that his daughter was late coming home. I can certainly see the family resemblance in your photograph.

Bellananna you have had a horrid time. As a child I used to get deaf in one ear after a heavy cold but I'm sure that was caused by catarrh rather than anything else.

I have been out to lunch yet again today. That's the third time in four days. I will be needing a fat emoticon.
Today was a mermorial lunch for a lovely friend, so lots of chat and memories with mutual friends. The tables were decorated with the local wild flowers that she loved. I brought some home and will try to post a slightly dark photo of them. I'm sorry that I can't send some sunshine, I think you all have more than us at the moment. I seems to be the monsoon season.

Hopefully the mouse will recover now that it is out of the clutches of Mia. She would have terrified the mouse until she had killed it at her leisure or more likely the mouse had died from a heart attack.

I am so pleased that Tara has stopped hunting and killing.

The lovely weather seems to have spread across the country today, it`s beautiful.
I think Mia is a bit upset with me, she stalked off. All I did was go to look at what she was staring at in the yard, and found a teensy, very pretty, little mouse, curled up in a corner. I thought she`d killed it, but it squeaked when I touched it, and tried to run away, but rather than give Mia the pleasure of chasing and catching it, I picked it up and carried it round the front, stroking it, and placed it in the long grass on the river bank. Mia looked most displeased.

It's lovely to see the new leaves on my red maple, glowing in the sunlight. I've been planting up a narrow herbaceous border that's been completely neglected. So far, it looks good. There were several hellebores there already and now there are two new blue ones. I found a rather sad oriental poppy on the cut price bench at the garden centre today and am nursing it back to health. Today a small spirea arrived in very good shape from an Ebay seller; it's going into a bed which will be largely shrubs - has several already - but for now it's been potted up to grow bigger and stronger before it faces the competition. Next job is to split the snowdrop clumps before they disappear.

Alea Grace needs all of the rest that she can get.

It is a beautiful Spring day here too. Just the sound of the occasional lawnmower and the birds in the background. DH is at his weekly Philosophy class ( How was itt? My brain hurts!) and I have been sewing in the ends of a cot blanket I have knitted for DD, just got to crochet a border to finish it. The silence and having the house to myself - a rare occurrence have combined to make me feel pleasantly at peace with the world.
Unusually, Grace is asleep on the rug

soop, MacS should know by now that Rory would not dream of wandering into the forest returning to his old life. He is intelligent, as is Bracken because she will be following his footsteps- it is a matter of time. That would have been Rory's exercise for the day- Tara could teach him a trick or two.

The sun has been shining here all day- it is perfect.

A good sunny afternoon dear Kitcheners. The weather is nigh on perfect for outdoor decorating. Having been to the care home I called in at Jewson and have sufficient paint for all the windows and porch. The salt air causes damage over the winter. Hey ho! Off to work we go.

dustyangel You must have been terrified when your husband collapsed. Thank goodness that he was able to be assessed fairly quickly. The low blood pressure can be regulated, I hope. Gaga you must have had a fright. I'm pleased to hear that you haven't had anything worrisome since.
Then to have to deal with the additional horrible infestation of ants...'twasn't a good weekend. I've never heard of anything quite like your and Lona's experience. It would spook me.

annsixty I hope that Thursday's injection goes well.

NanaandGrampy The care home ladies were their usual chatty selves. We have an hour long conversation and I must admit to not understanding the greater part of what I'm told. M is 95. She tells me that her father and nephew live just across the loch. Apart from that, our conversations are somewhat more bizarre. M is convinced that the empty vehicles parked across the road, belong to police. She frequently peeps through the curtain to check on any activity. I wave and nod, and tell her that the police are happy to go off to hunt down criminals. It makes her smile.
I always enjoy visiting a garden centre with a coffee shop. The baking is usually first class.

Bellanonna Heck! You've been proper poorly. I'm so sorry that you're still far from being fully recovered. You may have an ear infection. If so, you'll need antibiotics. I would return to your GP for advice.

Crafting Rory does appear to have a noble bearing. He's a very fine specimen. MacS was looking through the window this morning, and spotted Rory going up into the forest. He was a little concerned, 'though Rory is far too canny to get lost. R reached a certain point, turned around and practically sprinted back home and through the open door. Much to MacS's relief. Shortly after his adventure, Bracken came down the same pathway and waited for him to join her.

dusty that must have been frightening, but happily he's well now. I took my broken ankle to Faro Hospital a few years ago and they were very good.
ann good luck with Thursday's injection. You may need to brace yourself for a moment but you will find the relief worth it.
I'm just recovering from a bug that culminated in pneumonia, now getting over that, but have been left deaf in one ear. I'm hoping its s temporary blip as up till now I haven't had any hearing problems. This one-sided hearing loss is disorientating and I keep stumbling! I have a steroid nasal spray to reduce catarrh but so far no good. Has anyone heard of deafness following a bug? And does it go? Getting worried........

I hope it is helpful, dustyangel and reassuring as it seems to suggest that there is no sinister or alarming underlying cause, but perhaps knowing that it can happen might help to be prepared even although there is no reason why it should.
Quite a coincidence I thought!

I was very interested to read of your husband's episode dustyangel as something similar happened to me a few months back.

I had gone out for lunch with a group of friends and we were all sitting at the table, with a pre-lunch drink and chatting before the meal was served. The room suddenly seemed to sway from side to side and I passed out. Apparently my head had just dropped forward - they thought I was going to hit the table so pulled it away. When I came round I was sick and felt very weak and spaced out.

The hotel phoned for the ambulance which came and they put me in it and did all sorts of tests including an ECG. The only thing they found was that my blood pressure was very low - diastolic was only 50. They reassured me that they would have taken me to A&E if they were concerned and said to see my GP if it happened again. As I began to feel better, they let me go home with my DH who had been summonsed by anxious friends. I fell asleep for an hour when I got home and felt better again when I woke up and normal after some tea and toast!

The only thing I could wonder about was that I had a tomato juice as my drink and it tasted "off" so I had only had two or three sips.

There has not been a re-occurrence so far and it's now 7 months since so I am hoping it was a one-off.

Thankyou all for your kind wishes and support about my husband. It really means a lot to me especially knowing that so many of you have health and other problems of your own.

DH seems fine (apart from his problem knees and problem shoulders and.. ) the same ups and downs of age that we all have.
He is doing a sterling job of hoovering the overnight dead ants so that I don't have to see them first thing in the morning. We are both sitting in chairs pulled away from the wall in the middle of the room so they don't fall on us. It looks weird but hopefully they will be gone soon.

Alea that article is very interesting. It sounds remarkably similar and I'm going to print it out so that DH can show it to his GP, Thankyou for pointing it out.

A pleasant sunny day here. It is not cold inside and I doubt if I will be venturing out today.

Dustyangel I do not know what I would have done re the invasion of ants. I get a lot in summer but mainly around my front door outside. Few have had the temerity to crawl indoors. I do hope that your DH is a lot better now. Very worrying.

Bellasnanna I was cringing when I read about your latest dental trip. Not my fabourite visit and certainly not for root canal work.

NanaandGrampy it is amazing what a dog will do or put up with for a few snacks he knows will be coming in his direction.

Good Morning All.

The 'boys' are already hard at work. The amount of industrial sanding meant yesterday it felt like we were inside someone's mouth at the dentist ! And now everything is covered in a fine covering of dust. I can see a major spring clean coming on when this is done !

Tizliz you're right about owing us ! I calculated yesterday that we made tea 5 times all accompanied by a snack of some description - multiply that by 5 days and I'm running a café

Annodomini I too suffer from the white coat effect on my blood pressure. So now I take my blood pressure everyday at home. Log it and then take it with me on my iPad and we take an average on my visit. Its proved much more accurate.

soop you're worm apologies confirm to me that you are probably the kindest person I know Enjoy your care home visit today , I hope the bananas are in short supply

Bellasnana I feel your pain at the whole root canal thing. I am very dental phobic and my poor dentist is sooooo good with me .His latest gadget when I had a similar procedure last year was a camera gizmo that showed the root end and such as he worked ( it was displayed on the wall in 8 x 6 splendour) so he could only take the exact amount. I hope you're feeling a lot better soon.

Charleygirl you cannot be too far from me geographically! You're right dressing up is not Sam's favourite pastime but he tolerates it in return for snacks . I hope your new suite is working well for you .

Dustyangel what a time you had !! I hope your husband is feeling fully recovered. The whole ants thing made me feel quite ill !! I don't mind rats, mice, snakes or tigers( not many of THOSE in Essex) but insects ......ewwwwwwww I am renowned for having sent my then 3 year old daughter behind the sofa with her daddies slipper to kill a large spider that was lurking there !! So I cannot imagine what I'd do if overtaken by flying ants....move house I suspect . I hope they are now eradicated for another year!!

We're off later for a yummy afternoon tea at a garden centre a little way away so I shall be sure and take a couple of picture to share with you tomorrow !

dusty what a shock for you and your DH. Glad he is feeling better. Hope you've got rid of the ants. The flying ones come out in their thousands don't they.

soop what a lovely photo of Rory and Bracken. Rory looks as though he's posing for one of those Victorian style photos - very regal.

Dusty Angel, by the most amazing coincidence I read this in today's Daily Telegraph. I wonder if this is the same thing?
www.telegraph.co.uk/wellbeing/health-advice/dr-james-could-delayed-low-blood-pressure-be-post-prandial-synco/

dusty you must have been so worried about your dh, I hope he's OK.
As for the ants, I've had them like a black carpet in the living room too! I found that vacuuming was the best solution, and after a day or so they've all gone, until the next year!

What a stressful weekend dustyangel I would need a holiday after that. So pleased your H is OK and I hope he stays that way

So much been happening in the kitchen that I haven't caught up properly yet.

A stressful weekend for me as well. Having just posted and lost it, the short version is that when DH and I went out to lunch on Saturday he suddenly started shaking and went unconscious. Young man next to us supported him in his chair and then put him in the recovery position and someone phoned for an ambulance. It came within 5 or 10 minutes and after finding his blood pressure was very low, took him (and me) to Faro Hospital.
Six hours later, having monitored his heart and BP, they said that as they couldn't find anything wrong apart from the low blood pressure which was now normal, we could return home.

So, I planned an easy relaxing Sunday.....
We have been having an ongoing problem with ants. I'm normally fairly philosophical about the wildlife out here.(apart from centipedes). Any ants that come in the house are usually swept into a dustpan and deposited outside. This time it's seemed a real plague of them with maybe a nest in the wall and war has been waged and we thought we had got rid of them.
Sunday morning we saw a couple of flying ants in the living room and then within half an hour there were thousands. They seemed to start somewhere near 'my' chair and then head for the window or door to the light outside. As quickly as we killed them, ten more appeared and we couldn't work out where they were coming from. We were spraying and vaccuming all morning and ended up finishing the last can of spray and shutting the house up and going out for a couple of hours.

It looked like we had a grey carpet by the time we returned but we think that we have found the nest, in the old beams above where I usually sit, and we think that we have got rid of them.

Today DH is feeling fine and I feel exhausted. My sympathies are with you all in pain and under pressure.

I shall now go and read your posts properly. When I've got a G &T.
Bella, I feel like eating sweeties as well.