Does anyone want to talk about anything other than *The virus*

I have 4 amaryllis plants including one I found thrown out on the side of the communal drive. I have had them for years. They remain in their pots year after year. I give them occasional drinks of water even when they are dry. Rarely ever give them plant food, maybe once a year. The one I found abandoned is on the point of flowering. All the others have leaves but no buds. Very easy to grow and reliable. Just keep them, and they will thrive for many years.

My husband is in the kitchen making meatballs for tonight's dinner. My daughter and her little ones are calling for the afternoon. Life goes on.

Soon be Shakespeare's birthday. He could have got a darn good sonnet out of the current Coronation Chicken Virus debacle....

I had a lovely time yesterday day pottering outside after early visit to shop. I managed to give my potting shed a good tidy up (it is not really a shed but an old outhouse with the washing machine inside).

DH removed his old brewing bucket (he is thinking of making his own again as the price of a bottle of cider he drinks has gone up from £2.10 to £5 since beginning of the month. This is in Cardiff where the Welsh Assembly has put a minimum price of 50p per unit).

I swept up all woodlice for compost heap and got rid of a few black plastic pots and a general stacking and washing of pots.

Summer jasmine does have very small flowers and gets everywhere and is always being cut down here. Saw a lovely winter jasmine in LIdl but I am trying not to buy anything this year. Started off some lettuce and cosmos.

Like someone up thread I have been looking for specs. Lost since Tuesday. I know they are in house somewhere. I am down to wearing transitions lenses for garden and TV which go dark very quickly, giving me the Mafia look, Specsavers appointment next week.

A few years ago lost specs, got new pairs, and two years later found them, intact but a bit wonky, in a patch of long tough grass in the "wild"corner of the garden.

Haven't done much actual digging so far as had two deep cuts on fingers but both cleared up now and hoping for dry and warm weather as we have heavy clay here.

Enjoy the day everyone!

Lovely thread BlueBelle. I took DGC to local playgroup this week while AC had a much-deserved meet up with friends. Only 2 of us grans this time, all others were mums, and lots of children running round excitedly and playing on the equipment. I was sitting on the floor with younger child, thinking this is why people my age don't have children - can't get up again! I guessed the other gran was thinking of a large gin by the look on her face! Mums of course were sitting serenely chatting and eating cake. Lovely couple of hours.

My answer to the title of this post is YES PLEASE!
DH is only talking of the dreaded CV so it's a joy to think of other things.
I'm smiling watching my regular resident pigeons going through the mating dance on the lawn. He's bowing and showing off his moves, she flies a few feet away saying 'not now darling' then she comes back to tease him yet again. Hopefully they will be nesting in our willow again this year.

We do have some bright splashes of colour around the garden, in particular a white bush (name unknown) which is on the verge of flowering quite spectacularly.

The pigeons have knocked over some daffodils.

Bluebelle whyndoes it do that? I suppose the bits that are thinner anyway always show up, my arms and legs, fingers, always seem to lose weight but it stays persistently around my tum!

Bumble bees are around now due to the mild weather, saw a couple in the garden yesterday (may have been what you saw
Ginger) there are a few flowers out for them to buzz about but not many.

May7 I've had same for a couple of years, was diagnosed as Baker's Cyst, 'which would go' but never did. It sounds similar to your description. Have had heel inserts, as one leg's 1/2" shorter than other, but they haven't helped. Can you tell me (PM if you'd rather) what your diagnosis was?

I opened our back doors yesterday afternoon as the sun was streaming into our conservatory ....left them open for an hour or so and sat just outside doing some sewing. It was glorious! I chose not to focus on the fact that the grass hasn’t been cut since last year and that the weeds are proliferating! The birds in the shrubs were deafening...singing as the sun was out I expect! In the evening, we heard a loud buzzing in the lounge....could find nothing....but this morning, found an utterly enormous, presumably Queen, bee, sat in the fireplace...fortunately alive and we managed to get her outside. Summer is coming!??

It’s hard at our ages because even walking isn’t as brisk you need to do an awful lot of walking to lose a few calories and of course walking might make us a bit hungry or give us the pat on the back feeling
I have a little bit round my tum /waist that I would love to lose but the problem is if I go to the weight I want, I now go scraggy it drops of my legs and arms and still stays happily round my tum

Well done VampireQueen! The information you gave re weight loss really helpful.
Random question, what type of cat is Gismzo? My cat Pixel and I need to follow your advice. I’ve been walking two to three miles this week daily and yet no weight loss at all...

Blimey, mumofmadboys, your DH’s willpower is amazing!

I’ve given up chocolate and crisps. I’ve already licked the bowl clean when making chocolate cake, convincing myself that a cocoa mixture doesn’t count, and I swap the bowl of crisps on the table at our weekly pub quiz for one full of those little cheesy biscuits, as “they’re different”.

Needless to say, the weight is not dropping off me.

I miss my garden. Now I have a little plot in the community garden that I have filled with pots. It's still relatively new so still looks artificial. The plan is that trailing plants will hide the pots and the bushes will give a bit of height and shape.

I've planted everything in reservoir pots so they need less water.

Seacliff
I've always followed the mantra of location location location with gardening. But this has never worked with Acers whether they are in a pot or the ground?
What's annoying is my neighbour just plonks them in wherever and they bloom.
I felt a lot better with my failure with Acers when Monty said he couldn't grow them.

Great thread BlueBelle - Thank you. Especially as I had a worrying moment yesterday........It's toilet related so let's just say I now realise it's because I ate way too many grapes the day before. Crikey what a relief to realise what caused it and easy to prevent........stop being a greedy c*w!!
Had a happy moment too yesterday - out in the garden just doing a little bit of sorting out of pots on the patio. Made more enjoyable when I realised I had no coat on and wasn't even cold. Good eh?

Wish I was like your stepson vampirequeen I would be a lot slimmer.

Hope you enjoy your your fish and chips today BlueBelle and you get the IT problems sorted.

About 10 years ago I planted a summer jasmine over a trellis screen, idea being it would hide our oil tank. It went totally mad, growing at a rate of knots. It grew into the wooden larch lap workshop nearby, right into the roof. It was like a triffid. My DH is still moaning. We cut it right back, but it roots anywhere it touches the ground. Just typical, most things struggle to survive in our heavy clay soil, but that flippin thing is a pain. I am sure normally it is well behaved.

I think summer jasmine has a really insignificant flower, although it smells nice. Winter jasmine I love for that bright colour on a dull winters day, although it too can be untidy if not kept in check.

I have come to realise that plants that thrive in one garden, just struggle in another. Always worth looking to see what does well with your close neighbours.

I may buy a summer flowering jasmine but perhaps not the Lidl one as it is flowering already.
I think it needs to be planted nearer the patio as they smell lovely.

I decided to eat chocolate for Lent as I'd had none since Christmas.
However, I am doing small tasks for charity.

SalsaQueen...we were told not to think of it as going on a diet. We're changing our attitude to food (or so they say lol). I don't buy in anything sweet so I'm not tempted in those weaker moments. No food is banned but you find that you don't bother with it so much. Last weekend I had a Gregg's Belgian bun. I used to love them but this one just tasted very, very sweet and nothing else. Last weekend we were away and couldn't stick as easily to our routine way of eating. We tried but ate some things that we hadn't had for age. Then our bodies started to complain. It seems as if our bodies had got used to living on much less refined foods and didn't like the change back lol. I'm not very patient either but being in a group like My Fitness Pal helps. I'd really like to be a size 10 by tomorrow morning but that's not going to happen. I don't think about how much I want to lose overall but just the next 5lbs. That way I don't feel I'm having to wait as long for a feeling of achievement because every 2 or 3 weeks I'm having to reset my target.

I'm what's known as a volume eater. That is I like to feel very full so lots of fruit and veg works for me. I can fill up for very few calories. I can go one way or the other. I don't mind being really hungry or really full but I can't seem to cope with the in between stage.

I wish I was like my stepson. He simply stops eating when he's full. It could be the most scrumptious chocolate cake in the world and he may only take one mouthful then say he's had enough. He never feels the need to eat just because something tastes nice.

VampireQueen That sounds a really good and healthy plan. I start diets but find it hard to stick to them. I really must stop buying sweet stuff (cakes, sweets, biscuits) as I can't resist it. I'm not very patient either

pheonix thanks I couldn’t work out if you meant this was a banal thread or not Got it now thanks for explanation
may glad the knee is reacting well I once hurt my back and after walking round in agony for a week or two my daughter advised me to see an osteopath He saw me three times maybe four at £30 a time and it was money very well spent and I ve never had it recur since

I've had horrendous back of knee pain for 4 weeks and gradually getting worse. GP decided it was varicose veins (even though non are visible) took myself off to osteopath this morning and got a PROPER diagnosis. £50 lighter but Feeling soooo much better now I know how to treat it. Having a celebratory Glass of wine this evening with ice pack on my knee and heel inserts....happy days.

BlueBelle thread entitled "Thick or stubborn" cat related!