Good morning Mick and all GN's on a rainy and chilly looking morning in North Yorkshire. I do hope this gets onto the thread so fingers crossed!! Yesterday I was awake a t 4,30am and in quite a lot of pain, so decided to get up and get out to see a garden.
As I have been away the car was not in summer mode, so took some time to reorganise it with cutlery, bottle openers , plates etc etc. When I am in this much pain, it takes me a long time to do the simplest thing, but got it all sorted, and wanted to get off to be there when the garden opened. It was near Driffield and so quite a way but a lovely drive through my old haunts as I grew up in East Yorkshire. So came in for coffee and read all your posts. Wrote quite a bit as is my wont, and posted in and got ready to go and no idea what happened, but the post disappeared into the ether and did not appear. I was rather miffed, but couldnt stay and check it out so gave it up as a bad job and set off.
Today I feel physically not much good and paying for the day out . However mentally , am in a much better place, and that is what counts. I had a lovely drive across the countryside and through the wolds. The garden was small but spectacular. Full of wonderful flowers and loads of ferns, which is his speciality. I am a Galanthophile - thats snowdrops to you - and had over 100 different types of snowdrops and things like christmas cards with snowdrops on etc etc. so recognised a fellow gardening enthusiasts, who had all these very interesting ferns, both outdoor and inside ones, books with ferns in , but what was rather lovely was that besides his greenhouse he had another seating area behind glass and the wall behind the seats was papered with a really great light paper with ferns on it. I commented on this and his wife said he saw it in a wallpaper book and they had to trace it and send away for it but were happy with the result.
I was grateful for the various seats around the garden, as definitely needed to stop at them all! Anyway met some interesting gardeners and we talked gardens and plants of course. Had a couple of showers but not much and the day warmed up and so I went on to Bridlington, That and Hornsea were our usual coast places we visited. I was struggling to walk about by then so was happy to find a parking space by the harbour and my binoculars let me look out to sea and round the harbour etc.
One thing about living alone, you can suit yourself how and when you go back. Of course it was quite busy being a sunny warm sunday, so I decided to let them all go home before I set off. So treated myself to scampi, peas and chips and a glass of dry cider. All very good, and then set off up via Filey and then crossing over to drive back through Pickering and Thirsk and home. Hardly any traffic at all, easy driving and the countryside looked lovely in the evening light.
I went up Swaledale on Yorkshire day, and in all the years I have lived here I have never seen the harvest gathered in so early. Usually you get one or two fields in drier areas, but the whole harvest is gathered in, not a single crop still in the fields and with the lack of rain, everything looks autumnal and the river is really down and you can see stones on either side that would normally be covered with water. So hopefully todays rain will help to fill some water butts and water gardens and cheer up our flowers.
So today, I am still sat here in my dressing gown, as I need some time to loosen up creaking muscles etc before venturing into the shower. Anyway it is raining harder now and windy but not too bad yet, so definitely a day to stay at home. It has been so cheering to have the day out and not have to give up and come home so worth the effort.
I have food in and the only thing I want to do outside is to empty bits from the car from yesterday. Was too weary to empty it last night. However it can wait. So once I am up and dressed etc, then I shall have to have a sorting day her.There is plenty of ironing that is awaiting my attention, but not interested in that at the moment. I have my two calendars to sort out and bits of paper. So on one calendar I put all the dreary but necessary things such as hospital appointments and insurance date for the car etc. I usually put the actual dates in one colour but then about a week before I put a star in that date and possible a reminder tv license due etc . I am quite a lawabiding citizen and have never knowingly not paid my dues, but when you are alone , there is no one else reminding you what needs doing and I would hate to find myself in the local paper for non payment of car tax or whatever! On the other (much cheerier!) calendar I put things like friends birthdays, concerts, special gardens I want to visit, planned family get together s etc. So with being away not so long ago I have various bits of papers with information that need to be put on the calendar. So hopefully by the end of the day things will lookk a bit tidier here, with all the paper thrown away and an up to date calendar to remind me whats comes next. \I have the treat of roast duck for dinner today. It was in the reduced bin in Tesco,s. I really love duck, but not only is it expensive, there is not a lot on it, so you dont get a lot of meals from it. So I shall look forward to a pleasant dinner.
I might start going through the wardrobes and drawers too. At this time of year, you now get warm days but the early mornngs and evenings can be quite cold, so time to unearth some sweaters and jackets and put away some of the lightest clothes. Dont see me wearing a sundress now! Well if wishes were horses beggars would ride!! The idea that I shall be sat in a tidy and organised flat this evening is a wish but wont hold my breath! I can be easily diverted by the radio, or a phonecall from a friend,
Did put on the other day that I would be happy to meet when someone suggested a meet up, so hope that didnt get lost.
Hope you all have a good day and stay out of the awful weather. Must get some coffee and will come back on to read more missives later.
take care and hope to hear good news tomorrow not that lots of damage done by the storm.
