Been busy and then exhausted

Thought I'd begin with a few lamb bananas.

This one is by the Mersey Tunnel ventilation shaft building.



And this is in Kensington, just up from the Royal Liverpool University Hospital.



Outside Lime Street Station entrance.



We had nearly a week away in Abersoch... Didn't make it till the Monday though. The previous week we did two test drives, and ordered a new Motability car. So we were fairly knackered after that and decided to try and have a rest day before heading for Wales.

Oh the car? Another Grand Scenic, but a diesel this time. With heated front seats, a sun roof, and a dash mounted 6 CD changer. Oh, and a rear parking sensor. If I get back to driving again I'll need it! It's going to be dark blue again, but this is much darker than my current Big Blue. Delivery mid September we hope.

The courgette plants are doing OK, and we had a tasty courgette and cheese starter for one meal.





We did have some nice sunny weather, and even some warmish weather, but this is the only picture John took of me this time...



At least I have a lovely garden to look at while all bundled up in blankets!



Here's the first agapanthus flower of the year.



Lots more flowers still to come, probably some are out already. But we were too shattered to get back to the caravan this weekend. Maybe next weekend.

Went fishing...

Well, not exactly, but we did make it to Abersoch for a week.



The agapanthus only had 3 flowers this year, and John managed to knock off a flower head while on a mad snail and slug hunt amongst its leaves. Sarah (elder daughter) said it was a casualty of war. ;-)



Took a pile of knitting but mislaid the bag till packing to come back home. Ah well! Spent more or less the whole week in a nest of our double down and feather duvet on the bunk with the best view of the field and read some books.



The garden hasn't done too well, though we did have some plants survive. But I didn't get to trim the brambles choking the shrubs beside the shed - next time hopefully! Which we hope won't be too much later, maybe mid September, time will tell I guess.



The lily got chewed by bunnies I think, but badly snail or slug damaged too. The leaves you see in the background are the agapanthus. The lily still smelled wonderful, and I took some time to smell the flowers.



John and "the kids" went sailing, and friends and relations called, all good fun but I slept through vast amounts of fun. I was just really shattered.

It's going to take me a while to catch up, have a lot of stuff I want to think about and then write about. Still not really got to grips with everything that's happened.

Roadworks

They are digging up the road right beneath our bedroom window as I type this. The noise is unbelievable, hope it doesn't go on for long. Ah well, most of the rest of Liverpool is a building site, so why should things be different for me.



I've seen both Mum and Dad a couple of times since I last wrote here. Mum is behaving as bizarrely as ever, Sunday she hardly noticed we were there once we had made it clear we weren't taking her home. She went and talked to the lady in the bed opposite, she seemed to think they were related.

The week before she refused to say Hello to John, and after barely acknowledging me said "I hope you're feeling guilty". I replied "I've nothing to feel guilty about, Mum."

"What about how you treated your sister?" (I'm an only child) She keeps insisting her father is alive, and when John asked last week if she'd like to visit her husband she said "I don't have a husband".



So we left before visiting time finished, and went to see Dad. He had only returned to the nursing home on Saturday after a week in hospital being treated for pneumonia. At least Mum had a few visits with him while he was in. He was very tired, so we chatted for about half an hour and then he asked to lie down (they had to bring in a hoist to move him to the bed) and went to sleep. So we left then.



On to the flat, where I sorted some of Mum's clothes to bring home and wash. I did the first batch of washing yesterday, it's a bit damp still, but if John takes it back to the flat this evening after visiting Dad I guess he could hang it up to air there. Next load is in the machine now, so hopefully will be ready to take back on Thursday.



Mostly it's been too wet to get out into the garden much. But I can report that the flower on my agapanthus grown from seed has begun to open. I haven't got a picture of it open yet though (been too wet when I've had both the time and the energy recently), but here it is about a week ago.



Not done much knitting since I last posted. I cast off half the stitches on my sock swatch bag (this is the stage in the photo, the needle poked through the body of the bag is just to stop the edge curling), and have continued on the rest to make a flap. I'm not enormously pleased with it, so think I might rip out the flap. But I'm going to think about it for a while, so the ten remaining stitches are languishing on a stitch holder until I make my mind up!



It's quite fun trying to decide how to proceed. Currently I'm thinking of edging the flap with garter stitch, but I don't want to rush at it this time! I've found the perfect button for the bag, so I'm sure I'll get going on it again soon.

I finally ordered a swift which arrived last Wednesday, but it took me till yesterday to get organised enough to try it out. So I wound my first cake of yarn (artesano alpaca hummingbird, colour Lovebird) yesterday evening, and I think it looks very pretty. Will be casting on this evening I hope!



Thank you everyone who has left comments. I am finding life quite difficult at the moment, so mostly don't have time to reply, or to leave comments on other blogs. Mum is to be assessed soon for discharge. Obviously I am rather worried about it all. And the emotional upsets are taking their toll on my energy levels and capability to get stuff done. It is all just so utterly draining.

Friday around 4.30pm John had a phone call from a social worker (they always seem to ring around 5 on a Friday, rather like DWP and DLA stuff always arrives in Saturday's post), saying that a psychiatrist would see Mum on Monday, but we haven't managed to find out anything about that yet. The nurses we spoke to on Saturday didn't know anything about it. We are waiting to hear from her consultant's secretary, who John contacted yesterday. The staff on the ward aren't allowed to tell you anything over the phone (apart from a brief "bulletin") because of the Data Protection Act.

This is what I had for lunch today.

Comfort Food

Rose and more flowers

The second bloom of the year is opening on the Peace Rose.



I'm really excited and looking forward to seeing the flowers that emerge from this bud. It's the first flower from plants from seed that came from the first flowers on the Abersoch agapanthus. Urk, that's a really badly formed sentence!



The yard is full of flowers, overflowing. Lovely to clamber down the steps and look at the colour and enjoy.



There are a couple of campion plants that hitched a lift back from the caravan. It would be lovely if they got established in the yard.



We have a variegated ivy growing on the yard walls, and the campanula has seeded itself amongst it. I love to see plants breaking away from the "flower beds" and escape into other environments. We have a few escapees of the campanula on the outside of our walls too.



This is one of my favourite plants - Felicia. We brought this back from the caravan last year, to give it a break from the marauding bunnies. Love the colour of the flowers combined with the variegated leaves.



On the knitting front I'm swatching at the mo. No pictures as it's all a bit of a mess. Maybe tomorrow!

Peace rose is a bit ragged on its outer petals, but these will be hidden as the flower opens fully.

John went to Abersoch yesterday

All photos in this post taken by John, and used with his permission.

I have been gifted with a cold from John's work again. Feeling better now than I did this morning, but still worse than I did yesterday. Still haven't got out to buy seeds yet, should have bought online. Maybe will yet!

John had a swim yesterday morning, and then brought me breakfast in bed before heading off to Abersoch to visit the caravan and see how it had weathered the winter.



Some of the plants are doing really well.



But the oregano always seems to thrive!



So far it looks as if there are 3 buds coming on the agapanthus, but more may appear still if last year is anything to go by.



This hydrangea has some good looking buds coming. This is the one we "pruned" at the end of last season, and took the flowers to GranMary in the rehab nursing home she was in following her op last summer (she's back home now). I hope we get such beautifully coloured flowers this year.

Some plants aren't doing quite so well!



These were left on the table over the winter. I think the greenest one may be chocolate mint. The twiggy one with a few green shoots is Blackcurrant Sage I think, and others are maybe thyme (looks totally dead) and Curry Plant (which looks a bit questionable as to life). Ah well, yer win some, yer loose some.

There are two new caravans at the bottom of the field. These are called 14 & 15, there isn't a 13.



The row of tall trees behind the site have been chopped down over the winter. This should make a lot of the site much sunnier I think, especially late afternoon and evening in autumn time. Here's what it looks like now looking up the field across our neighbour's area.



Oh yeah, as well as the 2 new caravans we have a track down the rest of the field now too.



But the lushness of our bit of hedge hopefully makes up for the loss of grass.



I wonder how the bunnies are doing this year - forgot to ask John last night, and he may not have remembered to ask the rest of the folks on the site. Looking at my plants, I think maybe there are fewer than last year. Time will tell!

Back yard update

Am thrilled to see some of the seed from the really sweet-scented day lilies that I sowed last year has germinated. :-)



A gazillion violets are flowering, and got a fair amount of ivy leaved toadflax (officially a weed, but I just love it and spent years tryingto spread it round the yard!) flowering too.



The agapanthus seedlings are getting quite big now, might even flower in a couple more years if I can give them some good plant food... I really really want a wormery! ;-)



Looks like some of last year's lilies that we brought back from Abersoch in October may flower too. We brought them home to give them a chance to get big enough to flower - the bunnies eat them as they emerge from the ground otherwise.



Lots of violets too.