A Wet Day

It has been raining all morning and it does not look like stopping, there were a lot of snails rampaging about the garden. In fact there must have been at least a hundred on the old fennel stalks alone.

 

I am not keen on snails, but I was surprised by the variety of snail shell patterns and body colours of the snails. I suspect that they will soon find their way to the front garden where the hostas grow and to the vegetable patch; perhaps they will not survive there very long.

I have ordered, from Sutton’s Seeds, four more fruit trees for the garden, an apple, pear, plum and cherry, they come with a free Queen Elizabeth rose bush.

Today’s Weather

Raining all day and quite cold, temperatures not even getting up to ten degrees Celsius.

Addenbrookes Visit

Today was an Addenbrookes hospital day to see a rheumatologist for my hip and back pain. The consultant believes, as do we that there are two problems.

We already knew the diagnosis for the hip pain, which was diagnosed earlier as Tendonitis of the Bursa in both hips. Physiotherapy and ultrasound had been tried for three years, but this was clearly not working and the problem was getting worse; evidence suggests that this is often not successful.

They gave me two steroid injections, one in each hip, of Methotrexate which may or may not work, with a review in three months. If these do work they may have to be repeated, if they do not work I will be referred back to my original consultant who may remove one or both bursa.

As to the back problem, an appointment will be sent for an MRI scan to check for damage to the spine; I shall not look forward to that, but it has to be done.

After that we looked at tumble dryers, as ours has broken after thirty years. Then as it was lunch time we went to Scotsdales Garden Centre. Their prices have increased a little, but the standard of food yesterday was also very much better. They even had a pudding I could eat, meringue, raspberries, blueberries and cream.

Today’s Weather

Typical April showers.

We have a Pond again.

After the torrential rain yesterday, we awoke to find we had a pond; this is a natural pond which goes up and down with the water table. It becomes a wild flower garden in the summer with a lot of Water Mint growing in it; a haven for wildlife including Red Soldier Beetles, insects and butterflies. The pictures below show the pond as it is today and as it was yesterday.

I took several pictures of the Mallards which were at times fighting over the one female, but this picture shows, I think, which one she has chosen.  

In previous years, once there is a pond, we get a lot of wildlife visiting; often a pair of Moorhens bring their babies to the garden. In the past we have also had ducks and ducklings, usually Mallards, but occasionally other species; sometimes a heron will visit, but as there are no fish it soon loses interest.  

Today’s Weather

After the torrential rain of yesterday, today is slightly warmer and the sun shone intermittently.

Researching Family Trees and Geocaching

No studying today, I thought I would have a day off and I have been working on my family tree. To be more exact my son-in-laws family tree. I am trying to tie up someone from the 1908 London Olympic Games who won a gold medal for rowing. My gut feeling is that there is a connection I just cannot find it. One lead I have is for one of his ancestors who had four wives.

I have also been looking at Geocaching as I hope to do some of this during the summer, maybe with my grandchildren in the holidays if they are interested.

Today’s Weather

Torrential rain during the morning, cold and windy. The wind is so strong that it is blowing the blossom off the trees. The natural pond is still dry so although it has rained a lot, we still need a lot more.

A Soup and Study Day

A cold, wet day again today so I made Leek and Potato soup for lunch. With a Warburton’s gluten-free roll this made a hot and filling lunch which did not contain too many calories. I have found Warburton’s gluten-free bread and rolls to be the best that you can buy, even though they are not the cheapest.

I really wanted to work on my Family Tree today predominantly using Ancestry and Find my Past, but I had to continue to study K260 with the Open University. This module is not quite as I expected it to be, but we are already up to week twelve of thirty-four so one-third of the module completed. One assignment completed, two more to do and an End of Module project to complete. What shall I study next?

I checked out Saga’s medical insurance this morning as it looks better than what we already have; I will have to read the small print to make sure before changing. I also got a quote from them for my car insurance, which is a lot less than I am currently paying; again I need to read the small print, but I have until September to do that.

Today’s Weather

Wet and cold, temperatures around about eight degrees Celsius.

St George's Day

A red rose for St George’s Day. Roses do not bloom in my garden in April so until I looked it up I did not know why the rose should be the emblem, although it is our national flower. However, the 23 April, AD 303, is supposedly the day he died, according to the Julian calendar, this corresponds to 6 May for the Gregorian calendar. It was raining and cold this morning and when I briefly looked outside I could not find any dragons to photograph, something he is supposed to have slain.

Traditionally a red rose, our national flower, is worn in the buttonhole today, so here we have an artificial red rose for St George’s Day.

Unfortunately we do not celebrate St George’s day with fireworks or holidays, although Scouts and Guides parade through the streets and attend special services at their local church on the nearest Sunday to 23 April.

Today’s Weather

Wet and cold

K260 - Death and Dying - The Open University

Today I am catching up on my study of my module K260 - Death and Dying, which I am studying with the Open University. Many people shy away from this topic and think the module must be gruesome or boring; it is neither. To find out more click this link.

http://www3.open.ac.uk/study/undergraduate/course/k260.htm

The lawn needs cutting and it is full of wild flowers, predominantly dandelions and daisies, but it is much too wet to cut it properly. It has not been cut this year as until recently we have still been having frosts; maybe tomorrow.

Today’s Weather

 It is quite cold again today around thirteen degrees Celsius although there is some sunshine. But also a cold wind.

Gardening, Working and Yoga

Another working day marking Open University student’s scripts.

Today we planted some of the plants, which we bought yesterday; it was a joint effort of digging the holes and putting them in. It was dull all morning and we had decided that we would not be able to plant them and then there was a brighter spell around lunch time. However, before we got them all in it was already raining heavily; we got rather wet.

This is one of the flowers on the Ceanothus Skylark, one of the shrubs we planted; if you look closely you can see the pollen. We managed to get all the Rosemary and Sambuca plants in, but the Pyracanthus, which are to go in to fill in some of the gaps in the hedge will have to wait for another day.

This evening I have a yoga class to attend, or have I done enough exercise for one day?

Today’s Weather

  

Again it is dull and raining heavily. The barometer shows a rise from yesterday but only a very small one.

Addenbrookes Hospital and Garden Centre Visit

A rearranged visit to the Lung Function clinic at Addenbrookes Hospital today meant an early start; we had to pay on the Park and Ride bus as we were too early to use our Bus Passes! The visit went well with the lung function test and x-ray, but then the doctor was running so far behind that it was 1245 hours before we left.

We went to John Lewis for lunch, it was not as good as usual and I sent back two plates of cold fish and chips, so they had to cook some more. This is not their usual standard so I am not sure what went wrong, but the fish was cold and the chips tasted as though they had been kept luke-warm somewhere for a while. The second lot were perfect, except I found a lot of bones in my fish, again unusual.

By then it was the middle of the afternoon so we went to Scotsdales Garden Centre in Cambridge, where we bought some more shrubs for the garden. With a garden the size of ours there is always room for a few more shrubs and plants. The photograph was not taken today, but last year on a sunny day!

Today’s Weather

Another day of April showers and sunshine. Early this morning the reading on the barometer was down to 986 millibars from 998 yesterday.  

A Working Day

Spend most of the day marking student’s Open University scripts. I have investigated Geocaching and think I might join the site and have a go at some of them.

Today’s Weather

We need the rain so I am not complaining but it has rained all day although there were brief spells of sunshine. It as been a dull, overcast and cold day with temperatures around seven degrees Celsius.