She peeps round the corner...

Hello, is there anybody out there?  I'm hoping so as I've been away SO LONG. 
  

Admission time.  Dear Hubs got me up and running again with parts from a second hand laptop some time ago, but life got in the way and it's rarely been turned on.  We've had such a wonderful Summer that the days have simply whizzed by and I'd not realised it's been nearly two months since I posted.
There have been some problems of course, things that I don't feel I can discuss here just yet, because they all involve Mom - but thank goodness most of them have been overcome - for the moment anyway.

* * *

I've had a birthday - my 57th (aaargh)  

Mom still doesn't realise she forgot it :o(

* * *

There have been hedgehogs of course, lots of them giving us great joy - every night :o) 

I've made a couple of new videos for you to see.

(The nature camera is rigged up for 25 second videos with a 5 second delay before filming again, so the videos can seem to 'jump' a little - I really need to find out how to edit them properly...)

Here are the links - do you think I can remember how to put them on here? I'm an eejit!

Hog watching

Awakening from hog box #4

(I'm trying to source a power lead for the camera though as videos are eating up 8 x Duracell AA batteries up at an alarming rate.)

We have one small, visiting juvenile - a worry at time of year and so far an impossibility to capture it, I'm sure it's related to Lewis Hamilton as it's SO SPEEDY ;o) one crunch on the gravel and it's gone.  Here it is.

the bigger picture - spot the hog.

I've also had an amazing surprise from the nature camera, a visiting fox cub!  Sadly problems with uploading the next day lost the two videos - but I now have some software that could possibly find them again - fingers crossed!

* * *

I attended West Midland Hedgehog Rescues  fundraiser event on the 07th September.  Joan raised an amazing £897.59 during the event, which will be a great help over winter as she is self funded.   Joan told me that she has had very few monetary donations over the last twelve months, so if you have a wildlife/hedgehog rescue centre nearby how about sending them a donation to help out?

* * *

Then there was a bit of painting and improving.  Remember this?

Well now it looks like this!

The hanging baskets filled out nicely.

Much better!

We had another visit from a Sparrow Hawk

No casualties this time though.

Taken from the bedroom window, a bit dull as it was early morning and in the shade.

* * *

Five (pampered) tomato plants in the greenhouse have been a disappointment - as I'm still having to buy tomatoes!  The runner beans aren't exactly cropping lots either, I went out veg hunting one evening and came back with one runner bean and one finger sized courgette (zucchini) good job I have fat reserves - at that rate I'd fade away!

* * *

I managed a wonderful day out with George's Mom to Walcott (Ooops! That should have been)Wollerton Old Hall Garden private Gardens in Shropshire but that's a whole other post!  

They even had a resident hedgehog ;o)

and a preview ...

(Which somehow missed off my original post)

* * *

I've added another face to the garden - a charity shop find of course!  And you know I like weird things of course ;o)

* * *

Well, I think that'll do for now.  I hope you have had an excellent Summer.  Next time Walcott Gardens.

Sending you my very best wishes.

x x x

Oh!  Just a thought...what happened with Blogger Reader?  My list still seems to be there - did I miss an important announcement or was it all just hype?  Anyway, I registered with Bloglovin' too!

Laptop KAPUT!

Sorry folks, no posts, comments on your blogs or emails for a while.  The motherboard on my laptop has fried :o(
I'm hoping to get a second hand one (ha, surprise-surprise!)  the same and swap over the hard-drive as I've been a naughty girl and NOT backed stuff up :o(

Hope to see you all very soon.

Rose H
xx

You were warned ;o)

Here's a few wildlife videos made in the garden with my new wildlife camera.

(The first two are a little over-exposed - oh Matron!) and better watched expanded.

Hedgehogs of course ;o)

As you know I also provide the hedgehogs with a feeding station, I knew birds went in there - just not how many!

I'll try and make a bracket to get nearer to the bug box..

That's all folks!

Best wishes

A few changes. (Long post)

Hello folks, I'm finally posting after what seems like months.

For those of you in the UK you know we are in the middle of a heatwave - I don't function too well in the heat!

* * *

Hello to my new followers!  Hope you stick around even though I'm not posting too regularly.

Then, thank you again for all the wonderful, supportive comments I've received.  I truly do appreciate them - you're a wonderful lot!

* * *

There's been a lot going on.  Further to Mom's assessment (last post) I received a copy of the report.  There were three large inaccuracies in it.  Firstly it stated that she 'was unable to hold a pen' - Mom had held the pen and written a legible sentence when asked.  He'd also stated that she was 'unable to handle money' - This subject had not been broached when he asked Mom if she shopped on her own, she has no problems with this at all.  Then, thirdly he's started a paragraph with 'Mary lives alone.  Florence has no insight into her problems' and went on to describe Florence's other problems.  I wrote to the Memory Service nurse pointing out the inaccuracies (I hand posted it, sending a copy to  Mom's doctor).  I received no reply and have had to chase it up.  Finally, yesterday I received a reply stating that they use a template that should have been blank before typing.  Even though it had been checked before sending out these problems hadn't been noticed!  Gives you a lot of faith in them eh?

Just had to add this photo of my first cherries ripening - looking forward to tasting them :o)
As the next photo was featured for my post (How off-putting.)

Do you recall the garden bench covered in bird poo? (Ugh, shudder.)

Well, it's had a bit of a facelift..

The metal frame was made by my maternal Grandfather as a wedding gift to Grandma (in 1914)

So it's almost an antique!  I've painted it with smooth Hammerite paint, and we've put new seat and backrest boards on.  These have had three coats of Ronseal  Woodland colours 'Bluebell' wood treatment.  I need to paint the table now, along with...

The new arbour seat :o)  When it cools down I shall paint it with the same bluebell colour outside, and ash white inside.

Do you remember the bug boxes I put up on the new fence?  This morning we've discovered that some Leafcutter bees have found the tubes :o)  I'm really pleased about this as the garden MUST be BEE FRIENDLY!

I've added a Cedar wood Lacewing Box too.  I followed the instructions and stuffed it with straw after smearing lacewing attractant on it.

It's quite large and was a bargain from Amazon.

* * *

One of my neighbours had put out a water feature for the scrap/rubbish man to collect.  I have a small pebble pool in the back garden that we rarely use as the water reservoir below ground is rectangular and the returning water 'misses' so it emptied quickly.  I thought the bottom part of the feature would be better, so asked if I could have it.  It turned out that it all worked and they were just altering the layout of the garden.  It wouldn't have been my choice in a garden centre - but for free? 

;o)

Nice and weathered - it'll do for me!

* * *

On the wildlife front.

Hedgehogs GALORE!  We had ten in the garden the other night, a three, a four and a two.  All different ones.

The other evening I 'captured' one to mark it.  Meet Ted.

Yes, leather gloves were required - a VERY prickly character ;o)

* * *

I've been toying with buying a Wildlife camera, and finally decided to plump for

The Bushnell Natureview HD (The link takes you to Wildlife Kate's site, please take a look around while you're there.)  Kate has been on BBC's Springwatch, and gave them the idea for the mouse cave.

I'm still playing around trying to get the settings right, and the place to set it up, but here are some of the results.  (Date/time bottom right)

Juvenile Starling

Female Blackbird

Over-exposed Hogs :o(

Once I get the settings sussed I can do videos too.

* * *

The border in the back garden continues to 'fill out''!

(Blue Strawberry planter continues to disappoint, no good for strawberries and as far as I can see little use for anything else!)

* * *

Well, I've waffled on again for too long.  So I'll sign off now - I REALLY need to visit some of you!

Best wishes

xXx

Memory Clinic appointment.

Thank you all for your concern over my Mom, I appreciate you kind, supportive comments and emails very much :o)

Here's a quick update on Mom's appointment/assessment today at the Memory Clinic.  

(Mom )"Where did you say we had to go today?" !

Mom was not impressed practically from the start though when the (male)  specialist nurse read out the referral letter from her Doctor...saying about her memory problems, aggression and difficulty remembering relatives.  (I wondered if it would have been a better idea to start on a different area, or even with a female nurse?) Anyway, there was a lot of repeating words, like 'lemon, ball and key'. He then asked a few more questions before returning back to them and asking Mom to repeat those words - most of the time she couldn't.

He then went onto ask what 100 minus 7 equalled, minus 7 and again a further 5 or 6 times, Mom passed this with flying colours.

They asked her to identify nine different simple line drawings, she recognised all of them, but couldn't remember what they were called (penguin, camel, anchor, crocodile and basket) but she knew the queen wears a crown! The specialist nurse asked me some difficult to answer questions (in front of Mom) for example about her aggression....Mom was NOT pleased with my reply, I think the nurse got the gist of it though!

It lasted for just over half an hour, and was mostly relaxed with no pressure put on her, and he even told her at one point (when she was particularly pissed with me for being too honest,) that she could end the test and leave at any time! The outcome is that Mom is right on the edge of Dementia...(goodness knows how bad this'll get then?) The suggestion was to make an appointment to see a specialist who could advise further, and/or to make a follow up appointment to check if there is any progression in six months time. 

 Mom has (of course) flatly refused ANY further appointments. The Nurse said I could contact him if anything changes, seems like I may well be :o(

Rose H

x

A wonderful find, and a 'what would you have done?'

Hello folks,

We've been a lovely ride out today and took a picnic lunch with us - just on the spur of the moment, the weather was perfect (for me) slightly overcast and quite warm.  We travelled a few miles over the county border into beautiful Shropshire, through the country lanes and mostly enjoying the peace and quiet and lack of traffic.  

We enjoyed the freedom of picking a lovely, scenic spot to eat lunch and settled down and chatted for a while, then off again exploring the villages and hamlets we came across.

(Sorry no photos as I'd left the camera at home.)

As we wended our way along we passed a plant nursery, Trev slowed down (even more) and asked if I'd like to visit it...he knows me too well!  To my utter delight we'd discovered Barlow Nurseries.  I wondered around in awe of the beautiful, healthy herbaceous plants absolutely covered in beautiful, buzzing bees :o)  

 Now, I'm still trying very hard to fill up my back garden border again (since the new fence was erected) and have decided it needs to be even more bee friendly! So it will come as absolutely no surprise to know that I came home with some beautiful  bee friendly plants.  In fact I was almost having to de-bee them to get them in the car ;o)

(Photos taken hurriedly at 8.45pm.)

Grouped en-masse.  

(Please excuse the barbecue cover)

A HUGE clover - like flower

Trifolium Trichocephlum

Erysimum linifolium variegatum

Two beautiful, healthy Lupins. 1 x pink and 1 x red (above still in bud)

and finally for the worlds biggest courgette hater (me)

Courgette Parador

I'm determined to like the blasted things and figured if I grow them I'll eat them!

If you are ever in the Newport, Shropshire area do please give them a visit - you won't be disappointed :o)

Now, a few views of how the borders have filled out a little more.

Aconite and yellow Corydalis Lutea

blue self-seeded aqualegia, corydalis and aconite

various pots surrounding my arum lily

The apple tree - no blossom this year :o(

The opposite border against the garage

with pulmosa (lungwort) forget-me-nots (amongst others)

Gorgeous foxgloves, and behind the bottom of the ivy where the robins nested...

(I can't remember if I updated that situation?  There were two babies that fledged the nest, unfortunately one of them landed inches from a sleeping Sid cat who awoke before I could do anything to save it :o(  

(The other did well.)  

Finally, beneath my kitchen window.

* * *

Now for the 'what would you have done?'

I received an email last night asking me if I had any information about a female Staffordshire figurine, similar to one I have (which I posted about here).  I happily agreed to help if I could and was duly sent some photos of the figure in question.  It had been in the wars, the head had been off at one point and stuck back on.  I studied the photos carefully (they were quite detailed) and came to the conclusion that I believed it was a copy and not an original.  There was no signs of wear or dirt ingrained on the base, the crackles in the glaze were perfectly bright and clean even though the gold appeared to be rubbed, and the expansion hole (to me seemed) to be in the wrong place. It also appeared that it was made from a hard paste body and not a soft paste.  I gave a potted history of Staffordshire flat backs.  

I was really in a quandary.  I wondered if I should go ahead ?  I would certainly like to have it queried if it had been the other way round. So I  mentioned my doubts(in more detail with photos to support) and decided to question  it's authenticity, BUT I stressed that I'm no expert and it needed and expert evaluation as it was difficult to tell the difference with any certainty from a photograph and needed 'handling' to confirm one way or the other.  

I was not surprised therefore to receive another email questioning my thoughts.  I again stressed I believed it really needed expert evaluation, and I would be truly delighted for her if I am wrong.

I'm neither cross or upset by the reply I'd received, in fact I thought it was very well written.

My question to you is this,  do you think I was right to tell her?   Or should I have kept quiet about my doubts?  

Please let me know your thoughts, I'd appreciate them.

* * *

Very quick update on Mom.

The appointment has (finally) come through from the Memory Service for next Wednesday.  Of course she doesn't want to go ("I haven't got a problem with my memory - everybody forgets things"), but her Doctor (bless him) asked her to humour him and go to see them anyway :o)

I shall take her and see what happens.  In the meantime she's lost her (replacement) false teeth!  They've vanished into the ether again.  So it's back to the dentist for another £200 set :o(

* * *

Hope you all have a great week.  

x x

P.S.

I've been having a change around on here and haven't finished yet..