DELUGE .....

I met some friends at the pub today for lunch  ..... a nice light salad, a small glass of wine and a girly chat .....

Around about 3.00p.m., the heavens opened and, what we have all been waiting for happened. It came down in stair rods and went on & on & on and is still going on and it's now 6.30 p.m.  

We pretty much had to wade through the car park to our cars ..... the water was up to our calves ..... my shoes are in the tumble drier as we speak !!! But, with the lovely, long awaited rain came devastation ..... 

My hydrangeas have been battered to within an inch of their lives !!! Hopefully, they will perk up when the sun comes out again !  

Oh, and we have now been told by Thames Water { our water supplier } that a hosepipe ban will begin on the 24th of August !!!!

XXXX

A WET WEEKEND ............

It was a very wet weekend here in Hertfordshire .....

I've also had a face like a wet weekend ..... this broken elbow lark is getting pretty frustrating. Half of the things that I want to do I can't and the other half take a zillion times longer ! The most excitement that I get is going to either the fracture clinic or to see the physiotherapist !  I am quite a patient person and also a glass half full , flowing over kind of a gal but the healing of a broken elbow is a long process !!! I still have numbness in my hand but , it is all improving so I can't complain and as I always say, there are always so many others far worse off than me. It could have been far worse. 

Not being able to drive is a bit annoying as well !!! The doctor said the elbow doesn't usually straighten completely but, I can live with that. I told him how grateful I was to him for his skill in putting me back together considering I did a silly thing .... he told me he was pleased he could help me and that it was just his job. He was quite impressed with my knowledge of anatomy !!!  .... do you know that the nerve heals 1mm per day so that's why it takes so long for the numbness to go, and, considering I injured the median nerve at the elbow, it's got a long way to go !  I'm just so annoyed with myself for ruining a perfectly good arm but, that's why we have the word accident isn't it ? !!! 

OK ..... thats enough self pity for one day ..... has anyone out there broken their elbow ? I'm sorry to only talk about broken bones but that's about all thats going on in my life at the moment ! ..... oh, and the conservatory is leaking but, that's another story. 

UPDATE : Just read a story about a man, age 57,  who was celebrating his  wedding anniversary, who went to the toilet, fell down the stairs and is now paralysed from the waist down .... puts a broken elbow into perspective ..... I've given myself a good talking to and a slap round the face !!! 

XXXX

 

AFTER the RAIN ..........

As much as I've loved the beautiful weather we've been having, it has been good to get some rain over the past few days, especially for us gardeners.

 ..... flowers look even prettier covered in raindrops ..... the above rose is St Swithuns ..... I bought it years ago as my husbands birthday is on St Swithuns day and it is the most beautiful rose ..... this year it has been at it's best ..... sometimes that means a plant is going to give up the ghost, let's hope not !

This is Penny Lane

Can't remember the name of the clematis off the top of my head .....

This rose is Desdemona ...... it has the most wonderful perfume .....

A question :

When you write your posts, do you prepare ? ..... I don't { as you may well have noticed !!! }  I just ramble on as if I'm talking ! 

During lockdown, I haven't been able to do much because of my back but, now its on the mend, I'm all over it. I cleaned out all of the bathroom cupboards yesterday ..... threw all of my make up and bottles of shampoo etc with hardly anything in them away ..... so liberating. I'm going to do the kitchen drawers today ..... who is this new Jackie I ask myself ?

XXXX

images 1 - 8: via me, image 9: via pinterest

RAINY DAYS, BITS + BOB'S, ODD'S + SOD'S ..........

It rained all day yesterday .....

On Tuesday, we had all of our trees cut as we always do in February ..... he also cut down our weeping silver birch tree ...... arghhhhhh, it was scary as it was a major part of our garden ..... but, it needed to go as it was taking up so much of the garden but, I don't like change ! When we moved here, thirty two years ago, it was a twig !!! I don't like cutting down trees either but, it had to go and now we can do something different at the bottom of the garden ..... it's a work in progress. 

Underneath the silver birch were ten ferns which I dug up on Thursday but they are just sitting in the rain as I haven't been able to get out there and put them in the ground. It looks like today will be as windy and wet as yesterday so the ferns will have to wait. 

This is a photograph of our children's infant/primary school that they went to thirty odd years ago. I took the photograph from my friends gorgeous Georgian house ..... she doesn't live there anymore. 

 The street where we live, in the snow 

This is on our landing .....

We have these finger plates on all of the doors in our house ..... I found  25 of them in a junk shop and paid £8 for the lot ! I also found a set of stair rods in our local hardware shop that had probably been languishing in the back of the shop since the Edwardian era ..... it was the kind of shop where you could describe vaguely what you wanted and they would know just what you wanted and where to find it. I don't think that I paid much for them either ! The hardware shop went a few years ago ..... I bet there were some gems that I missed in there that probably got thrown away.

This is me, in a changing room in Cambridge, waiting while my friend was trying clothes on !!! I had to do something to amuse myself !

Well, there you are, a mixture of nothing in particular ! It looks like there will be wind and rain again today ..... I must find something indoors to do. 

Are you all having a taste of the wet and windy weather ?

XXXX

images 1 & 2: via pinterest, image 9: via  black velvet ribbon, images 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 & 8: via me

APRIL in MAY ..........

After a reasonably warm and dry April, we are now enjoying many April showers in May !!!!

Early this week, I decided to throw caution to the wind and plant out my gypsophila plants, despite the fact that there are still two weeks to go until the end of May !!! I know, daring is my middle name !!!! They had all been very happy and warm in the greenhouse and then were subjected to wind and whole days of rain !!

..... now look at the poor little things !!! They have been battered by the constant rain to within an inch of their lives.

Hopefully they will perk up and I will be able to show you the magnificent display that they will make in a few week's time ..... fingers crossed !!!

My sweet peas also took a bashing ..... I apologise to all of you who don't use slug pellets but, I have tried every alternative known to man { eggshells, nutshells, ash and cinders, sawdust, sandpaper, grit and gravel, sharp sand, hair, steel wool, pine needles and copper } and none of them work !! ..... BUT, I have found these that are O.K to wildlife, birds, pets and children and are taken underground by the slugs and any that are left, feed the soil so all is happy and good. 

This morning was beautiful ..... clear blue skies and sunshine but it's now raining again .....

SO .....

All I can do now is to enjoy a bit of hoppipolla until the showers go away.

Don't forget your brollies ..... it's definitely April in May !!!

XXXX

image 1: via ana-lee, image 2: via etsy, images 3, 4 & 5: via me, image 6: via pinterest, image 7:via tumblr

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IT'S BUCKETING DOWN ..........

England is famous for having lots of rain. In fact, many countries have far more rain than we do but people still have an image of the UK as a very wet place. We haven't had much rain for a while  .....

BUT .....

today we are living up to our reputation !! 

It is coming down in stair rods ..... it's freezing cold, the wind is blowing a gale and it's like Winter !!!

I cleaned my knobs and knockers and I got soaked ..... the wind driving the rain into the porch and it looks like an Autumn day .... leaves have been blown everywhere and my David Austin St Swithun rose and Clematis 'Marie Boisselot'   have been blown to bits !!

Our conservatory was leaking { it doesn't look quite as bad as the one above though !! } and I think, because of the wind direction, rain was coming in the extractor fan over the hob in the kitchen ...... it's never done that before !!

Still, you've got to laugh ..... none of it's the end of the world is it ?

The weather is meant to improve next week ..... I hope so. There is much to do in the garden.

Here's hoping that your weather is a whole lot better than ours.

XXXX

image 1 & 2: via margadirube, image 3: mine, image 4: via pinterest, image 5: via zsa zsa bellagio, image 6: via lost in the moment, image 7: via tumblr, video via youtube

DODGING THE SHOWERS ……….

I just managed to mow the lawn yesterday morning before the deluge of showers arrived ….. my lines aren't very straight but it will have to do !!

….. and then, between the showers, I picked a vase full of David Austin St. Swithun roses that grow at the front of our house.
Don't you think that my Santos doll's head looks like Simon Cowell ? ….. a good reason to store it away somewhere, maybe !!

Now, take yourselves back to 1967 and listen to The Move singing ' Flowers in the Rain ' !!!!





XXXX

images by me and music via youtube