Apart from the fact that the day I decided to take these photographs happened to be a bit downcast, I think a bit of garden is quite the thing to keep up the cheeriness which broke out with the sunshine last week. We did suffer a bit with the Saharan sand-storm and other sundry pollutants, but thankfully it has passed on from East Anglia and my chest has stopped wheezing. That could of course be due to the steroids and antibiotics......
Our spring flowers are getting into their stride, and the garden is all prepped ready to be planted up and sown when the soil temperature improves a bit - and it is still very wet.
My mum has been moved from the acute orthopaedic ward out to a community hospital in Swaffham, about half an hour's drive away. I am so pleased she is there, I have high regard for the staff and their care here so I feel she is in a good place for the time being. We whizzed across to catch her for an hour the evening they transferred her, and as luck would have it, the session at the Canary and Linnet at Little Fransham falls on the same evening. Tiny little pub with a small restaurant at the back and one small bar at the front. it was a bit of a squeeze but good fun.
Sarah is a brilliant fiddler, Dave on bodhran, Pete on flute, Terry on mandolin and Roger on uillean pipes
Jim propping up the bar. No, he wasn't bored, honest!
Rare shot of me on fiddle these days.
Georgia and I trying to pose.
It was just the pick-me-up I needed after the rather fraught week following mum's fall in her garden. It is her birthday on Monday - 92. She does pretty well considering, I think. We will have two days of family visiting and cards and cake tomorrow and Monday then we shall have to see how she is doing and what the Assessment Team think.
Just thought I'd pop in an extra post as I have been very lax these last few weeks. I would like to say a huge thank you to every one of you who have sent such lovely messages. Blogland may only be a 'virtual' community, but I am not the only blogger to have been on the receiving end of some wonderful heartwarming comments and support - and they DO count, believe me! It's all in the vibes, folks! Spread your kind intentions far and wide, and the world will be a nicer place.
Ahhh great shots of you ;-) .... and the garden !
ReplyDelete(love the mossy edges !)
Hi Els, it's strange that some things grow moss very easily and others just don't; I love to see it.xxx
DeleteBest wishes for your mum, glad to hear she's in good hands. The photo of the plants is beautiful, full of spring cheer and I love the stones, pots and mossy planters.
ReplyDeleteThanks Felicity. Our garden looks good at this time of year - it goes to pot from mid-summer onwards! xx
DeleteI am so glad you didn't suffer too badly with the awful pollution, I think everyone was wheezing a little and suffering with irritated throats and eyes. Your garden looks like it has woken up, it's lovely to see the colour again isn't it? Glad to hear also that your mum is being looked after - Happy Birthday to her xx
ReplyDeleteHi Chel, thanks, yes, am over it now thank goodness - bad timing to be ill at the moment! I will certainly pass your birthday wishes on, she will be so chuffed! Lxx
DeleteLovely lady. I love your smile. I hope your Mum continues to improve.
ReplyDeleteHugs
Sharon
Hi Sharon, thankyou, yes, mum is doing much better now, fingers crossed! xx
DeleteWow your garden is gorgeous, hope your mum recovers well, those community hospitals sound like they give good care from all I've heard.
ReplyDeleteHello, thanks for popping across - from the year in books, I'm guessing? I love your knitting! Am in awe of complex knitting. The hospital mum is in now is known to us and we admire their care and ethos. Would that larger hospitals were allowed to get on with their own business and give the care they so desperately want to!
DeleteThis post was a joy to me as it featured two of my favourite things, a lovely garden and real folk music. I would love to have been there.
ReplyDeleteWishing your mother a full recovery and a very Happy Birthday.
Jenni
Hello Jenann, thank you too for visiting! I popped across to see your blog and need to settle on "two hundred yards" to read. You have a lovely home and a beautiful setting! The session is one that has moved from another pub - a bit closer to home so easier to get to. It is mostly Irish but we "music from other traditions' people have infiltrated somewhat and now anything goes!
DeleteGood to see a nice smile on your face despite all your woes but it looks like things are sorting out for you. Hope your Mum does well.
ReplyDeleteLovely to see you all making music and spreading joy to others, added to the evidence of Spring, it really is cheering.
I'm, so glad my daffs pics gave you a trip down memory lane. Sefton is a well used park and I'm really pleased that it has had a sensitive makeover, a new cafe at the Aigburth Gates entrance, and general spruce up.
Jo x
Hi Jo, we are fine, keeping our peckers up, and mum looking better today and a bit more 'herself'. Yes, Godd ole Eggy Jail - sadly the school is long gone I believe.xx
DeleteI wonder if it's been the same in your garden as ours.... the little blue muscari seem to be everywhere this year, I didn't realise they self-seeded so much. Not that I am complaining, they are a gorgeous blue. But so lovely to see everything greening up, blossom on trees, forgotten flowers popping up again. Hope your Mum continues to improve and is happy where she is for now. Obviously a slight lifting of the weight on your shoulders when she is happy and relaxed, and recovering.
ReplyDeleteYes, Edwina, the muscari are going crackers this year! I love them, I don't mind how much they self-seed. And you are right - even with the longer travel to see her, mum is comfy and I feel they can have the responsibility for a week or so - bliss! xx
DeleteHi Lynne
ReplyDeleteI've just caught up with your blog posts and hope things are getting better for you and your mum. Hopefully some good Spring weather will help you both.
As one of those people who said they would be checking out the Elly Griffiths books I can happily say I think they are great and since you recommended them I have read The Crossing Places, The Janus Stone and today I finished The House at Sea's End! I have just reserved A Room Full of Bones from the library. I am a little behind with the housework but nobody is complaining of hunger yet and it is the Easter holidays now.
Many of my childhood trips to the seaside were in Norfolk and I have since taken my own children to the coast there. My parents still go to Overstrand in the summer and last year found us on Cromer Pier again enjoying a hot chocolate in the theatre bar.
thank you again for the reading list!
That's brilliant, Kate, I'm so pleased you are enjoying the books and have become an "Elly Fan"! And the housework can wait - as long as the loo and the kitchen sink is clean, abd there are clothes for them to put on and something for them to eat - there are more important things to spend you time on I feel!xx
DeleteSo glad to see a similar priority list to mine! I'm having a change this week and reading Khaled Housseini's latest "And the Mountains Echoed". He tells a really good story that I have to read in small chunks due to emotional content but would definitely recommend.
DeleteHope you and your mum are well on the way to recovery x
Thanks Kate, I really must get a post written! And I must have a look at Khaled Houssein xx
DeleteSo glad you are feeling better, and that your mum has gone to rehab- its so hard seeing parents get old and become frail-my dad is very poorly and half the man he used to be - awful to see him unable to do the things he loves like the garden. I am lucky that my sister lives near them and keeps things ticking over! I hoe your mum will be able to get back to her own home, but fracturing a hip is such a shock to the whole system.
ReplyDeleteI read your last post with real fiddle envy- I yearn for the days when Jock was in the Flatville Aces and we used to hold Cajun dances- you are so lucky being a musician!
Gardens are looking so lovely at the moment, pity the weather isnt great, but I am sure it will improve soon.
very best wishes
Heather x
Hi Heather, I did think of you when I posted those pics of Jock! I remembered you saying you knew him years ago - he is now the daddy of a 6year old boy and a 2 year old girl, - Louis and Rosie, and married to Dutch folk musician Vera van Heeringen.
DeleteYes mum was knocked sideways by the op but is doing a bit better now. Off to celebrate her 92nd birthday later today. And it is raining! Never mind, sunshine to come I hope.xxx
Hey Lynne ... I'm finally catching up with everyone ... so sorry to read about your mother's fall, but happy to hear that she has been transferred closer to home, and that you coped with the big smog ... it landed my asthmatic friend in hospital so thank goodness the meds did the trick for you.
ReplyDeleteAnd your garden is looking fabulous ... plenty of sunshine yellow there even when the sky is cloudy :)
Hi Annie, thanks for the kind thoughts - mum now has a wound infection! Wonderful. But reasonably cheerful and still mobilising. There are so many garden photos flying round facebook this morning - everyone is out in the sunshine snapping away! xxx
DeleteHiya Lynne - hope your mum gets a bit better soon. With mine, one thing is leading to another, and she has been in hosp more than out, over the last couple of months. Not good. Still, we muddle onward, do what we can and hope. Keep on fiddlin'! xCathy
ReplyDeleteHi Cathy, it's a hard row to hoe, isn't it? MUm is mobilising slowly but not terribly well in the mental stakes- she isn't exactly rambling but she is gently confused and I don't think she will manage on her own any more. Onwards and upwards indeed! Lxxxps I MUST get a post written!!
DeleteI know how difficult it is with an elderly mother who is declining. My mother died a couple months ago, one month after we celebrated her 90th birthday. I was grieving before she died. Take care of yourself, it is a hard time. Sending a hug from Minnesota where it snowed yesterday but today the sun is out.
ReplyDeleteThank you so much for your kind words, Andrea; I think a lot of us round about our age (give or take a decade!) have been or are going through the same process. It is very hard and very sad, and does make you ponder your own future somewhat. But it also brings out some really lovely friends who support with their love and comments. We have sunshine again today, which keeps the spirits up! xx
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