The Garden Fence - proper Old Style support and chat!

pollyanna_26

Paragraphs seem to have disappeared from  my post. I'd looked up where Veras house was filmed. Her fictional home was Lindisfarne/ Holy Island. There are full day tours of Northumberland.I must admit I'm too much of a wimp to live where Veras home is set but although she gets angry about her father she's tied there by her memories.

I do wish Ian Rankin would write the final Rebus book he promised.. He said there would be two and we've read the 1st. The plot was strange. I bought the hardback for youngest but the kindle one for me. By the end it doesn't actually have an ending but seems stuck in mid air.

The books were published twice  a year so there has to be an ending.

Better news is there is another series of staged due, Then a new Good Omens series  Nan - Nanny Window likes welsh man Michael Sheen while I'm in the David Tennant camp  Both are brilliant actors andI do envy Michaels lovely Welsh fireplace.

I need to check the weather it's still too hot here at this rate I'll be making dark warnings about the summer of 76.

We'd moved here a few days before Christmas and it wasn;t long before the heatwave arrived.

pollyx

MrsCD

So far, we've sent bags of clothes, bedding and small furniture bits and bobs to the Salvation Army, some furniture and lots of bric a brac to a charity that helps rehabilitate young offenders and drug addicts by teaching them how to restore furniture. They then sell the furniture to pay for their accommodation and rehab. The duvets and sleeping bags were taken to go to Ukraine because the CS can't take them. So far so good!
I'm working on sorting and reducing all my craft magazines to only keep the ones I will use. Once the spare room is organized, I can start to work through the boxes of Dad's stuff and decide finally what to keep and where to put it!
This morning, I've weeded the growing patch. I'm ashamed to say I haven't started any veg growing yet...

pollyanna_26

The rehabilitation charity sounds a very worthwhile cause to support. I watched a programme some years ago about the work of the Princes Trust. Set up by a young prince who had known bullying at boarding school  and wantet to help those bullied or unable to cope in education either through poverty or struggles to cope.There are things I didn't like about our new king. Poor Diana was treated badly and I've oten wondered how things would have been if she had lived to raise the sons she loved so much.

I remember how she took her boys to meet those suffering from aids and held many hands to comfort those suffering.

The princes trust has helped many into trades and various forms of  employment.There was a programe on not long ago where the soon to be king spent time seeing the skillls so many had learned rather like the Repair Shop.

As for your craft magazines  there are some groups of ladies here who started to meet up in the last year or so a bit like knit and natter but all sorts of crafts. They welcome books, magazines or patterns.and the charity shops do too

it's company for many on their own and some of them will bake cakes and have little tea parties. It's good for those who have lost family or friends to no longer feel isolated. Some are beginningto think of visiting the local parks when the weather picks up.

It's better than staring at the walls and becoming as popular as the men in sheds movement did.

it does help prevent the mental health problems that came with Covid

Think I've forgotten to watch Casualty again. not long until Charlie Fairhead  says goodbye. i  did read how long he's been in the series but have forgotten how long it's been.

pollyx

 

pollyanna_26

I hope the rehoming of your dads things is going well Mrs CD. I remembered when you posted about Memory PLants in the garden when I'd posted about the tiny cream welsh primroses my son and first husband who died far too young rescued them from Railway Ballast when they were doing their annual voluntary stint on the preserved steam railway in Wales.

They were extending the line and all those tiny plants came home with them wrapped in damp newspaper and I cried . They are still fine so many years later.

No thunder and lightning today but hot and humid. I started thinking of those memory plants. They will have to move with me. The different coloured Rosemarys for mum, best beloved cat, Freddie Mercury and a teaching friend who passed away far  too young, She left such a hole I used to dread going into work to see a very nice teacher in her place. I don't think anyone could have replaced her but we had to adjust and she and I became good riends.

I had a good wander around the back garden putting labels on the plants to move with me and there are quite a lot.

Each Rosemary has diferent coloured flowers , mum loved Rosemary so hers is her favourite colour.

I always thought it was never quite her memory plant and thought there must be something more her.

I had a sudden memory that's been in the back of my mind for many years of the New Years Eve open house parties my parents held  for their extended familes, neighbours and friends.

One of the uncles had been born on the stroke of minight as the new year was heading in. I used to be on the landing peeping though the spindles on  the stairs hushing my two younger sisters

We could hear the bells the little tugboats and other ships in the River heralding the New Year. Big Ben from the radio downstairs

and Happy Birthdays. No tv then in our house.

I asked my youngest and favouriite auntie one year why my normally quiet and rather shy dad sang two songe after the bells.

She told me  he was singing mums favourite songs. Auntie had already told me both sets of grandparents   had crossed the Irish sea when their land was taken from them and mum had heard the Irish  songs athough she never lived in Ireland, Danny Boy and the Rose of  Tralee were her favourites but the Rose of Tralee was the one she'd usually be singing  around the house.

I was thinking of that when wandering around the garden and have tried finding a Rose of Tralee. Searching brings up a competiton held in Ireland to find a human Rose of Tralee. I have seen a few vague mentions of breeders of a rose of that name  so she may finally get that memory rose

Rosemarys are always welcome in the garden as I use them in Lamb dishes al the time. I used to like Beef but not much these days and stopped buying poultry years ago during the Red Tractor fiasco when organic chicken was falsly  labelled by a number of producers and shops as Organic and was produced in indoor crowded conditions which didn't meet the red tractor conditions. I don't miss it over the years my butcher boned out many legs of organic lamb and roasted with garlic and rosemary sprigs it was lovely and easy to carve.

Best beloved cat would be standing on my feet trying to grab slices as I carved although he always got some himself. After he died we'd be choking eating our Christams dinners.

That may  be why dds 2 ad 3  adopted  vegertarian diets in later years. Son and dd1 didn't have a problem we had many happy memories of Ollie mog whose best friend  was friends big Welsh collie they would sit outside together on sunny days passig the time of day.

Sometimes if his canine friend wasn't about Oliie would come racing in to the kitchen holding something gently in his mouth. A tiny frog from my friend a couple of doors away pond. it  took a while before my friend and I  and I discovered one of  the tiny frogs would go awol or an hour or so.

Olliie never hurt it they just played hide and seek through the downstairs rooms. Frog would run under the washing machine  I'd start trying to pull it out but frog would already be somewhere else just as heavy and inaccessable. I gave up made sure all downstairs doors were closed and after I'd left the back door open Ollie would take his friend home . My friend had started counting the tiny frogs in her fishpond umknown to me so when  she said she had no idea why one was sometimes missing I said he or she comes to play with Ollie for a while each day I'll keep  the back door closed in future though  they both seem to enjoy their games.

She and her Husband adored Oliver he used to go to say good morning everyday. but we'd decided she'd be better netting her pond  until the frog was bigger and freed too go his own way..

Sadly it was her husband who knoecked on the door late at night when Ollie hadn;t come home . He had tears in his eyes and was carrying something wrapped in a blanket.

 I'd been out on the drive over and over again rattling Ollies treats but no sign of him . He wasn't usually out after tea time and watching him heading over to visit his doggy friend it was as though he'd learned the Green CrossCode we;d drummed in to both our children and the pupils in Primary School .

My friend had heard the sound of a very fast car, then a squeal of brakes and a car racing off  back then we were plagued by young boy racers using this short race aqs a combination of short cut and race track

Both police and local council were on the case but low speed limit signs and warnings  were still being ignored;

That problem was solved too late for Ollie. It was so kind of our friend to bring Ollie home. Youngest dd had refused to go to bed until he was home.

I'd been dreading someone ringing the doorbell to ask i we had a cat.

I was looking at Ollie's resting place earlier I can't take him to the nearby  village but can take the little headstone youngest made from some lovely recycled Welsh Slate I was using in the back garden . I used the stone cutter to shape the top part and she wrote his name his estimated age when we chose him from the local RSPCA who unlike other rescues would PTS an animal who  wasn't quickly rehomed .

He  looked at us and we looked at him in his  cage and  he all but said take me home. We went to the office to say we would give him a loving home..

She didnt seem very interested. You can't take it now you'll need to come back in a few days . Do I pay now I asked. Just give it a

few days and come back then . I'd already said it was the Silver Tabby we wanted to rehome the poor thing looked very sad and nervous not playfful like some of the others

Oh she said Skippy he'll be hard work he's rather miserable and no one wants him. I was thinking I'd be misersble too if people spoke about me as she did poor Skippy.

I asked a member of staff how Skippy had got his name She was very nice and told us a member olf the public had been keeping

an eye on a tiny kitten who had been living in a very big skip for nearly a year. She'd dropped bits of food in and checked  if it had been eaten but it hadn't ;

She'd phoned a different number than the rescue and an RSPCA inspector came out estimated the kitten had been in the skip about 12 months and the mother had given birth in that skip  and left the weakest kitten behind.

As youngest and  I Ieft the rescue that first day we were determined next time Oliver as we'd renamed him as his pleading eyes were very Oliver Twist. would be cominhg .home with us

. He was furious at tne state of the pads on his paws. He'd obviously been trying to get out of that skip but it was damaging his paws and health.

He lived with us for many happy years and I often wished we could have kept him indoors but he wasn't happy indoors . I think he feared being trapped agaiin.

I hope everyone is having a good day still too hot here but no storms. I have to accept I don't have coping in the heat genes.

I have been wondering if burtha and her gang are ok.

I think the last post I saw from her  was when Mrs CD posted the picture of the Ice Flower and burtha said she was going to have

a go.

I used rose hps and foliage from the climbing iceberg rose on the back fence.For years I used to make Rosehip syrup from the hips.

Recent years I forget about that rose which is lovely when it's covered in white roses.It's only if I look out of the dining room  window or it's a good drying day and the seagulls are busy pestering the tourists I'll hang washing out.I stopped using a tumble dryer years ago. Once all 4 offspring had . their own home. Even before then if I han't been able to  dry all the laundry

i'd invested iin a couple of really good extendable airers from lakeland which held a lot on hangers.

There are two sets of double doors downstairs and two single ones Lakeland used to sell overdoor hooks which fitted over door tops and held items on hangers. They were useful on rainy days. I still have a number of those.

One of my best buys was was a stainlee steel hanger which opened out to hold socks un3eerwear etc.from the tops

of doors. That held a lot and they dried quickly in warmer weather a lot of those things could be hung rom the washing line and underwear  school ties and ll sorts would dry in no time;

I still use the folding hangers indoors in Winter and two more ss dryig hangers. I bought a drying thing back  then quite tall with three arms each arm had holes for hangers then above more space for hanging things. It has  a  small footprint but can dry  a lot of things.

I still use one to hang the things I've ironed while I carry on ironing.

Years ago Sundy night used to be ironing night when all the ofspring were at home. At least   7 blue and white striped shirts  for son. Sometimes extra in case he was rostered for the Royal Train ande maqnagedto spill somethying on his uniform. He always had ready to wear trousers in his wardrobe and ties.

It was a relief when polo shirts were introduced  for everyday he just had to have enough of the special uniform in his wardrobe plus many safety jacdkets  If he spotted an obstruction , landslide, chilren or others on the line aheadhe would need to press the dead mans hadle. radio ahead while donning his jacket and walk the line  talking to the railway police on his phone.

He had a lot o those jackets  including a number in case he was on the Royal train. He said I can not speak to anyone on  the Royal Train if my jacket is dirty. The day before his wedding I said don't forget the Orange and someItims green jackets.

His reply every time they see me they give me more. No idea what I was supposed to do with them.

When my grandson became a trainee train driver following in his dads and his dads footsteps I told him there are plenty of safety jackets here. Too late nan he said dads already tried to palm a lot off on me.  I don't expect you to know the ins and outs of railway gear these days.

I've seen the photos of grandad in the boiler suit and steam hat showing he was a trainee fireman on the steam engines then after steam the union tried to fight the new uniform everyone hated according to dad.is it true they claimed the hat made them look like Captain  Scarlet and people used  to sing the song whenever they saw them.

I told him grandad was always smart and clean shaven  And always looked younger than he was.A bit like Captain Scarlett.

for a long time many hats diappeared never to be seen again.including my husbands  very out of character for him.  The whole thing had been sprung on them

Losing the LMS identity they'd always had, steam trains being sold to private buyers for costly excoursions and the dreaded diesels.

My son liked the Deisels until he found himself fighting a fire in one of the new Pacers carriges. He;d stopped the train and was calling for his guard who took quite a while to arrive, The train was packed and was on the Manchester line. He got a bravery award and a large bonus  and  when the chance came to relocate from  our mainline station  to  Crewe he was off like a shot;

His only complaint was

his booking on point is Basford Hall  opposite the Man U shop. He was always forgetul o Mothers day and other things DD1 used to remind him but she'd moved.

Mothers day I noticed him messing around in the boot of his car he;d parked it  with the boot facing the front door unusual for him as it was new and he usually parked it so he could head straight off the drive to work. We still had Olliie Mog then and i wsw / Ilistening to them arguing.I'll get you  some Lamb seemed to work. Ds ran upstairs then camedown and handed me something large and somthing smaller saying I hope you realise I/ve done the walk pf shame today with rveryonr watching me.I unfloded the card thing and found  a life sze Mark Hughes one of my favourite players The little package was an Ole Gunnar Solksjaer keyring

my other avourite. I burst in to tears thinking of the lifelong Liverpool fan like his dad and the 2 eldest dds doing the walk of shame to the Man U shop wirh a audience, I hung Sparky on the back of one of my warfrobe doors and move house with me..

Always had my Ole Solkjaer key with me but it went missing a while ago and I searched everything United until I found one never told son.

Oddly his son is a Man U supporter and we.ve had many a chat  son goes to yank out weeds in the gardens. to show his disgust.

Grandson said earlier I'm going to have a word with dad about those safety jackets He's a top mainlind driver. I;m still learning and we aren't issued with the same stuff as him unti we pass driving skills though it will be quie a while before  then.

.. Can't  you think  of anywhere to donate them to?I said has n't your dad or insttructors ever spoken about the great train robbery/ The criminals got away with that because some  of them looked .like  train crew and it took years to track some o them down.

polly

grandmanerd

Lovely memories polly. Do you think any of the train museums/ charities might take the jackets. there are lots of voluntary groups keeping old lines going.

MrsCD

👋 hello! Polly, could you dig some plants up now and pot them up ready for when you move, to save you some time? We dug up my Mam and Dad's peony, fuschias, hellebores, alstromerias, and brought all of the pots away. The dug up plants are heeled in for now until we decide who wants what, or where they're going in the garden. So far, so good. 
On the sorting front, we've gone through our stuff, mostly, to make room for what we want to keep from dad's. We're now starting on his boxes... I'm aiming to have the dining room back by the end of july!

grandmanerd

Mrs CD don't give up  on the peonies. They don't like being moved and will sulk. I moved mine once and thought I'd lost them - they grew back about 5 years later.

pollyanna_26

grandmanerd said:

Lovely memories polly. Do you think any of the train museums/ charities might take the jackets. there are lots of voluntary groups keeping old lines going.

Apologies for the delay in replying. The laptop has been playing up all day. Beanielou had just bought a new laptop back when I'd sent a fairly new one flying down the stairs never to recover  She'd just bought a new HP so I asked if it was any good and she sent me a link.

Last night I asked her if hers was ok but she's about to  buy a different make. Something had been niggling at me and I've only just  remembered Mar has always bought HP and some of the times she appeared with a new ID she wasn;t always joking but had to change her previous one to get back on the forum. I wondered why she didn't try another make.

So far today I began to reply to you and also Mrs CD . I'd type a post which would seem ok but then all the words would turn blue mix themselves up then many would disappear.

This is the first time that doesn;t seem to be happening but this is the first time I've been able to quote or attempt to post a comment the post I'm trying to reply to tends to disappear in to thin air.

I feel as though I'm losing the plot. The Fence thread has gone awol a few times.['ve been compiling an ever growing list of annoying things while trying to fill in letters  missing mfrom words while trying to get the letters back to black rather than m convinced I'm losing the plot. Early yesterday I had a phone call from my grandson Happy Birthday Nan how old are you dad cant remember A neither could I and had to do the mental maths and B I'd forgotten myself it was my birthday. It was only when my postman had managed to fight his way through the picket lines at the sorting office the birthday cards arrived.

I'm going to make a brew and see if the laptop will behave.

I did compose replies to you both but couldn't post either whenever I tried the post jumped below the forum perhaps there's been some techie change I'm unaware of.

I've had to correct this umpteen times.

pollyxx

MrsCD

Oh dear polly. Maybe it's time to ask a whizz kid to have a look at Harry Pooter!
Grandmanerd, I heard about peonies sulking when they're moved. I'm just going to let it sort itself out, as my Mam would say. It's still got a good number of green shoots growing, so I have hope for it.

MrsCD

Did you see Eamonn Holmes on GB news this morning? He had me in stitches singing sweetie advert songs! You can see it online still but I don't know how long it will be there.