Hi Brian

Hope you had a good weekend.  Decided against the long Sunday walk as into work today.Instead I spent much of the day in the garden.  Due to lack of rain the lawn is once again turning brown and the ground rock hard. However I did manage to cut back a lot of my shrubs and prune the roses.  Decided to have a change to the flower bed near the rear of the garden as should have 80 bulbs arriving from Holland next month and am hoping to give this space over to some of them for a spring splash of colour.  Also trimmed the mini hedge in the front garden and began cutting back some of the ornamental grasses. Seems amazing that we are getting ready for the autumn/winter seasons but love having the winter pansies providing longer term colour.

The meal out was lovely and always good catching up with friends.  Am meeting another friend this coming Thursday so will appreciate not having to cook as working 8.30 to 5pm!  Thankfully last overtime shift will be this coming Friday as my co-worker returns from holiday.  It has certainly made me appreciate how lucky I am to normally only have two shifts and cannot wait to get back to normal and enjoy the leisure time.  The gym re-opens today so will hope to get  back there after visiting Mum tomorrow as my only free day this week.  Mum spends most of her time sleeping and does not communicate unless she has to.  Old age definitely taking its toll and I hardly recognise this frail soul who  lays in bed. So sad for her but as usual am in awe of her lovely carers who not only tend her needs (two hourly turning, personal care etc) but who also check on me when I am visiting. Mostly my visits are spent reading by the side of her bed but should she wake I tell her the latest family news and show her any up to date pictures of her great grandchildren.  She never shows a flicker of emotion but she rarely did when she was well so dont expect that to change. Difficult months thats for sure.

I am sure your grand-daughter will find the cookery book very useful.   My son learnt to cook when he was at university as one of the guys in the Halls loved cooking and passed on his knowledge.  My son and daughter in law now share the chore (in my eyes) between them.  Hope your grand-daughter settles in well and enjoys her chosen course.

Well, time is moving on (hate having to clock watch!!) so must wish you a pleasant week and get myself off to the tube station. Take care and regards toMrs B and the family.  Jules

Hi Jules, 

Bet you are pleased that your work rota is now back to normal and hope you enjoyed your meal with your friend on Thursday. Back to normal with the gym I hope now. It must be so hard seeing your mother like she is and her not responding. 

Spent an enjoyable 20/25 minutes watching a squirell burrying some hazel nuts in out front lawn the other morning. So industrias. The funny thing was for every few nuts they buried, they always stopped to eat one ha ha. We have a big hazel nut bush near the front of the house so they didnt have far to move.

We had our wood club meeting on Wednesday and it was a tool auction where people bring along tools they no longer use/need and they are auctioned off witha small % going to the wood clubs funds. There were some very cheap bargains but managed to resit the temptation to buy as I have enough tools allready.We had two more member pay up at the club as well so that pleased me. Our next show is not until late December so have time to re-plenish stocks but need to do it before it starts getting cold as my workshop is like an ice house in winter. 

Mrs B has cooked me some cheese straws as its my birthday today so will be munching my way through them. Had my son, youngest grandson and granddaughter come to see me earlier and was nice to see them. My grandson was shopping with my son a few weeks ago and he saw a birthday card he told his dad he just had to get for me. It is a very cheecky one as you would expect from my grandson. When I opened it he went and stood behind his dad and was ready to run out to his car in case I chased him ha ha. Made us all laugh, cheecky monkey. Just dont know where he get it from Honest?????? 

Have done next months news letter for the club allready with just a few small bits to finnish off. Instead of the usual 5 pages it is going to be 7 pages as I have had a lot extra things to include this month. 

Hope you have a pleasant weekend and manage to re-charge your batteries after your long weeks work. Sending kind thoughts and best wishes to you and your family, Brian 

Hi Brian Just a quick reply to  wish you a  very happy birthday today. Glad the family were able to help you celebrate and enjoy the rest of those yummy cheese straws. Best wishes. Jules

Hi Brian, 

I noticed it's a special day for you today, so I just wanted to stop by and wish you a very happy birthday!

It sounds like you've had a lovely day and I hope you enjoyed the cheese straws Mrs B made you :)

All the best, 

Steph, Cancer Chat Moderator

Hi Brian,

Have woken to another beautiful early autumnal morning and so will be out and about soon.

Very pleased to be back to my normal shift pattern this week though was lucky in the end not to have to work all day Thursday as the delivery was a smaller one and finished by my normal finishing time so allowed to go home.  As the department was up to date they did not need my extra pair of hands on Friday so a good end to the week and I was able to catch up on the mundane household tasks leaving me free to enjoy time in the garden yesterday.

  Mini hedge in the front is trimmed, back lawn mowed and some dead heading done.  Unfortunately my neighbours have done nothing in the last two weeks as far as replacing the old fence panels taken down so not exactly a good look and with the grandchildren visiting next weekend will have to be outside with them (next door have a pond which is almost the full width of their garden and about 12ft in length with no safety aspects at all) if the weather is still kind to us.  I had hoped to dig over the rear flower bed in readiness for the arrival of my Dutch bulbs (due October) but the ground is like concrete so that will have to wait for the next downpour.

Its good news about the increasing wood club membership and a lovely idea to be able to sell on unwanted tools to those who need them. This week is looking good temperature-wise so hope you can up your stocks for your next event so that you do not have to freeze as and when the weather changes.

My buddliea and fuschia are still flowering very well but the roses are all but finished.  Funny how the weeds just seem to keep on going though.  Bet you had lots of fun watching the nut stealing squirrel. Get one visiting my garden occasionally but since the neighbours had to have them 'flushed'out of their loft space (horrendous damage caused by the little blighter) not seen quite so often and most of my bird feeders are now of the squirrel proof type though they never give up trying (amusing to watch).  The birds are currently taking numerous dust baths followed by washing in the bird bath so regularly have to replace their water!!

Today there is a 'living history' event alongside our local Farmers and Artisans market so will take a walk there following my gym visit (great to have this facility back to aid my exercise and social life).As a loyalty card holder there is also a 20% event for us at the garden centre so will replenish the sunflower seeds as stocks are getting low again and can pop in to their cafe for a snack before the walk home (or bus if my shopping gets out of hand!!).

Best wishes to you and the family and hope you had a lovely birthday.Jules

Thanks Steph,

Very much appreciated. Have managed to keep some cheese straws back for today. (But not many ha ha)

Thanks, Brian

Hi Brian,

You have good self control to make your cheese straws last over the two days:)

A lovely three miles plus walked yesterday morning after my gym visit mostly through local woodland so very peaceful. Only photos taken were on my phone as annoyingly the memory card in my camera 'failed' and on inspection has a split in it so this would explain it!!  Lesson learned to always take my spare ha ha. Thankfully had transferred images to computer before charging the camera' battery before leaving that day, phew!

Hope you and Mrs B have a pleasant week. Jules

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Hi Jules, 

Thanks for sharing more great photos. My self control was not that good for I tried (and failed) to keep a few for a third day but they were too nice. Have been told I wont get any more until Christmas but live in hope ha ha. Trouble is I told Mrs B a long time ago if I gave her flowers every week she would expect them all the time so she has done the same with the cheese straws ha ha.She calls it poetic justice.

Our grass is still gree but is growing like mad. Our roses are still blooming as are are fushias. I bought one from a garden centre early this year and it has bllomed all summer and still has lots of buds on it. Mr B called me out to the garden as her primroses are blooming for the second time this year. Her free begonias are a picture and we have many differnt types. Not bad for freebies. My China Rose radishes are looking good this time as the last lot were all leaves and no root and then went to seed.

My garage hoover has packed up once again so will have to have it apart once more grrrr. At least I know how to dismantle it by now.  What is it they say, "If at first you dont suceed", well I will get it right one day. Give me a bit of wood any day ha ha.

Am coming to the end of my latest story and am quite pleased with it.One of our wood club members gave me some thick photo paper for making the covers of my books as it wouldnt go through his printer so I have given him a couple of book which he read and said they are just his typeof story. So I may give hime a copy of my latest story when its hinnished to see what he thinks of it. 

Nice and sunny here today at the moment so may go out to my garage and attemp the hoover repair.

Have you resumed your book reading yet? 

I wish you a pleasant week, Brian

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