What are you all up to

We had a good day yesterday as we decided to do some more tidying and clearing up in the garden. All the pots where the plants had died or were dying have been cleared out and put behing the shed in the compost area so the patio area is looking so much better. Some of the good pots will be offered to our family as I don't want so many pots in the future as they are too much work for us now. We also did quite a bit of cutting back. We found our 'favourite' trowel (which had been missing for some while and we thought we had thrown away with the garden clippings) in amongst the undergrowth and not only that OH found my fresh water pearl earing that I had lost while gardening a few weeks ago so we were well pleased. The garden is looking a lot better but still quite a bit to do.  Everything seems to be dying back much earlier this year. Today so far has been 'different'.  OH had been kept awake overnight with pain in his right ear so we decided to go to A&E. We arrived at 8.30am which is obviously a good time to go as we were out within the hour! They have given OH an antibiotic/steroid spray so hopefully that will help. The young man also checked OH's chest as he had a chest infection about 3 weeks ago and is still coughing a bit but his chest is clear so that was a good result.

I love the idea of the long range water pistol. I wonder whether it would deter the magpies which are an absolute pest round here recently and scare off all the little birds?

Have good trips both nellie and WN. Hopefully you are getting decent weather. Yesterday here was lovely - plenty of sun but no extreme heat or humidity. Today is slightly cooler and mostly cloudy but it means I can get on with some much needed jobs.

We have finished our duties of feeding our daughter's family animals as daughter and family are now home. We took our grandson over to Stamford yesterday evening as he has a job clearing tables and pot washing in a pub/nightclub over there 2 nights a week and eldest son and DIL and younger grandson are over in NI staying with our youngest son. They are now on their way home so hopefully we can 'stand down' from our caring duties for a while

Off early(ish) this morning. Able to cycle to Tissington Trail from the CL and as it was early it was quiet. We were able to take our time going through a deep cutting and watch a wonderful aerial display of about 40 Swallows quartering the sides. They were nowhere to be seen on the return leg. They must be fattening up getting ready for their long journey. Autumn's approaching.

When we got to Tissington we were met at the cafe by about 3 dozen motorbikes out for the day. Coffee took a while to order. Biker in front of me just ordered 16 black coffees and a large jug of milk. He either had a really bad addiction or it was his turn to buy for his mates.

We came off the trail at Biggin as we fancied a cool glass of cider at The Waterloo Inn so made our way home via backroads. A bit blustery today but fairly warm. Will have a stroll soon. Enjoyed our 2 days cycling. Made all that physio worth it.

Cat deterrent - FiL used to have a catapult. Fortunately he was such a lousy shot that the cats didn't even move when he tried scaring them. Secretly I think they were having a laugh as cats are wont to do.

Back garden calls next week. Ugh.

 You certainly have put the miles in this weekend, WN, home tomorrow I guess for a rest!

Hope that your brother manages to stay out of hospital for a while OP.

Sounds like there have been plenty of gardening getting done, something we try to avoid these days!

Hope all those partners who have medical problems are soon back to full health.

We had a rather "interesting" 20ml tow today! Firstly there was a diversion around Appleby due to work on the railway bridge, and then there was a two lane queue from the M6 roundabout at Penrith up to the Reghed one, with standing traffic heading down the Ullswater road. We had to use a very narrow lane to access the B5288 to our chosen site because of another road closure and of course there were cars come in the opposite direction!!😮 Thankfully all went well but it was exceedingly tight! Yesterday we got some good new from our grandson, whom we met up with a couple of weeks ago, as he has been offered a post in Japan, teaching English as a Foreign Language, under supervision initially, starting next March. He is at present out in Thailand and has just qualified as a fully certified advanced diver, and hopefully we will meet him when he come back home in early February before he heads out to the Far East again.

Travelled up from home (Bristol) to a CL in Middlewich today. A good CL with spacious pitches and very modern facilities (£23pn). We have 2 nights here before travelling on to Harrogate for 4 nights. Really looking forward to having a look round Harlow Carr.

Harlow Carr should be fabulous at the moment. If you intend eating in Betty’s Tearoom, best get there earlyish. If you don’t manage a table, there’s lots of seating dotted around the garden for a picnic. You can buy Betty’s treats in the shop adjoining tearooms. Enjoy😁👍

I love Harlow Carr Freddy55. There is so much to see there.  You might need more than one visit!

Dull today but on GD duties so no problems, been trying to connect to the NHS app for 3 days now but no joy, is anybody else having difficulties, not missed an upgrade have i???

Yes, it’s big. We tend to do the ornamental gardens first, and then need to go back to MH to check on pooch, by which time we think…..we’ll leave the Woodlands for another day!😁 I like the hothouse, some lovely cacti and stuff in there. It was too hot a day to leave pooch last time we were there, and we didn’t fancy going round apart, so we just raided Betty’s (with a gift voucher) and had a lovely picnic instead in the furthest car park field. 

Well done to your Grandson Nellie👏👏👏

As I’ve mentioned before, the wife struggles to walk any great distance, so most likely we won’t be trying to see all of it (Harlow Carr). Had some good news before we came away, the wife has an appointment to see the (hip) specialist/consultant only a couple of weeks after being referred, she’ll see him/her a couple of days after we get back. Doing a bit of googling, it looks like she may get the op within a month or two, that’s pretty good, I reckon. Mind, she has been struggling for a couple of years now, having to go through the usual rigmarole, physio and the like. She’s of course not looking forward to recuperating, but onwards and upwards 🙂