Today I shall be Mainly...

[plaques]

When doing Mrs P's family tree I came across a researcher in America who had this truly enormous data base on the family name. She had been doing it all her life and still at it from the odd message we get. She is part of a group that has been trying to connect the name with an immigration group of Palatine Germans that came over in Queen Anne's reign and settled in Limerick but never proven to any satisfaction. But for all this research they didn't know Mrs P existed. Mrs P's tree can be traced back to Tipperary > Limerick but not to the Palatines, when I offered up the idea that they were possibly on the wrong track and the name was more likely the residue left over from Oliver Cromwell's army it went down like a lead balloon. Too much status and reputation at stake to change tack besides theirs was a more romantic idea.

[Sue]

When doing Mrs P's family tree I came across a researcher in America who had this truly enormous data base on the family name. She had been doing it all her life and still at it from the odd message we get. She is part of a group that has been trying to connect the name with an immigration group of Palatine Germans that came over in Queen Anne's reign and settled in Limerick but never proven to any satisfaction. But for all this research they didn't know Mrs P existed. Mrs P's tree can be traced back to Tipperary > Limerick but not to the Palatines, when I offered up the idea that they were possibly on the wrong track and the name was more likely the residue left over from Oliver Cromwell's army it went down like a lead balloon. Too much status and reputation at stake to change tack besides theirs was a more romantic idea.

I do find a lot of American researchers have huge trees of 1000 s of people, the earliest is usually King somebody or other year 512 AD. Since organised records hardly exist pre Henry VIII , except to landed gentry they seem at a loss to explain it to me. Oh that ship the Mayflower must have been bigger than the biggest Brittany Ferries ferry, the number of Americam ancestors that came over on it

[Stanley]

I thought this was worth recording. It is a long time since me Californian Birkenstocks got an outing!

[Stanley]

Not sure about today yet. Depends on how hot it gets. Over 80F in shed yesterday. Too hot!

[Marilyn]

You will be wearing thongs next ( on your feet).
I’m still waiting for today’s walk. D is deep in computer land. I took him a Cup of Soup and a piece of cheese for lunch ( same lunch every day for years now) and the hand came out and grabbed it, so he is still alive, but not communicating verbally today. He has so much work at the moment. The government has announced grants for those building new homes, but they are only available for a short time, so everyone wants house plans drawn. Most of these people are just dreaming and are in no way able to scrape up a deposit for a home, but they get caught up in the dream until reality hits...generally when applying for a loan and find they have credit card debts and no deposit and the bank says NO.

[Stanley]

I don't think so Maz.
Why did this come to mind.... "The thong is ended but the mammary lingers on".
Dave does right, make hay while the sun shines!

[Marilyn]

He doesn’t do it for the money, Stanley. He went down to 50% wage when Covid hit. He is supposed to be working 2 days a week, so now gets one day’s pay per week...yet is currently working 7 days a week. He does get a “Job Keeper” allowance from the government too, which was introduced when Covid hit.
( and he really doesn’t mind one little bit....he absolutely LOVES his job...he bounces out of bed every morning eager to get back to it. He always was one of those employees who never took a sick day and worked for the love of it. And he would rather be an employee now than a boss.)

[Stanley]

I understand that completely. I never had a job in my life that I didn't enjoy. I worry many a time about young people who are forced into boring jobs but it is all that is available to them. Think of battery cage call centre people and shelf-stackers. It would drive me round the bend!

[Sue]

Morning all

I loved my job, well the teaching part, when admin took over from teaching and balancing supporting children taking important exams and looking after sick parents with a husband lived and worked away during the week life took its toll. My hobby in genealogy developed to try and keep me sane! I still love teaching , and still love my subject ( now) but large classes and constant marking destroyed that love for many years.

Our afternoon with Wendy and Keith went really well, though the temperature in the back garden peaked at 36.5. C being quite a sun trap. Today promises to be hotter still. There was a lot of fluid consumed, in the nature of prosecco, ginger beer and tonic water. It was difficult to sit in the shade as there isn’t any till 4.00pm but the old sun brolly held up even if its stand eventually died and the brolly developed a lean. Anyway it was 5.00 pm before we knew it. Time to have another drink , tea this time, and potter with sewing until an early tea, out in the bottom part of the garden, or secret garden as Erin calls it, where it is cooler. Then time for another drink before a very hot pilates class. Many of the class were outside but we have no space. As there is no lawn and every available space has pots or plants there is no room to put a mat down . Half way through the class Bob directed a portable fan on to me. Then another drink during and after the class in the form of a nearly a pint of water.

Today will be very inactive, possibly sat in the shade at the bottom of the garden sewing or in the cool inside the house. Certainly NO WALKING

Have a good day, stay safe, stay cool

[Marilyn]

( and I don’t mind him being so fully consumed with his work either...well...occasionally I need attention too. But I can always amuse myself and have the same type of personality that gets fully absorbed in things - painting, Ancestry, gardening, cooking etc so I do understand. Eeee...I’ve had two husbands that way inclined. I could never marry a “couch potato”. )
I have just shouted up the stairs that “Dinner is in half an hour”. He has been up there since about 07.30 this morning, and it is nearly 5 pm. We did get a walk in after lunch though.

[Stanley]

It was 'only' 77F in the shed so I have done an hour. I shall report later.
Full sun out there and in practical terms it will be just as hot as yesterday but with that welcome cool east wind this afternoon.

[Marilyn]

I only think in Celsius these days!

[Marilyn]

Just checked...77F...it’s just a pleasant day of 25C.
We don’t even break a sweat on those days. In fact, 26 C is my “perfect” temp. I don’t get bothered until it gets over 35C.
Toughen up Princess. How would you endure 45C?

[Sue]

Just checked...77F...it’s just a pleasant day of 25C.
We don’t even break a sweat on those days. In fact, 26 C is my “perfect” temp. I don’t get bothered until it gets over 35C.
Toughen up Princess. How would you endure 45C?

Yes i find anything up to about 27 quite comfortable, though up norf here the humidity can be bad. Just had breakfast and coffee in the garden. I too get absorbed in things Maz, as does Bob, although he is often the one that remembers to make drinks and food. I forget when I am busy

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[Stanley]

The garden looks good Sue....



Here's the result of an hour in the shed. Eight links for the parallel motion roughed out. Tomorrow I shall make them look pretty. That's quite enough......

[Marilyn]

Looks like you are making a xylophone, Stanley
Garden looks great, Sue. ( ours is such a bore in Winter)
I see a strawberry poking out in the bottom photo...and gosh...what an expanse of plants!

[Sue]

Looks like you are making a xylophone, Stanley
Garden looks great, Sue. ( ours is such a bore in Winter)
I see a strawberry poking out in the bottom photo...and gosh...what an expanse of plants!

Yup strawberries grown in stacked pots. We got rid of our lawn years ago as it was little more than a bog! The large leaky ( and empty again garden pond) is where the worse patch is. Slowly we have built raised beds and patios with spaces between the flags , which I fill with plants. Anything that will grow. The rest is gravel every available bit of soil has something growing in it, it suppresses the weeds. Pots everywhere. I put all my indoor plants outside in the summer, in the winter they live in the conservatory. I grow geraniums in pots as normally the soil is so wet they rot. These also live in the conservatory in the winter. Everything is perennial. We cut it all back by the end of October and have a bare boring plot in the winter. From February onwards the garden changes daily. First snowdrops, then crocus, then daffodils, then tulips etc. I love our garden. We have a couple of discrete seating areas where we get the sun or the shade and a good view.

[Sue]

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[Tripps]

The joy of 20mm gravel. I've just topped mine up with four bags. The weeds seem to still grow through it despite the membrane. Seems to have got worse in recent years. I like your hostas - does the gravel keep the slugs away? This was bag number four before raking. The colour mellows down after some rain washes the dust away.

gravel may 2020.jpeg

[Sue]

The joy of 20mm gravel. I've just topped mine up with four bags. The weeds seem to stil grow through it despite the membrane. Seems to have got worse in recent years. I like your hostas - does the gravel keep the slugs away?
This was bag number four.
gravel may 2020.jpeg

Nope unfortunately. I put saucers of beer out last night and didn’t catch one, but did manage to drop my clean washing in one this morning yours is a big garden, impressive. I do believe gravel is the way to go, it also reminds me of France!

[Stanley]

You're right Maz, it does look like a xylophone! Never thought of that.
I shall aim for an hour in the shed this morning but as I said re. Sally's back, I shall listen to my body and not push things!

[Sue]

Morning all
Warm night but the ceiling fan in the bedroom worked well and we slept ok. Its a hazy sun at the moment with light showers forecast this morning and thundery rain this afternoon. Hopefully not as hot the last two days. Yesterday was really hard work doing pilates, many have been doing it in the garden, including Taira the teacher, who obviously doesn’t realise just how hot it is in the house, or indeed our back garden. Yoga was more relaxed, the teacher, Mandy, sensibly saying it was not wise to work the body too hard when it was so hot.

The weather has brought my veggies on a treat, with courgettes growing and maturing quite rapidly. Some of my tomato plants are now at the top of their strings and have many flowers coming, some even fertilised. Even the beans I only put out last Saturday are creeping up their canes. I think the heat has destroyed the chard, there may be the odd one remaining.

In the morning I dug up some plants that Wendy had liked when they called round the other afternoon. I watered them well and stood the pots in water all day. Around 3.00 ish we delivered them taking advantage of the weather and putting the top down on the new car. What with being stranded in France for 8 weeks and then sitting on the drive for another 7 it hasn’t had many outings since we bought it in February.

The rest of the time was spent trying to keep cool. I finished my toile of my new jeans and was disappointed that despite my weight loss the smaller size pattern did not fit so have had to make a few adjustments to the paper pattern . Today I will try again using an old duvet cover rather than waste more good material before I make the final garment. The fabric I wasted was actually almost free I as I got it from my craft groups jumble table, where people bring bits they don’t want , and others ‘buy’ them by making contributions to the hospice.this morning is Zoom ‘DANCE YOUR SOCKS OFF’ then I will shower before I tackle the days sewing task.

Have a good day everyone

[Stanley]

Sue, I like Mandy's approach! Very good advice.
I am sitting down after an hour in the shed at 77F, amazing how you can raise a sweat doing minor tasks. I've made progress and will report later when we have had a trot on the Green. I say 'trot' but that's not quite right, Jack trots and I follow slowly, I don't do trot and brisk!
(Incidentally, just for a check I did a BP reading after our walk in full sun yesterday afternoon and it was 120/83, not a lot wrong there!)

[Big Kev]

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We certainly wouldn't be able to sleep without a fan in the bedroom.

[Stanley]

I must be lucky, I never have a problem, just snuggle down and away I go.



This morning's progress. Eight parts of the linkage prettied up and polished and in the magnetic bowl with a coat of WD40. An hour of continuing progress.... Nice!