LAHORE KARAHI.. THE FRONTIER FORCE & A LAMPSHADE MAKER..

Yes, Dear Readers, Lahore and Karachi are two cities in Pakistan and Constance and Hugo knew both of these cities extremely well and in the days when her parents knew them, they were cities in North West India.

Constance had helped set up and run a Transit Camp in Karachi that took some of the huge amount of Polish Jews coming out of Soviet Russia and Hugo had been in the 12th Frontier Force Regiment. They both spoke fluent Urdu.

Constance had been born in the south of India so she grew up with Southern Indian food and English food which she learnt to eat (reluctantly) upon being shipped back to England aged six. She spent a year at school in Paris eating French food after passing her Matriculation in England and then two years in Germany and three years in Malaya (as it was then called in the 50's).

So Constance cooked all manner of styles of very 
delicious food when she was growing up! But it Hugo who was the Master of the Kitchen when it came to Northern Indian food! He served on the North West Frontier for the entire war and loved the area, the tribesmen (whom he described as very VERY fierce) and their food!

She dreams about his curries and his chapatis! 

The day before yesterday found her doing some shopping in an area she used to know very well, as one of her favourite silk suppliers is based there, they found for her the very, the very best lining fabric for lampshades, for it stretched all-ways! 

And they also found for her a wonderful young woman who became one of her best lampshade makers! She was the cousin of one of the silk assistants, very shy, twenty two years ago she had arrived from Peshawar two years previously and she spoke some but not a lot of English.

But she was a magician with a needle and thread!

She had two small children, a girl and a boy, the eldest had started school, so she was not able to work full time or be out of the house for long periods of time, so making lampshades at home was perfect work for her.

Her young husband was doing his medical training at St.George's Hospital, Tooting, South London.

She had not seen Bahijah for a long time but she knew that the family had all grown up and that her husband had passed his examinations with flying colours as she got the 'gossip' from the silk company and they thought, but were not sure, that the family had gone back to Pakistan.

So there she was on Tooting High Street, it was past lunch time and she was feeling hungry and there, right in front of her, was 'Lahore Karahi'.
Please note: This is the way the restaurant spells its' name, it is not a spelling fault.

It is a wonderful Pakistani Restaurant. Their food is delicious and because of having eaten it so often at home and as a treat if she was out with her father, she knows exactly what she wants.

The last time she ate there was probably about ten years ago, she stood and ordered her food, the man, new to her, behind the counter queried her choice saying "Miss, it is a very hot dish, are you sure you want this?"

Just as she was about to reply, she felt an arm going around her waist and a kiss on the back of her head and a woman's voice spoke in Urdu.

It was Bahijah! Who said something that made the whole team of counter staff laugh and smile at her!

"What.. where.. I was told you had gone home" she managed to say from the midst of the huge cuddle she had been enveloped in!

"Home? But this is home, this is where I have grown-up, where the children have grown-up, where I learn how to live, where we have thrived as a family, how could I possibly leave England when it has given and taught us so much? Both the children are doing medical training, Mantana wants to be a surgeon, Ahmed wants to specialise in kids, my husband specialises in Renal work and I work for a local Dental Surgery" said Bahijah.

"So what did you tell the staff to make them laugh so much" she said, "ah, I told them how you used to love to eat our food when you were teaching me how to make lampshades and how 'spicy' food is what you cut your teeth on!"

And then Bahijah said "are you eating in or taking away, if eating here, join us, come come", she collected old Wicker Wheelie and followed her old friend.. and there sitting at the table were two women.. two beautiful women.. one young, the other her age.

And Bahijah said in perfect English "Mummy, I want you to meet ....., she was the lady who taught me how to sew curtains and lampshades and Mantana, come and give Auntie ..... a hug".

(Oh, she had forgotten how delightful it was to be called 'Auntie' by these two children).

Oh Lordy.. it was the eldest 'baby' now grown up and so beautiful and now she knew why Bahijah and Mantana were SO beautiful, for 'mummy' was a tall, very pale skinned, immaculate stunner! 

Such a happy time, such delicious food, masses to talk about, such laughter and then said "but I was sure I was told you had gone back to Peshawar, what happened to change your mind?" (they were old friends these two women, this would not have been classified as being nosy or impertinent).

"Very sadly in some parts of Pakistan life has vastly changed, my daughter grew up not wearing the veil, she did very well at school, she is educated and she wants to be a surgeon, the situation in Peshawar is so different now, it is not a place where women's freedom and rights are respected".

Then Bahijah smiled and quoted a saying she heard decades ago but cannot recall who said it.

"Dearest ....., you know that once you have ridden the subway, you can't go back to live in a cave".

So true.. Dear Readers.. so true.

GeeGee Parrot.
May 30th, 2014.

THE THREE LINE WHIP FROM HEREFORDSHIRE..

Dear Readers, you will, unless you have no sense of the ridiculous, (in which case how come you're reading this Blog?) love what I am going to tell you.. heehee, it made her laugh.

Now please remember Pal Sally in Herefordshire 
put the 'mockers' on the weather to prevent her going out and giving shed and terrace a 'good' going over, so she did one to YumYum HQ instead.

Now you know what I mean: cupboard doors, the fridge door, the front of dishwasher and the floor can and do get grubby, so I told a tale of her yesterday using white vinegar, which has pieces of lemon rind and a few drops of essential oil of lemon in it, to clean the before mentioned.

The post went to the Pal, whose response we have just read.. please don't have anything in your mouth when you read the following paragraph. 

Just to give you some background info on Pal Sally, she is a wife, mother and grand-mother and is still sane so she can't be that daft and she does have a good command of the English language.

Are you ready? Pal Sally wrote.

"I said take it easy, that was not a suggestion, it was a three line whip.......so what precisely are you doing with all that vinegar and scrubbing things.......stop darling girl, stop......read a book, knit a sock (wait for it), study the inside of your eyelids.....please.
Sx

I swear there must be something about that old house, for most of the Rothschild family who grew up there and a lot of the 'Arts' girls are not 'exactly' normal, yes, Pal Sally was also at that extraordinary school.

So that is what we will do and the Tale of her exciting day today will be told tomorrow, for although it is only just after eight of the evening clock, we are going to go to our beds and will study the insides of our eyelids.

PipPip Dear Readers PipPip.

GeeGee Parrot.
May 28th, 2014.

HER PAL SALLY IN HEREFORDSHIRE..

But whom is normally to be found in France wrote to her "please don't over do it, the allotment shed can wait for another week" or words to that effect and just because she wanted to be sure that she did not go out and over do it at the garden, she 'fixed' the weather!

Because, Dear Readers, I don't know where you are but where we are, it is mighty wet.

The little orange trees are dripping with rain, the 'mock' orange has grown so much that she has to push through her to get to her own front door and, in fact, if mock orange and espaliered cherry grow anymore, they will be holding hands!

So not being able to go and sort out the shed meant that she sorted out YumYum HQ, she uses white vinegar which has lemon peel in it together with several drops of the essential oil of lemon.

That and a micro-fibre cloth (we don't use paper kitchen towel in this house) clean everything at high speed, she did all the insides of the cabinets quite recently, so it was the doors, fridge, top of stove, work surfaces, draining board, sink and the floor that were done today.

She has 'Shiny Sink Syndrome' and finds that the vinegar mix and a cleaning powder called Vim are the two best products to keep stainless steel really looking good.

Tomorrow is silver cleaning day! I saw her getting out her Gt.Grandmother's silver teapot and a couple of other things and the cutlery that she has used over the past couple of weeks.

Silver is a funny old thing, isn't it? You either love it and are prepared to look after it or you don't and either don't have it, don't use it or give it away.

She recently bought a charming piece of silver. It was given to a man by his colleagues of The Canadian Pacific Railway to celebrate his marriage in 1939.

She did a search on this man and his son is now a very big-wig in the City of London. His wife brought it into the other Charity shop where she used to work, it was black with tarnish, for no-one loved this little piece of family history.

She saw it and realised what it was and asked how much it was going to be sold for, the new manager looked at it and said "stick a price of £10.00 on it, no-one wants silver these days", so she bought it home.

What was it? It is a Salmon Plate, a charming oval silver salver which takes a poached fish and the salad or vegetable decorations that usually accompany this fish.

And when she is older and greyer and no longer has people to supper, she will give it to a young friend who will appreciate such a piece.

Yes, tomorrow is 'Silver Cleaning Day', you see she is just like a Magpie, she likes shiny things!

Silver linings to cloudy day, what do you do if someone hands you a lemon? Why, you make lemonade, don't you!

PipPip, Dear Readers, PipPip.

GeeGee Parrot.
May 27th, 2014.

SHE'S BEEN IN HOSPITAL & I'VE BEEN IN A CAGE FOR THREE DAYS - Part two.

Don't panic.. don't panic Dear Readers.. for we are home and out of reach of the Surgeon's knife!

Ok.. back we go to the beginning of this little bit of un-expected 'excitement'.

On Thursday, in the late afternoon, we had our supper. The reason she eats, if by herself, very early is that IF she has a 'drama' in the morning at, let's say eight of the morning clock, she will have been 'Nil by Mouth' for over twelve hours.

This is the critical length of time needed with no intake of food before a Colonoscopy can be performed.

She had had a strange week, on Tuesday she had felt extremely tired, almost as if the stuffing had been taken out of her. 

Wednesday was a bright and sunny day and she was feeling full of vim and vigour (I have always wondered about that vim bit, for Vim is a cleaner, is it not?) and she cut all the grass at the allotment.

Thursday was another good day in terms of her energy and the weather and she came home at a sensible hour and went upstairs to have delicious Japanese Green tea with Tereza. They tried out the new Pop Corn machine, then she came downstairs and we had supper at about half past six.

And were in bed and asleep by half past ten as the weather forecast for Friday was for fine weather and as the shed and the terrace need lots of work as mr.weed has taken up residence, we were both going as I would be in the large cage and within her sight all the time.

On Friday we were up early and into YumYum HQ, she had a large slice of a new watermelon, what! It had NO seeds, not one! But never fear, Dear Readers, as I had a soft boiled egg and rye bread on my plate so I was not feeling in the slightest bit deprived.

She pottered about, bathroom, got dressed, made the bed, took somethings into the sitting room to be ironed later.

Then, huh, she felt a bit weird and 'drama' rode into our lives, she had haemorrhaged and was continuing to do so..

Now. We don't panic in this house. Never. No, not ever. She called her surgery and told them to pass a message onto her GP, she called the hospital, she packed a very small case with stuff for three or four days, then she collected together a credit card, her mobile, her iPad, BOTH their chargers, some money and the very important letter from her Consultant Gastroenterologist which would tell the hospital A&E department all about her.

She explained to me that I was having to go to the Aviary for a while, she did not know for how long but that I would be safe and that was all that what was important and, with that, she put me into my small travelling bag.

And off we went, the traffic was light, a 74 bus came immediately, we got off at Earls Court Road and walked two blocks, they checked me in (I know this place well and they ALL know me)!

She kissed me on Beaky and left for the hospital.

Who reacted immediately upon seeing the letter and she was on a comfy trolley bed in a gown within ten minutes of entering A&E! Pretty quick I call that!

After answering lots of questions, some rather strange, her blood was taken and then another blood man came and a stent with two junctions was put into her left arm, she was hooked up to two drips and left to relax and be quiet.

A couple of hours later a senior nurse came to tell her that she was bring admitted and she was transported by the trolley up into a huge lift and whisked up high into a bit of the hospital where she had never been before, into one of the four wings that sit facing North, South, East and West above the main base building of the hospital.

Through the big doors and, almost opposite to the big central nurses's station, she was wheeled into a single room.

The room was lovely, it was light and bright, the bed did all sorts of wonderful things like going up and down in different angles! She asked for another pillows and they provided her with an extra blanket. 

She changed into her own night dress and sprayed the room with her mix of five essential oils in a high quantity suspended in water. The magic five she calls them, they are big powerful germ killing oils that have the benefit of smelling wonderful!

All manner of things happened to her over the next sixty hours, some funny, some not-so-funny!

The not-so-funniest was being visited on Saturday afternoon by the Registrar and a (very attractive) American. She smiled at them both, she'd met the Registrar previously on Friday afternoon. 

She asked the (very smiley) American "are you a new member of my Gastroenterologist team?".. his reply was not so funny, for he said "No ...., I am a Surgeon".. 

"GULP.. Surgeon" she squeaked.. "yes, you are in a surgical ward" were his next words!

Oh.. heaven's to Betsy.. oh.. SURGERY? Where were 'HER' Gastro guys? Luckily, they soon disappeared with no talk of knives or of operation preparation. Phew!

She was wondering what was a'going on, she was still NIL by MOUTH and now had had nothing to eat for well over twenty four hours except for a slice of water melon? This had given them time to perform a Colonoscopy on her. How very curious.

She was hungry, she was drinking masses of water to try and fool old stomach that he was full but he wasn't in the slightest bit taken in by that old trick.

The worst was having to smell the other patients' food go by her door, sigh.

Suddenly a man walked into her room and said "Hello ...., how are you, what's going on, tell me what on earth has happened?" She gawped at him and got wet-eyed and he tugged her big toe.

Dear, dear Readers.. We are both wet-eyed again as she taps this.. for it was one of HER Gastro guys! Who had found out, totally by a fluke as he was off-duty, that she was in the hospital! He had come immediately to see her.. what a nice man!

"WHAT. HOW LONG. NO, I AM NOT HAVING THAT" and he tore out of the room to the ward station and said "feed her immediately with a lot of food, no-one is here to do a Colonoscopy, it should have been done yesterday to be any use and .... .... ...." which she did not hear properly.

He came back and explained that she was to eat lots of food now, to continue to drink lots but not so much with her supper, to have a big breakfast and to tell them if ONE drop of blood appeared at any time, that he would speak to her head consultant and tell him everything. 

He tugged her toe again and said, "I apologise for all this, don't worry, we will find out what causes it" and he left.

The student nurse came in a few minutes later and asked her what she would like to eat, "but our kitchen is closed" she replied, the sweet girl then explained "your Gastro man spoke to another kitchen up in the private wing and they have said yes, of course"

She wolfed down delicious yumyum, was given a sleeping pill, slept the sleep of the dead, woke up, not a drop of blood. 

Had breakfast. With permission she went to get the Sunday papers, came back, ate lunch. Not one drop of blood to be seen!

The Registrar appeared again (sadly without the smiley American) and asked her if there had been any blood. Upon hearing there was not a trace, he told her that she was being discharged!

Out of bed, washed, into street clothes, bag packed, papers into a carrier, chargers into bag, bed stripped (that did make her student nurse laugh!)

Oh. YIPPEE. Now they had all been utterly charming, every single one of that nursing staff she would be happy to meet again but she wanted. You got it in one. She wanted me, her little fat African Grey Parrot.

She escaped at 4.15 promising them that she would return on Tuesday to collect two medical preparations she has to have before certain tests can be performed.

Whoosh.. She flew out of the door, across the road, big hurry, she had less than forty minutes to make it to the aviary to get "her girl"!

Zoom.. She made it with ten minutes to spare! They are all so very sweet the staff of Animal Fair in Abingdon Road, London W8. They looked after Dagga for many years and now they look after me if she has to go somewhere I cannot go. 

She paid for the extra day that I had been with them, bought a new bag of Parrot Mix, as I regret to say that Sandy sneaked and said I had chomped my way through several dishes of Safflower and Corn etc, etc! 

No, she does not plan to stop my human food (phew) but she does think it a good thing if I have a dish of this for when I feel an attack of 'peck', as in peckish, coming upon me.

We left and jumped onto a little C1 bus which brought us to Brompton Road. Down Yeoman's Row, a wiggle at the bottom of which brought us across a street and then we were home again, home again, jiggedy jig! 

Once we were inside, I was 'released' from captivity and flew up and down the hall, in and out of all the rooms to stretch my wings and then I landed on her head and it was time for a serious cuddle. 

So there you are, Dear Readers, the very full story of how 'drama' rode into town and how she packed us up and we went to the aviary and the hospital for three days.

She was planning to go to the garden to do a sort out and wash the floor, she recounted this in an email to a friend, Sally, who normally lives in France but is staying up in Herefordshire, she vetoed this idea and somehow got old weather to pull a dirty trick on us down here, for we awoke to a cloudy and dismally wet day. 

But clouds have silver linings, do they not? For this has given her the time to tap old iPad. Now you know the full story of why no post appeared on my Blog for those two days, mr.weed lives to grow a other day but the best is that.. we are back in bed.. serious canoodles have been canoodled and you know what? That ironing can be done tomorrow.

For, as Scarlet said "Tomorrow is another day".

It is now our lunch time. But more thanks have to be thanked.. specifically to Debbie, Diane, Faith, Leigh, MaryLou, Pegeen, Sally, Tereza and the team at Animal Fair and last but not least, to that very kind member of her Gastro team.

"The friendship, kindness, love and other such stuff which you have extended and shown to me over this last few days has been.. sniff sniff.. so kind and sweet.. many thanks to all of you"

GeeGee Parrot.
May 26th, 2014.  

SHE'S BEEN IN HOSPITAL & I'VE BEEN IN A CAGE FOR THREE DAYS - Part one.

Dear Readers.. pick yourself up off the floor! 

For I will put you out of your agony immediately, if not sooner! And breaking with my tradition of starting at the beginning, I will start by saying that..

All is well and we are home again but it has truly been a 'very' emotional three days and so both of us are going to bed very early. 

In Part Two of this post, I will go right back to the beginning (my favourite place) and recount to you the drama of Friday, May 23rd.

So Pip-Pip to you all and to those of you who have sent my mama your kind thoughts and those very sweet text messages and emails..

I say "thank you".

GeeGee Parrot.
May 25th, 2014.

FEELING HUNGRY SAVED THE DAY & FOUND HER 'THE JOY OF COOKING' APP @ AN AMAZING PRICE!

Whoopie doo! Ah ha and many other expressions of delight and happiness are being uttered around here!

At about mid day, she poked her head out of the door and thought to herself "nah, it ain't going to rain this afternoon, I'll go to the garden".

Luckily, a minute later, she realised that she was really hungry, having much earlier only eaten a large slice of watermelon and had popcorn for supper last night, her poor stomach was beginning to think 'sad' thoughts.

Taking two pork loin chops out of the fridge was easy enough, she left them to come up to room temperature and went to pick some leaves of Lollo Rosso, Lollo Verde, Red Oakleaf lettuces, Basil, Parsley and SpearMint which was equally as easy, as they are, literally, growing on the walls outside our front door.

Together with a handful of Lemon Balm, Oregano and Marjoram leaves that she picked yesterday, she sliced them very finely, drizzled olive oil onto them and topped them off with a squeeze of a fat juicy unwaxed lemon.

A chunk of unsalted butter and a slurp of olive oil, together with a handful of our own dried Purple Sage went into a pan, two trimmed loin chops, what could be nicer? This will be her main meal of the day. 

Heat off, the meat was allowed to 'relax' in the pan for a few minutes, this allowed the juices to flow and created with the sage a delicious sauce. Which was then poured over the chops which nestled happily on the bed of lettuce and herbs.

It was when she was picking the lettuce leaves that it started to rain again but this time, it was not spitter-spatter, it was drumming on the pavement rain! 

But I was not concerned with what was going on outside as Slurp and Yum were the two words going through my brain as I watched those chops cooking and whilst she had been cooking the chops, there had been a big pan of water heating up.

Dear Readers, she brought home a couple of her own Artichokes yesterday, I love those leaves, she eats hers very fast but I take my time, nibbley nibble, slowly slowly and I take mine with no dressing, thank you.

They will be chilled and eaten tomorrow for her supper with a Raspberry vinaigrette sauce.

Made with our own raspberries, it is extremely fruity as she makes two bottles out of one bottle of vinegar, she packs the bottles half full with fruit and tops the bottles up with white wine vinegar and leaves them to soak for a long time.

When the Artichokes are this young, she cuts them on a long stem, if you peel the rough outer layer off, the stems are delicious but you never see them with the long stems in the shops and by the way, have you seen the prices this season? The local greengrocer on Chelsea Green is selling big ones for £3.99 each!

Good golly Miss Molly. Now, she and I both love them but she isn't going to spend that amount of money on ONE Artichoke! That would blow her weekly budget more than a bit as we consider them the follow-on vegetable after our Asparagus and eat a lot of them.

In fact, she is planning to grow different varieties of Artichoke, they will be where there is a space that she plans to reclaim from a bad mr.blackberry who has taken over half a whole plot. Once she has picked this years' crop, they are going to be cut down and dug out.

Anyway, I got side tracked, I know Dear Readers, bird brain and all that, where was I? 

Oh yes, she was looking for something and came across an advertisement for an App. of 'The Joy of Cooking Book' at a special price £3.99! Yes, please, what a deal, go online and check it out!

She bought the app and and has down loaded it.. wow.. is all she can say! 

For some reason, although she had a copy of this once, she had no idea of the story behind this amazing American Cookbook, first privately published in 1931 and still controlled and edited by direct descendants of the original author Irma von Starkloff Rombauer (1877-1962).

She lent her copy to Constance, sadly, it was 'borrowed' by that unpleasant woman who lives with her eldest brother and never returned. 

She hopes that the inscription on the front page makes the old witch ashamed of her action, for it reads "To my dearest .... with love and many thanks for making my son so happy, Sara", yes, Dear Readers, it was a gift from Bill's mother. 

It is chucking it down out there, we are very snug at home and thinking of the fruit and vegetables drinking up this rain after that hot and dry week.

Happy thoughts. We hope you are all happy and healthy? She is off to do some ironing and I am off to top of sitting room door, as you all know, I don't 'do' housework.

And outside is a rain-washed bright blue sky! Oh, happy days.

GeeGee Parrot.
May 22nd, 2014.

HEAVY RAIN HEADING OUR WAY..

She thought the sky looked a bit glum when she put some rubbish out, a quick check of our local weather report, ooh, lots and lots of rain coming our way.

They say we are in for a battering this afternoon and over the week-end, hopefully it will clear in time for the Bank Holiday on Monday but we are talking about the British weather, it is not always predictable!

Never mind, we gardeners have to hope and trust otherwise we wouldn't even plant a bean, let alone a seed, would we?

Spitter-spatter on the pavement, here it comes, the rain is coming up from the south, apparently some parts of France have had very heavy rain for a few days and we are told to expect the same, up to an inch and a half (4cms) per hour.

But nothing like the rains in the Balkans where rain and flooding have created the most terrifying situation with the dreaded land mines, dating back to the war of the early 90's, which are now being exposed. 

The flooding is the worst that this part of Eastern Europe has experienced for 120 years, those poor people, the damage has been beyond one's comprehension with dreadful mudslides.

Last year it was parts of the Czech Republic, Germany and Slovakia that were so badly affected by extreme rain fall which caused several of the larger rivers to burst their banks and cause horrendous damage and devastation.

This rather puts paid to her plan to do the raised box under Miss Victoria Plum but never fear, Dear Reader, for there is always something for you to do, is there not?

Even if it is not housework but skiving off to The British Library by way of going underground and popping up on the Ruston Road!

Me? I don't plan to go anywhere, there is a soft boiled egg that's in dire need of Beaky's attention.

GeeGee Parrot.
May 22, 2014.

HOW DID HE GET AWAY WITHOUT CUTTING THE GRASS!

She had this thought when she had been cutting the grass for an hour, yes Dear Readers, it does take a long time when it has grown like Topsy and is fast approaching knee height!

Up and down and around about the big and small beds, it took three tanks of petrol yesterday and it was whilst she was filling the tank the second time that she thought how come Bruce got away with not doing this? 

That is why it got to be so long, they didn't go to the garden, they stayed in the city and did his stuff.

Never mind, it won't take her long to catch up with the garden chores, she did all the grass and the back bit of her Italian neighbour's plot, he doesn't have a trimmer, it only takes about five minutes and means that the nettles won't get to go to seed.

It was a 'funny old' day yesterday, it was warm but overcast and looked as if it would pour with rain at any minute but it stayed dry until in the early hours of this morning, when she popped outside, as you do in the dark, to do a 'Slug Patrol' and found it was raining and very lubbley-jubbly 'good' rain it was too!

On the bus from Hammersmith to the garden she met a garden friend, Rose, with her very charming Jack Russell Terrier Gertie, dear flirty Gertie, she is such a brilliant ratter and mouser! 

Rose was very pleased to see her as she remembered that she had forgotten her allotment gate key! She did that once, it is very boring to travel for an hour to find that the keys are not in your pocket.. grrrr!

Whooo, all the potatoes are growing splendidly,  they need to be earthed up which is what she will do today but the main job today is clearing the ground of all weeds and doing a light hoe under Miss Victoria Plum, this little tree had a problem with a maggot infestation last year and she knows that she didn't pick up all of the plums that had dropped off the tree.

After a good scratch around to disturb any larvae and having cleared out the weeds, she will put down a thick layer of newspaper and cardboard, having made sure this is wet through, she will then cover this with a thick layer of well rotted horse manure. She uses a brand called 'Country Natural'. 

In the old days, Jack and she used to go with his big red van to the Ealing Riding Stables, that was a source of great manure! The horses and ponies were fed on good quality hay and bedded on proper straw, you had a choice of old rotted manure or fresh but sadly Jack is gardening up in Heaven and Ros has sold the van.

The artichoke plant has been very clever! It was split in two by those strong winds two weeks ago and despite having been laid completely flat, the top of the plant just pointed itself towards the sun and a good crop of artichokes are growing, quite happily, about two feet off the ground!

There is lots of gardening to do, so she has to go and do it. We have had our morning 'cuppa' of LapySang tea and now it is time to break our fast with a delicious watermelon, we are just like Jack Sprat and his wife, one of them ate the fat and the other ate the meat, she eats the flesh and I crunch the seeds, I call that a fair division of fruit, don't you Dear Readers?

GeeGee Parrot.
May 22nd, 2014.

WHERE DID THE SUNSHINE GO?

Brrrr.. ugh.. not nice.. in fact, cold and wet.. sigh.

She thought it was a bad dream, having been dry under foot, bright to the eye and warm for four days, to wake up yesterday to a glum and gloomy day was a big shock to her system. 

And it proceeded to get chillier and wetter as the day went on, coming back from her last jaunt the heavy rain started. So we gave up, we had supper and retired to her cosy bed very early.

But the rain is good for the garden, very necessary, in fact, for everything is growing on well, it will be an astounding year for fruit, with the exception of cherries, we had that dreadfully cold and windy snap just at the wrong time and our cherry harvest will be very small this year.

It is a great pity that we don't eat grass! For we have an excellent on-going harvest of that stuff.. which she has to cut today. 

She will pull a couple of garlic, new season fresh garlic is wonderful, the taste is delicious and there is a fine crop this year. 

The blackberries will be stunning this year, a patch she didn't cut down have all flowered, she will pick them and then cut the briars down and try to get the roots out. 

Why don't they just stay at the edge of the plots? This way she would not constantly have this war with them! Grrr. 

But the garden earth is very fertile and those evil roots creep around underground and if she does not dig them up and destroy those little shoots, the next minute they are up and growing to the sky!

Lapy-Sang time, she woke up very early with a strange dream, it is nearly seven of the morning clock, time for our first cup plus a cuddle.

I will be back later, no, I don't want to go to a wet and windy garden, I prefer to sit on pole and people watch to being wet and windblown, but she has to go.

PipPip.. Dear Readers.. PipPip.
May 21st, 2014.

PEONIES.. HER LITHUANIAN PEONIES.

Dear Readers, as you know, she is crazy-like-a-fool about Freesias, Lilacs, Peonies and Roses.

Now it does help that she has the space to grow all of these beautiful plants and the early Peony season has just started and oh, heavens-to-Betsy, they are going to be amaazing this year, not a spelling error!

Whoa.. singles of dark Fuchsia Pink with yellow stamens, doubles of the palest Pink, they are all so glorious, she cares not one jot that they are only with us for a short time, for who would want to get 'bored' with a Peony!

She grows a huge mix of the early, middle and late flowering varieties. (But, actually, I don't think we could or would ever be bored with any of these simply breathtakingly beautiful flowers).

There is a bucket of them in a cool place waiting to go upstairs to Tereza, along with a massive amount of dark fuchsia pink and white Geranium plants for all of her window boxes, they will be planted tomorrow morning.

We are just having a late mini snack'et before she does the ironing and puts away the bed linens, until LuLu's visit in late June.

Me? I am off to pole for a doze, for it has been a busy three days with those two cousins a'coming and a'going, why, I am plum tuckered out!

Yawn.. excuse me.

GeeGee Parrot.
May 19th, 2014.

MORE OF THE SAME BUT DIFFERENT.. OUT & ABOUT THEY WENT.

Sunday.. day of rest.. huh, not in this house!

Grapefruits and coffee for them and a boiled egg for me, a kiss on old Beaky and they, aka she and cousin Bruce, went out.. again. Sigh, that is the only disadvantage about having family or friends to stay, they don't 'stay' as it were, they go out and about!

Off to Parson's Green Farmer's Market to see Ellie Goat, such a glorious day but where was Debbie, there was no sign of her and then she realised that Debbie was not in her usual blue cold weather clothing but in a white t.shirt and shorts!

"Debbie meet Bruce.. now, where's the coffee stall?"

NOT HERE! Boring, have to do a walk up the road but Barossa's coffee maker was broken, so she had to cross the road and go into a charming, pretty place called Hally's, nice coffee and nice staff, good service.

Back to the Farmer's Market where all were well, it didn't seem that busy but Debbie said she was sold out of their delicious raw Goaty milk by 10.45am and as the market only opens at 10.00am, that was amazing, so no chance for Bruce to taste some but never mind, he had sampled everything else from the Goaty produce line and they had a few yummy things to eat with their coffees.

Farewells said, it was off for a Pizza lunch at Pizza@Home on the Old Brompton Road.

Nick is now a father in South Africa and Tasha is recuperating from an operation up in Gerrard's Cross. This brother and sister team started this place, oh, they were so funny and sweet to her, "get well soon Tasha".

They were going to do the Museums but it was too hot and there were too many people, so they went home to a deliciously cool flat and me.

I got to sit on his leg and his head but because old Nip had nipped, he wasn't having any of my naughty behaviour and waved an envelope at me, they can be so 'cheeky' relatives, have you found this Dear Readers?

Supper was a light collation of cold cuts and salad. It had been far too hot a day to do anything more. 
This morning at nine of the morning clock was the fast breaking tome, then to the V&A Museum to look at the Italian Fashion Exhibition for Jack, now if you have been concentrating you will know who Jack is,  then a walk home via Walton Street, into various shops, home, case had various items added to its' contents, then, in plenty of time, up the road onto Sloane Street.

Why pay xx when she has that Oyster card and when the little very handy C1 bus rolled up, with a hug and a touch of the bus pass, he was on his way to Victoria train station to catch the 1pm Gatwick Express. 

She came home to strip his bed, put the bed away and do his laundry. 

The garden will have loved all this hot weather and she has a very busy week ahead of her as the grass, which was already long when she did that dawn raid on Friday, will have to be cut, goodness knows how long it is now!

Never mind, she has that powerful trimmer and the little push-pull hand mower, so it is all do-able and manageable. 

For eating there should be a few asparagus spears left, she has let the majority of the spears go to seed as this will strengthen the plants. The first tiny artichokes that she noticed on Friday will be a good size by now.

Now it is time to start wings a'flapping, we hope you all had as happy a week-end and have a good week?

GeeGee Parrot.
May 19th, 2014.

HE BOUGHT ME WATERMELON.

I have decided that I prefer the company of humans to mice, proper food to bird food and as she told me in a underhand way that it was 'he', aka cousin Bruce, that bought me that large slice of juicy, pink watermelon, I shall tell Beaky and old Nip to behave.

Also, Dear Readers, they were not given any opportunity to do their worst yesterday. For cousin Bruce and she went out early and came back late!

Up to the West End they went, to McCullough & Wallis in Dering Street, down the stairs to Barnett & Lawson in Little Portland Street, one of her favourite haberdashery shops, then onto Kleins, to find they are closed at the weekends.

Pit-stop for a plate of Chinese YumYum.. Yum.

Back onto a bus to Chelsea and the King's Road, changed onto the 319 and trundle, trundle off to Tooting Bec and Balham High Road.

To the Wimbledon Sewing Machine Co. A quick trip across the road into Lidl for a few items and then back up onto Tooting High Road and into Tartine, a new patisserie and across the road to Bina. 

What a long and busy day, it may not sound tiring to you, Dear Readers, but the weather was very oppressive, muggy and sticky and there were thousands of people out & about! 

London is extremely busy, hot and noisy and when you live on the Isle of Man, it must seem like Hades! 

They went back to the flat, saw and spoke with Tereza, she left him at home as she had to say "good bye" to an old friend who works at the Homebase store on the Warwick Road. The store is closing, due to very sad circumstances and a lost Court case. 

He was not there but will be there next week, so she will have to go back. Home with a present from another friend of hers who also works there. 

A wonderful woven hanging basket planted with Rosemary, Apple Mint, Spearmint, Thyme, Sage and Marjoram.

Supper: Smoked Trout fillets on herbs with Horseradish Sauce, Pork Loin chops, Potato and Chive salad with Creme Fraiche (Lidl's, simply wonderful, try it and see) with our home grown lettuce, yes, they are growing in two hanging pots on the front wall!

Pudding: Egg custards with ginger syrup and the last of Daniela's patisseries. Lordly, those Sicilians know how to make 'Short' pastry (and all the other pastries as well!)

We think Bruce will be ordering a regular supply of these!

Bed.. asleep by half past nine!

Hey.. have you heard they have found the most gi-nomous Dynosaur EVER in Mexico? It was anounced yesterday by the BBC.

How she wishes Michael Crichton was still alive, he wrote that marvellous book 'Jurassic Park'.

So after going to meet Debbie at the Parson's Green Farmer's Market, they are off to The Natural History Museum to see their exhibition on Dynosaurs, the last time Bruce was there was in 1971, he will find it's changed a bit since then!

From there they will cross Exhibition Road to see the Italian Fashion Exhibition at The V&A Museum, second cousin Jack, Bruce's nephew, son of her cousin Steve, brother of Bruce, keep up.. no slacking.., don't you all have lots and lots of cousins?

Back to Jack, he wants to do fashion, there is a little surprise for him in his uncle's case, no, I am not telling you what 'it' is, he might read my Blog, suffice to say 'they' are fabulous!

Time to get up and rattle Spiny Apple and coffee with which to break everyone's fast! It is truly a glorious day, she has watered all of the pots outside and realised, oh dear, poor Brown Turkey fig badly needs another barrel or huge new pot! The old barrel has rotted and he is not a happy fig.

But there is nothing she can do today, it will be a messy job for her and the Wizard.

FlapFlap, Dear Readers, or as Zeberdee used to say "Time to go".

GeeGee Parrot.
May 18th, 2014.
Postscript: Zeberdee was a major character in a tv programme called The Magic Roundabout.

AND SO I GAVE HIM A NIP..

Dear Readers with just a kiss on old Beaky and "we'll be back later" she went off for the whole afternoon with this man I had never met before!

"Huh" was what I thought to that and plotted revenge.

Later, when they had come back from their junting with old Wicker Wheelie, she went to prepare and cook their supper.

I flew in to the sitting room to see what was a'going on and landed on the Durham Quilt. And there he was, sitting on the sofa, "well, that's just a flap away" I thought and flapped my way over there.

This large man did not seem to be frightened of me, that could soon be remedied, I thought and gave him one of Beaky's mini's finiest, aka a quick nip. Actually two nips if the truth were told, which it always should be.

Such a sneak, he told her when she came to give him a cup of tea! I got the fingers round the throat routine and told "no GeeGee, no nips or bites, not a good idea, you'll be banished to the bedroom with just cashew nuts for supper and the mouse for company".

Yes, regretfully we have a mouse in the house again.. grrr.

Supper was served, I wasn't given a look in on the starter but it looked remarkably like a small parcel of smoked salmon with some sort of filling on fresh herbs that she picked on the dawn raid of the garden. 

Bavette steak pan fried was next, at least she had the good manners to invite me to join her on the table and you would have been so very proud of me, Dear Readers, as I did not even think of molesting his plate or side dish of fruity cous cous.

And two boxes of Daniela's scrumptious Sicilian patisseries made dessert plus espresso coffee. No, I am pleased to tell you that they did not eat all of their box! Wasn't it a sweet gift from Daniela to give them a box each, as surely it saved them fighting over who was having what! 

And then it was time for her to go to bed, she had been on the go since six of the morning clock, we are normally still fast asleep at that time. The day had been busy and today seems to be planned for more off the same.

She gave him the password for the WiFi, a carafe of water and they said "goodnight".

Who is he? Oh, I am sorry Dear Readers, I forgot to say, he is cousin Bruce. Her 'Bob's your uncle's' son, you see, as she has told you before, she did have an uncle called 'Bob'!

GeeGee Parrot.
May 17th, 2014.

Furniture wax & Lavender..

Are smells from her childhood. 

Sitting room dusted, polished, tidied and vacuumed.. tick! Hall dusted, polished, tidied and vacuumed.. tick! Bathroom dusted, polished, scrubbed, tidied and vacuumed.. tick! 

Which leaves only the kitchen to do tomorrow morning and then it is finished. "Please can we have people to stay more often?"

We used to have lots of people to stay all the time and it meant that the place was already ready for them but we notice that people are not travelling so much or often these days.

However, we do have LuLu from NYC coming for a night sometime in June so that means the place will stay tidy for at least a month!

It was not actually all her fault this last time, with not having got around to building the solar house, all the seedlings were started off at home, a messy business, to say the least!

But they are now all out of the house, so the 'yella' room is now immaculate! 

His bed is made, his towels are on the chair, a man sized towelling robe has been found, the only thing left to do is to finish the kitchen and to make a very early run to the garden to pick Peonies for Tereza and Roses for us.

Whoops, is that the time, time to go, otherwise we will not want to get up early tomorrow morning. Good night, Dear Readers, she has a very busy three days ahead of her, taking her cousin Bruce around and about showing him 'her' town.

PipPip.. bed time for us dollies!

GeeGee Parrot.
May 15th, 2014.

RALPH LAUREN'S GIFTS TO THE MEDICAL WORLD..

This, Dear Readers, is really a post script to my previous post. It will give you further information about the Philanthropic Initiative of Ralph Lauren.

Since 1990, he has been giving extraordinary gifts to the American nation in form of massive donations, think multi-millions of dollars, which have gone to creating Cancer Research and Treatment Centers. (That is how it is spelt in America).

Georgetown University Medical Center, Washington, DC.

The Sloan-Kettering Hospital, New York City.

Here are two websites for you to look at so that you can properly appreciate what these donations have meant to the American people.

www.investor.ralphlauren.com

www.global.ralphlauren.com

Bill was treated at Georgetown University MC.

GeeGee Parrot.
May 14th, 2014..

RALPH LAUREN'S INCREDIBLE & EXTREMELY GENEROUS GIFT.

The 'black tie' dinner given by HRH The Prince William of Cambridge at Windsor Castle yesterday 'may' have seemed like a very large group of fancy folk wearing fancy clothes quaffing fancy champagne and eating fancy food.

What it really was a large group of people who are 'Friends' aka supporters and staff of The Royal Marsden Hospital and Prince William who has been closely involved with the hospital since 2007.

If you don't know what this hospital does, then you are most fortunate. For the specialisation of this hospital is cancer.

And last night it was revealed to the world that Mr. Ralph Lauren, the American designer, has given a multi-million pound donation to the hospital.

It will be called 'The Ralph Lauren Breast Cancer Centre' and will be located at the Chelsea Branch of the hospital and will open next year. There is another branch of the hospital in Marsden, Surrey. 


Since 2013, Mr. Lauren has already been donating the UK profits from his 'Pink Pony' range from both the shops and the UK website to the Royal Marsden Cancer Centre.

This, Dear Readers, is Philanthropy (albeit on a major scale) and to those of you who scorn our royal family and look upon social events such as this as a waste of time, think twice. 

First of all, the senior members of our royal family can draw people like no other bunch of people except big film or music stars, many of whom attended the event last night. 

And every person who attended last night's event at the Castle wore a suit or a dress, shoes etc. So now back up and look at the materials that made those items, hairdressers / dress makers / tailors / shoemakers / taxi companies.. do you see where money goes, it flows directly to other people.

The staff at Windsor all support their families, the food they ate and the wines they drank were all grown and made by people who earned money to support their families.

This act of extraordinary generosity, no-one has twisted this man's arm and he is not British, by the way, is just that.. an gift of extraordinary generosity. 

She has a young cousin who works at The Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children as their Development Manager. 

We know that she would dearly love to be told that something in the manner of a philanthropic gift of this magnitude was going to be given to her hospital.

They have patients who are children of families whose earnings and wealth are enormous, I wonder how many of them put their cheque books on the table like this man has done? 

Mr. Lauren was treated for a brain tumour twenty five years ago but not at the Marsden hospital.

Why has this struck such a cord with her, why is she so pleased that Mr. Lauren has done this? Ah, well, back in the mists of time, 1979, to be precise, she was 'poached' from Guerlain to be the head of a new Perfume team in Harrods Perfumery. 

The short version follows.. they opened with a scented insert in the Colour Magazine of The Saturday Telegraph. They sold the first delivery of stock within four days, it was supposed to be sufficient for six weeks. 

It remains, to this very day, the biggest and the most successful fragrance launch ever in the UK. The name of the Perfumes, come now, surely you must have guessed?

'Polo for Men' and 'Lauren for Women' by Ralph Lauren were their names.

"Thank you Ralph, as an ex-employee and as a breast cancer patient who has been treated at and by The Royal Marsden Hospital, I thank you and may God bless you".

GeeGee Parrot.
May 14th, 2014.

BONES..

No, Dear Readers, I am not talking of hers or mine but 'Butchers' Bones'.

She has a charming friend, a very glamorous Lebanese, who is much too young to have grand children of over twenty. Their friendship is such that 'if you are passing and want tea or coffee, ring the bell'. 

Today she did that and was immediately swept into the cosy kitchen and offered "what do you want, have you eaten, etc, etc", I hope that you do know or have friends like this, because they are 'food for the soul' type of friends.

Yabba yabba, they always have lots to chat about but the reason she had gone to see her friend was to give her a sachet.

Myra had very sweetly previously given her a small packet of Lebanese Seven Spice, the packet had come in from a German Importer, when she rang them to see if she could get some, the price was very high.

This morning after taking Rebecca to school she jumped a bus to the market as she thought "Huh, I bet my guys in Fulham could get or might even have this stuff in stock" and off she went to see her Jordanian market friend.

"Absolutely, we have and sell this, what size packet are you looking for, ours is 50g and in a vacuum pack, it is 99p" he said. She took one for Myra (leaving the price label on it).

A quick trip into PoundWorld got her ten of their marvellous moth-proof clothes bags, such a great product.


Back on the bus, off at our stop, a very short walk and ting-a-ling on Myra's door bell.

She had her coffee, then produced the sachet saying "Lookie lookie, what I have found for you" and gave it to her friend, whose face was a study!

"Where did you find this, when can we go, do they have everything?" she said "yes" to everything and then mentioned the magic words "and also this marvellous grain called Freekeh".

This elicited a squeal of delight and a huge smile, Myra said "Oh, that is such a great memory of my childhood, I adore it, cooked with stock of any kind and with vegetables or meat or fish".

She was asked to stay for a late lunch but declined as there was still work to be done and last but not least, there was a small grey person waiting for her late lunch.

We had beef stock with our Freekeh, with slivers of Hamburg parsley, celeriac, dried barberries, two chopped cloves of garlic and some sumac spice.

Three cups of cold water to one and a half cups of Freekeh, gently to boil and left to simmer, two very lean pork loin chops were gently pan fried. Two steamed beetroots and a dollop potatoes, sliced into creme fraiche with just picked chives. 

What a magnificent lunch! You see what I mean, Dear Readers, about why I prefer eating Human food instead of dried seed and nuts aka Bird food.

I ate off the side of her plate, having several beak-fuls of everything, I am very partial to steamed beetroots, but am banned from being anywhere near the sitting room because there is a white carpet and yellow upholstery. (think about it!)

But it is those bones that really do it, you can, of course, cook Freekeh in plain water but with stock from beef, chicken, fish, lamb or pork bones it has the magical ability to unlock your jaw and for you to eat like a python! It is SO tasty.

We are having a little doze, much like a python would after eating, then she will go back and finish the sitting room, she is on the final furlong, the end is finally in sight. 

She will make his bed today, then all that has to be done is the dusting, which she will do early on Friday morning.

Back to my favourite subject.. Food.

Bones, Dear Readers, shame upon your butcher if he does not offer them for sale or give them to you when he has boned out a piece of meat for you and shame upon you if you buy your meat from an anonymous super market when there are great butchers to get 'proper' meat from.

Buy bones and make stock, reduce it, then freeze it in ice trays and keep them in a box or a bag so you can add them to your dishes. 

No: chemicals, false tastes, msg. Just proper food.

Slurp.

GeeGee Parrot.
May 13th, 2014.

SHE GOT AN EARFUL & A TAP ON HER HAND.

Zoom.. she out of the door like a rocket as she realised it was, gulp, nearly time she should be at the surgery.

Just in time she squeaked through the door, the receptionist grinned and said "go straight up, you are his first patient".

Up the stairs, his door was open, she went in, sat down and they said "good morning" to each other.

He asked her what was going on. She back tracked to catching the stomach bug weekend before last and brought him up to date. 

He looked at her rather sharply, tapped on his key board, brought up a file and read it, then turned around and let rip at her! 

No, I ain't going to repeat his exact words but she has not been spoken to like this since Hugo did it a couple of times when she had done something really silly or incredibly dangerous and as Hugo has been dead for over thirty years, it was a bit of a shock and then he 'tapped' her on her hand! 

Oh dear, Dear Readers, he was so cross with her, he then went back to his keyboard and must have pressed 'Print' for a paper snaked out of his printer, he handed it to her and said "You've seen this I know, please read me the last paragraph".

And then she 'got-it', she got why he was angry and cross with her, she had completely forgotten, because 'all' has been ok for so long, that she is supposed to carry this letter with her at all times and if, heaven forbid, she ever haemorrhages, she is to go immediately to A&E at the hospital and upon showing them the letter, she would be admitted for twenty four hours observation.

He banished her outside as he said "I want to speak with one of your three specialists", five minutes later he called her back and told her what they had said.

"The window of opportunity has passed, you are to go immediately for blood tests and to promise me that, even if it is in the middle of the night, if you start to bleed you are to go immediately to the hospital, is that clear?". Big gulp, "yes, Dr .....".

He then stood up, gave he a hug and said "do not frighten me or cause me to be angry with you like this ever again, please".

She said "thank you Dr ..... and I'll go now to have the blood tests, byebye" and left.

COR.. is what she thought as she walked down the stairs and out of the surgery, what an amazing medical team she is blessed with. And headed off immediately to the nearest hospital.

The rest of the day, which was spent running around town, was uneventful, thank goodness!

We are having an early night as she is walking a small person to school tomorrow, so "goodnight" to you all. 'Gordon Bennett', what a day..

GeeGee Parrot.
May 12th, 2014. 

WE KNOW PRECISELY WHERE THE STORM WAS..

Because at three of the afternooon clock whilst she was chatting to Arun, he announced his arrival in Streatham Hill with a very loud bang!

Then the heavens opened and it started to rain in very large bathloads! Buckets do not signify how much rain was falling. 

He was thrilled to hear about Miss Fortuna, the little bitter orange tree that he gave to her two weeks ago, she is thriving in her new pot with the new soil and lots of yumyum. New leaves and a few flowers all denote a healthy plant.

"How lovely, she will be so thrilled with these fresh vegetables, thank you" he said when she handed him the bag of greens that she had picked yesterday for them.

With a quick peek at the basement which has been opened up and a wave, she was off down the road.

Dear old wicker wheelie, he doesn't mind the weather at all, is so helpful for can you imagine having to carry a fat watermelon home on a bus? 

That is what she was in search of as we finished one this morning. She knew they were good for you but was not aware of how good they are for you! Are you still with me, keep up at the back there! 

They are full of all manner of minerals and other such valuable things and share an antioxidant compound with tomatoes, Lycopene is what gives the red colour to tomatoes and watermelons.

As she always breaks her night's fast with one particular type of fruit and watermelons are in season, it is a delicious way to start her day, nothing goes to waste, she pares the flesh right down to the hard green skin and I, of course, stand there waiting for those seeds. 

She was not quite quick enough for my liking this morning, I had to rattle my saucer and got a very cheeky response! Huh, the point was that because it was cut open yesterday, the watermelon smell wafted around Beaky as soon as we went into YumYum HQ.

But she fiddled about, putting my egg onto boil, yes, I eat a soft boiled egg every morning, getting her coffee made and all the while, Beaky is waiting to give those crisp seeds a good beaking.

Eventually, I got a huge dollop of them, they are so snappy-happy-&-crack!

She came home via Bartek, how we love that shop! The staff are charming, the food is beyond delicious and her friend, the butcher, has been given a new counter! A huge one all to himself! 

Then it was back onto the bus, meanwhile it was still tipping it down with rain and she was really happy that she did the work on that bed yesterday. 

This is the sort of weather that we need now and again, mind you, we could do without the strength of these winds, poor old mr.artichoke as he will not like being pummelled about at all. 

Bump-bump down the stairs came old wheelie, she whistled, I stretched and flew into the hall, time for an early supper, delicious things appeared from the Bartek bag, sauerkraut, which we had run out of, a pickled garlic which she will use with some pork loin, a small 'Hamburg' parsley and an equally small celeriac which we like grated over potato salad.

Oh, she had been so disciplined! She has eaten no bread since March 29th, normally she makes her own Tuscan bread which has no salt in it, or rye or sourdough bread but it tends to 'disappear' very quickly, much best not to either make it or buy it.

Why so disciplined? Well, Bartek sell brilliant breads and cheesecake and other truly scrummy stuff, none of which are passing her lips at the present time. 

Yes, she is on a form of regime, such a nicer word than diet, she is eating much less and taking much more exercise and several people have commented on it.

The gratifying thing is that clothes fit, of course, much better when you are your normal size, she had gained weight, too much bread and not enough exercise was the reason. 

So there we are, Dear Readers, there is only one more smidgen of news and that is that her dear LuLu is a'coming to London for a week in June. How nice it will be to see her again. 

It is an 'at home' day tomorrow, for there is that humungous pile of ironing to do, our sitting room still looks like a green house and cousin Bruce arrives for the week end on the 16th.. gulp!

"Nothing to do with me" I mutter in a very small voice, "you know I can't push mr.dyson or rub furniture.." heehee.

PipPip Dear Readers PipPip, I hope you are enjoying your week end, whatever you are doing and wherever you are doing it?

GeeGee Parrot.
May 10th, 2014.