SOMETHING TO MAKE YOU CHUCKLE.

As it is my last post of February, I thought I would share a cartoon with you that has made us laugh.

                                                                 I'M ALWAYS 

                                                        DISAPPOINTED WHEN 

                                                        A LIAR'S PANTS DON'T 

                                                           ACTUALLY CATCH 

                                                                     ON FIRE.

With which we say "Goodnight" to you all and we'll write lots more posts for you in March.

GeeGee Parrot.

February 28th, 2015.

THE OLIVE TREE DISASTER IN ITALY.. PRAY THAT IT DOESN'T SPREAD ANY FURTHER.

The first time she heard about it was in the late autumn of 2013, Marina Orpin had Italian friends whose family are major olive oil producers. They had told her of a particular bacteria called Xylella Fastidiosa which had come in from America.

The bacteria is carried by an aphid and has infected a MILLION trees, some of which are truly ancient, in the region of Puglia over an area of over 74,000 acres.

This means that entire groves, whose trees were amongst the oldest in Italy, have had to be cut down and destroyed. As you can well imagine, the other oil producing areas, Tuscany, Umbria and Lazio are on VERY high alert and taking drastic action to protect their trees.

The Italian Civil Protection Agency has been put in charge of this crisis. For it is not just the loss of the trees and the oil but the loss of thousands of jobs which are involved in the production of the oil. For in Lecce province in Puglia alone, an estimated 7,500 people work in the industry.

Last year was unseasonably cold and wet and the harvest was poor, what fruits did survive were then attacked by this extremely aggressive aphid, which burrows its' way into the fruit laying larvae that develop into maggots!

'Pietro Sandall, rhe head of Unaprol, the Italian Olive Growers Consortium, described the harvest as the worst in living memory'. So if you have noticed a sharp rise in the cost of your usual bottle of Italian Olive Oil, this is the reason.

Pray to God that it does not spread its' evil wings and fly across to Spain, Portugal and Greece!

And this, Dear Readers, is why each country has the equivalent of our Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries and why it is NOT clever OR smart to smuggle plants or seeds into another country. Always go to a proper nursery who carry the revelant exportation / importation paperwork for plants and trees.

Who knows how the aphid got into Italy but the damage it is causing is of biblical proportions and it will certainly not be rectified quickly.

She has done a little bit of work in the back room, putting things back into the major store cupboard in the hall and getting out bedding for we have two guests coming to stay. She needs to get the step ladder into this cupboard and put things away onto the top shelf.

Long winter coats need to go into moth-proof bags and be put away, it feels a bit like Spring is beginning to strut her stuff but huh.. we know how evil and cold March and April can be and as most of the USA is experiencing some truly disgusting weather, which usually arrives here about six weeks later, she won't be putting her heavy, long winter jacket away yet nor her mock furry hat.

But it is good to be lazy sometimes, besides which that huge pot of pork broth keeps calling her, "come and drink me.. come and drink me.. come and drink me", so she does!

Me. I 'decorated' the YumYum cupboards with some pomegranate juice, had a beak or two of fresh hummous, some seeds and most of another rosy red and green apple which she put on the bed for me.

All is well in our lives, however, we are appalled at the news of the assasination of Boris Nemtsov in Moscow and other gruesome news that you can or will read for yourselves in the papers or on-line today.

Oi vey.. is what we say. Stay safe.. be kind and loving and walk on the sunny side of the street, both mentally and physically.

GeeGee Parrot.
February 28th, 2015.

RUM & ORANGE BABAS.. and what we are having for lunch.

Are you ready, reallyreally ready to rock & roll and make these naughty Babas?

OK, in which case you better check your pantries and hurry-scurry out to buy whatever you don't have in order to make these eight scrummy puds!

For 8 BABAS.
200g of plain flour + extra for dusting work surface.
2 medium sized eggs.
1/2 teaspoonful of salt.
2 tablespoons caster sugar.
2 SEVILLE oranges.. you want very finely grated zest.
100g cubed and soft unsalted butter.
80ml lukewarm semi-skimmed milk.
7g sachet of dried yeast.
Vegetable oil for greasing tins.

SYRUP.
3 SEVILLE oranges which have been zested and then squeezed.
325 golden caster sugar.
300ml of dark rum.
Cold water.

Babas method.
Grease the eight muffin holes with the vegetable oil.
Mix the yeast with the warmed milk and 1/2 teaspoonful of caster sugar in a small bowl.
Place in a warmplace until the mix is frothy - about 10 minutes.
Sift the flour with the salt into a large bowl, make a hole in the centre and stir in the frothy yeast mix.
Add the eggs, remaining sugar, orange zest and butter and stir until you get a sticky dough.
Turn the sticky dough out onto a floured work surface and knead for 10 minutes until smooth.
Add more flour if you have to.
Place the dough into a large greased bowl and cover with clingfilm and leave it in a warm place for at least an hour, the dough should double in size.
With floured hands, divide the dough into 8 evenly shaped balls.
Preheat the oven to 200C or Gas Mark 6.
Put them into the greased muffin holes and cover with lightly greased clingfilm, place in a warm place for another hour.Remove the clingfilm and place the Babas into the oven for 10 minutes.
Then reduce the heat to 180C or Gas Mark 4 & cook for a further 10 minutes until Babas are golden.
OR your skewer comes clean.
Remove from oven and allow to cool.

Syrup method.
Pour the juice of 3 SEVILLE oranges into a jug and make the liquid upto 300ml with cold water.
Combine the liquid with the zest and sugar in a saucepan over a medium heat until the sugar starts to dissolves.
Bring very gently to the boil without stirring for 3 minutes until the liquid is slightly thickened.
Remove from the heat and stir in the rum.

Remove the cooled Babas from their tins, place them into a deep container and pour over the syrup.
Cover tightly and place into the fridge for upto 12 hours, this allows the Babas to soak up all the syrup.

They are delicious served with softly whipped double cream, a couple of slices of SWEET orange and a little of their zest.

Now, let's talk about a more pressing subject.. the lead up to our lunch..

The four trays of pork bones, the two trotters (aka pigs feet) went into her JUMBO stock pot last night, she has a jumbo and a medium sized one. The medium sized one is the one she uses for fish or chicken stock but for bigger bones like beef or pork, she uses the jumbo.

What else went in? Three stalks of green celery, a dessert spoonful of dried (homegrown) purple sage, lots of freshly ground black pepper, three big carrots, 3 bayleaves, the pot was topped up to the top of the bones with filtered water.

It went on at about six of the evening clock and when she went to bed at ten of the evening clock, it had reduced greatly, the taste was out of this world and the smell was divine! She had two mugs, just to check it was drinkable, you see.

Then she took the bones, one by one and stripped off most of the meat. This was soft and very tasty, it went into a tub, allowed to cool and put in to chilly white larder. She refilled the pot to the top of the bones with more filtered water.

This morning.. yumyum.. she made our fast breaking egg and toast and relit the stove but on a much lower setting, it will hubble-bubble for most of today.

At about one of the afternoon clock, she'll take some of the pork meat from the chilly white larder and about a litre of the broth / stock to make a Freekeh Risotto, she'll chop up a stalk of celery, a carrot, an onion and put in a large handful of wonderful barberries to add the all important zing.

When before the freekeh and vegetables are cooked, she'll shred and add the pork meat and that, Dear Readers, will be our late lunch, we'll have nuts and fruit for supper.

She was going to the library, but there are more important things to do at home. There is laundry to do, a room to dust and tidy, a cupboard to organise and a letter to write, besides doing her monthly figures. Yes folks, today is the last day of February.

Now off you go to get those missing ingredients for the Babas and I hope that you all enjoy them as much as we did.

GeeGee Parrot.
February 28th, 2015.

IT'S TOOTIE - FRUITIE TIME.. AKA ROLL OUT THOSE SEVILLES!

Because all those lubbly-jubbly winter fruits are in town! Yes sirree.. ten unwaxed lemons and eight juicy-lucy oranges for a quid each! Pomegranates two for a quid with their ruby-like seeds.. oh winter fruits are just fabulous, are they not?

She eventually pushed off out of here and left me to snooze in peace, she had to go to the V&A Museum as their website had crashed, hundreds of people are trying to book their tickets for the Savage Beauty Mc.Queen show which starts in March.

Then a hop onto the bus and a crawly-seriously-slow bus journey to North End Road.. there didn't seem to be any particular reason for the delay, just lots and lots of traffic.

Into the bank for a ten pound note, you have to have cash for the stalls, ten lemons and two big pomegranates from Karen. The Seville oranges had all gone by this time, so she'll pick them up tomorrow.Two pots of hummous and a packet each of brown bulgar wheat and freekeh. Then across the road to the butchers.

Two packs of duck breasts, two chorizo sausages, a piece of belly of pork, two pigs trotters and four trays of pork bones was her swag from Messrs Dickinson. Followed by very quick pit-stop into Waitrose, their price for a carton of James White's Beetroot juice is the best in town and she lurves the stuff.

Then it was jiggedy-jig all the way home by bus. Except she got off one stop earlier than normal and crossed the road and went into Orsini's, a family run restaurant situated almost opposite the V&A, her reservation made, she inquired about the owner who is extremely unwell. "We'll know more in a weeks' time, he is in Germany having some treatment" said a smiley waitress, poor family.. sigh.

Bumpbumpbump went old WW has they came down our steps.. he was laden to the brim and she was too tired to go out again to the library. What's she got, I wondered.. ooh, apples, plenty of tasty food for the week end and more of my favourite bread.

Now, have you made any marmalade yet? It doesn't have to be made from Seville Oranges you know. You could make it out of lemons or limes or grapefruits but seville marmalade is the best! Slurp with proper rye toast and tomorrow, she is going to teach you how to make the most wonderful pudding..

RUM & ORANGE BABAS? Well, are you ready? If so, come back tomorrow and we'll give you the recipe!

Now there are things a'brewing that we have to take care of in the YumYum HQ. Enjoy your week end and we'll give you lots of ideas for yummy-scrummy things to eat besides that naughty old Baba!

GeeGee Parrot.
February 27th, 2015.

The foot bone connected to the leg bone, the leg bone connected to the knee bone, the knee bone connected to the thigh bone.

Yes, Butchers have dem bones.. And the foot bone connected to the leg bone, the leg bone connected to the knee bone, the knee bone connected to the thigh bone.. "stop being silly GeeGee" she said when I launched into song.. huh.. but WHO can remember who sang it, I mumbled.

Huh.. answer me that. She gave me a sly look and said "Peter O'Toole in a film called 'The Ruling Class, now stop mucking about and tell me what you want me to write in this post".

Back to bones.. we're having a Foodie Day today, just in time for those of you who are Londoners but don't know Broadway Market. We usually go to this wonderful and VERY old street market on a Sunday and combine it with a visit to see her most beloved Angela Flanders in Columbia Road.

But now Angela has the shop at 4. Artillery Passage, Spitalfields, London E1 7LJ which opened in 2010. Goodness me, is it really five years since she opened this enchantingly pretty second shop, where DOES time go? She doesn't have to limit herself to Sundays and she could go to Broadway Market seven days a week. Which, I might tell you, if it was nearer, she would! Oh.. the food stalls.. and the other types of stalls aren't shabby either!

Broadway Market - opening times. Broadway Market is off the Hackney Road.
Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday Friday 16.00 - 23.00.
Saturday & Sunday 10.00 - 23.00.

The last time she went to Broadway Market it was with Carolyn from Hawaii, they ate Falafel and Carolyn said it was the best she had ever tasted, mind you, she never tasted the ones that are made by a shop we buy a lot of groceries from, UR Supermarket in the North End Road!

One stall is / was a brilliantly coloured and seriously pretty stall covered in quilts! The man who owned and ran the stall told her the story. There used to be a company up in the north of England who employed lots and lots of people and they made quilts and eiderdowns.. OH.. a proper Eiderdown is just the best thing to sleep under, a Duvet is NOT the same.

The company closed many years ago and he had found all of the stock just lying there in the abandoned building! She told some friends in the decorating trade about it and they were in shock! For the quilts were a. beautiful and b. NOT expensive!

Now, I cannot guarantee that he is still there. But there are lots and lots of other interesting stalls, it is well worth a trip, take a strong basket (or two), some cash and go for lunch! Slurpy times are indeed a'waiting for you!

Now back to dem bones.. she has to go out to collect our weekly supply of bones and change some books at the library. Last week, as you know, she got two very heavy chickens, their meat is in the freezer, she froze a lot of the broth / stock and we've used a lot too. We have enough for today and tomorrow which is perfect timing, for new bones need a good few hours to give up their treasure.

So she is off to get bones and hummous and to show her new hair off to Karen.. who being a friend will ooh and ah and give her head a good going over, she better make sure I haven't left any feathers up there!

Then she has to come back and book two tickets on-line for the Savage Beauty Mc.Queen exhibition at the V&A Museum. Yes, you remember she broke the news on my Blog before the world press knew about it. How did she know that it had been arranged? Ah, well, she knows a lot of people does my mum and some of them have incredibly BIG jobs, she did tell them she was going to 'blow' it and her friend laughed and said "Do it!"

Why is she booking two tickets, well, she's taking Granny Jo, why is she taking Granny Jo? Well, you see in 1975, FORTY years ago next month, she had the massive kidney operation, no keyhole in 1975 and it was Granny Jo, with her amazing excercise classes, who put her back together again. Just like Humpty Dumpty!

So now you are all up to speed and she better get her act into gear! Hahaha.. I know, one should not laugh at one's own jokes but I thought that was pretty good for a frosty February morn!

FlapFlap folks.. FlapFlap..

GeeGee Parrot.
February 27th, 2015.

EVERYBODY'S DOING IT.. DOING IT.. DOING IT.. EVERYBODY'S MAKING BROTH!

Yes, everybody's doing it, they're all boiling bones 'cos broth is hot! Like fashionably HOT and HOT in temperature and, by golly, it does you good.

The Evening Standard wrote about it in yesterday's issue.. on page 29 continuing onto page 30. The writer of the article, Susannah Butler, wrote 'think posh Bovril!' Daft woman.. broth or stock (as it is called by people who have ALWAYS made it ever since they grew up (?) and started cooking proper food) is no more like Bovril than I am like a Macaw.

But, at least the article gets people aware of it, as there are an awful lot of people out there who think they are good cooks who have absolutely NO idea as to how to make it.

And coincidently today, she received an email one of her favourite Food Blogs, Simply Recipes.. oh lordy, that woman shares great recipes with equally great photographs! Today she was giving, don't you love the generosity of these people, the best recipe for French Onion Soup and she said "BEEF BROTH is what you need". Tis true, for the best soup always starts with a great broth / stock, haven't we been banging on about this for ages?

I wish WE did photos, every Blog has photos I say to her, she looks at me and says, "we don't, get over it!"

Moving swiftly along.. she went out just before midday and didn't come home until past seven, it was a good thing I had those dreary seeds to eat, wasn't it?

And when she did come home, I squeaked, for she looked VERY different! She is now a creamy, silvery blonde! They took such a HUGE amount of trouble to get it absolutely perfect, the two colour technicians who worked on her haircolour for over FIVE hours were thrilled with it and so is she, very BIG HUGS were hugged!

But having arrived home, she soon realised the important thing in life and this was making us a proper supper, oh yum, fish was the dish tonight. A piece of salmon cooked on a dry hot plate, seasoned but with no oil, perfect. Slurpyslurp. It was reallyreally good, especially after having had to eat that 'Bird Food' all day.

Now there is an unsuspecting apple waiting to be Beaked and then I have to go and perch on her head to make sure that those two techies didn't fiddle about with 'my nest' too much.

"Now come along little red apple.. don't roll away like that.. come to Beaky".

GeeGee Parrot.
February 26th, 2015.

FANCY USING THE WRONG WORD.. HUH!

It is / was NOT good enough, I mean, fancy writing 'remain' when I said 'RETAINS', I am referring to the bit where she wrote about our beloved Freekeh, oh, if only my toes could tap.. sigh. But they're really the wrong shape to do this on iPad and you all know what old Beaky would do! So all I can do is apologise and hope it won't happen again.

We heard from Fleur-Marie this morning, she is now in Los Angeles and she has put her in touch with two friends who live in California. Patsy lives way up north on an Avocado farm.. imagine being able to eat a fresh avocado, the though alone makes her mouth water. NOT mine, for it would kill me. Char lives down in Pasadena, so she is much nearer to Fleur-Marie.

She's off out at midday, I saw her putting a bowl of bird food on my cupboard where my water bowl lives.. sigh.. no hot human lunch for me then.. cold bird seeds and an apple is my lot for lunch today, I hope you all went "oh dear, poor GeeGee" upon reading this tragic news.

No response from the Kitchen of Alohna, I wonder where they're based? Does anyone out there know of them, for their jam is delicious and it will be tasty on ice cream, that is if it lasts long enough until the weather is warm enough to eat ice cream.

Fleur-Marie wrote that the weather was sunny and that she was warm.. really.. do one's friends have to torture us like this? Granny Jo wrote from New York City that it was FREEZING and that she had NEVER been so cold in her life and that she was looking forward to coming home and having her own bed.

There is something very special about one's own bed AND pillows, is there not? She has a selection of different pillows on our bed, a fat neck roll, two large square feather pillows, two oblong feather pillows and a strange looking one that is deeper / fatter on one side than the other, it is made of bungy stuff. You almost expect it to squeak.

Well, it is time for her to gather up her stuff but first she has to wash, yes, I know its' very late to be doing this and then she has waddle off down the road looking like the Michelin tyre man, I saw her take her wig out of its' hidey hole, old wig helps to keep her head warm. Thick tights, boots, woolen trousers and multiple layers of thermal vest and at least two sweaters will complete the slightly 'stout' look.

Very few people are actually aware of how very slim my mum actually is! It is too cold to be running about in skinny jeans, therefore multiple layers are worn for most of the year, it would be lovely to be properly warm again as in warm weather warm she says. I agree. Central heating is NOT the same!

So I'm off to investigate this 'ere bowl of seeds and she is off to the bathroom. Stay warm folks and AWAY from the seashore or flooded areas. It transpires that there truly are some very, very stupid, as in extremely foolish, people out there and their stupidity means that other people have to go in and try and rescue them.. grrrr.

Oh, look, the sun has come out!

GeeGee Parrot.
February 25th, 2015.

JUST A LITTLE BIT.. JUST A LITTLE BIT.. JUST A LITTLE BIT OF SOMETHING SWEET!

Generally her taste in food runs (fast) towards savoury things but now and again, sweet things fall into our lap or onto our plate which are extremely hard to resist.

So why bother.. resisting.. is what we say!

As we wrote earlier, a mysterious package in the form of a white plastic bag was left on our front door earlier today. We knew the person who put it there, it was one of les trois filles who live at the top of our house BUT we didn't know what it contained.. I love surprises and so does she.

It turned out to be a jar of Peach Vanilla Bean Ginger Jam.. From the Kitchen of Alohna.. we don't know any more details apart from an email address to which she has written.. because it is SO good!

She broke the sealed top and took a little teaspoonful.. oh taste buds! Yippee.. such a good mix of flavours and you all know how we love ginger in our food and drink.

And this is has sparked off a purchase she will make on Saturday, pears, for they are in the market and at wonderful prices. Dark very hard ones and the sweeter red skinned ones but both varieties are delicious, just different!

However, she has a recipe which makes pears into nectar for the Gods and here it is!

You need a pear for each person and we make it with Ginger Syrup and Apple juice but you can also make it with a sweet dessert wine and water.

400g of golden caster sugar.
450ml of good apple juice.
100ml of Ginger syrup.
2 pieces of star anise - NOT whole ones!
1 stick of cinnamon.
2 strips of lemon peel.
4 ripe pears, peeled stalks left on.

Put the sugar, apple juice, syrup, cinnamon, star anise, lemon peel into a deep saucepan and bring it gently to the boil, turn the heat down and simmer for ten minutes.
Trim the pears so they will stay on the bases and place into the liquid.
Turn the heat up a fraction and continue to poach the pears for about 20 minutes.
The length of time REALLY depends on which variety of pear you are poaching and the size of the pears.
Conference will take the longest as they are so hard.
Poke them gently with a sharp knife to see if they are cooked.
Put them into a bowl and pour on the spiced syrup.

They are equally delicious hot or cold and are scrummydumptious with a reallyreally good icecream!

There you are folks.. it has been a Three Post Day, this means she must be feeling much better to have tapped old iPad so much for me.. now it is nearly my bewitching hour aka the dreaded bedtime.So I must be away.. but we will be back to amuse and amaze you tomorrow.. PipPip.. Chocks away..

GeeGee Parrot.
February 24th, 2015.

BUT WHEN SHE GOT THERE, THE CUPBOARD WAS BARE!

Now folks, you all know that's a gross fib! For when would I ever allow our food cupboards to be in such a dreadful state as bare?

However, what were missing were the Arborio Rice and the tin of Salmon. What WAS there was a sack (Arborio also comes in sacks and this one was standing with its' skinny side looking out) of PAELLA Rice and the tin turned out to be Clams!

HUH.. this meant that there had to be a major and speedy rethink of our lunch time menu, I am glad that there wasn't a line of hopeful Risotto eaters standing on our steps, for they would have had to go away with empty tummies.

"Ok.. now let's see what we DO have" said she, climbing up onto the small steps to peer into the rice and pasta cupboard. "Got it.. this will wonderfully with celery, carrots, chicken stock and albacore tuna"..

It turned out to be a box, we keep everything that moths or weevils would like to eat in tall clip-on lid plastic boxes with a few bay leaves tucked in amongst the contents, of FREEKEH, oh yo, happy days!

Freekeh, if you are unfamilar with this grain, is young wheat which has been roasted and cracked. It is highly nutricious, very high in fibre and it has a low glycemic index so it is suitable for managing diabetes. It contains the following trace metals: calcium, iron, potassium and sodium. We both love it for it remains a bit of crunchiness which is delicious.

So chopchop went two onions into olive oil to soften, then two cups of Freekeh were added and gently fried and turned so every grain was coated in oil, in went the juice of one lemon and four cups of chicken stock (see how versatile this lubbly-jubbly stuff is and how often she uses it), freshly ground black pepper, a little sea salt crumbled, then a carrot cut into quarters lengthwise and sliced and a sliced stalk of celery.

The heat under the big frying pan was turned up to boil, then back to simmer and we went off into the bathroom where she washed her hair. It was towel dryed and combed back, then we went back to find the freekeh almost ready.. a big tin of albacore tuna was tipped in as well as its' water, a bit more seasoning was added and with a good stir, it was ready.

OH, MY GOODNESS ME.. write it down quick folks, because it was absolutely fabulous!

The taste of the lemon juice with the tuna was a great combination and the crunchy celery and carrots were a good foil to the freekeh which still had a bit of a bite.

So now we are having a little 'Time-Out'. I'm up on my favourite perch on top a cuboard, for some weird reason she doesn't want me on her head, strange that, for I was allowed there this morning when she read the papers.

She has a couple of things to do and then we will write my next post, yes folks, it's a three day post today, it will be about the mysterious package which appeared on out front door.. the mystery was what was inside, for we knew who had put it there.. one of les trois filles.

More later.. yawn..

GeeGee Parrot.
February 24th, 2015.

Salmon & Leek Risotto & Sienna is playing Sally Bowles in Cabaret on Broadway..

Slurp-the-durp.. oh, how I love Risotto! I think it is the slow adding of the stock to the rice which builds one's expectation and, of course, the smells.. who, in the right mind, does not love this dish?

Today it isn't going to be done our usual way as it is far too flippin' cold to go running out and about out there just for a bunch of watercress, so what do we have instead? Well, there are two and a half leeks and some celery which will do just as well.

The taste will be different but that's what home cooking at home is all about, especially when it is cold and you have no reason to have to go out there.. brrr!

She got an email back today from Granny. Now if you are up to speed and read my blog regularly then you will remember that Granny is aka Jo, she has two daughters, both of whom she is heart-bustingly proud of and quite rightly so too.

One is Savannah, the dress designer whom we wrote about with her adventures in the Panamanian jungle and the other daughter is called Sienna who is an actress. YES, that Sienna Miller!

Who, folks, is en route back to New York City (after being at the Oscar Award Ceremony in Los Angeles) to tread the boards as Sally Bowles in Cabaret at the Roundabout Theatre on Broadway, she stepped into Emma Stone's shoes on February 17th and will play the part of until the end of March.

And I am very happy to report that her reviews are excellent!

The email was in response to one that she sent to Jo yesterday saying that she thought Sienna's Oscar's Oscar frock was glorious, did you see it? Very pretty and designed by Oscar de la Renta (hence Oscar's Oscar, are you with me or loafing about back there?) whose designs she always loved.

Anyway, that's our touch of glamour and show biz for the day.. back to this Salmon Risotto!

You'll need the following.. this does four, we will have it for lunch or supper again tomorrow and freeze a bit too.

Unsalted butter.
2 shallots.
350 Risotto rice.
Juice of 1 lemon plus zest.
1glass of white wine.
About 1.5 litres of HOT fish or vegetable stock.
Can of red salmon.
100g of watercress.. OR we are using leek today.

Heat the butter and gently fry the shallots until they are starting to soften.
Add the rice to the shallots and fry for about 2 minutes.
When the rice starts to look transparent around the edge, add the wine and the lemon juice.
When it has almost all evaporated, add the stock a small cup at a time stirring all the time until you have added all the stock.
(At this point in the recipe today.. she will cook the leeks and the celery until just soft).
When the rice is cooked but NOT too soft, add the strained salmon and most of the watercress (our leeks and celery) to the rice and stir for another minute to mix and gently heat the fish.
Put it into HEATED bowls, scatter the rest of the watercress on top and grind on black pepper and sprinkle on the zest.

This is tasty, extremely easy peasy to make and will be very warming in your tummy.

Now we have just received a text from Tereza who has been in America avec les filles for ten days, apparently there is something for us on our doorstep. Now as everyone knows .. Curiousity killed the cat but satisfaction brought it back!

So she is off to go to see what it is and to start our lunch.. aka Salmon Risotto!

GeeGee Parrot.
February 24th, 2015.

The Countess of Yougosnapdear..

She was tall, blonde and spoke good english with a mid european accent. Her dress was calf length, the skirt was of small red and white checks and around the bottom were rings of brightly coloured silk, the top was of organza, cut low and off the shoulder. Around her waist was a sash of the organza. She wore a heavy silver bracelet and silver hooped earings. She was aged thirty five and was radiant.

His skin and hair were as dark as night, he wore an eye patch over his left eye and had a dreadful scar running from that eye to his jaw. He wore dark calf length breeches and a skin tight top with very short sleeves, a sash attached his sword to waist, he looked extremely fierce, it was impossible to age him and he spoke not one word.

They were a striking looking couple and danced beautifully together.

The author, Sue Grafton, writes about parts of California that do not exist and in her book 'S for Silence' she wrote a note, it went more or less like this.. "I write these books and have created places and people that do not exist, so don't complain or email me because such and such is in the wrong place, they're not there and never have been, get over it".

And Daniel Silva in 'The Heist' wrote about things that don't exist.. as in the Austrian bank in Linz, he too wrote the disclaimer saying he had created such and such and changed things about.

It is called Poetic License and means the writer has taken the liberty of writing to suit their written piece.. Artistic License is what you do when you create..

The tall blonde and the fierce pirate were not what they seemed to be either, for the mid european Countess Yougosnapdear was Constance in a dress that she had made herself and the pirate was Hugo whose hair and skin were that colour because Constance regularly dyed his skin and hair with a solution of goodness knows what! He literally could and did disappear in the jungle.

She had also made his costume and shoes. His dreadful scar she had created with clear nail varnish. They were at a Fancy Dress party and Hugo won the prize because nobody recognised him!

You will never find the place where her title came from but if you are of a certain age and know very young children whom you are teaching card games, you may 'say' it, have you worked out what it is yet? Rattle your brain and think of, probably, the first card game you ever played?

Perhaps if I spelt it like this.. You go snap dear..

Constance gave the silver bracelet to her for her eighteenth birthday, it is one of her most treasured items. And she had probably been playing Snap with my mum that very afternoon on the beach at Port Dixon in that summer of 1953.

The photo is a black and white print, it sits on a shelf in our bedroom, the Countess and the Pirate.. who were not at all whom they appeared to be.

GeeGee Parrot.
February 23rd, 2015.

LIKE A RAT DOWN A DRAIN PIPE..

She and old WW slithered down our steps and into the house as it started to bucket down with rain. It had stayed dry for most of the market's four hours of trading but oh boy, it was cold.. SO cold, in fact, that Debbie bought them TWO lots of Dumplings! With hot spicy dumpling sauce and LOTS of the chopped garlic and chilli sauce, it is the food to make your sinuses open and kills many an evil germ at two paces!

Heating is off.. so food has to be hot. They were given a big celeriac and she knew what she would do with hers. Chopchop, rinse under the tap and into cold water and allow to cool gently. Then strained over a mug, for celeriac vegetable water is tasty, a knob of butter, some salt and pepper and made into mash, then two big ladles of hot chicken stock et voila mes amis.. a delicious bowl of mashed celeriac and chicken potage (thick soup).

Plus a mug of spiced apple with an added slug of ginger and three cloves!

We ain't going anywhere.. for it is not pleasant out there, but thanks to her marketing on Friday, everything is to hand. Barley.. yum.. it has been a long time since she cooked something with this delicious stuff, that would be very tasty with the remains of the celeriac.

And she is pretty sure there is a tin of salmon in the store cupboard and she has a simple very quick recipe for a risotto with salmon. That would be a tasty supper, when she does it, I'll give you the recipe, it is with watercress, a favourite vegetable of ours. Well, that's two suppers sorted out for this week and we have a BIG pot of chicken stock, a lot of which she will freeze in ice cubes and some of which we will have with vegetables.

I am up on a perch with a full tummy and she is bundled up on the bed reading a book about Burt Bacharach. She had completely forgotten that he worked with Marlene Dietrich for so long.

If you have to drive in heavy snow or bad conditions, make sure you have survival stuff with you. Constance used to sling a big sack of potatoes in the back of her little van, it kept the rear wheels weighted, plus a rug, a thermos, boots with snow grips, gloves, a hat, a BRIGHT coat.

These days there are mobile phone, make sure your's is charged, drive at a sensible speed. We have severe flooding alerts all around the country, there are extremely high Spring tides and high winds are creating 50+ foot waves, don't be foolish and cause the Lifeboats to have to come out to rescue you. Stay away from water and don't drive in to a flooded area as your engine can be flooded and stall and then you are in trouble.

So now I'm going to have a doze.. and I'll be back again tomorrow.

GeeGee Parrot.
February 22nd, 2015.

GOOD BOOK..

Well, that kept her awake until the early hours of this morning. There was no way she was going to get to sleep whilst wondering 'what happened next', that was for sure!

The book was 'THE HEIST' by Daniel Silva. The frst book of his that she read was 'MOSCOW RULES'.. scary stuff folks.. this was just as scary but in a different way. Clever plot and the 'baddies' are currently being exceedingly bad and very evil in REAL life. NO, I'm not going to tell you the plot.

We want you to go to your library and get his books or buy them. She believes in author's royalty rights, for when you borrow a book from a library, they get paid an annual fee and quite rightly so. The first book in the Gabriel Allon series is 'The Kill Artist' - published in 2001 by Harper.

It is dreary beyond belief out there.. ugh.. but we are snug as two bugs even though the heating is no longer on 24 x 7, it is on for just long enough to stop the place getting chilly and hot drinks are good, especially if they have a bit of honey to sweeten them a tiny bit.

The two chicken carcasses are breaking down properly, she took a small cup of the liquid at midday, it's not ready yet. Stock starts to get really good when the bones give up their goodness, the gelatin breaks down and all the tastes of the ingredients start to come together.

She drew her feet today, dear Debbie Goaty has offered to get her a pair of the magical Polish WARM boots that she found at an angling store AND at an amazingly good price! But my mama has very small feet, nothing worse than leaving your boot behind when you're treading in mud! So in her basket are a map (as she calls it) of her two feet and the HOT dumpling sauce she found.

Marylebone Market equals Malaysian Dumplings.. I hope that you all feel sorry for me.. I never get to taste one of these, all I get is a whiff of how scrumptious they were on her breath when she comes home, I can assure you, it is not as good as having one. Never mind. I do know what there is for supper and that is enough to gladden anyone's heart!

A good mix of vegetables, some egg noodles and a duck breast. The fat is scored and rubbed with Old Bay.. then it will be cooked on a dry, hot griddle, fat side down for about six minutes, then flipped over and cooked for a further three or four minutes. Then it will be allowed to rest for a bit.. is your moufh watering?

She slurps vegetable water, so tasty with carrots, onions and leeks. Try cooking your vegetables with only just enough water to cover the root vegetables (which take longer to cook), then add your green vegetables on top for the last couple of minutes, the taste of the water is delicious and with carrots, is very sweet.. yum.

In the meantime, I spy with my beady eye.. an apple with a stalk.. silly thing, it is just lying there unprotected on the bed, so I am off to give it a good beaking and she is off to make a cup of tea.

Zoom.. we hope that you are enjoying your week end.

GeeGee Parrot.
February 21st, 2015.

TWO CHICKENS, TWO DUCK BREASTS, VEGETABLES & DANIEL SILVA'S LATEST BOOK 'THE HEIST'.

Oh dear.. the new dentist was very thorough and insisted upon xraying her poor old dodgy wisdom tooth.. and said "it's got to go, I'm sorry, but that shadow is an infection starting and I don't want it to spread, come and see me next week if you can".. oh fiddle-dee-dee, she thought, made an appointment for ten days time and then went out to have a chat with Karen to cheer herself up.

Having bought carrots, onions (we've finished our own), leeks and a new pot of hummus, two big meaty chickens and a pair of duck breasts from Dickinsons the butcher, she went to the library to change more books.

After coming home via the chemist where she found some proper throat pastilles, she put both the chickens into the smaller of the stockpots, with herbs and spices, this simmered until the meat was cooked, that was stripped from the bones and allowed to cool.

The stockpot was filled to the brim with water and put to boil.. yumyum.. this will make soup and stock for the freezer. A load of laundry was put on and she gave us some lunch. She put the chicken meat into tubs and into the freezer.

Then getting a book from old Wicker, she and I went and snuggled into bed.. so cosy.. dark outside.. It looks as if we are, indeed, in for some rough weather but nothing could possibly be as bad as the weather in some parts of the USA. And still California is in dreadful shape with NO rain. Grim.. poor farmers.

The book.. ah yes, one of her favourite thriller writers. I'm off to bed as it is nearly ten o'clock and she'll stay up and finish 'The Heist' by Daniel Silva.. go immediately, if not sooner and find his books.

PipPip.. we had a very curious thing happen yesterday, there was an enormous spike of people in Romania reading my blog, usually we have two or three from there but this was over a hundred and fifty! I wonder why? They were reading old posts.. not recent ones. We'll never know.. strange.. huh?

GeeGee Parrot.
February 20th, 2015.

WHAT'S IN YOUR FREEZER? ARE THERE ANY HIDDEN TREASURES!

I think I mentioned before that she is whittling away at the dried and tinned stores in the cupboard and store room and slowly eating down what is in the freezer.

She found some delicious treasure yesterday, the last of Daniela's Sicilian sausages.. oh yum! Finely minced pork with chilli and fennel seeds.. they're very scrummy, I can assure you.

She also found a small bag of chopped pak choi and spring onions from when she last made this dish, so instantly there was our lunch for today, she left the vegetables in the freezer but took the meat out to defrost overnight.

Here is what she made for lunch today.. slurp. We have given you the amount of ingredients which will do for four people.

250g Egg noodles.
Bunch of spring onions finely sliced.
4 pak choi chopped and the leaves sliced.
2 inches of Ginger root grated.
2 cloves of garlic, squashed and chopped.
1 litre of chicken stock.
3 Tablespoonful of mirin (Japanese rice wine).
4 Tablespoonful of soya sauce.
500g of finely minced pork.
2 teaspoonfuls wasabi paste
500ml water.

Cook the egg noodles, drain and rinse until cold.
Place half the onions, half the ginger and half the garlic into the water.
Add the stock, mirin and 3 tbsp of the soya sauce.
Bring this to the boil, then simmer for 10 minutes.

Mix the pork with remaining soya, garlic, ginger and wasabi paste.
Shape into balls, not too large.

Strain the broth into a large bowl, then bring the broth back to a simmer in the pan.
Add the pork balls and simmer for 10 minutes until cooked.
Then add the pak choi and the noodles for a further 2 minutes.
Divide this amongst four bowls. (She always warms her bowl first with boiling water).
Scatter the rest of the spring onions on the top of the soup.

It was spicy and hot and just what we needed, for today it is cold and damp, very dreary and dismal.

Tomorrow is Dentist Day.. their ultra efficient receptionist has just called her to remind her, good thing as she had forgotten to put it into her calender! Her nice new dentist has left, it used to take him two and a half hours to get to the North End Road where the surgery is and so, he has taken another position much nearer to his home. WHO can blame him?

Interestingly enough, this morning she got out Constance's ring that she used to wear a lot, she wore it on the little finger of her right hand but, sadly, it won't go on yet. So this knuckle is still swollen but she is getting there, a ring that would not go on is now quite happy to slip onto her ring finger, I wonder if it IS the coffee?

Strange how she has had no 'coffee withdrawal' symptoms.. but mind you, she hasn't smelt any, that would be a test and a half.. for who can resist the smell of freshly ground proper coffee?

I am off for a quiet doze. She is going to do the same and then she wants to finish a Sue Grafton book so that she can change it at the library. The book club's new book is The Power of One by Bryce Courtenay and she has to go up to our Central library in Kensington to collect it.

Then it will be Saturday and back to normal.. but too cold and wet for me to go to the garden.. I'll be that 'home alone bird' again.. ahhhhh. The fact that I sleep most of the time she is out and about is neither here nor there.

GeeGee Parrot.
February 19th, 2015.

A WINTER SALAD.. FULL OF TASTY THINGS!

Alas and alack, the end is in sight, there will soon, I fear, be no more lolling about on her head. For her cough has almost gone and she hasn't sneezed for at least twenty four hours. Sigh.. it has been extremely pleasant having her at home under my beady eye and feet for this period of time.

She gathered some of the ingredients that you will need for this salad last week end, the others are things that most of you will already have in stock as staples.

Here is the list of what you will need to make this attractive salad.

2 celery stalks sliced.
1 red onion sliced.
330g of FLOWER Sprouts.. from Ted's Organic Veg at Parson's Green Farmer's Market
or good suppliers of vegetables. They are an English vegetable bred by TOZERS, a cross between a Brussell Sprout & Russian Kale.. FABULOUS!
One thick slice of good Rye bread chopped into little chunks.
50g of raw Hazelnuts, chopped.
200g of Purple Sprouting Broccoli, sliced.
100g of Goats Cheese crumbled.. we, of course, use Ellie's Goats Curd.
100g of Pomegranate seeds.
1 tablespoonful of Olive Oil.
1 tablespoonful of Lemon juicePinch of Sea salt.
1 teaspoonful of Caster sugar.
Black pepper to grind.

Put the celery and onion into a salad dish, add sugar, salt and lemon juice, mix well.
Toast the hazelnuts and rye bread until brown in a non stick pan. Set aside to cool.
Put broccoli into boiling water for two minutes, then add the flower sprout for just one minute, drain well and add to the salad bowl, add the olive oil and toss well.
Add the hazelnuts, rye bread, goats cheese and pomegranate seeds.
Grind black pepper over the bowl and toss well.

It is extremely tasty and very pretty! We've just had it for lunch.. sometimes I have to turn a blind eye to when she raids my nut supply and today, with that combination of : Curd, nuts, pomegranate seeds and toasty rye bread, it was well worth it, I think.

Another bright and sunny start to the day.. the bulbs will be strutting their stuff at the allotment. I wonder what it looks like.. certainly horribly overgrown. Let's hope this fine weather continues, there is SO much work to do out there. But the weather man says this isn't going to last.. that maybe we will get cold weather again. Now, that would be a pity, wouldn't it?

Time for a doze.. we will be back later as she has been given the most glorious couple of books and we will post on both of them. Yawn..

GeeGee Parrot.
February 18th, 2015.

ZERO COFFEE.. STRAIGHT FINGERS.. HOW SAD.

Oh dear.. oh dear oh dear. This is now quite alarming. The fingers on her right hand are shrinking, or rather, the knuckles are shrinking. Could her much beloved coffee be the culprit?

It was something she has had two cups of every day, day in, week out every year and has done so for.. well, eversince she can remember. First a mug of LapySang, which has also been stopped, and then the coffee.

Now it is just filtered water.. lots of water and the two cups of the herbal tea which the PolyClinic prescribed for her. It contains something she is not mad about, I think it is Camomile, ugh, slightly sickly. But with regards  to the coffe, she has decided to give it three months, then she will drink some and see what happens. Three months is a long enough break for it to be out of the system.

But it is quite remarkable the change in her fingers, rings slip on easily, she hasn't tried putting a ring onto the little finger but the ring finger is much smaller and even the strange bump appears to be be shrinking from the second finger.

It is warmer today, much warmer, so she has turned the boiler down and put it so that it is on just twice a day instead of being on all day. No point in having it hubble-bubbling away all day long when you don't need it. She is amazed at how hot some people keep their homes.

But we saw in the papers that there's a big snow storm hitting the eastern seaboard of the USA. And today several inches of snow are due to fall on both Boston, New York City and down south as far as Tennessee.. brrr.. I hope that it is not then coming our way? For London has been spared the big snow so far this winter, well, I hope it has.

Her attention to detail has slipped, now usually she is Old Eagle Eye where grammar or tenses are concerned but she wrote 'send' instead of 'sent in yesterdays post, I can't have that. So I am back on her head and making sure that no errors slip through onto MY blog.

DRAT.. double drat! She has just taken a call from a nice woman who wanted to know if she would like to go with her to see the Wallace Collection. She ain't up for a jaunt that long.. perhaps when her dear friend, John J. O'Connell, is next over, she could slip in with him, he is the architect that has been restoring the actual house for fifteen years! A massive and important project.

But it isn't all grim news.. for today's pudding after lunch, she broke open a HUGE pomegranate! Ooh, it was a delicious one too! The seeds were dark red and soooo juicy! I had had sunflower and pumpkin seeds, a dollop of humous, some steamed carrot and then she produced this glorious fruit. What a treat.

Bedrest.. that's is what this is.. and we just have to take it easy, she still rattles when she coughs but it is getting better and then soon, she'll be up and out. I want the fine weather to come so that she can go to the garden and take me with her as well, for fresh air through my feathers would be just the ticket! Like a Feather Spring Clean!

Time to go, Beaky has to do some serious beaking work on my feathers, she has the paper to read on-line and then a book. It is quiet. Nothing dramatic is happening in our lives, it's alright, in fact it's ok, it's called life in the slow lane.

GeeGee Parrot.
February 17th, 2015.

MY ABSENCE.. IT IS NOTHING TO DO WITH ME..

No Sirree.. I am longing to tell you Tales.. but you know how it is.. old Toe cannot tap and Beaky, well, let's not go there! For the Might Beak gets a tad jealous of all these gadgets and has been known to nip the mobile phone.

So it is down to her to tap my Tales and she has not been, regret to tell you, up for a lot of jovial fun.. sigh.

She went out for a short while on Saturday, but it started to rain and she got shivvery, so she came back. Sunday was much better, it was warmer and she made it down to Parson's Green to see Debbie Goat at the Farmer's Market.

Fleur-Marie is leaving! Shock Horror.. for two yeas plus she has been the smiley faced pretty girl who ran Ted's Organia Veg stall but no more.. she's off to California for three months and then she will be in Paris for another three months but then she won't be coming back to the market.. sad that.

Debbie had masses of treats in store for her. A large bottle of Spiced Apple and three smaller bottles of pure fruit and vegetable juices from THE JUICE EXECUTIVE. She had one for breakfast this morning.. Beetroot and Apple.. slurp was the word! And a tub of Goaty Curd, what did we do before we had this most edible thing to eat? It goes well with EVERYTHING.. including Lemon Curd.

They chewed the fat and discussed Debbie's new Polish boots with their felted liners. Such a great and very necessary thing to have warm feet when you are working. It is bad enough when the ground is damp but to be cold.. ugh.

Then she got talking to the Honey Man, he answered her question about Manuka Honey, having never had it, she knew nothing about it, he told her about it and then they discussed Bees in general and how, FINALLY, the UK Government is waking up to the fact, that NO BEES = NO CROPS.

Then it was time to go home.. she walked up the road, cut across Eel Brook Common and onto Fulham Broadway. Dear Wicker Wheelie rolling along beside, he was carrying all the books which were going back to the library. Dear David.. aka Master of Machine & Engines, thank goodness he had been able to mend WW properly so there is no danger of his bottom falling out.

For ten big books is a heavy load but he just bounced along and they caught the 211 upto the library. Lots of Sue Grafton's books were available. Do you know her books? Oh.. talking of GOOD books, do you know the televisision series Law & Order, it is written by Dick Wolf and he has written two novels.

Both excellent.. the ending of the second one is COMPLETELY unexpected! Very clever when an author does that.. all the clues are there, but I defy any reader to get the ending! But no more books, or rather, not yet.

Like Quentin Jardine, we are up to date on all of his books and now have to wait for him to write another. What have we got to read apart from a few Sue Grafton? A Joanna Trollope, her books are clever and readable, especially if you are in bed and can concentrate, she always has more than one character in the plot. She has just finished reading one called 'Balancing Act'.

Michele Giuttari, is an Italian author whom she enjoys reading. He was the head of the Florentine Police Force for eight years until 2003. He was responsible for reopening The Monster of Florence case and jailing several key Mafia figures.

He is, besides being an author, a special adviser to the Interior Minister in Rome with the remit to monitor Mafia activity.. a brave man. She has got his book 'The Black Rose of Florence' to read.

But it was all a bit too much for my poor mum, she had to sit quietly in the library until she got her legs back, she took a bus, leaving her with just a short walk at the end to get home. She had overcooked it a bit, but at least it was sunny and warm.

So she is being sensible with the remains of this silly flu, she still rattles when she coughs, gets hot and sweats a bit, but as it is damp and wet, we have enough food after her run to the market on Suturday and delicious juices to drink courtesy of Debbie, there is absolutely no point in going out.

But she was very touched to receive a call from Mary, who heads up the Charity for whom she wants to work. She send her best wishes and asked if there was anything she wanted. Togther with some sweet and kind emails from Dear Readers who have read my Blog and realised all is not brilliant here in deepest Knightsbridge and have sent us their 'get well soon' wishes.

But all will be well, her GP said it would take time to get better, that we tend to forget that sleep and bed rest is what we need, we are all so used to having to get up and go back to work.. quicklyquickly that we forget how to take care of ourselves and sometimes we have to just switch off.

But next Sunday is DUMPLING DAY at Marylebone's Farmer's Market and she has to draw the shape of her feet on paper to give to Debbie. Who has very kindly said she will call into the Angling Shop and see if they have a pair of boots plus liners to fit her rather small feet.

Malaysian Dumpling with Chilli Sauce, a squidge of Soya and a squirt of Harissa, oh, the slurpiness indeed. And in the meantime, she'd better have a look and see how that Tangerine Vodka is brewing, it might be ready?

But that isn't until Sunday, we've got to get through this week first.

So now we are off to YumYum HQ to rattle a pan and then at 8.00pm we have a programme to watch with Robson Green about Northumberland. Such a magnificent part of England. PipPip.. we hope you are all happy and well and have power if you are in NY State, it looks pretty cold and white to me, gulp.. PipPip.

GeeGee Parrot.
February 6th, 2015.

AND HER SPELLING HAS GONE..

Her brain has gone decidedly wonky.. she had the devil's own job remembering how to spell bureaucracy today when she was emailing Debbie Goaty person and she spelt losing wrong in the last post. She ain't very 'with it', that's for sure!

Luckily we have enough fresh food for another day and then she will have to go to the market to get greens, carrots, lemons and apples. Which is, prerty much, all she is eating. Great Spring clean for the insides, is what I call it!

She has discovered something rather sad.. you all know how she loves proper, good coffee. Well, tomorrow morning it will be a week since she drank any coffee or tea. And the knuckles in her right hand has improved dramatically! OH DEAR.. That would be awful, would it not?

Anyway, enforced time in bed is now allowing her to do a bit of research into some oils that she has to brew for our beloved Susan. Whose toes are getting better, I am happy to report. Next week, she will be doing them again and she will also give her elderly friend a Shingles Massage. It helps her tremendously and stops the pain with no side effects.

We like that..

She is starting to feel better and now when she is out of bed going to the loo, or waiting for lunch or supper to cook, she does five minutes of excercising to get those muscles moving! Otherwise she will be like a piece of old chewed string at the end of this bed rest!

And if she is not strong enough, she will never get back to working in the garden! She hasn't done a winter prune on the Apple or Pear trees and has not cut back the Asparagus ferns from last year yet.. hey ho.. good thing it was covered in snow and frost for so long, she never works the ground when it is like this anyway, but it will be soon time to do so.

So she better get fit again. I, meanwhile, am off to bed.. I had a mini snacket of Walnuts and am happy to say "Goodnight".

GeeGee Parrot.
February 12th, 2015.

IT'S BORING HERE.. ALL SHE WANTS TO DO IS DRINK & SLEEP.

Well folks, it's as dreary here as an old, cold hot potato, if you can envisage such a thing!

We get up at about ten in the morning and she makes the one buttered egg, she divides it and I eat most of mine and she somehow manages to eat her bit. Talk about loosing her appetite.. where did it go? She not drinking tea or coffee either but mugs of hot water with ginger with fresh lemon juice.

Then she does whatever it is that humans do in bathrooms and comes back into the bedroom. Collects the three small 'hotties' from the bed and boils the kettle to refill them. By this time, she is slowing down again, she is tired and we go back to bed. I clamber up on top of her head and we both settle down for a doze.

This pretty much continues throughout the day, she rustles something for me at about one of the afternoon clock and at about six of the evening clock, we both eat something, the hotties get refilled and she is back into bed.

She watched three programmes on a channel called Yesterday last night. As she was born soon after the end of WW2, the subject of what and why was not taught to her at school.

The first programme was about the rise of Adolf Hitler and the Nazi party, the second about the period in Germany leading up to the invasion of Poland and the beginning of WW2 and the last programme was called Annihilation. They were simply dreadful but necessary to watch and to learn why.

Mans' inhumanity to man and still, it continues.

GeeGee Parrot.
February 11th, 2015.

FREEZING WATER IN HER VEINS.

This ain't funny anylonger! But at least she has the formula right for which pain killers to use. Our lovely, really helpful local Pharmacist took her Aspirin away, apparently they were seriously out of date and gave her something to help her sleep at night and a pain killer for the daytime.

But she is, oh, so cold, she describes that it is like having freezing water in her veins! But we are counteracting this with three baby hot-water botles, one for feet, one for tummy and one tucked into her back, as she spends most of the day on her side.

She went to see her GP yesterday about the head scan, he took one look at her and said "Oh dear, you look as if you have a nasty bout of Flu, back to bed with you".

But it is very discomblobulating to have her here and in bed and so quiet, the radio is on as reading makes her eyes hurt and she is dozing. I am keeping her head warm by sitting on it.. well, you do have to try to comfort loved ones, don't you?

The hospital's booking service had not been updated yesterday, so having entered her name and passcode, they now have to come back with an appointment for the scan.

That's all there is to report. Not a lot but it'll get better, stay happy and healthy out there.

GeeGee Parrot.
Febraury 10th, 2015.

That lovely Audiologist was right! She had a major virus brewing..

The Audiologoist knew this when she did a pressure test on the bone behind her left ear and she told her to use the old trick of a Saline Nasal spray. She said you've a bug brewing and that was why we have written about all the things we do to kill a cold but, apparently, there was a really very BIG virus brewing.

And in the early evening on Friday on the way back from singing, it hit her.. BAM.. in her kidneys!

Somehow she made it home from the bus stop. Having had renal failure forty years ago she knew this pain and it was equally as bad, when she got home, she checked for blood in her urine, it was clear thank goodness.

She did the usual things that we have recently written about. She drank lots of fluids, her appetite has dropped to zero. She thought the pain level would drop.. hah-hah.. she went to bed with a heatpad, hoping to sleep.

Not a chance.. she slept no sleep on Friday night.

Saturday morning, she got up and made me one buttered egg and gave it to me in a little dish. But I am a tricky bird (to put it politely) and used to sitting on her whilst we BOTH eat the eggs. So when she left YumYum HQ.. HUH.. I stood there and did my pathetic 'don't go out of my sight' separatist squeak.

Poor mum, she had to come back and feed me, I know you think that I am big enough, old enough and ugly enough to eat my eggs by myself. But the truth is that we Parrots are creatures of habit and we don't like our habits being fiddled with.

She went back to bed having made sure that I had eaten something. I flew back into join her. It was most peculiar to see her in bed in day light. I squeaked and chirped and carried on like a fool to make her cheer up for it was mighty obvious that all was not well with my mum.

Many mugs of boiled water with lemon juice were consumed again and again, but the pain did not lessen. On one trip to the lavatory, she sat with her head in her hands and felt very sorry for herself. She turned her head to the left and her mouth fell open. What was that box on the window ledge?

She reached for the box and discovered a packet of Aspirin. A guest must have left it, for she doesn't use pain killers. Why? Well, she's very seldom sick or in pain. Which is why she hadn't gone in search of pain relief pills before. She uses Cayenne Pepper if she has a really bad sore throat but boiled water with sea salt is her favoured mouth wash / gargle.

At 2.00 of Saturday's afternoon clock she took two pills and went back to bed, they took twenty minutes to kick nasty pain into touch and she could sleep. She looked at the time and reckoned that if she rationed them she could get away with three doses in twenty four hours, having read 'Do not exceed 4 doses in 24 hours'.

What a good thing she's due to see her lovely GP on Monday and that our afternoon television has fabulous programmes, we are currently watching Zoologists in the rain forests in Guyana. With HUGE Otters, even bigger Anacondas and those spotted marvels, the Jaguar! Well, we won't make a habit of lolling about in bed in the day time but if you're really sick like she is..

Stay warm, drink lots of fluids, rest up and find great television.. next up is another BBC programme The Lost Land of the Jaguars.

But because she 'walks on the sunny side of the street'.. we're saying "thank you virus for not coming a day earlier" because she wouldn't have been able to go and sing and it explains why she didn't do yesterday's Mercy Run!

GeeGee Parrot.
February 8th, 2015.

SINGING WITH DEMENTIA.. What an amazing afternoon!

It was wonderful.. an extraordinary experience and one that she intends to repeat weekly.

She was early, it is always better to be early when you are 'a new girl', isn't it? But there were already a couple of people there. One, an extremely elderly lady, dressed in different shades of dark pink.. the colour looked very fetching with her snowy white hair. Her son was with her and explained that his mum didn't communicate very much any more but that she could sing.

Then lots of people arrived, the organisers Mary and Janice and her friend Susan with things for tea, games and a CD player. They were in the dining room of a retirement home, the tables were moved back to the walls and she and another woman, Ann, made a ring of the chairs.

The meeting was led by Janice and she was so clever at getting everyone sitting and paying attention, some were people with dementia, some were their carers and some were volunteers.

A small furry tiger appeared out of a box and Janice said "Right, now he is going around the room, I want you to give us your name and then I want you to give it a name, off we go. My name is Janice and I am calling him Snowy" and the fun commenced.

He was a very cuddly person and a couple of people certainly didn't want to pass him on, it is a testament to their carers that no tears were shed before bedtime.

Next were simple excercises done in the chair, clapping to a beat and a number. Touch this, touch that, then faster and faster.. to lots of laughter! Then standing up, those that could, touching knees (or toes), waving arms, punching the air, it got them moving and warmed up.

Then it was singing time.. everyone was given sheets of paper.. and oh.. happy days! For the first was Hugo's favourite song! 'You are my sunshine'.. there are somewhere in existence some photographs taken of Hugo taking a salute on the parade ground at Port Dixon. It was 'fixed' by the Regimental Bandmaster and the Colonel.

For Hugo was leaving Malaya at the end of the (Communist) Emergency and going to England and civilian life. His colonel knew this was going to be a massive challenge and change for him.

Hugo joined up in 1939 aged nineteen, he was at the Slade (Art School) when war was declared and he had never known any other work life apart from the Army. And his colonel decided that his last parade would be a little different.. To say the least!

Parade duty time, suddenly Hugo is told that he is going to be taking the Salute and the regimental band swang into action with 'Sunshine' and according to her God-Father, Sydney Butterell, who had taught the tune to the Malay bandmaster,  there weren't many dry eyes amongst the audience and none amongst his company of Eban Trackers with whom Hugo had spent nearly seven years in the jungle.

If you know the song or read the lyrics, you realise that it is not a happy song but the tune is great and The Malay Regiment did her father and the tune proud. As did all of the singers yesterday!

The glorious power of music.. they sang twelve songs and there was a huge difference in many of the attendees, they sat up straighter and a few that had not spoken before the singing started to chat, some of the volunteers had been asked to bring photographs of when they were children and there was lots of laughter.

Tea time.. goody.. who doesn't like teatime? And then it was time for card, dominoes and board games. It was great to see people who have forgotten who they are but they remember how to play a game from their childhood..

Memory and memories and the brain.. I am going to tell you a story from 1970 about Flo, her grandmother, Constance and Hugo. Flo was in a residental home as she had been diagnosed with Pre-Senile Dementia. and had to have some fairly heavy duty medication.

They were in Flo's bedroom as she was going to bed after a long day, Constance went out to speak with Matron and Flo patted Hugo's knee and said "Hugo darling, who is that, for she is very sweet." Luckily Hugo was not slow on the uptake, so he just said "Flo darling, it's Con" (what her mother called her), to which Flo replied "No darling, don't be silly, that can't be right, Con's at school in England".

What was so extraordinary about this conversation was that Granny Flo knew who Hugo was, as she had known who she was when she had visited her grandmother two weeks previously and yet, where Con was concerned.. I am afraid, she had lost the plot.

There were other 'bit's missing too but she loved to sing and still played the piano. Constance had given her a Putter and she remembered exactly how to hit that golf ball. She'd been 'Scratch'.

So Dear Readers.. get up and dance and sing and jump about, get old foggy brain working, don't let it slouch in front of the television or a glass of whisky, make it learn a new trick or two.  Nobody knows IF they will develop Dementia.. or when? The reason this is SUCh a big thing with her is Flo had it, Constance was showing signs of it when she died.. is it hereditary, she wonders?

So now she know where she'll be on Friday afternoons.. Singing With Dementia.. do YOU like to sing, is there a Dementia Centre which has a 'Singing Afternoon' near to you? Do you know of someone who has Dementia who used to sing that you know that would like to join a group.

Does your church choir allow people into the church when they're rehearsing?

In England please contact The Alzheimers Society.
www.alzheimers.org.uk
Tel: 020 7423 3500.

You can find Dementia and Alzheimers Groups everywhere in the world, so do your research.

And please be pro-active on this subject, for the difference that music AND contact with other people is enormous. Some elderly, or not even elderly, folk are infirm or timid and never leave their homes, some are lonely and shy, or with no family and live by themselves,

               DO WHAT YOU CAN TO MAKE OTHER PEOPLE'S LIVES BETTER.

And now that brings me to me. For Janice, one of the organisers, it transpires is CRAZY-DAISY about birds! And she is going to suggest that I go Singing with Dementia, well, I can whistle and bob about with the best of them and that WILL make them laugh.

That, my Dear Readers, is quite enough for one day.. I am sorry to report that she was not able to do the 'mercy run' this morning. Many jowly-bows will have to be made.. but at least the other person didn't know she was planning to do it.

Teatime.. LapySang with some of that chocolate salami would be perfect. FlapFlap to YumYum HQ.

GeeGee Parrot.
February 7th, 2015.

BACK HOME TOO LATE TO WRITE THE POST ABOUT HER SINGING TODAY BUT.. HERE'S A CLUE!

Most of the people who were there, are less fortunate than her or the other people organising this musical event. However, she absolutely loved this afternoon and we will post about it tomorrow.

The surgery called her early this morning. Her GP wants to see her on Monday to discuss her hearing and a head scan that the head of Audiology is scheduling with the ENT Dept.

She has to do 'a mercy run' tomorrow, someone has run out of scrummy stuff, which means us getting up much earlier than we usually do on Saturdays and so we are having a early night.

She has told me snippets but I am going to wait and give you the full story tomorrow. Toodle-PipPip.

GeeGee Parrot.
February 6th, 2015.

ON KEEPING GERMY GERMS AT BAY. Part 3.

She was in the West End this afternoon with a merry bunch of folk, an Acupunturist, three Herbalists and two Nutritionists.

She was discussing slimy old Mr. Cold bug with a couple of them and they agreed on what she has given you so far and she said "the last hot drink is Apple Cider Vinegar with Lemon & Cayenne", they smiled and said "that's our favourite!"

So here it is..

We use that trusty thick ceramic mug and put in the following. A dessert spoonful of both Apple Cider Vinegar and Honey. The juice of half a fresh Lemon. A big teaspoonful of Cayenne Pepper. Mix them all together and pour on boiling water, put the saucer on top of the mug and leave it to brew for four minutes. Make and drink this at least 3 times a day.

The Lemon juice and the Vinegar kill bacteria, the Honey soothes and Cayenne Pepper helps everything to heal. It contains an active ingredient called Capsaicin, as do other Chilli Peppers, this is good for many things, relieving pain and being beneficial for your heart amongst them.

Cayenne Pepper also makes a really good gargle! However, it is not for the faint hearted or wimpy folk though. Stir a small teaspoonful of Cayenne Pepper into warm water, which has been boiled.. NOT water from your hot tap.. and gargle several times with this. I know, your mouth feels hothothot but your throat will thank you.. later!

These wonderful natural ingredients are always in our kitchen. Last winter when she got so cold at the allotment, she sliced bits of Ginger Root into a cut off leg from an old pair of tights, tied a knot in the leg and put it into the bath as the water was running. Then she soaked until the water lost its' heat. Warm and toasty was how she felt as she headed to bed and it helped her sleep.

Singing tomorrow, I wonder what it's all about, don't you? But do you remember 'Lets forget about tomorrow, lets forget about tomorrow, lets forget about tomorrow for tomorrow never comes,' it was a big hit for Frank Sinatra.

She's off now to make one or other of her Witch's Brews. Which will it be tonight? Or maybe, just some Ginger Root, sliced, bashed, mixed with Honey and hot water, soothing and delicious. We like things which.. smell good, taste good and, by golly, they do you good.

Bed time for me and Witch brewing time for her.

GeeGee Parrot.
February 5th, 2015.

ON KEEPING GERMY GERMS AT BAY. Part 2.

Who wants a germ? No, we are not offering you any, not even for free!

I am back with more germ busting home-brews for you. NO antibiotics were hurt in these processes, well, their noses were put out of joint but a good tweak or a kick in their pants should sort them out.

The first part of this post is about a strange mixture of two spices and honey. They are both powdered and are extraordinarily important in the fight against viruses and those dirty germs that one's family, fellow workers and total strangers are so unnecessarily generous with.

Take that mug, put in a dessert spoonful of good honey and a heaped teaspoonful of both Cinnamon and Turmeric. Stir them all together and pour on boiled water. Place the saucer on top and allow to brew for 3 minutes. Drink. Repeat twice a day for 2 weeks.

I KNOW.. it does taste pretty weird, you should've seen her face the first time she drank it!

Cinnamon is known to have principles which have : Anti-oxidant, anti-septic, anti-inflamatory, is rubefacient (this means it is soothing & warming), carminative (NO farting! This ingredient helps prevent the formation of gas in the Gastrintestinal tract).

Turmeric has the active ingredient Curcumin which is Anti-inflammatory and an Antioxidant.

They both have lots of other importandt roles in keeping us healthy, too many to list here but VERY serious medical research is being done with both of these (and other) spices.

And now.. Drum Roll please.. We come to her most favourite things.. Essential Oils.

Now it does help that she grew up with Hugo making Constance's face cream, he worked for Yardleys for several years, that is why they went to live in Dublin. So essential oils played a huge part in her life and then, of course, she came across them in the Cosmetic & Perfume industry.

But I am not talking about Facial Oils today.. I am talking about oils that will help keep you free from infections. She calls these 'THE BIG FIVE'. They are: Cinnamon Bark, Clove Bud, Eucalyptus Radiata, Lemon and Rosemary.

Recipe for a germ killing handy little spray. Take a small (50mls is a good size) bottle with a pump action spray which has a plastic top, boil a kettle and pour in hot water to sterilise the bottle, put in the pump spray and give it a couple of squirts to make sure both tube and spray are clean.

Take the spray out and tip the bottle upside down on a tissue to drain. When the bottle has drained, put in 10 drops of each of the oils. Allow them to mix with each other for twenty minutes, by which time the water in the kettle should be cool. Top up the bottle with water and put the pump spray in, tighten and place the top on.

All these five essential oils are powerful germ killers in their own right. Each day she sprays a little squirt on a fresh cotton handkerchief before she leaves the house, the spray travels with her and is used on washbasin taps, lavatory handles and she always squirts a tiny squirt into the air after she has been to the lavatory.. any lavatory, friends' homes or a public one.

Last week she used it in a friend's bathroom, only to have friend call her later and ask her "what was that lovely smell you squirted in there?" It is also used now in the charity shop where she works, it keeps the air smelling very pleasant and she frequently, during the days she works there, wipes the credit card reader and door handles with a micro fibre cloth and a BIG spray of this magic potion!

         DO NOT SPRAY THIS OR ANY ESSENTIAL OILS DIRECTLY ONTO THE SKIN.

Essential Oils. Spices. Herbs.. Fruits.. Look after your body by being aware of what you put in AND onto it. She will be posting about two VERY nasty ingredients that you almost certainly use on your body every day. Aluminium and Sodium Lauryl / Laureth Sulfate.

Got to go.. whoosh off to pole.

GeeGee Parrot.
February 5th, 2014.

ON KEEPING GERMY GERMS AT BAY.. Part 1.

If you are a half-way decent cook, you probably have the items that we are going to write about in your kitchen cupboard. If you don't, we suggest you go immediately, if not sooner and purchase them.

For herbs and spices are Nature's way of keeping slimy old germ and his evil cousins, aka viruses, out of the temple.. aka YOUR BODY! Here's what you should have in stock to fight a good, clean fight and make those wicked bugs aware they're 'Not wanted on voyage!'

Apple Cider Vinegar, Cloves, Cayenne Pepper, Powdered Cinnamon, several large pieces of fresh Ginger Root, lots of fresh Garlic (which is both Antiseptic & Antispasmodic). Several fresh Lemons, powdered Turmeric, Honey, Organic Sesame Oil (found in Health or Middle Eastern food shops). Eucalyptus or Balsam Oil.

You will need a large, thick ceramic mug (which keep drinks hot), a saucer, a Pestle and Mortar to bash spices with, a juice extractor for Lemons, a small bottle with a dropper, most Chemists will sell you on for about £1. or a $, a kettle for hot water, a large saucepan, a thick cotton towel, not a small one and lastly, a small fine sieve.

You need to fill the small dropper bottle with the Organic Sesame Oil, it MUST be Organic Oil and put this bottle on your bedside table.

Now let's get your nasal passages clear.. Remember EAR, NOSE & THROAT.. it is vital to keep these clear and clean.  If they are free of mucus, then old germy can't slime his way in and get his wicked toes underneath the table as it were and WHO remembers being made to stick a towel over your head and breathe in the hot steam?

Well, who ever made you do it, was right to do so.. but we're going to give it a MAJOR kick up the rear-end to make it more effective!

Take: 1 teaspoonful of Cloves, 1 clove of Garlic & 2 chunks of an inch of Ginger.

Take the Cloves and bash them into a pulp, do the same with the garlic, thinly slice 1 chunk of ginger root and then bash it up as well. Put everything into the mug, pour on boiled water, put the saucer on the top and let it brew for about four minutes.

Whilst this is brewing, boil your kettle and fill the saucepan with hot water into which you have thinly sliced the 2nd chunk of fresh Ginger. Put it on your kitchen work surface and cover it with a lid, have your towel to hand, strain and drink the 'tea' as hot as you can. Take the lid off and bend over the saucepan, covering your head with the towel.

You are breathing in the gingery hot steam and you have the hot liquid inside you. All the ingredients in the tea are MAJOR germ busters. The combination of the two will really loosen and move mucus. Remain over the pan until the steam is no-longer steamy.

Do this in the evening in the last half hour before you go to bed. Then, when you are about to turn off your bedside light, take the dropper bottle and with your head tilted back, put 2 drops of the oil up each nostril. Keep your head back for at least 3 minutes.

The oil will seep through any impacted mucus and helps loosen it. The 3 actions of steaming, the tea and the oil will clear out your sinuses and eustacian tubes. This will also help your hearing which, very often, goes a bit wonky when you have a cold or a blocked nose.

Do this for 4 nights, you find it boring? We find feeling grotty MUCH more boring! Just get on and do it and stop whinging, anyone would think you enjoyed being ill? Perhaps you do, oh dear, poor you.

That is enough.. but don't fret folks, for she's got plenty more healthy tricks to give you. Stick around. In fact why don't you go and read some more Tales from this African Grey Parrot. Don't tell gross fibs, have you really read them all?

She's off to watch the Goggle Box, Beaky has serious beaking to do on a couple of flight feathers. FlapFlap.

GeeGee Parrot.
February 4th, 2014.

FOR OUR HOME IS ALIVE WITH THE SOUND OF MUSIC..

Yes, and how glorious it is too! Now it is a curious phenomena that you cannot be unhappy when you are singing your lungs out!

Now, we don't have any reason to be unhappy, which is an extremely nice thing to be reporting. Because IF you are deeply unhappy but WANT to sing dirges and drip tears into your soup or over your newspaper, you probably won't be singing, are you all with me or loitering at the back of this singing post?

For when you are singing, your head is up and you HAVE TO BREATHE, that's how you get the air into your lungs so you can carry the note!

I know some clever-clogs is going to say "but GeeGee, you don't have lungs, you have air sacks" but it's not me that is singing. It's her, aka my mum, or SWSBO aka she-who-should-be-obeyed. And she is trying to loosen up her vocal cords and get some air into her lungs.

I, meanwhile, am also making a HUGE amount of noise, wisely she has not got her hearing aids in. For the sound of my screeching and whistling would blow her remaining ear drums out into the street and it's a good thing the walls of this flat are thick and our upstairs neighbour is away.

There's is a big racket a'going on.. oh, it is such fun to be happy and mad! Can you imagine being with someone who was dull and gloomy all the time? Oooh, it would be too dreary beyond belief.

Now, I, in fact, everyone knows that there are dreadful things going on in the world, terrible things but terrorists and terrorism must not be allowed to render you witless with fear (unless an act of terrorism is actively happening to you) because if it has, then they have invaded your mind and are winning their evil way.

She says that she has NO idea what she will be singing on Friday, all she knows is that she has to be somewhere at the hour of two of the afternoon clock and she doesn't have to take anything, "just bring yourself" she was told.

It's a mystery and we like mysteries, they're like cardboard boxes, you never know, there maybe something exciting inside or they may be empty, in which case, old Beaky can (and usually does) beak to it to bits.

So in the meantime.. she's a singing and I'm a'bobbing up and down and a'screeching away.. to the sound of music. 'We'll have a barrell of fun. Roll out the barrell. We've got the blues on the run'. Well, that's not a dirge, is it?

In the meantime.. we have learnt some exceedingly happy making news! That Debbie, aka Goaty Mum, has purchased THERMAL boots with liners and now has toasty toes all day long.

My mum sent a message requesting the details of these toasty toe warmers poste haste. Allotments in the depths of winter are cold, wet places and there ain't nothing worse than digging or working when your feet are blocks of ice in rubber boots.. brrr.. sure makes me shivver just to think of cold toes.

LUNCH TIME.. Yippee.. I'm off to see what she has for us to eat.. pureed carrot and parsnip would not go amiss, followed by a crunchy apple.. slurp-the-durp. No, I wrote DURP.. not burp, it's only you guys that burp, birds can't, neither can we fart. Now, that's a subject for another post!

GeeGee Parrot.
February 4th, 2015.

NANDO'S.. THE MOST ANNOYING RESTAURANT.

She had to meet three friends for an early supper last night and, unfortunately, the venue was Nando's.. not her choice, but it was chosen because it was directly opposite a major transport hub of trains and buses, convenient for them all.

She was on time and so too were two of the others, they sat and chatted and chatted and chatted, not one member of staff approached their table. Eventually she said, "what gives, are we invisible, I want a drink and food" and got up and went to the till where a large man was standing.

He said "what do you want?" which is NOT the right way to greet a customer, she replied "what I want is for someone to come and take an order for drinks and food on that table by the window where we have been sitting for over ten minutes". He sort-of-shrugged and said "oh, we don't do table service like that (despite there being lots of staff running about in black shirts), you have to come here to the till and give us your order".

What a cock-a-mammy way of doing things, she thought and went back to the table, if that's their policy, someone should have told them when they entered the restaurant and sat down at the table and not left them just sitting there.

One of the others lent over to a table of two women and told them that no-one would be coming to take their order, they looked at each other and one of the women said "How strange, Thai foods suddenly seems more attractive" and they left! (She wished she could have gone with them).

She got their order together, went to the man, someone brought the drinks and starters which they were sharing. "Please would you bring us four glasses of water" asked another of the group. "You get that from the water fountain at the back" said the waitress and left.

IS THIS PLACE FOR REAL? They looked at each other and roared with laughter!

'Interestingly' enough, when she went to the water fountain which she found located right at the back of the restaurnt, there were no glasses, she had to go to the till and ask for them. Who dreamt up this policy? For it is mighty weird!

The food was indifferent, which was better than the service which was appalling, one chain of restaurants that she'll never be going back into, that's for sure!

Bright and very sunny here, no 'white stuff' lying on the pavements, but the council have been out and about very early scattering grit and salt on street corners and crossings.

But if you are in snow and icy conditions, be sure to be alert, walk and drive carefully and FEED your birds!

GeeGee Parrot.
February 4th, 2015.

HOW TO CUT YOUR TOE NAILS & SHE'S SINGING ON FRIDAY!

This toe subject should have had its' own post. Too late now.. we posted about it last night.

She was very angry and distressed to see the way that somebody had, in order to save money, cut Susan's toes so short that they now all require several treatments to prevent them from becoming 'IN-growing', which is an extremely painful condition.

If you are elderly yourself or have elderly relations, please make sure that you take care of your / their feet. Ask friends, who live locally, where they go to get their feet 'done', ask them if their happy with the pedicures they have.

Don't be shy.. you're not asking them a 'personal' question.. but the sad thing is that lot of peoples' outside activities are curtailed because their feet hurt. You see people walking and know that their toes are sore.. it doesn't have to be this way. Stand up for yourself. Take care of those toes and they'll take you far!

Hugo took care of his feet, he was taught how when he was a very young soldier, having been told "that an Army marches on its' feet and its' stomach".

The original expression of an army marches on its' stomach is attributed to both Napoleon Bonaparte and Frederick the Great.

Now she and I are off to do other things than lolling about writing posts for my Blog.. but much later this week, she will be giving me a wonderful thing to write about.. and here is just the minutest snippet to make you mouth water.. she's singing on Friday!

Nope.. Can't tell anymore for neither I nor old blabber-beak Beaky can give you any more because she hasn't told us anymore. But we LOVE singing, both of us.. she sings anything and everything and I whistle or bob about and we have a very good time.

Our dear friend in Dallas, Mrs.Diane, will be VERY happy to hear that she is going to sing, for she too loves to sing and oh, she wishes that her two of her most beloveds were still alive to come with her.. Darling Madge Jenner and Mister Bill loved to sing and they both sang the same song to her.

Winnie, the brilliant woman who looked after all the furniture in Hugo's antique shop, had a wonderful voice and she sang all the time, except when there were customers in the shop. She sang everything from heavy duty operatic stuff to music hall and popular music aka Pop!

She has this vivid memory of Constance and Winnie doing this mad waltz about the showroom after mama had sold an incredibly valuable Pie Crust Table to John Fowler (of Colefax & Fowler fame). Winnie and Constance were grinning from ear to ear and singing at the top of their voices 'Daisy, Daisy, give me your answer, do'.

It was a mad, wonderful sight made even funnier by the arrival into the shop of Hugo, the boss, who knew nothing of Mr. Fowler's visit to the shop and could not understand what on earth was going on! Such a huge amount of laughter was laughed that day..

It is good to sing and laugh, for remember what Liza (with a Z) sang..

'What good is sitting alone in your room?
Come here the music play.
Life is a Cabaret, old chum.
Come to the Cabaret'.

PipPip.. Dear Readers.. PipPip.

GeeGee Parrot.
Febuary 3rd, 2015.

'RETIRED'. OH DEAR, POOR YOU!

The poor man, he wasn't used to being spoken to in this fashion at all! Zooming backwards, I'll fill you in.

She was standing next to a friend of hers one night last week, they were chatting about a book they had just read and were 'grazing' happily along a delicious buffet when a man, whom neither of them knew, came up and starting to put food on his plate said "hello".

Another person then came up and wanted to ask her friend about something, so she turned and asked the man who was just standing there "what do you do, or are you with the company?"

The unwise man then said those fateful words "I'm retired", (this annoys her even more than "I lunch" which is said by vacant-headed women, she replied, "oh, you poor man, how dreadful for you, so do you just sit in a chair all day watching television, do you read or listen to the radio" and put on her most bored face.

The man looked shocked and as he choked and spluttered, he said "No, of course not, I look after my two grand-daughters whilst their mother is at work, I'm an accountant so I do the books for a couple of local charities, I garden and I have just become Govenor of our local school".

She smiled her crocodile smile (pure Constance) and said "so why say that boring word, for it's real conversation stopper and untrue, for you appear to do lots of things".

I told you Constance was tough, well, so is my mum. Talking of tough.. she was greatly angered by what she saw today, grrr.

She went to sort out our beloved Susan's poor sore toe. A magic bag of tricks and her special foot sized tub slipped into Wheelie and off they trotted to Susan's house. After a scrummy Danish-style lunch, they washed up and she got everything ready, taking the lampshade off a little lamp which gave her more light to work by.

Susan was settled with both her feet in the warm water, she asked "which is your sore toe", Susan lifted that foot out of the water, she settled it on her lap, dried it with a towel and bent down to look.

OH.. NO.. OH, MY GIDDY AUNT.. for someone had, literally butchered all of Susan's toe nails! They were all cut right down to the quick, shaped into a U right down on the sides and all the nails were starting to grow under the skin. She put that foot back into the tub and lifted out the other foot.. it was, if possible, even worse.

"Who has done this, it can't have been you, you're a nurse?" Susan's response was as shocking as her toe nails, "it's the local clinic for Pensioners run by the NHS". Words DID not fail her and she said "you have to show this immediately to your GP, they have to stop whoever it is who is cutting toe nails like this from working there immediately"..

Then she set to work, it took three hours to get most of those toe nails free, three that will need another treatment at the week-end and one which needs to be treated for a fungal infection.

If you are nimble and flexible you can do your own feet when you get older. But if you cannot, then you must be very 'on the ball' if you go to a Chiropodist or Foot Clinic. Stop them IMMEDIATELY if they cut your toe nails in a curved shape, the nail is there specifically to protect the nail bed and should NEVER to cut too short.

Another thing is that toe nails are MUCH easier to cut if they are softened by being soaked in warm water. Don't hack at them with scissors, buy proper toe nail clippers and cut them straight across.

The other and most important thing is this..

When, and as, you get older, there is secretion that, if allowed to, will build up and harden and completely change the shape and formation of your toe nails. It is simple to deal with, soak your toes in warm water, then run the sharp end of an Orange Stick (these are VERY cheap and sold at all chemists / pharmacies) very gently underneath the nail and, equally gently, push the nail cuticle back with the other end, the blunt end.

Goodness me, I hate to think what someone else would do if they knew they had to 'deal' with my prehistoric Raptor-type feet!

It's bed time, no snow yet, will it miss Central London? Let's cross our fingers and toes!

GeeGee Parrot.
February 2nd, 2015.