SOMEONE'S IN DEEP DUDU AND IT AIN'T ME FOR A CHANGE!

She took a bag to be restitched a few years ago to a smart shop.. they make saddlery and are French.. you know who they are. It is a lovely bag, she was given it for a belated 21st birthday present.

No one has ever contacted her about the bag although she did go in sometime ago and try to chivy them along as it was taking MUCH longer than the quoted three months! Today she had to go to see them about another bag and took her receipt for the first bag with her and a card to pay for the repair work.

But.. oh dear.. oh.. dearie dearie me.. for her bag is nowhere to be found! Luckily the young lady who booked the bag in for repair had written, in full, all the details, colour, size, model name etc.. so there is NO question about this bag being something else.

She left a poor woman.. the head of all the leather section.. looking very worried indeed. For she has the receipt and there's the entry in their repairs book logging the bag into their care for repair, but where is this valuable bag?

Then she went to Wills and Probate in High Holborn, only to be told that ALL wills and Probate records, even the very ancient ones which were in those huge old books dating back into the 1600's, are now on-line and you can do the search to find them and get the probate date and number but you have to pay £10.00 to actually get the will to look at it.

God help us if some nutter decides to hack into this system and take the records 'down', for we will be up the swanee without a paddle, that's for sure!

She has had the most glorious thing happen. You may remember a post about Marc-Whitney, a young Frenchman who stayed with her family circa 1965 - 66. We traced someone who is not a blood relation but who said "that her trying to trace him was an amazing coincidence!

For they did not know about him but there is, at this very moment, a biography being written about his English Godfather, whose life was saved by Marc-Whitney's very young mother when she helped him escape in France from the Germans in WW2.

So we are on the trail folks.. as that French saddlery company is.. for they will have to replace this missing bag.. named after a pretty American filmstar who married a Prince and lived in Monte Carlo!

Now it is time to slurp-the -durp.. she has bought Sea Bass fillets for our yumyum, done on a flat griddle, oh, they're so good. So I am off.. but I want to tell you who is ready and waiting to say a magic phrase to her tomorrow.. it is one of our Muguet de Bois.. aka Lily of the Valley.. who is absolutely on schedule with a tall green slender spike topped with a lot of snow-white bells.

This is so clever of this plant, as really the weather has been beyond iffy and yet she's right on time for tomorrow, you know what to say tomorrow, don't you? No, of course, I am not going to say it.. that is tempting fate.. but it involves the outdoors and a number and a month.. the rest is up to you to work it out but say it tomorrow.. NOT today!

GeeGee Parrot.
April 30th, 2015.

WHITE RUSSIANS & CONSTANCE.. PARIS 1934 & 1969.

The battle of Waterloo was in 1815, there was peace in Europe for nearly a hundred years until WW1 started in 1914. Constance was born ninety eight years ago in 1917, the year of the Russian Revolution.

Many White Russians escaped the Bolsheviks, some were already living outside Russia, some left as soon as the problems started in early 1900's, some by the skin of their teeth.

And many settled in Paris. Constance was at school in Ville d'Avray ~ Paris for the year of 1934-35 and met a few of these families. One particular family she knew especially well as one of the two daughters gave her piano lessons, and members of their extended family lived in Madras and knew Constance's parents.

The family had certainly known a 'different' way of life, however, they were not destitute as they had had a large part of their business in France. They had left Russia, escaping with three members of their household staff and their jewellery and considered themselves to be incredibly fortunate.

The husband travelled within Europe quietly selling sections of the family firm and his wife spent a lot of time doing work with many of the refugees who were destitute, she taught them French and English and kept a very tight rein on her family's finances.

For both she and her husband knew exactly how volatile the situation was in Europe and were planning to move the family to Canada, where she had spent many years as a teenager.

Constance had kept in touch with the family upon her return to Madras and was not at all surprised when she received a change of address notification for the family, they had gone to Canada in 1937, thereby making it out of Europe before the start of WW2 in 1939.

I have a human uncle, he is her eldest brother, he has lived in Paris since 1964. She'd stayed with him several times and the whole family stayed with him when he married Catherine in December of 1969.

Constance had not been back to Paris since she left in mid summer of 1935 and wrote to her friend in Canada giving her news of the wedding and her trip. She got an immediate response which said "Far too good an opportunity to miss.. we'll meet you there!"

And so an eighty nine year old White Russian and her seventy year old daughter, who had been the piano teacher, flew from Canada to Paris to be with Constance and to meet her husband and family.

Constance went alone to meet them at the airport in the morning from their over-night flight, she had said "it's going to be an extraordinarily emotional meeting and I want to be by myself to be with them". (Not one of her family had even thought about going with her!)

The three of them arrived at tea time at the flat.. they had talked and laughed and cried  ~ a lot. For none of their family had been back to Paris since they left in 1937. The other daughter had met and married an Australian, the husband had sent his love and a fat cheque but his apologies saying "I am content to let you 'girls' enjoy yourselves and please remember to bring lots of photos back".

They had with them copies of photos of Constance, circa 1935, taken in their old apartment on Rue Jean-Mermoz. They had lots photos of Paris taken in the 30's.. little black and white pictures.

The octogarian was simply wonderful! Her energy was staggering! Her mind and memory as sharp as a new pin and, needless to say, she had never gone back to the land which was called the USSR.

Why has she remembered this exquisite woman? Well, she was sorting out a drawer in her desk last night and came across one of the photos they gave Constance in 1969 and there, on the back but not in her mother's writing, is written Ville d'Avray ~ 1934. Constance kept in touch with them until their deaths.

In a few days time, on May 8th, it will be the seventieth anniversary of the end of WW2 in Europe. The fear. The sadness. The destruction. The displaced people. The horror of war ~ caused by greed.

GeeGee Parrot.
April 29th, 2015.

SAD VEGETABLES ARE PERFECT FOR DISMAL DAYS!

You do know what a sad vegetable is, don't you? It is a vegetable that is past its' best.. a little limp or not perhaps as dark green as when you bought it, those remains of a head of calabrese.. a beetroot that is soft and crinkly, a clove of garlic with a green shoot.

Whatever it is.. they will make a splendid soup! A real potage of delicious tastes.. it could be made of carrots which are not as hard as nails but with an onion or two, a clove of garlic, a small chunk of fresh ginger root and some potatoes or some left over rice or mashed potato, whatever you have that lurking in white chilly larder or frosty cupboard.. fridge and freezer for those of you who are unfamiliar with my names for these things.. you will have something that is warming and nutricious.

Take a large saucepan, a good dollop of olive oil, chop up an onion or two and two cloves of garlic, soften them in the oil over a low heat, then chop or slice and add the rest of whatever vegetables you have. Fry them gently, then add seasoning and lots of cold water to cover the vegetables. 

Put the lid on the pan, turn up the heat but not too high and allow the soup to hubble-bubble for at least half an hour until all the vegetables are soft. Get your liquidiser out, scoop out the vegetables (she uses a small Chinese wire scoop for this) and a little of the liquid, put them into the liquidiser and give them a burst or two until they are a smooth puree.

Put the puree back into the remaing liquid, adjust your seasoning and add the cooked mashed potato or rice, or dried bread cut into chunks, stir it well and allow it to simmer for about five minutes.

Slurp-the-durp.. she's just made a large pot using carrots, beetroots, celery, some very 'sad' looking spinach and a few purple sprouting brocolli spears that were certainly past their best! There were also a small handful of very tired looking mushrooms and a large chunk of calabrese stalk. Shallots, garlic and root ginger with pepper and salt were added as well.

Hubble-Bubble it went and although it didn't look very appetising, being rather dull khaki in colour, it was deliciously slurpy and just what she needed after having had a BIG injection given to her this morning by Mr.Dentist at 11.15. 

We don't mind having it again for supper tonight, she'll take a couple of ladles and add half a chorizo sausage and some cooked freekeh which she remembers is sitting in frosty cupboard. So that's what you do with sad vegetables, for it is a easy, quick, tasty dish. 

The sun has come out now, it's been a miserable day and half of the market stalls were not there. Poor Scotland and the north had snow yesterday! It was dry down here in London but chilly and that bad Mr.Jack Frost bit her big Basil plant up on the stairs last night, poor plant, it was looking very sorry for itself this morning.

She's got work to do, I'm dozing on sitting room door. I'm not biting the evil collar ALL the time now but I do when I think she's looking.. to prove my point.. grrr. 

GeeGee Parrot.

April 29th, 2015.

AS GISELE BUNDCHEN POINTED OUT.. JUST LABEL IT.. WE HAVE A RIGHT TO KNOW.. WWW.JUSTLABELIT.ORG.. TOO DAMN RIGHT.. WE HAVE A RIGHT TO KNOW!

Dear Reader.. are you a man or ladies, do you have a grown up man in your life? Do they use NIVEA for MEN SHAVING ~ SENSITIVE FOAM? SENSITIVE!! Grrrrr.

Why do I ask? Well, she found a can of this whilst she was clearing out a cupboard.. she looked at the ingredients label and saw the following.. Aqua (Water), TEA-Sterate, Laureth-23. The order in which they are listed gives the highest concentation first.. so this TEA-Sterate is just behind aqua.. which is water.

TEA stands for Triethanolamine and it ain't good for you guys or gals.. it is seriously not a nice thing! And just think of this scenario.. you wet your face with hot water, your pores open, you squish this nice foam into your warmed hands, you put it onto your facial skin and then razor your skin with a sharp blade.. and maybe you 'razor nick' your skin!

She is angry.. too bloody right she is angry.. Skin cancer is on the up and up, Bone Marrow cancer the same. How dare these wretched companies put these filthy chemicals into everyday products. We think if we avoid certain foods, don't drink too much alcohol and excercise that we'll be ok, oh really?

In Boots yesterday, she looked at a product that Susan had asked her to get.. Cussons PURE Shower Cream Moisturing with Shea Butter & Honey.. how delicious, she thought, until she checked the ingredients.. Aqua, Sodium Laureth Sulfate.. how much of this chemical is in this body shampoo?

She's especially angry as next week she is taking Susan to St. Thomas's Hospital for a Bone Marrow test. She's angry folks.. she's reallyreally angry. Susan has been feeling unusually tired, is bruising easily and as she was a highly qualified Teaching Sister and a GP's wife, she realised that "all is not well in the State of Denmark".. which coincidently where she's from.. yes, our much beloved Susan is a 'great' Dane.

And she is incredibly grateful to her lovely friend Raja, an Professor of MicroBiology here in London who alerted her to these poisons. Please, please check the labels on your tins and packets, please don't use these harmful chemicals. You look left or right before you cross a road, so take the time to read the label before you buy / use a product.

Back to bed for a cuddle with a mug of LapySang, it's mighty cold out there.. there is a bright blue sky, with not a cloud in sight! It was freezing when she got home last night but all was well inside the flat. She had seen the weather forecast and as I have removed my thermal down, she turned the heating on again.

There is an artic front moving down.. this will bring strong chilly-billy winds and low temperatures.. please leave pretty Cherry blossom on our trees. Asparagus is ok, he's snug as a bug in the soil but poor blossom is very vulnerable. Thank goodness the green army are still at home, they're a bit leggy but at least Jack Frost won't be able to bite them!

Grrrr.

GeeGee Parrot.
April 28th, 2015.
Postscript:
1.
www.justlabelit.org is an American based website. Their main concern is genetically modified food and the over use of pesticides. Please go on line and look at it. They make a lot of sense about other stuff as well.
2.
Are you aware that the two biggest industries in the world are Armaments and Drugs. They pay a LOT of tax these companies and employ a lot of people, in fact, there are a huge amount of people who would be incredibly and very seriously 'annoyed' (to put it politely) if a cure for cancer WAS found.. do you 'see' or are you following my line of thought?

BACK TO THE DREADED SLS..

She's at home tidying and throwing stuff out and has come across an old British Airways bag.. from those days when wealthy clients flew her about the place.. in it was a tube of toothpaste and even though it was a tiny tube.. the manufacturing bastards had still squeezed in that awful SLS!*

*Sodium Laurel Sulfate.. see a recent post.

Then she set about clearing out and putting away various baskets, she has them in different sizes and lo & behold, in the one she used last week, she came across a sample tube of toothpaste that a dental nurse had popped into her basket. And the brand name was?

Oh yes, she'll give you the name alright! It is ORAL B ~ Pro Expert and there on the back, amongst the large list of ingredients, is listed Sodium Laurel Sulfate, plus many other thoroughly undesirable chemicals she chooses not to put on her skin, let alone into her mouth!

Oh dear.. she hates to think of how many millions of people are using just this brand alone, let alone all the other, so called 'PURE', products that are sold around the world. Rant over for the morning.. she and I have to crack on.

I am being very disagreeable and refusing to eat, in the hope that she'll give in and remove this evil collar. African Grey Parrots are known to be 'tricky' and I am veryvery tricky indeed. And as I am behaving true to my Chinese Astrological sign, which is a Wooden Monkey and as she is a Metal Tiger.. who are known to be mortal enemies in Chinese Astrology.. we are having a major clash of personalities and wills!

Watch this Blog..

GeeGee Parrot.
April 27th, 2015.
Postscript: I have just realised I spelt Sulfate with a ph in the previous post.. my error.

JOLLY BOATING WEATHER.. AND I CONFESS TO A HIDEOUS TRUTH..

The forecast was for heavy rain.. Westminster Bridge was closed.. many bus routes were closed.. it was Marathon Day.. and Susan.. bless her heart.. had not given her the right information.. they were all due to meet at Streatham Common Station NOT Streatham Hill Station. OI VEY WHAT A DAY!

And she was sad to go.. why was she sad? The answer lies, I am afraid to tell you with me and my sadness. This is what I am talking about.. zoom back we go, back to the begining of it all in February. I now know that it was that horrid flu that she had but back then, when she became suddenly so sick, I thought something DIRE had happened.

She didn't talk, she slept most of the time and for a small grey person who loves her human mum very much, remember we have been together almost every day for nearly eleven years, it was an upsetting period. I became anxious.. not a good state to be in at all.. and what do parrots do when they become anxious?

We pluck our feathers.

She, of course, got better but it did take several weeks and by that time, well, my naughty plucking habit was being done every day. We went away for the week end to Wiltshire, I was looking pretty gruesome but she still thought it was a moult.

But the day before yesterday, she was up in Kensington High Street and called in to see Colin, an old friend who runs Animal Fair in Abingdon Road. They talked and then she just mentioned my moult.. and Colin, who knows me and African Grey's very well, said "She's plucking ....., what's happened to get her distressed, don't you remember that she did this once before when you started to be ill and you had to put a lampshade collar on her to stop it?"

"Oh, my goodness me, yes, I do remember and it is exactly the same scenario.. I was ill and in bed in February!".. and so when she came back, she took me down from the top of the bedroom door and turned me upside down.. yes, Dear Readers, I allow her to do this.. why, I cannot think! And she saw the extent of my plucking.

"Oh GeeGee baby girl, I am so sorry, why didn't I see this, you're a silly girl, far too intelligent for your own good"., tears were shed, I was the right way up by now you'll be pleased to know.

I climbed onto my swing and then up onto Goosie Head, my perch in YumYum HQ, she went out and came back with two things in her hands. I stepped back up onto her hand and we settled onto her favourite perch.. and then I realised.. OH NO.. it was that dreadful plastic collar and a screwdriver.. GULP.. and even my squeaksqueaksqueak did not stop her fixing it around my neck.

So now you know the awful truth.. I have stripped off every top feather from my chest, some from underneath my left wing and have nibbled some of my big back feathers which are on top of my wing blades. Not a good look.

So yesterday morning I had slept, if you can call it that, with this thing round my neck, it doesn't hurt, it just stops me bending or turning my neck to get at feathers. But I was grumpy.. very grumpy and so decided to let her know exactly how grumpy I was.. by refusing to eat those fast breaking eggs.

She retaliated by giving me some Homepathic remedy called Mimulus.. The Flower Remedies were developed by Dr. Edward Bach, Mimulus is used against the fear of known things.. the solution works on animals as well as humans.. and then I 'generously' let her feed me some of her toast.

Colin had said that the level of contact had to be stepped up.. no more allowing me to fly off and do my own thing in the bedroom.. yes, Dear Readers, I had stopped sitting on her head and was perching up on my little coffee branch in the bedroom.

She gave me more food on the hour, every hour until she left at midday. It had stopped raining but the buses were not running, Westmister Bridge was closed and the Marathan runners were running!

Thousands of runners were running.. she walked to Victoria Station, took the train to Streatham Hill, went to the agreed meeting point and waited and waited and waited.. in the cold.. We won't bore you with what happened because eventually they all met up.. however, Susan was in BIG dudu as she had given her the wrong station.

Never mind.. it was off to the river they going! And it had stopped raining! The group was made up of Regina, naughty Susan, and a woman whose name she cannot remember, Mary, who had realised what had happened and saved the day, Caro, Rosalina and her.. a small happy group.

Down onto Westminster Pier and on the river boat and off.. they chugged down the Thames! Jolly Boating Season has started and it was not raining! They had a happy time this gang of gaggling women.. they are the bunch that sing each Friday and it was such fun to be independent of that and to able to talk about other things and for her to be with Susan, whom she adores.

Rosalina told her a simply wonderful tale of about flying first class with BOAC and having David Hicks, the famous now deceased interior designer, sitting beside her, that had her squeaking with laughter as he had been an old client of Miss Betty's and then they were 'off and running' with tales of other interior decorators and designers.

And is a good thing it was so noisy and there was absolutely no possibility of these tales being overheard by other folk! For many scandalous tales were told.. for most of those decorators AND a lot of their clients are a 'funny' bunch of folk.. to say the least! Nope! It is more than my life is worth to tell you any of these tales.. Beaky's sealed.. for at least fifty years!

They came back and she said "Sorry, I have to go home", she had told them the shameful truth about my tumtum and she raced home.. no buses.. the street cleaners were cleaning and the organisers were putting London back together again.

Whoosh.. down the steps she came at a quarter to seven.. I was sitting on the edge of the nearest cupboard in oir bedroom.. she plucked me off and I was immediately wrapped up in a huge cuddle.. I tried hard to register disapproval but it was a bit hard when I was so happy to see her back.

Into YumYum HQ.. but not for her, she had eaten far too many tasty sandwiches and was feeling overly full.. should not eat wheat bread.. hummus.. carrot.. more Mimulus was drip-dropped into Beaky.

I played very hard to feed, so she sat on the sink and ate a little of this and a tiny bit of that, I gave up being so stubborn and ate a little too. Then it was time to get into bed, an overly emotional 24 hours had been had by all.

She'd switched on the heating pad and we climbed into a cosy, warm bed, for although it was not cold the early rain had made the air very damp. We sat and she chatted about her day, then it was time to go to sleep and today, well today is another day! She's taking me with her to Rotary tonight, we'll go by train as that journey is quicker than going by bus.

It was flu, she's not ill, I have to get over my fears, stop being naughty, eat properly and forget that naughty habit of plucking my feathers.

The sky is clear, it is a bright sunny day and there are big fat eggies from kind Debbie Goaty Mum, who has a goaty called Lampshade ~ I couldn't make it up!

GeeGee parrot.
April 27th, 2015.

NO POST TONIGHT..

Dear Readers.

We will write tomorrow, she's been on the river and I have a confession to make.. sigh.

GeeGee Parrot.
April 26th, 2015.

THE TWO POISONS YOU USE EVERY DAY.. SEVERAL TIMES A DAY..

Oh dear.. do you know what the initials SLS stand for? They stand for Sodium Lauryl Sulphate and Sodium Laureth Sulphate and there are lots of questions about these two chemicals. Are they carcinogens, being the big question.

So let me tell you the facts that are KNOWN about these two evil monsters.. some of the facts are pretty scary, to say the least.. and who has published reports on SLS?

One being the Journal of the American College of Toxicology, which is one source from whom she has read, and it says that "SLS has a degenerative effect on the cell membranes because of its protein denaturing properties and high levels of skin penetration may occur at even low use concentration".

Here are ten points you should be aware of.

1.
It is a known skin irritant. If you have dandruff , dermatitis, canker sores or any other skin issues, it could well be down to SLS.. think liquid soap, hair shampoo or face cleansers.

2.
It pollutes ground water and is highly toxic to fish and other aquatic animals.  it is undetected in water supplies, meaning it may well be in the water you drink.

3.
It is used as both a Herbicide and a Pesticide, commonly used to kill plants and insects.. you wash your hands with this stuff?

4.
It emits toxic fumes when heated. Toxic Sodium Oxide and Sulphur Oxides are released when SLS is heated.. oh.. A lovely hot shower or a relaxing warm bath with your favourite liquid soap! UGH..

5.
Has corrosive properties which damage fats and skin proteins.. it is used in engine degreasers, car wash soaps and to clean (greasy / oily) garage floors.

6.
A report from the University of Georgia Medicine has revealed that it has the power to permeate your: Eyes, brain, heart and liver.. nice one!

7.
A known eye irritant and major cause of cataracts and proven to prevent proper formation of the eyes in small children.. grrrr.

8.
Nitrate and other solvent contaminations. Toxic solvents, including carcinogenic nitrates are used in the production of SLS, traces of which remain in the product.

9.
The manufacturing of SLS is highly poluting, emiting cancer-causing volatile organic and sulphur compounds. Rather like the manufacture of fake Fur.. which releases Cyanide into the air.. and never, never ever breaks down.

10.
It is a penetration enhancer, meaning that its' molecules are so small that they are able to access and cross through the body's cells. If cells are compromised, they become vulnerable to other free radical and toxic compounds.. and they are, forever, damaged.

SO.. does it cause cancer? What is known, is that when SLS is crossed with Triethanolamine, T.E.A, carcinogenic substances called Nitrosames can formed and released. What contains SLS? Well.. this is a list of products that are SO handy (and deadly) that you probably use several of them at least twice a day.. gulp!

Some hard soaps.. think of old fashion block soaps.
Liquid Soaps.
Shampoos.
Bubble baths.. nice one.. sitting in this dreadful stuff and wondering why you have a urinary tract infection, vaginal, anal or other type of infection and why other parts of your body are irritated that you wash with these soaps.
TOOTH Paste.. oh, reallyreally great!
Washing up liquid..
Laundry detergent..
CHILDREN'S soaps & shampoos.. are you growling yet?
Shaving cream.
Body wash.. such a handy big bottle, it hangs so conveniently, in the warm water in shower.. as you wash under your arms, straight over your Lymph Glands.. men, women & children..
Mascara.. long lashes.. so close to your eyes..
Mouthwash.
Skin cleansers.
Moisture lotions / Moisturisers.
Sun cream.
Stain removers.
Carpet cleaners.

The amount of damage these two chemicals can cause is frightening and yet, horrifyingly, they're to be found in everyone of these products listed above. LOOK at the list of ingredients in your products. Stay away from any that contain SLS, and always read the labels. DO not put into your mouth or onto your skin anything that causes harm.

It is entirely up to you as to how you live your 'life', we're not talking about your ethics or morals, we are talking about the care of your body, for it is the only one you have and it is up to you how you live IN it.

We don't live in a cave but she certainly never uses any of the above products that contain this chemical. Her dentists have always complimented her on cleaniness of her teeth.. she uses dried herbs, salt, baking powder and tincture of sage.. and.. of course, the very biggest "thank you" goes to Valerie Ann Worwood who taught her about taking care of her skin with oils and tinctures.

With whom she has booked, as a massive treat, an Aromatherapy treatment next month.. yippee!

And thanks must also go to Elaine and Richard Hamner of The Green Mountain Soap Company, located in Alabama. Whose soaps ~ and customer service ~ are fabulous.

Now we're off to find pans and chopping boards in YumYum HQ, for supper there are carrots, purple sprouting brocolli, spinach, beetroots and GOATY curd! SlurpyDurpy! She saw Debbie Goaty Mum at Nottinghill this morning and a tub of our favourite 'white' stuff was slipped into old WW.

Apparently Apricot Rum should never be put into small bottles! I wonder why? Do you know why?

GeeGee Parrot.
April 25th, 2015.

ARTHRITIS.. WHAT TRIGGERS YOURS?

She found out last year that eating tomatoes caused the knuckles in her right hand, especially the first finger, to swell alarmingly and to be extremely painful. She had made a huge pot out of homegrown plum tomatoes with garlic and oregano. Portioned it out into boxes and froze it.

A couple of weeks later, she made meatballs and tomato sauce, using one box which she'd defrosted and heated through thoroughly. 'Slurp' she thought and took it to work in her thermos. She shared it with another volunteer and thought nothing more about it.. until an hour later when her hand swelled up and her fingers became sore.

"Look at this" she said to the volunteer. Who said "wow, you've had a reaction to something, what could it be, can't be the tomatoes.. or can it? My hands are ok".. sadly it was. For she waited two weeks and tried it again but with another sauce made from tinned tomatoes.. sure enough, within the hour.. kapoow! Sore hand.

She remembered being told that certain foods can do this and stopped eating any of the foods that are part of the Solanaceae - Nightshade family. Aubergines, Peppers, Potatoes and Tomatoes.

As long as she keeps well away from them, her hands are ok.. but potato chips have been known to slip past her defences and down the gullet.. result.. sore knuckles.. stiff fingers.

She is wary of taking drugs at the best of times and has never been tempted to take a pain killer for the arthritis in that poor old right knee and right hand, she controls it by staying away from the foods that she now knows that her body cannot handle, with the reasoning that some drugs do your body damage FAR worst than a potato chip!

Both Clinical Cornerstone - an American journal - and the Radcliffe Hospital in Oxford, UK have recently published reports on the significant amount of deaths caused by long term use of NSAIDS, non-steroidal anti arthritis drugs which cause upper gastrointestinal problems, ie: bleeding and others.

Which, if you have read this blog from the beginning, you will know is the problem that she had for over six years. Her bleeding was caused by another problem.. NOT by taking these drugs. The freely available (without prescription) drugs listed are.. Aspirin, Ibuprofen & Naproxen.

Cold, damp and mould will aggravate arthritis and so you should be careful of this in your home. Wear gloves and knee pads whilst you garden. Be pro-active and find out what irritates and 'annoys' your body and stop eating or using it.

Do not just take the pain killing pills, because you maybe causing yourself future untold and unseen damage, investigate what triggers an attack or, by the process of elimination, the constant pain and or swelling. Did you have this as a child? Probably not, so it is something that you are now doing or eating that is causing arthritis.

You may, of course, have other members of your family who also 'suffer' this condition and suffer IS the right word! For if you have ever had a red hot needle being poked up under your fingernail then you will know the level of pain she has experienced!

There may well be a family intolerance or weakness that you have inherited. Hugo could not eat any type of orange. So NO delicious Seville Marmalade for him but he could eat both lemons and limes. So Constance made him Lemon and Lime Marmalade.. and her digestion is happier when she stays away from oranges.. "Orange juice.. ugh.. get away from me" she says!

Check it, your food, out. If you are reading this, then you have access to the Internet and the re-search engines that are freely available on it. Be responsible for your own body and health.

AND please read the labels on packets.. she was just about to buy a package of Liquorice.. NO, I have zero control over her when she's out 'n about.. when she saw they use potato flour as the bulking agent!

Who would think of that? She would have had a very sore paw in a nanosecond AND not been able to get her money back as the packet was opened!

Off we go.. me to snooze.. aka doze.. and her to the dentist.. PipPip.

GeeGee Parrot.
April 24th, 2015.

NO LIBRARY BOOKS IN STOCK ON MUSSOLINI & HIS BLACK SHIRTS!

It is a good thing the days are 'longer', is it not? For there are many places that she has to go and stuff to do in the next three days.

Tomorrow she has a dental appointment, which will replace her missing filling, then she has a six month regular check-up appointment in the mid afternoon.. boring, for that means we won't be Singing with Dementia, after that but before six of the afternoon clock, she has to pick up a package from cousin Bruce.

Early Saturday morning she has to meet with an audiologist to see if her new hearing aids are working ok, then meet Debbie Goat at Nottinghill Farmer's Market at lunch time. They were going to meet for dumplings at the market at Marylebone but she has been asked to join a party of friends and go down by a river boat to Greenwich on Sunday.

Let's hope the weather stays as it was this afternoon! Sunny.. warm.. NO evil wind blowing!

On Mussolini.. it was reallyreally strange.. she went today to get a book out of the library about the Italian Fascist dictator and found.. nothing! Even the head librarian found that pretty weird, so when she has finished the lot she borrowed today, he said that they'll do a search on the book list and see if Central, up in Hornton Street, have any books on him.

She did not finish her work yesterday, it has to be done now, then there is ironing to do and a cover to put back onto the chair.. chores. Nothing exciting to report..

However, she's 'alarmed' by a story about a young Australian woman who has pretended to have brain cancer, she wrote a cook book as a cancer survivor and how she coped with it and her treatment.

WHY anyone would go to such lengths to con friends, both her real and cyber-virtual ones, is beyond her.. let's hope she does not get it in real life for a lot of these friends are angry indeed at being told now that she has never had it and the next time she cries "wolf wolf", I wonder if they'll rally. Sad, isn't it?

But we have much to be cheered about.. I can fly, she can walk, we have food to eat and clean water to drink and a safe place to sleep tonight. Think upon your life and reflect on good stuff.. on friends.. on happiness.. on health, how you can improve it.. on kindness and love.

GeeGee Parrot.
April 23rd, 2015.

AND A JOLLY DAY WAS HAD BY ALL.. BOTH CUSTOMERS & STAFF!

"Hey Ho Hey Ho.. it's off to work I go", she said and off she went.. I had flapflapped to our bedroom and was listening to Mr. James O'Brian. It was a bright sunny day with a bite in the wind, you really did have to walk on the sunny side of the street, as the other side was not at all nice!

It was a busy day at the shop, she went to get change for the till and coming back into the shop she was just behind an old friend of hers, Gilly, whom she hasn't laid eyes on since 1998! She and her husband, Murrray, were guests at the Red Sock Party which I wrote about a very long time ago, so that was a pleasant surprise.

There were many boxes of things to unpack and sort out, there was a glorious old porcelain bowl in immaculate condition in one box, it was unmarked but it is undoubtedly French and there was an equally pretty blue and white Royal Copenhagen fruit dish, also in excellent condition.

And LOTS of books, dvd's and cd's to unpack, all of which had to be priced and put out together with a huge amount of fine art catalogues from the world's auction houses. The dealers and art teachers all love them and they sell well. People are so incredibly generous with their donations to our shop, Trinity Hospice, as it is a London based charity and the hospice itself is an old and very well respected one.

She is home and when we've finished this.. it will be time for Fish-is-the-Dish for tonight. YumYum, I love fish of all sorts but most of all, I am just crazy-daisy about Macherel, oh yes indeed, I find it most slurpydurpy. She cooks the fillets on a griddle.. plain.. with a bit of black pepper, that's all.

So that's where we will be going, to YumYum HQ and afterwards, she's got work to do and I'll sit on her head, just to make sure she does it correctly.

GeeGee Parrot.
April 22nd, 2015.

BACK HOME AT BARRACKS..

Good day to you all and why are we saying 'back home at barracks' instead of 'back home on the ranch'?

Well, the Green Army is still here at home and although the sky is blue and old Mr. Sun has his torch fully charged, she is working today at the shop, they're confined to barracks until she takes them out to the allotment.

For those of you who are wondering why she had to have an MRI, it is because she has recently lost a significant amount of hearing in her right ear. They had to scan her because there is a possibility of a 'growth' interfering with auditory nerves.

Let's us move swiftly onto happier subjects.. like how much work she has to do at the allotments!

GULP.. there is LOTS of work to do.. she's just come across a bunch of photos that she took in June of 2009. They show an immaculate terrace with not one weed in sight.. sigh. The raised beds were bursting with beans and peas etec, etc!

She has much catch-up to do.. plus a lot of wood has to be replaced around several of the raised beds, she will not use 'treated' wood as the chemicals they use are not what you want touching the earth that you are growing your vegetables in.

So, after nearly fourteen years, the wood has rotted and has to be replaced. Whilst she is doing it, she is going to raise the level of the smaller beds. The larger beds are edged with scaffold planks, a full sized plank is just over 13', a good length for a long narrow bed.

She and Dean will have to do a run to the local timber yard and get a load. She would have called upon Portuguese Jorge.. so called because there was a Jorge who was from Madeira.. but he isn't driving an estate car these days.

So the sky is blue and we are happy.. I'm a'sittin on the top of the door.. instead of the dock of the bay.. the Green Army has been watered, she will check on the herbs and salad leaves which are growing on the front wall of the house.

She also has to get into working clothes. I'll flap-a-flap into the bedroom, listen to the radio and doze and then she'll be home again. The weeks and life just roll on by.. for she'll be eating Malaysian dumplings and chewing the fat with Debbie Goaty Mum this Sunday at Marylebone Market.

Enjoy your days.. wherever you may be.. for Old Father Time does not stop.. tick tock tick tock.

GeeGee Parrot.
April 22nd, 2015.

PORTUGUESE JORGE & AREN'T MRI SCANNERS NOISY!

We got up SO early! The alarm went off at half past six!! She got up, got me up, we went back to bed for a ten minute cuddle and then it was time to get upup and to start her day. Bathroom, wash, dress, then into our bedroom to check my food and water bowl and to switch on the radio, she blew me a kiss and was out of the house on the dot of seven.

Bright blue sunny sky but it was chilly! There's no warmth in an early morning's April sun. As she was just about to cross the road, she heard her name being shouted and turned to see her first driver, Portuguese Jorge, crossing the road towards her! 

Wow.. such hugs.. they go back a long time.. he started driving her when she worked for the Savoy Group, that was in 1991 and they travelled hundreds and hundreds of miles together.. allover England and Ireland. Such a nice kind man. She was with him coming back from East Ham when they had the accident in 2002.

They were stationery at the traffic crossing on Birdcage Walk when they were hit from behind by an idiot doing fifty miles an hour! She, sitting in the back seat, was not wearing her seat belt and was thrown sideways but Jorge.. oh dear.. poor Jorge was badly hurt.

There were soldiers on the parade ground who called the police and an ambulance. Who both came in double quick time and were marvellous. Jorge, the other driver and she were taken to hospital, he and the driver were admitted, she was xrayed.. all clear. 

She called Olivia, his wife and explained what had happened. Oi vey.. what a mess! Luckily for Jorge, the soldiers had seen it happen, the 'book' was thrown at the other driver and he was arrested! 

She waited in the hospital until Olivia and their son, Ricardo, arrived and then she left. She was due in Bristol that afternoon, Dagga Parrot had to be taken to the aviary and she had to get to Paddington.

Today is the first time she has seen him for ten years! BIG reunion! They'll have coffee somewhere and catch up, no time today as her MRI was scheduled for 08.00. So hugs were hugged and off she went to go to the hospital. Early, nobody at reception, so she waited in the front area for the staff to arrive. She was the first patient. 

Into a gown, onto the scanner, technician put on a pair of earmuffs over her ears and warned her to expect some loud noises from the scanner. Then the cage was put over her head to keep her head in place and off she went into the tube. But, oh boy, she's glad she's deaf as the noises were very loud indeed!

She doesn't find these MRI's scary but then she's been scanned lots and lots of times for various reasons. However, she does close her eyes and thinks about a puzzle or a subject WELL away from any medical stuff.. walking in the fresh air looking at a spot that she knows well is a favourite way for her not to think about being in a metal tube!

Ten minutes or so later it was all over and she was allowed to dress and leave. Off she went to ENT to reconfirm her appointment in May with the specialist and twenty minutes later, she was catching a bus to come home.

So.. now they have the scan.. they'll find all sorts of interesting bumps and lumps. The bump on her forehead caused by Elizabeth de la Fontaine's hockey stick, the cracked skull lump from the 1969 mobylette smash and a bump from when a heavy dish fell out of a cupboard earlier this year!

But they're specifically looking at an area on the right side near to her ear, we'll know what they've found, if anything, when she sees Mr. Elliott and so there is NO point in getting 'our knickers in a twist' about anything.. we've had fast breaking eggs and rye toast, it's still a sunny day and she has lots of stuff to do.

I do hope Pete's head is warm enough, that Michele has checked the lettuces and I wonder what those two dogs are doing?

GeeGee Parrot.

April 21st, 2015.

I'M A KASUKU.. THAT'S SWAHILI FOR PARROT.

Now HOW do I know the Swahili word for Parrot.. 'cos that, Dear Readers, is where I have been!

No.. actually.. I tell GROSS fib.. we have been staying in Wiltshire with Michele and Peter and they speak Swahili, so they called me that and SWSBO.. remembered that name from Madge.. aka Pete's mother.. who adored Dagga Parrot.

AND I met a dog.. in fact.. I met TWO dogs! One was a brown Doberman called Ginger and the other was called Panda.. I can't remember exactly what breeding made Panda.. Collie and Spitz, I think. But I am pleased to report that both their noses are still in one piece and so am I!

The weather was glorious.. a bit nippy but it is still April and so windy wind is to be expected. Pete and she moved a raised bed, they ate lots of Michele's yummy yumyum and I fell in lurve.. sigh.. yes, Dear Readers, I've fallen in love and spent a lot of time on Pete's head. And.. NO fingers were nipped!

We are now back in London, so I have travelled in a fast black.. aka a London taxi.. two trains, a car and have been on two big red buses! What excitement! And I met Poppy again, do you remember her? She's Faith's daughter, who is Michele and Peter's daughter, oh, do keep up at the back there.

This is why she scurried around tidying up the house towards the end of last week.. for to come back to an untidy house after a holiday.. well, NOBODY wants to do that! So it may not be sunny and bright but it is home and it's our home. You'll be pleased to hear that the green army is still alive. She opened the window so fresh cool air slowed down the growth rate.

She has the brain MRI tomorrow at some completely ungodly hour.. and there is all sorts of stuff going on this week which she has to do and organise.. including a trip to the dentist! Her new smart filling fell out on Friday afternoon.. sigh.. so that has to be replaced.

She has a package waiting to be collected and she needs to get a small package to get into the mail tomorrow after she's finished at the hospital.

So we have been busybusy.. which is why we have not posted for such a long time. We were occupied doing other things or else fast asleep! That comfy bed in the family Jenners' new house meant she slept reallyreally well and so did I and we have returned full of fresh air and bright sunlight in our eyes.

Nice place Pewsey..  "we'll be back Michele and Pete.. and no, it's not a threat.. it's a promise".

GeeGee Parrot.
April 20th, 2015.

IN OUT IN OUT AND SHINE IT ALL ABOUT.. THAT'S WHAT ITS' ALL ABOUT!

No wonder the weather is wonky in England! Old Mr. Sun turns that torch of his on off on off on off so many times, he wears the batteries out. We went to bed last night with the temperature dropping like a stone, icy rain pouring down and we've awoken to a sunny and bright day this morning!

Much work to do this morning.. sheets to change.. rubbish to go out.. kitchen to clean.. 'cos it's the week end and we want a tidy home.

Eggs.. toast with the smallest scrape of goaty curd.. coffee. Isn't it funny, peculiar, how one can eat the same things for weeks on end and not get bored with it? Eggy-peggy is a great favourite of ours and no two plates of buttered ones ever taste the same!

A crunch of mixed peppers and a smidgen of salt make them a scrummy a dish and what a great way to "make my day", as Clint would say!

I slept well.. she slept badly.. as she had a strange, weird dream about Mussolini and his Blackshirts! Then she was too hot.. too cold.. goodness me, I eventually had to growl at her at some ungodly hour when she woke me up.. I don't like being woken up until it's time to actually get up.

I hope she will tell me more about her dream, so far she's muttered something about mosquitos, malaria and his project to drain the marshes. If she does, I'll tell you.

Much to do, she's got to go and you all know I can't tap iPad.. PipPip.

GeeGee Parrot.
April 17th, 2015.

HEY MAMA, ARE WE GOING TO HAVE SNOW, IT SURE IS COLD ENOUGH!

Oh.. silly old mama, because yesterday was 26 degrees and todays' sky was sunny when she walked to work, she wore a linen shirt with no jacket. It was ok in the shop but when she left to come home, oh, her ears and whiskers.. it was icy cold and spitting rain.

"Please don't tear the cherry blossom off my trees", she muttered to that beastly old cold wind as she and WW came down the stairs. As if nasty old cold wind would even listen to her, he blows as cold as he can and smirks to himself saying "it's only April, I'll do what I lke".. Brrrr.

Not much to report today.. Dear John, one of the other volunteers, came into the shop.. she says that it was SO very good to see him again, he had been unwell for a couple of months with a dreadul lurgy bug but he's now back working and looks happy and heathy. 

Me.. well, I have even fewer feathers on my tumtum, I look pretty weird, to say the least, with bald patches and coming through my pale grey skin are my new feathers that look like arrow heads but this bird has to do what this bird has to do and I'm a'doing my bi-annual moult!

I'm off to bed, apparently we have to get up early tomorrow, so I'll have just a quick slurp of hummus and a couple of nuts in my cage incase I feel hungry in the wee small hours of the morning.

Goodness me.. half way through April.. she still hasn't weeded that poor asparagus bed.. ah well.. we may not have that much this year but it ain't the end of the world, she'll do the weeding and then put down a lot of compost and manure in mid June to get it ready for next year. Nothing is ever written in stone in gardening.

Bed time.. Good night to you all.. it's now raining hard and it's very chilly-billy.

GeeGee Parrot.

April 16th, 2015.

OUR GREEN ARMY.. AND ARE YOU AN EE CUSTOMER?

Are ready to march off to grow but they're 'confined to barracks' as it's too hot out there! When did you ever expect us to write that.. for we like hot weather. But you can't plant seedlings out when it is 26 Centigrade and rising, can you!

Yes, Dear Readers, from being chilly-billy at only 8 degrees with cloudy, dull skies, it's very HOT with cloudless, sunny blue skies and the temperature's rising.. so it isn't surprising.. we gotta keep these babies cool!

However, this hot, dry and not too windy weather, if it stays, is going to have the most wonderful effect on our Cherry trees! Of which, she has eleven, she thinks, let's see what varities we have and how many of each.. five Stella, one Montmorency, one Morello, two Yellow, two French.. yes, that's eleven trees.

Last year we lost every single blossom in mid April when fierce winds and rain ripped them off the trees but this seasons' forecast, as long as we don't get those winds again, is for a cracking good Cherry crop! She can see Debbie Goat and Karen smiling at the thought of cherries! They're both partial to a slurpy-sip of her home made Kirsh.. cherries in vodka with a secret ingredient!

She ran about a bit yesterday getting stuff.. one trip was to Bartek for a stash of her new favourite drink.. Beet with apple and root parsley.. it's very slurpy-durpy, she had a tiny amount of goaty milk left so she poured a little of the purple juice into the bottle, gave it a reallyreally good shake and zap kappow! A brilliant smoothie.

She's going to miss those Goaty Cheesy biscuits! Hot dog! That naughty baker, I bet he'll do his twist on her cheese biscuits and he and that Goaty Mum will scoff the lot.. sigh.. so no cheesy biscuits for us this week end 'cos we won't be at Parson's Green Farmer's Market on Sunday.

We're going to be elsewhere! Surprise.. you'll have to wait and see!

Quick post this as she has to rattle pots and pans, collect a lot of stuff from a friend for the shop, work there for a few hours and then come home to do more work here..

OH HEADS UP!  Are you an EE Mobile customer? Then text POWER to 365 and claim your FREE MOBILE CHARGER, it's a brand new offer from EE and it starts today!

It's flappa-dappa-doo time. Come here little eggy.. come to Beaky.

GeeGee Parrot.
April 16th, 2015.

JORDAN SPIETH WEARS 'THAT' GREEN JACKET & WROTE A THANK YOU TO HIS SPONSERS.. IT'S CALLED GOOD MANNERS.

Good morning.. good morning.. it's a sunny day here where we live.. with a bright blue sky!

And in a paper today is a copy of a copy of a letter written in 2009 by a young school boy. In the letter, the boy thanks Mr. and Mrs. Murphy for the financial support that they gave that he is receiving in the way of a scholarship to Jesuits, a school in Dallas, Texas.

He tells them that he is in the school's golf team, is currently ranked as the number one junior player in the country, his dream is to play professional golf and to win the Masters.

We don't know how many hours this boy dedicated to his chosen sport but we are betting more hours and days than you can possibly imagine and his hard work and a natural talent have paid off, for Jordan Spieth, now 21 years old, has won the Masters at Augusta and with it, the right to wear 'that' green jacket!

We liked this story.. we liked it very much, indeed we LOVE to hear of young AND old people having an idea of what they want to do and having the determination to go out there and do it. We don't mind or care at all as to what 'it' is.. just as long as they get up off their backsides and do it, do something.

Learn a foreign language.. like her 93 year old new friend Elizabeth, whom she met because she was wearing a jacket of hers that she had donated to New Horizons, what's Elizabeth doing? Well, she's learning to speak Hungarian and Skype's her teacher each week for an hour. HUNGARIAN! Lordy..

Learn how to do something.. anything but get your brain cells and your muscles a'goin! Don't retire and just think "I'm retired".. And if you're young.. don't think that Facebook or Twitter are going to give you a worthwhile career by tweeting and hanging out with all your virtual friends.. some of whom are NOT whom they appear or say they are!' PLEASE.. please.. it ain't going to do anything except waste valuable time.. for old Father Time does not stop ticking away.. tick tock tick tock tick..

       And whilst you're at it.. quit talking in text-speak.. didn't you learn anything at school?

You gain an enormous amount by studying and maybe, just maybe, you will achieve the technical or physical know-how of how to develop something, maybe a system that will be the next big thing.. that actually works! For truly the Holy Grail of studying is to create something that benefits all mankind.

We 're off.. it's time for LapySang tea, buttery egg-the-peg.. now we KNOW you're as just as silly as us, so no sniggering at my vocabulary.. and rye toasty-crusts! We hope you've got or had something delicious to eat that has broken your night's fast.. breakfast.. gettit?

Time to flap a wing or two and slurp that durp.

GeeGee Parrot.
April 15th, 2015.

'WHEN A MAN LOVES A WOMAN'.. DID YOU DANCE TO THIS IN '66?

This is a short, in fact, a tiny post. It is a tribute to the singer Percy Sledge who died yesterday at the age of 74.

She played this song hundreds of times when she worked as a dj.. it was a tune that was absolutely guaranteed to fill a dance floor with couples doing a 'slow' dance ~ with a lot of smooching going on and she and a couple of men were known to have danced to it as well.. for surely, there ain't nuthin' like a slow dance when you are with the one you love..

He had surgery for liver cancer in 2014 but resumed touring again and died of natural causes in a hospice in Louisiana.

RIP Percy.. and she says to tell you "thanks for all those good times".

GeeGee Parrot.
April 15th, 2015.

SHE'S GOT A SLEEK BLONDE BOB..

She fell amongst thieves aka friends on her way to get some chores done!

Between our home and the bus stop, there lies the charming home of her beloved Lebanese friend, who just happened to be standing in her front door way this afternoon as she passed by, many kisses and hugs were exchanged, why, you would think they hadn't seen each other for months!

'Somehow' she found herself sitting at the kitchen table drinking delicious coffee and eating all sorts and manner of yumyum.. which was not planned at all! But she did managed to make the dentist on time and slip in having her hair cut before going back for a late tea!

So we can tick a couple of things off the list.. but it's not going down very fast, she'll have to do a lot of work tomorrow to finish all her chores before Friday morning. But at least her hair looks pretty and presentable, she's looked a 'trifle' wild and woolly for the past week or two.

Now she's got a sleek bob which she will allow to grow a couple of inches.. then, most likely.. she'll get bored with it and say to them.. "Chop it all off and give me an Eton Crop!"

Her hairdresser combed through her hair, which he had last seen dark brown, and he asked her who had done the colour change because it's been done so beautifully, he smiled when she said that she'd had it done at L'Oreal and nodded, saying that it must have taken them many hours to do it.

So she a very happy camper and Bruce's present DID get there, which was another good thing that has happened, we don't give it very long in his fridge, he loves what she sent him!

Every seed has now germinated, there is a mini forest of greenery waving their arms about on our sitting room window sill, one tray of seedlings has already gone outside. The others will go out tomorrow in the day time but will come back in at night.

The great thing about being on an allotment is there is always someone to give a pot of whatever to if you have grown too many of one particular variety, but WHO could ever have too many baby Broad / Fava Beans! She likes them dropped into boiling water for less than a minute, then tossed in olive oil with crushed garlic on top of Fusili pasta.. So do I.. for they are very slurpy-durpy stuff.

She loves to give fresh herbs and vegetables to friends. And, of course, her favourite thing is to give big bunches of home grown Flowers. She recalls going to a very smart luncheon a few years ago in Eaton Square.

It was a girlfriend's fiftieth birthday party and there were, as you can imagine, gifts galore and lots of bunches of flowers from London' most expensive florists.. she, meanwhile, had gone out at the crack of dawn to the allotment and picked thirty stems of her tall double, pale pink Peonies which have a heavenly fragrance.

Louisa took one look at this huge bunch of, gave her the most enormous hug, and went out of the room. Her housekeeper came back in with them in a massive vase, cleared off a spot on a sofa table and everyone said "wow.. WHERE did you get those?" and as Louisa came back into the room, she said "I'd lay a bet that she picked them at some ungodly hour this morning, darling girl, they're just divine, thank you".

That, Dear Readers, is why one gardens, for the pleasure and scrummydumptious yumyum you grow with no chemicals.

Our babies won't go out there to the allotments this week as we are due for a couple of crackingly hot days and they would fry in less than twelve hours, so they'll stay at home until they're a big stronger. She brushes her hand very gently over all seedlings, like being gently blown by the wind, it has the effect of making their stems stronger.

So another day has rolled by.. Bruce is now fifty.. my goodness me. We hope he's had a lovely time and that the family gave him a great day, when did you say Steve and Francesca were going to Italy or more to the point, when are they coming BACK with our supply of chocolate from Ferraro?

Goodnight to you all.. "say goodnight Dick".. who remembers that? It was way before I was born!

GeeGee Parrot.
April 14th, 2015.

LITTLE BOY BRUCE DUN' GROWN UP!.. And a very small little brooch.

Yes he has.. for today it's our BIG Bruce's birthday.. Now I know you're all thinking huh, in the title we described him as 'Little Boy Bruce' and now we are talking about him as BIG Bruce, what has happened? Well.. fifty years happened..

And if you're sparking on all your cylinders.. you'll realise that we are telling you it is his big FIVE O day today.. yup.. our youngest cousin has reached his half century!

She sure hopes the package she posted to him yesterday got there, it should do, for she asked for the 'Next Day Delivery before 13.00 - Track & Trace Service'.. a great service from the Royal Mail.

Today is a beautiful day and we hope that it is as pleasant a day up on the Isle of Man.. which is the skinny island tucked in between England and Northern Ireland. This is where three of our cousins live, one of which is our birthday 'boy'.. huh.. ain't nothing boyish about him, he takes after his father and his father's father. Tall of height, broad of shoulder and slim of hip.

            "Happy birthday dearest Bruce.. we wish you a very, very happy day indeed".

What did she manage to do yesterday? She got the fabric she needed from the Wimbledon Machine Company on Balham High Street, this shop is an emporium of wonderful stuff! Dress and furnishing fabrics.. trimmings.. stuff for craftwork.. stuff for children.. you name it, they've got it!

Plus, of course, sewing machines! And small pieces of leather and suede.. she'll go back with an old Barbour jacket that needs the collar replacing. They will have what she needs but needs to take the jacket in to choose a colour.

Then she found a new mini Post Office! On the Trinity Road, almost at the junction of Tooting High Street and Balham High Street. With NO queue! Yippee.

Then back to EE at Clapham Junction, for her new mobile was doing something most peculiar! "Bring me your contact and I'll exchange it for another" said Chantelle. So that took a couple of hours as she came home, fed me some yumyum, checked my water, picked up everything that went with the phone and went back to Clapham Junction.

Mobiles exchanged, she went by bus up to Streatham Hill. Got off at the Streatham Hill Station stop, crossed the road and chewed the fat with an old friend who is changing the usage of his shop. He used to have two floors of ironmongery products. He is a trained chef and the ground floor is now going to be an Indian take-away called 'DELHI BITES' and the ironmongers will be downstairs.

"Opening at the end of the month" was his response when she hailed him whilst he was at the top of a ladder preparing the exterior wall for the shop sign. She gave her love to all the family, she's known the two children since the first, a girl, was so small that she slept in a box underneath the till! They are a charming, charming family and she wishes them a HUGE success with their new venture.

Then she walked up Leigham Court Road to a Rotary meeting. She had been asked by Susan if she wanted to join this group and having sat in and listened to what they do, whom they support, their policies and ethics, she filled in an application form two weeks ago.

Amongst themselves the other members had discussed her and what they thought she could bring to the group etc, etc and yesterday, to her great pleasure, Mary the groups' president, formally told her that they were delighted to say that her application as a member had been accepted ~ upon one condition! That it was to be a JOINT membership.. for I am to be an Honorary Member!

Apparently my one afternoons 'work' at the meeting of 'Singing With Dementia' before Easter had been an enormous success and had had such an effect on several of the people, that the president, who also started this group, had been asked if I could go every week!

She will be formally inducted as a Rotarian in a couple of weeks time, she'll then be given her Rotarian brooch - pin, of course, I cannot wear a one as I don't wear any 'clothes', and if I wasn't such a scary cat and so afraid of needles.. I'd have a tattoo instead. Then I could 'wear' my Rotary brooch all the time!

Needless to say she is absolutely thrilled about this, the secretary and president spoke with her about the role they want her to take within the group.. and right up her street, it is too!

Afterwards Susan and she caught a bus to come home.. Susan was so excited that her 'applicant' had been accepted, that she missed her stop and had to get off, cross over the road and catch a bus going back the other way!

Now she's got to get on with stuff as it is way past midday, she hasn't had her hair cut yet and she's due at the Dentist for a mini-check-up at 5 of the after noon clock.

No, she didn't get everything done yesterday but what had to be done.. was and she can do more chores today and on Wednesday.. for life rolls by and so must we.. for, yes folks.. it's time to 'Rock-n-Roll!'

GeeGee Parrot.
April 14th, 2015.
PostScript.. Aka Bruce's birthday.. we hope you have a 'gud' day Bruce! Please think this in an 'Aussie' accent.

QUITE chilly-billy! It's only 8 degrees C here in deepest Knightsbridge!

She's going to look like the Michelin Tyre man's sister! As ready for her to put on are: Hat, scarf, gloves, quilted jacket, boots.. but all's well in our house.

For yumyum has been eaten, I have a wide and cosy door to doze upon, there is water in my dish and there are a few seeds to snack upon until she returns later with all manner of Tales from the great outdoors.

She needs another bag of fine seed compost. For she staggers the sewing of seeds that produce plants throughout Summer and Autumn.. Lettuces.. Pak Choi and Radishes.. ooh and I am partial to a crisp and crunchy Radish!

And talking of which.. she has forgotten to give poor Glenn a bit of 'ag-and-nause' because he has not yet got any Polish vegetable seeds in stock at Bartek! We know there are several different varities of Beetroots and other such edible deliciousnesses ~ is that a word or did she just make it up?

For instance, Hamburg Parsley. Now there's a thing that very few non Middle Europeans have even heard of and yet it is wonderful! How we jurst-lurve this root and it's an ingredient in the Beetroot juice that she has just discovered at Bartek.

Let me tell you folks, that if YOU knew how scrummydumptious this shop was, you'd be badgering Glen to open a branch of his shop near to you too. With excellent staff, all of whom are bi-lingual, everything in the shop is as clean as a shiny steel whistle, with fabulous food products and it is not over the top pricewise.

For instance, a litre of the Polish Beet juice.. to which she is now addicted costs £1.39.. the same size of James White's Beet juice costs £2.79 in Waitrose.. now that folks, is a BIG difference!

Farewell.. she's now off out and I'm off to the Land of Nod.. aka dozey-doze.

GeeGee Parrot.
April 13th, 2015.

SHE MAY NOT HAVE BEEN HAPPY.. BUT AT LEAST SHE DIDN'T FREEZE!

Funny how an annoying thing will actually help you, isn't it? She was looking forward to being in the sunlight, fresh air and giving those weeds a nasty time yesterday but because of that up-the-creek bus service, she was a little grumpy upon her return.

But that mood soon changed when, after having made us a delicious meal of green vegetables and other scrummy things, she went outside to water the orange trees and the newly planted herbs.

Having given everything a watery top-up, she came back in with a smiley face to tell me that the sun had disappeared, it was mighty windy out there and if she hadn't come back when she did.. she'd have been miles from home and freezing.. that cheered her up enormously!

Almost all the seeds are up and in leaf now, Miss Yellow Patty-Pan Squash is lagging, only three out twelve little flying saucers have sprouted but what a speedy rate of germination! Everything was planted in the early evening of April 8th and it is only the morning of April 13th!

I wonder what they'll think when she tells them that they're going to be living 'out' there at the allotments and not 'in' here at our cosy home?

Cook our fast breaking yumyum.. Post office to send a package.. Wimbledon Sewing Machine Company for calico and ther other stuff needed to make a banner.. hair cut.. house work.. call British Rail.. clean my night-house. These are a few of the things she has to do today.

I'd better let her go so she can start to get on and do them. Don't be fooled by this weather folks, it can be quite chilly-billy out there.. but the days are much longer and that fact alone is enough to cheer us up!

PipPip.. it's time for my Buttery Egg-the-Peg and Crunchy Crust, yes, I know we're silly.. you're probably silly too but in a different way!

GeeGee Parrot.
April 2015.

SHE'S NOT A HAPPY GARDENER.. Grrr!

Sun shining, sky blue, me fed and watered, more seedlings potted up, so off she went to go to the allotments. Only for her to re-appear about an hour and a half later NOT in a very happy mood. I flew into the hall to greet her, she was pulling off her boots and muttering rude words about buses that didn't stick to their schedules.

She had hopped a bus to Lillie Road, got off to change onto the little bus and sat waiting in the sunshine, thinking that she should have worn a sweater as well as her fleece, for it is still April and the wind is not yet warm.

Having arrived at just past the hour, there should have been a bus at 05, then another at .20, followed by .35 minutes past the hour but no buses came along.. she checked and apparently there was a 'problem' on the A316 and the next bus would not come along for at least another hour!

HUH.. and there is no point in going to Hammersmith by the Underground because she'd still have to wait.. so she crossed the road and caught a bus to bring her home.. it is times like this that she is deeply envious of people whose gardens are just outside their back door or keep a car!

NO.. she is not getting a car, for she would only use it to go to the allotments and what a dreadful waste of money that would be!

So we went into YumYum HQ and ate yumyum instead! She rootled in the vegetable baskets and brought out the last of the Chinese vegetables, some beans, hummus and Summer salad came out of the chilly-white larder and chilli ginger sauce from the cupboard.

She steamed the green vegetables and put them into a big bowl with the chilli sauce and soya sauce, I had a spoonful of hummus, nuts, two stalks of pak choi, a few green beans and a couple of pomegranate seeds.

Food put her in a better frame of mind and, as for me, I am delighted to have her back so early. For hot steamed vegetables and hummus are much nicer than a plate of cold bird food. She can't go tomorrow because she must go and buy the 2.5 metres of bleached calico and then, at six of the evening clock, she has be at Streatham Hill.

There are not enough hours in the day, not when it takes her a 'good' hour to travel to the allotments and another hour to come home again! So she will go on Tuesday and Wednesday.

But at least she had potted up a lot of seedlings this morning and remembered something very useful! That instead of using cling film to cover the seed trays.. cat litter boxes.. last year she used the largest sized ziplock bags! And went off to get them from the cupboard, they're much better! They're stronger, can be used aain and again and you can wash them if they get grubby.

Sunflowers, Mangetout, Dwarf French and Broad / Fava beans, Green Courgettes / Zucchini are now out of the cell trays and potted up. Let's hope the weather doesn't flip backwards like last April, when we lost all our Cherry blossoms and there were several very frosty nights.

We are going to have an early night, she finished her Library book at nearly half past two in the morning, no wonder we were not out of bed at crack of dawn!

I hope you all realised why one of yesterday's post was titled 'they're under starters orders'? It was because the Grand National was running up at Aintree yesterday!

Tumtum full.. I'm off for a doze.. I have a feeling she's not far behind me..

GeeGee Parrot.
April 12th, 2015.

THEY'RE UNDER STARTERS ORDERS & THEY'RE..

Out into leaf! The first to come out are nine of the giant Sunflowers! In under three days, because she planted these trays in the early evening of April 8th. Swiftly followed by several seeds of two varities of Lettuce, a green Oakleaf and a green looseleaf, and lagging behind but she'll will be up and in leaf tomorrow, is a Mangetout.

But Mr.French Bean, whom she thought would get the prize, has no shoots coming through at all!

Well, it is a very good thing she telephoned to check on the place which sells the calico.. for they shut at 1pm on a Saturday! Whereas, she is ... off because she wanted to get it today, she is VERY pleased to know that they give their staff some sort of week-end.

So instead of bothering to go to the allotments, she rootled around outside. She took one of the two hanging baskets which have over-wintered in a sheltered spot, trimmed and tidied it up, gave it a bit of plant food, a good watering and hung it up on a ring on the front wall. YUM.. Fresh herbs for our salads!

She bought several pots of herbs this week, including four small pots of Genovese Basil.. think slurpy Pesto folks.. they went into a big pot, which sits in a deep saucer, were watered and are now standing on the ledge above the steps where they'll get lots of sunshine, if we have any!

Pots of Mint, Chives and Coriander were potted up in the other hanging basket, watered and are now hanging on their ring and a cut-&-grow again mixed Lettuce selection is now in a tub hanging by the front door.. Summer is a'coming folks!

She's going to take the seeds which have sprouted and pot them 'up' into their next home, this will encourage a strong root system, the trick is NOT to touch the very fragile stems, lift them out of the soil with a stiff plastic plant label or break off the individual cardboard cell, cut a hole at the bottom of the cell to allow the tap root to come out and plant the whole thing into a bigger plant pot.

She, between you, me and the front door, is very discombobulated by having stayed awake so late last night but what to do when pages of a thriller are a'thrilling and you want to know who dun' it?

Holy Moley, have you seen the photos of the small farming town Fairdale in DeKalb County, Illinois. It has left two women dead, killed in their own homes and the whole town decimated. What an awful, terrifying thing. Poor people.

We may bitch 'n moan about our weather, lack of sunshine, gloomy skies etc but we don't have these terrifying tornadoes or hurricanes in London. Many years ago, we did have one tornado come a'prancing across the playing fields behind the allotment, she was chewing the fat with Irish Joe and he was facing towards the fields, her away from them.

Suddenly he yelled "down lass" and threw himself onto the floor, she fell just in time as it smacked into the structure behind her shed and tore its' roof off which flew towards them. It crashed no more than ten feet away into the same fence that Joe and she had been chatting over.

Then the tornado skipped over the next allotment, blew their greenhouse to bits and danced away up the railway line and that was a tiny twister..

So I guess the rest of today will proceed at snails pace, she'll wash her hair, do a proper pedicure on her feet, pot up the tiny seedlings. Hopefully, she'll have an early night? She has to call Janet Sartin Cosmetics in New York City ~ so great to be able to call the USA for 2p a minute!

She's got to go and do whatever, meanwhile, I'll just doze here on this door, I had a late, ginormous lunch of nuts, hummus and fish. Yes, it was very slurpy indeed.

Enjoy your life at whatever speed you wish to live it at, remember to walk on the sunny side of the street and be grateful for what you do have.. for some people have next to nothing.

GeeGee Parrot.
April 11th, 2015.

FRIENDS WHO HAVE DIED & THE SADNESS OF DELETING THEIR CONTACT DETAILS..

Having got the new mobile phone and transferred the contact details over from her old one, which she has had for many a year, she noticed that several had been duplicated. So, after supper, last night she went through her contacts. The task seemed to go on for ages, for she keeps up with suppliers because either they are friends or still uses their companies for the odd bit of business.

Most details were easy to keep or delete. However, the deleting of one's much beloved friends, who have died, details was not an easy task. It seemed so final.. yes, of course, we know that are not 'here' anymore. But it was a sad thing to delete entries for these people.

Moley**.. aka treasured and adored friend whose real name was Suzan Brewster Sams.

They met in London in October 1994. Suzan and her husband, Lewis Reeve Sams Jr, whom she equally adored, were here for ten days and they met through a mutual friend. They lived in Pine Bluff, Arkansas but had spent most of their married life in New Orleans. Susan was born in Pine Bluff where her grandfather had been Shefiff and Lewis was from Atlanta.

She stayed with them several times, either in their charming home which had been built by Susan's father or up in their house at Hot Springs.. that was an amazing place! How she loved the times they spent up there, mostly on the lakes.

They met Bill and Suzan, whose sense of humour was legendary.. took one look, rolled her eyes and said in a faint voice "oh my.. now I understand". They also met another couple who lived here in London for many years, Gayle and Norman Matson.

The six of them had a couple of evenings here in London which she will probably never forget! One night, after a delicious dinner, they ended up at Les Ambassadeur in Hamilton Place ~ a fancy private Casino ~ where Bill and Lewis both proceeded to 'take' the club for very significant amounts of money and being wise gambling owls, they took their winnings, gathered their friends and left!

Lewis died in 2006.. he developed a brain tumour and was gone.. so suddenly that his family and friends were all stunned. Suzan had had a heart operation in the 70's and been given 'dirty' blood.

She wrote a chatty email to her Moley telling her stuff and asking how she was. To her horror and great sadness, she received an email from Austin, Suzan's son, saying that he had just buried his mother.

She died in 2012, on the ninth nniversary of Bill's death.. oi vey.. She left a son, Boothe Austin Haley. Poor Austin, what a dreadful email for him to have to write. She's found a couple of photos of his mama, taken at our home, which she needs to copy and send to him in Nashville.

Last Christmas she opened a card from Gayle Matson, she and Norman moved to Chicago in the early to mid 90's, they maintained regular contact and whenever they were in each others cities, would spend time together.

Gayle's cards had always given her lots of news and included a photo of her family, the parents, their son Hans together with his wife Holly and their three children. This one was a shocker.. for Norman was not in the photo but there WAS a photo of him on his obituary card. Somehow she had not got the sad news of his death the previous January.. it was very final act deleting Norm's email address and changing their address details.

One day last year she was out with friends and met a man with a name she recognised, she asked him if his father had been a racing (car) fan, the man nodded and asked her how she knew his father.

She told him that she had met him several times at Silverstone with an old friend, Russell Palmer, another Ferrari fan. He smiled and said "I knew Russell really well, his death was such a loss".. "LOSS!" she cried "What do you mean, has Russell died?".. he sighed and said "Oh dear, another person I have to give the sad news to, yes, Russell died in September of 2011, obviously Lynda didn't write to you and tell you the news either, I am so sorry".

So Russell's Boca Raton and French addresses together with his email address have been deleted, they met in '83 through 'Skip' Mueller, a mutual friend who had worked with Prince 'Stash' Radziwill, and she had worked for him at Diesel & Gas Turbine Publications for a year in the late 80's.

Last was our friend Marina Orpin (Valmar Antiques).. oh dear, oh dear. The death of this most extraordinarily active and very vibrant woman came as a massive shock to the many people who adored her. She died in the night of July 4th last year. She has had the task of telling lots of people this sad news as her family did not tell anyone and only the immediate family and a tiny handful of local friends were at her funeral.

Luckily we have the memories of all the blissfully happy times we spent with these people.

It has been a very slow start to today, silly her picked up a new book late last night and couldn't put it down, she eventually finished it and turned out the light at just past three of the morning clock! I had, meanwhile, been asleep for hours, happily zzzing behind my curtain through which the light does not come, thank goodness!


So she's got to 'Rock-n-Roll' and I will doze until she comes back with 2.5 metres of bleached calico.

Toodle-pip to you all..

GeeGee Parrot.
April 11th, 2015.
PostScript: Suzan earned the nickname Moley** as she 'would go to ground' and not communicate when she was, either very busy or feeling sad and blue. This happened, as you can imagine, when the dirty blood started to cause her to be extremely unwell. Hence Moley, for Moles go underground and disappear! Then she would re-appear and catch up with you. She is very sorely missed by a huge amount of people.

MINI MOBILE SHOP IS ON ST.JOHN'S HILL.. NOT LAVENDER HILL.

Apologies folks, for really great prices and laptop and mobile repairs, Raoul's MINI MOBILE SHOP is on St.John's Hill.. not Lavender Hill. It is directly opposite the entrance to Clapham Junction Station, the actual address is :

Unit 2, 7 - 11 St.John's Hill, Clapham Junction, London SW11 1TR.
Tel : 020 7228 053 / 07438 804168 / minimobiles@yahoo.co.uk.

We can't have you wandering off up the wrong hill, can we?

GeeGee Parrot.
April 11th, 2015.

Whoooo.. speedy seeds & a couple of fun things to get you in a good mood pour le week-end!

Today is April 10th and two days ago she planted another couple of seed trays. One being a box of French Beans, we eat lots of green beans and I don't want to hear any of your rude jokes about beans being musical fruit.

Whilst pouring in water to the base tray.. aka cat litter box.. she was amazed to see that four of the bean seeds have already germinated and cracked their skins! That, folks, is very quick.

She went to Singing With Dementia without me.. sob.. it was because it was hot today and she had to do some fiddling about in Peter Jones and I'd have been in my travel cage in the basket for too long, so I stayed home and did more work on my tumtum feathers.

Which look simply ghastly now.. maybe, that's the real reason I was not taken? Huh.. Never mind, who wants to be carried around in a bag for an hour, not me, that's for sure!

Afterwards she caught a Victoria bound train from Streatham Hill and got off the train at Clapham Junction, exited the station onto Lavender Hill, crossed the busy road and went to a tiny hole in the wall shop run by Raoul, he sells everything to do with mobile phones and does repairs etc.

His stock is 'kosher'.. aka the proper stuff.. and she wanted a 8GB memory card and an adaptor.. cost elsewhere £15.00.. from Raoul a tenner. Then she got onto a bus and came home again, home again, jiggedy-jig.

She told me what they had sung and eaten.. and that she had not won anything because she didn't get a full house at Bingo.. it's amazing how competive they are and how funny they were at her table.. and they're supposed to be grown-ups?

But.. hey.. you can't be serious all the time, can you? Which leads me right up to a selection of very funny things that a darling friend has just sent her from Austria.. sit back folks and be prepared to giggle or laugh, for we are going to tell you two of them, there are more but she's going to ration you to two a day!

Are you sitting comfortably? Here's the first one..

A man bought a new fridge for his house.
To get rid of his old one that still worked, he put outside his house and stuck a note on it saying.
"FREE TO A GOOD HOME.. IF YOU WANT IT.. PLEASE TAKE IT.. IT WORKS WELL".
For 3 days the fridge just sat there without anyone looking at it twice.
He eventually decided that people were too mistrustful of this great deal.
And changed the note to read..
"FRIDGE FOR SALE.. £50"
It was stolen within the hour..

They walk among us!

Next up..

A man was driving when he saw the flash of a traffic camera.
He figured that his picture had been taken for exceeding the limit even though he knew he was not speeding..
Just to be sure, he went around the block and passed the same spot but again, the camera flashed.
Now he began to think this was quite funny, so he drove even slower as he passed the area again but the camera flashed again.
He did this a fifth time and was now laughing as he rolled past, at a snail's pace.
Two weeks later, he got five tickets for driving without a seat belt..

You can't fix stupid..

And on that cheerful note.. We're off to eat scrummy yumyum and she'll be drinking something that would have two friends a'begging.

Now we know that Granny Jo wants to live in the YumYum HQ and she and, I bet, Debbie Goaty Mum wouldn't say no to the odd night locked inside Bartek with all their scrummy Spring and Summer Salads etc.. but she didn't know about their Polish Beetroot juice which Kasha gave to her last Tuesday.

OH.. MY.. GOODNESS! Her eyes rolled about in her head as if she'd gone on a 'Granny Takes a Trip'.. it's beet with added apple, carrot and HAMBURG parsley juice. It comes in a litre box.. she'll buy probably five at a time in order to last the week. It's fabulous!

No, I really am off.. Chocks away.. Zoom-a-Zoom.. EFT YumYum HQ.. less than two seconds.

GeeGee Parrot.
April 10th, 2015.
PostScript: EFT stands for Estimated Flight Time.

FRUGAL GARDENING TIPS..

Yes folks.. here I am again but this time, instead of her 'flashing the cash', we are giving you major tips on how to save some dosh.. aka money.. when buying gardening equipment.

FIRST.. locate your garden.. heehee.. it must be somewhere out there but it is hidden from sight because old grass and weed have grown overnight so you cannot see it. So speak sharply to them and proceed forthwith to shed to call upon Messrs Lawnmower and Strimmer to do their duty.

NOTE: They work better if you give them a bit of grub, so don't forget to take a fuel can with you the next time you are out and about and get petrol. You'll find they work better!

SECOND: Mow the grass and or strim, you will be tired but very pleased with your efforts and the 'jungle' will look more like the place you know instead, of a wilderness where monsters might be lurking.. aka Spanish Slugs.

We trust you have already decided what Annuals (Flowers) or Vegetables you are going to grow this year? That you know when your last frost date is, have got your protective gear clean and ready for use when your tender plants are ready to go out.

But first you have to sew the seeds to grow those tender babies.

Right.. let's give you these amazingly good tips..

Trot off to your nearest 99p or Poundland or $1.00 store and purchase about four or five Cat Litter Boxes. They are made of strong plastic and are quite deep. Next, mosie-on-down the aisles until you come to their Gardening section, where you will find Seed Cell trays, they're usually packed 3 to a pack or those cardboard seed packs which are usually five to a pack.

Pick up some small plastic flower pots whilst you are at it and one hard plastic box with a snap-on lid, the height should be no less than about 6 - 8" in height.. two packs of plant labels and a marker pen. Pick up a couple of bags of SEED Compost, this is much finer than regular compost and the compost for baskets, a wide roll of Cling Film, a tub of Slow Release Vegetable Plant Food. AND.. a bottle of Sterilisation Fluid OR White Vinegar.

Go home, find your seeds.. we hope you've got them ~ unlike her who completely forgot to order her most favourite Beetroot seeds.. less said about that, the better.

We hope that you've been saving the inner rolls from lavatory paper, what do you mean "WHAT?".. dinna fret, not all of you always think ahead about such important matters.

Clear your work bench.. kitchen counter.. unpack your spoils and place a cat litter tray on the 'bench', pour enough water into the tray, so that when you place a seed tray in the litter seed tray, the water rises into each cell.

Using a table spoon, which you have especially for this purpose, put a spoonful into each cell plus a few granules of the plant food. Wait a minute or two for the compost to soak up a bit of the water and become moist (or spray the compost to hurry this up a bit).

Mark a seed label with what you are about to plant and attach it to the tray, put in a seed making sure that it is placed the right way, ALL Bean seeds have a top and a bottom, the bottom has a little mark, this should be placed downwards, all Squash and Courgette / Zucchini seeds should be placed on their edge.

Top up the cell with another spoonful of compost, give the tray a gentle spray of water and cover the top with the cling film. Place the tray in a warm BUT not hot place and wait for your babies to grow, at the first sight of growth, remove the cling film.

Now go back to your loo rolls.. This is the very bestest way to grow Sweet Peas! SniffSniff, how we jurst lurve their smell!

Take the seeds and with a sharp knife, carefully chip away a little piece of their hard shell and place them into a glass of luke warm water, after a couple of days, the shells will crack open a bit and you can plant them.

Take the loo roll, place them standing upright into the plastic box which has a lid, pour in a little amount of water and put compost and a few granules of the plant food into each roll, it should come up about halfway, then place three seeds into each roll and top up with more compost.

Make sure there is another water in the box so that the cardboard rolls will become damp but NOT soggy, you don't want the roll to rot or the seeds will rot too! Place the lid on and snap it shut, place into a warm but not hot place.

When their shoots appear, remove the lid, make sure the box in a good light to encourage growth, check to see if the compost is moist, when the shoots are green and at least 4" high, harden them off by putting box outside in a sheltered spot for two days before planting each roll into the soil next to a growing support.. make sure that you scatter lots of slug deterrent around the seedlings.

She haunts our local Costa Coffee for empty plastic bottles and cans, she cuts the tops and bottoms off the bottles and put them over the Sweet Pea rolls (and all other seedlings) to prevent Mr.Slimy Slug from crunchy-munching her plants. At the end of the season, the plasti 'slug' rings are cleaned in a bucket** and placed over a very long bamboo cane and put into shed.

The cans work as REALLY efficient eye protectors, so you get no pokes in the eye when bending down to be nasty to a weed. Placed on top of each and every Bamboo Cane in our garden, they are great and last forever!

The bright red CocaCola tins are good at keeping Mr.Pigeon away.. they jiggle about when the wind blows and make a clinky-clanky noise.. very effective they are too!

There you have.. very cheap propogators and other useful VERY cheap gardening tricks, now you cannot say rhat we never give you anything! And the only things that have to be replaced each year are cling film and cardboard cell trays, because you plant them into the soil when the seedlings are ready to go out!

But plastic pots, plastic cell trays, litter boxes and the plastic box with the lid can be washed used again and again** and cost peanuts.. compared to those fancy-schancy ones from Garden Centres!

Now she is off out and I'm going to listen to Mr. James O'Brian on LBC.. 97.3.. why did we tell you to buy sterilisation fluid or white vinegar?

**Because you must always clean your work bench or work surface ~ especially if you've been using a surface in the kitchen ~ and tools and pots should be sterilised by dunking them into a bucket of water with a sterilising agent in it. We get a litre bottle of MILTON'S from Poundland or our locL 99p store, keeps bugs and germs at bay!

PipPip..

GeeGee Parrot.
April 10th, 2015.

AMAZING SERVICE IN THE EE SHOP AT CLAPHAM JUNCTION!

Off she trotted to catch the bus to Tooting. Whilst walking along the King's Road, her mobile rang, she took the call only for her telephone to lose everything, so instead of jumping on the bus, she walked into an EE store.

Where the yong man confirmed there was something seriously wrong with the mobile and then told her, that as she was within a couple of weeks of her contract ending, she was liable for an up-grade.

But, oh dear, trying to get details out of this not very helpful assistant, who was not 'assisting' in any way, made her say "Forget it, I'll go to the Clapham Junction store" and out she walked.

A 319 came trundling along and on to it she and WW hopped, he was empty, which is how he could hop! They got off at Clapham Junction and walked into a quiet store! What a change, as this store is usually pulsating with customers and up came a young girl who asked her if she could be of assistance.

She explained the problem and they walked to a desk at the back of the store. She has been with her service provider for a very, very long time and knows that they want to keep her. And this time the deal was even better than ever before!

As they sat and chatted, she fed Chantelle with crystallised ginger and 'goodies' were plucked out of thin air (of a computer screen) and offered to her..

She gave her a : 30% discount on her insurance package, a new HTC phone, her call, text and web access allowances were all increased by 100%, a facility was added to cut the cost of calling landline and mobiles throughout the world, finally she chopped £10.00 off her monthly bill!

Which goes to prove that there are all sorts of deals available out there on all mobile / cellphones contracts. The young man had not offered any of these other benefits, so thank goodness she did walk out of his shop and go to the Clapham one. For the yearly saving of £156.00 more than pays the annual charge of her four allotments!

And it goes to show what great assistants there are out there.. we know this shop always has had great staff but Chantelle is truly outstanding. She complimented her on her knowledge of all the products and terms that EE are offering and also on her speech, Chantelle smiled and said "both my parents are very deaf, my brother and I were taught at school how to speak so that they would understand us"..

Of all the shop assistants in all the mobile phone shops to be served by, she gets someone who speaks properly, you see, when she left to go shopping, she'd forgotten to put her hearing aids in. Fate?

Who knows? Chantelle plugged her old mobile into a gadget, attached the new one and copied all the data across onto her new phone, said that she was sorry they didn't have the type of case she wanted but gave her a card with her name scribbled on it and told her to go to round the corner to Raoul, a friend of hers for a properly made HTC cover to fit the new one.. for a fiver.

She came home, for it was too late to go onto the Wimbledon Sewing Machine shop, she'll go on Saturday. Now she has to figure out the workings of this new phone, she's had an HTC mobile before, they're good but all phones are different.

It was sunny and warm today.. very confusing having been cloudy and cold yesterday, all the seeds trays look very happy.. she has a new propagating system which she will tell you about tomorrow. But now we're going to play 'Beak an apple and chase a nut' on her bed..

We hope you have had an equally successful / pleasant / fruitful / happy day wherever you are and whatever you have been doing?

Yawn.. excuse me.

GeeGee Parrot.
April 9th, 2015.