Sunday 31 May 2015

"WHAT WOULD CHEER YOU UP" SHE ASKED DEBBIE GOAT AS THEY WATCHED THE RAIN POURING DOWN..

"Red wine and chocolate" said her friend with not a seconds hesitation. "Well, you can't have red wine as you're driving but you can certainly have chocolate" said my mum.. feeling just like a Fairy Godmother as she reached into WW and brought out the bag that was protecting the chocolate salami from the rain.

It is remarkable how a dreary day can be cheered up by dark chocolate and hot real coffee! They had already sampled the cheese biscuits.. and either she was being polite or she had smelt the chocolate but our Goaty friend did agree that our Shortbread was crisp and flaky, just as a biscuit should be.

They went home with her to Kent, I doubt very much if the Master Machiner will even see the empty box.. let alone taste one, it's a long drive to Kent in filthy weather.

Which, at 17.55, has now gone away and we have a modicum of sunlight! But she's reallyreally glad that she didn't go to the allotments.. brrr... she would have been so wet and cold, for nothing can be picked when it is waterlogged.. the asparagus will be loving this rain and it will be good for the fruit.

Talking of which, the 'June drop' has started early, this is when fruit trees decide which baby fruit will grow on, the others are left in an unformed state and usually drop off to the ground.

All of the fruit trees look to be carrying a good crop, except the Spartan apple, mind you, she gave him a hard prune last year after he had a such a huge crop, it was far too big for such a little tree.

But the flat is chilly-damp, she is going to do a most unusual thing and turn the heating on for a day to dry it out and warm it up. Somethings just have to be done and there are only so many clothes and socks you can wear to be warm but it's not good when a house gets or feels miserable, is it?

Talking of which.. a cup of LapySang would be a welcome treat with perhaps a tiny salami, she made some which are about an inch in diameter and three inches long, they're just a couple of small little mouthfuls but quite, quite delicious all the same.

Slurp is the word.. especially as dark clouds carrying rain are heading fast in our direction from the south west. Here endeth Spring. We do so hope that June 1st, which is the sports day for hundreds of schools here in the UK , will be a sunny dry day for them all.

GeeGee Parrot.
May 31st, 2015.

AND THE MONTH OF MAY SLOWLY DRIPPED AWAY..

Yes folks.. it has rained! She thought it would when she wrote to Karen last night, she described the sky as beige.. not a happy sight.

Sure enough, upon opening the front door early this morning, she was met with a wall of rain and happy orange trees having a wash! If their blossom gets any bigger, we will have full sized oranges instead of the mini ones that usually grow on Calamondin trees.

So today, after a dreadfully restless night with the words of sad songs playing through her mind, she is taking coffee and goodly edibles to her Goaty friend at the Parson's Green Farmer's Market.

She, by nature, is not competitive. However, she was given something to eat two weeks ago which was being 'passed off' as a cheese biscuit, it was not her idea of a cheese biscuit and so today, she is taking a little box of her homemade cheese and herb shortbread with her and intends to give them to James saying, the biscuit equivalent of "you think that's a knife *" offering her cheesey morsels up for his tasting!

* Unfortunately the name of the Australian film from which that line came escapes her! Eureeka.. it was Crocodile Dundee! For his biscuits had no air in them.. then she and WW will visit the library to change books. She'll do the housework tomorrow.

April is supposed to come in like a Lion and go out like a Lamb and May is supposed to be 'fine' to set us up for summer.. well, it is all topsy turvy here weatherwise but they say we are due for a very hot spell, so it is good to have this rain, I suppose.

However, the wretched briar patch will be wet and so it won't burn properly, therefore Andrew and Matt WILL have to take it away on Thursday.. that's BORING.. very boring indeed. It is a great pity that a Goaty person will not eat briars, she has a couple of months supply for someone if they did!

We're off.. for we can't loll about all morning. We shared a delicious very runny cheese omelette that was made with the last smidgen of Goaty Curd.. I hope Debbie's got the big box of it with her today.. and she's getting into the clothes that she wore on Friday, hat, waterproof jacket, socks, boots.. you know.. typical English clothing for the last day of May!

GeeGee Parrot.
May 31st, 2015.

Saturday 30 May 2015

WE'RE 'AT HOME' TODAY & SHE'S DEALING WITH MEETING BILL'S TWIN.

For although we actually did not run about that much and we both slept well.. we are tired today. Lots of travelling. Birthday parties are tiring, all that excitement, eating all those delicious things.. the whole tea was very slurpicious.

Running through the rain into the dress shop, taking off all those layers to try on two pretty linen dresses.. to find that she needed a smaller size.. always pleasing!

Going to see Kasha at Bartek and introducing me to her.. she squealed with delight at the sight of me and so I thought I would make her day and did a reallyreally good "Miaow".. very loudly! I don't know who laughed the most.. Then off we hurry-scurried to catch our bus, so I suppose we did do quite a bit of tooing and froing.

Her sleep was full of dreams. She was expecting one particular person to appear sooner or later for she had an extraordinary experience last Tuesday when she was coming home from Lidl and she's only just able to process the shock that it gave her.

She was walking down our street and a car passed her, it pulled in to the pavement and out got Bill.. She stood still.. if the truth was told, which it always should be, she was unable to move an inch.. and looked at him.

Then she realised it could not be him.. because A. we know he is dead and B. this man was Bill but Bill twenty years ago.. she gave herself a shake but he had obviously seen the distress on her face and he said to her "Are you ok, you look as if you're about to faint".. in, oh lordly, Bill's voice.

She started to cry and said "It's ok, except you are the identical double of an old friend of mine of whom I was very fond but he's dead and you gave me such a shock".. he walked the short distance towards her and reached for her hand and said.

"Did your friend live in Washington DC and was his name Bill ......? For a few years ago I met one of his nephews in San Francisco and he had the same reaction and said exactly the same as yourself". She smiled and said "yes, that's him, how weird this is, apparently we all have doubles but your similarity to him is extraordinary".

They smiled at each other, she said "Goodbye" and she walked on.. past our house and went around the corner into Pont Street, she didn't turn to see which house he went into and when she came back from MailBoxEtc the car was gone.

For he wasn't our Bill.. he was wearing a wedding ring.. he was someone else's 'Bill'. So we'll go on dancing to this tune as long as the record plays and then we'll choose another tune to dance to. For nobody said life was easy.. it is just sometimes easier than at other times.

Sigh.

GeeGee Parrot.
May 30th, 2015.

LONDON GOT A WASH YESTERDAY & THE SALAMI WAS A MAJOR HIT!

It started out with just a 'little' wet and then it got wetter and wetter until there was torrential rain pouring down. Did we care? Not one jot!

For out of a cupboard came her very old and much beloved Herbert Johnson hat, off the coat peg in the hall came an equally old Barbour waterproof jacket, she had waterproof boots on her feet. And I was snug as a bug in my small travelling cage tucked into a tall lined basket.

Off we walked to Victoria Station, we entered the concourse and as she had her glasses on, she saw there was a train leaving for Sutton in ninety seconds.. whoosh.. the joy of having a pass which allows one to pass through barriers at high speed, for with a quick trundle of her feet we boarded the train with a few seconds to spare.

And off went our train.. across the Thames, through Battersea, Clapham Junction, Wandsworth Common, Balham and before we knew it.. we had arrived at Streatham Hill! It is SO much quicker than using that poor bus which is still having to deal with road works the other side of Chelsea Bridge.

A quick walk up Leigham Court Road brought us to our destination. Ooh.. party time! There were lots and lots of people, most of whom I knew but a few strangers.. including a lovely Jamaican lady called Norma who is 'something' in the NHS to do with Dementia. She was sitting next to us.

I 'dropped' her a Reddy.. you know what this is, don't you? It is one of my highly prized tail feathers. She was thrilled and asked my mum if she could keep it, then she tucked it into her mobile phone case with a big smile!

She and my mum talked at length about the effect that animals have with people who have Dementia. She saw, for herself, the way that people came up and chatted to me.. yes to me.. not my mum! Mind you, you might have thought they were talking to her as I was sitting on her head.

I spent the whole time up there yesterday because Margaret, Ann or Phoebe, my very special friends, were not there. I usually sit on one of their heads but Ann was doing something with her grandchildren, Margaret had a cold and Phoebe.. well.. Phoebe was AWOL! (Absent with out leave).

A jolly and merry time was had by all but the jolliest time was had by watching Susan unwrap her chocolate salami! HeeHee.. That was a lot of fun! Nobody had ever seen such a thing before.. thank goodness she had made a HUGE one because everybody had to have a piece and luckily there was still a big bit for Susan to take home!

The pots of herbs were received with great pleasure but it was the salami which was the big hit of the day.. which goes to show that it is not the value of a gift but the thought behind it.. and as Susan is a Master Baker.. she loved the fact that her Rotary 'apprentice' had made her a birthday cake.

For yes, it was Susan who introduced her to the branch of Rotary to which she belongs, of course as a member you join Rotary International but you do your 'work' with your own branch.

We left just as it started to rain again and went to buy two dresses that she'd seen last week but had not tried on and yippee, she needed a smaller size! Two wonderful coloured and patterned linen dresses, fully lined and washable, the style that never goes out of style, a simple shift with no sleeves and to the knee. Perfect with a jacket or a cardigan or a pretty wrap, they'll go out in the morning and stay out late!

Then into Lidl for dark chocolate and nuts for Janice has requested a chocolate salami for Monday.

We came home on the 319 bus and walked back from Sloane Square. The rain had stopped, trees had been watered, their leaves were looking happy, London smelt fresh and ready for Summer.

So roll on Summer.. we want clear sunny days, some rain at nights to fill the water butts and NO slugs or thieving thieves! That's not much to ask for, is it?

GeeGee Parrot.
May 30th, 2015.

Friday 29 May 2015

AND LIDL HAVE TO KNOW ABOUT THIS..

We had the scummiest of omelettes yesterday with which to break that dreadful fast.. two eggs with a handful of delicious grated cheddar and as you know, yesterday she complained about her right hand. The fingers were swollen and would not bend.

She is allergic to the Nightshade family.. Aubergines, Peppers, Potatoes and Tomatoes.. they trigger her arthritis immediately and her hand becomes painful. So she was slightly confused why her hand was SO swollen and SO sore yesterday despite not having eaten any, or so she thought, of those dreaded four!

This morning, she said to me "It was very scrummy and you enjoyed it, would you like another cheddar omelette?" I went "wooo", this signifies yes. So down came omelette pan, out of their bowl came two fat eggs.. we are in the UK, egg producers do not wash their eggs so they do NOT have to be kept in the fridge like in the USA..

Out of chilly white larder came a packet of Lidl's Grated Cheddar and whilst waiting for the butter to melt, she read in the list of ingredients: Cheddar Cheese and Potato Starch. POTATO STARCH! Which explained yesterday's sore paw.

She'll be informing Lidl and the UK producers about this being so dangerous to some people.. the company who produce this list MILK in BOLD letters as an Allergen on the packet but what about Potato Starch which also causes people to have reactions.

Why do they have to have it mixed into the cheese in the first place? Is it to stop the grated cheese sticking to itself? More will be discovered, I am sure and she will report back to me on this serious subject.

She can and we do eat the Sweet Potato Family, This is no relation to the ordinary Potato in any way. Thank goodness! For baked or boiled those strange looking orange tubers are reallyreally delicious!

It is a dreary wet morning, not a good rose picking day and as she dances to her own tune these days, she is changing her mind and taking three pots of Herbs to give to Susan. Rosemary, Thyme and Dill.. the later being the herb without which no self respecting Scandinavian woman can live!

So we had better get going and start our day.. which is almost the last day of May.

GeeGee Parrot.
May 29th, 2015.

Thursday 28 May 2015

DANCING TO HER OWN TUNE..

Well, you see you usually 'dance' to someone else's tune, don't you? For manymany longlong years she did when she worked for other people or companies.

The plan today was to make the two chocolate salami, then take a bucket and go to pick roses from the allotment to give to Susan tomorrow. But then she got asked to make some biscuits.. so she changed the 'tune' and stayed at home all day baking.

It was fun, we stayed pretty much all day in YumYum HQ, measuring, sifting, mixing, beating and at the end by about five of the afternoon clock, we have the salami, beautifull wrapped up and chilling in the fridge, lots of savoury biscuits and.. a clean kitchen as she had washed up as she went along.

Tereza has collected her mail.. we have had a cup of LapySang. All is well in our life and tomorrow she will leave to go to pick roses quite early, then she'll come home, change into party clothes, pack the salami in one basket and me into another and we will go by train from Victoria to Streatham Hill to Sing With Dementia and to celebrate Susan's birthday.

We have a quiet evening ahead of us tonight, with various newspapers to read on line, a book to finish before it goes back to the library. She has found a new recipe for Beets which looks to be extremely scrummydumptious indeed, I will post it soon as she has a bag of new beets that she will be cooking within a day or two.

Saturday she will be at the garden for most of the day, if she gets the jasmine down and carted over to the other plot, the guys can take it with them when they clear the plots on Thursday, June 4th, then she'll be able to put the guttering up and connect it to the big water tanks.

Sunday is the Farmer's Market at Parson's Green, she'll meet that Goaty girl Debbie for a chat, she knows now not to push her hand too hard, especially as BioCare has Potato Starch as an ingredient in one of their products and she saw it too late!

Her right hand is in a dreadful state, she is now highly allergic to all of the Nightshade family.. Tomatoes, Peppers, Aubergines and Potatoes.. and it has kicked off the arthritis that has made all her fingers on her right (grass trimmer) hand blow up, she can't get any rings on and the fingers cannot bend. She's going to have VERY strong words with BioCare, that's for sure!

So no back-to-back gardening days for her until her hand gets better. She will go and change books at the library, make a couple of different lots of savoury biscuit dough, for it freezes well or you can keep a ball or two in the fridge for up to four weeks.

A busy week next week, her glasses are ready so she has to do a trip to Hackney to collect them from EYE OPTICIANS in Mare Street, a few minutes walk from Hackney Central Station. The guys will be working on the plot on Thursday and she is doing a Meet and Greet new volunteers for Trinity on another day besides her Rotarian meeting and the Singing With Dementia on Friday.

Monday looks to me like housework day! Clean sheets on bed.. vacuum carpet.. dust.. clean up pots outside.. wash bathroom.. wash windows! And it is the first of June.. eureeka.. the first day of Summer!

Wings up.. we are admitting to being deeply GREENLY envious, she reads a Blog called Northwest Edible Life, I think it is www.nwedible.com, it is written by Erica who is a professional chef who has a large amount of land around her house in the Pacific NorthWest.. and her cherries are almost ripe!

On that note.. we are off.. PipPip. I cannot tell you how strong willed she was today not to even 'tidy' up those salami! For not a morsel passed her lips!

GeeGee Parrot.
May 28th, 2015.

Wednesday 27 May 2015

FROM SPELLING MISTAKES TO BAD GRAMMAR.. SIGH.

First it was a spelling mistake that she didn't pick up when she did a proof reading and now.. ugh.. she wrote "is worth diddley-squat" when I KNOW I said "are worth diddley-squat", so there we are. And here we are, posting very late in the day because our day started early with me having a bath!  

Ugh and it was not just a dunk in warm water bath, it was a full blown bath with bird shampoo! It was her fault I got Primrose Oil on my cheek feathers.. I was quite happy to have it there but no, a bath had to be had.. sigh.

But at least she blew me dry.. I am crazy-daisy about that machine which sends cool air flowing through my feathers and up my red bum.. it takes a long time to get every feather dry but she did and then I flew, with my dignity in rags, into our bedroom to check every feather and put it back into the right place.

Then she left to go about her business in Hammersmith, worked for four hours in the shop as a volunteer, came home, gave me a kiss and a cuddle, a handful of cashews and she and old WW left to go to Lidl.

She needs their dark chocolate, almonds and hazelnuts in order to make salami, pistachio nuts we already have in the fridge (to keep them fresh). There are two large salami being made tomorrow morning, followed by a quick run to the allotments to pick roses for Susan's birthday which is on Friday.

So that's all I have to report, the traffic going down and over Chelsea Bridge is a nightmare, so we'll be going to Streatham Hill by train on Friday. But now we are heading to bed and we'll both be fast asleep by half past ten, she gets up early, between four and five o'clock, you see to make herself a mug of LapySang and goes outside to water plants and trees and to sniff the morning air.

No, of course I don't get up at that ridiculous hour, I get up at about half past eight. So we wish you a happy evening.. or day if you are 'down under'.. ChopChop.

GeeGee Parrot.
May 27th, 2015.

Tuesday 26 May 2015

THE COMPLETE SET, IN FRENCH, OF LE COMTE DE MONTE CRISTO ~ ALL SIX BOOKS IS WORTH DIDDLEY-SQUAT!

Never mind.. it was worth taking them to Maggs in Berkeley Square if only to meet such charming people.. but what a busy day has been had.. the booksellers, a coffee at her club in Charles Street, the market to buy meat and vegetables, to MailBoxEtc to collect the package which contained her personalised facial oil and moisturiser that had been made for her by Valerie Worwood's daughter Emma.

Trotting here and there and back again, it all takes time and before she knew it.. it was time for our early supper. The weather is simply glorious.. fancy being able to go out in a thin jersey dress with a cardigan around your shoulders! This time last week, she was wearing her 'Donkey' jacket, thick trousers and boots with socks!

And it is BRIGHT and clear in the early morning, we may not want to get out of bed at a quarter to five but it is very pleasant to know that all is well out there!

But someone we know.. who has NO manners.. is back in town! You've probably seen a sight of his disgusting habit as well! Someone should speak to his adopted parents.. for his own mother did not bring him up.. they never do these parents.

Who or what am I speaking about? Why Cuckoos of course.. for it is they that have this horrid habit. What habit.. surely you jest? Have you never seen Cuckoo Spit?

Hahaha.. on that silly note.. I bid you farewell.. TootToot.. PipPip.

GeeGee Parrot.
May 26th, 2015.

Monday 25 May 2015

THE LIBERATOR.. LIBERATED!

Yes today she 'liberated' three Jacques Cartier, one Ellen and one Pristine rose bushes and her much beloved and oldest red currant bush from the evil clutches of blackberry briars and chopped down a sycamore that had the temerity to self seed itself!

I know Andrew and Matt are going to do it but she had to do the outer edges and go as far in as the rose bushes so that they knew where NOT to slash and destroy!

Another four hours were spent out there! Her waist is shrinking and she has a bit more energy each time she goes. The next day she will be going out there is on Wednesday for tomorrow, Tuesday, she is taking a couple of things to be valued.. she doesn't use them.. so they should be sold to someone who would love them and then do she will a few hours at the shop.

On Thursday morning she is doing the first part of the salami making, then she'll go to the allotments in the afternoon and take a bucket with her. For it is our much beloved Susan's birthday on Friday so she will fill it with roses and we'll take the roses and a big chocolate salami with us when we go to Singing With Dementia after lunch.

The weather today was supposed to be most cloudy but apparently it was pleasant, perhaps it was a good thing it wasn't too hot, for wearing thick jeans, leather lace-up boots and leather gauntlets are not the coolest of clothes!

But very necessary! She has a couple of scars where she fought a briar and lost skin and blood! So she was properly protected when she tackled this patch, all twenty five square feet of it and over ten feet high at the tallest bit! But by slowly loploplopping away, she has reduced it greatly in size.

You can actually walk down the old paths now, it's a bit wiggly as there are heaps of cuttings on the ground, nothing the guys can't deal with. But the difficult bit will be in the place where the old green house used to be, there is a high wooden fence there, she's thinking that perhaps it would be easier to remove the fencing to allow the guys into this area.

It will take some doing but would save them time. And time is money! She wants this all done and taken away in the one day! She'll lop down the jasmine and drag it over herself, they can chop it up and take it with the briars and raspberry canes.

Yes, all the old raspberry canes are going, despite the fact they 'promise' a huge amount of fruit this year, she has other plans for this space. A large bed of globe artichokes.. the purple and the green ones. She loves them and SO do I! So, it is slowly coming back to what it used to be like, pruned roses, neat paths and with lots of new double height raised beds.

She is going to have another BIG job on her hands, which is taking ten feet off the top of her yellow gage! It was supposed to be the smallest root stock there is but it's standing there, as bold as brass, at well over sixteen feet high! Not for long dearest.. not for long!

She lopped the two equally tall Stella cherries, that stand either side of it, last year. They have responded well and are covered in fruit, she will throw huge sheets of net curtaining over them.. it looks very funny but does the trick!

There's still much to do but 'it' and she are not going anywhere this summer, it will all be done and as she wants it. Then, before we know it, it will be fruit picking time and time to cover everything in manure and put the plots to bed for the winter!

She'll wait for the asparagus canes to dry off in November, then she'll weed that bed, cover it in seaweed and manure and top it off with a big square of membrane for the winter.

Our bewitching hour is fast approaching.. I hope you've all had a happy week end and done pleasant things.

GeeGee Parrot.
May 25th, 2015.

Sumplings are Dumplings..

Huh.. what is the use of Proof Reading Posts is you don't spot the errors? Shame upon her..

It is Bank Holiday Monday, we have two in May, she has sniffed the air outside, watered the orange trees, the herb and salad baskets, made a mug of LapySang and is heading back to bed for it is far too early to be thinking about 'getting up' ..

Although she is.. strange language English. Parrot is much easier. TootToot.. we'll post again later, much later.

GeeGee Parrot.
May 25th, 2015.

Sunday 24 May 2015

NOT PUSHING HER LUCK.. GIVING A SORE PAW A REST.

She was out of here like a rat down a drainpipe.. for Malaysian Sumplings were on the pan at Marylebone Farmer's Market. They each had double portions plus HOTHOT chilli and garlic sauce.

Debbie was the first to report that her top lip was numb.. she was a few minutes behind and then they sat in their numb but happy state grinning.. as you do when you've eaten these marvellous things!

But they were not all that was eaten, for a particularly fine cheesecake was partaken of.. scrumptious.. which made her remember that she had cleaned out chilly-white larder and had come across a bag of miniature dark chocolate salami.. "do you think that they would be good to eat in the summer" she asked Debbie.

Who shook her head and said "only for friends, strangers wouldn't appreciate them".. So she'll make some this week, for it is Susan's birthday on Friday and the Singing With Dementia group would love them and as Parson's Green's Market is on Sunday and to thank her for that box of delicious fruit and vegetable juices which she received today, she'd better make a couple of extra BIG salami.

She's come home and is staying home, she looked at the sky which is thinking about raining, it was forecasted for this afternoon, and worked out that she wouldn't get to the allotments until past four o'clock, it is not worth going for such a short time.

And a day off will allow her 'slightly' sore right hand to recouperate a bit, using the strimmer without the holding strap is not a good idea and that poor paw is sore.

In the meantime.. Here's PLENTY to do here! There's a mountain of ironing, which if done, would reduce in size to a neat, small mound! But despite her good intentions, I don't see ironing board coming out of his hiding place.

So Blog post is being written, she fell behind in taking dictation a couple of days this month, I am trying to write a post each day.. I do wish I could tap iPad but I only ask Beaky to do a few things and tapping iPad, is not going to happen!

We're off now to loll about and drink LapySang and read emails and the newspapers on line.. to catch up with the world's news, none of which is very happy making.

She is absolutely appalled at the judge's verdict of "Not guilty" of the murder by a policeman in Ohio. A couple's car backfired, subsquently the couple were chased at high speed by a lot of police cars, ending in a policeman jumping onto the bonnet / hood of the car, whereupon he shot and killed the two UNARMED occupants of the car.

No weapon of any kind was found in the car. Words fail us.. the world, which is so glorious, has some seriously dangerous and sick people living on it.

I am off to chase a grape. True.. not a joke.. I hope you are doing something equally happy making?

GeeGee Parrot.
May 24th, 2015.

Saturday 23 May 2015

SIX & A HALF HOURS LATER.. SHE CRAWLED OFF THE ALLOTMENTS!

She has no 'OFF' switch for gardening when the sun is lurking, the weather warm and the loppers sharp! She met Andrew as arranged and she showed him what she wants 'all gone'.. it being a huge square patch of blackberries.

Sods Law is that the season is going to be a wonderful one with lots of fruit but if she doesn't get rid of them now, they'll spread even further. So she cut back the front line and has uncovered her three beautiful white peonies which are very sad looking, as well they might be, having been completely covered up by huge blackberry briars and having had no sun for two years!

She'll go tomorrow after meeting Debbie at Marylebone Farmer's Market, yes, it is dumpling day again! And if she leaves early enough on Monday, although it is a Bank Holiday, she should be able to get another six hours work done out there and this way the two men will know exactly where to start cutting.

Andrew is calling in Matt, so the two of them will be able to do it all in a day. She 'found' her original red currant! That too had been gobbled up by a particularly vicious briar so she took great pleasure in lopping it to the ground!

My cage has a briar growing through it! So I will stay at home until she has cleared the entire back fence of the terrace. She is going to throw the cuttings over the fence, they grow from there, so they can have the cuttings back and it will stop anyone having any ideas of climbing the fence from that spot.. dead briar is a wickedly sharp nasty thing!

Tired.. yes, she is very tired but it is a realy good thing to be so tired because of hard work with lots of fresh air and exercise. Trimmer worked well all day and she was able to do most of the paths, she has to cut back and dig out an old jasmine, it has fallen over and has encroached on a baby fig tree. And prune (hard) all of the fig trees!

There is much to do.. but six and a half hours got a lot done today and she's pleased with her work. Now it is time for bed.. with nuts, grapes and a book and then her bedside light will go out at ten o'clock when I go to bed.

PipPip.. we hope you're having an equally happy time?

GeeGeeParrot.
May 23rd, 2015.

Friday 22 May 2015

NOT AN EASY DAY.. TRAFFIC UP THE CREEK.. TRAINS CANCELLED SO WE WERE LATE AND MISSED THE SINGING..

And it took us hours to get home from Streatham and so we are very tired. She had another emotional hospital appointment on Thursday that we did not tell you about.. she had a skin cancer scare.. oi vey.. but the result of the biopsy is that it was a not a malignant carcinoma.. it was something else, which neither of us can spell!

We are, as I just wrote, tired so we are off to bed. We have an early start as she is meeting the plot clearing team tomorrow to get a quote from them, that means we have to leave the house at 'Sparrow ....' in order to be there on time.. and she did remember to get the petrol for the grass trimmer.

We hope you are all happy and healthy and that you have an enjoyable week end.

GeeGee Parrot.
May 22nd, 2015.

Tuesday 19 May 2015

The new member of Rotary International & calling out Thames Water Emergency dept.

Yes, Dear Readers, she was formally inducted last night and made a Rotarian. The room was full of people whom she has met over the past five months whilst she has been on 'probation' and it was a happyhappy time!

Afterwards, she was given a lift to her bus stop and had just put her key ito the door when the sky opened and down came heavy rain! It had been extremely cold and windy all day.. brrr and grr.. so although I would have loved to have been there, I was glad that I had stayed snug home-alone.

This morning she had 'words' with a particularly clueless woman.. she is supposed to run the office of the managing agents. They deal with the exterior matters for the house. They had been told by their own Pest Control people last Wednesday about a blocked pipe and she actually met the brother in law of the freeholder of the house yesterday whilst he was 'looking' at the problem.

He was walking about in the 'water' ~ effluence ~ saying "I can't see where it is coming from?".. she pointed out that each time he trod on the manhole cover, water came up, this signified the drain was completely blocked and as EVERYTHING flows into this drain from the whole house.. it was extremely unpleasant, to say the least.

The clueless woman said "we'll have to get someone out to see what the matter is", her reply was "we know what the matter is, the main sewage and waste pipe is blocked, you've known about this since last Wednesday, when will you get someone out to clear it, because after this length of time, it is within my rights to call Thames Water Emergency dept. through the local Environmental Health".

Who, by the way, take a very DIM view on managing agents taking 6 days to clear a blocked mains sewage pipe.

The woman huffed and puffed.

So she called the Town Hall and explained the problem to Enviromental Health, bless their hearts, for they put her straight through to the Emergency Dept. of Thames Water. An extremely efficient man, Jack While, took her details and said "We'll have someone there within two hours".

AND ninety minutes later James, from Thames Water, was parking his van outside her house, pulling on waterproof boots, getting rods and pressure hoses out of the back of his van, then WHOOSH.. with a scrub-a-dub-dud, it all went away!

So within two hours of her call to the Town Hall, Thames Water had solved the problem, meanwhile, the managing agents were still 'faffing' about talking about getting 'someone to come and look at it'.. after six days? Even though the freeholder's brother in law had actually been walking about in 'it'.. how sad, he hadn't been wearing waterproof boots..

And even better still.. James has arranged for the Thames Water Cleaning Dept. to come back in a couple of days to sluice out the whole rubbish area and put down disinfectant.. How very kind and efficient is that?

So as local authorities are usually always given a hard time and bad press, she rang the Town Hall Environmental Dept and as luck would have it, she spoke to the same man, Mr.Dale, and thanked him for his prompt response to her earlier call and told him that Thames Water had been brilliant!

Then she telephoned the Emergency Dept of Thames Water and asked to speak to their manager. She said "This probably doesn't happen to you very often but I am calling to congratulate you on two members of your staff" and she gave this astonished woman her reference number and the names of the two members of staff whose effiency had been worth commending.. Jack While and James.

For this is what you do.. if you have been 'rescued by the good guys' you say "Thank you"..

Meanwhile and this will make you laugh like a drain! The freeholder is still blustering away, sending her quite abusive emails saying "you have used threatening behaviour to the agents, you have taken matters into your own hands.. what happens if Thames Water don't do it..blah blah blah". Poor man, for he obviously did not understand her email, which said "Thames Water have cleared the drain and will be returning to disinfect the area within two days".

OI VEY..

Too right she took the matter of a blocked sewage pipe into her hands and thank goodness she did, for its' all been done and dusted within two hours, they had had six days and not managed to get it sorted.

Ah well, all's well.. and she 'thinks' the agents can organise their own meter readings from now on..

GeeGee Parrot.
May 19th, 2015.

Monday 18 May 2015

TO MARKET TO MARKET TO BUY A FAT PIG..

Or so the old rhyme went.. she did go to a market, because she took two pots of Polish fermented summer salad to her Goaty friend Debbie. But no pigs were for sale, so we are pigless!

Then she went to the allotments.. on a Sunday.. need I say more? It took ages to get there as she had to go on down to the bottom of the King's Road and come back up Fulham Palace Road to find a 220 bus stop.

Eventually she was there.. little shed unmolested.. but the grass and weeds were very high in the sky.. and old Forget-me-not is growing everywhere she shouldn't be!  So into shed and out with strimmer, who started first time! Very strange as it had refused to work two weeks ago.

Zoom.. off with their heads and she cut paths through most of her jungle until she ran out of petrol.. boring.. so she went to pick herbs and to see if there was any asparagus at all. Just a small amount, enough for one greedy pair, I love asparagus!

She's done the following recipe with her portion for supper tonight.

You'll need the following:

Asparagus.
Fusilli Pasta.
Olive Oil.
2 cloves of Garlic.
1 Dried Red Chilli.
Small handful of chopped Walnuts.
Grated zest and juice of a sweet Orange.
Parmesan cheese to grate.

Two saucepans, one large, one small.
A large griddle or non-stick frying pan.

Cook the pasta for about 8 minutes. Keep it in the pan, do not drain.
Cook asparagus in a steamer with boilimg water for about 3 minutes.
Drain and dry on kitchen paper and toss in some olive oil.
Heat a large non stick pan and cook the asparagus on a high heat.
Turn them once and cook until they are charred.. but NOT burnt to a frazzle!
Drain the pasta and return to the pan.
Heat more olive oil in a small saucepan, add the chopped garlic and chilli.
Cook until garlic just turns colour, add walnuts, orange zest and juice, bring to a rolling simmer.
Pour this onto the drain pasta, add the charred asparagus and mix together, grate on the parmesan.

Slurp.

She is busy in the day time tomorrow and being inducted as a Rotarian in the evening. If the weather is fine this week, we are off to play at the garden! She has cleaning, scrubbing and tidying work to do in little shed and there is much work to do on the beds and on the terrace and so I will be within sight at all time.

Hopefully Andrew, another plot holder, will be there as she would much prefer it if she was able to give him the work but he is, apparently, busy. So she may have to get the three strong young men to do the clearing work. It might be quicker with them doing it.

Another week has flown by.. whoosh.. and zoom, there goes May! Note to her.. remember to buy a couple of litres of petrol for the strimmer, even if all the beds are not yet dug, cutting the grass will make it all look a lot better and the strimmer wire cuts down on nasty Slug and his crawly friends.

GeeGee Parrot.
May 17th, 2015.

Saturday 16 May 2015

OUR FAVOURITE THINGS.. JUST A FEW OF THEM!

I know.. you're expecting whiskers on kittens etc etc and although they're cute, they're not our favourite things!

Our favourite things are: freshly picked, home grown asparagus, shrimps of all sizes, a great pizza made without tomatoes, the scent of Joro, one of her favourite roses, freesias, lily of the valley, our almost pure white peonies, name unknown, dark blue and white hyacinths, a heated bed on cold frosty nights, warm towels, much beloved friends, dark, almost pure, chocolate.

Books, her jewellery, some of which is not valuable but has enormous sentimental value, the small Flame oil painting, painted by Hugo in 1955, the four panelled Japanese screen given to her by Giles Shepherd, MD of the Savoy Hotel, for completing the fitting out of the Savoy Hotel Fitness Gallery a month ahead of schedule and 20% under budget!

Me and her, a call from a friend who just wants to say "hello", a postcard which arrives out of the blue, pork loin chops, duck breasts, bavette steak, beetroot juice, a couple of places from times gone by, a couple of pieces of art in museums. A battered frying pan and an old ladle made out of stainless steel and brass by David Marshall.

You see we have lots of favourite things. Too many to mention really. But tomorrow, when she comes back from the allotments with, she hopes, lots of asparagus, I will give you one of our favourite and easy recipes which she makes many times in the months of May and June, our asparagus season.

She worked at the shop today.. it was quiet. All the shops are saying it is quiet, not just our shops but other shops in South and Central Kensington are all saying the same thing. Grotty weather doesn't help either!

That rain I was so pleased to talk about last Thursday, well, it rained ALL day and far into the night! Hackney Central was very wet indeed. But she found a small 'greasy spoon' Vietnamese place which produced the most delicious lunch and we'll give you its' name and address tomorrow when she's back from the allotments.

Now we're off to play on her bed with grapes and nuts, as you do, if you're a small grey person with a red bum whose got a 'silly' mum!

GeeGee Parrot.
May 16th, 2015.

Friday 15 May 2015

HONOURABLY DISCHARGED..

Why and what? Well, if you've been following my Blog for some time, you may remember that today was D DAY! D as in declaration.. as to what, if anything, the MRI Scan of her head had found.

"Nothing nasty", that was what her kind ENT ~ ear, nose & throat ~ specialist Mr. Benjamin was very happy to tell her this morning.

He took her through to have another hearing test and to make sure her new hearing aids are doing their job and he said, as her left her with the audiologist, "I am discharging you and will write to your GP, I am happy that everything is as it should be, it is just that your right ear is behaving as if it is a bit older!"

How about that! And she was discharged by Guy's Dental Hospital as well on Monday! And lovely Margaret, her optician, said yesterday that her glasses prescription has only changed a tiny bit, so that was good too! We won't talk about the test for the edging of her sight.. those results were dire but only to be expected of someone with advanced Glaucoma.

So yippee is what I say, she said it too when she passed by the two nurses who asked her if she had a follow-up date, they smiled and said "great news for a happy week end" and it is, is surely is.

I know it is a strange time to go to bed but she has been a bit wound up by this scan, as you would be too. She's had a medical appointment every day this week and has just home home from Singing With Dementia in Streatham, so with a bag of the mini dark chocolate salami that she found in the freezer.. slurp.. we are off to bed to play chase the grape and catch the nut!

And we say "Thank you very much" to those friends of ours who have given their moral support over the past few weeks and especially after hearing the news about the Glaucoma last Saturday.

GeeGee Parrot.
May 14th, 2015.
PostScript: The honourably bit is because she didn't blub when Mr.Benjamin gave her the great news this morning.. she just got a bit 'wet-eyed'.

Thursday 14 May 2015

SHRIMP GINGER & BLACK RICE FOR A SLURPICIOUS LUNCH!

Rain.. do we care? Not a jot today.. another day we might but not today! For it will water the allotments and wash our orange trees.. trees as in plural for there are six of them sitting out there.

Three are tall and produce lots of fruit and flowers all the year round. The other three are much smaller and haven't made up their minds as to what they want to be when they grow up.. except one of them has, for the first time ever, produced some tiny flowers.

I promised you the recipe* for that scrummy lunch we ate last week.. you need the following. You will have to buy what you need as I don't know how many people you're cooking for. She generally allows for six prawns / large shrimp per person.

Ingredients.
Prawns / Shrimps.. peeled and the back vein removed.
Chunk of Ginger root.. grated.
A clove of Garlic.. crushed and finely chopped.
A Dried red Chilli.
Black Rice - already cooked and waiting out of chilly-white larger.. aka fridge. She usually allows about 250g per 2 people.
4 Scallions / Spring Onions.. sliced very thinly.
Bunch of Watercress with some Rocket as well.
A fresh Lime.. cut into quarters.
Olive Oil.
Black pepper and salt.
Fresh water ~ about 100 mls.

You'll need a large frying pan.
Serving bowl.

Heat your Olive Oil gently and add the Ginger and the Garlic.
Then add your Prawns / Shrimp and cook for about a minute.
Add the Black Rice, the Spring Onions / Scallions, Chilli and water.
Stir and cook until the Prawns / Shrimp are cooked and the Rice is hot.
Turn into the serving bowl and add the torn up Rocket and Watercress.
Serve and squeeze on the fresh Lime.

I found this to be very slurpy indeed. Another thing I find extremely slurpy are those old fashioned Watermelons.. you know the variety I mean, they're long and fat as opposed to round and fat, they are sweet and have LOTS of crunchy black seeds. She bought a large slice on Tuesday and we've just had half of it.. just like Jack Sprat and his wife.. she ate the melon and I ate the seeds.

Now she is taking dictation.. for I still can't tap iPad.. and drinking Velluto Nero coffee and I'm sitting on Goosie Head perch grinding Beaky.. aka sign of happiness.

Now.. back to that rain. It has to stop before midday, for she's bound for Hackney Central, which is located in East London. She'll have a rootle around whilst she's there, for there will be, I'm sure, a street market of some sort and maybe she'll find a green and yellow striped watermelon, I hope so.

GeeGee Parrot.
May 14th, 2015.
PostScript: *This will make a delicious supper as well.

Wednesday 13 May 2015

THE EARLY BIRD.. GETS SENT AWAY!

Off at high speed she went to the dentist.. to get there ten of the morning clock.. they smiled at her and said "You're early, your appointment is not until two this afternoon, when he has finished with this patient, we'll see if he will put you forward a few hours".. duh.. and there it was, in her mobile appointments as large as life and twice as clear.. 2pm.

She didn't have her garden keys with her, there wasn't anywhere she wanted to go, so she chewed the fat with Karen, then one of the receptionists opened the door and called out that he would see her at eleven.. so she moosied off up the market to chat to Margie and get some money out of the hole in the wall.. aka an ATM.. and then moosied her way back again.

Done and dusted, he fitted her poor tooth with a smart cap.. they are very thorough these guys and it looks good and fits perfectly.

She was back home just before one o'clock.. for a proper lunch time! Pan fried calves liver with sage and garlic and a big plate of mixed steamed vegetables together with carrots.. all delicious. I love calves liver and all vegetables are always acceptable!

Tomorrow ~ Thursday ~ she has to catch a train to Hackney Central from Victoria Station, if she leaves here just after an early lunch, she should be on time. It is an appointment to see Margaret, her optician. To see what is going on and to check her glasses prescription as her present ones are five years old, she knows that she needs different reading glasses.. her 'old' ones are just slightly 'off'.

We do hope it is a sunny week end.. please let it be so. We will be Singing with Dementia in the afternoon, this is after she goes to see Mr.Benjamin on Friday at ten of the morning clock for her MRI results and it would be reallyreally nice if it was sunny and warm at the week end so that we could both go to the garden.

She saw a sad thing this afternoon.. now we are not mad keen on rats but they're here in London and so you just have get on with it. She was washing the outside of our bedroom window and saw a large rat come out of the open door of rubbish area. He was staggering a bit and tried to get up the stairs but could not make it, he fell sideways off the second step, squeaked, twitched and died.. Poor fat rat.. 

She telephoned the managing agents and told them, then sent them a photo of poor dead rat so they would know it was not a belated April Fools Joke. They're sending Pest Control to collect Mr.Rat and to put down more traps etc. Ah, it's a hard life in a city, he should have stayed in the country.

That's really all my news, tomorrow in the late afternoon when she's come back from Hackney, I will be posting a delicious recipe that she made for us last week.. with shrimp and black rice.. it was tasty, we hope you'll enjoy it too.

In the meantime, there were no monkeys to be found, you'll be pleased to hear and all my feathers are well! 

GeeGee Parrot.
May 13th, 2015.

SHE'S COLD WEATHER GRUMPY BUT I AM.. OH.. SO HAPPY!

It's incredibly windy, flippin' cold and she was grumpy today! But she had good news yesterday.

She had to go to Guys Hospital down at London Bridge yesterday morning, it was bright, sunny and warm but she's English.. so she took a jacke as well. Which was a good thing for, by the time the train pulled into London Bridge Station, it was chilly-billy to say the least.

Into Guys Hospital and zoom up onto the 22nd flooor to the Dental Hospital.. I know.. another hospital appointment. She's had a bellyful of medical stuff this year and if you think you're bored by it all.. trying being her!

She was there because Tatiana, her dentist, saw something she didn't like so she had to go to have it investigated.. and as luck would have it the imaging dept (xray & untra-sound) had a no-show, so she was whisked upstairs and slotted in. They found.. zilch.. yippee, they scanned the entire roof of her mouth, so whatever Tatiana had seen had gone!

But by the time she got out of the hospital at 5.30, it was too late to come home and go out again, so she went straight to Streatham Hill by train and off to Rotary. What a happy evening, they had two Rotarians who are visiting London from Bainbridge, NY State and Daphne was being made an Honorary Rotarian, she was twice a Mayor of Lambeth.. more about her in another post.

Don't worry folks.. she had left me with two bowls of yumyum. I dozed for most of the day and then squeaked a lot when she got home at half past nine.

This morning.. out early again.. to tell her GP to expect a letter from Moorfields Eye Hospital about her Glaucoma and to give her doctor the prescription that they issued her on Saturday. They gave her a months supply and it has to be repeated every month, so her doctor gave her another month's supply as a back-up which lives in the fridge and entered it into her medical records and the drug register system.

Then to the library in the pouring rain. The books were safe in a plastic bag inside old WW, who doesn't mind the rain, well, he's wicker so he wouldn't, would he? But she does, she bored to tears with this weather.. grrrr.

Down to the North End Market, to Margie for wire and hooks, to the butcher for liver ~ slurp ~ to UR market for hummus, to Karen for courgettes and brocolli and to Wilco's for L'Oreal's Sulphate Free hair shampoo and conditioner and plain vinegar and washing soda.

Then after lunch, Dear Readers, I got my knickers in a dreadful tizz. For she asked me to stand on the kitchen work surface. The last time I stood there, she put dreaded collar on me, today I squeaked and behaved like a sissy, squealing and kicking up a giantic fuss until I realised that, actually, she was attempting to take it off! I then felt very foolish indeed.

Yes.. dreaded collar is off! I immediately pulled a feather out and was told "NO, please don't do that" and she ran a bath in the kitchen sink and before I knew it, I was IN IT! All my feathers were washed, talk about being wet, then I was whisked away to the land of warm air that blows, aka bathroom where the hair dryer lives! Such bliss..

She has fiddled about doing stuff at home, it's blowing a gale out there and it's so dirty with dust and pollen flying about, her hair is upside down or standing straight up and it is too hot with a light jacket or freezing on the other side of the street, it's really a day of brrr and grrr!

Dentist tomorrow.. Opticians on Thursday.. the ENT specialist, Mr.Benjamin, for the results of the MRI on Friday.. as I said before " You may be bored by all her medical stuff but not HALF as bored as she is!" She longs for 'happier' weather.. our green army is getting a bit leggy whilst it's confined to barracks.

She is overweight.. her knee tells her this and she's got to lose .. lbs, it was confirmed this morning when she took her jacket off and stood on her doctors scales.. nice doc was surprised.. she wasn't.. she's the one waddling about on her poor old dodgy knee.. and she's shrunk half an inch!

Ah well.. let's get going on everything, shall we? Why not.. we might as well have something else to grumble about.. joke.

I am off to inspect my back and wing feathers which I haven't been able to do for over two weeks.. there might be a family of monkeys living there for all I know!

Things to do.. places to go. PipPip.

GeeGee Parrot.
May 12th, 2015.

Sunday 10 May 2015

IT'S A COLD BLUSTERY DAY.. WHERE'S THIS SPANISH SUNSHINE WE'RE SUPPOSED TO BE HAVING?

Brrrrr... that's what we say! Cousin Bruce and the weather men said we were in for a couple of sunny days.. with pleasant weather coming up from Spain but instead.. well.. it looks as if 'that rain that stays mainly on the plain' is heading our way rather fast.

We are trying to be upbeat and happy-snappy here in our home but she is a bit low.. I wouldn't say depressed but she now realises that she has had 'something' not right with her eyes for a long time.. you know how sometimes you are not aware of something, until somebody points it out to you.

Well, she now realises that her eyes are dryer.. especially the left eye.. and she's annoyed with herself for not getting it checked out much sooner. Please everyone..get your eyes tested.. for vision and for Glaucoma and other unpleasant things.

So.. with blustery weather outside and absolutely no desire on her behalf to go 'out there', what are we doing.. well, I regret to say "not a lot".. there is masses to do here, ironing in particular! A heap of ironing but that will probably not be done today.

She's switched the water on and plans to do a scrub-a-dub-dub in YumYum HQ. I'll perch on top of the door and whistle encouragement if I see her flagging at any point.. in the meantime, we have had some very kind emails from MaryLou, Karen and Granny Jo about the diagnosis of the Glaucoma and a charming one from her French sister in law, Catherine, who lives in Paris.

She hasn't seen Catherine for nearly forty years, the last time she actually saw her was in 1978. Her brother, whose behaviour and morals were appalling, left this lovely woman and his son of less than five years to live with a ghastly woman.. who then left him in order to become the wife of a very famous (and rich) man.

But Catherine and she have remained in 'loose' contact and Catherine now has a grandson, this makes her a Great-Aunt five times!* How times flies, it seems only yesterday that Sebastian, her nephew, was born.. June 16th, 1973.

I know some people might be pedantic and say that Catherine is her ex-sister in law, but not in her book, for she's Sebastian's mother and will, therefore, always be part of her tribe, the same goes for Gilly, who was married to her other brother. They, too, are long since divorced but as Gilly gave her two nieces, Edwina and Zoe, she will always be part of her small tribe.

Ok.. the water should be hot enough to scrub with by now.. we wish you a pleasant day wherever you are and whatever time it is.. stay happy and healthy.

GeeGee Parrot.
May 10th, 2015.
PostScript: * Edwina has two boys. Zoe has two girls.

Saturday 9 May 2015

THE 'JAUNT' WAS A TRIP TO A & E @ MOORFIELDS EYE HOSPITAL..

What a bummer, to put it politely! I had better take you back to the beginning.. zoom.. back we go.

On Wednesday she had, as you know, a treatment with Valerie Ann Worwood. Valerie oiled up her hands and started work on her feet, she was lying on a heated massage bed, my dears, the bliss!

But what was this she heard? Valerie saying "when did you last have your eyes checked, your pressure is high".. she was ashamed to say that she could not remember when she last saw Margaret, her optician who owns and runs EYE Opticians in Mare Street, Hackney.

"Make an appointment as soon as possible and get them checked out" said Valerie and went on with her work. An hour and a half later, she had been very thoroughly worked over and was left to get dressed. She paid and Valerie said "let me know the results of the MRI and go to your opticians", she said she would and left the salon.

That was Wednesday, Thursday came and went, she left a message on the opticians telephone and received a call from Margaret. She told her what had happened and Margaret said "come and see me next Thursday at 3pm, BUT in the meanwhile, if you have any discomfort or pain, go immediately to the 24 hour A&E department at Moorfields Eye Hospital".

She noted her opticians appointment in the diary and that finished Thursday. Yesterday was dreadful.. what a windy and cold day, she left me behind and ventured forth to Streatham Hill and Singing with Dementia. Then she dropped Susan at home, gave her the camisole top and new knickers that she had brought for her and came home, feeling quite unusually tired.

Early bed after supper, her eyes ached, but she thought it was her imagination or the wind. She got up early but they were, if anything, more sore. The left eye felt as if it was being squeezed not so gently, she remembered Margaret's words, finished feeding me my egg and seeds, got dressed and sloped off down underground to Old Street via the Piccadilly and the Northern Lines.

You follow the Green line out of the station.. all the way to Moorfields A & E dept. Not too busy, a pleasant woman gave her a form to fill in, luckily, she had taken her the NHS letter giving all her surgery details and her NHS number.

She was seen by a nurse, to whom she described the problem, he passed her onto another nurse who examined both eyes under sedation. "You need to see the doctor as your pressure is too high, you should be between 12 and 21 and you are registering 26 and 28", she found another chair, luckily someone had left their paper, so she sat and read the Guardian until she was called for by a doctor.

There followed a much longer and more detailed examination, the result of which was him saying.. "I'm sorry to say that you are showing significant damage to the optic nerve and you have advanced open angled Glaucoma, I am putting you forward into our surgical clinic to be seen as soon as possible and until you see the specialist, I want you to put in one drop per night into each eye of this prescription that I am giving you. I will be writing to your GP today and please take the blue sheet of this prescription into their surgery this week. I am so sorry to tell you this not happy news but we've got you now and we'll take care of you".. nice kind man.

So there we are.. she came home.. and called Valerie to leave a message on her ansaphone about how right she was that she had picked up on 'high' eye pressure and then spoke to Margaret, her optician, to tell her what had transpired. OI VEY.. as they say!

Onwards, mes amis, onwards..

GeeGee Parrot.
May 9th, 2015.
Postscript.. She has just rung her two sisters in law to ask them to tell the 'children' to have yearly Glaucoma tests.. it's hereditary. 

THE NINETH OF MAY IS A SPECIAL DAY!

Ever since May 9th, 1988, except for weeks between Dagga's death on September 11th, 2004 and my arrival here on November 18th of that year, she's had a parrot in her life. For twenty seven years we two African Grey Parrots have ruled this roost.

She has to go off early to see a 'man about a dog'.. joke! We'll tell you later about this jaunt.. so in the meantime.. depending on your whereabouts..

Please raise your cup, glass or mug and say "Hip Hip Hooray, it's Parrots' Day, the Nineth of May".

GeeGee Parrot.
May 9th, 2015.

Friday 8 May 2015

WHAT WAS THE EXTRAORDINARY TREAT IN ROMFORD? IT WAS..

To be, literally, in the hands of someone whose level of expertise is beyond measure is truly a wondrous and extraordinary experience. And that, Dear Readers, is what she had as her treat in Romford on Wednesday.. an aromatherapy treatment.

The hands belong to Valerie Ann Worwood. this is the third time she has been 'treated' by her and each time her admiration for this woman grows. As does the admiration of two medical specialists to whom she has passed on certain pieces of information from Mrs. Worwood, she has 'found' two conditions that when passed onto her specialists, they checked, found to be correct and acted upon immediately!

She is, if you are unfamiliar with her name, the author of a series of books on the subject of essential oils. The Fragrant Pharmacy is, she thinks, the first in the series. She uses it a lot, reallyreally a lot, as her reference book for living a chemical-free life and thanks her darling Moley for introducing her to the book all those years ago.

Yesterday was Election Day here in the UK, she voted at one of our local schools and then walked on to work at the shop. Business was quiet, customers were few but it was pleasant to be able to spend a bit of time with those whom she knew who came in.

And as always, there is 'stuff' to do and to put out. The vitrine to dust and to replenish with items. The six cup saucer and plate sets had sold, they had been donated by her Lebanese friend and had been snapped up in a hurry, she was NOT surprised, for they would have made a very nice gift or addition to anyone's home.

I have, you'll be pleased to hear, ONE new top feather coming through on my tumtum, it will be two weeks tomorrow that she put this evil collar on me but I am happier.. for on Wednesday, I whistled my Telephone Song, aka the noise of the landline and a little bit of 'Farewell, adieu' from the Sound of Music! That was the first time for three weeks.. it made her happy and a bit wet-eyed.

Our weather is iffy, to say the least, it was sunny yesterday but bitterly cold out of the sun! We've had days with incredibly strong winds. There was an evil tornado in Northern Germany this week and several have 'danced' their wicked way across states in the USA.

She has to organise one of the three strong men to come down to the allotments to give her a quote for the clearance work and to sort out the wicked strimmer, which has always worked on the first pull and now refuses to.. why? He has been sitting doing nothing, how come he suddenly won't or doesn't want to work?

Machines are most peculiar, are they not! Just like us Parrots.. I thought I would say it first, as I know several of you will be thinking it! And now she's off to go and see if and what the results of the elections is / was.. stay tuned folks, we'll be back here either later today or tomorrow morning.

GeeGee Parrot.
May 8th, 2015.

Wednesday 6 May 2015

She's off to Romford for a big treat..

Via Liverpool Strret Station, so she's got to get a wiggle on and get out of here to go there! Romford is in Essex and that, Dear Readers, is where she goes to have an Aromatherapy facial and massage session with Valerie Ann Worwood.

Yes, the very same Valerie Ann Worwood who wrote that series of marvellous books on the usage of Essential Oils. I will report back later.. PipPip.

GeeGee Parrot.
May 6th, 2015.

Tuesday 5 May 2015

THE CHELSEA PHYSIC GARDEN IN 1768.. COTTON SEEDS & WAMSUTTA.

In 1673 the Worshipful Society of Apothecaries founded this walled garden in Chelsea as a place for their apprentices to study medicinal plants. It became one of the most important centres for botany and plant exchanges in the world.

One of the least known plant exchanges, which had huge impact upon the country to which it sent, was of seeds of the Cotton plant which were sent to the new colony, Georgia, in the Americas in 1768.

The garden's still there, she's a member, attends their open days, drinks and eats delicious yumyum in the 'house', picks the brains of all the staff and volunteer and loves the place! It is situated close to the Royal Chelsea Hospital on Royal Hospital Road, SW3 and you don't have to be a member to visit.. you pay an entrance fee.

Look at www.chelseaphysicgarden.co.uk and learn about this wondrous place. This is how cotton got to be grown in America.. which brings us to yesterday.

It is dusty work rumaging around under beds, finding things that have fallen behind the bedhead, a book which she thought she had given away.. more on this book at a later date.. so vacuum was brought out to do his stuff.

Winter weight duvet was taken off the bed, stripped of his cover, rolled up and put into the hall.. he's off to be cleaned, they'll put him into a proper duvet storage bag and he'll live in the back cupboard.

Bottom sheet taken off and put with pillowcases into washmachine. The two pillows that she had washed were dry, did you know feather pillows could be washed, she didn't. And it was only by thinking about me and my sploshing about in the huge waterbowl that the idea occurred to her that feather pillows would be ok in a machine on a low cycle.

She rummaged in a cupboard and came out with a pair of sheets and two pairs of pillowcases. Two sheets, I thought to myself, why two? You don't use a top sheet with a duvet. Then she opened up another cupboard, there are lots of them, and got out a dark royal blue Vellux blanket which is nearly the same colour as the bedroom walls.

Why a blanket, why not the summer weight duvet? What was she up to? Then out came a pair of steps and she pulled  down a big bag which has been on top of this cupboard for as long as I can remember, out of the bag came a squashy thing wrapped in plastic. She pulled out a huge thing, it wasn't a duvet, what was it?

"It's called a comforter GeeGee, you use them on your bed like an eiderdown" and she proceeded to make up the bed. The sheet pattern is a smaller, less detailed 'play' on the pattern of the comforter fabric, which is white with twists of blue ribbon running upwards, there are dark and paler roses with their leaves that twine around the blue ribbon. I realised I had seen this material before, it's the same fabric as the bedskirt!

Oh yes, we have to have a bedskirt for her bed is high up on a frame, underneath the bed are three 'school' trunks and an old fashioned wicker basket.. no relation to Wicker Wheelie. You know our posts always twist and turn.. you're wondering what the connection is, are you not?

Well, the Chelsea Physic garden sent the Cotton seeds to the new colony of Georgia in the America's and on one of her trips to America in the late 70's, she met a pleasant woman who worked for a American cotton company who make sheets and towels. Who, incidently, also make or made sails for sail boats.. a little known fact!

And Brigitte introduced her to another friend of hers, a charming woman who ran their discount shop! You're getting to the end of this story and know the answer, don't you? For this lovely set of high thread count bed sheets and pillowcases, in pure American Cotton, were made by Wamsutta.

The full circle Dear Readers.. from a small but highly important garden.. to the New World.. to our home in deepest Knightsbridge.. pure Cotton.. such a good thing to sleep in!

GeeGee Parrot.
May 5th, 2015.

Monday 4 May 2015

THE LATE POST.. & CRUISING AISLES IN SUPERMARKETS.. AS YOU DO!

GRRRRR.. We wish we knew who did this, which was to take this letter and withhold it from us. It was sent from California to us nearly a year ago!

If the lateness of its' arrival was not bad enough, what makes it much worse was what it contained, which was a notification of death on July 24th, 2013 of a dear friend, Andrew Wickham Clay. What darling Dorothy, his wife of fifty seven years, must be thinking about us is beyond speech.

His love, apart from that for his family, was for teaching. For more than twenty years he was the principal at Ladera High Jr. High and he returned to teaching 6th grade at Hermosa & Acacia before retiring after a forty-five year in education.

But did he retire? No! He'd accept substitute teaching positions! And he and Dorothy travelled, which is how we met them when they were in London. Tomorrow she will send a hand written letter to her.. oi vey.

I'm sure you know that cruising the aisles is NOT something she does, she is not a 'shopper' just for the sake of it. But she had to go into Sainsburys yesterday as they always sell this great bargain.. White Vinegar at 50p a bottle! which is what she uses for cleaning and lo and behold.. she squinted sideways at the bread section and saw.. not exactly the same as the one Lidl made, I know the label said Rivercote but we all know now that it is their own brand.. packets of sliced Dutch Rye and Sunflower bread.

Not as scrummydumptious as the Lidl one was for it does not have the molasses in. it, but it is rye and it does have seeds it it. We had griddled fish with a slice of it for our lunch.. easy to cook and easy to eat!

We are not dressed, or rather I am, with my bald tumtum, but she is in sweats and doing dusty work underneath the bed and in the bottom of a store cupboard, she would have MUCH rather gone to the allotments but this had to be done sooner than later and with dodgy Bank Holiday buses.. today was the day to do it.

Pale grey sky, warm but it hopefully will rain a lot tonight, April was exceedingly dry.. there were not many April showers but we did have a lot of wind, which has the effect of drying out the top soil, which you don't want at this time of year.

Onwards mes amis.. onwards with dusting, tidying, throwing away, the pile for rhe shredder grows ever higher, vacuuming.. oh.. BIG excitement!

She washed two feather and down pillows.. and they've come up beautifully, Cold water with not too much soap, two extra rinses, a very good shake, into the dryer with a clean tennis shoe to keep the feathers from clumping together. Don't just take our word for it! It is on the web posted by Good Housekeeping or something similar.

She's off to make a cup of amber nectar to fortify herself for the next bit of work.. pippip.

GeeGee Parrot.
May 4th, 2015.

MAY DAY & ANOTHER BIRTHDAY!

It is fascinating. The many and distinctly different origins of 'May Day'. Some say it comes from the Roman celebration of Flora, some from Beltrane and the reason for the Bank Holiday relates to the introduction for better working conditions.. and, of course, there is the famous May Day distress call signal.

It is due to be a 'perfect' May day today with sunshine and heavy rain coming in this evening. She is tempted to go to the garden but will not, my cage is not yet secure, the buses will be all up the creek and there is stuff to be done at home.

Paperwork.. We think that if you leave just two pieces lying loose that they make babies! How paper can multiply is just staggering, so today she is plugging in and switching on.. old man Shredder! He makes a nasty noise but does the trick!

She is now on top of her figures, everything has been checked and is logged, so there are a couple of piles that can be disposed of. our bedroom needs to be dusted and vacuumed, there is pile of books to go back tomorrow to our local Library and one that has to go back up to the main Central Library in Kensington on Horton Street, it is a book on Henry Kissinger, a man for whom she has little respect.

The period of forty five years ago is now 'history' that she lived through, the war in Angola, the Vietnam war, it's interesting to read more about it. She was in the Algarve, Portugal, working for Juliana's Discotheques at the Dona Filipa at Vale da Lobo, in 1970.

But that is all for another post.. for it is LapySang tea time.. before 08.30 is too early to be up on a holiday day! It's time for a cuddle in bed and amber nectar.. slurpy sips!

AND there is another person to wish greetings to.. Michele Jenner, our hostess with whom we stayed in Pewsey, has her birthday today.. "Happy birthday Michele.. we send you much love and a sunny day".

GeeGee Parrot.
May 4th, 2015.

Sunday 3 May 2015

OH, WHAT A BEAUTIFUL MORNING.. OH, WHAT A GLORIOUS DAY. THE GRASS WAS AS HIGH AS AN ELEPHANT'S EYE & THE WEEDS WERE SINGING "WE'LL NEVER SAY DIE"!

Off she went to the jungle.. aka the allotments! And she had to fight to get in for with a little rain and a little sun, the grass and the Forget-Me-Nots had grown so much that it looks.. disasterous!

If she didn't have photographic evidence of how immaculate these four plots used to be.. she'd not believe it! But that was when she worked them hard, at least four days a week, her energy was high and her weigh was low. Being far too heavy, like at least ten kilos over weight, makes you tired.

Rye bread is her downfall.. slurp.. she has to quit eating that in the morning and go back to gardening more often, it makes you fit and keeps you slim and there is MUCH hard work to be done out there, seriously hard work.

However, all is not doom and gloom! For the very hard pruning job that she did on all of the cherry trees has really paid off, especially on the two sour cherry trees. One is a Morello, which has never been a good 'doer', the other is a much younger tree, a Montmorency.

They are covered in blossom. They are also the last to come into blossom, the Stellas and the two French varieties, plus the two 'white', which, in fact, are yellow cherry trees have already blossomed. As have all of the various plum trees.

The mixed variety apple trees are still in bloom, so pretty, it looks.. fingers crossed.. as if it is going to be a crackin' good year for all our fruit trees and bushes, blackcurrant and red current bushes, red and yellow gooseberries and the figs will be wonderful!

She will net all her fruit this year, so it's off to Margie in North End Road Market for odd lengths of net curtaining, this makes brilliant anti-bird nets for fruit bushes and you can use it year after year.

A scaffold pole frame needs to be made for the Cypriot fig and for the group of cherry and plum trees, then she would be able to slide a tent of nylon net over the poles. It would take effort, money and time. But the rewards would be great! No more thieving birds!

She wasn't going to fuss with the strimmer today, it would have just annoyed her, she picked what asparagus she could find (amongst the weeds), dug over four small beds, picked three long stalks of lovage, a handful each of oregano, marjoriam, wild bronze fennel, lemon balm and lots of tall dandelion leaves.

Chopped up onto a plate they made a strong tasting, very healthy base for a pork loin chop, which we have just shared for our late lunch.

All of the peonies are up.. yippee.. and the babies which were planted two years ago are beginning to be a decent height. The original plants are huge this year. Almost up to her shoulder and still growing with an enormous amount of buds.. how she loves them!

Because she knows exactly where they are, she'll cut her way through a briar which has engulfed a bed, inside the briar (!) are three of her most favourite peonies, they're doubles, white with pale pink centres and smell.. ah.. their smell is glorious. They have to be marked with circles of stakes or bamboos.

Last week, quite by accident, she came across a team of three men who do garden clearance and maintenance, she's going to get one of them to come down in his truck to give her a quote to clear the three beastly briar patches, hence the stakes to show the men to be careful in these places, the back bed and terrace of briars and weeds and take all the rubbish clippings away.

They could also mend the back fence, remove a wicked, quick growing and non-flowering jasmine which has gone rogue and reinstall her water tank which fed the shed with water. Don't worry folks.. she knows about these types of 'naughty' folk who quote one figure and then charge another with threatening menace.. she'll get a written detailed quote before she parts with any dosh!

She would have loved to give the work to Jorge, a friend of Rob, but Rob has flown off to Australia and forgotten to pass on the other man's contact details. But perhaps it is for the best, these guys have their truck with the wire back for taking garden waste, so it would just go whoosh.. away away!

They, the powers to be, forecasted rain today! One of the reasons she came back at a reasonable hour was that she was too hot! Boots, thick sweater, vest, thick trousers.. far too hot! And having not yet taken any summer clothes to the shed, there was nothing to change into! Needless to say, it did not rain and in fact, we need rain and a lot of it VERY badly! The soil is far too dry, as hard as an old rock!

So it is past six of the afternoon clock and a glorious evening.. mind you, if she had still been out there, I would be mighty hungry, seeing as I played silly games this morning and did not eat anything, NOT clever!

One of the first things she has to do is work on the terrace, where my cage is, to get it sorted out, she needs to find the chain and padlock, it is somewhere in shed, which locks the cage to the table and locks the cage shut. It never used to be like this, when Dagga Parrot was alive, the two of them would stay in little shed for a week at a time, she knew everyone, everyone felt safe, nobody stole tools or broke into sheds.

She is not going tomorrow.. she's tried to do this trip already this year on a Bank Holiday and it was a fiasco! We'll stay at home and potter, for there is always something to do, is there not! Now we hope the girls in Wiltshire have had a happy birthday day and that they had lots of sunshine?

GeeGee Parrot.
May 3rd, 2015.

ROBERT GODDARD.. 'HER' NEW AUTHOR.. AND WE'RE SENDING LOTS OF HAPPY BIRTHDAY WISHES TO...

Very satisfying.. what's very satisfying, I hear you think to yourselves? Finding a new author, that's what is satisfying. She couldn't just sit twiddling her thumbs waiting for Quentin Jardine and Daniel Silva to write a new book could she, so she went off on the hunt for another author and..

By jove, I think she's got it! Or rather him! A new, to her, author by the name of Robert Goddard. Well, she thinks he's a he.. P.D James, whom a lot of people thought was a he, was not.. so it he might not be either.

Anyway, the book she read from start to finish last night.. 'Beyond Recall' had as many twists and turns as a Cornish lane, as well it, might being partly set in the land beyond the Tamar.

She turned her reading light off at one of the morning clock, I had gone to sleep many hours before that. It is always a pleasant thing to find a writer who has learnt his craft, the plot clever, the grammar correct, tale feasible, with enough action and suspence and twists so that the reader can't quite get the answer until the end.

She's pleased to see that he has written several books, for there are thirteen titles listed in the front of the one she read last night, which was published in 1997, so he may have written lots more! She's got a trolley load of library books to exchange today so we'll report back later.

Why are we up so early? I know.. it is very strange, especially as the day is SO dismal! Ugh.. dreary flat pale grey sky, it is wet under foot.. the Asparagus will be loving this weather, IF it has grown at all, seeing as to how she hasn't weeded the bed OR cut last year's dried up old ferns off.

She took our living salad pot off the wall last night and gave it a proper soak. It drained over-night and she's just hung it back on the wall.. hence we know that heavy rain has been and gone.

We're up at this weird hour.. I know some of you have been awake and up for hours but you are you and we are not you.. oh, get on with it GeeGee! She's trying a new routine, which is to get up early to tap the iPad.. so that you'll have an early morning ~ or late evening ~ post, as it were!

So far, so good, we then go back to bed with a mug of LapySang. Yes, I did say a mug.. for neither of us can't be doing with fine bone china before our fast-breaking hour. A ceramic mug keeps our amber nectar hot.. the perfect temperature for slurping in bed! Which is back to where we are now going.

We hope you enjoy your day, we know one person who will be doing just that.. her name is Poppy Martin, she lives in Wiltshire and she's nine today..

"Happy birthday to you, happy birthday to you, happy birthday dearest Poppy, happy birthday to you. With lots and lots of love to you from her and me, oxo."

GeeGee Parrot.
May 3rd, 2015.
PostScript. The Tamar is a river, it forms nearly the whole of the boundary between the counties Devon and Cornwall.

Saturday 2 May 2015

TWO TRANSFUSIONS LATER..

Kings Hospital were brilliant and St.Georges were too.. as soon as she arrived at their A&E, they were waiting and whisked her off. They had her case notes which had been 'sent' over and gave her a transfusion. Then she was admitted into a ward and another transfusion was given to her when they had the results back from their own tests that they took yesterday evening.

Thank goodness for two brilliant hospitals.. thank goodness for wonderful doctors and nursing staff and we are particularly 'fond' of St.Georges, for it was the old Hyde Park corner hospital which saved my mum's life forty years ago last month.

We are very happy to report that Susan has telephoned us and that all is well, of course, she does not have the result of the Bone Marrow test yet and it will be up to the Haematology specialist at Kings who gives her those results but the bleeding has stopped and she is feeling much better in herself.

Stepping up to the plate is what you do for friends.. by way of love and moral and physical support.

We are mighty both mightily relieved and she will sleep easier tonight, that's for sure. Our 'great' Dane is ok for now and we'll deal with whatever her medical prognosis is when she gets it next week. Next week is next week. You all know what Scarlet said.. "Tomorrow is another day".

GeeGee Parrot.
May 2nd, 2015.

JUST LUCKY, I GUESS.. THEY WERE JUST REALLYREALLY LUCKY!

Off she went to look at Susan's toes and to change a plaster for her. The traffic was horrendous, after yesterdays disasterous power failure at Clapham Junction a lot of people were driving or using the buses.

Thankfully London Transport had got their act together and there were lots of extra buses on these routes. But it took a long time and as she was hurrying down Gleneagles Road with WW, she was hailed by Susan from a car. WW went into the trunk / boot and off they went to Sing with Dementia.

That went ok and it was time to go home, Susan said not to bother about the dressing, it could stay for the weekend, but she said that she had brought a medical kit which included a sterile gauze dressing from home and had purchased the necessary plasters, so she would do it.. plus she had the two coats for Susan to try on in WW.

They hopped onto a bus and then walked the one street to Susan's home, she tried on both coats, one being a jacket, the other a proper full length coat and very smart they looked too! The right weight and the right size. PERFECT!

Getting her things together she followed Susan upstairs, who got undressed and lay on the bed on her stomach.. whilst she went off to scrub her hands and came back to see what was going on..

OH DEAR.. the existing plaster was sodden with blood. She sterilised a pair of tweezers from her kit and lifted off the first layer of plaster, then the layers of sterile gauze, both soddened with blood. The injection wound was 'clean' ~ meaning there was no infection ~ but it was bleeding.

She asked Susan if she had her medical notes from Kings to hand, she replied "yes but why" and so she said "sorry lass, I don't like the look of this, you're bleeding and I want to talk to Haematology about it, will you tell me where the papers are".

So they rang Kings, who were wonderful. Susan explained what was going on and who would be talking to them and handed over the telephone, for Susan of course, was not able to see what has happening on her lower back.

The blood department who had done the proceedure.. taking bone marrow for a cell test.. asked her what she had found and what she had done so far, how fast was the blood flowing, etc? Having given them the information, the person said "is she alone in the house, would you be able to take her to your nearest A&E as soon as possible and which one will it be, we'll send over her information so they know what they're dealing with".

"Her son is here with a car, her nearest A&E is St.Georges, Tooting, I'll get him to bring her in immediately".. suddenly it was action stations.. she told Susan that she needed to speak to her son and whilst Susan did that, she found for her poor shell-shocked friend, a small night case and packed it with a night dress, a warm fleece, her wash bag, medical notes, address book and she fed the cat.

Susan kissed her and gave her a huge wordless hug, her son said "thank goodness" and they shot off.. she walked the other way with, by now, an empty Wicker Wheelie rolling along beside her. She caught the 319 bus home. In her basket were two boxes of Susan's Danish cookies.

The bus driver was a miracle.. his knowledge and use of the Highway Code was perfect, his driving impeccable. As they stopped at the end of the route besides Peter Jones, she walked forward and complimented him upon his driving skill.

He looked SO pleased and said, with a smile, "I love my job and you have just made it extra special today, thank you", she laughed and replied "I'm going to make it even more special, have this box of Danish Cookies and have a great week end".

There is a man that sits on the pavement beside Peter Jones, she walked towards him and smiled, he smiled back, she reached into her basket and said "I'm sorry, I don't have any money with me but please have these" and she gave him the second box of Susan's cookies. He looked stunned and then said "thank you miss, thank you".

So there you are.. is it a coincidence that you are in the right place at the right time? Who knows.. now she has to call Susan to find out if she is at home or if St.George's admitted her.

GeeGee Parrot.
May 2nd, 2015.
PostScript.. Susan was admitted and immediately given a blood transfusion, she is comfortable.

Friday 1 May 2015

TWO FOR TEA & TEA FOR TWO.. HOW HAPPY WE WILL BE..

There aren't many choices or things that are either one or the other, are there?

She could have chosen to have a cat, a dog, a fish.. well, almost any animal.. but the fact that she ended up with a (self-willed) African Grey Parrot, was by her choosing to have (another) one in her life.

Tea in bed.. Hot LapySang down the throat.. ahhh.. what a great way to start my day. Then buttery egg-the-peg, with a beakful of hummus on the side.

She is not taking me to where they do Singing with Dementia, it is windy and she has just had a call from Susan in Steatham "please would she come to her house and change the dressing on her back before they go up to the nursing home". This is what friends do, so the answer was yes.

This means I would be in my small travelling unit for far too long, it is boring.. sigh.. but I am better off staying at home.

Do you follow Ellie's Dairy's Blog? Please go and look at it, there are some charming small goaty folk.. HuskyMonkey and Boomerang are featuring in the last post, strange name for a kid but she bounces back.. to where she wanted to be, which is not where she was supposed to be.. are you up here with me or still faffing about at the end of the last paragraph?

And there are photos of these two naughty kiddly-diddlies.. so sweet with their amusing ears, the Nubian ear-style is very distinctive and charming beyond belief.. go and have a look and I defy you not to smile!

She smiled yesterday. On the way back from High Holborn she walked through Soho and went to buy coffee from the Algerian Coffee shop on Old Compton Street. Half a kilo of Velluto Nero and half a kilo of their April Special.. Peru High.

When she went into the shop, there was a few people being spoken to by some cops. Then a couple of them were taken away but a couple of the cops stayed outside, she said to one of the coffee folk "They think your smells MUST be illegal as they're SO addictive!", this made the shop laugh as did one of the cops, for when she went out, they were still there!

It was a 'stop&question' day in Soho, something was obviously going on because she saw the same sort of operation going on in Gt.Marlborough Street. Two cyclists were being questioned.

I have still got the dreaded collar around my neck.. it is very light so it doesn't hurt but it does stop me being doing what I want to and you know how maddening that is.. grrr. The last time I had to wear it was for two months. All my feathers have to grow back in and as my tumtum is bald, it will take a long time.. yes, sigh indeed.

It is brightening up.. she has put her books into WW, together with a coat and a jacket that a lovely friend has given her to give to Susan. Do you wear the same things practically all the time, she goes through phases of doing this.. ridiculous as she has pretty clothes which she almost forgets about!

Then she remembers them, puts them on and feels happy and 'light' because of the colour or the weight. Weight in clothes is very important, she knows instantly with coats if she would ever use or wear it or not, for a coat / jacket has to 'feel' right.

Just like a perch.. I am lucky that all the doors at home are old fashioned ones with a wide top and they are comfy to doze upon.. rather like sitting on a head, I don't hold on with my claws, I can sit there as I do on our doors.

But now I have to flap-a-dap down to bathroom, she has to leave soon, she's got to get dressings and plasters for Susan and it takes a good hour by bus at this time of day. NO trains for her today! Being stuck in a train for FIVE hours.. is not her idea of fun, at least on a bus you can get off and hoof it.

So it will be either a 'girl for you and a boy for me' and they've got a boy. HRH The Prince of Wales wants a girl, we'll have to wait and see!

GeeGee Parrot.
May 1st, 2015.

HURRAY HURRAY.. IT'S THE FIRST OF MAY!..

No.. I'm not going to write out the rest of that naughty ditty! This blog, Dear Readers, is also read by children and can imagine the trouble that we'd get into if little Johnny or Susie asked their mummies.. "what does that mean?"

What a day it was yesterday! Thank goodness she went to the 'saddlery' shop and not to Streatham. For after the power failure on the railways, that section of rail was truly up creek! For FIVE hours!

We'll be busing it up there today, that's for sure. I hope it isn't going to be wet, oh, I do hope it won't be raining, the weather forecast is dire for the long May Day Bank holiday.. wet and cold.. ugh!

But to cheer us up quite considerably, there is, outside our home, a charming flower. Our first Lily of the Valley is in bloom, she has opened her little bell-like flowers and smells wonderful. There are a lot of them out at the garden but she doubts that they're in bloom, this pretty little miss has a much easier time than her sisters who are experiencing life in the rough out there.

I'm going back to bed, her bed. She's made a mug of LapySang and we'll cuddle for a bit before we start our day.. but we hope, wherever you are, that you enjoy your first day of May.

GeeGee Parrot.
May 1st, 2015.