'ESCAPING HITLER' by MONTY HALLS. IT MADE HER WONDER HOW MANY ALLIED AIRMEN & TROOPS WHO WERE SMUGGLED OUT OF ENEMY TERRITORY EVER CONTACTED THE PARTISANS OR RESISTANCE TO SAY "THANK YOU FOR SAVING MY LIFE" PART 1.

Hugo, her father, her mother's two brothers and her godfather, Sydney Butterell, all saw very active service during WW2 and were lucky that they remained out of the clutches of the Germans and the Japanese.

'Escaping Hitler' by Monty Halls is not the first book on the second world war that she has read but it is without doubt the first that made her think the following.

Just how many of the thousands of allied aircrew and troops, with the help of resistance and partisan fighters, ever made contact after their safe return with their saviours to express their gratitude?

In Part 2 of the book, Monty writes about the escape from Camp 78 in Italy of a man called Len Harley and I'm cutting this very short but Len and another man are cared for and sheltered from the Germans for six months by a family called Spinosa.

They are guided out of the German occupied part of Italy down into the south which was under the control of the Allied Forces.   

Upon Len's safe arrival back England, he writes to them and receives a letter back so both families know the other is safe. Both letters are copied in the book and you have to have a heart of stone not to be touched by them.

Len returned twice to the village of Sulmona to find the family but they weren't there, they had moved, like thousands of other Italian families, to America after the war and he was unable to find anyone who knew where they were.

And I quote "this deeply honourable man had never known in the 73 years since he had left the care of the Spinosa household, whether his eternal 
gratitude was truly understood or acknowledged". 

However, they did return to their village and then Monty returns to Sulmona in 2017 with a piece of technology and hopes it won't let him down.

He was greeted by Bruno, who had been his guide when they retraced the steps that the escapees had taken to evade the Germans, and introduced to Rosina Spinosa.

The laptop was put on a coffee table in front of Rosina and Monty commenced the call.

Yes.. you've got it! With a wireless connection and after 73 years, this 98 year old man, for whom this family had risked everything, was finally going to be able to say "thank you" in person.

The last page of this chapter is enchanting beyond belief.

My next post will about a famous man who went 'a little bit' beyond letting the French resistance know he was home safe!

She isn't going into work today, it would be deeply unkind to give anyone else this bug which she reckons she caught on Sunday, her glands are up and her throat is sore and swollen, she's got ginger 
powder to kill the pain, me to sit on her head to keep her warm and Debbie's brilliant hot water bottle snake to snuggle with.

Read this book and wonder at the bravery and courage of the people who lived in occupied countries who, despite risking their own and their families lives, joined the Partisan and Resistance movements in order to save the lives of allied aircrew and troops.

It was published September 2017.

Go to www.channel4.com/programmes/wwiis-great-escapes-the-freedom-trails/episode-guide 

These are programmes that retrace the original escape routes that Monty has done with the help with locals, some of whom were very young Partisans or members of the Resistance in WW2.  

GeeGee Parrot.

February 28th, 2018.

THE BEASTLY EASTERLY WIND MAY BE UPON US BUT IN WALES.. THEY'RE PICKING STRAWBERRIES!

No, I am not telling porky pies.. aka gross fibs. 

In Wales some industrious strawberry growers are using very advanced growing techniques in their greenhouses.

That and the fact that they've had a fairly mild couple of months, means that Aldi are selling them in their store in Bridgend and had planned to roll them out throughout the rest of the UK in the next couple of weeks.

Now.. that may well change because you would have to be living without any communication from the outside world not to know that the Eastern block and Europe are being subjected to severe weather conditions which are extending Winter by a couple of weeks.. at least.

So it's not 'The temperature's rising, it isn't surprising.. she certainly can cancan!' It's a case of face freezing cold temperatures.

Of duvet diving wearing a cotton nighty, leggings and bed socks or wearing thermal underwear under her cotton and wool clothes when she goes outside.  

Don't rely upon nylon clothing to keep you warm! It's a job for  fibres.. cotton, silk and wool and, of course, fleece made out of plastic bottles!

That always makes her laugh but when she was sorting out clothes, giving away things that were either too small or the wrong colour, she didn't get rid of a beige fleece she bought the last time she was skiing. Blackcomb, Whistler.. Easter 1998!

How can clothing be the wrong colour you ask?

Because having changed the colour from brown to blonde, then allowing her silver hair to grow through means that wearing camel, beige or mid brown on top makes her look like a washed out rag.

The best colours for her now are all the shades of blue, red, green, black and dark grey can be worn if she wears another vibrant colour, as well a 'good' red lipstick!

Yes, a red lippy.. the colour of a ripe strawberry or.. my tail!

Chirp.. she has to call Ann. Who is lucky enough to be escaping to Turkey and Cyprus for a week. She's also a gardener of flowers, fruits and vegetables and going to Cyprus means she could bring back seeds of those heavenly delights aka 'Turkish Cucumbers'! 

Gardeners, especially these two, spend a lot of time planning aka dreaming about what they're going to grow and eat!

How about these two dreams.. Crisp crunchy little green cucumbers with eaten with home grown tomatoes with labneh and stuffed courgettes with minced lamb with zatarr.

Newsflash.. more about snow!

Rome is covered in it and Roman Vilfand, the chief of the Russian Meteorological Office told the Interfax news agency that Muscovites should brace themselves for frosty weather in March and could only "count on the warmth of the soul", not higher temperatures outside.

Blimey and shiver my timbers.. that sounds dire, doesn't it!

Now, I wonder if I could persuade her to come back to bed so I can get in underneath the bed clothes? Well, it's certainly worth a try, isn't it.

GeeGee Parrot.

February 26th, 2018.

THE FOOL.

Ok folks! Who likes a fool? They're useful and they make you smile.. no, I haven't lost the plot, you'll see why later on. Read on Dear Readers and learn about fools.

HaHa, you think I mean sillybilly people, don't you? Well, I don't and if you're up to speed on my blog you would know what I mean.

I mean fool as in a fruit fool, they're incredibly easy and quick to make and are the perfect light dessert.

She had bought two ingredients in the market and the rest she had at home, for if you keep a stash of 'dry' stores, you can make all manner of delicious, savoury or sweet, things very quickly.

When she returned with her fruit and vegetables, she mixed a dessert spoon of dried coconut into a bowl of yoghurt, grated a small amount of fresh ginger root over it, stirred it well and put it into chilly white larder to soften.

Just before she cooked our supper, she peeled a mango, cut the flesh off the stone and pureed it with a small amount of icing sugar.

Cut a passion fruit in half, scooped out the flesh and added it to the mango puree giving it a good stir. Combined the coconut yoghurt mixture with the pureed fruit and put it to chill. 

The fool. Now you understand why they're useful, because they're quick to make and make you smile because their taste is delicious.

You can make fool out of most fruits, she loves the combination of rhubarb and ginger. What's your favourite fool?

It's cold, when we woke up and had done what you do in the bathroom in the morning, I was only too willing to get into her bed and be snuggly for an hour, then to eat hot eggs and slurp LapySang.

She had a grapefruit and hot ginger and honey tea. I think my eggies were better! 

What have you got planned to titillate your taste buds? She has diced kid meat that dearest Debbie goaty mum gave her last Sunday, it's marinating in all manner of hot and spicy things in chilly white larder, we'll probably cook and eat it on Monday.

Which sounds like a good idea as Monday and Tuesday are supposed to be extremely cold here in London with low temperatures and snow forecast.

Eat hot spicy food, spices help keep germs at bay and help to unblock stuffy noses thereby keeping your sinuses clean and open!

Now she's stuff to do. Many chirps to you all.

GeeGee Parrot.
February 24th, 2018.

FOUND IN FROSTY LARDER! A TASTY LUNCH.

No grapefruit for her this morning.. oh woe was she. She had to check on Myra and see if she needed or wanted anything apart from what mama had brewed for her, so decided to go down to the market and do the weekends' fruit and vegetable shopping today.

Gosh! Every thing was cheaper! When she asked her favourite stall holder why, he said that he was only staying open until 3.00pm and he wanted as much gone as possible before he closed.

Hence eleven avocadoes £2.00, four ruby grapefruits £1.00, two ripe mangoes £1.00, six ripe passion fruits £1.00, two dark green cabbages 50p each and a big bowl of fresh ginger root was £1.00.

She tipped everything in to WW and went down the street to our butcher for two trays of chicken carcasses, half a kilo of chicken breasts and pork fillet to replace the meat we ate yesterday.

Onto our favourite Middle Eastern food shop for three large pieces of turmeric root.

Home again, home again jiggedy jig! It was cold and the wind was icy.. brr! 

She sliced and thumped the pork fillet, packed it into greaseproof paper, then slid the package into a freezer bag. The same happened to the chicken breasts, all except for a small piece which we'll eat tonight.

When she was putting the packages into the frosty larder, she saw and pulled out three little packages of green vegetables."Oh, they would be delicious for lunch with chopped bacon and a couple of eggs" she said and this is what we've just eaten.

The three bags contained French beans, Runner Beans and Sugar Snap Peas. She sliced a large shallot and put it into a little fresh lemon juice, boiled three eggs so that they the whites were soft but not runny and shelled them. Fried two slices of bacon until they were crisp, lightly steamed the beans and peas, then tossed them in a mixture of lemon juice, olive oil and seasoning.

She put the vegetables on a plate, then the eggs, crunched the crispy bacon over the eggs, put the shallots over the eggs, then ground a mixture of sea salt, chilli flakes and schezwan pepper over the plate. Easy, quick, tasty.. doesn't that appeal to you? 

Poor Myra is ick-dick. She dropped off a diffuser, night light candles with which to heat it, a bottle of mixed essential oils to burn in her bedroom and lots of ginger root.

With our wonderful transport system she can go to that brilliant herbalists Baldwins on Walworth Road at the Elephant & Castle by a 360 bus which takes her almost all the way there.

She needs to stock up on her favourite essential oils: Cinnamon Bark, Clove Bud, Frankinsense, Lemon, Eucalyptus Radiata, Oregano, Peppermint for internal usage, Rosemary, Lavender and a new bottle of tincture of Myrrh. 

Catherine, a dear French friend, has told her of a Algerian place which serves delicious couscous but has to find the address. A lamb tagine with lemon and pomegranate couscous would be perfect on a cold day like today, would it not?

Indeedy it would, in fact, it's the sort of stuff you dream about!

GeeGee Parrot.

February 23rd, 2018.
PostScript: Tomorrow she'll give you a recipe for mango, ginger and passion fruit fool.. it's slurpy.

CHICKEN OR PORK.. TAKE YOUR PICK FOR A SPICY SESAME DISH! WHILST I HAD LANDED IN DEEP DUDU LAND..

When she's feeling mad and flush with dosh aka money, she buys things to put into frosty white larder.. aka freezer. Early yesterday morning she took out a small packet of pork fillet which she had bought a couple of weeks ago.

She had sliced it very finely before freezing it, so it was ready to go. She rootled in a cupboard for chilli oil, cornflour, sunflower oil and soy sauce, in the vegetable basket of garlic and in chilly larder where she keeps opened jars and found.. eureka, a jar of chilli bean sauce!

She mixed crushed garlic, chilli oil, cornflour and soy sauce together in a small dish, put in the slices of pork, mixed well with the sauce, they would sit, defrost and marinate whilst she went to work.

Now, that's a sad word in our home at the moment  for management have said I'm no longer to go to the shop when she does. 'Huh to that' I thought when she told me and I'm afraid to tell you that I did a simply disgraceful thing.

Whilst she was busy doing the pork, I flew onto WW's handle, turned around and, there's no other word for it so be prepared, crapped onto her  basket which was in WW.. aka Wicker Wheelie for new Dear Readers.

How was I to know her most favourite cashmere sweater was in her basket? She didn't find out until she was in the wool shop matching the colour to darn a tiny hole. She was not pleased.. in the slightest.. as you can well imagine.

Moving swiftly along.. as you do when you've done dire and dreadful things and been found out.

The shop was busy so she was glad she had done the vegetable shopping before going to work, she left the shop late after having washed up mugs and tidied the 'kitchen' area and her work station.

Bitterly cold, she wasn't surprised to see that a lot of the stall holders had packed up and left early, she was pleased to be coming home to a spicy hot supper!

Having greeted me and told me that I was simply a disgusting dudu maker.. she washed her hands, put in her evening eye drops and went to make our supper.

Now here's a very curious thing! White rice brings her out in hives, big scratchy blighters that stay around for at least three days. But she can eat black or red rice until she's full to the brim! Isn't that strange?

She decided to use red rice from the Camargue and drop in the sugar snaps for the last two minutes to cook.

Having taken the dish of pork slices out of the chilly white larder.. aka fridge, she heated up sunflower oil in a pan and cooked the pork for 4 minutes each side, then stirred in the chilli bean sauce with a little amount of water.

The dish simmered for about three minutes, she sprinkled some rough chilli flakes on top with a tablespoonful of sesame seeds.

The rice and sugar snaps had drained, she dished it up and off we went to have our quick tasty supper. Indeed, it's worthwhile keeping a few quick and easy things stored in that frosty larder! 

Now here's what you'll need to create this tasty dish.

What you need:

Finely sliced slices of pork fillet or chicken breast as many as you need.

A big fat clove of Garlic.

1 tsp. of Chilli Oil.

1 tbsp. of Cornflour.

2 tbsp. of Soy Sauce.

As much rice as you will need.

Sugar Snap Peas as many as you will need.

2 tbsp. of Sunflower Oil.

1-2 tbsp. of Chilli Bean Sauce.

1 tbsp. of Sesame Seeds.

2 tsp. of rough Chilli flakes.

It's a dish that we eat with chicken or pork, both are delicious. The slices should be thin, she thumps hers with a meat mallet.

Yum.. all this writing about food has made me Beakish, I wonder what she has for us tonight?

We've just had a distressing call from our beloved Myra, she's got a dreadfully sore throat and feels ghastly, mama will raid the market for cinnamon, lemons and ginger, for we can't have her ick-dick, can we?

Stay warm and dry. 

GeeGee Parrot.

February 22nd, 2018.

WHEN IT'S COLD OUTSIDE.. OUR THOUGHTS GO TO HOT FOOD.. HOT AS IN HOT & HOT AS IN CHILLI HOT!

She poked her nose out of the door, pulled it back very smartly and said "it's a good thing I bought yumyum yesterday, isn't it GeeGee?"

For the Beast from the East is a'blowing cold air our way. The sunny warm days of last Friday and Saturday are but a happy memory.

She has pruning to do but she isn't stupid, she'll wait for a week or two to do this, you should do it when it in Winter and although, officially, the first day of spring is on March 1st, it's cold and it's the cold that determines growth on trees, not a calendar!

Carrots, parsnips, mushrooms, a fat cabbage, a bowl of ginger root and a packet of rough chilli flakes were in WW when she came home last night.

Along with a Chinese porcelain bowl somebody donated, there's no 'chop' or mark on the bottom so it isn't priceless but pretty and she'll grow white hyacinth bulbs in it.

We went to bed late last night, for we watched, amongst other things on BBC4, a documentary on Queen Victoria and her nine children, what a simply monstrous mother she was! She had thought Constance was strict but she was a kitten compared to that old witch.

Another programme we watched was on the Iron Duke, aka the Duke of Wellington. An excellent programme with input from the current Duke and his sister, Lady Jane Wellesley and serious military historians. But his disastrous marriage to poor Kitty Pakenham.. oi vey!. was literally the stuff of nightmares.

So we woke up late and were hungry, I was very happy to eat my two eggs, she slurped hot ginger and honey tea and ate a ruby grapefruit. We then drank lots of LapySang to warm our throats and tummies.

We both fiddled about and before we knew it, it was lunch time. Usually she only eats twice a day, a grapefruit starts her day and we have a very early supper.

But on cold days, she eats soup.. no, that is not a typo, she eats soup because she takes a big pan of chicken broth, brings it to the boil, pours in black or red rice, adds chopped carrots, parsnip, ginger root, lowers the heat to simmer and cooks it for thirty minutes.

After twenty five minutes, she adds a handful of mangetout, sugarsnaps, a few sliced mushrooms. A vital ingredient is chilli.. oh yes, she was not born in Malaysia for nothing! A measure of rough chilli flakes make this a perfect lunch for cold day.

We'll be back to tell you what she cooked for us last night and my appalling behaviour when I learnt Head Office said that I'm not allowed to go to the shop any longer 'because someone might be allergic to birds'.. Sigh.

GeeGee Parrot.

February 22nd, 2018.  

I AM AFRAID TO SAY I SNIGGERED.. FOR WHAT DID SHE USED TO WORK WITH? ELECTRICITY & WHAT DID SHE ALWAYS TELL HER CLIENTS TO DO.. "CHECK THE PLUG & FUSE".

Thank goodness she looked at the plug before she took her 'ick-dick' laptop to Dr. Raja. Because there was nothing wrong with it, all that was wrong, was the plug had been pulled half way out of the socket and the battery had run out.

No power equals no laptop.. need I say more?

"Silly Billy mama" is what I said after I had stopped sniggering. Well, that helps this months budget considerably, doesn't it?

Now all she has to do is buy a new steam iron and she won't be going to Peter Jones for that!

No, she'll go to Wilko on Fulham Broadway, they sell all the things that Peter Jones and John Lewis used to before their buyers got too grand and stopped stocking things like washing soda and white vinegar.

They also sell an extremely good range of steam irons.. and you know how much I lurve a good iron, one that goes "whoosh".. the noise brings back memories of Gloria, she was our adorable, brilliant, wonderful housekeeper and my nanny when mama travelled.

Gloria ironed like an Angel and whilst she did so, she and I listened to Salsa music at full volume. "Whoosh" went steam iron whilst I flew around the sitting room at high speed screeching in delight!

God only knows what a neighbor would have said! It's certainly a good thing we don't have any.

Anyway, there we are.. ick-dick laptop wasn't. It's up and running and she is a'tapping on it as I dictate.

We will be back later with all our news that's fit to print.. pippip.

GeeGee Parrot.

February 21st, 2018.

LAPTOP IS BEYOND ICK-DICK! I THINK IT'S DIED!

She tapped my earlier post, made LapySang, washed, got dressed, put a load of dark laundry into the machine, read the gas and electric meters and submitted those on-line, washed up and then received a call which meant that she had to stay in for half an hour.

She booted up laptop and was reading the news on-line when it made the noise "blink" and the screen went black. Dear Readers, it crashed and will not turn on again.

So tomorrow morning it is going to Raja and if he cannot fix it, she is going to take it back to Peter Jones, from whence it came, and they are going to refund her the money back. It threw its' toys out of the pram last week and she is not putting up with a machine breaking down and having to be tweaked by Raja every week. Thank goodness her elderly iPad still works! Boring!

On a happier note.. her frugal ways have paid off! Our gas bill is remarkably small considering the last three months we have had and certainly her habit of switching off lights works.

We have had a very late lunch / early supper. Poached chicken wings with black Thai rice in a stock sauce with turmeric root together with lots of garlic, carrots and shallots that she dug up on Saturday. She is extraordinarily tolerant of my messy eating habits and put a large towel over her bed, because she knew I wouldn't chew bones over my dish but would drag them off to the other end of the bed!

After I had chewed the bones and wiped Beaky all over the towel, it went into the machine for a quick rinse and will dry overnight on a radiator. She does try to keep this home in some sort of order.. she also tried to do ironing today whilst waiting for this delivery, but the iron was so shocked at being made to work, it went "phut" and stopped as well! So now we need an new iron and a new laptop! The iron will be cheaper, that's for sure!

Ah well.. such is life! We hope your life is 'ok' today?

GeeGee Parrot.
February 20th, 2018.

HALF A LOAF OF RYE BREAD WENT DOWN HER GULLET.. NO WONDER HER KNUCKLES WERE SWOLLEN YESTERDAY!

Do you have a food that you really love? She, poor dear, loves rye bread and Oliver's, the bakers who have many stalls at our Farmer's Markets here in London, make an exceedingly fine rye loaf.  

However, if you're a regular reader of my blog, you will know that she is allergic to gluten, it triggers her arthritis and the joints in her fingers of her right hand swell alarmingly.

But, as you know, there is 'one born every minute' and old numb-skull thought she would just have a 'little bit' of the loaf she took to lunch on Sunday.

Huh.. she ate half of it! Getting the ring off that she had worn at the weekend was an extremely painful operation.

So no more bread, Johnny had given her the loaf but she passed it onto Pat yesterday morning when they met to discuss wools and patterns.

I should say..Wool, patterns and needles! For Pat's face, when she brought out the enormous bag of beautiful and unused wooden knitting needles, was a picture!

"They're £11.00 a pair for the thinner ones and who knows how much for the huge ones and are just what I need for your blue sweater with the red detail, isn't it just amazing what people donate?"

It was well after 1.00pm that they parted, Pat to go home taking the knitting swag and mama to do a bit of shopping in the market.

Poundland had the new Vanish Platinum gel in stock! For getting white cotton or linen to be brilliant white again without using bleach, which isn't kind to fabrics, this stuff is amazing! 

As is Surf Black.. for guess what? Yes, Black fabrics! The Co-Op had this, which she uses for black undies, t.shirts and jeans, on at a special offer of £2.93.

Four ruby red grapefruits, seven crunchy apples, beetroots, a box of eggs all went 'plop' into WW and they turned for home.

The fine and sunny weather that we had over the weekend is but a memory for it was cold and wet. And, it's cold and wet again today. At some point she going to see Sothebys and Christie's, the auction houses but that won't happen today.

She wants to see the collection of King Charles 1st art which is on show at the Royal Academy. And as Chinatown is but a five minute walk from there, she may well slide into a restaurant and eat Chinese yumyum, in order to celebrate their New Year. 

Now, I need LapySang tea and she needs to start her day.. pippip.

GeeGee Parrot.

February 20th, 2018.

IT WAS SUPPOSED TO BE COLD & GLOOMY! IT WAS BRIGHT SUNSHINE, HOW MUCH DO WE PAY THESE WEATHER FORECASTERS!

It is Sunday, the day of rest I thought to myself, so I was somewhat alarmed when she slipped out of bed at some outrageously early hour and disappeared to do what mothers do early in the mornings.. who knows what they get up to.. however, she soon returned with a mug of hot ginger.

But then drew back the curtains.. 08.00 on a Sunday! Huh, I thought, either I'm mad or she's lost her marbles. Well it transpired that she's a bit dotty.. for she got dressed in pretty clothes, put her face on.. I know.. poor face, it lives in a small bag by the bathroom basin, sprayed smelly stuff on, put on a rain coat, wrapped a scarf around her head and left the house!

Don't fear folks.. she had made my eggs and tea and so, theoretically, I was 'ok' but it was a bit weird eating them by myself! And, my dears, she did not arrive home until.. 8.30pm!

Her activities apparently were as follows. She met a friend for coffee on the Kings' Road, searched in vain Waitrose for Dill Sauce, checked her library books back in, went to see dear Debbie Goat at Parson's Green Farmer's Market to catch up on all the gossip and news and.. oh boy, was there was a LOT of gossip and news!

At 2pm she walked up and over to Redcliffe Square to have a late and simply delicious lunch with Johnny with whom she used to do volunteer work. Yack a yack.. such a lot of catching up there was to do to!

The day started out sunny, for which she was pleased for all of the stall holders at the farmers markets throughout London but she was, secretly, pleased when it turned dark and colder in the afternoon. For if it had been like Saturday, which was a truly magical day of sunshine with a pleasant temperature, she would have felt guilty that she wasn't tree pruning.. a vital chore that has to done this week!

She's got a busy week ahead of her, all the apple and pear trees have to be pruned, the rest of the terrace has to be cleaned, the oregano has to cut back, dahlia, lily of the valley, gladioli, tulips, shallots, onions, spring onions have to be planted and who knows how hundred seeds have to be planted, thank goodness for those propagators!

Coffee and wool plus knitting to discuss with Pat tomorrow. Charity volunteer work to do at the shop on Wednesday. From the list of chores I mentioned in the paragraph above, she has at least three days work at the allotments, then whoops, we are nearly into March, whoosh! How February has flown by!

PipPip.. it's our bedtime.. early to bed and early to rise.. that busy week starts tomorrow!

GeeGee Parrot.
February 18th, 2018.

PARDON ME MY ABSENCE.. LAPTOP CAUGHT A VIRUS!

Poor thing, it was ick-dick! She couldn't treat it with Cinnamon oil, so ran a virus scan and all manner of things, eventually it 'burped' out the naughty virus and everything settled down. 

This, I might add, was inspite of having a current and up to date anti-virus system!

She knows what website it came off, she wanted to watch the first episode of Battle Chefs, something else was piggy-backing onto this site and before you could say "oh no", there was a nasty red scammers notice on her screen and an annoying woman repeatedly telling her to call a number.

'Not on your nelly', she thought, went to Settings and ran a number of things to make quite sure the anti-virus system had got rid of them. Wretched people.. grrr.

Anyway, that was Wednesday morning. She got dressed in outdoor clothes and went off to work, the rain was torrential, I whined about not going to the shop but when she came and told me what a foul day it had been, I was 'quite' glad that I hadn't been out in it!

Yesterday was cold.. she was out for a few hours 
without a hat.. why?.. her head was freezing when she returned, not a pleasant place to sit! 

And today, well, it was like being on a different planet! Old man Sun had his torch on high beam and it was warm! Not warm enough for a mad parrot who takes her clothes off but warm enough for a mad woman to go outdoors and garden.

She came back with a handful of delicious leaves. You don't have to pick a whole cabbage, a few outer leaves with some leaves of ruby chard were enough, they were steamed on top of our rice which she cooked in homemade chicken broth.

Our lubblyjubbly butcher sells four chicken carcasses and leg bones for £1.00. They've a lot of meat left on them plus giblets, she puts them into a stock pot, it's topped up with cold water, adds ginger and turmeric roots, carrots, onions, spices, salt and pepper, the pot boils, then simmers for several hours. It makes wonderful stock / soup.

Tomorrow is due to be dry and sunny. I'm staying here, she's off to work at the garden, for there's much to do with many things to plant! 

Sunday is the Chinese New Year, she's off to meet 
up with the Goaty girl! Aka Debbie at Parson's Green Farmer's Market. 

And she has to change her library books as she's finished the last lot and a woman can't have nothing to read, can she?

That's it folks, we are having an early night, so I wish you all a very pleasant weekend.. wherever you may be.

GeeGee Parrot.
February 16th, 2018.
PostScript: Remember no cutting with scissors, no sweeping of floors, no laundry and avoid crying children.. it's the year of the Dog!

THE YEAR OF THE DOG.. THE CHINESE NEW YEAR STARTS ON FEBRUARY 18th DON'T DO LAUNDRY, USE SCISSORS, SWEEP THE FLOOR & AVOID CRYING CHILDREN.

When she read that bit in the article about the Chinese New Year this morning, she laughed so much she started coughing, that was a bit alarming for I was perched on her head at the time.

"Well GeeGee, that's easy enough, isn't it, I won't use secateurs as they're gardener's scissors, won't sweep up leaves and luckily there aren't any crying babies out there".

What's it like out there with you? We're talking, of course, about 'the' weather. On Sunday she spoke with a friend who lives in Exeter who said that it was bitterly cold and trying hard to snow.. brrr.. and our papers are full of gloomy news of ghastly weather for the half term break.

It was, as we told you, utterly glorious here in London yesterday, the sun was shining, birds were singing and she found 10, yes, 10 avocadoes for £2.00, as they're good for you and she loves them, that was a really nice 'find'.

But getting back to today, cor, what a difference a day makes! It's disgusting out there now, the rain is raining, the wind is windy and the temperature has dropped again.. so will we get snow? 

I don't know but she's thinking of much happier things, like what we could have as a huge treat to celebrate 'The Year of the Dog' on Sunday.

We watched a programme last night on cooking, the chef cooked a Belly of Pork, we lurve pork, and she's just thought.. hmmm.. roasted belly of pork Chinese style would be a delicious treat and tasty as cold meats for the next week.

But she must remember.. not to do any laundry on Sunday!

GeeGee Parrot.

February 13th, 2018.

HUMAN FOOD'S ON MY MENU AGAIN..

Thank goodness, for I was getting mighty bored with bird food. I like steamed carrots and crisp cabbage stalks, delicious fish and tasty meats preferably tossed in a little olive oil with crunchy seasoning, oh, you do too. Well, then you must surely appreciate how dreary it's been to only eat nuts and seeds since last Wednesday!

She left this morning to meet up with Pat and discuss knitting patterns and their stash of wools. It was a bright and sunny morning and although it was 'crisp', she was happy to be outside and not feeling ick-dick, in fact, she felt the best that's she's felt for a long time, so perhaps that fast really did her some good.

They parted at 1.00pm and she ambled off down through the market, collected her new long distance spectacles, bought beetroots, carrots, onion, ginger roots, found 10 avocadoes for £2.00, chatted to friends, then headed for home.

It is remarkable how a bright sunny day can cheer you up, is it not? She's looked at London's weather forecast, it's due to be wet and windy tomorrow and Wednesday but that's ok, for the rest of the week and the weekend are due to be dry and sunny!

And as she is feeling 'pretty good', she's going to give those evil weeds at the allotments a horrid time, they've been having far too easy time of it, it's time they knew who is the boss out there.

Raised beds have to be prepared for Spring, briars cut back, leaves swept up. The last of the bulbs to be planted. Onions and shallots go in this month and there are lots of Spring Onions to plant.

Some fruit trees will be pruned in March. She's gearing up to start the busiest time in vegetable gardener's year.. planting!

She's happy and cheerful.. I got my mama back!

And when's she happy, she cooks really tasty food and you know she does this because how else would you know those two favourite words of mine.. yes, you all know them.

          Scrummydumptious & Slurpicious.

Need I say more?

GeeGee Parrot.
February 12th, 2018.

THE BEST LAID PLANS OF MICE & MEN.. AKA WHAT HAPPENED TO HER GETTING DRESSED?

MICE & MEN, what is she talking about, I know you're all saying this, 'cos I thought it myself.

In my last post I said that she was getting up and starting her life again, well, that was until she was sick! Yes, and felt like a block of ice again.

So she decided not to push her luck as it was a. cold and b. pouring with rain, so she washed, changed her nightdress and went back to bed with a thermos of ginger and lemon juice.

Talk about very snory-boring but at least she has not been sick since yesterday morning and she's now treating this whole episode as a Spring Fast. For apart from a few cups of broth and pints of hot ginger, she now hasn't eaten anything since those two eggs on Thursday morning.

And you know how she likes her food, as do I. I haven't eaten human food since last Wednesday, I don't count those morning boiled eggs she cooks for me every day as food, they're fast breaking yumyum.

Strangely enough, she isn't hungry. Mind you, she is drinking a huge amount of fluid and is busy, for we've been watching some superb television.

Last night's programme on the making of The Art Collection of King Charles 1st's exhibition* on BBC4 was wonderful. We also watched an American programme on a team who restore old log cabins.

Tonight we have watched a BBC2 programme on New York - America's busiest city. Lots of very different subjects.. bee hives on a 61st floor, the Fish Market, the brilliant way the old Staten Island landfill has been regenerated.

'Urban Agriculture', created in 1998, has 200 
vegetable gardens spread throughout the city and 
they produce a staggering tonnage of fresh food specifically for low income families. A lovely, incredible success story.

Tomorrow she's getting up, because she knows that she's not infectious and has a date to meet Pat for a coffee. She has some wonderful linen to give her and in return, Pat is going to knit her a couple of sweaters from wool that she brought from her charity shop.

She'll eat something light, probably rice and steamed vegetables for supper tomorrow. 

On Wednesday she's having supper with Tereza after working at the charity shop and watching the last episodes of 'The Marvellous Mrs. Meisel. I'm not going to the shop this week, then she's having lunch with Ann at the V&A on Friday and they're going to see the 'Balenciaga' exhibition. 

On Saturday, unless it is 'tipping' down with rain, she and Dean are going to work at the allotments, there's rubbish that they need to load into a giant Hippo bag and take to the dump over Chiswick Bridge.

And that brings us up to next Sunday.. but we will be back way before then. Dinna fret.

GeeGee Parrot.
February 11th, 2018.
PostScript:*The King Charles 1st Art Collection Exhibition is at the Royal Academy, Piccadilly. 

XYLELLA FASTIDIOSA IS A TREE KILLING DISEASE.. PRAY IT DOESN'T GET HERE TO THE UK.

It has wiped out over a million ancient olive trees in Italy and has spread to Corsica, the south of France, Germany, the four Balearic Islands (Formentera, Ibiza, Mallorca, Minorca) as well as mainland Spain.

The disease was unknown in Europe until 2013 when it is thought to have arrived in on a shipment from a South American country.

The disease is known to be endemic in America where it periodically destroys entire vineyards and citrus groves.

But it hasn't only attacked olive trees in Europe, on Mallorca (Majorca) their almond orchards have been decimated with the loss of over a million almond trees.

God only knows what would happen to Spanish and Italian economies if it gets into their citrus groves. Or the European and English vineyards!

I know that some of you in the UK will think 'but we don't grow almond or olives here' but this, Dear Readers, is where the danger lies. 

For this deadly disease does not just kill almond or olive trees, it affects and kills more than 350 species of plants. Including: British oaks, elms, plane, sycamore, cherries, lavender, rosemary, citrus trees and grape vines.


And it 'travels' on household plants. the outbreak of the disease in Puglia is thought to have come in on a household plant.


It is a bacteria which is spread by insects, two of which are leafhoppers and froghoppers which leave 'cuckoo spit' which is frothy white blobs on leaves.

There is NO known cure for the disease which kills the plant / tree which attacks their roots restricting their ability to draw water from the soil. 

The, to her mind, senseless fashion of planting olive trees in the UK is a major cause for concern. Why does she think this is senseless?

Well have you ever seen a truly 'happy' olive tree? Poor trees, they're stuck in pot with no proper amount of sunshine or room for its' roots to grow and spread and have you ever seen an olive tree in the UK bear fruit?

So the RHS are looking to us, the public, and the thousands of garden centres in the UK to help stop the spread of the bacterial disease by not buying any plants or trees that were grown overseas.

And the public should be made aware of this disease and told not to bring back any variety of plants or seeds, especially from Europe.

The EU has already called for more checks on the movement of 'high risk' plants between countries to try to halt the progress of the disease.

For no trees, no oxygen, higher pollution levels. And no plants equal no rain.. think of a desert. Because for every tree or plant that is found to be carrying this disease in the UK, all plants within a 100 metres would be destroyed.

Think about this and imagine your garden.. gone. Your fruit trees.. gone. No woodland, no trees beside your streets, your country roads, it is a hideous and very real threat.

On this very subject there was, earlier this month, an event sponsored by: RHS, Kew Botanical gardens, Woodland Heritage, National Trust and the Duchy of Cornwall, and other speakers, it took place at Highgrove, the Prince of Wales's Gloucestershire home.

She's got to get up, she's had a full 24 hours of not feeling 'ick-dick' and has to start life again. I am going to doze on a perch until she returns, I trust, with human food!

GeeGee Parrot.
February 10th, 2018.

FLOWER SPROUTS.. AKA KALETTES. SHE FOUND THEM FIRST AT THE MARYLEBONE FARMER'S MARKET.

Apparently it took Tozer, the UK seed company, fifteen years of cross breeding Brussel sprouts and Kale before these delicious things were born and.. we love them.

The first time she saw them was at Marylebone's Farmer's Market, she had gone to meet Debbie, of Ellie's Dairy fame, to eat Selina's marvelous chilli Malaysian dumplings. 

She prowled about the market whilst Selina cooked their dumplings and found these miniature beauties on a stall behind Debbie and said to the stall holder "These are pretty, I've never seen a vegetable like this before, it looks like a mix of a sprout and a kale".

He laughed and said "you're spot on, they're Flower Sprouts, Tozer Seeds developed them here in England about six years ago (2010), they're delicious, try one", she wiped one on her jeans for a bit of earth never hurt anyone and ate it. Yum. Crunchy and delicious.

Now you can get them pretty much everywhere, in the USA they are called Kalettes.

We don't care what you call them.. they're truly scrummydumptious! Either dropped into boiling salted water or steamed for only a few minutes and they're highly nutritious.

You can now find them in most supermarkets and certainly at good Farmer's Markets, but don't loll about for these edible treasures sell fast!

She's still only drinking hot fluids which is a bit boring, I'm having to make do with nuts and parrot food, I do have slurps of LapySang but a hot dish of some human food would have been good. Ah well, such is life.

It's nearly 6.00pm, time to switch the news to see what the world has been up to today!

Tomorrow is Saturday, our weather forecast is a bit grim with rain and frost.. brrr. We know, you don't have to tell us, it's still Winter.

GeeGee Parrot.

February 9th, 2018.

MY MAMA'S BEEN ICK-DICK TWICE & LEARNING ABOUT ADA LOVELACE.. WHO WROTE SOFTWARE IN 1843!

All was well, we ate eggs and drank tea, she dressed in cold weather gear and went to collect things from our Lebanese friends that she was taking to her shop.

 But as she walked up the street, she thought 'I don't feel great, in fact, I feel rather sick'.

She got to their house, Raja let her in and offered her a coffee, she drank it black but whilst they were talking, she knew, without a doubt that she was going to be sick!

Poor Raja, she excused herself and ran upstairs to the loo and proceeded to be sick several times but with nothing solid just horrid tasting bile.

She washed her mouth out, put some loo cleaner into the bowl to 'freshen' the air and went downstairs, only for it to happen again five minutes later.

"Ok, that's it, I'm not going anywhere but home to bed and hot fluids, sorry Raja, I'll take the stuff next week" and she and WW came home.

She filled Debbie's Christmas gift, a long hot water bottle covered in fleece, very cosy it is too!

She put sliced fresh ginger root, a spoonful of honey, a few drops of cinnamon bark, oregano and rosemary essential oils into a thermos and filled it with hot water.

Fever makes you hot, what did she have for she was ice-cold ? So after taking off her trousers but still wearing a thermal vest, a sleeveless sweater, a long sleeved sweater, an old cashmere cardigan and thick cotton tights she got into bed but felt chilled to the bone.


Well, she wasn't up to much, that's for sure! No high jinks were played, she sat in bed and watched television, ate nothing but drank the hot liquids but made sure that I had LapySang, almonds and walnuts to snack on.

However, being in bed meant that she got to see a wonderful programme on BBC4 about Lady Ada Lovelace.

She was Lord Bryon's only legitimate child by his marriage to Anne Isabella Milbanke. He separated from his wife a month after his daughter was born, leaving England four months later and she never saw him again.

He never returned to England, when he died of a fever on the 19th of April, 1824 in Greece, his body was embalmed and brought back to England.

She had a mother who was determined to quash any form of literary creativity from her daughter and who encouraged both her mathematician and scientific leanings.

Upon her request, she's buried next to her father at the Church of St.Mary Magdalene near to Lord Bryon's ancestral home at Newstead Abbey in Nottinghamshire.

Please go and look at the research on her, for it is fascinating, she was the very first computer programmer and wrote software.. back in 1843!

And nearly 100 years later during WW2, her programme and software were developed by Alan Turing at Bletchley Park. She's been honoured by the Americans and the British who have both named systems after her. Amazing stuff.

Now, we have to get her better for I find it a trifle 'inhibiting' having her at home all day.

What to do.. have you got any bright ideas?

GeeGee Parrot.
February 9th, 2018.  

HER SUNGLASSES HAVE BEEN FOUND & SHE RESCUES A LAMP!

They, her sunglasses, had fallen into a shopping basket and she found them this morning, which was lucky because the day, although bitterly cold and damp under foot, was bright,  old Mr. Sun had his torch on high! So that was a good start to the day.

The other thing that cheered her up was that, upon being 'shown' my travel cage, I climbed into it without being asked and off we went to work. As I said the day was cold, so she had placed a towel over the top of the cage and tucked it down around me.

It was another busy day with lots to do but she proved her worth, someone had looked at an old metal lamp and 'binned' it, she rescued it and reached underneath the sink for the box of metal polishes.

For she had 'seen' through and underneath the dirt and recognised it for what it was, a beautiful old engraved and enamelled vase which had someone had electrified. It didn't take her long to clean the dirt and tarnish off and soon it was gleaming and the enamel visible.

She washed it to make sure the Brasso had been cleaned off, wiped the flex, in-line switch and plug clean, gave it a final polish with a clean cloth and tested it with a bc fitting light bulb. Then took it and put it onto the desk in front of the manager!

"Wow, I had no idea that it should look like that? Thank you, will you price it and take it out into the shop", she wrote a price ticket for £35.00, attached it to the neck of the lamp and put it into the shop. It sold within five minutes, job done!

Her £10.00 frames had arrived from The Optic Shop and are pretty and comfortable, she asked if she could go out for half an hour and took them to her new opticians, she gave them her frames and prescription and her new sunglasses will be ready next Wednesday, her consultant at Moorfields will be pleased!

For he wants her to have both distance and reading glasses with her at all times, so now she will have them in her bag plus a pair of each prescription that will stay at home and next week, her new sunglasses will be ready.

We left just before 6.00pm, coming home to a pot of chicken and root vegetables that just had to heated through properly, then eaten with gusto, with a big pomegranate for pudding. Slurp.

She has much trotting about to do tomorrow, Myra is donating a large amount of linen to the shop, Raja is giving away a lot of dvd's and games and an enormous box full of candles.

She also went through her sweaters yesterday and any that are 'slightly' tight are going to the shop plus a couple that fit but she won't wear because beige with her platinum white hair ain't a good look!

And she has to collect a coat from her tailor and take a pair of trousers to be cleaned. There are places to go and many things to do, so we are off to bed. Busy week, lots to do tomorrow, let's hope it stays dry!

PipPip.

GeeGee Parrot.
February 7th, 2018.

ALL ABOUT FOOD.. THE FOOD WE EAT THAT SHE GROWS.

It's still winter.. she has to remind herself of this fact every time she looks or thinks about vegetable seeds and planting them. 

Since she received the propagator, growing from seed is much easier. 

But you can plant seeds too early and there's nothing worse for a young plant to be lolling about indoors getting 'leggier' by the minute.

She has 'Sun Tunnels', she bought them fifteen years ago and they've certainly earned their keep, for when she plants out seedlings, she puts a sun tunnel over them and opens up the vents.

A lot of the newcomers at the plots don't believe the old timers when they are told this but our last frost date is June 9th! 

She's worked out a schedule, checked her supply of our favourite vegetable seeds, there's no point in growing something that you won't eat, is there?

She found last year that a variety of bush French beans she planted gave a much higher yield than the climbing variety, plus they kept on producing delicious little skinny folk until the first frost.  

Tereza's father gave her a wonderful gift last summer of a small bag of beans, they came from his mother's garden high in the Bulgarian mountains, they germinated in a flash!

She calls them 'Bulgarian Speedy Beans', they grew into tall plants that produced a huge growth of runner beans and we now have a huge glass jar full of them, minus the ones that we have eaten over the past few months.

Some of the beans we ate fresh off the vine, some she brought home and steamed, we ate them with olive oil, garlic and seasoning. But most she left to dry on the vine and then harvested them after a hard frost.

They're beautiful, no two beans are identical, the coloured ones are either dark brown with black markings or pinkish brown with black markings, the pale ones we call 'blanc hiver', which means winter white.

'Turkish' Cucumbers are something we grew for the first time last year, they are grown throughout the Middle East and are very sweet. She gave a bag to our Lebanese friend who immediately opened her fridge and took out hummus and labneh.

"Oh, how delicious, fresh and sweet, Green Valley have good Middle Eastern vegetables but nothing can beat a freshly picked cucumber" said Myra.

We don't grow aubergines aka egg plant, peppers, potatoes or tomatoes. She used to but since she became allergic to the Nightshade family, there is no point in growing them and she doesn't grow sweet corn either for corn kicks off arthritis which she has in her right hand.

Corn, dairy and wheat are acknowledged to be major triggers for arthritis, so if you have it anywhere in your body, try cutting it out of your diet for a month or two and see how you body reacts.

Once in a while, she can get away with a minute amount of dairy, which she eats in cheese and an equally minute amount of wheat as in a small Italian pastry but two slices of delicious toast make her knuckles on her right hand throb and swell.. quite alarmingly! 

So she doesn't grow corn and there's another reason she doesn't, for Mr. & Mrs. Rat are very partial to sweet corn!

The following is a list of what she will grow this year, except for the globe artichokes which she grew and planted out last year.

It does not include the soft fruit bushes, plants and trees that she has planted: strawberries, apples, cherries both sour and sweet, pears, plums, green gages, gooseberries, black, red and white currants, black grapes and last but certainly not least, three varieties of figs.

Brassicas, chard, kale, lots of different types of lettuce, cauliflower, chillies, several varieties of beans, gourds, small 'Turkish' cucumbers, globe artichokes, courgettes aka zucchini, garlic, onions, shallots, spring onions, spinach, mizuna, rocket and land cress, lots of herbs, chives, at least three varieties of peas, chicory, endive, pak choi, choi sum, Japanese spicy leaves, pumpkins and squash, beetroot, radishes.

It's a lot of work but wouldn't you rather eat food that you know has been grown with zero chemicals.

And we've two friends who are neighbours who love our vegetables and roses! Oh yes, she grows lots of those and has just planted another, a glorious 'Kronenbourg' and she wants to plant more 'Pinks' aka carnations this year for she loves their fragrance.

Now you know why she gardens and what we eat.

GeeGee Parrot.
February 6th, 2018.

PESKY FACEBOOK.. LEAVE US ALONE!

No, she hasn't started her chores yet, she decided she would read and answer her emails first and then go about tidying this place.

Now you have to be a new Dear Reader if you are unaware that she is not a fan of Facebook. She doesn't go onto the site very often. 

She's been known to send a message through their system to people if she doesn't have a telephone number for them but that, Dear Readers, happens very seldom.

So she was, not annoyed but 'ticked' off to see when she signed in to her email account, to find several emails from Facebook and most of them were to suggest that she 'Friend' people whom she's never heard of, let alone met!  

One of them said '..... You have 1 poke and 2 messages'. That flipping 'poke', we've told you about it before, it's been there for over six years!

She was poked by a woman who has an income from rental properties of over £100,000 a year and inherited an enormous sum but will not lift a finger or spend a penny to help her not so financially blessed elder sister.

Prior to 'poking' her on FB, she treated mama in a shabby fashion, rather like she treats her poor sister and mama thought to herself 'do I need a person who behaves like this in my life,' the answer being no, but she's refused to accept that we don't want anything to do with her.

And there was one that said 'See LuLu's photo tag and other notifications that you have missed', how do they know we've missed it? 

Dear Readers it is because this website follows your every move, we find it slightly creepy, no, very creepy that they know what you're doing all the time and we find it extremely amusing that their address is, wait for it, Hackers Way!

These emails 'drop' into her e-mail box every day, this is despite clicking on the tab at the base which says Unsubscribe, she's clicked that many times, they don't come for about a month, then they start again.

It's so impersonal, if she has something amusing, interesting, important or vital to tell a friend or wants to hear their news, she finds a telephone call or a chat over a meal or coffee is so much nicer OR if they are miles away and you cannot afford the cost of a long distance call, how about an old fashioned letter or.. an email.

Rant over.. we're having rice and root vegetables for our late lunch. She keeps a selection of rice in the 'dry' store and todays' rice comes from the Camargue.. red rice.. nutty and tasty with onions, ginger, and turmeric roots, garlic, carrots, parsnips and the prettiest green vegetables ever.. more about these pretty things in another post.

But it won't cook itself.. so we are off to do it and will be back later as we want to tell you about a website that a darling friend has just told us about.

Zoom-zoom. Flap-flap. Off I go, I love red rice!

GeeGee Parrot.
February 5th, 2018.

A WINTER'S TAIL.

February, in the northern hemisphere, is the last month of Winter.

We woke up this morning early as our bedroom was chillybilly, so after a very quick trip to the bathroom for us of us, we hopped into her bed for a cuddle with which to warm ourselves up.

A cuddle is always a good way to start our day for we felt warmer but she did put on a fleece and her new slippers, yes, it was that cold before going to YumYum HQ to cook eggs and make a thermos of LapySang tea.

She ate her eggs there and turned mine out into a dish, then we went back to bed, she switched on the laptop and I ate yummy eggs.

This oval egg timer, that goes into the water with the eggs and shows you how hard or soft they are, is wonderful, they were perfect.

"We weren't dreaming GeeGee, the temperature has dropped, they've forecasted icy conditions and snow for London today with low temperatures for the rest of this week" she said after reading a weather report article on line.

Shiver my timbers, I thought.. thank goodness I don't have to deal with life out there.

For apart from cold icy conditions on ponds and lakes, which mean that wild birds cannot drink, we have been greatly saddened to read about the poor seven swans who have contracted 'Avian Flu' in Windsor Park and are having to be put to sleep. 

It's highly contagious disease and we pray that this outbreak is a tiny one and that more birds of the many varieties that are on the waters in the Park have not been infected with it.

If you have avian livestock: ducks, chickens, geese. Please make sure that they are not able to come into contact with wild birds.

For the last very bad incident of avian flu was found to have started by a wild duck who had the disease landing on the pond and, thereby, infecting a flock of domestic ducks.

And before the poor woman, whose birds they were would do anything, it had spread to the chickens which were on the same farm.

This outbreak was responsible for the slaughter of thousands of domestic chickens, ducks, geese and turkeys in this country in order to contain the disease.  

So this bitterly cold weather means that more chores can be done today for we want for nothing, except a tidy flat! There's no reason for her to go out and about in this bitterly cold weather, she can collect her new glasses when we go to work on Wednesday.

But our thoughts go back to Winter, we are now in the first week of February which is the last month of the season but which can be brutally cold and she thought about August, the last month of Summer and how that month can be so warm.

And she marveled at things that she knows very little about: how the world rotates on its' axis, how it orbits the sun, our solar system that dashes around the centre of the Milly Way, things that go on every second of every day. 

How the seasons slide into each other, how plants and animals sense everything and prepare for each seasons change. 

February is the tail of Winter and this week, this Winter's tail appears to have a sting in it!

GeeGee Parrot.

February 5th, 2018.

OUT WENT THE FAX MACHINE & THE WORK TELEPHONE, THEY WILL GO TO A CHARITY SHOP WHO RECYCLE ELECTRONICS.

Well, I flapped from cupboard to cupboard but couldn't keep up with her, so hopped onto the top shelf of the linen cupboard and settled down for a snooze.

But that didn't last very long, she put the chairs on the bed, picked up the long curtains and brought Mr.Bissell, the dust muncher, into the bedroom and he goes 'vroom' very loudly.

It was another boringly cold and dismally wet day, she spoke with Myra at midday and they both agreed it was a day to stay indoors and to do chores. There are a lot of chores to be done in our flat, today she did our bedroom and started on the cupboard that held her office equipment.

There's a lot of stuff in this cupboard.. but no junk.

Out came the fax machine and the telephone that was the work line, they'll be recycled through a charity shop. She found a big bag of Gold Russia braid, the contents of which are worth over £500!

The invoice was in the bag as well, tomorrow she'll call them and see if they'll take the stock back and reimburse her, otherwise she'll have to try and sell it to another lampshade maker.

A battery recharger and a small solar charger that she uses in the summer. A bag of jewellery (!) And yippee! Her premium bond numbers and her original birth certificate along with other very important family documents.

Some wonderful photos of Leslie and Hazel taken on their wedding day, in one of them she had the naughtiest smile on her face and when she had asked her aunt what she had been smiling at, she told her "that Leslie had just asked her what she wanted as a wedding present and she had told him that she wanted a motor bike"! Yes sirree.. that was her aunt.. aka Hay darling.

She went through papers, it is beyond the date she had to keep them so they will be burnt at the allotment, she'll take it in two lots. Old magazines are going out, she'll reread the parrot ones and then they will go as well.

Gardening and cookery books were put back into the book case. A couple of sheets of hand painted marble paper will be sent to a friend, he made her card and paper lampshades and she's going to put a small pair of lamps onto her desk and give them marble paper shades.

She wrote a thank you note to a friend, stamped the envelope, it's now sitting with her keys on the hall shelf ready to be posted tomorrow.

She must remember to buy a birthday card, write and enclose a letter in it and send it to Fanny, who lives on Majorca, for the end of the month, it's truly amazing to think she's been living there for over ten years now.

Our weather forecast is dreary so at this rate, we'll soon have a tidy flat. The next sunny day they're forecasting isn't until next Sunday! They aren't promising it will be warm but at least it'll be, or so they say, dry.

The carpet and rug were vacuumed, small rugs were given a good shake. A new bulb was fitted in our bedside light. A lamp put out into the hall, for either its' fuse has gone 'phut' or it needs some of her dearest Lawrence's magic touch.

A cupboard door needs attention for it's come off its' hinges, it has a mirror on it and is therefore incredibly heavy, she'll ask Juliano to help her get the door back into position and to screw the hinges back on.

Lots more to do in the flat but she did do a lot and our bedroom is now tidy! Next stop the hall.

But now it's B-E-D time. Boring but true. We wish "Goodnight to you all wherever you maybe".

GeeGee Parrot.
February 4th, 2018. 

DID YOU KNOW THAT THERE IS A BREED OF HUMAN 'SLOTHS'.

And one lives in deepest Knightsbridge in our home, yes Dear Readers, it's her.. aka mother.

Very idle she has been today, she went to get dressed and go out to do what she had to do but upon opening the front door, to take in a package that had been left on our doorstep, she took one look at the pouring rain, shivered, shut the door and squeaked "nah, I ain't out there, we don't really need anything GeeGeeBugBug and my new specs can wait until Monday, can't they" and after spending a penny, she went back to bed! 

Mind you.. I would't have gone out there either. The temperature hasn't been above 5 degrees at any time today and with heavy rain being driven by a strong wind, indoors was definitely the place to be.

She spoke with Michele in Pewsey this morning to check that a package had arrived, it had, and was told that she and Peter were on grandparent duty to watch Freddie playing hockey today.

She mentally 'shivered' as she remembered playing her last hockey match at Underhill, the school she was at before being sent up to Arts Educational Trust at Tring Park.

Of being hit on the head, her forehead being split open and being badly concussed by a member of the other team.. Elizabeth de la Fontaine.. 'funny' how she's always remembered that girls' name and can still see her face, well, you probably would too, she still has the scar.

In the package were two magazines. She read the first which contained an article on Princess Loewenstein which interested her for she had met them (Prince Rupert and Princess Josephine) in the late 60's.

Prince Rupert had been the financial manager of the Rolling Stones, he had got them out of two very dodgy contracts and made them rich.. very rich indeed. 

The other was on London in the '60s, part of the article was about Michael Rainey, he had run a boutique called 'Hung on You', in Cale Street, Chelsea and at that time was married Jane Ormsby-Gore, a daughter of Lord Harlech, the British Ambassador to Washington during the Kennedy era and was the half brother of a teenage friend when her family lived in Sandwich.

 Reading the magazines has delayed the viewing of second disc of Wild China, therefore, she's postponing this for an evening next weekend, tonight we'll watch a film on television or a dvd film for she's finished her stache of library books and has to change them.

The library opens at noon on Sundays.. there'll be no mad morning rush to get out of the front door! Joke..

But it is time for a snack, perhaps some cold gammon with hot vegetables.. yum.. that would be exceedingly tasty, would it not?

But first I have to get my 'sloth' out of bed and into yumyum producing mode. Wish me luck!

GeeGee Parrot.

February 3rd, 2018.