BARE BOTTOMS ON VEGETABLE BEDS

Well, it may be just about to be April, the second month of Spring but it doesn't look like it nor does it feel like it.

So there will be no planting out done yet, she ain't no dummy and she certainly isn't about to make her neighbours at the allotments fall over their rubber boots in hysterics by testing the warmth of the soil the old fashioned way.

The way that vegetable gardeners used to test the temperature of the soil was to bare their bottoms and sit on the soil, if it was warm enough to sit on, then it was reckoned to be warm enough to plant out baby vegetables! 

Where does she find these pieces of information I ask myself sometimes?

And now for something completely different.

I am not having an easy time of it here.. the wretch disappeared this morning in pouring rain and didn't come back until well after 5pm.

She did cook my eggs for me before she left but there was no cosy eating our food together for she didn't eat or drink anything!

Very odd I thought but all was explained when she came back, she went to have blood tests and they wanted her to have fasted for at least eight hours prior to giving the samples.

And then she went straight onto Anissa, her hairdresser. 

My dears! I know she's lost weight but I didn't realise that her face has become pointy and that her cheekbones would cut you!

Anissa took one look at her face and has given her a boy's haircut and I must admit, it suits her but there isn't anything for me to hold on to when I want to climb up onto her head. I have to jump!

She went for tea with our Lebanese friends on her way home, they examined her new hair style and said the short style suited her. 

And as we're having supper with two lots of friends over the Easter weekend and taking a much beloved old friend to see the art collection of King Charles 1st at the RA on Tuesday, she doubtless have their opinions as well! 

It was pouring with rain today and tomorrow is a Bank Holiday and the library is closed, so she's no new books to read, but has promised me that we'll watch 'The Jungle Book', a dvd of the original film with George Sanders doing the voice of Shere Khan, the tiger. 

He was a friend of her parents in the late '50s - early '60s and whenever he came to dinner or lunch, he'd get a drink and then sit and read a chapter or two of her latest book to her and the voices he used for the different characters were simply wonderful and he could do the BEST ever scary squeaky doors!

So I'm off to watch this now, it's still pouring with rain, we feel sorry for families who have gone away for Easter and will spend it wrapped up, dodging the snow, ice or rain that we've been told to expect. 

Boring for them, we're staying in our cosy burrow. Chirps to you all but don't eat too much chocolate!

GeeGee Parrot.

March 29th, 2018,

'Just One Evil Act' by Elizabeth George. It kept her, the wretch, up all night!

There should be a warning with some books.. a big notice saying 'Beware, this is compulsive reading.. you won't want to put it down!'

For the wretch.. aka mother.. made the error of picking up the above titled book last night, got gripped by the story and it was only when she went to spend a penny that she saw it was 05.45am!

Yes, it's a fat book. However, I was being kept awake and wasn't not happy about that at all.. 'don't be so grumbly' was the phrase that she mumbled at me at some point. Cheeky wench.

The plot is clever, there's the clue to 'who dun'nit' which hides in plain sight. It's an Inspector Lynley novel, it won't disappoint you, her books never do!

She woke up late this morning, slightly bleary eyed, and thought for one simply awful moment that it was Wednesday, which meant that she'd have to shake a leg, aka get out of bed, get washed and dressed very quickly and go to work.

It was only when she switched on her mobile that she saw to her huge relief that it was Tuesday.

She made my eggs, ate her grapefruit, did some chores and organised a couple of dates for a friend to see an exhibition, checked that she had all the ingredients that she will need to make Easter gifts that she'll cook on Thursday.

And went back to bed to finish the book!

What can I say.. except I am taking full advantage of her being in bed and am playing on her bedside table, woe betide any stray piece of card or paper that was silly enough to stay on this surface, for it has either been 'beaked' or picked up and dropped onto the floor.

She'll have to bring Mr. Bissell back out again to eat the paper crumbs up. Poor man, it must be so boring to be stuck in a cupboard with Mr. Ironing Board and Master Bucket.

I don't think she's got another scary book to read tonight, thank goodness for that, we might go to bed at a sensible hour. I saw a paperback but it's a textbook, not another thriller!  

However, I do know that WW is full of the ones she's read and she'll be off to the library tomorrow morning before she goes to work to replenish her supply of reading material, for the library is closed, quite rightly, on Good Friday, Easter Day and on Easter Monday.

We've been bidden to supper with two families over the holidays, hence her making Easter gifts.

Now she is going to try and find on BBC iPlayer the programme that was shown last week on WW2, Stalin, Churchill and Roosevelt.  

By the way, Elizabeth George has written lots of books but don't pick one up late at night, not unless you want to be reading it in the early hours of the next morning!

Seriously addictive stuff.

Chirp..

GeeGee Parrot.

March 27th, 2018.
PostScript:
'Just One Evil Act' by Elizabeth George.
Published 2013. ISBN # 978-1-444-70602-4

"GOOD MORNING.. I LOVE YOU.. I WANT'A FEED THE BABIES.." SAID MAMA PARROT.

This very short video had us speechless, we don't know what breed of Parrot she is but she's mighty cute and she's talking to her 'babies'.

Her three chicks which are in a tub filled with soft bedding as they're young, have no feathers and are entirely dependent on being fed by their human 'parents' or the mother parrot.

You can find it on the Daily Mail website, it's enchanting.

We'll be back later to tell you about the book that kept her up all night, until 05.45 this morning, thank goodness today wasn't Wednesday! 

GeeGee Parrot.
March 27th, 2018.

'IN DEEP WATER' by SAM BLAKE. A CAT CONNOLLY THRILLER.

And it's a scary thriller too! We defy you to 'see' the ending for there's a big twist in the tale and it is cleverly written.

Sam Blake is a pseudonyn for Vanessa Fox O'Loughlin who is the founder of a wonderfully named company, The Inkwell Group, which is a publishing consultancy company based in Ireland. She's Ireland's leading literacy scout.

She's grateful to the librarian who recommended this book to her for she's never read anything by this author before and will be on the hunt to see what else she's written.

The plot is gritty, and the ending is, unfortunately, true to what is happening throughout Europe these days', people are being traded as a commodity, sold by evil people either into slavery or prostitution and their misery can only be measured in nightmares.

The author thanks Ruhama, a Dublin based NGO organisation which works on a national level with women affected by prostitution and other forms of commercial sexual exploitation. It was started in 1989.

Three years ago in an extraordinary set of circumstances, my mama come across a young girl who was in the terrifying situation of having been brought here to London under false pretences and she was able, together with a small group of people, to get her away from the evil bastards who had her here, so she has enormous respect and admiration for organisations who tackle this situation on a day to day basis.

Read this book and shudder, at man's cruelty and inhumanity, and tell other people to read it as well.

GeeGee Parrot.
March 26th, 2018.

DIABETES 2.. HOW SWEDISH BITTERS & LINSEED OIL CAN & DO HELP AND COMBATING TOE NAIL FUNGUS WITHOUT USING DRUGS THAT CAN CAUSE LIVER FAILURE.

It is fascinatingly appalling how arrogant the big pharmaceutical companies are. How they sell products without LARGE notices on the labels saying this drug can and does cause liver failure.. do not take if there is a history of kidney stones and so on.

So she was more than delighted to hear recently that her much beloved Swedish Bitters had helped a friend's father who has type 2 Diabetes.

With two doses of 30mls per day mixed with 50mls of water, their father has now been taken off his diabetic formula - Metformin - which he took for many years night and day to control his blood sugar levels.

If his blood sugar rises, as it did recently to 21mmol/L, he was immediately given a dose of Swedish Bitters and within 40 minutes his reading had dropped to 8mmol/L.

He has found that regular exercise of at least 20 minutes per day has greatly helped in reversing his condition.

This is not just an isolated case, there are many papers out there which will explain in great detail why taking Swedish Bitters will help to regulate the sugar levels.

The other remedy that he now takes and which has been of great help is Linseed, aka Flaxseed, Oil.

This too has been investigated very thoroughly and found to be extremely beneficial, as it reverses the body's insulin resistance.

So do your research and be very careful to read up on all possible side effects of any pharmaceutical drugs you take.

Equally.. be careful of any herbal remedies, some have effects that mean you should not take them if you are pregnant. Always check with a Herbalist before taking herbal medicine.  

But there are two well known drugs, made by reputable companies in the US that are prescribed for toe nail fungus, however, the FDA is now cautioning anyone who has liver problems NOT to take these two drugs as they cause liver failure.

What they don't tell you is that they can also cause you to start having liver problems

There is an easier and completely harmless way to stop toe nail fungus.

You need a large flat bowl such as a washing-up bowl, a bottle of cider OR white vinegar, a bottle of pure Tea Tree oil, 2 orange sticks, a little bowl (she uses a ramekin), warm water and a towel and a chair.

Put about 10 drop of the oil into a bowl and put one orange stick into the oil.

Sit on the chair with both feet in the warm water, to which you have added a cup of either of the vinegars, soak your feet for at least 5 minutes. 

Put the towel over your knee and rest the other foot on it, start cleaning your toes with a clean orange stick, scrape gently along the top and underneath the nail and wash the residue off in the bowl.

Do this until your toe nails are completely clean.

Take the orange stick that has been soaking in the Tea Tree oil, run it over the top of the toe nail and underneath, making sure that the nail, top and underneath is covered with the oil.  

Then sit for at least 5 minutes to allow your toes to dry naturally and the oil to soak into your skin and work its' magic, with no evil side effects.

She's fully trained at manicures and pedicures and was always shocked at how some people treated their feet and how dangerous the drugs that are prescribed to combat toe nail fungus were.

When all that's needed are vinegar and tea tree oil plus warm water but BIG old Pharma doesn't make money out of those, do they?

GeeGee Parrot.
March 26th, 2018.

PostScript:
Swedish Bitters are available from Granary Herbs Ltd.
Email: granaryherbs.christine@gmail.com.
Telehone # 01622 737314. From outside the UK drop the 0 and add 44 for the country code.

Linseed Oil is also known as Flaxseed Oil and is readily available in almost every country.

'IF I HAVE GOT YOUR NUMBER, SO HAS FACEBOOK' IS ON THE BBC WEBSITE TODAY.

WHAT! Yes, it's true.. if you are on FaceBook and use a mobile cellphone that you have clicked onto  FB with, then all of your contacts are able to be seen and collected by FB.


Scary.. but now she knows how people have been able to contact her without her ever giving them her details.

For she's received calls from strange companies that she has never done business with and thank goodness she doesn't have an ansaphone for there would have been many more if she had!

Data Information is something that they take very seriously.. it's true, they take OUR information data very seriously indeed for it's worth millions to other people.

She has friends who are on FB constantly and now she knows how her contact details are 'out there' and, guess what, there's nothing she (or you) can do about it. 

'1984' is here folks..

GeeGee Parrot.

March 2018.

CAKE STANDS by CHRISTION, I POSTED ABOUT HIS CHARMING CREATIONS & YOU'VE BOUGHT SOME!

Well! How nice is this piece of news..

We posted about his pretty cake stands twelve days ago and have had a truly massive response as over fifty people have already read this post and she hasn't even done her end of month posting to our usual suspects, so we're thrilled!

But, not as thrilled as Christion, because when she saw him on Saturday he told her that he's had several orders.

Bubba-dubba-doo!

We love it when things like this happen, so we'll be sending an email to Diane Ludwig, she makes those wonderful 'Trolley Dollies' plus other very pretty things in California and we blogged about her and her products several weeks (or was it months) ago.

Diane lived in London for several years and that was almost certainly when she got into the habit of taking a trolley with her when she went off to market. 

For who, in their right mind, wants to carry home: a couple of lbs or kilos of carrots, a cabbage, some grapefruit and maybe a bottle or two? Let alone the washing powder and lavatory paper!

Not when you could have a trolley or a WW to carry everything for you!

If you Google 'trolley dolly by diane', her website will come up.

Christion can be contacted on : christionmac@hotmail.com and if you Google 'Cake Stands by Christion' his information will come up but, of course, you should go back and read my post about him which will give you all of his contact details.

Now apparently I am going to have a bath.. yes, a proper in the basin bath, not one of my versions of bathing which is to dunk my head in my water bowl and then sit on her head to drip dry!

Flappa-dappa, there's no peace for me, I wonder if it's because she had to vacuum the bedroom carpet?

GeeGee Parrot.
March 26th, 2018.
PostScript: WW stands for Wicker Wheelie.

'H IS FOR HAWK'.. by HELEN MACDONALD.. ABOUT A GOSHAWK CALLED MABEL

This is a book that has touched her deeply. For you all know how the love of parrots and birds entered her life at the age of eighteen months and how, eventually, at the ripe old age of thirty eight Dagga Parrot entered her life.

This isn't a new book, it was published in 2014 but it was on the table in the library where the librarians put their favourite most recent reads.

This is the true story of a young woman, Helen Macdonald, of how, upon the death of her beloved father, she located a breeder and bought Mabel, a Goshawk and the account of their taming of each other.

It will open your eyes to the marvels of patience and love, of seeing a life in the wilds of nature, to the wisdom and kindness that animals respond to and allow themselves to be 'trained and tamed'.

It is a beautiful, well written story.. it made her cry, the reason which you'll appreciate if you're a Dear Reader and have read this blog since it started in 2011.  

'H is for Hawk' by Jane Macdonald.

Published by Vintage Books in 2014 .

ISBN # 978-0-099-57545-0. 

Now she has to 'fire' up Mister Bissell and I am removing myself to my highest perch!

GeeGee Parrot.

March 26th, 2018.

I'M HAVING A LOVELY TIME.. MAKING A BIG FAT MESS!

When you were a child did your parents ever allow you to make a mess? Mine does.. she knows that a pile of paper is my idea of 'catnip' and today I am being allowed to make a stupendously messy mess! 

We've had our fast breaking yumyum, grapefruit and tea for her, buttered egg, two almonds and tea for me.

She switched on laptop to look at various things and to write a post on my Blog about a book she had read last week called 'H is for Hawk'.

I was being what she calls a 'pest', dithering about at the top of her bed, the closest point to the bedside table.

She 'sighed' as only mothers do when children are being ... well, I'm sure you know what I mean, I don't have to spell it out for you, on I jumped.. to find all manner of exciting things!

Some, I regret to say, were immediately whisked away by a speedy hand but there's still plenty to beak. A roll of lavatory paper for instance.. such fun to shred the fine paper and crunch the inner roll!

Now, it was a great pity that she saw those two rubbery spectacle cases, they would've been fun to chew but she did and they wizzed out of Beakys' reach into her bag which is on the floor.

She left the hard spectacle cases, but they're no fun as I can't chew them, so Beaky gave them a nudge and they're now on the floor.

It's a good thing that her old friend Mr.Bissell is working, isn't it? Because there's a dreadful mess down there now! 

She's just looked over and seen the state of the bedside table and floor and you know what, she laughed!

Bless her heart, she knows kids have to be allowed to have fun and as I don't read comics or know how to use crayons - she's said 'thank the Lord for that' - a mess of ripped paper, that she can vacuum up, is a small price to pay to allow her kid lots of fun.

PipPip. More card to chew, paper to shred, got to go.

GeeGee Parrot.

March 26th, 2018.

JANE GREEN.. AN EXCEPTIONAL NOVELIST..

Knightsbridge is having a 'dull day', the sky is a unpleasant shade of grey, it is damp and not very warm.

Do we care? Well, yes we do as she was hoping to venture forth out to the allotments today but then she remembered that the traffic would be all up the creek as it's a half marathon day.

Luckily she went to the library and the market yesterday, so there are lots of books in a bag by her bed and all sorts of delicious yumyum in chilly white larder.

Jane Green is an author who is new to her, one of the librarians recommended one of her books to her last week, she found it well worth reading. It was called 'Falling'.

So yesterday she went back to the library to see if they had more of her books and came away with these three titles.

The Sunshine Sisters.

Summer Secrets.

The Accidental Husband.

Her books are 'gritty', they're certainly not your average sickly-sweet novels, she writes of situations that families from all walks of life have: affairs, marriage breakdowns, divorce, alcoholism, anorexia and bulima, bankruptcy and death.

But read her books.. you should certainly do so.

She's English but lives in America with her second husband and their 'blended families of six children and far too many animals'..

How can you have far too many animals?

She off to read another book and I'm off to doze on a comfy perch, our clocks 'sprang' forward an hour this morning, I find it very discombobulating but we've had a tasty lunch so I'm bearing up well and hope you are too.

GeeGee Parrot.

March 25th, 2018.

THE OPIOID TIMEBOMB STORY.. AS TOLD BY ONE BRAVE MAN.

Opioid drugs will kill you, we know about this as there have been multiple deaths reported in newspapers from around the world but never has she read of how it actually started, until this morning when she read an article about a man called Philip Hopwood.

The article was written by David Cohen and it is in todays' Evening Standard.

He doesn't mince his words nor tell you exactly how it happened, no, he certainly doesn't, for the tragic tale is there in all its' hideousness.

The legal prescription of the drug was given to him to counteract pain after surgery but perhaps what was not given to him by the doctor was a verbal warning about how highly addictive these opioid drugs are.  

He was a man who had worked hard and achieved a lot. He has a wife and five children, whom he was educating privately.

He started and was running a well respected company in London. But his addiction to this drug has caused chaos and utter mayhem in his life and the loss of almost everything. 

Luckily for him, he was able to get 'clean' with the help of an addiction clinic and his daily attendance of NA, Narcotics Anonymous, he has remained so and has started on the road of putting his life back together.

It is a story that we all should read and pay great attention to, for pain killers can and do kill more than just pain.

They'll kill you.

GeeGee Parrot.
March 16th, 2018.

TORONTO.. THE CITY'S KINDNESS TO THEIR OWN AND MIGRATORY BIRDS

On the BBC website today there is a piece about the city of Toronto and the way they are dealing with the problems of hundreds of deaths of their own beautiful and other migratory birds.

Birds see a reflection of a tree in a huge plate glass window for instance, they fly at speed towards it and bang.. one tiny fragile neck is broken.

So the city architects and planners are building bird friendly buildings, implementing new styles of architecture, using less glass, which has the benefit of keeping the buildings warmer and more energy efficient and by placing markings onto existing plate glass windows, this shows the birds that this is a 'non-fly through zone'!

The effect of these changes has been dramatic for the drop in avian deaths has been in the hundreds, which mean that more of these beautiful creatures will survive and breed.

Thank you Toronto..  

GeeGee Parrot.

March 15th, 2018.

THE PRETTIEST CAKE STANDS by CHRISTION.

Oh.. so pretty! 

Sometimes you just 'find' people.. people who make beautiful things and yesterday she found someone who makes charming cake stands and yes, I'm going to give you Christion's details.

Chris 'tea

Cake stands, Candles, Gifts & Collectables.

www.facebook.com/ChristionsTeaShop

christionmac@hotmail.com

Ebay seller : 260craigm


And if you have a few pretty plates from an old 
tea service, why don't you get in touch with Christion and ask him to make you a cake stand! Because he will make you one to order and also they make perfect gifts.

She came home with a beautiful piece of swag, an old embroidered Kashmiri bedcover but she isn't going to use it for her bed.

On the wall behind her bed there's a pole that is exactly the width of her bed and from the pole hangs a 6" thick piece of foam which is also the width of her bed.

Draped over the pole and hanging down in front of the foam is a pretty quilt in blue and white, it's extremely comfortable to lean against, she washes the quilt about once a month, then puts it back on in the evening.

When she saw this Kashmiri bed cover, she knew it would be absolutely the same width as her bed and it would be perfect as another cover for her bedhead! She couldn't wait to get home and put it on!

Well! It could have been made for our bedroom, for the blue embroidery is the colour of the walls and the crimson is the same colour as her beautiful old bed quilt, which I hasten to add, is always covered by a light, washable blanket.

Now that's your lot for today, she's borrowed a book which we'll tell you about tomorrow.. it's about a bird. No, not a parrot, a hawk.. a raptor called Mabel! PipPip.

GeeGee Parrot.
March  14th, 2018,

'CONCLAVE' by ROBERT HARRIS.. WHO ALSO WROTE 'AN OFFICER & A SPY'.

These are two great books for you to read! The Officer and a Spy is the book she read last week about The Dreyfus Affair in France at the end of the 1800's.

She has just finished 'Conclave' and no, we aren't going to spoil it for you! Suffice to say it is about the choosing of a new Pope , it is a cleverly written book with a great ending!

So she'll be off to the library tomorrow, before she goes to work, in order to hunt for more of Mr. Robert Harris's books to read.

The treatment she had on Sunday was Acupunture.

She's had it the first time was when she broke her ankle and her orthopedic surgeon told her to have it after he removed her cast in order to reduce the swelling and to help with the pain. Bingo! It worked..

And the second time was when she developed arthritis in her right hand and wrist, it worked wonderfully and she has never, touch wood, had pain in her fingers or wrist ever since.

This time was with a new acupunturist as her previous acupunturist has retired.. moral.. always have doctors, dentists, hair dressers etc, etc MUCH younger than yourself!

She was extremely pleasant, very detailed, thorough and the clinic where she works is not far away. The cost was reasonable and the treatment excellent as she 'found' certainly two things that are a problem, so she's immediately adjusted what she is eating to reflect these two points.

Pleasant day yesterday, she went to see the art collection of King Charles 1st with Tereza and then they went into China Town to eat chinese yumyum.. Not one grain of rice or a noodle passed her lips!

The Van Dyke portraits are beyond wonderful.. His wife, Henrietta Maria, was half French half Italian and brought up in the French Court, her father being Louis 13th and her mother Catherine de Medici. She was only fifteen when they married, he was twenty five.. she bore him five children and after his execution she fled back to France in exile.

The collection is breathtaking and one can only imagine what the WHOLE collection must have been like, for many, many portraits were burnt and dumped in the Thames, things that were sold in the Commonwealth Sale at Somerset House have been lost, as in nobody knows where they are or if they have survived and lots of pictures and silver are in Russia.

She's being quiet to allow the treatment a chance to work properly and we ate, as usual, not too late. We send you our best wishes and hope that tomorrow is bright and warm, it started off like that today and then went 'grumpy & grey' as Hugo would say.

Never mind, she'll wrap up warmly and try to find some sunshine to walk in.

GeeGee Parrot.
March 13th, 2018.

BOTULISM IS ALIVE & CAN BE FOUND IN BOTTLED aka CANNED FOODS.

Do you bottle / can your own fruit and vegetables, or buy fruits and vegetables in season to 'put away' in the store cupboard?

If you do, we hope you are careful about how you do the procedure and make sure that you sterilise all of the equipment.

For if you are not punctilious about this part of the production, you run the risk of contracting a rare but serious illness caused by a germ called Clostridium Botulinum. It's highly toxic.

This bacterial germ is found all around the world in the soil and it can survive, grow and produce a toxin in sealed bottles and cans of food as part of its natural anaerobic process as it multiplies in an oxygen-free environment.

This dangerous toxin can and does effect nerves, paralyse and cause death. Even a small amount of food which contains this toxin is highly dangerous and can be.. deadly.

Please be aware of this dangerous toxin and do not eat anything from a jar or tin that shows a blown or puffy top or that is damaged or dented.

If anything tastes 'off' or smells 'odd' spit it out.

It's for this reason that infants under the age of one year should never be given honey as it can or may contain a minute amount of this germ and babies of this age have absolutely no antibodies.

And yes, Botox, which is used for all manner of reasons, is from the same toxin, scary stuff! It paralyses muscles in the face to prevent them causing wrinkles.

Even more scary is that people have it injected into their armpits in order to stop them sweating.. right amongst their lymph glands.

Boy oh boy! She would rather have the odd wrinkle and use her wonderful natural deodorant stone.

On a totally different subject altogether.. where's the 'Portugese style heatwave' we were promised today?

The BBC weather forecast said we were going to be as hot as Portugal, well, all I can say is that poor old Portugal must be having a very dreary weekend over there as it certainly isn't hot and sunny over here!

Never mind.. we've had lunch, it was a large bowl of assorted vegetables, drizzled with oil, topped off with lots of chilli, garlic and black pepper.


She's being careful about what she eating and lots of vegetables and fruit are on the menu.

She went to the surgery yesterday morning and the senior partner at her GP's practice was not happy to hear she's got her 'problem' back again, it was what caused her to have to retire, so he's sent off a letter to her consultant to request an appointment for her.

And meanwhile, back home on the ranch, it now transpires that Dorzolomide, a drug which she takes for her glaucoma and has been on for over a year, should not be taken by someone who has a prior history of Kidney Stones!  

What a flipping bugger, to put it politely! 

So I have her captive at home until tomorrow, then she's venturing forth to meet someone new who does 'strange things', if we like her, we'll report back on her findings tomorrow afternoon.

No,  you'll just have to wait until she's come back for more on this subject.. pippip!

GeeGee Parrot.
March 9th, 2018.

HER VERY BRIGHT IDEA & READING A BOOK ON 'THE DREYFUS AFFAIR', WHICH IS GRIM READING INDEED.

Now, you all know my mum is not infallible but today, she was certainly the sharpest knife in the box.. why?

Well, she telephoned G. Baldwin & Co to check, before she got on the bus for the jaunt to Elephant & Castle, that they had the product she wanted in stock and her squeak could have been heard up on Hyde Park corner when Duk said "I'm so sorry we have no stock of that item at all".

Luckily she had retained the outer packing from the last order we had, so she was able to contact the Dalgety importers directly.

An efficient man called Mark, sent her a response and gave her the email address for Dalgety's website. 

And lo and behold, she can order it directly from them, yes, she'll have to pay the postage but at least it means she will get it by next week, because Baldwins will only get it into stock when they place their next order and who knows when that's going to be.

Well, from being a sunny and chirp-making day, it has turned into a cold and dreary wet one, boohoo. No gardening for her tomorrow, the soil will be sopping wet.

Did she not say to her fellow workers last night that we haven't seen the last of the snow and sure enough, instead of the Beast from the East, we now have the Pest from the West bringing snow and all other sorts of horrid weather direct to our door!

It was to be expected, for the Eastern Seaboard of the United States had dreadful weather about the time we had the first lot of snow, we get their bad weather about ten days later and, true to form, it's arrived.

Never mind, she has a fat book to finish on the Dreyfus Affair, it's about what happened to a man in France at the end of the 1800's.

This true story of the treatment and subsequent imprisonment of this innocent man by the French Government on Devil's Island, which is off the coast of French Guina, will leave you without breath, for it is truly 'breathtaking' in its' cruelty. 

This penal colony was for political prisoners, it opened in 1852 and was known for the extremely harsh treatment of its' inmates, it closed in 1953.

So much for French Liberte, Egalite & Fraternite!

It's hot tea time! Oh, LapySang, here we come.

GeeGee Parrot.

|March 8th, 2018.

THE SECRET KILLER...

It's not being acknowledged by any publicity or governmental guidelines, it affects young and old around the world, it causes health problems, some very serious and huge numbers of people are walking around not knowing that they're affected but what is it, I hear you say.

It's malnutrition. 

Food is our 'fuel', it powers our brains and our bodies. But 'empty' food.. aka 'fast food' contains little goodness.

What it does contain are huge amounts of : salt, sugar, additives, fats, carbohydrates. It's causing people to become obese and malnourished.

That word says it all, for people are eating food with little or no nourishment in it. This causes damage to vital organs, reduced muscle and tissue mass, breathing difficulties, increased risks of chest infections and respiratory failure. Digestive problems and bowel cancer. Illnesses take longer to recover from.

If you go work, do you take your lunch with you? 

She has a thermos, just a small one that she uses when she buys coffee when she meets Pat, this Dear Readers, is almost the only time she ever buys a coffee. I know, strange but true!

She cooks a hot meal at night and makes sure on Tuesday night, that it's something like a stew, which she can heat up in the morning and take to work with her in the thermos.. in the summer it is perhaps a piece of cold chicken with some salad. 

And she always goes across the road to her favourite fruit and vegetable stall to get apples and any fruits that he has at a good price. Avocadoes, grapefruit, grapes, onions, carrots, pomegranates, all come home every week in WW.

Year round from the allotments she picks chard, wild garlic, spinach, land cress and, of course, the other fruits and vegetables when they're in season.

It's YOUR health.. don't expect fast food chains to keep you healthy. Don't 'grab' a take-away because it's convenient, get organised and make your own food from scratch.. it's a damn sight cheaper!

Now we have to go as she is off to Baldwins, the Herbalists on Walworth Road at the Elephant & Castle. We may be back later but in the meantime we wish you the same pleasant day that we have here.. for it's mild and the sunshine is peeking through some hazy clouds.

PipPip.. chirp.

GeeGee Parrot.

March 8th, 2018.

LISETTE WITHERS & MURIEL BELCHER.. YES, YOU GET A VERY VARIED MIX OF PEOPLE IN A HOSPITAL WARD.. INDEED YOU DO!

April Fool's Day. What a day to be admitted as an emergency into St.George's hospital on Hyde Park corner, it is now the Lanesborough Hotel. 

The old house was demolished in the early 1800's and the new hospital was completed in 1844. 

But, of all of this she was unaware! She was admitted in the darkest hours before morning with blue lights flashing, her temperature off the scale and her marvelous GP, Dr. Arthur Unwin, dressed in an overcoat with his pyjamas on underneath!

Diagnosis.. Acute Renal Failure.. three words that strike terror in your mind! And this, Dear Readers, was years before the days of 'Key hole surgery'.

Her surgeon to be was Mr. Guy Williams a renal specialist but with a temperature as high as hers, he couldn't operate and anyway, he didn't know yet what was causing her kidneys to fail.

But Matron had seen this before and dealt with it like only a QA trained nurse could and would.. QA stands for Queen Alexandra and their full and official title is Queen Alexandra's Royal Army Nursing Corps.  

She called Billingsgate Fish Market, explained the situation and asked them to send over a long slab of ice. It duly arrived and mama was wrapped in a blanket and a layer of tin foil and placed upon the ice to break her temperature.

It did the trick and she was whisked off to xray to have an IVP.. intravenous pyelogram. Magic stuff this, they injected her with an iodinated substance which showed her left kidney had a massive stone stuck in it and the canal leading out of the kidney was full of smaller stones and 'gravel'.

St.George's was a teaching hospital as well and just before they injected her with her pre-med, Guy, which is what she had been told to call him, explained to students the following.

"Acute renal failure of the left kidney caused by kidney stones. Now, look carefully and what do you see? What you should see is that the patient sunbathes, she wears a bikini, she's young, she'll want to sunbathe again in a bikini, so you or in this case I, must do my utmost to make the incision as neat as possible and not to leave her with a horrendous scar".

And with that he patted her on her shoulder and said.. "everything is going to be ok so don't be frightened, Arthur will be with you when you wake up".

And he was, for Guy let Arthur 'scrub up' and be in theatre to watch the operation and he came back up with her and sat by her bed.

So these were the two good guys!

She had six weeks of recuperation to do and they kept her under their 'eagle eye' at St.George's.

And, in those days, there was no such things as a mixed ward, oh no! She was in Ward 1 on the first floor overlooking Hyde Park and after a couple of days of being very sleepy and slightly sore.. she sat up and took notice of who was in the ward with her.

The woman opposite was truly amazing.. she was obviously incredibly well known and loved by hundreds of people for she was never without visitors who swarmed in bringing bottles of champagne or other alcoholic drink. Her name was Muriel Belcher. 

Another woman, very elderly, but truly delightful was on the side nearest to the window and when she wanted to stretch her legs and look out of the window, she would potter off dragging her drip and chat with her. Her name was Lisette Withers.

Somebody got a visitor to bring packs of cards in! So there were lots of crazy games of Canasta, Gin Rummy and Racing Demons which had them all in hysterics.

One day it suddenly turned chilly and Lisette said "Oh, it's snowing, how beautiful", so they 'jumped' out of bed like kids and went to watch as Hyde Park became a winter wonderland, but the noise alerted Sister that something was amiss and she came in to see, to her horror, all the occupants of Ward 1 out of their beds watching the snow fall.

"What do you think you're all doing? It's far too cold to be hanging around the windows, get back into your beds immediately", there was nothing politically correct or soft about this nursing staff!

"But Sister, it's snowing" came the cry and her response was... "and all of you are over 10 years of age, get back into bed" and she left the ward before she started to laugh!

Then Constance appeared! And after checking that her youngest unmarried child was alive and getting better, was a delight to have as she was allowed to come and go as she pleased and this meant that she got to know everyone on the ward.

And one day, she was sitting chatting to Muriel when two men with very well known faces came to visit.. one being George Melly and the other Peter O'Toole!

"No no no, stay, they're just naughty boys who miss me" said Muriel as Constance got up to leave

"but someone get more chairs and do bring Lisette over, she hasn't had a visitor for a couple of days and I know that she's a bit sad as Googie, her daughter's gone to Australia"

So it was George who explained to Constance what Muriel had meant about the naughty boys missing her, for Muriel was the owner of The Colony Club, aka known as 'Muriels', an infamous drinking club on Dean Street.  

And Lisette was the mother of Googie Withers and grandmother of Joanna McCallum, both very fine actors.

She never met Lisette again after she was discharged but was told "that you've got to come and have a drink with me child when you get out of here and bring Constance, the men all love a pretty face" by Muriel when she was discharged.

And she did, she remained in contact with Muriel until her death in 1979 and Arthur was her GP until he retired. And she exchanged April cards with Guy until his death in the mid '90s.

You see, you can meet wonderfully extraordinary people everywhere! Just try not to have to do it in a hospital!

GeeGee Parrot.

March 6th, 2018.

A FEIJOADA aka A PORTUGESE PORK STEW.. IS DIVINE & BRINGS BACK HAPPY MEMORIES OF YEARS AGO..

Yesterday she talked with another guest, Isobel, about food, proper food not 'take-away rubbish'. Food that someone has made with care and love. Isobel asked her if she knew and liked black beans.

She remembered eating them in Texas as Edgar's housekeeper used them a lot in her cooking and eating them in Portugal where.. shock horror.. she worked forty eight years ago!

She's just had this thought.. how did she get to be so old? Is it really forty eight years ago that she worked at the Dona Filipa Hotel, Vale do Lobo at Almansil in the Algarve? Yes, it is. 

Liz Brewer was running the famous discotheque called the '7 & a 1/2' in Albufeira, there were a large happy bunch of them and she was dating an absolute charmer, a Frenchman called Pierre Barange.

But she became very ill and had to be flown to Lisbon and the only way she knew* how to get in touch with him was to ask her disco side-kick to tell him what had happened and how to get in touch with her in Lisbon and then in London.

No response ever came from Pierre and life moved on.. thirty years later she met the side-kick, who gulped when she saw her, then said.. "Oh, I owe you such an apology, I lied to Pierre, I didn't tell him that you had been invalided out but said you had left to come back for a party which a boyfriend had invited you to and that you had been sacked for going back without giving the hotel notice, I'm sorry and deeply ashamed".

She went icy and said "Wow, what an incredibly nasty thing to have done, I'm not interested in why you behaved in such a duplicitous manner but I'm not surprised you are deeply ashamed of your behaviour" and turned on her heel and left. 

Such is life.. Dear Readers..

Getting back to black beans, there was an old quinta restaurant on the road to Vila Real de Santo Antonio where they did a pork stew with black beans, a pork stew to dream about served with rice and sliced oranges.

Southern Spain and Portugal in the '60s and '70s weren't the wealthy tourist areas that they now are and this quinta, where she ate quite often with two very nice friends, Mercedes and Fitzwilliam Sargeant, was owned by a family who had known 'better' times.

The food was exquisite. Mercedes knew the family well and for her birthday, Fitz asked them if he could hire the entire place and the garden for a private party. She went over early to help them set up and boy, did they get a shock! 

For the family certainly had known better times.. bless them, they had pulled out all the stops for Mercedes, beautiful linens were on the tables, with old silverware and glassware. 

It is a night she'll never forget.. people came from as far away as Jerez and down from Lisbon. It was a night of music.. of Copla, Fado and Jazz.

It was a magical evening, one she hasn't thought of for.. oh, who knows how many years.. but because Isobel asked her if she ate black beans, she's remembered it.

Today having had her memory given a nudge, she bought small amounts of different cuts of pork, two chorizo, a trotter and a pair of ears from her butcher today, everything else she needed plus the black beans, she had at home.

The pork bones are in a pot and have simmered for three hours, they'll provide the stock, the black beans will soak overnight.

Tomorrow she'll cook a wonderful Portugese stew. A Feijoada.. which she hasn't tasted for 48 years.

Happy days folks.. let's hope there are more like it to come!

GeeGee Parrot.

March 5th, 2018.
PostScript: In the early '70s there were very few people in the Algarve who had a telephone at home. Life was more structured, you made plans to see people and you could leave them a message at their favourite bar.

UPSTAIRS FOR A PARTY & OTHER CARD PLAYERS!

No, I'm not telling you how 'old' she is, but the party was to celebrate Tereza's birthday which was on Friday.

There was a delicious cake..  besides all other manner of tasty things to eat plus wonderful coconut and chocolate goodies made and brought by Isobel, another guest.

We have known 'the girls upstairs' for seven years now and what fun it has been to see them grow and grow up! Georgia's now fifteen and Rebecca's thirteen. 

And Georgia's exam results last summer showed that every penny her mama has spent on her education have certainly been worth it! For her A* and A's are the result of many hours of hard work and of paying attention in class. Bravo Georgia!

'Uno', that's a new card game for her! When Rebecca broke open the two packs of cards, she thought they looked 'a bit different', but old card sharp that she is, she soon learnt that you could use 'strange' looking cards to your advantage and said 'Uno' first!

And left whilst she was ahead! No, money was not in play! In fact, the last time she played cards for money was in Spain with Harry, Lew, Christian, Tove, Hugo and Christian in the '70s.

When a San Miguel beer cost you 35 pts in a bar! Gone are those days. And, sadly, gone too is Hugo. For he died in 2012.

He was married to her great friend, Tove, who worked for Lew and Jenny Hoad at their Campo de Tennis at Mijas, they had a son, young in those days, called Marco, whom we believe now to be a photographer based in Paris.

Hugo had had a life! Related through his mother to old families of England and the Aga Khan. He'd been the first husband of Nina van Pallandt.. the Nina of 'Nina & Frederick, a singing duo. He, himself, had been an actor and singer, both Tove and he were good looking, a lovely couple and he was a really good card player!

He told a funny tale of arriving in southern Spain in the arly '60s and people saluting him wherever he drove. He thought this 'more than a little strange' so asked a new friend, who was Spanish, why he thought they did this.

The friend said he had no idea but about two weeks later came up to Hugo and with laughter said..

"Amigo, I now know why people salute you, it is because of your car", Hugo was sharp but this defeated him. "My car?, why should my car make people salute me".

The friend said "where are you parked, I will show you". So they went to his car, the friend led him to the front and said "You see, it says Consul, they think you're an important hombre". It's a silly story and still makes her smile.

She misses them, those crazy, funny, nice people she knew all those years ago..

Abe Segal, Jane & Burt Boyar, Lew & Jenny Hoad, Harry Hubert - whose previous bar in Torremolinos had featured in the book 'The Drifters' by James Mitchener, Bob Alger, the Wessels, Del Bland & Carla Harvey who lived in an old sauna on the beach in Marbella! Jules & Elaine Litvak, the Hollands, Lee Setomer, who came to the Costa in 1956 and bought land when it was under a thousand pesetas an acre and dear Christian van Merkestyn, who shot those lovely adverts for Martini!

It's over forty years ago that she 'ran' with this merry bunch and sadly, only Jenny Hoad and Burt Boyar are alive.. oi vey.

Now we have to start our day! For the pharmacist at Boots said yesterday "this is your last lot of eye drops, your prescription has now ended".

Somewhat alarmed by this, she called her surgery this morning and spoke to someone and they said "WHAT! You had better bring a copy of that into us and we'll sort it out, your prescription is non-ending as dictated by Moorfields Eye Hospital, what that is that pharmacist talking about?"

So there are places to go and food to be bought.. we are reduced to eating shop bought apples.. sigh and you certainly don't pick green vegetables when they are frosted or there's no gardening to be done as you don't tread on soil that's soaking wet!

And, soaking wet our ground will most certainly be. But that recent snow has been good for the soil, it brought nitrogen along with some sulphur and other trace elements and snow is, of course, a slow release source of moisture.

For it melts slowly and that moisture therefore has time to soak deep into your soil, plus, it acts as a mulch preserving moisture and providing winter ground protection. 

Hey Ho. Hey Ho.. It's off.. she must go..

GeeGee Parrot.
March 5th, 2018.

'LIFE IN THE EXPAT LANE' by MISS FOOTLOOSE. YES, OF COURSE WE READ OTHER PEOPLE'S BLOGS & THIS IS OUR MOST FAVOURITE BECAUSE SHE MAKES US LAUGH!

Karen van der Zee's blog on her life as an 'expat' is entertaining to say the least and since she started writing the blog in February 2009, she's written hundreds of tales about her life around the world and some of them, with their wonderful photos, will render you quite useless because you'll be laughing.. tummy wrenching laughter.

We read 'Northwest Edible Life' blog on which Erica writes about food and her gardening life in the north western area of the USA.

www.ramblingtart.com is another that we 'dip' into occasionally.

'The Developed Eye' written by John Stefanidis at.. johnstefanidis.blogspot.co.uk, he was an interior decorator for whom she used to make a lot of lovely things. Sadly he hasn't posted for ages.

The NH Design Blog, the NH stands for Nicky Haslam. He's another interior decorator for whom she worked. She adored him as he was one of the nicest people to work for.

She has only once given the name of a 'private' client on this blog, she doesn't 'kiss and tell' the names of private clients for whom she worked but let's just say you certainly know their names!

Now it's nearly 6.30pm. Time to think about what she'll rustle up for supper, there's a gammon hock in chilly white larder, the thought of cold gammon with an egg is very appealing, simple and quick!

Then we've a choice of surfing the television for a good programme or a film,what to do, for horrors, she's read her library books and has to go out into the cold to replenish her stache, but not tonight!

And that, Dear Readers, involves getting dressed tomorrow in goodness knows how many layers of clothing and waddling off to the library on the King's Road which opens on Sunday at 12,00am. 

Let's hope that tomorrow is less brutal than today for apart from changing her library books, she has to dress accordingly as she's been invited to a birthday party and you can't go in pj's, can you? Well, not at her age you can't!

Television or film.. I wonder which will win?

GeeGee Parrot.
March 3rd, 2018.

AND HATS OFF TO AMSTERDAM FOR TACKLING THE PROBLEM OF OBESITY IN CHILDREN!

When the day is already bitterly cold with the wind making it appear even colder, the pavements are 'unlicensed ice rinks' and you have no reason to go out, what do you do?

We sleep late, eat 'sensible' food, speak to friends, read books, the newspapers on line, catch up on programmes or films that we have either missed or that we want to watch again.

And this is how we came across the article in today's Guardian newspaper. 

Eric van der Burg is the deputy Mayor of Amsterdam and he put into place a new and radical way of tackling the problem of obesity amongst the young.

The schools are the 'front line' as it were against this problem in the Netherlands where in the city of Amsterdam, a fifth of its children are overweight. 

Simple things happened, like banning fruit juice at school, children now drink tap water and the city refusing sponsorship to events that take money from Coca-Cola or McDonalds. 

In an eastern part of the city, a cooking class takes place every week, the class is not just for children because their parents come as well.

A volunteer, Amira El Ashkar, whose family came from Egypt, said every week they come together to cook and to change the traditional recipes, she has introduced healthy versions of the tagine and couscous dishes. She said "Families want to eat healthy food - they just did not know how". 

From 2011 to 2015, the number of overweight and obese children dropped by 12%, the biggest drop was amongst the lowest socio-economic groups.

The schools realised that it is much easier to prevent children from putting on weight than trying to sort it out later. How true..

It's an article that she will send to various friends and suggests that you read it in full yourselves, she wishes that more parents and schools were this pro-active.

Go to:

www.theguardian.com/society/2017/apr/13/amsterdam-solution-obesity-crisis-no-fruit-juice-enough-sleep

As it is now time for our late lunch, we bid you "stay safe and IF you have to travel anywhere by car, make sure that your mobile's fully charged, that you take: something to eat, a large thermos of a hot drink, long boots, gloves, a hat and a rug in the car with you.. plus a big shovel". 

Because.. those people stuck for hours in the snow on country lanes or on motorways didn't think it would happen to them, that's for sure!

Constance used to sling a 100 weight sack of potatoes into the boot of her car, it made her car 'sit' down on the road and stopped her skidding on ice. But in those days, everyone who lived in the country.. had snow chains!

GeeGee Parrot.

March 3rd, 2018.

UPON THE EXCITEMENT OF GOING TO BE A CULTURE VULTURE.. WHICH HAS MADE HER 'REFRESH' HER MEMORY ON THE STUARTS & THE JACOBITE REBELLION.

She is going on Thursday to see the exhibition of King Charles 1st art collection, it is on show at the Royal Academy and she can't wait!

There are several Van Dykes, amongst other artists, on show and as she's previously said, this collection of art has not been together since 1649!

The programme Hebridean Escape has awoken her interest as she tried to figure out who Prince Charles aka Bonnie Prince Charlie was, he was, in fact the grandson of King James, the 1st of England and 7th of Scotland, who was the father of King Charles 1st who was beheaded and the grandfather of King Charles 2nd.

So he was, by birth, a rightful heir to the throne of Britain, except he was a Catholic and King Henry 8th had put the mockers on any ruler of Britain being of that faith.  

So that is a great treat that she is looking forward to next week. Supposedly the 'weather' is going to be less grim as they're forecasting temperatures as high as 11 degrees! 

Huh! But let's not get too excited folks, for she's experienced snow in April here in London more than once in her life.

We said we were going to give you a story about a famous airman who escaped from the clutches of the Germans in WW2, well, we will but she has to get more details before she tells this story, so you will have to wait a while!

Life's quiet, for it's too cold to be gallivanting out there for just the sake of it and since we've found out how to watch reruns of channel 4 programme, we may never leave the flat again!

It's now very snug, even more so since she tacked a big thick towel up inside the front door! That has cut the chill factor down to zero! She realised that there was a howling (not a gross exaggeration) gale coming through the door frame and a rolled up rug wedged against the base of the door has stopped that draught as well.

But it is time for all sensible people to go to sleep, she has to put in eye drops and do what humans do in bathrooms at night and I will complain a minute amount but will be quite happy to go to bed in my night cage.

We wish you well, wherever you may be an pray that you and your families are safe.

GeeGee Parrot.

March 2nd, 2018.

HE WAS HUNGRY & THIRSTY & KNEW SHE WOULD HELP.

She had to go out to get something from Robert Dyas, so dressed in multiple layers of clothing, found the studded soles that you strap to boots, put them on and went out of the house.

Our steps were covered in untrodden snow, she made a mental note to brush and salt them upon her return.

Our pavement was lethal, for the snow had melted, then frozen, but with these magic studs that 'bite' into the snow and ice she knew she was safe and off she went to catch a bus.

And returned home via our Lebanese friends where she had stopped in for a cup of hot ginger.

Somebody had left a bundle of broken down cardboard boxes by the side of the road, just what she wanted to help her push the fresh snow off our steps!

She left WW at the top and came down using the cardboard to sweep the snow aside. Then walked up to get WW and bring it down.

As she turned and started down the steps, a small little person flew down beside her and landed on the handrail! He was fluffed up and had a very bright red chest!

A Robin! And he was a robin on a mission. To find yumyum and water and he knew she would provide both of them for him.

She unlocked the door as quickly as she could, went and found a little bag of sunflower kernels in chilly white larder and a bowl into which she put water.

She went back outside and found him waiting for her on the floor, she put the kernels and water on the bathroom window ledge and he hopped up.

The first thing he did was to drink, then he ate kernels, then he stopped and looked up at her. She poured more of the kernels onto the ledge and he ate a few more.

He stopped again and stood looking up at her, she said "I'll leave it here, tell the others, I won't put it on the floor because mice will eat it. It's safer up here and I'll make sure the water isn't iced over for you". 

He spoke.. she doesn't speak Robinspeak so she has no idea what he said but he flew up onto the handrail, turned around and looked at her again, said something else and flew up and off.

She came in and we had our late lunch. She caught a shot of him with her camera just before she fed him. A hungry, thirsty Robin who came to the right house.

Please make sure that you provide water and food for your garden birds.. up high so they will be safe from cats and the mice can't eat the food.

Chirp.. no, it's not what he said but it's how it made her feel.. full of chirp.

GeeGee Parrot.

March 1st, 2018.