STORMY WEATHER & THE BIG GUY!

No new posts on my Blog.. whom should you blame? Me or her that taps the iPad? Debatable but let us leave that debate for another day.

Wow.. have you had those noisy storms rampaging over your head at night? Last week the days got hotter and hotter, the humidity was gruesome and then crash bang wallop, we had the first storm and then another the following night.

Yesterday was an iffy day, she was slightly chilly around the neck at the market at Parson's Green and very grateful for a big cup of coffee that Debbie gave her plus some delicious cake from the next door stall.

Head's up folks.. for every Sunday at the Farmer's Market at Parson's Green there is a charming woman called Valerie Janicki, who bakes delicious things, her company is called..

                      HONEY PIE BAKERY

Go early, the market opens at 10.00am, and see what she has to offer, Valerie's baking skills are
formidable, this comes from a daughter whose mother, aka Constance, was an ace baker!

Not very much to report, she is having to do a huge amount of research into something the like of which I am not well versed in so I will not talk about it for I am bound to get it all wrong!

So what news do we have? Well, not a lot of that either, I am afraid, however, she did go to a small but very sweet party last week. 

For about ten months there has stood at the top of a tiny street very near to our home a large man. He was the traffic marshall responsible for getting impossibly large lorries down this tiny street and back out onto a major road safely with no damage to buildings, cars or people.

If you pass someone every day, five days a week and sometimes two or three times a day, you start saying "hello". Well, she does and did and they started to chat, when he wasn't directing trucks and lorries!

So she learnt about his wife's shingles and mixed her a bottle of essential oils which she gave to him on a Friday, on the following Monday he pounced on her and gave her a big hug in the middle of the street!

"Blooming marvellous that oil" he said, "she's so thrilled, it stopped the scratching and left her skin much cooler, so she says thank you very much".

Several weeks went by and coming up the little street she saw her big 'friend' (whose name she still did not know) limping!

"What have you done", she asked, "tripped over on a loose paving stone and landed on my knee", whoosh, she turned and went home, grabbed a new bottle of her much beloved Black Seed Oil, (Nigella Sativa - Black Cumin Seed Oil) and went back up the street.

She gave it to him saying "this will help, massage this in twice a day after your bath or shower whilst the skin is still warm" and off she went to the allotments.

The next day she was walking up the little road, it is her short cut to the local bus stop, and saw him doing a silly dance and the silly dance got even sillier the nearer she got to him!

"You are a marvel, first you cure the wife and now my knee, it is a little tender but the swelling has gone right down, the pain is negligible and look.. I can bend it!" said the large man as he frolicked to and fro across the street, dressed in his bright orange day-glo vest and hat much to the amazed amusement of all the passers-by and the drinkers in the pub!

The building works then entered another phase, which meant that the team that were doing the works were due to hand over to the next team of builders. This is a very BIG job, four stories above the ground and four stories BELOW the ground, the plans were passed two weeks before the local council put a stop to these massive excavation works.

One day the large man greeted her with "Good morning, we are leaving September 10th and would you believe it, three of the local residents are giving ME a leaving party in the pub, please will you come, it is on Tuesday the 9th September and it starts at 5pm".

So she went hardly recognising Thomas, she had by now asked him his name, in his smart 'civilian' clothes and without his hat!  

She told me the pub had organised it most beautifully, it was a buffet supper and the food was really delicious! 

The three women who had put up the money for the drinks were just astounded but Cecile said "ah, but he has kept the pub safe, so the food is on me", it was a charming and very jolly evening.

The street doesn't seem to be the same without him, the new man is slim and quite short. Thomas was a very big guy, well over six foot and broad with it.

And so if you live in the Notting Hill Gate area and have a new building site near you and see a large guy in an orange vest (possibly with his hated orange hat on) directing traffic, go and say "Hi Thomas, a mutual friend says to keep rubbing the oil".

Now we have to go, we have things to do and she has places to go.. PipPip.. Dear Readers.. PipPip.

GeeGee Parrot.
September 22nd, 2014.

Nine Eleven .. oh dear.

Sombre is the mood in our house in the lead up to today, September 11th, otherwise known as Nine Eleven, for it is, of course, the anniversary of the New York City twin towers atrocity.

And much nearer to home and three years later to the day, it was the day that Dagga Parrot died in a 'silly' accident at home in the bathroom. Today is the tenth anniversary of his death.

Earlier this week she was told the very sad news of the death of an old friend, Marina Orpin (of Valmar Antiques) and today she was given some very startling news.

So there we are. 

TomFoolery would not be appropriate and so I am sticking very close to her and refraining from being my usual 'Beaky-knows-best' self. 

The subject of this startling news has to be very, very carefully looked at and gone through with a dear and trusted friend who is an expert in these matters and then her decision will be made and given. 

I know, I know, there is nothing more annoying than only getting half a story but she is not in a position to say any more at this moment in time.

Lots of laundry has been done! An enormous bag of extremely fine linens was donated to the shop and she volunteered to bring them home and 'do' them. They had been stored for many years and were aged and dusty. They're now 'sparklingly' white and crisp and will be delivered back to the shop tomorrow.

Whilst she was ironing, I sat on top of the door, no Salsa cd was played (sad that) but she sang and I followed along as much as I could and made her laugh by doing my 'whoosh' noise, occasionally I flew around the room at high speed screaming at the top of my voice, what the neighbours must thing is beyond us!

What other news have I for you? Not a lot, I am sad to say. Except those thieving Pear Rustlers have struck again! Bastards! And other rude words that I am sure you can work out for yourselves, they pick and take them before they're ripe or even fully grown. This time they left the Apples but who knows what has gone on down there this past week? 

I hope, Dear Readers, that you are all happy and healthy? We know a couple of friends are not in great shape, I was very disturbed to hear that our much beloved Leigh (owner of cats who think I am an avian hat) has to have an MRI on her spine.. ouch.. poor spine, poor Leigh.

And a dear friend is being given 'a run-around' by someone.. huh.. if he is not careful old Beaky could and would give him a very serious nip!

So there we are folks.. it is time for our supper and to call it a day. I apologise for not posting more often in recent times but it has not been appropriate given the mood in our house.

She wondered why she was not woken on her birthday by Marina, who used to call her on July 7th at some ungodly hour to sing "Happy day to you" for many years, she tried to call her several times but received no answer. 

However, as Marina would often be away on a jaunt, as they had done many times together, she thought well, it is summer, she could be in Italy or with the family in Wales.

But on Tuesday she woke and thought "Where is she" and called a mutual friend and was told the news.

No, that was not what was happening, Marina was not on a jaunt. Our lovely friend had died in bed at her home on the night of July 4th - 5th and was found when a very concerned friend, Ian Harris, got the police involved. 

So you see.. apart from one very happy thing that I will talk about tomorrow, it has all been a bit 'blue' here.

PipPip.. Dear Readers.. PipPip.
September 11th, 2014.
ps: aka nine eleven.

Nut Case..

NUT CASE? No, Dear Reader, I am not referring to myself (or her), I am referring to the most wonderful emporium full of very, seriously very, delicious things to eat.

And, guess what, its' name is.. Nut Case Ltd!

This wonderful small but bursting to its' seams shop is located at the following location:
352 Uxbridge Road, London W12 7LL.
Tel: 020 8743 0336.

They sell every nut known to parrots, squirrels and mankind, plus dates, crystallised fruits, baklava and every other possible delicacy in the sweet range.

"Nougat! Get away from me, you naughty girl" was what she said to the charming girl who tried to tempt her when she was buying walnuts and other such edible things yesterday!

That made them all laugh and I am proud to tell you she did NOT give in, nope, not a morsel of any sweet stuff passed her lips.. now.. the same cannot be said about dry roasted pistachios or the chilli roasted almonds.

For supper last night I had the first tasting of what she had brought for me. Fresh cashews, walnuts and almonds.. oh slurp-the-durp!

She mentioned that if I liked the nuts (?), that she would be a regular customer. Yes, I am extremely fussy about nuts and can sniff out a rancid one in a nano-second, they get picked up and dropped on the floor. The mice don't mind but she does, a lot.

A parrot! You have a parrot, said the nice man behind the counter and so she left the store much 
later than planned as much parrot talk was talked for he had just got an Indian Ringed Neck parrot, they are seriously cute to look at.

So she will be going there probably every week now, the quality of the merchandise is superb and supper last night and breakfast this morning was just as a parrot would dream about.. a cashew, two walnuts, a soft boiled egg (yum), a slice of my favourite bread and a crust of her toast.

She has to go to MailBox to give them a parcel for America and I will doze on my favourite pole, digest my yumyum and dream about a fresh date or perhaps a chillie'd almond or two.

I will be back.. as she is SO incensed by a remark that the Prime Minister said yesterday that she will be writing on this subject later, but for now, it is PipPip.

GeeGee Parrot.
September 3rd, 2014.

The Loner and Hour of Darkness both by Quentin Jardine & The Expats by Chris Pavone.

Thriller diller.. Dear Readers.. she's got three great books for you to read.

'The Loners' and 'Hour of Darkness' are the latest books by Quentin Jardine, he is one of her favourite authors.

The third book is the first novel by Chris Pavone. He may have now written more as this one was published in 2012.

These three books are well worth reading, you don't see the very clever twists and turns in the plot coming, good stuff!

You can tell it is autumn in our home by looking at the amount of books that come trundling home in old Wicker Wheelie. 

For Mr. Sun now goes to bed a great deal earlier than he did in July, ah, July, the last time we were really warm for August has been a dismally cold and very wet month.

There have been no sunny hot days to ripen off the fruit and vegetables and those three days of torrential rain caused the 'best-ever' crop of blackberries to rot on the bushes. 

They say that we are supposedly going to have an Indian Summer and that September will be dry and sunny, well, it has been known September and October to be glorious but it will be all too late for the sweet corn, the figs and the tomatoes.. sigh.

And so with the days drawing in, there is less time spent at the garden and more at home. 

However, she plans to go back to doing an old volunteer job at our local hospital and has another one, which she is really excited about tucked up her sleeve, which I will tell you about when it is confirmed.

So off you go to your Library or to a book shop and find Mr.Jardine's books, there are three series of books - twenty four feature Bob Skinner, five feature Primavera Blackstone and nine feature Oz Blackstone - and a stand alone book called The Loner. 

And, whilst you are there, see if they have the first book by Mr.Pavone as well. There, that's your autumnal and winter reading sorted out for you!

The next one she will read is, no, I'll wait to tell you about the next one but as a 'taster', I will tell you that it features Lisbon, Tangiers and Bombay, besides lots of other places and stuff!

Now I am off, have you said "White Rabbits" or plan to eat Natives? For yes, folks, there is an 'R' in the month again!

GeeGee Parrot.
September 1st, 2014.

MERHABA..

What did I say? Well, Dear Readers, I said 'Hello' in Turkish and why did I say it in Turkish, well, it is because I have noticed that there a big bunch of people reading my Blog in Turkey!

This has happened before and then they disappeared / went away from Turkey and left for foreign lands.

I envisaged then drinking delicious coffee and eating that truly most delicious yumyum and reading my Blog and I wondered wether they were Turkish or of another nationality who were visiting. 

Who knows? Anyway, they're back reading the Tales of a Parrot and I think it is polite to greet them properly.

She has much to do today and thank goodness we awoke to a clear blue sky! Yippee.. for it has been extremely, gruesomely, wet for the past two days. Such amounts of water poured out of the sky that the five litre buckets, in which the three little Calamondin orange trees live, were full to the brim on Monday! 

Yes, we have had that much rain and that was the rain that came through the trees! Goodness knows how quickly they would have filled up if they had been in the open.

But that was then and this is now. There is much to do, a trip to make going south of the river (Thames) this afternoon, to change four Library books, to make a few telephone calls, there is LOTS of ironing but that will be done later this evening and at 1.45 of the afternoon clock she is due to be at L'Oreal for the second part of her hair colour treatment.

Then to the hairdressers tomorrow. For she has tried, oh, she has tried but she is bored to tears with 'long' hair! (Dear Readers, it was only just past her jaw..) but it is goinggg.. snip, snip, onto the floor it will go and guess what? 

She has decided that, stuff it, she cares not one blanketty blank who sees she wears hearing aids! And so she is going back to having really short hair again!

Her beloved Chris has retired.. boohoo..  so she is going to a new place and has chosen a man to cut her hair. Why? Well, Chris started out cutting mens' hair and she understood exactly what she wanted and so does this man, or he appeared to!

So watch this space folks.. actually, I much prefer her hair short, it is easier to hold onto when it is this way than when it is longer and she squeaks at me if I pull it!

Got to go, I wasn't hungry this morning and I fear that she is taking me back to YumYum HQ to try to tempt me with an egg, should I humour her by having a nibble! what do you think I should do?

'Elveda'.. that's 'Goodbye' in Turkish. Cool.. no?

GeeGee Parrot.
August 27th, 2014.

THE TALE WHICH TERRIFIED HER..

The day started off so well, we woke up early, the sky was pale blue, the air fresh, there were eggs, melon and toast with which to break our night's fast and she was due to go a'jaunting up to Marylebone Farmer's Market (just behind the Waitrose on Marylebone High Street) to meet up with the other dumpling fancier, aka Debbie of Ellie's Dairy.

All of which happened, she got there at a perfect time as she said when she arrived "12.45 for a 1.00 o'clock lunch".

Debbie went off to order the delicious dumplings, they are cooked to order, then came back, she handed over swag, not from the allotment but avocados from the market and said "there's melon for pudding and salted almonds for your drive home".

But our Goaty mum friend didn't look or seem to be her normal very cheerful self and then divulged why.. a truly dreadful tale.

A friend of Debbie's had been driving along on a country road this past Saturday when she was hit head on by another car with such a force that her car was up-ended and it burst into flames. 

It then ricocheted off and struck the car behind hers causing damage to that car as well. 

Luckily, oh, so very luckily, there were other cars who saw the accident, they stopped and their occupants rushed to the flaming car, they righted it and managed, with bottles of water and a fire extinguisher, to put out the fire.

The accident emergency teams arrived, she was cut out of her car and air-lifted to a London hospital, the driver of the car behind her was also injured and was taken to a local hospital.

After the market finished, Debbie drove to see her in hospital. She has no relatives and lives in the country. She is in ICU with a broken arm, a broken leg, a broken pelvis, a broken vertabrae and a metal frame holding her right side together.

She is sedated and due to be in theatre again today for more assessment.

She received this update by email from Debbie late last night. She was shocked by the tale before she got updated but the email triggered a memory she thought long, long since gone.

Last night, for the first time in over forty years, she had the old nightmare, of being in the south of France on the mobylette and seeing the lights of the car which hit her.

It is a very wet day and the mood in our home is very sombre. 

We do not know what caused the other car to cross over onto the other side, why were they driving at such a speed, is certainly something that the Police will want to question the other driver about, at such a speed that it caused another car to turn upside down and burst into flames.

She was so lucky, that the car did not explode, that there were people who did all that they could to save her life and succeeded.. just like the people in 1969 who ran out of the restaurant and combed the vineyard until they found my mum and got her to hospital.

Please think about this folks the next time you get behind the wheel of a car, just because your car is capable of doing a hundred miles per hour, you don't have to do it. 

Speed kills and the accidents that it causes most certainly changes peoples lives. Maybe even yours.

GeeGee Parrot.
August 25th, 2014.

A Bank Holiday Market.. oh yum!

And it is true when I say good morning to you Dear Reader" for it is a good morning. The sky is blue, I admit it is a bit pale but it is still early, we had rain in the night so it smells fresh and we both slept well, so "good morning, good morning to you" is just right with which to start our day!

Those of you who know and read my Blog in an orderly fashion will know certain things about her, that she is frugal and that she supports local shops, traders and farmers markets being a couple of those things.

In return for being loyal to certain market traders we get treats and treats galore there were in store for us yesterday!

She finished sorting out the bed linens yesterday, how had those single sheets become muddled up with the doubles, she asked herself and what did those face cloths think they were doing lolling about with the pillowcases?

Whoosh, that's much better and now with the door closed on them, she whisked off the very beautiful summer bed quilt and put it into the washing machine. It was a bit of a squeeeze but it went in and she came back into the bedroom.

I have a favourite spot to perch in our bedroom, it is high on a cupboard directly in front of the door, a comfy place to doze, it also had on it, I regret to say, a large storage bag which I had been nibbling.

She caught me doing this yesterday and said "grrr" and other such disapproving noises and brought the little steps so she could climb up and see what was in the bag.

"Oh no, bad, very naughty bird, the blue Velux blanket and the red Chinese quilt, very naughty girl, please don't chew storage bags" and she pulled the bag off and it bounced on the floor, sigh.

Such a crunchy thing to nibble, it had hard edges.

Moving swiftly along and away from nibbling.. and other such naughty things.. she pulled out the quilt and the blanket and finished making the bed.

"DinkDink" went her mobile phone indicating a text had plopped into it. She picked it up and said "oh, how sweet, yum, yes please" and her fingers flashed.

She put on shoes, a rain proof jacket, took her bag, four library books, old Wicker Wheelie and having blown me a kiss, whoosh, she was gone!

To the market in the North End Road, for the text had been from Karen, our favourite fruit stall holder, saying she had ten grapefruits for a £1.00, did she want them?

So that was her first port of call.. " how sweet of you, yes please, but how come so many" she asked our lovely friend. "Hiya sweetie, it's because of the Bank Holiday, the market won't be open again until Tuesday, the market is full of wonderful bargains, go and look at the butcher's window" said Karen.

And she was right! 

After trundling through the market and having paid a visit to our most lubbly-jubbly butcher where, indeed, he did have specials galore, she hopped a bus to the Kings Road to the library.

I was asleep on the door pole when I heard them coming down the steps but instead of the usual 'bump, bump, bump' noise, it was a thump, thump, thump noise, goodness me, I thought as I flew off pole and back to the bedroom, what has she got in old Wicker?

When she was safely inside I flew to kitchen door, she was inside and old Wicker was standing there. 

Well, what was there? I knew about the ten grapefruit, she has one every morning so they were a great buy, two bunches of beetroots with their leaves (yum, I love those stalks), six ripe persimmons, thirteen small avocados in various stages of ripeness and, oh yeah! Two delicious, small fruity-tooty melons!

Yippeeeee.. the round ones, they have marks to show you where to cut, their flesh is orange and are very sweet, no, I have no idea what they are called but they are scrummy-yummy and I am mad about those seeds. The fruit totalled £5.00 and a huge bag of bones from the butcher was a £1.00.

There were also five new library books and the Autumn News Letter from the British Library.

Now you see why she supports local traders, do you think the manager of your local 'super' market is going to send you a text saying "I've got ten grapefruits for you", no, he wouldn't and besides which, those greedy folk won't be closed on the Bank Holiday.

So here we are, it is still early on this fine but quite chilly Sunday morning. At midday, she and old WW will go to meet Debbie at the Farmer's Market up in Marylebone, they will chat, eat some very tasty dumplings with Harissa (she's hoping Debbie has remembered to pack it) and she'll bring home Goaty milk with which she makes our Kefir.

And tomorrow is the last Bank Holiday Monday, we are staying at home. It is, sometimes, just the place to be.

GeeGee Parrot.
August 24th, 2014.

POST! There is very little interesting post these days.

We very seldom get interesting post, occasionally we receive a post card from a friend who is travelling in far-off distant lands, but 'post' as we used to get or know in the olden days has ceased to exist.

And due to the fact that we have a crazy (as in very seriously demented) neighbour, who lives upstairs, all her important post and packages or parcels are sent to our local branch of MailBox.

He hides or throws away other peoples' post and flowers, why, you might ask? Because he dislikes the landlord, is the simple answer. Strange but true. A charming family left because the wife could not stand him any longer and the people below him.. well.. she rolls her eyes and grimaces.

Yes, of course, there is the internet with E-Mail. But she thinks an email dropping into your inbox does not have the same effect. She likes the real deal thing plopping through the letter box, the act of opening the envelope, reading the letter and getting the news.

She has a couple of friends who are absolutely the very best at doing this, no gruesome round-robin (or whatever they are called) mass produced updates on their family with who has done what and when to whom for them. Deliciously crisp, thick paper with lined envelopes are what they use with which to write to their friends in proper ink!

Meanwhile, Dear Readers, you are wondering what started this line of thought, are you not?

Well, it started when she went looking for something in her desk, which is a lovely piece of furniture, an old Campaign Desk.

In the bottom drawer she came across the address stamp that she had made when she was living in America and in the next box, still sealed and never used, there was the address stamp for our home! 

She remembered that she ordered it when she first moved into the flat and it must have arrived when she was in hospital.

Today she is going to buy a birthday card, yes, a real, paper birthday card, she will use the address stamp on the envelope, then she will buy a stamp and post it in a postbox. 

Why? Because a real card is like a Heineken.. it reaches the place no 'fakey-makey-e-card' can ever do!

I loved getting my birthday cards and yes, I know and agree that the postage on Christmas cards is astronomical but a few birthday cards per year sent to special friends is not going to blow yours or anyone else's budget.

Thank goodness for toast.. for we are experiencing the dullest August in memory.. grey skies, cold air with bathloads of moisture just waiting to fall upon us. 

It is fairly dismal for everyone and out at the allotments, there are chillies, peppers, marrows longing for sunshine to ripen them.

Meanwhile, at home, the Basil and the tomato plants are very confused and wondering where their friend, Mr. Sun, has gone (they're not the only ones).

But toast in the morning makes life worthwhile!

She has to do a few chores and some shopping, so I will doze and may come back later.

GeeGee Parrot.
August 23rd, 2014.

She travelled for well over an hour each way.. but it was worth it!

Oh, my goodness me, she must love me very much. Why? Well, she knows I am just crazy-daisy about our home grown courgettes / zucchinis which she steams and then pan fries in olive oil with garlic and herbs but the traffic, Dear Readers, the traffic going out to the plots today was beyond gruesome!

There was a thirteen mile long traffic jam on the road to Heathrow and the Hogarth Flyover is not in use at the moment. So each trip, the one going there and the one coming back home, took over an hour and a half!

But back she came with some lovely stuff! Baby courgette balls and mini long ones, just the way we like them. 

Plums too as well as a few apples, but dreadfully sad news about the blackberries.. sad, sad news.. all that torrential rain which we have had has rotted the fruit. We are, therefore, very lucky that she picked and froze a few boxes two week-ends ago. There are a few left but nothing to get excited about.

Next week she will lop all of the plants down, haul them all away and dig out their roots, for these invasive plants have taken over about an entire plot, not all in one spot but in several places and enough is enough, they have to go, as do those old autumn raspberries.

But she has to wear very thick protective clothing and boots when she does this, she has a white scar on her upper left arm where a briar tore the skin right open.. silly plant, it may have won that battle but she won the war and she will do so again.

It takes a lot of effort and time but she has done it before, thirteen years ago, and knows how to defeat old Mr. Briar. 

But back to the food, it was all very tasty and fresh, picked less than two hours before we ate it.

On the stove there is a pot of plums cooking gently with dried mulberries and barberries, a bowl of compote on yoghurt will be her breakfast tomorrow.. slurp!

I love a good compote of fruit, she dollops a small amount on a saucer for me, I never know which to eat first, the fruit or the yoghurt?

She could hardly see her lovely boss when she called into the shop on her way home to give her a bag of edible goodies, there were a massive amount of donations piled in the shop, so she has said she will go in and help tomorrow. 

This means that I will have a quiet day by myself and will probably spend most of it dozing on front door pole but I trust that you, Dear Readers, have pleasant plans for the next few days?

GeeGee Parrot.
August 15th, 2014.

Raining Cats & Dogs.. Why do they always get the act?

Why don't Lions and Tigers or Elephants and Penguins get some work, huh? 

Anyway, that is what we awoke to, bath-loads of rain, dreary as the ground at the allotment has had lots and lots to drink and now we would like old Mr. Sun to come back.

They say that he has gone away and that Summer has ended for us in the UK, I think we have been short changed, for it is only the fifteenth of August, there are another two and a little bit of a week left of this month and what about September? 

Huh, this is boring, in fact it is very, very boring, as there are all those Apples, Blackberries, Figs, Pears and lots of varieties of Plum who would like to be ripened by old Mr. Sun and his golden rays.

So, anyway, here we are, she is tapping iPad, I am dictating from the top of sitting room door and 'thinking', only thinking mind you, of giving both Frosty Tiger and Daffy Duck a run for their money.

They have a pretty easy life those two, all they do is loll about on the top of the door. They live there most of the year, except when we have guests staying and then I am not allowed 'free range' of their room or the top of their door.

But occasionally old Beaky gets ahead of me and taking them by a leg or wing, he throws them onto the floor and I can get at the door frame. It is irresistible, for although I know it to be very naughty, a little nibble does keep Beaky as sharp as a whistle but it doesn't please her too much, in fact, it pleases her not at all.. sigh.

Moving swiftly along and writing of other things.. such as Pink Grapefruit.

She found six for a pound in the market yesterday, yes, six! Sally, Geoffrey's wife had them on their stall. They joined the bags of Mushrooms and Persimmons that she had bought from Karen.

Well.. what a surprise she got when she cut one in two this morning, for it was not at all the colour she was expecting! But Sally's label was right, for it really was a 'Pink' Grapefruit and not at all a Ruby coloured one like the ones she usually finds.

And the taste was absolutely scrummydumptious! Yumma-Yumma.. and now we are wondering where they were grown? 

She ate that and had two slices of rye toast, I had a boiled egg, my rye and sunflower seed bread, two of her crusts and a nibble, a large nibble, of her cheese. I drank water, she made a pot of fresh coffee.

Now we are wondering how to spend our day, there is loads to do at home (there always is) but a pile of ironing does not hold the same amount of interest as a trip to The British Library!

Sadly I cannot go there, so she has to remember all about it and tells me when she gets back.

But she has a few jobs to do first. There are the Celery seeds to be packed up and put into glass jars, the Lavender that she picked two weeks ago is now dry enough to use, she makes anti-moth bags for friends and our cupboards, and there are lots of trays of 'surprise' goodies drying which have to be turned. No, I can't tell you what it is, for it wouldn't be a surprise then, would it? 

A quick flap has just taken me onto her head, for I have to make sure she has not left anything out as my dictation can be a bit garbled sometimes. But as you all know, she is in control of iPad and not me, old Beaky gets bored tap-tapping and my toes are the wrong shape.

But before anything happens.. I am going to have a cuddle with my mum.. a scritch and a scratch and a diddly-datch. 

GeeGee Parrot.
August 15th, 2014.