Life here has rumbled along pretty much as normal.
Fruit and vegetables have been grown, harvested and eaten and the lawns have been mowed. Meals have been cooked and eaten, bread baked and shared.
The septic tank has been emptied. The old septic tank man retired, we had to find a new one. He arrived early so I raced around closing all the windows, waiting for the usual stench to pervade the house... nothing. The new man did the job, swiftly and efficiently, leaving the air around the cottage smelling of nothing out of the ordinary.
That was, perhaps, the highlight of the holidays. 😉
Moving swiftly on - life in a small village does have some pleasant surprises. Doorstep finds being one of them.
During the last week I have found a large bag of succulent plums left by a neighbour who is desperately trying to empty her plum trees to be rid of a wasp invasion. Another gift of a huge bag of Pink Lady Apples, even the grandchildren enjoy those. The most unexpected surprise was to find a large bag of library books had been left for me.
Now that the mobile library no longer calls at our village I have been moved onto their 'Click and Pick' van, which means that I can go online and order books and they will deliver them, once a month. If I don't order any, they will simply make the selection for me. They will also take away the books I have read.
Of course the lockdown meant that library services were suspended for many months and as I hadn't received any notification that things were about to get going again, this was quite unexpected, but a very nice surprise. I have managed to find their new timetable, so I will be ready and waiting for them next time.
Much of my time seems to have been spent trying out various mask patterns, trying to find the most comfortable ones, as well as the easiest ones to sew. The grandchildren have to wear masks on the school bus, and the oldest one must wear his at school, so it was important to get it right.
I spent several hours up at the A&E Dept of the hospital in Louth, waiting to see a doctor because I was suffering from an extremely painful back spasm - it was the weekend, of course. GP's can rarely been seen anyway and you can forget it if you have a problem over the weekend. Trying to be seen by someone involved several telephone conversations and much waiting for permission to see an out of hours GP at the hospital.
Buzz into the foyer, answer more questions, temperature taken, wear a mask, sanitise hands, enter the next door. Wait in the room which had about six very socially distanced chairs. Wait, wait, wait. The wait became two hours, the terrible pain diminished with every minute as the stress levels increased. Eventually I was called through.
More questions, including where does it hurt? I had to admit that the pain had completely gone, driven away by the raging stress hormones. Luckily the doctor believed me and I left clutching a prescription for strong painkillers and muscle relaxants. I am glad to say that my back is back to normal now - not great, but I can live with it.
Long dog walks have featured, as they always do, but Toby is showing his age now and I have to tailor the walks according to how he is on any given day. The cats continue to catch rodents, but only the cute little ones which I feel sorry for. The job they are paid to do is catch rats but they don't seem to do that any more. Now that the farmer is harvesting the barley field around our house, perhaps we will find a few on the doorstep. That would help to justify all the expensive cat food which they enjoy so much.
To sum up - I haven't really done much of anything. I seem to have wafted around in a fairly enjoyable way but non productive way, nothing to do with the strong painkillers, truly!
Now that the grandchildren are back at school it is time that I took myself in hand. Get back to normal life.
I hope you haven't found yourselves wasting as much time, or if you have, I hope you enjoyed it.
It's lovely to see a post from you, Elaine, and I'm glad your back is feeling much better, it sounded very painful. It's been a strange sort of summer this year and it feels good to be seeing a return to some sort of normality now. X
ReplyDeleteHello Jules, Waiting for the school bus this morning it felt almost as though we were back to normal - until I saw all the children wearing their masks of course! Lovely to hear from you. X
DeleteYou don't post very often so I had not thought anything of it really. Do you read blogs in your absence of writing your own? I note you have left me a comment or two. I hope you enjoy what is left of summer. I thought I was going to read about What I did on my Summer Holiday, the film. It is very good if you want an escape and relaxation for your tired limbs one evening I recommend, down loadable on BBCiplayer.
ReplyDeleteHello Rachel, I didn't know there was a film of that name. I must look it up. I like a bit of escapism. A decade ago I used to post almost every day, but that was on Pear Tree Log blog. It was all new and fresh then, these days I feel jaded, I'll get over it. I have done a bit of blog reading, not nearly as much as I would normally have done though.
DeleteYes, I remember those good old days of blogging.
DeleteSorry to read about your back spasms, hope you feel better soon. Life here has slowed down too, we are certainly living in strange times with people talking about the new normal. I do wonder what the 'new normal' is? Take care Elaine.
ReplyDeleteHello mamasmercantile, Lovely to hear from you. I often think about you, and life on that beautiful island. If I remember correctly, you had some time away, visiting your family - that must have been wonderful for all of you. I hope you are both keeping well.
DeleteThought you were missing, glad to see you are surviving what is happening and that you are getting over your pain. I know getting an appointment at the doctors was a task as I had to take my lad to our local one.Me I seem to have been getting on with the garden and writing a few blogs. Anyway here is another thing I got up to https://www.explorechurches.org/church-explorers-story
ReplyDeleteTake Care
Hello Billy, Thank you for the link, I have some sewing to do this afternoon, but will settle down for a read this evening, I am well overdue for a catch-up. Lovely to hear from you.
DeleteGood to hear from you! Dad always said if you don't know what to write, just send a postcard..you will soon run out of room!!
ReplyDeleteWhat a lovely saying. Dad's always know what to say.
DeleteHello gz, Nice to hear from you, too. I have been putting those beautiful berry bowls and the little dish to good use. They delight me every time I use them.
DeleteElaine, Elaine, Elaine. Toby cannot be that old. He was a new puppy just last week. My grandchildren all are off to school, too. College!
ReplyDeleteHello Joanne, The years do whiz by far too quickly, Joanne. One minute our grandchildren are babies and the next thing you know they are at senior school!
DeleteHard to believe, but Toby is approximately 10 years old now. He is full of lumps and bumps of all kinds, but as he is petrified of (and determined to kill) any vets brave enough to approach him, the only sensible option is to let him be and see how he goes. I think the abuse he suffered in the early years of his life are taking their toll.
Hadn't realised you were near Louth, so am I! Lived for many years on Stewton Lane and worked at Stewton House......small world.
ReplyDeleteHello ElsieJoy, nice to meet you! Big Baz sounds like a very special cat, with his healing purrs. We are both so fortunate to live in such a beautiful part of the county.
DeleteAs a former teacher I'd rate your "What I did this Summer" a perfect A. Good to hear from you again and that things are mostly well, that life goes on.
ReplyDeleteMy daughter is the mask maker and she's been busy supplying us. She now has fashioned new ones for her daughters who start school next Wednesday. She figures they need multiples in their backpacks in the event one gets wet. We are so happy to be close by to them now. Had a lovely day with the two of them as Emily had to go to the office for a meeting. She usually works from home or one night at the office. It's a part time job. Yes, life goes on though a bit different without the ability to make new friends right now in this new place.
Hello Marcia, Goodness, so much has happened in your life since I went AWOL. I'm glad the move went well and also that you have enjoyed some special times with the family. In a funny kind of way I have quite enjoyed all the mask-making. Instead of doing battle with my sewing machine I decided to sew them all by hand and found it really relaxing, though now that I have made more than 3 dozen of them I am starting to flag a little.
DeleteI hope your grandchildren enjoy their return to school. Everything seems to have gone well for my four grandchildren, they are all very happy to be back with friends and their teachers, which is quite a relief! Lovely to hear from you.
That loaf of bread looks utterly delicious. Is it a sourdough? It makes me want to bake bread!! Never feel like you have nothing to say -- just knowing what you do to keep busy and how your life is going is wonderful. Thank you for sharing a glimpse of your life. Stay safe!
ReplyDeleteHello Tehachap, Food of the Gods! Not sourdough, just a very lazy no-knead white loaf baked in a cast iron pot. It was far too moreish. Sorry to hear that you haven't been feeling too well, I hope things are settling down a bit now. Your view is spectacular!
DeleteLovely to read about what you have been getting up to over the summer. I am sorry to hear that you have been troubled with a bad back that sounds really painful, I do hope the it continues to be ok.
ReplyDeleteHello sustainablemum, Thanks for visiting. Your recent adventure sounds slightly madcap, but rather wonderful. What a marvellous area you live in. I hope you have managed to be rid of the flour dust after lugging around all that flour! Have a good week.
DeleteI've been trying to buy a Pink Lady tree, but was told they were only available to 'growers'. Maybe this winter I'll find one; they are delicious apples.
ReplyDeleteHello Cro, They certainly didn't hang around long! We are very fortunate in having a marvellous fruit farm just two miles along the road, they have all the varieties we don't grow for ourselves, which is handy. I hope you manage to get your tree soon.
DeleteI somehow missed this post from you - Now the children are back to school and I guess you are getting back to normal. Sorry to hear about the back thing - sounds horrible at least you know what to do if it happens again.
ReplyDeleteIt's going to be mostly fine this week I think so hope you can get out and about