Blackberry's journal

What a glorious day!

Tue, 23 Jun 2009 22:51:21 GMT

It's been a glorious summer day today, all day. In fact it was the first genuine scorching hot day we've had for two or three years. Poor Charles has been too hot all day; he really doesn't like this weather. This evening he found the mist spray on the hosepipe and sprayed himself till his T shirt was soaked.

I've spent the entire day skulking underneath the sun umbrella in the yard, reading, drinking coffee, chatting to John and Charles and writing my novel on my netbook (although I still can't connect to the rest of the world from out there!) The cats have spent most of the day out there with me too.

The pink patio rose is now showing the tiniest amount of pink in its buds; I believe this one will be gloriously scented. The remaining one has tightly closed buds with no clue to the colour, and I have lost the label which should tell me what it's like. Tsk!

One of the runner bean plants has finally got flower buds, but I'm worried that it's hardly grown upwards at all. I wonder if I got dwarf plants by mistake.

The house, and particularly my room, is an absolute tip but I'm not prepared to waste this glorious weather tidying up indoors. Yesterday I worked at Caroline's office in the morning, and when I got home, I was so tired I spent the afternoon dozing in the chair in my room. What a waste!

I had an absolutely dreadful night last night with pain in my knee till I suddenly remembered my TENS machine. It didn't take the pain away completely but it reduced it to a grumble for long enough to allow me to get to sleep. I've used it again this afternoon and I shall use it when I get into bed. It would be great to get a long night's sleep.

If it's still lovely weather tomorrow, I plan another idle day reading and writing in the yard. It's lovely out there at the moment and the perfume of the carnations and the purple petunias makes the whole place smell of cloves and the herbs have their own perfume which the hot sun releases and which doesn't blow away on the breeze because of the high walls all around.

Last night, at about 1.30, when I was sitting up in bed trying to distract myself by doing the crossword, Charles came in to tell me that he hadn't closed the cat door properly so that Bramble had been able to get out and run off. Charles had to get dressed and go out in the back lane looking for him and finally found him in the allotments sitting companionably with another pale-coloured cat Charles didn't recognise.

So Bramble has a little friend! But not apparently the beautiful black cat who came into my bedroom last week.

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Rain, rain, go away.........

Wed, 17 Jun 2009 21:01:15 GMT

Come again another day!

And bring some sunshine and heat with you. It's lbooyd freezing here again. The only time I've felt properly warm today was when I was working in Caroline's office.

I'm beginning to feel very hard done by!

I have, however, found the ideal map for the first island in my novel, and pretty close to home, too. It's actually Rum, but I can't get Google to let me print out an A4 version of it, buggrit. I want an A4 version of the outline, so that I can put places in myself.

Am I the only person who is beginning to find that the News, of whatever flavour, appears to have been taken over by the Blue Peter team, or maybe Ceebeebies? Who cares if Obama can swat a fly? And how many times do we have to see it? There are people dying out there, you know!

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How annoying!

Sat, 13 Jun 2009 12:41:39 GMT

Although I swore I would never do it, I've had to join Facebook, just so that I could contact an old friend who moved; for various reasons he couldn't disclose his address to people at the time, but his old e-mail address isn't getting me a reply, either.

Don't any of my LJ friends imagine that you will see me there, because I don't plan to use the account for anything else.

I do hope he replies to my message, otherwise I shall have broken my vow for nothing!

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New Toy! Hurrah!

Fri, 12 Jun 2009 17:01:59 GMT

My netbook arrived today; the keyboard is fine, but I simply couldn't get on with the mouse pad, so I went to Maplin's and bought a teeny weeny plug-and-pray USB optical mouse and a replacement for my lost data stick, which is twice as commodious as the lost one but more than twice as expensive..........Sigh! What's the betting the other one turns up shortly?

I simply couldn't get Windows to find our wireless network, although it found umpteen others in the neighbourhood, but of course, the instant I had to give in and ask Charles' help, there it was, poking its tongue out at me.

I've spent the last couple of hours downloading Firefox, Windows Updates and an antivirus program, virus-checking the entire netbook, just in case, and I'm about to download a copy of my novel writing program, so I shall be ready to go when I next go to the library, or even decide to write something out in the garden. I don't intend to buy another copy of Agent, since I don't do Usenet any more and I doubt whether I shall be using it for E-mail very often, so I'm wondering about using Outlook Express, although as far as I can see when watching John using it, it's a pile of poo! Anyone have any suggestions for a good, light-weight free e-mail program? Light-weight is best, because the tiny little thing only has 0.98 GB RAM RAM, although, now I come to think of it, that's only 0.27 GB less than this PC!

Now that I have it, I've fallen in love with it and no longer feel the slightest bit guilty for being so extravagant

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Bad, bad, Geraldine!

Tue, 09 Jun 2009 18:46:54 GMT

I went to the Lit & Phil this afternoon, for the first time for months and while there a saw a pretty girl using a really nice-looking netbook; I asked her about it and she told me that she bought it for an unbelievably low price from Curry's in Northumberland St. It was just what I want because it uses Windows XP and my novel writing program only runs with Windows.

So when I got home, I went online and found it at almost the same low price she told me about, because it is reconditioned. It does, however have a year's guarantee and could only be bought online, with no delivery fees.

So after humming and hawing and discussing it with Charles and John, and looking at the prices on Amazon and eBay, I've ordered a reconditioned Advent 4211 XP Intel Atom on my poor overworked Credit Card. It is allegedly "Professionally checked, tested, refurbished to a like-new standard and offered to me at a fantastic saving" They even spelled "professionally" correctly! That had to be an omen! In fact, considering I haven't been to the Lit & Phil for months and the day I return, this dear little student happened to be there to tell me all about it, it was obviously Meant To Be.

It will be great to have it and I may spend more time at the Lit & Phil when I have it, because it will be much lighter to carry than my ring-binder with all the novel stuff on it. Who knows, I may actually get more written than when I stay at home, because, let's face it, I'm very easily distracted!

If anyone thinks it's a pile of poo, please don't tell me!

It's been another grey cold day today, with the occasional drop of rain, otherwise I would probably have spent the afternoon in the yard; it would have been a great deal cheaper!

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Basement Cat!

Sun, 07 Jun 2009 10:14:22 GMT

I had a bad night last night so I didn't wake very early, but about 8.50 I heard some strange noises, which I thought was cats scratching at something unfamiliar, plus some odd hiss and grunting.

I sat up just in time to see a beautiful black cat disappearing out of the bedroom door, which is always left open a few inches for cats. Morgan was off after him, and Bramble wandered back into the room going "Duh! Woss goin' on?"

I rushed out to find Basement Cat sitting in the passage; he went spare when he saw me but couldn't get down the stairs because Phoebe was spitting at him from the top step. He leapt through the banisters to a position a few steps down and dashed downstairs where he found John John followed him along the corridor and lost him; later he found Basement Cat under the display unit in the hall, besieged by three cats; he hadn't noticed him before, in the shadow. John chased them off and Basement Cat exited through the kitchen and the back door like a streak of black lightning.

I do wish he was ours. He was soooo beautiful, a completely black shorthair without a trace of white and elegantly slender.

I've pointed out to John that if we had put the new cat-flap in, a strange cat would be unable to get in because he would need a magnet on his collar. This made him rather grumpy as it's a sore subject because when he put the first cat-flap in, he cut the hole much too large and it was only just possible to fit the existing door. So we need a new back door, for the new cat flap, because the design has changed and John won't even try to find one. I know we probably can't afford a new one, but we might find one at a breaker's, or whatever those people who hoard bits of old house are called; we might even find a Victorian one, which would be a bonus.

I've now got kitten-broody, but I'm not allowed another one; it's so unfair, because a completely black shorthair was exactly what I wanted when I got Bramble instead, and Morgan wasn't even planned but was passed on to us by people who didn't, after all, want a dear little kitten in their lives. I love all my pussy cats, but there is a black-cat-shaped hole in my life!

It's still bl**dy freezing here. I shall get dressed in my winter uniform in a few minutes, because I want to go into the back yard to plant my basil in a couple of bigger pots before it starts raining again. I have to get up so that I can start off pot-roasting the beef in my slow cooker.

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Hurrah!

Sat, 06 Jun 2009 20:56:00 GMT

I never get something for nothing, so I'm very pleased by what happened this evening.

I had decided that I wasn't going to buy any more shoes or sandals this year because what I had was good enough, but in the last couple of days my everyday black slip-ons have started hurting my left little toe to the extent that I had to put a plaster on this arvo before going shopping. When I examined the shoe, I have worn through the lining, the inner lining and my poor little toe was up against the nasty rough leather.

As a Type 2 diabetic, I have to be particularly careful of my feet, so it was obviously time for some new shoes.

I went online to Hotter and chose a pair after about an hour of looking at everything twice, then I saw some lace-up sandals just like the lovely ones I used to have from Clark's, so I just had to have a pair of those. They were incredibly comfortable and you could adjust the laces to whatever degree of puffiness or slimness your feet were currently at.

I went to checkout and suddenly wondered whether I'd got any of the e-mail concessions they'd sent me which were still within the allotted time, and found an offer from about a fortnight ago for three pairs of shoes for the price of two, so I went back to choose another pair of shoes, really expecting that it wouldn't work or it would be out of time, even though the e-mail didn't specify a time limit..

I entered the code, expecting them to say "Nyer, nyer, nah nyer nah! Too late!", but it actually worked!! Hurrah!

I am now expecting three delicious parcels, one of them FREE!!

It's been another horrid day today, damp and very cold. The only time it cheered up, stopped raining and the sun came out was when we all went to the shops, but since we were only going to the Tesco garage for diesel, the pet shop for food and litter and Lidl, it made no difference since we can always park right outside.

From Lidl we got a nice cheap joint of British beef properly hung, and a lovely dark red, for me to pot-roast in the slow cooker tomorrow, plus quite a lot of other stuff, including a large pot of very healthy basil. When I got it home, I decided to plant it out in a couple of pots in the yard, because the basil seeds I planted just haven't done anything and they don't sell basil at the garden centre. I have left it till tomorrow, though, because as soon as we got home, it started raining again.

The garden centre doesn't sell borage, either, which is irritating.

While we were out John and Charles decided it was time we had a takeaway curry, so I don't know what to do with the nice little free-range chicken I got in Lidl last week and had just defrosted, since they both decidedd they'd rather have the beef tomorrow I suppose I'd better roast the chicken tomorrow and use it for sandwiches, a pilaff, soup and stuff during the next week. Let's hope it's nice and warm next week so that I'm glad of a cold chicken in the fridge!

I don't know whether the takeaway has increased the size of its portions, but none of us could eat our entire meal, so Charles and John have some squirrelled away for tomorrow's lunch.

I believe the forecast isn't very good for tomorrow either, so I may stay in bed all morning again.

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Flamin' June!

Fri, 05 Jun 2009 10:38:45 GMT

It's 15C in the hall; outside it's raining that slow steady rain that you can't see through the window but which wets you right through in minutes when you go outside. I'm only glad I didn't water the plants last night.

I just heard that it's snowing over the Pennines!!

I've locked the cats in, no way am I having two wet cats dry themselves off on my bed.

And rather than going to the Gym, I've returned to bed to do yesterday's crossword.

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Yet another lovely day!

Tue, 26 May 2009 22:22:03 GMT

It's been a lovely warm day again today and mostly sunny. Yesterday was lovely too; it makes me feel it must be Summer!

John and I sat in the yard with our coffee, he with his newspaper and I with my book. Suddenly there was a terrible commotion and I looked up to see Morgan running along the top of the wall like greased lightning after a poor little blue tit. The tit eventually managed to fly away and I thought Morgan was going to launch himself from the wall after it. Other birds in the willow tree on the other side of the back lane were twittering and getting very agitated and I was rather afraid that my naughty Tootles was going to get himself mobbed by angry starlings, which happened to Phoebe once when she was minding her own business on my windowsill. He jumped down and hid under the table until the commotion died down.

Charles was up early today, all without my intervention; I wish it meant his sleep patterns were going to return to normal, but we had a week or so at Christmas when he became more or less "normal"; it didn't last.

He had the results of his City & Guilds IT exams the other day; two Distinctions !!. He didn't even bother to do any revision, but he does have almost-but-not-quite photographic memory, especially for things he's interested in, and, of course, he did do an IT course at Skool, although doubtless everything's changed since then. We've decided that he must go back and do the next bit of the course, even though he will have to pay for it, since more funding is not forthcoming. If all three of us chip in, he should be able to start again in September.

Today we went to the garden centre and I got BOGOF bedding plants, mostly petunias and lobelia, which I shall use in my hanging baskets. (Only allowed four per voucher, though!) I got a really cheap bent bamboo frame thingy to grow the clematis over, so I've bought another of those incredibly cheap earthenware pots and I shall put the clematis in there, then I won't need to use the trellis for it and it won't have to go right up against the wall, which I think helps the slimies get to it. I actually found a snail asleep in the pot today when I moved it. Cheeky hooter!! That snail quickly found himself out on the back lane after a short flight through the air.

I also bought a new type of pelargonium which looks as though it's made from red velvet. I bought some more runner beans as well. If they all do well, we shall get sick of them, or of course, I could freeze them. I don't really think I ever could get tired of runner beans. After a brief tussle with myself involving such thoughts as "What about the gas bill?" I bought a vast hanging pot of strawberry plants with several plump strawberries on the brink of being ripe, but I shall have to remember to look out some old net curtain to put over them tomorrow, otherwise the birds will eat them before I can. I bought a couple of other plants which I can't remember at the moment... some sort of daisy thing and something else.

Almost as soon as we'd had a reviving cup of tea out in the yard, it started to rain, so nothing got planted today. The forecast for tomorrow is dire, but from Thursday onwards, the weather is meant to improve again. I need to have a blitz on this room in any case. When I was trying to fish my new-ish slippers out from under the TV stand, I found enough cat hair to knit a cardigan!

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I think it may be Summer!

Sun, 24 May 2009 21:40:55 GMT

What a lovely day I've had! I've spent the entire day in the yard doing nothing but drinking coffee/alcohol and reading a book. I can't remember the last time I spent the entire day sitting in the sun reading!

It's been really warm in the sun, but not too hot; there was a brilliantly blue sky, with those teeny fluffy clouds which disappear to nothing, and a gentle breeze to stop it all getting too hot. It was so lovely sitting out there all day!

I had quite a few jobs I could have been getting on with out there, but after a good night's sleep for once, I just felt that I'd like to relax in the sun, like a cat. They all spent most of the day out there with me, too.

I got John to put up a bracket on the west-facing wall, which gets sunshine for a lot of the day and planted a hanging basket with my tomato seedlings; they are a special kind of cherry tomato which likes growing in hanging baskets. If they thrive, I rather fancy having a riot of tiny tomatoes hanging down; they would look really ornamental, and I could just reach out and pluck a couple to have with my lunchtime sandwich! We'll see!!

I had to keep inspecting the white rosebud which is threatening to burst into bloom, and the red carnation as well, but it didn't make them inclined to flower any sooner.

The only downer I've had today is finding that the slugs'n'snails had been feasting on my clematis, which has made me rethink the position I'm going to put it in. For some reason or other that particular planter seems to be a magnet for the horrid slimy little things and this will be the fourth year they've ruined the stuff in that trough if I plant the clematis there. The only trouble is that that is where I stupidly put the trellis up. I've tried sweet peas two years running, which were eaten before they even came out, I tried runner beans and the same thing happened and this year they've already eaten chunks of clematis flower and a whole bud which hadn't even opened yet, leaving just a frill of petal around the stamens and pistils. And I haven't even transplanted it yet, it's still in its original pot! I think I might go and get another of the lovely cheap large pots I got for the dwarf acer, and rig up some bamboo sticks for it to twine around until I decide finally what to do. I wouldn't mind so much if I hadn't spent a fortune on copper strip to go round the top and the bottom of the trough, hoping it would deter the horrible little slimies!

The Morning Glory seeds I planted a few days ago have pushed their way into the daylight and will be ready to plant out soon. I shall have to find something for them to climb up, too. I would really like to get another half-tub, but I don't really have room for it. I shall have to think carefully about all this.

I still have my dreadful sore throat; I've had it for three days now, but it hasn't developed into cold or flu or anything; it just feels as though someone has cut my throat inside.

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Oh what a beauuuuuuutiful mooooooorning...............

Sun, 24 May 2009 08:06:34 GMT

What a beautiful morning! The sunlight woke me up, even through curtains and venetian blinds! Or it may have been the smell of coffee.

Charles was actually up!!! He didn't bring me any coffee though :{ I think people shouldn't be allowed to torture other people with the smell of coffee in the morning unless they're actually going to give the other people some.

Now I shall have to actually get up, go downstairs and make some, buggrit!

Oh well, at least I can sit and drink it in the yard, listening to the radio on my headphones. Not only is it sunny, and presumably warm, but there's no wind at present. Oh well, Carpe Diem, or Caesar Day as an ex-colleague was wont to say!

Tootle-oo!

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Importing LJ

Sat, 23 May 2009 12:32:27 GMT

Well, I seem to have imported my LJ successfully. Hurrah!

I think I shall post here from now on, since I can automagically crosspost to my LJ but I don't think I can crosspost from LJ to here.

Maybe it will start looking less bare.

Ooo! Look! It's even imported my icon!

And I've successfully retuned my TV so that I can watch ~~Star Trek~~ Virgin1 in the daytime if I want to.

I was planning to play in the yard this afternoon, but the weather has turned gloomy and there's a very cold wind just sprung up, so perhaps I'll just read, unless there's a good fillum on TV.

Ooo! We still have a DVD to watch, The Constant Gardener. Hurrah!

Cottage pie tonight. Hurrah!

Tomorrow we plan to make a GF quiche, wish me luck with the pastry!

And on Monday we're going to have a slow-cooked stew of hare legs and pigeons, which I found in the freezer,

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Scary place!

Fri, 22 May 2009 14:55:05 GMT

This place feels rather scary. It seems empty and echoing, even in the ladiesloos. Am I doing it wrong? Is at all teeming with life I can't connect to?

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Crossposting again! Sigh!

Thu, 21 May 2009 10:53:52 GMT

If this doesn't work I'm going down to plant my new acer!

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Crossposting

Thu, 21 May 2009 10:44:16 GMT

Yet another try!

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Crossposting!

Thu, 21 May 2009 10:17:54 GMT

Well! That didn't work. Let's try this!

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Crossposting

Thu, 21 May 2009 10:04:42 GMT

I've not posted much here, but I haven't been posting in LJ much either, as I've been preoccupied with other things, such as the plants in the yard.

This actually an attermpt at crossposting in LJ.

Let's see if it works!

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First post

Sun, 17 May 2009 12:20:09 GMT

Well I now have an account thanks to anadel .

I shal be looking for my LJ friends who have accounts here, uploading a user pic and so forth, but first I must have lunch!

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Here I am!

Sun, 17 May 2009 12:09:58 GMT

Hi everyone! I've managed to get an invite thanks to anadel and I shall be looking for all my LJ friends who have accounts here.

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