Silent Sunday

Follow @Miss_Biggun

Mumbo Jumbo and Voodoo

I'd like to start this post with a "Big Thank You" to Lesley Beeton for all her support. 

She recommended I ask the Doctor to refer me to the Pain Clinic, when my Arthritis was really agonising several months ago and having a severe negative impact on my life.

As a result it was recommended I try acupuncture. 

Yeah right, it's all mumbo jumbo and voodoo isn't it?

Well I'm telling you it really, really works!!!

 It's not for everyone I grant you, but it has improved my pain management no end. I feel great, so great I just scared the chuffin' life out of myself when I realised I'd just trotted down the stairs like a normal person without thinking about it. 

Normally I have to go down one stair at a time hanging on to the hand rails in case my knee's give way, they do quite often. I've fallen down the stairs on numerous occasions sustaining minor injuries and one time dislocating my shoulder.

I've been having Reflexology for about five years now with Christina Driscoll in Camberly and it's great at keeping me moving, but as my Arthritis has got worse I've needed something a little more.

The first acupuncture session was all new to me and little scary, but it didn't stop me sneaking my camera out to prove I'd had it done, to those who thought I couldn't go through with it.

I won't lie, it did sting a bit when Gev (my Physio-Terrorist) put the needles in, but soon I couldn't feel them at all. As the weeks have gone on I now have much bigger needles and a lot more of them, although I've never thought to count how many.

I'm still on some pretty heavy duty painkillers and hopefully I should be able to start reducing them soon, but one step at a time I don't want to rush into anything to quickly.

I'm linking this post to The Gallery as the theme this week is "New" and acupuncture was new to me.

So if someone suggests it to you for pain management, give it a go.
You have nothing to lose except the pain. 
I'm so glad I did.

Follow @Miss_Biggun

Blossom

Apple Blossom

Cherry Blossom

Beautiful things always make me smile :o)

Follow @Miss_Biggun

Hard Work Now Showing Results

Every weekend since the middle of March except for one Himself and I have been slogging our guts out, digging our new allotment with a little help from Badger Boo although BB's help was mainly in a supervisory capacity.  

When I took our allotment over it had been left for sometime, although it wasn't in as bad an overgrown state as some of the others I looked at. Yes I was lucky, I had the choice of four. 

Looking up the plot.

Looking down the plot.

It's a big plot it's what is know as 10 rods, but our last one was very tiny and as we have such a small garden I wanted the largest I could get, so this can become our garden to sit out in as there is a fabulous community spirit there.

So we set about digging and got some Potato's  planted the first week.

Backbreaking work for Himself :o)

We quickly dug three beds in the bottom quarter, it was backbreaking work as it is over run with Couch Grass. We decided we would work the rest of the plot slowly over the rest of the year, and rid it of as much Couch Grass as we could, then really go for it next year.

As most of you know, neither of us are in the best of health, so we don't want to knock ourselves out, as then we may lose interest. Then the weather changed and the sun came out which is great after the long cold Winter we have had.

BUT

That meant the weeds and couch were growing like wildfire! So we had to cover most of them over and get the rest cut down, our lovely new allotment was looking like The Dingles Homestead in Emmerdale  compared to everyone else's. We've still got to buy a petrol strimmer, so it had to be done by hand with a pair of shears and the first assault  of "Operation Kill the Couch Grass" had began.

It was bloody hard work but we are very pleased with the results.

First part of "Operation Kill the Couch Grass"

We laid tarpaulin to kill off most of the couch grass, when it's all dead we'll dig and get the roots out as it's really resilient stuff. Himself had to sift the couch roots out of the compost, I'd been putting them in there, not knowing it was the wrong thing to do. They are now all happily drowning in the buckets of water and holding down the tarpaulins, so they can be burnt in a few weeks time, on the advice of one of the other allotment holders, they really are a helpful lot there.

A well earned cup of coffee for Himself as he surveys our efforts.

We've been offered the third shed down from our plot (in picture below) it needs a new roof as it has completely rotted but that's easily sorted. It's basically sound for an old shed, so Himself we just need to level a spot for it and find some helpers to shift it. Complete if we can as it may not survive being taken apart. Whatever happens, if it falls apart we can always rebuild a smaller shed with it's wood. I do love a challange to adapt and overcome.

We still have a lot to do, but thanks to the glorious weather over the Bank Holiday weekend we are getting there and our hard work is showing results at last. 

Very pleased with the end result, still loads more to do but we are getting there.

The Apple Tree on the allotment is now in blossom, I'm really looking forward to try out my very own home grown apples later this year. 

I wonder what type of apples these will grow into?

  Now go check out the other links to The Gallery theme The Weekend.

Follow @Miss_Biggun

A Much Needed Break

Last year for my birthday Himself got me one of the box sets for a weekend away, but due to him having had surgery complications soon after we were unable to use it until this year. Although he is still not well and awaiting another operation, we decided we had better get away as:-

 1) We needed a break 

2) It was nearly at it's expiry date

We thought it best to stay fairly local in case he was taken unwell again so we headed off to Windsor, which is approx an hours drive away and we stayed at The Union Inn which is a beautiful place and feels like it's in the middle of nowhere.

The rooms are lovely, modern, very clean with an en-suite and the bed was wonderful, the best two nights sleep I've had in a long time. My only grumble about the room was the lack of a bath, as after a long day on my feet a shower does nothing for my painful arthritic joints, but that's a personal personal preference on my part.

  

So beautifully clean and minimalist. 

The breakfast room was in the oldie worldy bar area with beautiful beams and lovely wood burning stove, I was very remiss and didn't get a picture of it, I still get very shy about taking pictures in front of people. The breakfast was fantastic, although a little large for us and we were unable to finish it 

Our first afternoon was spent wandering around Windsor and popping into the Tourist Information Office to find out what was available in the area, as there were no tourist information leaflets available at the hotel. 

The shopping arcade is in the old train station, and the Tourist Information Office was located in the old ticket office and had most, if not all of it's original features and well worth a visit in it's own right.

This train is called The Queen and is also located in the shopping arcade.

We found The Crooked House of Windsor which is a Tea Room quite by accident, sadly they were closed as I do love a traditional afternoon tea. 

It really is a very crooked building, although I don't think my picture does it justice.

What do you mean it's closed **sad face**

The next day we headed off to Winsdor Castle, I had hoped to go to Legoland that weekend but very pleased we went to the Castle instead. 

What a beautiful place, the staff were so helpful, one asked if I would like the use of a complimentary wheelchair, an offer I accepted and as a result we were able to stay all day, normally I'm so shattered after an hour.

This is where The Queen lives when at Windsor, the cars in the corner passed within 2 feet of us but we couldn't see who was in them as the windows were tinted.

Close up of Guardsmen in the picture above.

This is the beautiful garden of the part of the Castle you can see for miles around. It's in a dry moat and the garden goes nearly all the way around, the waterfall around the other side was beautiful.

We were able to get around and see everything, nowhere was inaccessible, we were directed to the disabled access points without having to ask anyone the way, we also had our very own escort in the State Apartments as we had to go into the private area to use the lift. The only down side was not being allowed to take any pictures inside as it is truly stunning.

We started to feel hungry around lunchtime but there aren't any cafe's or restaurants within Windsor Castle. We collected an armband each and went back into town for something to eat, so I recommend taking a packed lunch. It's not far to the town, but it is a hassle as you have to come back in through security, although it is fast track with an armband.

We then went along to the Chapel which looks more like a Cathedral and saw where the Queen Mother was laid to rest. Such a beautiful building with amazing stained glass. 

We then saw these chaps off to change the guard so like tourist's followed them to watch it. Even though it's something I used to watch most days at work when on gate duty and Himself has taken part in more times than he can remember, but it was different here the red jackets and bearskins are very impressive close up.

If you want to watch the full ceremony of the changing of the guard in the morning, you must arrive early. We were still caught in the queue to get through security when they marched up the High Street from the Bks to the Castle, it was an impressive sight but we missed the full ceremony which is what we had gone to see.

I totally recommend Windsor Castle for a day out, especially if you have mobility issues.

Follow @Miss_Biggun

Silent Sunday

Follow @Miss_Biggun

No Knitting Needles Here

Yesterday I put down my knitting needles and went to the hospital to try some different needles. More of which I will write about in a later post.

Can you think of a caption for my giant knobbly knees and miniature feet? 

Now click the badge and see what other pictures are in need a caption today.

Follow @Miss_Biggun

Spring Has Arrived (finally)

At last Spring has finally arrived in the UK, the apple tree on my allotment is starting to blossom and will soon be a riot of colour.

It's wonderful to feel warm again with new life appearing all round me, now that's definatly something to smile about.

Check out the links to see who else is Smiling  today.

Follow @Miss_Biggun

Self Portrait ~ The Gallery

It's been a while since I last joined in with The Gallery, funny how I don't have so much free time now that I'm Retired, but I'm glad to be back.

I took this picture whilst I was still working last Summer, not sure why but I obviously thought it was a good idea at the time.

So glad that this weeks theme is Self Portrait as now I know why I took the picture lol.

Click on the badge below to take you to the links of everybody else's Self Portraits for this week.

Follow @Miss_Biggun

Silent Sunday

Follow @Miss_Biggun

Photo of The Week

 Had a few days in Windsor this week, what a beautiful place it is. I was really looking forward to a trip to Legoland, but in the end we decided to visit the castle instead.

What a beautiful place, the staff were so helpful, one asked if I would like the use of a complimentary wheelchair, an offer I accepted and as a result we were able to stay all day, normally I'm so shattered after an hour.

We were able to get around and see everything, nowhere was inaccessible, we were directed to the disabled access points without having to ask anyone the way, we also had our very own escort in the State Apartments as we had to go into the private area to use the lift.

I totally reccomend Windsor Castle for a day out if you have mobility issues, I'll defiantly be going again.

Follow @Miss_Biggun