A Wet Friday

It really is flaming June - flaming awful! It started off nice but now summer has set in and it's showers galore. Gone are the warm balmy days and evenings. Now it is drizzling and cool, ideal weed growing weather and just watch the grass shoot up! Of course it's too wet to cut it too - typical!
I am sorry I've not blogged for a while, just not been in a blogging mood I suppose. So make yourself comfortable for one of my rambles through my life recently.

I am still thrilled to bits with my washing machine and it's easy to use and get the clothes just right. I have bought myself a new rotary airer to go in the garden but it needs the spike putting in. Any tips on how to get it upright? My old one never was straight and the airer had this interesting tilt to it but no tourists came to see it like they visit Pisa. It was just a bit frustrating when the heaviest washing swung it round to the lowest point. I'd bend down to get the next garment to hang up and find the thing had swung away from where I was pegging :( hmm must be some invisible force working on it maybe I repel wet clothes? Anyway, it's not much use in this spell of damp weather.

How do I dry my washing? The good old tumble dryer! I have those large prickly balls in it to help dry washing quicker but they do make a bit of a racket, especially if you only have a small load of washing in with them. "Clonk, clonk, rumble, clonk"
I think they are a great invention but it's very frustrating when you empty out the dryer and find one's gone missing! Sod's Law says you'll find it in the deepest corner of the duvet cover or tangled up in your delicate sweater where it leaves you with an interesting bulge in the dry garment, making it look like something bespoke for the Hunchback of Notre Dame!

What did you say? "How's the knee?" well.... The injection is not a total success but not a failure either. It has helped lessen the pain quite dramatically and I have been walking a lot easier. The severe pain has gone and I am back to the dull ache with the occasional twinge stage. In fact, now the pain is so much better in my right knee, I am now aware of how much the left is also hurting! While the agony was all in the right knee I had not noticed pain in the left! But I can now feel that too! *sigh* It has helped me moving around at home and I have made quite a few dog walks without my stick. Jen noticed a difference in my appearance saying I looked younger! I was not screwing my face up in pain any more! Of course I'd also had my hair done so that helped a bit too!

Honey has been a worry to me. She's been back to the vet for a leg check up and I thought she was doing well, but they were concerned the bones in the bottom of the wrist have not fully fused to their satisfaction. As soon as we tried to get her to go faster than a walk she started limping :( I have to take her back in just over two weeks from now but they may have to operate again! If they do, it will be to have more bone grafts inserted and an internal plate pinned in place :-( The vet said it would be done as a continuation of the first op and I'd only have to pay for the materials used, they would not charge for their time. Big of them eh? The biggest thing worrying me is having to go back to square one with recovery, rest and limited walkies again just when we were starting to extend her exercise sessions :(

VERY mixed Morris Dancing

Holly Copse Molly

The weekend before last was Wessex Folk Festival in Weymouth, although I didn't go. John and Roz went, as Roz was dancing in old Weymouth. It's a lovely setting for the festival with narrow twisty lanes and open squares with the harbour full of boats as a backdrop. The festival is largely free to attend and a grand weekend it is too!

Last weekend was Wimborne Folk Festival with mixed fortunes. Friday and Saturday were well attended, despite all the efforts of others in and around Wimborne putting on their own folky entertainment for the weekend. I am sorry, but claiming to 'support' the festival by putting on an event in direct competition to the festival is not a good thing. Even the local theatre had a folky concert on the Saturday night, drawing people away from the genuine Festival concerts. All the town pubs have marquees in their gardens with music on all weekend, cashing in on the crowds drawn in by the Folk Festival advertising.

Dorset Buttons at the Green Man

The Sunday was a total wash out :-( Traders left early as the steady rain stopped all the street shoppers from browsing and buying. The dance sides moved indoors where possible, but there were not the crowds to support them and make donations in the collecting tins. We all hope the festival can survive the bad weather, and all the competing events, to continue for years to come.

We went to Ringwood Folk Club again on Tuesday to see Mike O'Connor, accompanied by Barbara Griggs on harp. What a beautiful evening's music we had. Fabulous songs and music charmed us all. Next one up at Ringwood is the comic poet Les Barker - definitely not to be missed!

I was up at 7.30 this morning to make sure I was up and dressed in time for the man from Wessex Water. I have a 5 bedroomed house with high council tax banding so I've been paying a fortune for my water which is based on banding. As Jenny is only home for half the week usually, I am paying for 5+ people's water use when there's really only 1.6 people living here. So I have taken the plunge to change over to a water meter! My sister's water bill dropped from £80 a month to £12 when she switched, so I am hoping for a similar reduction here. The very nice young man turned up after 10 and it took him all of 5 minutes to attach the meter so I am now being metered.

For the record, it has been raining for hours here, and is still raining. Steady fine rain, with heavier bursts at intervals, giving the previously parched gardens a thorough soaking. Just watch the grass and weeds shoot up!

I hope you and I get some more sunshine before too long. Have a great weekend whatever you're up to xxx

And finally...

 a short poem from Les Barker

Disaster at sea

It was a calm, still day in Yarmouth,
The channel clear and wide,
As the last of the timber sailing ships
Sailed out on the evening tide.

They never saw that ship again;
They searched when it was light,
But that fine old timber vessel sank
That clear and peaceful night.

No one knows what happened
On that night in 1910;
But the crew and her cargo of woodpeckers
Were never seen again.