DO WE HAVE BLUEBERRIES?

Late last summer (about March I think) I planted two tiny blueberry shrubs into pots. No specific reason to do this except that I wasn't willing to pay the exhorbitant price for a tiny punnet of the fruit which was being sold at the time. I felt sure it would not be a short term exercise as having done some homework on the 'net' found it could be 3 to 4 years before these tiny plants were able to bear fruit.

Think I did the right things by making the soil acid for them and giving them 'treats' of seaweed tonics and the like and watched with interest as one of them in particular grew new shoots at a very quick rate. The notes on the 'net' which I'd consulted indicated that blueberries didn't mind a bit of frost in the winter so I knew they'd be OK being left where I had them. (Incidentally we've only had about 3 frosts so far this winter but we could get a few more into August).

I was rather surprised then to find little buds forming and the prettiest little pink 'bell' flowers breaking open all over the plants. Dozens of flowers and so tiny and petite. Saw a few native birds trying desperately to hang on to the flimsy twiggy branches to reach the nectar they obviously produce and wondered if the little shrubs would even survive the onslaught! LOL

To my great surprise on a recent morning when I was wandering in the garden having a look to see what was doing, I noticed what I think might be tiny berries. I guess time will tell - and because this is my first experience with growing anything in this line - but it looks at present as though there's quite a crop there. If they survive to ripeness then I suspect they will be ready long before the autumn season 2010 I had thought they'd be. In any event, we are looking forward to enjoying some home grown blueberries on our cereal if that happens.

Have a blessed day!

I'LL BE OFF THE AIR FOR A WHILE

While I'm not necessarily anxious to announce to the world, I wanted to let those of you who read my journal occasionally know, that I'll be having surgery to my lower spine next week. It's a kind of 'repeat performance' if you like, having similar 5 1/2 years ago - this time it's just in a different part of my spine. I have a very good surgeon and I have faith in my God that He will be with me and guide the minds and hands of all those who have responsibility for my surgery. It means though that apart from being in hospital for about 6 days, I'll not be tapping away at my computer for a bit after that. The rehabilitation is lengthy and last time I found it rather slow but sitting for long periods of time is a 'no-no' until my back gets a bit stronger.

This I will miss - I spend lots of time doing all sorts of bits and pieces - from family history, to corresponding and keeping up with my friends spread all around the world, and all sorts of other activities that internet surfing leads one to.

But I will be back! Just don't know how long it will take.

Meantime, take care my friend, and blessings!

TWO SURPRISES IN ONE DAY – ONE GOOD, ONE BAD and a little bit of Hogmany

I walked to the Post Office this morning instead of driving. Not very far – about 40 minutes there and back. A surprise package awaited me and I could hardly wait to get home to open it. It was a New Year gift and came from Scotland from a lady I’ve recently met through my family history website. She decided she wanted to search for her family and through the internet found that we share the same Great Grandparents. It has been an exciting few weeks of introduction and comparing notes. Interestingly, we share many of the same interests apart from genealogy. She explained in a note with the gift, the Scottish tradition of ‘First Footing’ or as she says in Edinburgh, ‘First Fittin’.

On Hogmany (night of Dec 31st) visits are made to relatives and friends. At the New Year bells, the first foot should be tall, dark and handsome to bring good luck to the house. It is tradition to bring a dram of whisky, a piece of coal and salt or perhaps some ‘clootie dumpling’. The whisky to toast the health of the host, the coal to put on the fire and bring warmth and something to eat so that the house will not go hungry. Her gift was a bottle of very fine Scotch whisky to help us bring in the New Year. Somehow, I don’t think our New Year celebrations will stretch to anything like that after my second surprise late this afternoon!

I went outside to remove the dead heads from the rose bushes – good for the compost heap. It has been another hot day – temperature reaching to about 35 degrees Celsius and it was still very warm. I was probably not thinking about what I was doing – I often daydream while in the garden – even now I’m not sure exactly how it happened – but I found myself in pain on the ground, my knees, elbows and nose being the most painful. I was anxious about my glasses and my teeth but both seemed OK. I gingerly moved myself over to my back and as I lay there on the hot pavers, tried to assess the real damage. From the top down I realized my nose was feeling ‘squashed’ and my lip was cut. Elbow on my right arm stung from a graze and my wrist was painful. Left arm seemed OK. Both knees were also stinging and I felt sure they were grazed too but on closer inspection when I was able to get up into a sitting position, they looked OK but bruising beginning to show. The biggest surprise when I looked further down as the pain began to hit hard was my big toe on my right foot. What a sight it looks! I won’t begin to describe it as it’s rather nasty. When I’d gathered my wits about me I realized that I had tripped on the top step of three which takes us from grassed area to paving below. I shakily made my way into the house and relayed the news to DH who is having a few days off work. A trip to the medical centre has proved inconclusive but an X-Ray was taken and I’m to go back for an appointment tomorrow get the results and the possibility of having the toe nail removed.

As I write this journal, it’s 1am – yes I have been to bed but can’t sleep. Somehow I think this is going to be a very long night!

BREAST CANCER SITE AND OTHER THINGS

Well if you remember correctly when I began this last spell of blogging I did say I wondered how long I could keep it up. I’ve been ‘shown up’ horribly haven’t I? First of all I had surgery to my knee – and you all know how that stops one typing on a computer! Then I got another flu bug which laid me low for 3 days, hardly getting myself out of bed – and that also had an effect on my typing abilities. So you see I do have great excuses – if only they were the true reason. I’d say I’ve just been hugely lazy with this supposedly regular journaling. I’ll try to do better in future. But I do have to reiterate - I’m still wondering how long I can keep it up. Maybe those of you who know me could give me a gentle prod now and again to keep me going!

Recently a relative sent me a link to a breast cancer website where all one has to do is click a pink button and hey presto, a paid mammogram has been given for somebody who is unable to afford one. I thought this was a great idea and immediately went to the site and clicked away. I sent this link to my contacts by email and really expected that some of them would probably also ‘give by clicking.’ I had one unexpected reply however which simply pooh-poohed the whole thing. It set me back a bit I’ve got to say and I had to question whether the website was legit and really did what it claimed to do. How do you find out about these things? Do you just keep ‘clicking away on a daily basis’ to keep the mammograms rolling out? Well, I’ve got to say I’ve been doing that – despite the tiny niggle in the back of my mind which says it may be a futile exercise. But then my positive thoughts begin to crowd out the negative ones and I reckon a click on a pink button is probably worth doing – there’s always a chance that it actually does provide for some women who otherwise wouldn’t have that opportunity to check for a life threatening condition.

The same thing I guess applies to ‘giving a pink ribbon’ on some other popular websites. This particular application hopes to reach the 3 million ribbons being given, attached to messages or emails. If nothing else, at least these are reminders of what a threat breast cancer can be to many thousands of women each year and helps us to remember and promote this fact through our blogging, messaging, or emailing.

Does anybody out there in cyberspace land know if there’s a similar thing going for men’s prostate cancer?