Books

 Jodi Picoult always write a good story, and always about a difficult subject, this was the story of a father who after an accident was on life support, his son, daughter and ex-wife had to decide his future. Whilst the topic of the books was hard, the story was about lives lived, I enjoyed this book. Book 31 read this year.

I love second hand books, I get them from charity shops, online and local selling pages. One recent book purchase online had this inside the cover, look at the beautiful hand writing, don't you want to know who these people are, it's an old garden book, did they love to garden or just look at blooms, it's the same year as the book was published, was it that years must have gift. Oh for a crystal ball. 

My 2021 book has arrived, I got another 30% off and free shipping, so as it was finished, I thought I would take advantage of the savings. I've only imported 4 months of 2022, they updated the site and I'm not loving the new systems. I did say I was going to stop at 10 books, 11 years of post(my 1st book had 2 years together) but Covid changed that, and now I want Molly included in my set of books, she is the last grand child, so they are all in there. 

We had loads of long decking planks left, one of our neighbours said she would like to grow along her sunny fence, beds not too wide, she thought veg, I suggested fruits, they take up less ground space, she loved the idea and came back with measurements for 5 beds, did we have enough, hubby built one bed so they could see if it would work, it did. Hubby is building all of them, using most of the decking, he uses the best bits of the frame for the side corners to hold them together, he is even reusing the old screws, which came out of the decking. Our neighbours hubby has MS and is not able to build them with ease, so my hubby has chosen to help, and at the same time reuse so much of what we don't need. 

We have our date for the hard landscaping, late November which is no problem, for the past few days we have been outside, sorting raised beds, and digging out plants. All my decorative bits are packed in the garage for winter, I have left the bunting out and the string of lights, which are not working, I am hoping it's because it's not dark enough, our lovely neighbour keeps her outside lights on in the darker evenings. 

Storm Agnes did not come far enough east to cause any issues, just a breezy day and a few spots of rain, we had both our Covid and Flu jabs, nice to have them sorted, we both had dentist this week.  I met with an old work mate for lunch on Thursday, I had not seen her this year so far, all's well in her world, lovely photo's of her fast growing granddaughters, just time to chat, we did manage a short walk. Pilates went well, I am really enjoying the classes.

Talking of dentist, ours is lovely, still NHS, and very helpful, sat in waiting room listening as you do, one man was told they do have an open waiting list, but the wait is 3 years, another lady registered with the practice came in with tooth ache, they could not fit her in for a week and was told to call 111. I'm not surprised, just another part of our health care in crisis. We booked our next appointment as we left, knowing nearer the time we will arrange our lives so we don't need to change the appointment. 

Today and tomorrow is all about filling the raised beds, the top soil will arrive this morning, planting shrubs and putting everything tidy. The garden is a mess, there is a huge hole where the decking was, we are moving pots to new homes and ensuring everything is clear for the landscaper.