It’s been another of those weeks when we seem to have had a diary full of appointments.

Monday, I had my follow-up appointment with the dermatologist. I thought I would find out what my mysterious rash was. This was not to be. Apparently, the biopsy results reported things that my rash definitely wasn’t but not what it actually was! I was told that it had ruled out anything to be concerned about so I suppose that’s comforting. I didn’t have a single patch of rash to show and so I have been given an open appointment, which will last 12 months, during which time I can contact the clinic directly rather than needing a GPs referral. Of course the day after a couple of small patches of rash suddenly appeared. The cream that I have seems to knock it back and so for now I will see how things go.

Martyn had another hospital appointment and the dressing on his nose has, at last, been removed. He is happy not to see a patch of white in his peripheral vision.

Our other appointment was a visit from the hairdresser to sort out everyone’s hair. Ruby enjoys the visit,  as the hairdresser comes bearing doggy treats.

Although my shoulder is now fully recovered, Martyn still had trouble with his back and so we still haven’t made it to the allotment. It’s fortunate that we managed to prepare quite a lot of beds in autumn so at least when we want to start planting we will have beds ready to go.

We have made a tentative start to seed sowing. Martyn, has sown our first lot of broad beans. The beans are sown two or three seeds to a pot but won’t be thinned out. If both seeds emerge, they will be planted together as one plant which works just fine for us.

Martyn, also sowed some red onions. We’ve never had much success growing red onions from sets and so are having a go with seeds. Propagator lids have been placed over the seeds as if they are left uncovered mice tend to dig the seeds up.

Whilst I was in the greenhouse, I noticed that the pot of forget-me-nots is starting to flower. Each year, once flowering is over, I shake the seed heads back into the tub so that we will have a display the following year.

I love the blue of the flowers.

Another plant with lovely blue flowers that is beginning to flower in the garden, is a pulmonaria.

A couple of years ago we bought a hippeastrum, or if you prefer an amaryllis bulb. I’m not sure which is the currently favoured name. After it had flowered we kept the bulb growing and this seems to have, finally, paid off as I noticed a new flower bud emerging. We’ve never managed to get a bulb to flower twice so I potted it up in some fresh compost and am waiting to see what happens.

A pair of blue tits kept us amused last week, as they spent several days fussing around our neighbours car mirror. They seemed to be trying to work out how to get to the bird that appeared to be hiding inside the mirror. I’m guessing that they intend to nest nearby, hopefully in one of our nesting boxes,  and weren’t happy to come across a prospective competitor. Martyn posted a video here.Martyn posted a video here.

One bird we weren’t amused by, that suddenly arrived the previous week and I forgot to mention, was a heron. Martyn, spotted it landing in our pond as we sat eating breakfast. There are no photos as we wanted to scare it away quickly before it decided on a fish for its breakfast. We’re hoping that it hasn’t paid any previous visits and grabbed any fish. The fish are all keeping fairly low in the water so it’s difficult to see whether any are missing. The pond is now covered with a large net to thwart any more attempts to attack the fish. It’s not very pretty but better than sacrificing any fish.

Our meals for the week included a vegetable stew that used a variety of our vegetables. Onion, squash, carrot, parsnip, garlic and some of our frozen peas along with a bought sweet potato and celery were cooked in vegetable stock with a little Worcestershire sauce and mixed herbs.

We has a vegetable stir fry into which went our onions, garlic, carrot, frozen green beans, sweet corn and peas. I also added some shop bought  pepper, chestnut mushrooms and spinach. I added some sweet chilli sauce and served it on a bed of noodles.

Finally, we had a chicken and parsnip dish that used some of our parsnip and onions. It was served with a baked potato.

That’s all my news for this week. Maybe next week we’ll have some news of a plot visit – who knows?

As always stay safe and well