Start the Healing

After losing February - details here - we’re ready to start now. Looking on the bright side, at least we were out of action through a dreadfully wet month so we probably didn’t miss that much plot-time. It’s been great to have a few short visits to the plot during this warm start to March.

These anemones are the only colour on the plot so far. We were pleasantly surprised that the weeds haven’t grown too wild in our absence. The leeks haven’t grown either, which is rather disappointing, so we’ll probably pull them quite soon but there may be a few worth harvesting.

There are a few signs of Spring in the hedge, but it’s still early. The new growth on the sedum is appearing at the base of last year’s stems. I’ll chop the old stems off at our next visit. A little bit of weeding needed in that pot too - maybe Jamie can do that to help his rehabilitation (I’m not sure I’ll get away with that suggestion too often 😉)

Yesterday (8th March) we sowed the following and they’re under the grow-light in the hallway:

5 x Redcurrant Tomatoes (several seeds per pot)

20 x Lark Sweetcorn (in root trainers)

1x All Green Bush courgette

Hoping for better germination of the sweetcorn than we had last year, but we’ve started early just in case. If everything grows well we’ll move it to the polytunnel and can offer some additional frost protection if needed. It is feeling very Springlike, with lovely misty mornings and the birds are very active.

The weather is meant to go cold again, but this lovely gift parcel from Cousin Jen includes fingerless mittens which will be most useful and the seeds for scattering should provide a bitof extra colour to our flower bed. What a lovely treat to find when we returned home from an exhausting A&E day, when we discovered Jamie has a chest infection 🙁  Lucky I have a few more days of leave already booked.

Korn provide the song title.

February Came and Went

February disappeared in a whirl of wind and rain - it wasn’t allotment weather but we weren’t available anyway….

3rd Feb: I was working from home when I heard Jamie drop something three times in the bedroom. I wondered what he was up to, so went through. That was the start of the nightmare. I couldn’t understand what he was saying and then I saw that his left side was paralysed. It was very clear that he was having a stroke so I knew to act fast. I called 999 - the first time I’ve ever had to - within 20 minutes the ambulance arrived.

After some initial tests the ambulance whisked us off to the Great Western Hospital in Swindon. In A&E there was a crowd of hospital staff asking Jamie questions and I had to answer most of them, as he couldn’t talk/think clearly.

Jamie was wheeled off for scans to see what had occurred. They determined that he had a blood clot on the right-hand side of his brain - an ischaemic stroke. The doctor advised of the treatments available, highlighting the worst case scenarios - I suppose it’s better to be forewarned, but it was extremely scary. We had to agree to the clot-busting medicine being pumped into Jamie’s arm. This thrombolysis can cause further brain damage for some patients but how could we refuse something that might clear the clot? They quickly started pumping the drug into him. Some time later staff crowded round to check whether Jamie could swallow and, thank goodness, he was able to.

After close monitoring it was decided to send him to the Hyper Acute Stroke Unit at Bristol’s Southmead Hospital. Six blurry hours after the 999 call Jamie was in surgery having a thrombectomy to remove as much of the clot as possible. We were informed of even more frightening possible effects of this surgery but we agreed that doing nothing wasn’t an option. While Jamie was in surgery I wandered the hospital corridors and attempted sleep in various communal areas. It’s a 10 year old hospital, beautifully designed, with lots of space, but not a great place to spend a night -  however our car was 60 miles away at home… I was waiting for a call from the surgery team after 10:30pm. They were long anxious hours - the worst night ever.

4th Feb: At 3:30am I finally received the call to say that most of the clot had been removed. Jamie was in recovery and I could go to see him. On the surgical ward the surgeon spoke to me and again warned that they couldn’t determine how much brain damage (ugh, that phrase) had been caused. I didn’t know what condition he’d be in so I couldn’t have been more relieved when he opened his eyes and actually spoke to me. I wasn’t allowed to stay long so left him to sleep. So grateful to my nephew and sister for collecting me at about 9am and taking me home, to sleep. 

Later that day I was being advised by my worried family that I should rest and stay home. We didn’t know how Jamie was or if he was conscious but I knew I had to see him so I drove back to Bristol in the evening. After such a terrible previous day, it was a very positive visit. Jamie was pretty chirpy and eating. Though he was dropping off to sleep mid-sentence, the nurses were already talking about him starting his recovery exercises!  I visited each day and, although confused, Jamie was talking and enjoying the food at Bristol.

6th Feb: Jamie was moved back to Swindon’s Great Western Hospital to the Hyper Acute Stroke ward. Just 20 minutes from home so it was great that I could visit him twice a day and work from home between visits. His speech and movement were improving at every visit. The nurses were moving him to the chair to eat and I chopped his food so he could eat, otherwise he ended up wearing most of his food! The doctors were confident of a full recovery in time.

A week after the stroke he took his first steps using the Zimmer frame and nearly ran off down the ward - I heard the physiotherapist shouting ‘Stop Jamie!’ 😊

14th February Jamie was moved to Reading’s Royal Berkshire Hospital for his final rehabilitation before he could be sent home. The therapists spent time working on his strength and movement along with speech and occupational therapy. They got him to make a cup of coffee and he was regularly doing a couple of miles on an exercise bike. 

19th February and he was walking with a stick. The therapists worked with him daily which was exhausting but improvements continued and he even practiced some walking in the gym without a stick, but his balance isn’t very good.

26th February: Jamie came home with me, a week earlier than expected. A day after our 37th anniversary, but still a celebration ❤️

So Jamie’s now under the care of the Early Supported Discharge (ESD) unit - thank goodness for the protection of our NHS. They’ll offer care and rehabilitation for up to six weeks. We’ve had four different therapists and a nurse to visit, along with deliveries of support equipment for ease of washing, etc. 

The cause of the stroke isn’t yet known but we are expecting some test results to help with that. The best thing is that he’s home and continuing to progress slowly but surely. With medication, exercise, care and a reasonable Spring and Summer we expect a return to full health. 💜

Paranoid

I’ve just enjoyed a lunch of celeriac soup. Very tasty with rose harissa and tarragon for additional flavour. 

I used my new hand blender and wish I’d grown the ingredients, but only the garlic was home-grown. We’ve grown celeriac before but never a giant like this! It’s a bit tricky to grow and to be honest I think I’ll stick to buying the occasional one rather than trying again. This giant has made 4 days lunch and a quarter was also included in a root vegetable stew which covered two days meals. I think I’ve had enough celeriac for a while!

I did have some tarragon growing on the plot, but am not sure if it’s still there. It has a slightly aniseed flavour which I love, so I’m seeing if I can root some of the fresh stuff I bought - I only thought to do this after it had been in the fridge for a few days … so it may not work…

You can see the grey sky in that photo - it’s been dull, cold and grey like that for a few days now so we’ve stayed inside. I’ve been working on the planting plan - it’s bound to change and needs a bit more work.

The climbing beans are going to grow up wigwams this year and I’m going to very carefully label them after last year’s mix-up between climbers and dwarf plants 🙄

The squashes are going to provide a squash tunnel again. I’ve bought some Sharks Fin Melon Fig-Leaved Gourd seeds. They sound interesting don’t they, they’re a courgette rather than Winter squash. We’ll probably grow two kinds of climbing Winter squash and two other types of bush courgette.

I wonder if the weather will be more conducive to growth this year….time will tell…

Talking of weather, we had a bit more snow a week ago.

We visited the plot the next day, to drop off some compost and see how things are faring. The garlic and leeks are looking rather sad, but hopefully they’ll recover. And we were sorry to see some of the broad beans have been frosted - should have fleeced them - but they are pretty resilient (usually).

The ground was solid and the snow was covering the hills. We didn’t hang around!

We didn’t visit site for 10 days. Work has started the year busier than 2024 ended so I’m back staring at my screen for 8hours most days. I don’t mind as long as I have my hot water bottle, blanket and the curtains pulled 🤭 And I have my celestial mug (thanks George) and space-themed desk cover to keep my mind on why I’m creating spreadsheets!

We popped to the allotment on Friday and were shocked to see what appeared to be Round-Up (weed killer) footprints leading from the top of site directly to our plot. We don’t think we have any enemies, but the footprints literally tracked around plot 7, onto plot 8 and down to plot 3 stopping at our compost bin!

The worst thoughts enter your head when you think you’ve been sabotaged so I emailed Nia, our chair. She pointed out that it could be frost damage if someone had walked that way when there was frost/snow on the ground. Ah… that would be us then! 🤪 No wonder the route was so targeted!! A perfect opportunity for Black Sabbath to provide the title song. Look at Ozzy Osbourne!

Party’s Over

Tonight is the twelfth night; the decorations are now down and our living room looks rather bare. Yesterday evening we got snow, so that was good timing as a few Christmas lights were still up.

We had to go for a walk in it as we weren’t expecting it to stay long.

We only walked a mile through the snowy streets.

And there weren’t many people out.

All the snow has gone now as we’ve returned to rain, but it made a nice change (some parts of Britain are expecting substantially more than us).

Before the snow arrived we’ve had some very cold and frosty days. Friday afternoon the Moon and Venus were shining really bright in the freezing clear sky (photo clearly doesn’t do it justice!).

On Thursday morning, before I returned to working, we popped up the frosty plot to pick sprouts. 

Brrrr, -4° so we didn’t hang around.

Jamie made bubble and squeak to eat with a nut loaf I’d made - thanks to Janet, my hairdresser, for the recipe which included cashews, walnuts and chestnuts, with a splosh of red wine. Delish!

So there’s a nice start to the new year. I wonder what else it has to offer - all good things, I hope.

Now, where are those seed catalogues?! 

Song title provided by Rag ‘n’ Bone Man.