Bee Orchid's most appreciated articles

Over the weekend I phoned my kid sister; we both have ‘free’ calls on the weekend if we natter for under an hour. Is it Saturday already she asked? No, I truthfully replied; it’s Sunday. It was her turn to call, and somehow, she’d lost a day. She’s not working, medically retired, however her partner works so he must know what day it is. How can one lose a day? A whole day? It got me thinking about time. When we natter, I have to keep an eye on the time because if we go over the hour, we get char…

This week we’ve had a small invasion of ladybirds in the garden. Not hordes, but more than I’ve seen in a good many years and Thursday I had to shut all the windows as they were crawling up the windows, the kitchen wall, and the back door. Weird. Only one landed on me as I was hanging out washing and I was able to encourage it to fly off. They’re pretty enough, and harmless (I think) though it’s slightly creepy to see them crawling up the windows. One time, whilst staying at a Tai Chi retreat…

Despite the promise of warmer temperatures, and sunnier days, it’s starting to feel very autumnal here. I don’t know if it’s the wildly swinging temperature, or the heavy rainfall and high winds, but this morning, whilst walking the dog, I was kicking through leaves as if it were autumn already. Having said that, in the UK, it will be autumn soon it just seems to have come around quickly this year. The weather made me think of my Grandparents. For a time, we lived with them during the breaku…

Now that Christmas is over with for another year, I’ve started to go through the cupboards to see what I haven’t used in a long while. With a move this year, it seems prudent to do this and if I haven’t used something in ages, then I clearly don’t need it. The attic has been cleared out, now it’s the turn of the cupboards. I took 2 carrier bags of serving bowls and vases to the local charity shop. Nice items, however they have no monetary or sentimental value to me, so somebody else will hop…

Well, we’ve had some extreme weather here and no mistake. Recently, we’ve had 2 weather warnings, I did some shopping to be safe, and it came to nothing. This time, I did just a little top up shop, and we’re now snowed in. I have bread in the freezer but running low on milk and I don’t have any eggs or fresh meat. Oh well, I’ll manage and there’s quite a bit of food in the freezer and there’s always pasta. As I’m typing, the power has dipped, twice. OMG. I was having a long weekend off from vis…

Life is made up of moments: Moments when we’re troubled – when a loved one drops a bombshell. Moments when we’re ecstatically happy – the birth of a child. Moments when we’re sad – the death of a loved one. Moments when we’re blissful – when the world just is. Moments of anguish – a cross word at the wrong time. Moments of frustration – when people don’t do their job correctly. Moments when we’re content – cosied up in a chair with a warm drink, watching the world through the window. Moments of…

Here, the weather has been very changeable. Monday, we had a very hard frost and my bedroom got down to 13C. The cold was making me cough and I got up at 4am and put the heating on. Tuesday it rained, heavily, most of the day but at least it was warmer. Wednesday it drizzled, all day long. We then had some frost on the car late in the night. Thursday has started damp. It’s hard to know what to wear from one day to the next. My landlord was supposed to call over on Wednesday to ‘measure up’ f…

…On a wet and windy Sunday morning. Now and again, I open YouTube and just see what’s available. I’ve been listening to Gerry Rafferty – Get it right next time, it really speaks to me – when I noticed an ‘ad’ for Enigma. Man, that took me back, and I spent half hour or so listening to various Enigma tracks before bed. It left me feeling very mellow, and Saturday night, in spite of the rain lashing against the windows, I slept well. Although I like Enigma, and more contemporary music too, my favo…

Growing up, I was lucky enough to live in a multi-generational home. My Grandmother died when I was in my early teens, cancer, and my Grandfather was struggling, living on his own. Oh, he could cook, do his own laundry and so on, but after a while it became clear that he wasn’t looking after himself very well. He was living in a 3-bedroomed council house, as were we, with my mother. They approached the council, and offered to swap the 2 houses, for one 4-bedromed house. I can’t remember how long…

We’ve all heard of the Oscars, and film and TV awards, to name but a few, however I’ve decided to hold my own awards. I’ve mulled things over, and below, in no particular order, are the prize winners. The award for Destroying Various Kitchen Items goes to my son, who in just a few short years, has destroyed no less than 5 items, the most notable being a cast iron pan. I’ve never known anyone who has managed to destroy one of these. I hope for kitchen paraphernalia everywhere, that his title r…

Today, I was in touch with my boss from the campus where I used to work. Regular readers will know that I used to work in Education - teacher training (and the hated Psychology area). Apparently, after 5 years of work and bids, the Welsh government has turned down each and every teacher training course that they applied for. Basically, it means that they’ve been axed. There are still courses that need to run on and finish, but no new courses now, and I’m sure, job losses will follow. I checke…

I’ve commented before about the pro’s of living near a town centre; easy access to shops, library, GP and so on, the con of living here, is also proximity to all the shops and of course the people. For over a week, the freaking circus was in town and we had our ears assaulted by an a-hole with a megaphone and pounding music. The music might have been nice, but all we heard was the boom-boom of it due to the bass being turned up too high. Each night there were 2 shows by the sounds of it, with ev…

Although I’m part of the human race – a declaration my son does occasionally doubt – I often find myself people watching in a rather detached manner. Wednesday, my son had to attend a ‘module choice’ talk in readiness for year 3, the final year of his degree. He was only going to be about half hour, so I parked up, had a wander around the shops in the area, then sat in the car to wait. Before long I received a text stating he’d be at least another 20 minutes, so I angled my car mirrors, and simp…

I’m a dreamer, always was, always will be. I don’t see it as a character flaw, or something to be proud of, I just am. In my youth, I’d like nothing better than window shopping in stores I couldn’t afford; just looking at nice things and hoping one day that I’d be able to afford them. My then husband was so down to earth it was scary, and I do seem to attract that type; so opposite to myself. I once went to a shopping mall, a few years ago, and simply wandered around a department store looking a…

My kid sister is a hoarder. I’m talking big time here. Furniture, books, material, statues – what’s that about? Seriously, she could open a mausoleum with the creepy-arse statues she has in her home. I love her to bits, like her too, but her house never feels comfortable to me due to so much stuff in it. What got me thinking about this? I had to renew the house insurance ready for next month, and although I have some nice furniture here, nothing I own is of significant value. Whilst I like my…

Despite having driven around only 2,000 miles since my MOT (road worthiness test) a year ago, my d*mn car failed and I had to have new brakes; an expense I didn’t need. It’s been 4 weeks now since my neurology appointment and I’ve heard nothing whatsoever from them. I’d made an appointment to see my GP which I’ve waited 2 weeks for. I arrived 5 minutes early, booked in, and was told they were running on time. 30 minutes later I asked how much longer they would be and was told I was next. In…

These past few days I wouldn’t say that I’m bored, however I have felt at a loose end. The weather has improved somewhat and whilst glorious sunshine hasn’t been much in abundance, neither has wind and rain for which I’m grateful. Since Thursday I’ve dusted and vacuumed the whole house, cleaned the bathroom, been grocery shopping, done laundry including the ironing… I’ve taken the Ship’s Dog for a good walk to the further park today, the TV is boring me, I’m almost finished yet another book and…

We’ve had some rain here, and with the snow slowly but surely melting, things are back to what passes for normal around here. I was surprised to note that our road had been visited by a snowplough and gritter, though not that surprised to see that the snow had been piled up at both ends of the road. So, travelling along our road was a breeze, however getting out of the street was a non-starter unless you had a 4x4. How stupid! We were all snowed in for 3 days; Sunday wasn’t too bad if you were c…

Now that my new GP surgery has my medical records, finally, I decided to bite the bullet and ask for a referral to Neurology. I saw my GP Monday, described my symptoms, the fact that I’d seen a neurologist, however briefly, in Wales and that far from getting better, my symptoms have recently worsened. Last week I stumbled up the stairs, twice, and recently banged my head on the sizeable fridge door handle after misjudging where it was – I’d dropped something, picked it up, and brought tears to m…

Money, we’re told, is the root of all evil, meaning all wrongdoings can be traced back to the excessive attachment of money. But what is excessive? Is wanting enough money, and more, to live a comfortable life excessive? What level of comfort are we talking? I wouldn’t want a mansion to be honest, but something with a bigger garden and kitchen would be nice. The popular song by the Flying Lizards states ‘what it don’t get, I can’t use.’ Whilst love is good, it doesn’t pay the bills and there’…