Bee Orchid's most appreciated articles

After last year’s Christmas blog, I’ve been feeling pressured to come up with something along the same vein, however I’m not feeling it. It’s been a year of great upheaval, and without being maudlin, loss too. Not one person has wished me Happy Christmas whilst I’ve been out, and I suspect this harks back to my previous blog; people being afraid to cause offence. Not one house in my street has any decorations in their windows, nor on their house. In my previous street, there were a number of nei…

My son and I will happily confess to being foodies. We eat to live, though if we can enjoy preparing, and eating, our food then so much the better. Of late, we’ve been cutting back on the meat for various reasons and have enjoyed sourcing, and trying, different recipes. Invariably though, we’ve sometimes returned to old favourites and simply substituted pulses for the meat. Last time we had chicken tagine we didn’t enjoy it so much, so recently I left out the chicken and the chicken stock cu…

After a hiccup, I finally had my NHS health test. Some 9 years late lol, though maybe my previous health centre in Wales didn’t run them, who knows. Mostly all is good, and my heart attack risk is low, although my blood sugar levels are borderline not good at all. I had hoped the nurse and I could discuss diet and why my levels could possibly be higher than is normal considering I rarely eat sugar in any form, but all she was able to do was point me to some websites. Normally, the check-up is do…

Plans never seem to work for me. I plan something, and it invariably goes pear-shaped so now, I rarely bother. This week however, the Plan was to go to my sister’s house, follow her to the garage for some work her car needed, then we’d go shopping in my car and have lunch. Well, as always, the plan didn’t work. I arrived to find her on the phone, looking very stressed. Her car wouldn’t start. Dead as a doornail as they say (what is a doornail?) The breakdown people wouldn’t arrive for almost 2 h…

Today, Friday, I turned 60. I admit I was a tad apprehensive; the big birthdays are sometimes fraught, however it turned out to be a good day, a very good day. My son bought me a bottle of Remy Martin cognac. When I was working, I was fortunate enough to be sent overseas no less than 3 times many decades ago. Only for a weekend jaunt, however each time, I would come back with as much duty free as was legal and affordable. I‘ve not had Remy Martin in decades, so this was a lovely treat. My good f…

After almost a week of fine weather, plenty of sunshine, and warm temperatures, we succumbed to rain here on Thursday and decidedly cooler temperatures. It was nice while it lasted. I’ve had a week of laundry being dried outside, and no heating on. Bliss. The next week is forecast to be damp and cooler, more like March, in truth. I can’t believe it’s already March! After many weeks in anticipation, I finally received a gift that was bought for me back in January. It was a book of poetry, and…

Monday, I had another 90-minute opticians’ appointment. I aced my Fields Test, the pressure tests were good, and more eyeball photos were also good. My cleaning regime is already showing some improvement in the eyelid area too. To cut to the chase, I don’t have glaucoma – huge sigh of relief – though I do have cataracts. The one in my right eye is very small and my vision there isn’t bad, so although I may need surgery some years from now, they’ll leave that one alone for now. The cataract in my…

On Wednesday I felt compelled to apologise most of the day for problems that were not of my making. I was on our other campus for candidate exams and apologised that the room we were in was in a state of being half painted. I kept the door open as long as I could to dispel the stink of paint. I then apologised that a server we needed was down. This wasn’t our server so it was completely out of my control but candidates had to complete a paper exam rather than a computer based one. I was given ‘d…

On Saturday, on a whim, I decided to make some cherry jam. A couple of supermarkets are selling them at a reduced cost, and I (used to) love making jam, marmalade, chutney… Anyway, I got everything ready which took an age! You try stoning over a kg of cherries lol. The jam was bubbling away but showed no sign of reaching setting point. I used to have a jam thermometer, but I followed the instructions for it one time, followed them to the letter, and the damn thing went ping when it touched the j…

Dumping Fred © Fran C 2007 Recently I noticed that I was being followed, I’ll call him Fred. A few times I went out to my car and Fred was lurking there. My son was afraid of him, but he just irritated me. Some mornings he’d be there, waiting, other mornings he was nowhere in sight. I noticed that once or twice last week he followed me to my son’s school, and then to work. When I finished work, he was still there! He never seemed to get tired or bored of waiting for me. On Wednesday, my s…

Today, Friday, the Ship is being buffeted and blown about. Outside the sun is shining and we have fluffy clouds scudding across the sky, but get outside, and it’s a stiff breeze and none too warm either. Maybe later I’ll hang some laundry from the rigging. Still no word from the pensions people, and earlier in the week, I gave notice that I’ll need to access some of my treasure. I’ll have to chase them next week, preferably with a cutlass and threats of the plank. Makes me see red… Food ha…

It’s a scorcher here and no mistake. The Ship’s Dog is sunning himself on the deck, though I won’t allow him to do that for much longer. An area, which has been shut off from the Ship’s Dog, has been ‘treated’ to some weed killer, and I’ve been up the rigging twice to hang out laundry. I’ve strimmed the front garden – lost the Ship references there – and have left the strimmer out for the recycling, or scrap merchants; whoever claims it first. I was happily strimming and thought: I smell burning…

Well, it’s Friday again, and we’ve been installed at the new Ship for a little over 2 weeks now. I had hoped to install a plank for those that are ‘naughty’ but I’m having trouble deciding where to place it. Off the galley roof seems like a plan to me though a quick splat onto the concrete may prove to be less satisfying that a dip into the briny now that we’re landlocked. Having said that, there are plenty of canals here so a trip out in the lifeboat to a canal, and a makeshift plank could well…

Rich I tell you! For years I’ve been sailing the seven seas (what does that actually mean?) looting and pillaging trying to make my fortune. I’ve seen off other pirates and landlubbers alike, dug for buried treasure on lonely tropical islands, made scurvy dogs walk the plank, and all I had to do was work hard to make my fortune. The Ship’s Dog is 8 today. Maybe I should buy him a diamond encrusted studded collar? Maybe he’d just eat it… I could buy a new ship, but I quite like this one and I…

This week, the Ship’s Dog was fired. He was having a little nap in the sun, outside the back door which is a lovely little sun trap for him. I don’t mind him napping, however, next door’s cat was also napping in the sunshine, in my garden, on the decking nearby. I’d gone out to check on the laundry, and scared the cat, inadvertently, and she ran off to her own garden. So much for the guard dog! Truth be told, he likes cats and will try and get up close to them which of course most cats don’t app…

Today (Wednesday) I got lost whilst out in the car. I’d been out to see my sister, a journey that takes around 35 minutes. I stopped off in a shop I like, to buy some ‘treats’ for the family for Christmas, met up with my sister, and we then went out in her car. We did some shopping, and had a nice lunch, and after she dropped me off at her house, I made my way home. So, I haven’t lost the plot, or my mind (not just yet anyway). I toyed with driving home through the lanes, but decided on the f…

After goodness knows how long, we finally had a dry day here on Sunday. Saturday was forecast dry, however we had thundery showers in the afternoon that left about quarter inch of water in the trough. We’ve awoken to rain again on Monday, and Tuesday and Wednesday are also forecast to be wet. Sunday was lovely though, and I managed to shin up and down the rigging no fewer than 3 times. Now, I have a huge pile of ironing to do. I also managed to pull a whole bucket of weeds though the Ship’s Dog…

This week has been a good food week. I love to cook, and I'm a foodie, and we always menu-plan, so I can plan food shopping and the budget. Recently, we've been having vegan/vegetarian meals 4 times a week, then meat meals or fish the other 3. It's cheaper this way, and besides, I don't want to eat meat/fish every single day; I get bored. We've discovered something called Dopsu No Beef/Chicken/Pork and so on. It looks like cooked shredded meat, and is great in a stir fry. It costs less than £…

The weather has taken quite a turn here; from an average of 22C, we’re now averaging a mere 15C with some winds thrown in for good measure. The Ship has been buffeted daily and walking the Ship’s Dog has been quite a trial with me wrapping up well against the cold and wind. He doesn’t care, he has a lovely fur coat to keep him warm and he seems in good spirits now that the weather has cooled. The Deckhand and I had a quick Skype Friday morning, and he sent me a photo of a nasty looking burn…

I love breakfast. By morning, after not eating since about 5pm the previous day, I really enjoy my breakfast, be it toast (my all-time favourite), muffins (a rare treat) blueberry pancakes, bacon sandwich, porridge, muesli… The choices just go on. Like any normal pirate, now and again, I do like a bowl of cereal. Recently though, I had a bowl of cornflakes only to discover they were really stale. I’m the only one who eats cereal with milk, so it’s rare that I finish a box before they go stale. I…