Articles by Jenny McIntyre

Only a quickie today - I'm getting all excited now that Mandi will be here by Friday!! I've got all the things she loves but can't get in Turkey - crumpets, smoked bacon, hot cross buns, salted butter and cheddar cheese!!!! Well there are some places she could get these things, but they cost an arm and a leg because they are brought in to the country. Yesterday morning I woke up to this gorgeous view. The wind had stopped and the sun was thinking about coming out - he decided not to after a w…

Mandi sent me some pictures of Pasha, her cat who gave birth to her kittens 2 weeks ago. Apparently, even though she's still a kitten herself, she's a fantastic mother to those babies. When she wants to have some time to herself and go outside, Mandi watches over the kittens....!!!! Here's Pasha with her kittens.... She's in a crate filled with pillows, blankets etc - talk about being spoilt!!! The two little kitties - Mandi thinks one is a girl, and already her eyes have…

We had some glorious weather these past few days - such a contrast compared to the cold spell we'd suffered since February. Still I suppose all good things have to end or at least pause, otherwise we wouldn't be so in awe of it. I don't know if having the warm February caused the plants in my garden to really flourish, but this year has seen the blossom and wild flowers go into overdrive. I've never seen this apple blossom outside my lounge look so beautiful and I've been taking loads and loa…

Well yesterday was a very busy day for me - as you might have gathered, having Emily here being an angel and cutting my grass for me, but also the fact that I wandered around the garden - well the top bit really. I do apologise for me wittering on about the blossom, but as I don't get out and about - I have to wax lyrical about what I see!!!! I showed you all the bluebells I have on my driveway - and I was blown away, as I'm sure you gathered, by the amount of them - but I didn't show you wh…

Today I was fully intending on cutting my lawn for the first time this year. All I was going to do was to ask Emily if she would carry the mower from the hall out into the garden, so I could cut the grass. She said she'd certainly take it out for me, but there was no way she'd let me cut the grass as she was perfectly able to do so. So while I was trying to think of a way of thanking her - she was out there cutting the lawn - it only took her 10 minutes and it would have taken me over a couple o…

Well according to the weather forecasters, we should be enjoying a wonderful warm Easter - full sunshine is expected together with really warm - about 23C which would be wonderful considering I've had to have my radiator on until yesterday!!!! We had temperatures of up to 11C for the last week, which is too damn cold for no heating in the house, but today I actually had the window open again until nearly just after 6pm. I was looking out of the open window and I noticed that the flowering che…

Mandi rang me this afternoon very upset - one of the kittens, the white with black markings, had just died. Apparently the little kitty had cried a lot during the night, and both Mandi and Dogan had tried to comfort it. It wouldn't feed and Pasha was washing it and trying to comfort it, but for some reason it just wouldn't latch on to feed. This afternoon, despite it being in amongst the other two kittens and Pasha cuddling it, it was very cold, so Mandi held it in her hands and tried to rub…

This was what I was going to write about, at least until the great news of the new kittens being born. I took some more pictures yesterday because the weather was so kind to us - blue sky and gorgeous sun. I opened the lounge window to take some pictures from that angle and whilst I was sitting there I noticed that my hoya plant is showing signs of flowers to come.... As you can see - it's loving where I've put it - the amount of growth is amazing. Emily and I have had to coil it round a…

At 5am today Mandi was woken up by the sound of mewing. Her cat Pasha, was giving birth to her first litter. She wasn't making any noise - it was her second kitten who was mewing. Unfortunately her first kitten was stillborn and in the corner. Now Mandi had prepared 4 separate places for Pasha to give birth in and did she use any of them? No!!!!! She chose Mandi's wardrobe and prompty gave birth on Mandi's t-shirts and tops!!!! So now those are all in the bin. I told her to give them a good w…

I'm afraid there won't be any tales of seagull chicks this year as my neighbours had just about had enough of being dive bombed by worried "gull parents", so they have put the humane plastic spikes up there on my roof in between the chimneys. I do fully understand why they've done so - I just feel so guilty because the seagulls keep going up there and look at the spikes and start cawing as if to say "Where do we go now?" We moved into this house in 1959 - 60 years ago and I remember gulls making…

Today dawned beautifully sunny and that encouraged me to open the back door to get some fresh air in at last. Then I looked up the driveway from the kitchen and this is what greeted me..... Now that's a sight for sore eyes isn't it? You'll notice that in amongst the trunks of the lilac trees there are bluebells growing in there too..... it makes it look as if I have my very own woodland - I have one down the other garden, but that's because it's overgrown!!!! You can see they're…

Yesterday I actually opened the lounge window and kept it open for a couple of hours!!! Then I walked out and round to the front garden and sat in the sun for a while. It was lovely and warm, although it was bitter if you went out into the wind. I noticed large clumps of primroses in the grass, which has to be cut very soon - it's really long and thick!!! While I was sitting there I looked up into the beautiful blue sky and saw two tendrils from two planes crossing the vast expanse....…

Hiya - well I woke up to beautiful blue sky and I thought - "This is it - I'm off to see the spring flowers on the driveway!!!" so after my breakfast, I gathered my camera and luckily remembered to take my cardigan( a move I was to be thankful for later!!, off I went to collect my rollator from the shed. I was so pleased to see that it was easier to open than it had been of late. I feel so much happier now I have the rollator, I feel so much more safe with it - I can stop whenever I feel my back…

Hiya, I've not written a blog for a while, because to be honest - not a lot has happened here - it's that time of year when you want to be out but the weather gods have decided that they're going to have fun and stop you from venturing out. Apart from that - my friend asked me if I'd take up his curtains for his new home. He's got some really lovely woven woollen curtains which weigh a ton!!!! So it's one thing to say "No problem - of course I'll take them up!" but then I realised that they were…

Well folks, at long last I have arranged to go and visit my daughter in Turkey - it's over 2 years since I last went there and I do miss it I must admit. So far (fingers crossed and anything else pliant enough to be crossed!!!!) I haven't visited the hospital which has kept me away from Turkey. Mandi is coming here for two weeks from the 2nd to the 15th of May, and we'll go back together and I'm staying there for 5 weeks, so plenty of time to take loads of pictures. She is taking me to all n…

I've just had a message from Gracie who says she's been hospitalized for at least a week as she's had to lose two pieces of her intestines!!! So please join me and wish her a very speedy recovery and as little pain and discomfort as possible. What with John (Stormlizard) being in hospital too in Denmark, what is going on with our group eh? Please look after yourselves and try not to end up sleeping in a hospital bed!!! TAKE CARE OF YOURSELVES GRACIE AND JOHN AND COME BACK TO US WHEN YOU…

Today dawned a beautiful sunny day just as it has done the past 4 days. I must say, I have never known such a warm February. It clocked up 18C today, and with the blue sky and warm sun, I ventured out to see what other new growth had come up since Friday. It was warm enough to go out without a cardigan - just a jumper - incredible. I first saw some more primroses had bloomed on the side .... Then I saw a robin settle in the bush near me and he stayed there quite a time while I walked…

I'm so sorry to have taken so long in writing a blog - 3 weeks!!!! The reason is mainly that I've been busy making summer beach bags for Mandi and I - but I've also bought some more material which will make a super bed throw, in fact probably 2 bed throws!! It all depends on how things go here. Today, being a Friday, my cleaner/now friend, came and she commented on how lovely the primroses were looking on my drive!!!!! "What?" I said - and she repeated her words. Immediately I asked her if sh…