Jenny McIntyre's most appreciated articles

Hi folks, I'm back home at last!!!!! The doctors finally decided on a diagnosis - I have COPD with borderline diabetes, and low iron. They say my heart failure is still a possibility but were so pleased with how I progressed that that diagnosis is put on hold, providing I do as I'm told!!!! The only reason they allowed me home early was because Mandi is still here. She goes back to Turkey on Thursday however, and the Social care package might kick in - there again - it may not!!! Tomorrow the…

I know it's a yearly thing in that area, as it is in many areas where the temperatures are high and rainfall is scarce at this time of year, but there are fires breaking out over there. Mandi sent me a couple of photos from the beach showing where one of the fires are and it was where we'd said how nice it would be to have a house there, with the views of the sea and islands.... There was a helicopter getting water from the sea and then dropping it onto the flames, this is what the area…

Hiya folks, I have been so lucky today with my helper, Emily. Firstly she turned up with her middle daughter, Poppy, as she was on "work experience" week, and as her mum has her own business, she'd been roped in to helping her with her work because she couldn't think of anything else!!!! So Emily turned up with Poppy and their work was done in an incredibly short time. Then Emily suggested they weeded the driveway - or at least as much as they could. I was delighted because the driveway is so…

As some of you know - my daughter, Mandi, is here with me until the middle of August which is fantastic. She's been spoiling me by cooking my meals, washing up and cleaning etc. It's amazing. When Emily comes on Tuesday, I'm going to ask her if she'll take Mandi shopping. So I have almost 4 weeks of her being here and then - GUESS WHAT....................................!! I'm going back to Turkey with her for just over 4 weeks!!! I'm so proud of her travelling here all alone, considering…

This is only a quickie, but I just had to share with you.... Emily, my helper/cleaner, took some baby spider plants a few months ago, from my larger plant... I'd put the babies in water and told her to wait until the roots showed and then plant them into soil. Well when she came today, she said that she was wondering why there were tall thin shoots coming out of the top of the plant. Then she looked at my plant in the kitchen and said - that's exactly what is happening with her p…

I think I told you all about how my neighbours had paid for someone to come and put up spikes to deter the seagulls from nesting on my roof inbetween my chimneys. Well, I hope they ask for their money back because the seagulls have interwoven their nest inbetween the spikes and have had chicks!!!!!! For some unaccountable reason, seagulls are a protected species and so we can't move them physically, so we have to persuade them to leave. Considering how many seagulls there are in the UK, I cer…

This morning whilst I was washing up - I noticed the blue sky behind the white lilac which is just outside my kitchen window. The wind was blowing but the white blooms stayed put. I couldn't resist taking some pictures - the blue sky only lasted about an hour, then it was clouds galore - in fact at one time I thought it would pour down, the dark grey was so prevalent. Anyway folks, I was so thrilled to see these flowers, and I know that soon they'll disappear, further down the drive is the…

Yep I'm still in the land of the living. I have no intention of popping my clogs just yet. I am very grateful to our Mickey for keeping you up to date. The doctors aren't sure yet of what exactly is wrong with me. They are bandying around chronic heart failure, pulmonary odeama, sleep apnea and today they've mentioned diabetes! Apparently they try to tick boxes which will indicate what's wrong, but not every box is ticked! So they come up with something else. I can't stay on here long as…

I'm sure that you all have heard that our Queen Elizabeth has just died. I remember when she was crowned and the whole country celebrated. I was 5 and had great fun celebrating her coronation - but was too young to know why!!!! My mum made me this outfit - it was red, white and blue (of course) and it was a sort of very thin muslin. (Oh I look so angelic here - amazing what a picture can hide!!). What I do remember also, is in and around 1960 the whole family went on holiday to Spain. My…

Wow they certainly move fast in Turkey. Mandi had that major operation on Tuesday and she's already home today!!!! She sent me this picture to show me how much better she feels. I've already drummed it into her about taking things very slowly to allow her body to recuperate. Obviously the doctor has had the results of the path lab swabs, and they must be clear or else she wouldn't have been allowed home so soon. Now I can relax and breathe out! Am starting on the soft toy for my gr…

Typical - we were going to cut the lawn yesterday, but neither of us felt well enough to do so, so we promised to do it today - it's been raining all day!!!!!!!!!! The first rain we've had for a week. We couldn't do it on Monday because we had visitors, nor Tuesday because we had to go to Exeter, nor Wednesday because we had a trip to the doctors - so Thursday was earmarked for the cutting of the grass. So here we are Friday and it's all wet, meaning we can't cut the damn grass!!!! Never mind -…

Oh this evening, I had a wonderful surprise, Emily sent me a message, to ask if she could come back. Apparently her new job was so awful (she started today) that she gave in her notice immediately. She'll tell me all about it on Tuesday when she comes to clean!!! Now I know Emily and she has the patience of a saint and can cope with almost anything, so it must have been really bad for her to say that she was leaving straight away. So really it's their hard luck and my good luck. Th…

Lately I've been having problems walking and so I tend to stay indoors most of the time. However it was such a glorious day, Wednesday (yesterday) that I just had to go and get around the garden. As I have donated most of my garden to wildlife (!!!!) I can only get to the top part of the garden with the grass and the blossom trees. The garden is in 4 layers, which means it's a total no-go area down there, even if it wasn't covered with weeds and wild plants!!!! - I can't walk downhill like that.…

Just a quickie to let you know that I've arrived in Turkey at long last, after trying for the last 3 years. The plane ride was great. I'd forgotten the feeling you get when they crank up the engines and you start going for it - buildings, other planes and fields shoot by and then you start rising and everything falls away. Amazing feeling. I took a video of it, which I will post later, and then I took some great views of the mountains before the sun went for a sleep!!! I believe it was the Do…

Some of you might not know this, but I haven't been very well for a while now, and walking is hard for me - I struggle to breathe, which funnily enough - you do need to breathe when you go walking - in fact all the time really!!!!. Well it had been such a wonderful few days of unbroken sunshine and at long last - no wind - it was fantastic. So I negotiated my rollator out the back door - and believe me that took a lot of hard work, it's so heavy and awkward - I have to fold it up and lift it…

Oh I've only got 2 days left of my time here in Turkey. Five weeks have just flown by. There were so many things we wanted to do, go on a boat trip, go to Pammukale (salt lakes), visit Kos - instead we were faced with very unusually hot days with very high humidity. This meant that we were too exhausted to do much. Mornings were spent indoors, then in the afternoons we ventured out to the pool to cool down. It was such an effort to even walk down their driveway to collect the car, that I had to…

May I wish all my American friends a very happy 4th July. Enjoy and celebrate folks

As you all in the UK are aware, we have had some amazingly sunny days lately and even some warmth too - which is oh so welcome. Apparently we can expect some rain this coming week, which isn't very good, but I suppose that it is necessary for the plants etc. My bluebells are thriving on the driveway - a sea of blue, a visitor called it, all made possible because I don't drive a car over it now, because the car is well and truly done with, I swear it's growing on the drive!!!!! There are flowery…

As you know I said that yesterday was a great day with sunshine pouring into the lounge, but what a difference a day makes!!!!!!!! This morning I woke up to this....... I couldn't hardly believe it as it was really cold too and normally that comes with clear skies - not today!!!!! This didn't help my mood much neither.... Another abstract picture of the rain pouring down the panes of glass..... Even though it looks pretty seeing the raindrops lining along the bottom of the wi…

Yesterday Mandi and I went for a ride with the intention of catching a sunset at Turgetries, which is a village on the other side of the promontory to Yashi, where she lives. Well the sunset became a bit wishy washy as you can see... Turgetries is surrounded by an incredible amount of small islands, all uninhabited, and it faces west, so sun setting behind islands does make for superb sunsets. There is a lovely long promenade which enables pedestrians, disabled bikes etc, walkers…