Turns Out Vinegar Is Good!

Hello Friends!

At last I have finished the fundraiser for Parkinson's UK and to date, before Gift Aid, I have raised in excess of £840.00, which I think is pretty darn good!  I still have a few pledges outstanding so will give you the final total in about a month when it is all processed.  I won't pretend it was easy, but I am so pleased I did it now, for many reasons.

We finished just in time as the weather is not good now, and I am glad I don't have to go out in it.  We're back to strong winds and heavy rain almost all day long.  I have just listened to the Countryfile weather forecast for the week ahead.  "Heavy and frequent downpours" seem to feature for the first half of the week at least!  Sighs . . . 

Moving on. I now have made several herbal remedies or tonics.  For the introduction I studied Nettles, Dandelion and Rosemary. Last month, the first of the full year we looked at Cleavers aka Goosegrass, and Hawthorn.  We reviewed Nettles as there is much to learn about them.  They are one of the most valuable herbs that grows.  We learned about making herbal vinegars and how to use them for different purposes.  This month we are discovering the properties of Elder, Plantain and Comfrey.  We are learning how to make herbal infusions with different oils and methods of preparation, and again how to use them in a variety of ways according to need.

I have already made Nettle Vinegar, Rosemary Vinegar and a Dandelion Vinegar along with an infusion of seeds of Sweet Cicely in runny honey.  That is still steeping.  Now I am preparing to make infused oils.  As the weather is bad and isn't good for harvesting anything, so while I patiently wait for a dry day for the harvesting, I am preparing everything else so I will be ready when I need to be.

I have decided I will be using the warm method of extraction, and I will be using my "dirty pourer" that I no longer use for tea.  In fact, I was surprised I still had it as I thought it had gone to the charidee shop long ago!

Now that it is ready, I am drinking the Nettle Vinegar as a general tonic.  Vinegar tends to catch in my throat, but I have overcome this by adding a brown sugar cube and topping up a glass with fizzy spring water.  I find it is quite palatable. I wish I had made more.  

I am also making a cold water infusion of Cleavers every evening, which is found in my water bottle daily.  It has a refreshing, green flavour and I find it delicious!

I have purchased some British organic Rapeseed oil and some organic Almond oil to make infused oils as soon as the weather allows me to pick my chosen blooms.  I am hoping to use some of these rose petals.

My lavender hedge is doing rather well this year, so something will no doubt be made from those flowers too!

Finally, this is how the mysterious flower spike on the Aloe Vera is coming along.

Until next time 

🩵🌷🩵

It's {Nearly} Over

Hello Friends!

I'm trying something new today, I'm composing this blog entry entirely on my phone. I would appreciate it if you could let me know what it looks like, font, font size, images etc and if it is better/worse/no difference to previous entries.

It's been nearly a week now since my last entry and the Walk 100 Miles For Parkinson's challenge is nearly over. So far, with all the kind and generous support of so many people, I have raised a wonderful total of over £820.00 exl. Gift Aid.  I am deeply humbled and immensely grateful to everyone.  

But I have one last favour to ask of you.  Please will you share my QR code with your friends and family in case they would like to donate and give me that one last shove in the hopes that I can achieve my target of £850, or maybe even break through the £1000 barrier. 

MY OFFICIAL FUNDRAISING QR CODE 

You can forward it by email or scan it as is normally done.

Well this blog composing on my phone is absolutely exhausting me. Still, onwards and upwards.

I don't think I have to tell you how unbearably hot it was this week.  One of the big problems with Parkinson's is that many of us lose our ability to moderate our body temperature. I don't have to tell you how very dangerous this is.  I suffered badly to the point that I came very close to pressing my emergency button in the middle of Sunday/Monday morning. It was only the thought of lying on a gurney in a hospital corridor for hours and hours that stopped me!  Thank God it has cooled down now!  Consequently, in the interests of staying safe and out of hospital, I made the executive decision to refrain from walking anywhere other than around my house and garden.  

I have made an infusion of the unripened seeds of Sweet Cicely in honey. It will steep for several weeks before I strain it for use. 

I have not had my lawn mowed in nearly a year so it has been quite the job but I had help. Consequently I have a lot of lovely native wildflowers all over my garden, or Wildflower Lawn as I have named it.  Here are a few things that will be good for wildlife though the coming year, as well as some things providing me with food for free!

 

Well I  am really struggling with this now as it has switched to nighttime mode and I can hardly see the screen! I can see some photos may be sideways but I will have to look at them tomorrow as I must get some rest.

Until next time 🩵🌷🩵

Have You Ever . . .

Hello Friends!

Have you ever placed an order for frozen food and then, when it is already on its way, realised there isn't any room in the freezer?  That was my dilemma this past Thursday.  I'd ordered a dozen assorted pasties, quiche, and pies from Chunk of Devon not giving a single thought to the lack of available space in the freezer!  Thankfully, a quick rearranging of things, and removal of some bags of peas that were more ice than peas, not only was sufficient space released for the pies, but enough over to accommodate the five boxes of Nuii that came from Tesco where they are on sale {the only time I succumb}.  They are the best ice cream chocolate coated bars I've tried by a country mile.  My freezer drawer now looks like an advertisement for Chunk and Nuii!

At least I now know that an empty draw will accommodate at least 18 Chunk pasties or pies, and alongside will fit up to 15 Nuii bars! 

I promised to share with you the news of an exciting discovery in my "vestibule" {which is what I call my tiniest of all front porches}.  

I have a flowering spike growing on my Aloe Vera plant!

A few years ago, I offered up my {too large for me} upright freezer and it was taken by a lovely lady from a nearby town.  I wasn't taking any money for it, and she gave me a lovely Aloe Vera as a gift in exchange. It has lived in the "vestibule" ever since. I was amazed, the other day, to discover it is producing a flowering spike, which is something no one I know seems to have seen before.  I did a little digging on Google and this is what it said:

Apparently, being a native of the Tropics and warmer climates, it is quite rare for them to flower further north in colder climates. Even rarer, it seems, if they are kept in pots as houseplants.  However, there is a wealth of information, most of which focuses on the optimum conditions and, it seems, that my tiny vestibule is a perfect growing climate to encourage the Aloe Vera to flower!  How lucky am I?  Here are a couple of photos I've taken, not much to see at the moment, but I am so excited to see what does happen in the coming weeks.

As luck would have it, I think Aloe Vera is one of the plants we will study later in the year for the Wild Welsh Herbal Medicine 2026.  If you snap off a leaf, it exudes a clear gel like substance that has very good healing properties for the skin and is a soothing substance to gently apply to burns.  It is used in the treatment of several skin conditions and is antibacterial and anti-inflammatory.  

*as with all herbal and complimentary medicines, it is imperative to consult with a qualified professional for contraindications, etc.

It has been a bit of a headache, with everything that has been happening lately, to fit in my walking challenge, but I've managed it most days.  It was inevitable that one day I would go out and find that the Council had sent a man with a weed whacker to do their worst, and that day was yesterday.  The only redeeming fact is that the strimming has been limited to the bottom of the hedges and verges.  Thankfully, the foxgloves, yet to flower, have been left untouched!  However, the middle part of the hedges are mostly stripped to a chopped up mess and looking rather bare compared to a day or two ago.

Nothing is left of the tiny patch of Silverleaf that I was hoping would flower soon.  Also known as Silverweed, it is of the Potentilla family.

I feel deeply for these plants that have been so wantonly destroyed. It hurts me now to walk by where just a few days ago there was so much life here, not only in the plants but in the tiny animals and insects that lived here and fed upon the plants now gone.

This has all knocked in the head my plans to record and research the hedgerows and plants throughout the year.  Some of the ones that had just begun to grow are gone.

Ending on a happier note, though, the horses and pony have been moved down to this field!

Until next time

💙🌷💙

How Am I Supposed To Look?

Hello Friends!

An apology. I am trying to do a lot of things at the moment, sorting out the house, selling on Vinted, keeping up with my Walk 100 Miles For Parkinson's Challenge, getting the roof fixed, dealing with the incompetent Welsh Water, so on and so forth, and then the odd extra such as reapplying for my Blue Badge, well, it keeps a girl busy, but it also means my replying to your blogs has slipped somewhat. You see, typing is not easy and typing out my own blog takes it out of me.  Something's got to give!

Anyhow, I just wanted to dip in here this evening to say, as many of you probably already know, that the Parkinson's UK garden designed by the amazing Arit Andersen, at RHS Chelsea Flower Show was announced this afternoon as the winner of the People's Choice Award! As voted for by the public, not the judges {who in the opinion of the public know nothing about gardens!}

I sat here and cried. Happy Tears, of course, but oh! how foolish I felt when, sitting and sobbing into my Kleenex, there was a tap at the door. I thought it was one of the builders so made a sorry attempt to say come on in. AArrgghh! it was a previously unknown to me courier! What on earth did he think was happening? LOL

However, it doesn't end there. I sort of blubbed out "it's okay, it's just that I'm watching the RHS Chelsea Flower show and Parkinson's UK has won the RHS People's Choice vote, and it's hugely meaningful to me because I have Parkinson's" He looked quizzically at me and said, "you haven't got Parkinson's" which, on so many levels highlights the sort of problems we who do have it face!

I have got Parkinson's, but how does someone who has Parkinson's look? How are we supposed to look when we are harbouring a debilitating neurological condition that manifests itself in any one of very many ways? How do people without Parkinson's look?  Well, I have tremors. They are probably the most prominent symptom that most people associate with Parkinson's, but not everyone who has Parkinson's has tremors, and I don't have them all the time, and not everyone with tremors has Parkinson's. I've gained weight, but does that mean I've got/not got Parkinson's? Same can apply to speech, eyesight issues, loss of smell, taste, appetite. Some have hallucinations, or insomnia, or oedema, others don't. Then there are the symptoms connected with gait, stiffness, freezing, and shuffling. My skin and hair are awful, due to the medication, but then so is the hair and skin of others just because that's how it is.  I could go on, there are over 40 such symptoms, all of which might be exhibited by someone with Parkinson's, but equally can indicate something else entirely unrelated.

Naturally, as the condition deteriorates {remember, there is NO CURE at present} then some of these symptoms become more obvious and others will develop. Right now, I am grateful that {so far} my visible "symptoms" are occasional tremors, I drop things, I am stiff and slow, and I stoop. Sometimes I shuffle, my balance is off, and I need to stop and rest more than most. But others with Parkinson's look quite different to me, in the same way that you, as you are reading this, look different to me, except you don't have Parkinson's {at least I hope you don't} On a good day, now that I've started to take more care over my appearance, if I'm dressed tidy, wearing make up, and have accessorised well, you might not notice anything untoward regarding my health, other than I need to use a walking aid.  

With over forty known indicators, and not everyone gets more than a few, and everyone gets a different selection at the Pick 'n' Mix smorgasbord that is Parkinson's, how can you determine how someone looks?  Take medical conditions out of the equation.  Someone might be stiff and slow because they have arthritis.  They might also have thinning hair, psoriasis, and drink a lot of coffee that manifests in tremors of the hand. They do not, however, have Parkinson's.  Someone else {ME!} might be stiff and slow, and have thinning hair, very dry skin, and tremors, and in this case {MINE} they have Parkinson's.  Get what I am saying?

My Parkinson's does not control who I am or how I look.  I do.  It may contribute it's five pennorth from time to time, but right now, in the here and now, I am still in charge of how I look, and as the man said today, "but you don't look as if you have Parkinson's".  What worries me most is that, although I don't LOOK like I have an incurable disease, I DO HAVE an incurable disease, and one that causes a lot of frustration {when I can't move, or bend to pick up some of the things I am constantly dropping, or hold a pen to write, and especially when it gives the impression to others that I am lazy, not interested, or unsociable.  It's all part and parcel of a very complicated and deeply misunderstood {currently} incurable medical condition. 

Okay, I've rattled on enough tonight.  I only dipped in to say how chuffed I am over the winning garden, and I've rambled on and on and on!  Tomorrow, I need to share with you a rather amazing and magical thing that is happening right now in my "vestibule"! Well, amazing if you like house plants!

Until next time

💙🌷💙

Pulled in All Directions

Hello Friends!

I seem to be pulled in all directions right now.  It's good that things I have waited on for months are finally happening, but I could do without them all happening together.  

To try and take my mind off things, I've been studying on my Wild Welsh Herbal Medicine 2026 course and have strained and bottled my Nettle and Rosemary infusions.  Stinging Nettle = Danadl Poethion, Rosemary = Rhosmari, and still in the Kilner is Dandelion = Dant y Llew.

Danadl Poethion Infusing

Danadl Poethion Strained

A very handy funnel with an interchangeable base

Preparing to strain the liquor

Rhosmari Infusing

Rhosmari 

Rhosmari

Think back to last December and the time I hurt my back which resulted in all kinds of help throwing itself at me.  One of the things was a more appropriate bed, not a profile bed but something new that they are introducing, a cross between a bed and a chair.  Well, it seems these beds are designed for people of taller proportions than me, so they have ordered a design for those of us of more diminutive proportions, and it has arrived.  So I get a phone call was to book an appointment in the middle of June for me to try it out, then, if it suits one will be ordered.  When will I get this bed, I wonder?

I had one of those phone call appointments, you know the sort, the clinic will contact you between 8:00 and 2:00, only in this case they didn't.  Another half a day wasted.

There's been a slew of parcels that are delivered between 6:00 and 8:00 which means I can't go out for my walk as there is nowhere to leave them if I'm out.

Two days ago, I got a phone call to tell me the roofing contractor had a cancellation and could he come on Thurs/Friday this week to fix my roof.  Well, I could have used more notice, but I have been waiting since March and if he couldn't come this week then it would be late June.  No brainer, he was here today!!!

Then, late this afternoon, Welsh Water reared its ugly head again!!!  This afternoon, I flushed the loo and the refilling cistern sounded rather poorly. It took ages, spluttering all the while, to refill so I waited and I flushed it again and out flows all the disgusting crud you can imagine. Taps on the sinks doing the same, and the concerto finished with no water. Phoned WW, oh, yes, they have been working on the stopcock again and they will come back to finish the job. Er, so what do I do in the meanwhile for water? Good question. I was told it might take 24 hours, but try leaving taps open, and eventually a filthy brown trickle appeared. By this time, I had hit the roof, 24 hours without water and no notice??? I began pointing out health issues, hydration issues, water for tablets issues, etc and not a drop of clean safe drinking water in the house. What can you do, though, when Bozo on the other end is a complete Jobsworth? I know I can always get a pitcher or two of water from a neighbour, but that is not the point. Eventually they sent someone around with a 2ltr bottle of cheap drinking water. He flushed the system and I now have water, allegedly safe to drink. However, it will be three working days before they finish the job {pavement dug up, only this time we have barricades} and Sat, Sun, and BH Mon don't count. He did say that the mess they've left is not satisfactory, has been documented and reported. Ho Hum . . .

Somehow, with all these minor dramas going on, in between the dramas and the inclement weather, I have for the most part kept up walking, although I have missed a couple of days when it has been logistically impossible, unless I creep out in the dark of night! Last night was not pleasant, as there was a sea fret starting to slowly slip across the land, and by this morning it was fully ensconced over the land.

Pretty pink Hawthorn

Bowers of Flowers the white Hawthorn forms a Bridal Canopy over the Bridle Path

I remember well this view when Carn Llidi was not hidden behind the giant Sycamore tree that stands in the way

In only a few short weeks, the hedgerows have gone from bare stone to floral fantasia!

The greyness of the slow sea fret as it engulfs the land from the sea

Sycamore Twins

So, the all too short reprise for pollinating insects is over, as the Council mowed through everything!

I hope that today Welsh Water will return and finish the job, and I hope the roofers will finish too, for my lawn is a mess. They will clear it up, but not until they are finished!

Until next time!

💙🌷💙

Another Week

Hello Friends!

As a result of the overwhelming generosity of everyone, I have increased my targets both of donations and miles walked. I've received my QR code but have decided not to put it on here because of the numbers of scammers we get.  

The weather is on the fickle side; it was supposed to be dry with rain coming in mid-morning.  I wanted needed had to go to the National Trust shop for some of their rather yummy fudge {I know, I know} and the shop happens to be rather conveniently located on one of my loops. I had to wait until it was open, 10:00 a.m. so fervently hoped the rain would cooperate.  As it happens, it is still sunny, but bitingly cold, and no sign of rain as yet.  

Dogs are most welcome at the NT and Cathy, the lovely manager, always has treats on hand and, with the owner's permission, every dog who brings their owner in gets a treat or two.  They even cater for dietary intolerances such as gluten free, sugar free and fat free!  I wanted to take photos, but there are strict rules of data protection.  

I feel there are only so many photos of the same hedgerows that I can take, so today I took a few photos of clouds, but I did begin with this one.  It's an update of a nearby public space that was mowed by the council. They cut half and left half to wild.  It isn't quite three weeks but already the patch that was cut is full of flowers!

a peek inside my rollator basket.  I took a lightweight jacket with me today, there's my water bottle, my purse, oh! and some fudge.  For energy, you understand.

Just a couple more photos, of the sky before the rain comes.  We have beautiful, big skies here, if you only take the time to look up!

After nearly going head over heels on at least four occasions today, I feel a strongly worded letter will be on its way to the local council.  The one and the same that wasted £5 million on an "Instagramable Bridge" in Haverfordwest.

Until next time  

💙🌷💙