Trouble at the Google Mill

Just when I thought that all of my problems were behind me, I now find that Google will not allow me to leave comments on some blogs. Over the last few days I have left several comments on several blogs only to see the comment disappear when I press the publish button. The blogs that I am having problems with have the reply option in the comment section. Husband, who is a computer wonk, has looked at the problem and can not work out how to get around it. We use Firefox as a browser and it may be that Firefox has instituted an update which is causing the problem. If anyone can explain in words of one syllable how we can resolve this issue I would be grateful. I fear that at the moment Google has gone beyond my computing skills, but I always have plenty of things to do. So maybe I am going to have to occupy myself elsewhere.

Permission for absence?

I know that I have been absent for a while and with pretty good reason. For the last six weeks or so every time that I tried to use my laptop it decided to have a strop. This meant that I was spending a lot of time without access to a computer, while husband was spending a lot of his time trying to nurse my laptop back to health. About two weeks ago now I decided to have a play with husband's laptop, while he was commandering mine with the aim of fixing it. By comparison with his laptop, which handled like a finely tuned athlete, mine handled like an arthritic 80 year old. So I suggested that maybe it was time that my laptop was replaced. After all his previous laptop, which was the same age as mine, had been replaced six month ago. I know that his laptop takes a real hammering as he use it for work. His current laptop is a model called Envy and envious I was.

So a new laptop was ordered for me. Not an Envy, I hasten to add, and within a few days I was the  proud owner of a shiny new laptop. It was great to be back in business but Google had other ideas. I could not access my own blog. After having a verification code sent to my mobile phone and some fiddling around I managed to work out what Google was up to and get into my blog. But now there were other demands on my time. The annual visit of sister-in-law and her husband was fast approaching and I needed to spend my time sprucing up the cottage for their visit, which was last weekend. As it happened we spent most of their visit sitting in the conservatory, which had only had the most cursory of cleans by comparison with the rest of the cottage. The meal went well and eveybody had a good day. Now I can relax until the next time. I might even manage to finish the post that I started back in June.

A July afternoon in the garden

I have been trying to write a post for some time now, but have been hampered by a temperamental laptop and erratic broadband. Hopefully the problems have now been sorted out. At the moment I am enjoying the good weather that we are having here in the UK and spending quite a lot of time in the garden. So I have decided to take you for a walk around our garden.

When a visitor enters our drive the first things that they see are the woodland bed and the rockery, which are both currently resting. In other words they need weeding.

The first plant that catches the eye in the front garden is this lavatera. Several years ago we bought its' ancestor from RHS Wisley and it has been propagated many times.

Next in line of sight are these daisies

and I could not resist this Nigella, which is self set so I can not take the credit for it.

On the other side of the path we have a hydrangea

and then there is  Rosa Handel  which grows by the front door.

Now round to the back garden. From the kitchen window I can see these blue violet pansies

and this dahlia which has been flowering for some time now. It is a patio dahlia with small but perfectly formed flowers.

Then around the corner by the French windows we have hollyhocks

and an agapanthus.

A short distance away on the trellis we have a clematis, which I was carefully tying up every week until we went away, when it arranged itself into a rather attractive cascade.

Hidden behind the trellis the day lilies are in full flower.

 
While on the other side of the garden in my white border, Hydrangea Annabelle is blooming.

Then finally towards the bottom of the garden the apple tree looks to have a bumper crop of fruit on it.

 I just wish that I could bottle the weather and share that with you too.

Stop the world I want to get off

Wouldn't it be great if we could press a button and stop the world from spinning.Time to step off the roundabout, slow things down and catch up with ourselves. The last few weeks seem to have been manic. This feels like the first evening that I have had to myself for weeks. I know that I should not really complain. Life is treating us fairly well at the moment by comparison with what some have to cope with.

Three weeks ago I was getting ready to go away. If only it was a matter of packing a suitcase and walking out of the door. The week before a holiday always seems to be a frantic rush of jobs that have to be done. During the run up to a holiday I often think that it would be so much easier just to stay at home and wonder is it really worth all this hassle?  Then there is the problem of which clothes to take and the right clothes always need washing. Also at this time of year there is always a mad panic to get as many plants as possible into the garden, so that the rain will water them. Whether or not you get the jobs done the end of the week comes and it is time to pack and go away. The holiday was good and my next post will be about it.

Now fast forward to the week after the holiday, which is not quite as bad as the week before the holiday, but can be nearly with yet more clothes to wash and a lot of catching up to do. On sunday we had visited three gardens in our village which were opened under the National Garden Scheme, with proceeds going to the local hospice. On tuesday and wednesday I had appointments of the hairdresser/dentist variety - both necessary. Usually I try to have only one of these sort of appointments per week. Then on wednesday evening we had tickets for a concert in Manchester, which we had booked about six months ago. We expected to be late getting home from the concert and we were.  On thursday evening we should have gone out for a meal which I had won in a competition, but we decided to turn it down as trying to do too much. Then on friday, which happened to be our wedding anniversary, I had to make a special trip into Chester to see our MP at one of his surgeries. Finally on saturday evening we went out for a meal for our wedding anniversary. And then there is Wimbledon Fortnight to watch as well.

Thankfully this week has been quieter.