Bananas

Our weather has been gorgeous these past few days. I was drawn out into our garden where I made a little patio area next to the greenhouse. We had several stone slabs from our across-the-road neighbours - Janet and Phil who were having their own garden professionally upgraded. It was nice to repurpose some of their stone.

I also used some smaller slabs to reposition one of our garden benches in a sunny spot further along the hedgerow,

Both of these jobs were made tricky because of the sloping nature of our garden. The little patio needed to be flat and so did the stone footings for the bench. Levelling out was a bit of a challenge so I needed my spirit levels, a bag of sand and a bag of 10mm gravel but I got there in the end and it was nice to be outside working.

After our evening meal I was out again, repairing an old wooden bench that I bought Shirley for her fiftieth birthday. It had become wonky partly because of its age and continuous exposure to the elements and partly because I have often moved it on my own when cutting grass or sweeping up its regular position.

We were going to dispose of that bench but one day I thought to myself - "We can get a few more years out of that old seat if I can just address the wonkiness."

With wood glue, my electric drill, screws and small L-shaped brackets, I think I have made it stable once more. The glue is still drying right now so tomorrow I will hopefully confirm that my repair work has been successful.

The next job will be to paint it. I bought some good quality garden wood paint when I was last in our B&Q superstore. B&Q is the biggest D.I.Y. chain in Great Britain. I guess it's very similar to Home Depot outlets in America or Bunnings Warehouse in Australia.

Maybe I'll do some of the painting tomorrow but I rather fancy the idea of a country walk with my camera - making sure that I capitalise on this good weather.

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In Yorkshire Pudding health news:-

1.  Recent bowel screening - clear!

2.  Recent diabetic eye screening test - "No signs of diabetic retinopathy."

3. New dental appointment made for Monday. For weeks I have been managing pain and the replacement filling I had last month has clearly not solved the problem. The issue must be with another tooth and there is now some gum swelling in that area. 

4. Efforts to reduce my weight with the aid of "Mounjaro" have been reasonably successful. I have lost over two stones - about thirty pounds since last August - but I want to go lower before I come off "Mounjaro" and instead start to rely on my own will power along with  better awareness of ups and downs in my weight. Previously I never ever  weighed myself. 

5. My high blood pressure - discovered via a general health check in the autumn of 2024 - is now being effectively addressed with a stable cocktail of anti-hypertensive medication. Thankfully, my  numbers are now within the normal range.

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Almost finally - about the image at the top. Discovered today in our fruit bowl - two small bananas that are conjoined like siamese twins. I cannot remember ever seeing such a thing before. As Louis Armstrong sang, "And I think to myself/What a wonderful world!"

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A week ago - our Ian appeared on the front page of the London "Standard".  He is on 

the right, helping to advertise a start-up competition sponsored by AXA Insurance.