Tuesday, June 02, 2009

I’ve got the computer in radio-mode, about to listen to the President’s interview with the BBC.

We’ve decided on a mercy-dash to Strathardle today, for a two-nighter. We have to be back on Thursday, so that my husband can vote. So I should be here on Friday.

All went well, yesterday. The dentist has affixed what he called a “temporary crown”, although he’s put it in to stay. That was because the state of my remaining teeth didn’t justify the expense of a proper one. Oh, dear. But that’s fine with me – I was almost more worried about the time-consuming repeat appointments than the cost. And now I can smile.

(Mary Lou, I don’t understand how dentistry fits into the NHS. I know that it’s not entirely a successful arrangement. Some dentists are wholly private, like ours, others wholly NHS, some do a bit of both. It’s hard to find a good NHS dentist. Often, it’s hard to find an NHS dentist at all.)

Our dentist is a Dutchman, quiet, not exactly taciturn but his job is dentistry and he gets on with it. We think he is the best dentist in the world. But I discovered yesterday that a question to Mr van S. about his vegetables renders him positively chatty. He lives and gardens in Perth, not entirely irrelevant to Strathardle. He has had a lot of trouble this cold, wet spring with things that simply don’t come up. Just like me. Most encouraging.

And then, in the afternoon, I learned that my blameless life has reduced cholesterol to an entirely acceptable level, and most of that is “good” cholesterol. So no pills. I’ve got an appointment to have the wart frozen off. He said it was a straightforward, innocent wart.

All this charging about yesterday deprived the Princess of some of her time, but progress was made. 53 1/2 repeats of the top edging done. The centre stitches are waiting on lengths of yarn, in 50-stitch bunches. It works well. I have just finished the antepenultimate bunch – so seven repeats, more or less, will finish edging the centre, then there will be 13 or 14 on the second edge of the border. I am even giving a bit of preliminary thought to the footwork necessary to make the whole edging finish on a full repeat.

That bump between the centre and the border will smooth itself out sufficiently -- don't worry. It has also become obvious, only in the last couple of days, that I'm going to need that extra ball of yarn.

I will take the Surprise to Strathardle, and knit like mad with any strength left over from gardening, to justify Princess-time on our return.

So: did the runner beans, French beans, and courgettes survive being planted out? What about the seedbed roll? And the salsola soda? The excitement is almost too much.

(The interview with the President is over. He was good. And what should the following item on the famous “Today” programme be – just as I reached out to turn the sound off – but vegetable-growing!)

6 comments:

  1. My runner beans, of which there's only a tiny little patch, have sprouted nicely. I'm hoping for no disasters in the garden while we're in Montreal for a week, though I have seen a chipmunk skulking about far too close to the beds for comfort.

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  2. If you need more courgette or squash plants, I've got spares.

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  3. Anxious to hear news of the seedbed. That really has piqued my curiosity.

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  4. I am really enjoying the photos of the edging in progress.
    Congrats on the cholesterol/health, and good luck with the eye surgery.
    I am just back from Beijing. I found a helper application (gladder) to read blogspot blogs in China (but not the comments for some unknown reason), I didn't try listening to your son's BBC pieces while in China.
    On my to-do list for today!

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  5. Congrats on the successful dentist appt. I hate when they chat - since one usually isn't in a position to respond due to the fingers and/or instruments in one's mouth.

    I look forward to the gardening news - I garden vicariously through you.

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  6. Well done on the cholesterol news, looks like your no cider low sugar regime has worked well. To be able to come off the pills is great news - I bet your Dr will use you as an example to any patients who insist the answer is all in a pill bottle.
    I'm on tenterhooks to see what has survived this heatwave in Strathardle.

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