Today I shall be Mainly...

[Marilyn]

Hope the treatment went ok.
Good luck with the oven. (Not the best to have it up against the fridge...but if you have always had it that way, it must work.)

I have been sewing all day. We decided to recycle an old car cover that we had in the garage. We decided it could be cut down and reshaped to make a shade cover for the end of our campervan awning. The awning keeps overhead sun off, but is not much use in the late afternoon when the sun is lower in the sky and at it's hottest. So I have been cutting and sewing after drawing a sketch and taking measurements. A lot of work for a simple sun shade, but I think it will work a treat. Recycling at its best! A bit to finish off tomorrow. Then I will cut up the scraps that are left of the original car cover and make a small bag for it all to fit in, with a loop, so we can hang it inside the back door of the van right next to the folding chairs and outdoor table.
I will give the original bag a good wash ( it is too big now for the new sunshade), and we will now use that as a drawstring laundry hamper in the campervan.
( takes a bit of effort to save things from landfill and come up with a new life for things...).

[Cathy]

Stanley is the smaller top section a grill or a smaller oven?

[Stanley]

Maz. I go for the treatment in a couple of hours and it will be OK, just my friend Helen getting up close and personal for a few minutes....
No problems about the proximity of the oven and the fridge, both well insulated and there is additional insulation in the shape of the wall of the cabinet in between.
Cathy, It's both a smaller oven and a grill.

[Sue]

It's a pity we don't live just a few miles apart Sue, otherwise we'd be over to you in a flash to collect frogs and newts to stock our new pond! It's got pond weeds growing and we managed to get it clear of algae and it's being visited by damsel flies and has pond skaters, insect larvae etc; but we were too late for frog spawn or tadpoles. This garden is more enclosed than the ones we've had in the past and we'll probably need to introduce the amphibians. At least the pond will be well established by the time they're spawning again!

Oh yes, damsel flies, pond skaters, water boatmen and loads of newts. Our frog population is very depleted. We get tadpoles in the spring but rarely do they mature, must reintroduce them ourselves. How did you get rid of your algae. I caught some in a net again yesterday evening!

Hospice shop this afternoon and pilates and yoga this evening . My dental appointment was cancelled yesterday because the dentist was ill so I will now have to wait for my checkup after we return from France, thus after a morning swim I spent a quiet day trying to fathom out the pattern of the cardigan I have chosen to knit over the summer. I cracked it in the end after a couple of hours of 10 rows forward, 8 rows back as the mistakes I had made in the lacy pattern became visible

I am impressed with your up cycling Maz. I am a great believer in use and re-use in a different guise.

[Wendyf]

I have lost my pond, it's covered in pond weed and surrounded by nettles and docks. one of the cats jumped in the other day, he won't do that again in a hurry!

[Marilyn]

I had a cat who liked to walk around the rim of the bath tub as I bathed ( ever so suave and confident he was...tail reaching out to stroke my face as he passed around me head.) Until the day he fell in. ( he was a bit highly strung after that...and never quite the same!)
It got to mid afternoon with my recycling/up-cycling effort, and I must admit I wondered why I didn't put bag and contents into the charity shop with a label "Car cover for small car" written on it.
Had to abandon sewing to accompany hubby for an eye examination. While he was being tested I popped to the bank ( one thing lead to another after being asked "what have you been up to today?) turns out I CAN get my sewing machine serviced in our seaside hamlet. Only TWO DAYS A YEAR mind...and I must book in to find out when the next day is ( but at least 5 months from now, according to the lass in the bank).
I think I just blinked at her a few times and quietly turned away. Sometimes, living here simply floors me. It is another planet!

[Tizer]

How did you get rid of your algae.

I have to admit I'm not sure what did the trick but here's the story. We were able to fill the newly-constructed pond at the end of 2018 and we left it with water only to settle in before adding plants. It turned to green `pea soup' with an algal bloom that wouldn't go away even though we put a plastic box of barley straw in it. Then we used the AlgoRem product shown below. That flocculated algae which we skimmed off with a net but it needed a second dosing and skimming to make much difference. We were still left with algae, not as dense as before but making the water cloudy. By then we were into some very hot days so I floated polystyrene sheet on the water to limit the amount of sunlight and heat entering the water. It didn't get worse but didn't get better either. Shortly after that we went to Cornwall for a week. When we came back, lo and behold, the pond was crystal clear as shown in the photo below and has remained so! Perhaps it needed longer for the remaining algae to flocculate and sediment out. The AlgoRem is an aluminium compound that is used in drinking water reservoirs and it's claimed to be safe for pond life. It hasn't harmed pond plants that we put in the water. Good luck with your pond, Sue!

[Sue]

Tiz, I have been using the same brand but for blanket weed. Always used that brand and never had a problem like this. Its back again this morning! Also tried another brand which is liquid barley straw and have said straw suspended in the pond for two weeks now. Also used three different types of organic digesters. We do not have the green water syndrome ie the smaller algae just the slimy blanket weed. Ah well, off to skim the water again !

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[Stanley]

I shall be doing very little. Quite a heavy reaction to the BCG. Much better this morning after a Big Sleep.

[Marilyn]

Take it easy.
I sewed most of the day again, deciding to use the rest of the car cover to make a padded storage bag that I can hang from the back of my seat to hold our bicycle batteries ( so they can't fall over, clang together, or become airborne if we have an accident). Also made another narrow sunshade for the front of our awning ( the bigger one I made yesterday was for the end of the awning.)
I made the drawstring bag to hold both sunshades.
I still have the front quarter of the car cover left! I can believe how far this material has gone

[Wendyf]

Colne Library this morning then in the afternoon I am giving a short talk on Katherine Bruce Glasier to a visiting group at Earby Hostel. It's Bob Abel's talk but he unfortunately can't be there so I've stepped in. I'm reading from his notes so it should be OK.

[Sue]

Take care Stanley. Treatment can be very exhausting and the body needs to recover.

Out walking this morning, just locally on the moors behind our home, then a sewing lesson this afternoon with pilates this evening. No doubt there will be some pond skimming to do too

[Marilyn]

I could make us matching waistcoats from the rest of the fabric....or...or I could just quietly put the rest in the bin and sit in the garden with a nice cup of tea. and recover from my up-cycling adventure....

[Wendyf]

I was thinking that matching ponchos might be good Maz, just in case it rains .....

[Wendyf]

I enjoyed delivering Bob's talk for him at Earby Hostel this afternoon. It was for a group of ladies who are studying the Women's Peace Movement at Burnley College with Denise North who has given us a few talks at the history society. They were interested in the subject and loved the hostel which was looking wonderful today in the sunshine.

https://earbyhostel.co.uk/

[Stanley]

Thanks Sue, I am being careful, lots of rest and it's working, Improved all day and much better this morning. Usual walk today and I have Roy Hattersley to keep me out of mischief.

[Marilyn]

Sewing finished. Big clean up job. Cleaned and oiled the machine and put a new needle in before stowing it away.

[Stanley]

That's the right way Maz. I always try to do that in the shed. It wastes time if you have to do maintenance first when you are pushing to do something and that's why, in many cases, it is neglected and the result is accelerated ear and poor performance. Impeccable practice!

[Sue]

Art this morning with outside drawing in the park, luckily the forecast is ok with cloud and sun and a pleasant temperature. No yoga this evening, Bob and i are taking a friend for a meal as we shall be away over the summer. Nothing planned for this afternoon, but after my sewing lesson yesterday I have a few alterations to make to the pattern I am designing which will take a little time. This is for the ladies shirt I started some time ago. No more lessons till September when I am going to tackle my first man’s shirt. All the finishing will be quite different. I shall take my time, no rush, its just a project!

[Stanley]

I'd be a paying customer for one of your shirts......

[Sue]

I'd be a paying customer for one of your shirts......

Need to perfect the technique

[Sue]

Looking good today, lunch in the garden.

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[Marilyn]

Catching up on all the stuff I neglected whilst sewing.
Cleaned out the Veg Drawer in the fridge ready for shopping tomorrow. Currently making Colcannon.

Wow! I want lunch in your garden, Sue!

[Stanley]

I made colcannon as well, Onions garlic and ginger in mine though.....
Butchers and then very little except vacuum, I have visitors tomorrow.....

[Cathy]

Looks very inviting Sue, love the yellow roses, my favourite